From Linda Taaffe NSSN national secretary:-
Emergency General Council of the TUC urgently needed
This austerity big business government is hanging by a thread. The Tories are tearing themselves apart. They don’t know which way to turn. Theresa May is weak.
Her only strength is the fact that there is no realistic alternative Tory leader. The ruling class have never been in such an exposed position in our lifetime!
After 10 years since the 2007-8 financial crisis workers have suffered endless austerity and there is no end in sight. Even the UN rapporteur has made scathing comments about the levels of poverty created by the government.
Let’s not stand by and see the Tories cobble together something that keeps them in power for another painful 3 years.
Surely this is a window of opportunity for the TUC to pile in with almighty protests to help bring the government down – so that we can get a general election and hopefully a Corbyn-led government for the 99%. It is vital that the labour and trade union movement give a lead, otherwise sinister forces can try to exploit the situation and seek to divide the working-class.
Why are the trade union leaders silent? When the enemy is down, that’s the time to raise the stakes. The Tories and the bosses see a Corbyn government as their worst nightmare. Let’s make that nightmare into a reality.
This is a model motion that can be used in your union at all levels and your trades council:-
This ……branch/organisation…. notes that Theresa May’s Tory government is on the brink of collapse. With each passing day there are more and more resignations, coups, plots and potential leadership challenges.
The time is rotten-ripe to get rid of this austerity government once and for all.
The trade union and labour movement must intervene now to ensure that the Tories are not allowed time and space to find a way of continuing their disastrous rule. We have had enough of Tory austerity and the cuts, low wages, high rents and all that goes with it.
We call on our trade union leaders to press urgently for an emergency TUC General Council, that could organise mass protest action, in conjunction with Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell, to fight to kick out the Tory government and force a general election now.
NSSN news
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Date for your diaries: 2019 NSSN Conference Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL – Saturday July 6th
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Union News
RMT
Support RMT Northern and South Western Railway strikes – Guards and Train Drivers on South Western Railway are instructed to not to book on for any shifts that commence between:-
- 0001 Hours and 2359 Hours on Saturday 24th November 2018
All RMT Arriva Rail North Conductor, Conductor Instructor and Train Driver members are instructed to not to book on are for any shifts that commence between:-
- 00.01 Hours and 23.59 Hours on Saturday 24th November 2018
- 00.01 Hours and 23.59 Hours on Saturday 1st December 2018
- 00.01 Hours and 23.59 Hours on Saturday 8th December 2018
- 00.01 Hours and 23.59 Hours on Saturday 15th December 2018 read more
RMT has been organising public meetings to support Northern Rail guards. The final one is:
November 29 – 6pm Adelphi Hotel, Ranelagh Street, Liverpool, L3 5UL
National dispute fund (DOO disputes) – If you would like to donate to the RMT National Dispute Fund which makes payments to support their striking members taking part in National DOO disputes then you can donate via PayPal using the donate button below or make a cheque payable to RMT National Dispute Fund and send it to the address below. Alternatively, you can ring their Freephone helpline on 0800 376 3706 who will be happy to process a credit card payment for you, or, if you would like to pay via internet banking, please email [email protected] for further details. Vicky Thompson, Finance Manager RMT, 39 Chalton Street, London NW1 1JD. Tel: 020-7529-8843 read more
Further Central Line industrial action called (15 Nov) – That we note the resolution from our from Central Line East Branch that to bring the company back into normal industrial relations they are resolved to continue to take strike action. Accordingly, we instruct all Central Line Train Operators and Operator Instructors to take Strike Action by not booking on for shifts between: 20:00 hours on Friday 21st December and 02:00 hours on Saturday 22nd December 2018 and 04:00 hours and 20:00 hours on Saturday 22nd December 2018 read more Central line strike action announced in Paul Bailey unfair sacking dispute
RMT rep who was sacked ‘by bosses with a grudge against trade unionists’ reinstated – a prominent activist of rail union RMT has been reinstated to his job following negotiations between management and union representatives. Benjamin Frederick, a guard on Great Western Railway (GWR) and a well-known health and safety representative at Paddington depot, was assaulted, racially abused and spat on by a passenger in August. He reported the alleged attack to GWR and the British Transport Police (BTP), and was told by the BTP that he would be approached for a statement, but they never contacted him. Mr Frederick was then suspended from work in September after his managers claimed he had assaulted a member of the public, despite no complaints being filed against him read more in Morning Star
TSSA
DB Cargo Notified on Industrial Action (16 Nov) – TSSA Control members at DB Cargo are set to begin industrial action short of a strike on Tuesday 27th November over pay and conditions. The rail freight company has been formally notified after members voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action and action short of a strike. The ballot among key control staff was held after union reps walked out of negotiations in September when the company failed to make a decent offer on pay and improvements to members’ terms and conditions. The planned Industrial Action short of a strike will include no rest day working, no cross cover of work, no driver resourcing and work to agreed roster only. This action will be continuous, all day, every day. Should the dispute remain in place 24 hour strike action will begin on 4th January 2019 and be repeated every Friday and Saturday thereafter read more
Unison
Support the Glasgow Equal Pay strikers – More than 8,000 union members – overwhelmingly low paid women – took strike action two weeks ago, with 10,000 marching to a rally outside the city hall on the first day of the strike read more
Strike fund donations to:
UNITY Trust
Sort code 60 83 01 A/c Number 20275789
Drew Rigden Treasurer UNISON Glasgow City Branch
84 Bell Street, Glasgow, G1 1LQTel: 0141-552-7069
read more from Glasgow City Unison Facebook page
Support the striking Birmingham homecare workers – Please send messages of support and donations to Unison Birmingham branch, 46 The Priory Queensway Birmingham B4 7LR. Email [email protected] Facebook group – https://www.facebook.com/birminghamunison/
Grimethorpe primary school dinner ladies go on permanent strike – Support the indefinite strike by dinner ladies and teaching assistants at Ladywood Primary school in Grimethorpe near Barnsley. They are fighting redundancies and cuts in jobs and hours Ladywood Primary School, in Grimethorpe, South Yorkshire read more. Support the Unison lobby of Barnsley Labour council meeting on Thursday 29th November from 9-30am outside the Town Hall. messages of support to: [email protected]
Support Camden NSL workers – Camden UNISON members working for private company NSL as traffic wardens recently took 5 days of strike action as part of their fight for decent pay. They are asking for £11.15 an hour, an amount that Camden UNISON believes is very reasonable particularly when the top director at NSL gets over £320 an hour. For updates about the dispute and to send messages of support, contact [email protected] read more on Camden Unison website
Unite
Thousands of workers are being denied toilet dignity in the workplace (19 Nov) – Unite the union is demanding that employers take action to ensure that workers are granted toilet dignity in the workplace. Unite believes that tens of thousands of workers in the UK either are not provided with decent toilets or have undue, unnecessary or officious restrictions placed on them when they attempt to use the facilities provided read more
Woolwich ferry workers in strike vote over cuts to overtime pay (19 Nov) – The introduction of new hybrid boats on the Woolwich Ferry could be disrupted when the service reopens on the 31 December, Unite the union warned today (Monday 19 November) ahead of a ballot for strike action over the imposition of a new shift system resulting in significant cuts to overtime pay for weekend working. Ballot papers for the strike vote, involving four Unite members employed as engineers and electricians by Briggs Marine Contractors Limited on the Woolwich ferry, are expected to be dispatched tomorrow (Tuesday 20 November) with the postal ballot closing on Tuesday 4 December. Workers have grown increasingly frustrated by ferry bosses’ refusal to discuss the introduction of the shift system which could leave them as much as £1,000 per month worse off because of cuts to overtime at weekends read more
Johnson Matthey chemical workers ballot over ‘unacceptable’ pay offer (16 Nov) – Unite the union is currently balloting its members for industrial action at Johnson Matthey in Clitheroe, Lancashire, in a long-running dispute over a ‘completely unacceptable’ pay offer. The ballot at the leading speciality chemicals company will close on Friday 23 November 2018. More than 150 workers, such as manual workers, chemical process workers, maintenance engineers and office workers, are taking part in the industrial action ballot over the company’s final pay offer for a one year deal of 2.75 per cent read more
Twelve days of strikes start at Derbyshire crane firm in pay dispute – The first industrial action at a leading Derbyshire crane manufacturer Street Crane for 20 years has started as the company has been unwilling to engage in constructive pay talks…The first of the 24 hour stoppages was on Monday 15 October and followed by strikes on 22 and 29 October and 5 November. If the dispute is not settled by then, four 48 hour stoppages will go ahead on 12, 19 and 26 November and 3 December, all commencing at 00:01 read more Watch as workers at High Peak factory take strike action in pay dispute (from Buxton Advertiser)
Support the Hampshire Prysmian Cables & Systems strike – Email messages of support and solidarity to [email protected] read more
Sign the petition to save jobs at Cammell Lairds – Cammell Lairds has just won £619M worth of contracts to maintain the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) Ships, but instead of reassuring their workforce, they have decided to propose 291 redundancies with the first taking place, just weeks before Christmas. We need to be Turning the tide on Casualisation, we believe it is not acceptable that companies like Peel Ports who have a controlling stake in Cammell Lairds, can take such aggressive steps to maximize profits
GMB & Unite
Support the fight to save Appledore shipyard: GMB Demands Answers Over Appledore Closure – Why did the Government’s offer to Babcock come in so late – was it just to cover Ministers’ own backs, asks GMB Union? GMB, the shipbuilding union, is demanding answers over the decision to close Appledore shipyard. The union ensured the matter was raised in the House of Commons within hours of the announcement – and has now written to Babcock seeking clarification read more
Unite: Appledore shipyard closure ‘a hammer blow’ for the workers and Devon economy
GMB
GMB secures another huge workers’ rights win as tribunal throws out Addison Lee appeal (Nov 14) – Once again the courts have agreed Addison Lee drivers are legally entitled to workers’ rights such as the national minimum wage and holiday pay rights says GMB Union read more
CWU
Hamilton Delivery Office workers walk out for 4 days over bullying – Send messages of support to: CWU Glasgow&Dist Amal Branch – [email protected]
@CWUGlasgow – Facebook and Twitter
Shock and outrage at BT facilities outsourcing announcement (19 Nov) – The CWU has reacted furiously to BT’s announcement that it intends to outsource its Facilities Services division – pledging to vigorously fight a move that poses huge risks to the terms & conditions and job security of more than 1,700 CWU represented grade employees. Responding to the devastating news that was delivered to appalled employees this morning (November 19), the union immediately pointed out that the move flies in the face of BT’s 2012 decision in to bring the previously outsourced division back in-house after a previous decade-long earlier flirtation with an outsourcing model was ultimately judged to have comprehensively failed. A special National Briefing of all BT branches with members in Facilities Services has now been called for Wednesday (November 21) at which the CWU will brief reps about the union’s next steps read more
Post Office – 1st December Day of Action – Join us! – Saturday December 1st will see protests in cities and towns all over the UK, as the CWU leads a nationwide Day of Action in defence of the UK’s Post Office network. Speaking at a lively central London launch yesterday, general secretary Dave Ward pointed out that the Post Office bosses’ announcement of the the ‘franchising’ of 74 Crown offices to retailer WH Smith, impacting on some 7-800 jobs, marked a change in their strategy from “managed decline to terminal decline. “And that’s what we’re facing unless we can force a change of direction,” he told the audience of CWU branch and regional officers, explaining two key reasons for the root causes of this crisis. Firstly, he sharply criticised “the wrong decision to separate the Post Office from Royal Mail” and reminded people that “no other government in the world has done this.” And then he turned his fire on the individuals running the company, slamming “senior managers, who get paid large amounts of money and, rather than improve things, they smash them up.” In the forthcoming campaign, “we need the whole union to get behind this campaign, win as much political support as possible and get out and about among local communities too – fighting as hard as we can to stop as many of these franchises and closures as we can,” Dave urged. But as well as waging this defensive battle, our general secretary added that the union must also be at the spearhead of fighting for a positive future for our post office network, waging and winning the battle of ideas and setting out our own vision read more
PCS
Members encouraged to observe Trans Day of Remembrance today November 20th – today, join international tributes to victims of transphobic hate and violence. Trans Day of Remembrance (TDoR) takes place on 20 November each year to reflect and remember the victims of transphobic hate and violence which continues to take place around the world today. Over the past ten years more than 100 murders of trans people have been recorded across Europe alone, with thousands more across the globe. It’s likely that many further cases remain unreported due to misgendering and continued lack of gender recognition in many countries read more
NEU, NAHT and ASCL
Teaching unions start indicative ballot on pay and funding: ‘Hands up because enough is enough!’ – Following the Government’s failure to address the school and college funding crisis in the recent Budget, the National Education Union (NEU), along with NAHT and ASCL, are taking the unprecedented step of simultaneously consulting with their respective members on what steps to take next read more
Enough is Enough: March for Education – Tuesday November 20th. Assemble 5.30pm Westminster Cathedral, Ashley Place, SW1P 1LT London Facebook event
NEU
Teachers at John Roan in Greenwich strike again against academisation on November 22nd – Join The John Roan teachers on their 9th, 10th & 11th days of strike action against forced academisation. Teachers have recently been buoyed by solidarity from Angela Rayner & Jeremy Corbyn, and we would appreciate your support on the picket line read more
EIS
Vote to reject the final pay offer from COSLA and the Scottish Government read more
UCU
‘Magnificent Six’ to strike 28-29 November – Please support the six UCU college branches taking strike action for fair pay on the 28 and 29 November: Swindon New College, Petroc College Devon, Bath College, Lambeth College, Bradford College, Croydon College. The action is part of the FE fights back campaign and many other branches who did not reach the 50% turnout threshold imposed by anti-union laws, plan to re-ballot members from the 28 November read more
Strike action called over FE workload dispute – UCU members in affected FE called will be called to take strike action on 4 December if the current workload dispute is not resolved. Members are being called to prepare for strike action on 4 December in an effort to force ColegauCymru (CC) to return to negotations as they have so far refused to negotiate over workoad until the separate dispute over pay is resolved. Margaret Phelan, UCU Wales official, said ‘It is hoped that the pay dispute can be resolved by the Welsh government funding pay parity with school teachers but we still need to maintain the pressure on CC to return to the negotiating table over workload. The timeline on industrial action over workload reflects the date for industrial action agreed with other unions over the joint pay dispute. ‘A special FE sector committee meeting on 17 November will decide on two more days of action to take place after 12 December if this remains necessary, to ensure that pay deductions happen in the January pay packet read more
NUJ
NUJ calls for guarantee on jobs as Johnston Press goes into administration (17 Nov) – The NUJ has called for meaningful guarantees to protect jobs and titles across Johnston Press, following the company’s decision last night to initiate a pre-pack administration process. The move into administration – which is being rubber-stamped in court processes in Northern Ireland, Scotland and England this morning – sees the creation of a new company formed by the holders of its current debt. It also allows the company to ditch its defined pension benefit scheme which will now go into the Pension Protection Fund in a serious blow to current and deferred members who will see their entitlements cut read more
BECTU
Read the latest about the Picturehouse dispute on Brixton Ritzy Facebook Page and those of Hackney, Crouch End, Central, Dulwich East and Duke of York Brighton
Donate to the Picturehouse Cinema strike fund: https://www.crowdpac.co.uk/campaigns/250/picturehousestrike
BFAWU
The BFAWU are proud to support the call for a real living wage for mothers and carers – We demand a living wage for mothers and other carers read and sign up
IWGB
Protest: University of London Foundation Day 5pm – Tuesday 20 November is the University of London’s Foundation Day, when honorary degrees approved by the Collegiate Council are presented by University Chancellor Princess Anne. This will take place in an evening ceremony in Senate House amidst a level of luxury, lavishness and magnificence only made possible by the hard work of the currently outsourced staff of University of London. To give Princess Anne a warm welcome on behalf of all the exploited workers of UoL join us and demonstrate outside Senate House on Malet St to demand the University of London end discrimination, take direct responsibility for the employment and working conditions of outsourced workers and bring them in-house now! Facebook event
Other news
Reel News film night – 8pm November 20th at Effra Social, 89 Effra Road, Brixton SW2 1DF: ‘American Climate Rebels – Transforming Communities from Below Facebook event
Fighting Austerity in Leeds – Conference organised by Leeds TUC
10am-4pm, Saturday 24th November
Swarthmore Education Centre
2-7 Woodhouse Square, Leeds, LS3 1AD Facebook event
Blacklisting & Victimisation
Blacklist Support Group financial appeal: the Blacklist support group is desperately short of funds, to continue the incredible work 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)
Blacklisted t-shirts available at: https://shop.hopenothate.org.uk/component/hikashop/product/78-blacklisted-t-shirt
Book: http://newint.org/books/politics/blacklisted-secret-war/
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNcgrNs6pB8
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/blacklistSG/
Blog: www.hazards.org/blacklistblog
International
Turkey: Unite condemns criminalisation of Turkish Renault trade unionists (19 Nov) – Unite the union has condemned the sentencing of 26 Turkish Renault trade union leaders and workers to five months in prison suspended for five years. The workers were found guilty of ‘disobeying the law on meetings and demonstrations’ after taking part in a protest in front of Renault’s Oyak plant in March 2016, where they were victims of police brutality and unlawful detention. If any of the convicted workers commit a ‘crime’ in that five year period, they will go to jail. Unite is supporting Turkish Renault workers in their demands for the right to organise and expressed outraged at the court’s decision read more
Diary
2018
November
2019
July
6 NSSN Conference Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL
CONTACT US
PHONE 07952 283 558
EMAIL mailto:[email protected]
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