Meeting at Unite conference tonight!
Monday night in Brighton sees Socialist Appeal hosting a fringe meeting at the Unite conference.
Industrial news
Protest at Fawley this Wed
Activists have led a call to support a protest outside the Fawley refinery this coming Wed.
Doctors take strike action
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.
Claim that MSP was blacklisted and Directors named and shamed in parliament
Claims that some elected politicians including an MSP were spied on and blacklisted were made in parliament yesterday. The Scottish Affairs Select Committee yesterday heard a mammoth 2 hour evidence session from Dave Smith (Secretary, Blacklist Support Group) as part of their ongoing investigation into blacklisting in employment.
Fight Northumberland Privatisations – Drive the Con Dems out
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.
Local Government Pensions: Secret negotiations sell the members short
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.
Ratcliffe walkout
Over 600 construction workers walked out today at Ratcliffe power
station in support of a suspended unite safety rep
Labour of Love: The Robert Smillie Story
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.
Barnsley: Public sector workers send a message!
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
Police seeking the right to strike – a sign of the times
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.
Unite general secretary slams Miliband’s capitulation to ‘discredited Blairism’
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.
NOV 30: Reports and pictures
Here are some links to pictures and reports of the Nov 30th Day of Action.