NSSN 253: Mark Serwotka PCS, Mick Cash RMT , Matt Wrack FBU, Ronnie Draper BFAWU, Dave Ward CWU and Steve Gillan POA to speak at NSSN lobby of TUC Congress Sept 13 – fight Tory anti-union laws
The NSSN are pleased to announce that General Secretaries Mark Serwotka PCS, Mick Cash RMT , Matt Wrack FBU, Ronnie Draper BFAWU, Dave Ward CWU and Steve Gillan POA will be speaking at our #KillTheBill rally at this year’s TUC Congress in Brighton.
The rally will be part of a lobby called by the NSSN. We will be calling on the TUC and its affiliated trade unions to organise a demonstration when the Tories debate their trade union bill in Parliament. The lobby will also push for preparations to begin for mass co-ordinated strike action if the laws are passed and against the Tories’ brutal cuts.
It will be in the Grand Hotel from 1pm-3.30pm in the Charlotte Room 97-99 King’s Rd BN1 2FW (next to the Brighton conference Centre).
Email us on [email protected] if you want to attend and need transport.
NSSN news
Get your trade union branch or trades council to affiliate to the NSSN – it only costs £50. Already affiliated? Please think about renewing it. Also, many of our supporters pay a few pounds a month. You can set up a similar standing order to ‘National Shop Stewards Network’, HSBC – sort code 40-06-41, account number 90143790. Our address is NSSN, PO Box 54498, London E10 9DE. Affiliation letter here
Download the new ‘Join the NSSN’ leaflet here
And if you can, come to one of our regional Conferences. If there is not one in your area, get in touch to either assist in organising or have a speaker at one of your meetings or events. Contact Rob or Linda on [email protected]
Union News
Unite
Picketing reinstates sacked construction rep (July 27) – Ranks and file construction workers from the Blacklist Support Group and their supporters descended on the Canary Wharf HQ of Morgan Stanley this morning to protest the sacking of Unite rep Graham Boxall. The building is undergoing work by the electrical contractor Phoenix, a signatory to bargaining body the Joint Industry Board (JIB). However Phoenix are breaking national collective agreements. The firm had employed electricians through sub-contractor D&D, but JIB rules state that workers seeking to move onto direct employment and pay as you earn taxation have a right to do so. When Graham asked to be directly employed he was immediately sacked read more from NSSN website
Hackney traffic wardens vote to strike over lack of company sick pay (27 July) – Traffic wardens in Hackney, east London will take two days of strike action next week in a bid to get a proper sick pay policy provided by their private sector employer. The 30 employees, members of Unite, the country’s largest union, will strike against APCOA Parking, which has the contract from Hackney council to run the service, for 48 hours from 00.01 Monday 3 August. The vote for strike action was 100 per cent read more
RMT
New tube action hits services (28 July) – New tube action hits services as drivers threatened by LU bosses. New wave of tube industrial action already hitting services this morning as drivers threatened with being sent home for refusing to drive unsafe trains. Tube services are already being hit as a new phase of industrial action kicks in this morning with staff refusing to take out trains that have not been prepped in the previous 24 hours and also refusing to train up staff who have been shunted around the network, outside of their normal jobs and locations, to try and plug gaps created by the ongoing overtime ban. Within hours services on the District Line were disrupted this morning due to a shortage of trains read more
Anger grows at Rail Gourmet (24 July) – Anger grows as it emerges that Rail Gourmet knew they were losing Southern trolley contract three months ago. RAIL UNION RMT revealed today that Rail Gourmet were told three months ago by Southern/TSGN that their catering trolley services were to be axed this weekend sparking even more anger over the fact that the company left it until this week to inform the union and staff that they would be sacked tomorrow throwing over 70 low paid staff out of a job. RMT reps have now been told by Southern/TSGN that they are surprised that it has taken Rail Gourmet so long to tell their staff that they are being sacked this weekend – time that could have been used to help those workers find new jobs read more
RMT settles dispute on CalMac (22 July) – RMT settles dispute on CalMac and Argyll Ferries after unions receive clear assurances on jobs, terms and conditions and pensions. CalMac union RMT confirmed tonight that it has called off industrial action on both CalMac and Argyll Ferries after reaching a settlement following protracted talks on the key issues at the heart of the dispute read more TSSA win victory in CalMac
TSSA
London Underground: Get ready for strike action on 5/6 August (27 July) – LUL management are at last participating in talks at ACAS, but remain unwilling to listen to the views of their staff or to negotiate on key aspects of the dispute. Consequently, a further week of talks achieved little progress on Pay & Night Tube or Fit for the Future Stations read more
PCS
Members vote to accept big Maximus pay offer (27 July) – There will be pay rises of at least 15% for the majority of PCS members working for multinational Maxmimus. Together with our sister-union Prospect we submitted a joint union pay claim in 2015 built around our argument that our members have been continually underpaid for their efforts while working in support of all work capability assessments over the past 10 years read more
Strike action set to cause summer holiday closures (27 July) – PCS members at Amgueddfa Cymru/National Museum Wales are taking strike action this weekend in a dispute over proposals to cut the take-home pay of the poorest-paid staff. Members are opposing plans to scrap premium payments for weekend working, which make up as much as 15% of the take-home pay of front-of-house staff. Losing the payments would involve slashing the income of many already low-paid staff by £2,000-£3,000 a year. Payments would remain for bank holidays but would no longer be pensionable. Management have threatened to dismiss staff who refused to sign up to the changes, then re-engage them on the inferior terms. The proposals were linked to a 3-year pay offer for staff at the museum’s seven sites read more
PCS planning major pay campaign and consultation (24 July) – PCS is planning a major campaign, including coordinated strike action, to challenge the 1% pay cap that chancellor George Osborne has announced will continue for another 4 years. The continuation of the cap and tax credit changes were among more bad news for civil servants and public sector workers announced in the 8 July summer budget. The government has also agreed proposals with all government departments to abolish contractual progression pay across the civil service. In a major consultation exercise in the autumn we will be seeking the view of branches about our pay claim and how we mobilise members behind our pay demands read more
Sacked rep Candy Udwin’s appeal adjourned (22 July) – The appeal hearing against the dismissal of lead PCS National Gallery rep Candy Udwin due to take place today (22 July) was adjourned on a technicality. A large group of supporters gathered outside the gallery in London early this morning before Candy’s hearing was due to be heard. Candy, who was sacked after raising concerns about the cost of a private company taking over the gallery’s visitor services, attended the hearing with a representative of PCS’s legal department. But was told that it would be adjourned because the gallery had not given PCS the correct notice. It is likely that the rearranged hearing will take place in early August…The next day of planned strike action is 29 July read more Director’s Alternative Leaving Party – Help us say goodbye to Director of the National Gallery, Sir Nicholas Penny. His leaving party is on the evening of Thursday 30th July and we’ll be staging an alternative party outside the Sainsbury Wing. Join us from 6pm to celebrate his legacy of privatisation www.facebook.com/events/680728625391304
Unison
London Met members walk out again (July 24) – Fresh action for 250 UNISON members at London Metropolitan University over continuing redundancy threats. More than 250 UNISON members working at London Metropolitan University are striking today (Friday) after the university’s continuing financial issues left staff facing the threat of compulsory redundancy. This follows two successful strike days last month, and action short of a strike. Today’s walk out will be followed by continuous action short of strike, which will include a ban on overtime working, not working outside contracted hours, and not covering for leave, sickness or the training of colleagues read more Sign petition here
BFAWU
Support The Gunstones workers: striking August 6-7 (21 July) – Today we held talks with management regarding the ongoing pay dispute.We tabled a proposal which comes from a clear mandate the membership have given us in light of the recent 93% rejection of the revised offer from the company. Management have taken this proposal away for consideration and talks will resume in the coming days. We have submitted further dates for industrial action which are as follows: 48 hour walkout from Thursday 6th Aug starting from 6am. All support is welcome www.facebook.com/Gunstonesworkers/posts/1595099700755824?fref=nf
Reports of Fast Food Rights protests on Youth Fight for Jobs and Fast Food Rights websites – Please send details of any local actions to [email protected] / [email protected]
GMB
GMB Legal Action On Uber Drivers (July 29) – Leigh Day legal action for GMB Uber drivers to secure rights on pay, holidays, health and safety, discipline and grievances. The Uber assertion that drivers are “partners” who are not entitled to rights at work normally afforded to workers will be legally contested in court read more
Stop Sodexo Cheating Probation Staff (July 27) – GMB demand that Sodexo pay 436 outsourced probation staff facing redundancy the amounts they are contractually entitled to. Sodexo is trying to get rid of staff in Northumbria, Cumbria and Lancashire, South Yorkshire, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex on the cheap says GMB. Probation unions GMB, Napo and UNISON are calling on multi-national company Sodexo to honour its own ethical charter and honour the redundancy terms which members are due as a result of the company’s drastic plans to shed 436 staff (nearly 40% of staff) in the six community rehabilitation companies it now runs read more
Strike ballot over water pension cuts (27 July) – GMB to ballot members in water industry in North East and Eastern England in dispute over pensions cuts read more
NUT
Latest edition of NUT The Teacher magazine read here
NAPO
Joint Napo/UNISON statement on Sodexo severance package – Napo alongside our sister trade unions met with Sodexo on Monday 20th July. At that meeting we raised a number of questions in relation to the voluntary severance scheme on offer in the 6 Sodexo owned CRC. We still believe that Sodexo should be offering redundant staff the Enhanced Voluntary Redundancy (EVR) Terms, which are set out in the National Negotiating Council Staff Transfer and Protections Agreement read more
Legal Aid strikes – follow #legalaid on twitter for updates
Barristers and solicitors across UK are supporting direct action, arguing cuts will lead to miscarriages of justice and drop in quality of representation
United Voices of the World
Protest at Sotheby’s: Reinstate the Sotheby’s 2! – Two of the Sotheby’s four have been reinstated. However, Sotheby’s and Servest are continuing to victimise Percy and Barbara, UVW shop-stewards (the ones in the video), on the malicious grounds that they are “inciting violence” and are “deliberately trying to harm Sotheby’s”. We will not accept this divide and rule strategy. The fight continues! With a peaceful, creative and very noisy protest we want to remind them that we will not go away, we will not give up and Barbara and Percy will be reinstated and paid a real living wage and contractual sick pay! Meet us at 5.45pm at Oxford Circus station, United Colors of Benetton exit. TOGETHER WE WILL WIN! Please continue to support the campaign www.facebook.com/events/1649707638598100/
IWGB
Pressure mounts on city sprint as IWGB continues to target its clients (24th July) – Pressure mounted on City Sprint on Wednesday as the courier’s branch of the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) returned once again to City Sprint’s London offices, before protesting one of the firm’s biggest clients as part of the campaign to win the London Living Wage. The protest began at 8.00am, with couriers and union officials alike assembled outside City Sprint’s offices in Central London, before moving off to stage a flash indoor protest at one of the City’s leading law firms- Linklaters read more
Other News
Statement regarding attacks on Trade Union facility time in Coventry:-
We are pleased to update you regarding the Trades Unions Facility Time Dispute at Coventry City Council.
ATL, NUT, NASUWT, UNISON and Unite have now reached an agreement with the Local Authority who have committed to the following:
The City Council has agreed to invite the Trades Unions into meaningful negotiations which will include the full disclosure of information.
The negotiations will initially try to resolve issues within the envelope of the existing facility time agreement.
As a gesture of good faith, the Council have agreed that the conclusion of negotiations will now be on 1st October 2015 as opposed to the previously stated implementation date of 1st September 2015. ‘
Whilst we acknowledge we have difficult negotiations ahead, we are delighted to have achieved an agreeable way forward.
We hope you agree that this is a favourable result with all unions involved in the dispute working together.
We would like to thank all our members as well as trade union members in Coventry and across the country for your support. Your campaigning has helped us to get where we are and we thank you for your solidarity.
We will keep you informed of developments as they arise
Defending health & safety: ‘We are in the fight of our lives!’ (July 27) – In December 2012 16 year old Cameron Minshull of Bury, Greater Manchester, started work at Huntley Mount Engineering. He was over the moon and his mum was so pleased she drove him to work every day. Five weeks later he was dead, killed by the lathe he worked on. Cameron was untrained and unsupervised, over-dressed against the January cold in a freezing factory . All the lathes had had their guards disabled, and Cameron’s sleeve had caught in the machinery, drawing him in and causing fatal head injuries read more from NSSN website
Blacklisting & Victimisation
Buy the book ‘Blacklisted: The Secret War between Big Business and Union Activists’ Author: Dave Smith and Phil Chamberlain. Blacklisted tells the controversial story of the illegal strategies that transnational construction companies used to keep union activists away from work. See the official trailer from ReelNews
Blacklist Support Group financial appeal: the Blacklist support group is desperately short of funds, to continue the incredible work in 2015 we need more finance, would you please consider making a donation, raise it at your branches and trade councils. Please make cheques payable to Joint sites committee and send to 70 Darnay Rise Chelmsford Essex CM1 4XA. Please forward onto your contacts many thanks Steve Kelly (JSC Treasurer)
VICTORY – sacked UNITE rep reinstated after direct action picket line
Graeme Boxall, the UNITE shop steward sacked at the Morgan Stanley HQ in Canary Wharf on Friday has been re-employed.
See link to today’s Morning Star front page headline for details: http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-ae69-Sacked-Union-Rep-takes-on-Bully-Bosses
Graeme was dismissed immediately after he requested direct employment for the electricians he represents but following a picket line this morning, negotiations took place between UNITE official Guy Langston and Lee Crompton Phoenix Managing Director. The outcome was that the sacked steward is now re-employed and the union will participate in continuing talks with the company about the direct employment issue.
Police threatened to arrest pickets and managers tried to intimidate the pickets by waving paperwork in front of them saying, “you are on private property and this is document is a High Court injunction which bans this protest”
The rank and file sparks reply was, “so what?”
Following the successful re-employment, protests have now been suspended to allow the union to negotiate the outstanding issues.
Graeme Boxall commented:
“I would like to say a massive ‘Thank You’ to all those who came down to support me today. I would especially like to thank the vast majority of construction workers on site who showed such solidarity by respecting the picket line, despite all the intimidation from the police and senior managers.
Millions of workers are being denied their basic employment rights by the use of zero hours contracts, employment agencies and umbrella scams. But we don’t have to passively accept these abuses. Today has proved that if we fight back, we can win”.
Unite: Police undercover inquiry needs to probe links with construction industry ‘blacklisting’, says Unite (28 July) – ‘Blacklisting’ in the construction industry must be investigated by the public inquiry into undercover policing in England and Wales, Unite, the country’s largest union, said today (Tuesday 28 July). Unite said that there is proven evidence that undercover police from the special demonstration squad (SDS) infiltrated trade unions and the question must be asked whether this was just ‘the tip of iceberg’ read more
Blacklist Support Group Update 23rd July 2015
- Lord Justice Pitchford will be making a statement about the public inquiry into undercover policing 10am Tuesday 28th July in the Royal Courts of Justice. This will be his initial thoughts on how the public inquiry will run. Interested parties are allowed to attend. There will be media coverage and it might be useful if some blacklisted workers were able to attend wearing ‘Blacklisted’ t-shirts. The Terms of Reference published by Teresa May make no explicit mention of spying on trade unions or blacklisting. We will need to argue that these issues are included over the coming weeks and months see link from Morning Star & Guardian articles:
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-f734-Justice-at-last-for-spied-on-workers,-or-another-cover-up
- Fiasco at blacklist trial
Dave Smith’s trial following his arrest for protesting against blacklisting has been postponed until 25-26 Jan 2016. This was because the CPS had not done any of the tasks expected of them and the case was only allocated half a day, which was clearly not enough time to hear 10 witnesses. This will mean Dave will have been on police bail for nearly 12 months by the time of the trial which is now primarily about the democratic right to protest. District Judge Coleman instructed the police to provide ‘primary disclosure’ of evidence including intelligence the Met received about protesters and Blacklist Support Group. Many thanks to all those who came down to support or sent messages of solidarity – it is genuinely appreciated. Special thanks to the exceptional and principled legal team JC Townsend & Liam Dunne from Guney, Clark & Ryan solicitors, who have been fighting our corner for over 6 years now.
Video from the exceptional Reel News (with comments about the human rights issues from the lawyers): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-yJoVEKK7c
New Internationalist: http://newint.org/blog/2015/07/23/blacklisted-author-on-trial/
- BSG meeting Merseyside NHS Trust
Blacklist Support Group delegation led by Roy Bentham have held a number of meetings recently with the Merseyside NHS Trust over the contracts handed to blacklisting firm Carillion at the Liverpool Royal in an attempt to win employment for blacklisted workers on the project. if the blacklisting mobs want to prove they are not still targeting union members – then give us jobs!
There are many public authorities that have passed resolutions stating that they will not use firms involved in blacklisting. Its about time some of the fine words were put into action and the firms either thrown off at the time of contract renewal or monitoring is carried out to check that blacklisted workers are getting employment opportunities.
Great work by the BSG Liverpool chapter
Blacklisted book http://newint.org/books/politics/blacklisted-secret-war/
video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlCa8yQmZ70
blog: www.hazards.org/blacklistblog
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/blacklistSG/
International (also see Labourstart)
Support SABMiller Panama workers on strike for bargaining rights read more
Turkey: Union busting at €1,000 hand bag producer SF Leather http://www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_campaign.cgi?c=2798
Diary (see & use false economy)
July
29 Public meeting: resisting the trade union bill – 6pm at Mander Hall, NUT, Mabledon Place, London, WC1H 9BD. PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka is among the speakers at the meeting organised by the Institute of Employment Rights (IER) together with the Campaign for Trade Union Freedom (CTUF) and the Centre for Labour and Social Studies (CLASS) at the NUT in London. Mark will be joined by representatives from the TUC, FBU, RMT, Unite and IER experts John Hendy and Keith Ewing, together with MPs and others to determine what steps the labour movement needs to take to expose the unfair and undemocratic nature of the government’s proposals
Speakers include: Len McCluskey, Unite; Sarah Veale, TUC; Mick Cash, RMT; Dave Green, FBU; Dave Ward, CWU; Carolyn Jones, IER; John McDonnell, MP; Heather Wakefield, Unison; Jacky Davis, Keep Our NHS Public more details
August
9 In 1905 the whole of Britain was made aware of the conditions of miners and their families living in colliery-owned housing. In the village of Kinsley, near Hemsworth in West Yorkshire, over a hundred families were evicted from their homes in a dispute between the miners and coal-owners. On Sunday 9 August, “Wakefield Socialist History Group” are holding a commemorative guided walk. It starts at 2pm at the winding wheel outside Fitzwilliam Railway Station (WF9 5DA). The guide is local socialist historian John Gill.
The route goes via Fitzwilliam Country Park and ends with a pint at the Kinsley Hotel. There is no charge and all are welcome –including dog walkers! For more information contact Group Convenor, Alan Stewart on 07931927451
September
13 NSSN rally & lobby of TUC Congress in Brighton 1pm-3.30pm Grand Hotel
CONTACT US
PHONE 07952 283 558
EMAIL mailto:[email protected]
TWITTER – https://twitter.com/NSSN_AntiCuts
FACEBOOK NSSN GROUP or STOP The CUTS Likes page
ADDRESS NSSN, PO Box 54498, London E10 9DE
