Strike Special - Northumberlands' Day of Action

On 30^th November we saw the Public Sector workers of Northumberland come together in an unprecedented show of solidarity with a total of 22 picket lines. Anyone passing picket lines seen the strength and solidarity we showed on the morning of the strike. At Gateshead, where we took 3 coaches of activists and members, there was a sea of purple and green, a tidal wave of flags and deafened by a cacophony of vuvuzela’s and whistles. The Northern regions message to David Cameron was clear, ‘We have had enough!"

Commenting on the 30^th November, Branch Secretaries’ Ian Fleming and Joyce Guthrie said  “it was a great and proud day to see so many UNISON members stand side by side on the picket lines and to see the UNISON colours lead the way at the March in Gateshead, the public applause was very heartening and it clearly showed the public do support our fight.”

At the Rally at Spillers Wharf, speakers from the participating unions all had a similar message. The attack on our pensions is unfair and unjustified. Many of us have been subjected to a pay freeze for at least two years and have now been told that any wage rise will be capped at 1%. This means that in real terms our standard of living is eroded even further than it already has been. To then ask us to pay more for our pensions is ludicrous. Many of our members are already struggling to make ends meet as prices soar and the cost of living rises on an almost daily basis.

Many of the members UNISON represent are low paid, part time women who, rather than claim benefits, fit work around child care and family commitments. David Cameron now wants to penalise them by taking away what little security they manage to accrue for the future. The average pension for these people is less than £4,000 per year under the current scheme and to erode the schemes further will leave many of us struggling in our retirement.

As a branch we would like to say an enormous thank you to all those who turned out to show support, especially those who manned picket lines from very early in the morning. There was much stamping feet and rubbing of hands in the cold morning air, but the overwhelming attitude was one of determination and tenacity. We are not prepared to let the Con-Dem’s win this battle. Let’s hope that the Government will now see sense and enter into meaningful consultation with our negotiators.

A number of pictures were taken on the 30^th November and these will be available soon on our website at www.unisonnorthumberland.org.uk

Joyce Guthrie & Ian Fleming,

Joint Branch Secretaries

Jarrow Crusade

A symbolic procession is to be held at Jarrow Town Hall (front of the building) at 2:30pm prompt on Sunday, 9^th October 2011, where people are asked to assemble at the Town Hall on Sunday and walk across to the Christ church, Jarrow alongside our comrades, community and voluntary groups. Trade Unions are encouraged to take their branch banners and flags.

The commemorative church service will begin at 3pm to mark and celebrate the 75^th Anniversary of the Jarrow March.  There will also be an unveiling of a commemorative plaque in the Church as a memento of the original march which set off from the Church to London on the 5^thOctober 1936, which will be unveiled by the Mayor of South Tyneside, Councillor Jim Sewell at the Service.

Please make every effort to attend this event to mark the Special 75th Anniversary of the Jarrow Crusade

Pension Briefings

UNISON are hosting a series of meetings relating to the up and coming pensions dispute.

See below a list of those meetings arranged for the Northumberland related branches.

All members and non-members are welcome.

Date	Time	Area	Venues
Tuesday, 4 October	12.30 pm to 1.30 pm	Sunderland	1st Floor Meeting Room, Monkwearmouth Hospital, Newcastle Road, Sunderland, SR5 1NB.
Tuesday, 4 October	12 noon to 2pm	Sunderland	Council Chamber, Sunderland Civic Centre, Burdon Road, Sunderland,      SR2 7DN.
Wednesday, 5 October	12.30 pm to 1.30 pm	Morpeth	Board Road, St George’s Park Hospital Morpeth,      NE61 2NU.
Wednesday, 5 October	12 noon to 2pm	Sunderland	Meeting Room, Jack Crawford House, Commercial Road Sunderland,      SR2 8QR.
Friday, 7 October	11.30 am to 1.30 pm	Ashington	Park Suite - Institute Building, Ashington Leisure Centre, Institute Road, Ashington,      NE63 8HP.
Friday, 7 October	12.30 pm to 1.30 pm	Morpeth	Modular Building – Large Seminar Room, Northgate Hospital, Morpeth Northumberland, NE61 3BP.
Friday, 7 October	2.00pm to 4.00 pm	Washington	Washington Leisure Centre, Town Centre, Washington      NE38 7SS.
Monday, 10 October	11.30 am to 1.30 pm	Alnwick	Northumberland Hall (Assembly Rooms), Market Street, Alnwick,      NE66 1HS.
Monday, 10 October	3.30 pm to 5.30 pm	Berwick	Council Chamber, Wallace Green, Berwick,     TD15 1ED.
Monday, 10 October	5.00 pm to 6.30 pm	South Shields	Reception Room Town Hall & Civic Offices Westoe Road South Shields,      NE33 2RL.
Monday, 10 October	12 noon to 2.00 pm	Sunderland	Council Chamber, Sunderland Civic Centre, Burdon Road, Sunderland,      SR2 7DN.
Tuesday, 11 October	12.30 pm to 2.00 pm	Blyth	Council Chamber, Civic Centre, Renwick Road Blyth,     NE42 2BX.
Wednesday, 12 October	11.30 am to 1.30 pm	Hexham	Council Chamber, Prospect House, Hallgate Hexham,      NE46 3NH.
Wednesday, 12 October	3.30 pm to 5.30 pm	Blyth	Council Chamber, Civic Centre, Renwick Road Blyth,     NE42 2BX.
Wednesday, 12 October	Evening?	Prudhoe	Prudhoe Labour Club
Thursday, 13 October	12.30 pm to 1.30 pm	Newcastle	Committee Dining Room, St Nicholas Hospital, Jubilee Road – Gosforth, Newcastle,      NE3 3XT.
Friday, 14 October	11.30 am to 1.30 pm	Morpeth	Storey Park Community Centre, St Mary’s Field, Morpeth,      NE61 2QF.
Monday, 17 October	12 noon to 2.00 pm	Sunderland	Meeting Room, Crowtree Leisure Centre, Crowtree Road Sunderland,      SR1 3EL.
Tuesday, 18 October	12.30 pm to 1.30 pm	Prudhoe	Skerne House, Prudhoe Hospital, Northumberland,      NE42 5NT.
Tuesday, 18 October	6.00 pm to 7.00 pm	Wallsend	Wallsend People’s Centre 10 Frank Street, Wallsend,       NE28 6RN.
Monday, 24 October (Half-Term Holidays)	4.00 pm to 6.00 pm	Morpeth	Council Chamber, County Hall, Loansdean, Morpeth,      NE61 2EF.

Get out the Vote

The key task facing the union in the next few weeks is making sure members vote in the pensions industrial action ballot - and making sure there is a massive yes vote for industrial action.

That was the single message from UNISON NEC when it met in London today.

"We've got 10 days to get a massive vote out," the union's lay leadership heard.

The ballot will be "the biggest ballot the county has ever seen," general secretary Dave Prentis told the meeting.

It is key that members do not receive the ballot paper cold, the meeting heard, but that they are aware of the issues and the need to vote before voting papers arrive next week.

Branches have received bulk supplies of leaflets urging a yes vote, enough for every member, and should already be using them to have conversations with members, urging them to vote - as well as recruiting new members.

Negotiations are continuing, Mr Prentis reported, but there has been little or no movement from relevant ministers.

They've got to be serious about negotiating if they want to avoid a strike, added the general secretary: about contributions increases, about the age at which pensions can be paid and about the new schemes they want, where ministers are refusing to even supply basic information on issues such as proposed employers' contributions or accrual rates.

"We need to put pressure on them with a massive turnout in the ballot and a massive yes vote," said Mr Prentis.

If action is necessary, the NEC agreed changes to the protocols to make it easier for branches to set up and fund industrial action funds allowing them to make hardship payments.

Though with more than a million members potentially taking strike action, it will not be possible for the union to pay strike pay.

The NEC was meeting in London as more than 20,000 members in Northern Ireland took part in aone-day strike, the largest action for 30 years.

The meeting sent a message of solidarity to Northern Ireland, as well as to members in Southampton, Birmingham, Barnet, Middlesex University and 20 other branches involved in campaigns of industrial action to protect members and the public services they provide.

The NEC also:

• thanked Plymouth branch and the South West region for their work in getting the union rerecognised by the city council;
• congratulated members who had played a leading role in TUC demonstrations;
• received a report on the use of the union's fighting fund in supporting branches and regions;
• heard the latest update on organisation and recruitment up to August;
• received updates on planning for the 2012 UNISON conference, and report from UNISON's contribution to the TUC congress and Labour Party conference;
• received a report on the union's six-month accounts to June and a verbal update on the accounts to August;
• discussed ways to counter the threat to union facility time in the public services coming from the Conservatives.http://www.unison.org.uk/news/news_view.asp?did=7264

Also read the UNISONActive report by clicking on this link and John Gray's Labour Blog on this link

Hardest Hit Protest comes to Newcastle

STOP THESE CUTS is the message from disabled people across the North East as people are encouraged to demonstrate, along with their families and friends in the streets of Newcastle on 22 October 2011. The Hardest Hit march will start at 10:30am, from the Bigg Market to the Monument to protest against Government cuts to disability benefits and services.

Join the demonstration and help to make sure all their voices are heard. Speakers include MP for Wansbeck Ian Lavery, Clare Williams from the Norther Public Services Alliance and Kevin Rowan the TUC Regional Secretary who will share their views on the proposed changes. The Demonstration will also be joined by a number of local people who can speak from their own experience about what the proposed cuts to benefits and services will mean to them as disabled people trying to live independent and fulfilling lives!

Please click on map of Newcastle City Centre showing where the Bigg Market and the Monument can be found.

The purpose of the Hardest Hit is to bring together disabled people from across the North East to allow them to stand against the cuts to DLA and unfair changes to Employment Support Allowance.
Whether your disabled or not you can show your support by joining Hardest Hit demonstration and listening to the stories of disabled people and hearing of the support of key local figures from politicians to civil society leaders. Together the North East can show that the people across the city and wider region are very supportive of the Hardest Hit campaign and send a clear message to this government.

Council pensions not gold plated

Evidence that workers in the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) get lower pensions than those in private sector final-salary schemes was highlighted by the Trade Unions recently in a report by High Pay Commission showing that private sector final salary pensions pay on average £5,860 compared with £ £4,119 under the LGPS.


The Trade Unions have been saying this for months, but we have also been pointing out that the LGPS currently takes in over £4 billion a year more than it pays out, by increasing member contributions, which effectively reduces costs to employers, may cause many currently in the scheme to leave not that I'm advocating anyone does that but members of the scheme will question the affordability as many are financially pressed through pay freezes and the rising costs to living.


It shouldn't be that those in the public sector have to defend their pensions but the reality is that the media are often against us, the government are against us, so we are left to highlight some of the myths out there about our so called 'Gold Plated Pension'. Pensions busting the myths.


But that isn't the whole picture.


Public service workers are being asked to pay more in pension contributions by an average of over 50% - if you earn above £15,000. It's the equivalent on average of a 3% pay cut and this extra money isn't being used to improve pension schemes for the future, it's going straight to the Treasury to pay for the bankers' crisis.


If you work in the Public Sector vote YES to protecting your pension and if your not in a Trade Union sign up today preferably with UNISON of course to make sure your vote counts.

Default Retirement Age Scrapped

The previous regulations allowed employers to set a default retirement age (i.e. force employees to stop work) at 65 or higher.  However, it was unlawful to set a retirement age under 65 or retire an employee who is under 65 (or the employer's alternative selected retirement age if different), unless it was 'objectively justified' .  A default retirement age at which employers could force their employees to stop work is different from a 'normal retirement age' in a pension scheme, which is the age when pension benefits can be taken. 

From 1 October 2011, employers will not be able to compulsorily retire their employees unless the retirement can be 'objectively justified'


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12982824

http://unisonactive.blogspot.com/2011/09/work-till-you-drop-cause-for.html

National Minium Wage Increase

From today 1 October 2011 the National Minium Wage hourly rates will increase as follows;

• the adult rate, from £5.93 to £6.08 
•  for 18 to 21 year olds, from £4.92 to £4.98 
•  for 16 to 17 year olds, from £3.64 to £3.68, and 
• for apprentices, from £2.50 to £2.60. 

This is a long way off the Living Wage but never the less a slight improvement.

Dave Prentis, UNISON’s General Secretary, said:

“More than ten years on the minimum wage has become a valuable safety net for millions of workers. It is a lasting legacy of the trade union and labour movement

“The rise to £6.08 is a welcome cushion, but, with the price of everyday essentials such as food, gas and electricity going up massively, it won’t lift enough working people out of the poverty trap. We want a more substantial figure and a decent living wage for all - a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work, regardless of age. Good employers should be looking at the mounting pressures on their workforce and paying them more than the absolute minimum.

“The Government must be vigilant in enforcing the minimum wage - those earning the least should not have to suffer the most because of the recession. Without decent pay they will sink further into poverty and the economy will fail to recover.”

*The Living Wage is an hourly rate, set independently, every year. It is calculated according to cost of living and gives the minimum pay rate required for a worker to provide their family with the essentials of life. In London the current rate is £8.30 per hour. Outside of London the current rate is £7.20.


Please click on the video below or for more information goto http://www.livingwage.org.uk/ 

The Living Wage from we are fallon on Vimeo.

Join the Kenton School Demonstration

Following 3 days of industrial action ATL, NASUWT and NUT are organising a Community Demonstration to Save Kenton School turning into an Academy. The Governing Body of Kenton School have consulted of their intention to convert into an Academy and the staff, parents and local community are opposed to it. The Governors are meeting at the school next Tuesday, 4 October 2011 to make the decision. The demonstration will start at 4pm, so bring your banners and help support the trade unions, parents and local people stop their school changing to an Academy.

http://www.metroradio.co.uk/news/local/strikes-at-kenton-school/
Save Our Schools flyer

Manchester for the Alternative

This year the Conservative Party are having their annual conference in Manchester and the TUC is organising a march and rally to show opposition to the Coalition Government’s disastrous policies of pay freezes, cuts and attacks on public services that are producing rising unemployment, cuts in living standards and stagnation. The march will also show support for the Alternative. We need jobs, growth and justice for a sustainable future and this event will send that message loud and clear

UNISON Northumberland County Branch in conjunction with the Public Services Alliance, along with Newcastle City Branch of UNISON, is organising a coach to attend the march, leaving on the morning of the 2^nd October from County Hall and picking up Newcastle. Final details will be confirmed nearer the date. If you wish to reserve a seat on the coach then please either email the office – unison@northumberland.gov.uk or call 01670 533016/533779.

Manchester for the Alternative

A Better Way: Forum for the alternative

The Tory-led government claim there is no choice but to cut public spending severely and quickly – we say there is an alternative.  To find out more register to attend ‘A Bettter Way: Forum for the alternative’ which takes place in Newcastle from 11^th to the 13^th November (for full details see attached or download at http://www.tuc.org.uk/tuc/regions_info_northern.cfm)

Programme in brief...

Friday 11^th November – 6pm

Rally for the Alternative

Speakers: Bernadette Segol, ETUC, Frances O’Grady, TUC, Chris Baugh, PCS, James Imhoof, Unison

Saturday 12^th November

9.30am ‘The Globalisation of Austerity’

Speakers: Bernadette Segol, ETUC, David Begg, ICTU, Berenice Celeyte, NOMDESC

1.30pm ‘The unfair impact of the cuts’

Speakers: Neil Coyle, the Disability Alliance, Jo Curry, VONNE, Irene Mbwanda, Unison

3.30pm ‘An alternative philosophy’

Speakers: Anni Podimata, MEP/PES, Chris Baugh, PCS, Tony Kearns, CWU

7.30pm ‘The Kenny Bell Memorial Lecture’

As a tribute to the work Kenny did campaigning for trade union solidarity, the inaugural lecture will focus on continuing our efforts for international solidarity, promote and organise support for trade unions and recognise that trade unionism is a global concern.  If you wish to attend only this part of the weekend’s agenda, please contact Melanie on 0191 232 3175, mlowden@tuc.org.uk

Sunday 13^th November

‘Planning for Action’ Workshop and discussion.

Permission granted for New Hospital Build

Northumberland County Council has today published on its website the report for the planning and environment committee on Tuesday, October 4. This includes the specialist emergency care hospital. This can be found at:

http://committees.northumberland.gov.uk/aksnorthumberland/users/public/admin/kab14.pl?operation=SUBMIT&meet=46&cmte=PAE&grpid=public&arc=71

Jim Mackey, chief executive of Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are encouraged by the planning officer’s recommendation to grant planning permission for the specialist emergency care hospital. This is a significant step forward however we recognise that further work will be required before development can start. 

“The state-of-the-art hospital is part of our £200million investment to bring world-class care to our communities and, if approved, will save lives and dramatically improve care for patients in Northumberland and North Tyneside.

“It will be among the first in the UK to have specialist A & E consultants on site 24 hours a day, seven days a week and specialists from all the main clinical conditions will be on duty during the day and evening and on-call during the night.

“Alongside the health benefits, the hospital represents an investment of £2.7m per month through the construction period employing, across the lifetime of the build, around 1,000 people.

“Throughout the process of planning the specialist emergency care hospital we have involved the public and engaged with the local community and amended the scheme, where possible, to address concerns.

“The site has been identified following rigorous analysis which confirmed there are no alternative sites which are suitable, available or viable.”

Support Remploy

Remploy Ltd is a government owned company in the United Kingdom which provides employment and employment placement services for disabled people. It was established in 1945 under the terms of the 1944 Disabled Persons (Employment) Act, and opened its first factory in 1946. Over the following decades it established a network of factories across the UK making a wide variety of products, and in the late 20th century it moved into service businesses.

Remploy has undergone a major modernisation, and is now also a provider of employment services for disabled people and others with barriers to employment. In 2009/10 Remploy placed over 10,500 people into jobs across a range of sectors. In 2009 Remploy was selected as a prime and sub contractor delivering the Government's Flexible New Deal Contract, which aims to help the long term unemployed back into work. In its quest to be a major welfare to work provider, delivering a range of contracts and employment programme, Remploy aims to place at least 38,000 people a year into mainstream jobs by 2012.


Factories across the North East are under threat of closure as hundreds of Remploy workers from the North East are being excluded from consultation meetings as all 54 Remploy factories are threatened with closure if Government stops public funding in April 2013

All Remploy workers want to attend the consultation meetings set up by DWP to take place between 12th to 21st September at six locations. The aim of these meetings is to consult Remploy workers on Government proposals to end public finding for Remploy factories in April 2013 and on the privatisation of employment services provided by Remploy. 

According to the GMB union the DWP and Government are trying to prevent Remploy disabled workers from attending these consultation meetings. 

This government promised that all the employees with the company would be fully consulted about their future in Remploy. We now find a small number of employees from the 21 factories in North West, Yorkshire and the North East have been unilaterally selected by the DWP to be consulted. Thousands of Remploy employees are being excluded from this consultation and not a single Trade Union Official has been invited.

The factories have a successful track record going back to 1946 till the public authorities stopped loading them with work in 1990s due to then EU directive. The EU rules have been changed and the factories can be successful again when they are fully loaded. Making uniforms for the armed forces, emergency services and medical staff, and supplying schools would more than keep them busy.

Members of the public can help if they are involved with any of these bodies or can lobby MPs, councillors and others to get them to place work with Remploy. You can also sign the petition below by clicking on the link.

Labour group in call to support Ashington Remploy factory - Ashington News - Ashington - Northumberland

Please click on this link for the Remploy petition

The Robin Hood Tax Campaign — Public

The Robin Hood Tax Campaign — Public

Hardest Hit - Regional Rally

Please click on the link, flyer advertising the 'Hardest Hit' event which is taking place on Saturday 22nd October 2011 in Newcastle.

The Hardest Hit coalition is over 30 different campaigning disability charities along with the TUC who are highlighting how disabled people are the hardest hit in terms of changes to benefits and loss of services.

We want to make this the biggest disability demonstration the North East has ever held and trade union members and friends can help achieve this. Please share this with all your contacts. For more information contact:

Henri Murison, RNIB Regional Campaigns Officer, RNIB c/o Action for Blind People, Parkside House, Elton Street East, Wallsend, NE28 8QU. 0191 234 5409/07762 175039 henri.murison@rnib.org.uk

TUC Congress 2011

I was at Congress House this week as part of the UNISON delegation. This was the second time I have been a delegate at TUC Congress as I attended 2 years ago at Liverpool this time I was an NEC delegate.

I arrived in London on the Sunday the day before conference started and went straight to our pre-meeting. As I was not scheduled to speak I thought I was just going to absorb the conference and listen to the debates but on arrival Jane Carolan who is Chair of Policy, asked me to speak on Composite 4, An Alternative Economic Strategy needless to say I took this challenge on and you can read my speech as published on John Gray's Labour blog if you click on this link.

This years Congress was the first to be held at Congress House, under the new rules adopted last year. The conference lasted three days, instead of four, and delegation sizes were reduced. Despite the changes to conference we received a lot of press coverage and kept a high profile in the media.

To me the venue was to small and you felt like you were tripping over the press at times.

The conference opened with Brendan Barber. Below is a brief account of his speech.
He started by giving us a brief history of Congress House and how the building was bought as a home for the TUC for £25,000 during the Second World War on a 999 year lease. He then went onto condemn the recent riots and pointed out the vast majority of victims were frightened ordinary people in working class communities. He also thought that the cuts were not to blame for the riots but said it was obvious that they will make the underlying causes worse. The government says nothing about the morale disintegration of the rich. The super tax breaks that steal from hospitals and schools.

The cuts are “hurting” but are not “working”. In America the President has a new initiative to promote growth but is being opposed by the republicans. It is about time that the Tea Party crazies woke up and smelt the coffee. Growth is the answer to the deficit. The government is putting the long term pension security of public sector workers at risk for the short term cut in the deficit. Brendan called for affiliates to help form a mass movement for an alternative that no government cam ignore and build on the diversity of anti-cuts campaign.

On the second day Ed Milliband was our guest speaker and no doubt you heard his speech or least part of it. It really didn't come to any surprise the things he said and all I could think was I've heard it all before about how the link was so important.

The one thing I was curious to know was his relationship with our General Secretary, Dave Prentis as it seemed as though he wasn't aware of how the talks around pensions were progressing. But now I know that only a week before Dave and Ed had a meeting, so he must of been well briefed of our position and how un-productive the talks with the government have been.

Then he also stated that he favoured academies and there was some good examples of working academies in his constituency, which went down like a lead balloon.

Commenting on Labour leader Ed Miliband's speech to the TUC, Dave Prentis, General Secretary, said:

"The Labour leader delivered a measured, serious speech to Congress today, a tone that reflects the difficult times facing our members - job and service cuts, pay freezes and the Coalition's attack on their pensions.

"It was Labour that renegotiated public service pensions back in 2008 to ensure that they remain fair and sustainable - I would have expected Ed Miliband to give his full backing to our fight for a decent pensions deal.

"We want to negotiate - I have always said that strike action is a last resort. And Ed is right to say that talks have to be meaningful - sadly the progress of the pensions talks has been glacial.

"Ed's speech hit some of the right buttons - fairness for the workforce, the right to join a union and he paid tribute to the daily, unrecognised work of trade unions.

"He had harsh words for the bankers whose greed caused this recession. It is deeply unfair for the Government to try to make public service workers pay the price for their folly."

On our final day we had our very own Norma Stephenson speak as the Chair of Labour's NEC and the challenges she has faced as a woman in politics.

UNISON intervened 13 times in Congress and as usual the standards were high but no more than we expect. Finally Dave Prentis made an excellent speech to Congress and voted unanimously to support Composite 5 - Pensions. UNISON General Secretary proposed the composite and in his speech announced that UNISON (and the other public sector unions) will be writing to over 9000 employer’s that they will be balloting for strike action over pensions. Over one million UNISON members could be called out.

Dave reminded everyone that the average pension for women workers in Local Government is only £59 per week. The 57% increase in pensions is a tax on public service workers who have saved for their future. Not a penny of these rises is going to the schemes but to the treasury to pay for the deficit created by the failure of the banking system. Enough is enough. The unions will still negotiate anyplace, anytime and anywhere but it is now the time to take our stand. It will be hard and we will be attacked and vilified. Now is not the time for gesture politics or hollow rhetoric. We are determined, we are united – fighting for what is right, fighting for our members: Hands off our pensions!'."

There was a standing ovation for Dave when he finished.

Unions to attend Alnwick Music Festival

On 6 August, Northumberland Public Service Alliance are at Alnwick Music Festival where they have a stall. The purpose of the stall is to raise public awareness about the implications of the proposed academy in the town and the potential privatisation of the Pottergate Pantry, which is a local learning disability centre currently run by the council. I encourage friends, family and the community to attend the music festival which is a great occasion but also to get involved in a bid to say NO to Academies and NO to a Social Enterprise.

The Worker's Charter

The vision for a worker’s charter has been with us for some time.

In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s workers had been on the sharp end of tory restrictions and anti-trade union laws – the time for bringing a claim of unfair dismissal was one year [and strangely enough there were large numbers of people dismissed on one year minus one day – a bit coincidental!].

The Institute of Employment Rights with others, including trade unions, attempted to establish a platform of minimum standards at work that workers could expect not to fall below

The Labour Government of 1997 published ‘Fairness at Work’ and brought forward a new Employment Rights Act but it still countenanced many of the tory anti-worker laws and even Tony Blair acknowledged that we had the most restrictive industrial framework of any other European country.

UNISON commissioned Keith Ewing to produce a workers charter for us with 10 objectives that a worker could reasonably expect in their terms and conditions and protections and in 2002 the TUC went on to launch a charter all unions could get behind.

The supporting work for this charter detailed how to improve individual and collective rights at work and was presented alongside ideas for an alternative economic framework – one that promotes economic efficiency and social justice. It also illuminated the extent to which the UK failed (and still fails) to meet its international standards and obligations.

Needless to say, despite campaigns from the trade union movement and lawyers of the ilk of Ewing – the government of the day failed to significantly improve rights or ensure sustainable laws

As can be seen now by moves by Government and Employers to attack workers rights now.

The release by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills of an Employer’s charter – ostensibly to advise employers on what they can do – came not long after the release of the LG Employers advice on reducing costs by reducing workers terms and conditions

All of this giving a signal to employers that the worker was a target at work as well as in society

Rather than giving them encouragement

This charter was also released alongside a consultation on changing the tribunal system, including extended the time period from one to two years for bringing a claim for unfair dismissal. Other potential changes may also affect statutory sick pay and there is an expectation that smaller businesses may be exempt from many employment laws already.

Ironic given that most ‘entrepreneurial’ enterprises already seem to treat them with contempt – just talk to your friends working in small manufacturing companies – they will have some stories for you.

Cameron ‘explained’ that this was all about getting business moving again – about removing red tape – about freeing employers from their obligations to their employers – but strange that it is the workers intended to bear the brunt.

After all if an employer doesn’t want to warrant a claim of unfair dismissal – then they simply shouldn’t dismiss unfairly

It really is just another dig at workers – particularly softening up the workforce so that they are cheaper to hire and fire – or privatise in the case of public services!

Did you know that the UK is in breach of not one, but 13 of the 16 different obligations specifically accepted by this country in the Council of Europe Social Rights Committee – going back through successive (and different political) governments to the 1960’s – all at the expense of workers – how dishonest can you get!

Say NO to Academy in Whickham

Tommorrow, Wednesday 20th July, members of the union NASUWT at a Whickham School will take industrial action following the school making the decision to opt for academy status.

The school propose to convert to academy status without the governors consulting with parents nor staff.

There decision to take industrial action follows on from a protest held on 16th July where both parents and pupils joined teachers and support staff in a succesful protest.

Unfortunately I cannot join the protest tommorrow as I have a UNISON national meeting to attend although I do hope my colleagues from UNISON will be in attendance offering support.(Please send photos to flemingi@me.com)

To join the protest you need to be at Whickham School, Burthouse Lane, Whickham, NE16 5AR between 8-9am.

Show your solidarity and support the staff at Whickham to say NO to Academies.

Best Wishes for the day


Ian Fleming

Defend the Hardest Hit

This Thursday 21st July in Ashington, the Northern Public Services Alliance are inviting the public to a meeting in order to examine the impact of the Coalition Government policies and cuts to disabled people. There will be disabled speakers representing a range of disability charities. They will be joined by Ian Lavery MP Member of Parliament for Wansbeck. A campaigning discussion will follow. For more information contact Neil Foster at nfoster@tuc.org.uk or 0191 227 5554.

To advertise this event please use this link http://bit.ly/r36af3 to circulate to your friends and family.

NO REDEMPTION - THE 1984–85 MINERS’ STRIKE IN THE DURHAM COALFIELD

In August ’84, Keith Pattison was commissioned by Sunderland's Artists' Agency to photograph the strike in Easington Colliery for one month. He stayed there on and off for eight, till the strike ended in March ’85, working behind the lines to record events from the miners’ point of view.

These photographs concentrate not on the much publicised violence of the strike, but on how the village responded to the overwhelming opposition of the state. He found a community which rallied together - women and children figure strongly in these images - and he shows it against the landscape which shaped it, street corners, back lanes, coal strewn beaches, crowded meeting rooms, dwarfed by the colliery.

Now, in 2011 we face just as big an attack on our communities, our families, and our services. We believe that the lessons learnt in the miners’ strike are just as relevant today. It is vital for all of us, women, men, young and old, whether we work in the public sector or private, or are unemployed to work together for a decent society.

Join us at the Black Swan – Newcastle Arts Centre – on Thursday the 28th of July when award winning photographer Keith Pattison will present a short performance based on his work and a powerful slide show while Harry Hamer reads from GB84 by David Peace. Afterwards there will be a discussion panel featuring local trade union and community activists. We will round the night off with music from a local band.

Please use this link http://bit.ly/nemXPO to advertise the event and to invite friends and familiy to this event.

Berwickshire Constituency Labour Party (CLP) AGM

On a very wet afternoon yesterday (Saturday, 16th July) I attended Berwickshire CLP AGM at St. James Church Centre, Pottergate, Alnwick. The meeting started with the current Chair, Bill Grisdale, introducing himself to BCLP members then we went straight into business with branch elections. The following list is the key positions which were filled on the day of the AGM.

Bill Grisdale, retained the Chair.
Joyce Guthrie, is a newly elected Vice-Chair
Scott Dickinson, retained CLP Secretary.
John Davison, retained the position as CLP Treasurer.

The AGM invited Grant Davey, Leader of the Northumberland Labour Group to speak about the ongoing challenges they face as part of the opposition to the Lib.Dems in Northumberland. Grant, talked about Northumberland in the context of youth provision, crime, learning disabilities and future arrangements of the Council in terms of Northumberland County Council handing the delivery of services to the parish councils. Many of these former district councils duties such as Cleaning of public toilets, Graffiti removal, Allotments and Parks are but a few to mention are expected to be delivered by the Parish Councils. Grant highlighted that many of these services were formerly managed through the former district councils, prior to the formation of the Unitary Authority in 2009 and highlighted issues which could arise from this transfer of delivery. In his presentation Grant also implied that the current administration failed to save money through making unnecessary redundancies when it had a year on year leaving rate of 850 staff.

From Trade Union perspective I believe there should be no need for any redundancy whether thats voluntary or compulsory. The crisis was caused by the bankers not public servants.
The discussion raised alarm that many of these services maybe outsourced as Parish Councils look to save monies in order to deliver services on a shoe string budget.

Following the debate with members the CLP thanked Grant for his attendance.

Our special guest for the AGM was Sir Jeremy Beecham(SJB), give a briefing on the Localism Bill, which was very informative covering a broad variation of issues and outlining the advantages (very few) and disadvantages of the Bill.

The Labour member for the House of Lords, identified how the forthcoming Localism Bill will remove strategic leadership with the dissolution of regional planning. In the drive towards localism, he argued that parochial interests could dominate and fail to reflect the national interest. For example few local communities will attend neighbourhood forums. In the context of Northumberland, Sir Jeremy raised concerns over how a vision for the towns and villages could be run by local wealthy business people where they could develop under the new localism. If power is to be devolved to the neighbourhood level, as proposed in the Localism Bill, it will be a mammoth task joining up the varying interests to create a local vision.

I can't help feeling that skills and resources may not be available at the neighbourhood and community to deliver the ideas presented by this government.
The reality is that those same old people will attend the planning meetings, of course those in the business community will welcome the watered down planning restrictions which will arise from this Bill and we will be swamped by business people wanting to push their plans through in order to fill their pockets.

Save our Schools

Please see attached Northern Public Service Alliance leaflet on Academies. http://bit.ly/qS1da6

Wooler News

Read the latest edition of the Wooler Parish Pump: http://bit.ly/nLbABa

Read the Glendale Free Music Festival: http://bit.ly/mZuKhW

Read the Glendale Community Plan - A Vision for the Future: http://bit.ly/oKl7RR

Save Our Connexions

UNISON Labour Link Forum 2011

I attended the UNISON Labour Link forum in Liverpool at the weekend with the the Northern Region delegation. Northern Region delegates spoke on half of the 19 motions at Forum and moving 2 of our own, every delegate had a part to play speaking on a wide range of issues such as Pensions, Housing, low paid workers and the NHS. Speaking to motion 18 on Education cuts Tina Roche pointed out the vital work being carried out in the Region by the PSA in defence of youth services, such as Connexions, and our 2 motions on Local Government Funding and Retired Members were carried overwhelmingly. Merv Butler, Chair of the Regional Labour Link Committee said: ‘It was a superb effort all round from the Northern Region, our speakers were impressive and the messages they got across were important.’

Keynote speakers at the Forum included Ed Balls (Shadow Chancellor), Dave Prentis, Arlene McCartney and Linda Macovin (MEP’s), Lilian Greenwood and Angela Eagle (MP’s) and Jake Morrisson; Health Care Assistant, Liverpool City Councillor, UNISON member and at 18 years of age the youngest person ever to be elected to Council. Speaking on the importance of UNISON’s past and present campaigning Ed Balls said: ‘The partnership today (with Labour) is more important than it ever had been’, while General Secretary, Dave Prentis, said: ‘It’s our link that keeps the Labour Party on its toes – week in, week out it’s UNISON people working on the ground for Labour. We expect Labour to be there for us as well.’

I moved the motion Local Government Funding, see my effort below:

Chair,President,Forum.

Ian Fleming, Northern Region, moving motion 7 on Local Government Funding.

We all know Council’s play a crucial role in the economic, social and environmental well being of people, businesses and communities. Council’s are responsible for a wide range of issues and services which affect peoples lives – caring for and safeguarding adults and children, creating the conditions for economic growth, skills, health, transport, roads, environment, housing, planning, culture and leisure to name but a few.

None of these important areas relate to business rates income – which is a central feature of this Governments proposed reforms for local government finance. In the Northern Region all 12 Councils collect less business rates than they receive from the formula grant. So how the review is resolved and the impact a new system has on the ability to provide a good level of service no matter what your needs are, who you are or where you live is a critical issue for us all.
The 2011/12 and 2012/13 grant settlements for the North East will result in grant losses above the national average in percentage terms and substantially above average reductions in cash grant. The significant reduction in resource equalisation means that Councils can no longer provide the same level of service by charging a similar Band D tax. With an alternative cap on Council tax increases this means that the North East has to make deeper cuts in its revenue budgets, thereby putting greater pressure on the delivery of core services.
We would all agree that the current system we have used for years is far from perfect and it is our union which rigorously campaigned for something better, but at least you could say the system we used attempted to be fair by providing different Councils with different levels of resource to meet different needs. It does this by compensating for different council tax yields and allocating according to different levels of need. Its objective is to financially enable Councils so that residents, our members, across England receive the same level of service, regardless of the resource base of their local area.
Under the reforms Councils will make up their remaining Government grant, which is 80% of the calculation through collecting business rates.
Localisation of business rates would re-allocate resources to Councils with strong economies, i.e wealthy and business rich parts of London and the South East, led by Westminster and the City of London and in areas where there is a vast mix of high value national and international businesses and retail sites. Those losing would be poorer areas, smaller commercial and business areas and those with high rates of out – commuting to neighbouring urban conurbations. Due to the uneven British economy, the vast majority of areas throughout the North East, North West, Yorkshire and Humberside, East and West Midlands and the South West would lose, as would many poor parts of London.
My region would lose 320m. One Council projects losses of 88m per year. My own Council is set to lose 60m in one year making it one of the biggest losers, but this isn’t the end as my Council is still expected to make a 30m saving on top of the 60m, while the likes of Westminster will collect half a billion pounds more than it was previously allocated.
Forum it was Cameron and Clegg in May 2010 who said ‘We will ensure that fairness is at the heart of decisions so that all those most in need are protected’. What a joke!
Forum we need a new funding formula which delivers better financial outcomes for our Councils in the short, medium and long term and provides a fair and equitable formula that takes into account the different needs of different people and places, but most importantly a formula that works to help everyone right across our country, not just for those who live in the likes of Westminster – no offence to colleagues from there.

Forum please support the motion.

Wishing the NHS Happy 63rd Birthday

As the National Health Service turned 63 today, the Northern TUC and Northern Public Services Alliance were out in force to celebrate one of the most envied healthcare systems in the world - providing free healthcare for all at the point of need. I was in Morpeth speaking to people and asking them to sign the birthday card.

Clare Williams, Chair of the Northern PSA and Unison Regional Convenor said: 'It is important to celebrate the creation of the NHS, and to highlight the threat it faces due to the Government's plans for public services. The Government promised no more top down reorganisations of the NHS, but what we are seeing is the biggest reorganisation since its creation. The health budget is not protected and we are having to find £20 billion in efficiency savings, which will inevitably impact on the delivery of healthcare. We have already seen health jobs lost in the North East as a result of the Government's plans.
'Even after the 'pause and listening' exercise the amendments to the proposed Health White Paper do not remove the core: to increase privatisation into healthcare - and to hand £80billion to GPs to commission care, something the majority don't want to do. The public support and satisfaction for the NHS is at the highest it has been for decades. This is why the Northern Public Service Alliance is continuing to campaign against this Government's plans for public services, and the NHS.'