British
doctors have gone on strike today for the first time since 1975 over
the government cuts to pensions. Unsurprisingly, this has been met with a
chorus of indignation by the Tories who have accused the doctors of
“penalising patients” by taking industrial action.
Not content with job losses which have already reached 1300,
Northumberland County Council’s Lib Dem and Tory leaders are seeking to
privatise up to 1,000 further jobs through a so called “Public Private
Partnership”. The proposal would mean a transfer to the PPP Company by
the end of this financial year.
Almost four months since the national negotiators struck a secret deal with the employers, UNISON has published a press release containing the “main points” of the proposed Local Government Pension Scheme to be known as LGPS 2014. Despite the fact that the elected Service Group Executive found out the content of the proposals only today reports indicate that it was presented in a series of glossy leaflets and factsheets. The proposals which have been rolled out less than three weeks prior to the Local Government Conference of the union has essentially been cobbled together behind the backs of even the highest elected bodies of the union.
Over 600 construction workers walked out today at Ratcliffe power
station in support of a suspended unite safety rep
David Hopper, General Secretary of the Durham Miners Association, looks back at the remarkable life of ‘Bob’ Smillie as he reviews a new book on this pioneer of the movement.
Public
sector workers in Barnsley today came out in protest against austerity
cuts and attacks on their pensions, some for the third time in the last
12 months
As part of its austerity programme the
Tory-LibDem coalition is planning to cut police officers’ wages and
making it easier to sack them. There are to be wage cuts, job losses and
more stringent requirements to enter the police force.
In what could turn out to be a significant turn of events,
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey fired an angry broadside last week at
Labour leader Ed Miliband, taking issue with Miliband’s recent support for a
public-sector pay-freeze. After twenty years of uncritical support by
trade-union leaders for the right-wing Labour leadership, such a missive is
certainly welcome. It has also helped reopen the debate about the relationship
between the Labour Party and the trade unions.
Here are some links to pictures and reports of the Nov 30th Day of Action.
Well if ever there is a place in England that isn’t
revolutionary or willing for workers action you might think it would be Bury St
Edmunds – or so you might think. Bury is a town that is typically seen as
bourgeoisie and reactionary with quaint villages surrounding it which keep to
themselves. The 30th however saw something that has not
entered the consciousness of the people of Bury (after discussion with locals)
ever. By this of course I’m talking about the mass strike action. As the UNISON rep for West Suffolk College I was able to
draw upon my own reflections of the day and discuss with others why this was
necessary.
There were unprecedented scenes in Birmingham on N30 after the
Tory-Lib-Dem coalition that runs Birmingham City Council tried to ban
the planned TUC protest march.