Capitalist Crisis and Workers Plan

My mate Craig asked earlier this week what I thought about the capitalist crisis and suggested meeting up in a pub soon and chat about it... both things that i like doing... so i will...

To get my head into gear I'm attending this meeting on Saturday in Manchester

Details of meeting (and reading here) for anyone interested in meeting in either manchester or London

If anyone else i know wants to join us for an after work pint and chat about the crisis (informally obviously) let me know!  Or look at the reading (see above) or editorial from this weeks solidarity (which is shorter)  and let us know what you think

republic of teesside

Recently met republic of teesside blogger... on a visit to meet my workers liberty comrades from Teesside... we are now meeting in both Newcastle and Stockton and a public meeting is in preparation on Socialist Feminism for the near future

But I wonder recommend others in the north east who are reading this blog to pay a visit to Republic of Teesside as well ...

Berlin from 2007

Emily asked me about my previous blog to Berlin (for anyone visiting it is full of useful information honest)

But it is on myspace... and although i am sure i can repost it here i am too tired to ... so instead visit it by clicking here

but please also post any comments here on what else there is cool to do / visit when i go next... 

Kevin Keegan gets support of Newcastle City Council?

There are several reports in the press of Newcastle City Council's support for Keegan. In a motion proposed by Labour Leader Nick Forbes and seconded by Lib dems (and in a show of cross party unity -  highlighting just how important this is) they called on NUFC to get it sorted quickly "recognising the wide scale public support for Kevin Keegan" 

Not that i am trying to downplay the significance of this for United fans, but just a thought... is this what the council is there for? I am waiting for the motion from councillors opposed Nexus's plans to sell off the metro "recognising the wide scale public support for a publicly owned and run metro system" and telling Nexus to end this speculation now and say no to a privately run metro..rather than waste thousands of pounds of our money checking whether to go with the in-house bid or a private one?

(PS there is no truth at all in the rumour that this post was just an opportunity to put a picture of keegan in tight shorts on this blog!)

amaizing maze

A bit "corny" i know, but for anyone in the northwest, next Saturday its a must.

Last night, me, Lee, Kim and Anna went to "Moonlight maze". Sounds a bit odd, but Lee is a bit maze crazy (last summer in Barcelona he made us walk miles in the middle of nowhere to see a park with a maze in it) and so when he heard about the Moonlight Maze he made us go

(Lee as a zombie!)

It was fantastic.. you take torches (& a hipflask!), get sent off with a flag on a stick in case you cannot get out, and go round this massive maze made out of Maize (yes hence "a-maize-ing") find bits of maps to help you find your way out... all in the pitch dark, and what a fantastic night.. (there another maze too, a massive trampolene & stuff for the kids) but go at night. Last chance is next Saturday 13 September!   

For the website visit here

Pretty sure we will be visiting Spookyworld this October too!

More council houses yes, but giving money to struggling building contractors No

At the weekend i read in the Newcastle Papers that Newcastle City Council could be the first in the country to step in to "help shore up the housing market"

Because it is "commercially sensitive" they cannot give more details and there is nothing on either Newcastle City Council or Your Homes Newcastle (the almo that runs housing) saying how it will work.

What is clear is the present credit crunch, economic crisis, fall in pay for especially low paid workers means many more need good quality council housing and mortgages are not what will help the thousands in newcastle who need a secure affordable home.

But if there is money to support council housing how should we spend it?

Private businesses have made millions in the last few years building houses in the northeast after years upon years of rising prices where those with money have invested in buying up land knowing that its value is going up, building apartments to sell to businesses that have not helped the most vulnerable in the city. They have profited handsomely at our expense from the market, and this has been contrasted by no new housing built in the public sector.

So now that things are tough, are we helping them out with "cash flow problems" as one of the articles suggests. Yes the council will of course get the housing at a discount, but by buying up 15 houses on the new estate are we making it viable for the private company to still make a good profit on this estate... Are we giving public money, yet again to private profit.

Should we not instead look at building decent houses, that kind that we know are needed, not just those that private sector can't shift, and forcibly taking over run down and empty pockets to make them suitable for tenants. 

More on Keep Metro Public campaign

Tonight i went to a well attended meeting of this newly launched campaign. 

The meeting was introduced by RMT and UNITE organisers and then elected a chair and secretary and went on to discuss the campaign and future actions.

The meeting had a good number of RMT / UNITE metro workers as well as trade unionists, students and the left.

Future proposals were discussed including:

- lobbies of tenders meeting;

- lobbies of PTA and councillors;

- mass leafleting

- street theatre;

- public meetings;

- strike action;

- public referendums and more

The next action is:

Tues 9th September meet outside St James Stadium at 10.30am

for a protest against the future tenders for the metro services who will be meeting to find out more.

The next meeting is:

7th October at 6pm at newcastle labour club, leazes park road, newcastle

more posts soon

latest on local government pay negotiations

Unison's news on its website, as well as the information on negotiations so far and the statement agreed by the unions and employers make grim and contradictory reading

We have been told that unison wants to resolve this dispute as soon as possible, but that the framework for talks is until end of December... when it would be too late to take action if the best deal they come up with is still crap!

We have gone into open ended discussions, calling off all, even selective action for negotiations which it now appears by reading the various statements was with nothing on the table, nothing at all.   Calling off action and it reality even without action, no other campaigning has been carried out or called for by our leadership (yes its been summer, but we new that when we called the action for July? didnt we?) 

So there is a problem with the leadership and by this I mean the real leadership at the top of our unions.

We in Unison allowed this to happen.  The left allowed this to happen.  The majority of the left did not debate how to hold leadership to account, or how to win this dispute... just calling for more or all out action, or saying wait until October when we can unite with others, isnt a strategy its more a "lets keep our fingers crossed and hope the other unions come to our rescue"

We haven't got a real rank and file mechanism for bringing together local gov activists across unions, branches and regions and this has helped the "leadership" get away with this crap 

Some of us in Workers Liberty and with support from other good activists helped initiate a email group but this is still only a tiny fraction of that of the health activist list. And this list growing to help share reports from branches, not just of action, but issues linked to single status results or negotiations, and other local conditions that can influence how we can fight over pay. 

The leaderships consultations over pay show that they have little understanding of whats going on in branches, asking for information on holidays (very very varied with many many authorities adding extra days leave) and annual leave. They think these can form part of the negotiations.

So we need to learn from this and build up the rank and file we need.

But for now we should challenge the leadership to lead:

- pull out of negotiations to call action; selective or otherwise alongside other unions (close the schools alongside the teachers?) ; close the depots and street cleaning alongside the GMB etc - Unless they put something on the table to make staying at the table worthwhile

- meet now in a high profile manner with other unions in pay dispute including our comrades in scotland with the message that we will coordinate action

- call open activists meetings in regions (not just officers) to build local protests and lobbies of MPs about to return to parliament

- say no to multi year deals when inflation is completely unpredictable and we know we could be leading our members into years of cuts in pay.

We don't need another reason to oppose privatisation of the metro but if we did...

The victory from RMT cleaners on london underground to secure increased pay (to the London Living Wage / minimum wage) is significant not just as an improvement for those members, but as a message that the "unorganisable" are organisable, that the "weak" sections in the movement can with the right strategy and commitment become the strong sections of our union.

The victory though as many commentators have shown here and here is not perfect by far, does show that privatisation has made it harder to fight, that if services on tyne and wear metro are seperated out as on national rail and the underground, with stations seperate from the companies running the metros themselves, with different employers, then wages will be driven down to make a profit, and it will be the most vulnerable and poorest paid who will suffer.

The fact that the RMT cleaners have won this partial victory is important, but we have a chance in the north east to prevent profiteers from driving down public sector wages, to prevent one group of workers to have one minimum wage, and another a completely different one. All the unions whether they represent drivers, cleaners, station staff, or office staff who work to deliver the Tyne and Wear metro need to plan action now to defend the publicly owned and run unified system and prevent profiteers from driving wages, cutting corners on safety and taking the subsidy that we rightfully expect of public transport and creaming it off as unearned profit for shareholders

for more on this see

Spot the difference: Unison in scotland takes different tone in negotiations

Do unison activists in england, wales and northern ireland have something to learn from our colleagues in scotland?
- taking action alongside all local government workers (yes, perhaps that one)
- taking action alongside civil servants (yes, okay that's another)

But perhaps the most significant thing that differentiates the Scottish dispute (other than the better turnouts, and majorities for action) is the tone of the statement from the leadership to the opening of negotiations.

I don't want to overplay it, or claim a radical socialist campaigning strategy but compare Scotland
with that for the rest of us just 2 weeks earlier

Mainly: 

"make preparations for further strike action"

"members made it clear they want a deal that does not lock them into multi year deals"

"talks are welcome but not in themselves a solution"

I hope that the talks on 22 August made some progress, but since i have heard nothing from branch, region, or unison's site, and the previous reports (agreeing a timetable for more talks etc..) give no information of what improved offer is in the pipeline, then perhaps we should learn something from the scottish leadership and being doing as they are at least claiming to be doing?

We could always propose something radical like proposing a date for joint action with our scottish comrades for september and building for it now? Perhaps this may focus the minds of both sets of negotiators and both sets of employers and central government... perhaps this may speed up the timetable? its just a suggestion.

update on keep tyne and wear metro public

Just got some updates from RMT on this campaign.

Metro unions are meeting later this month, with the next public meeting for the campaign being

2nd September at Newcastle Labour Club 6pm

Hope to see you all there.

Actions planned include lobbies of PTA, mass leafleting of stations, lobby of labour party conference with local transport planned as well as monthly meetings in Newcastle
7th October – Keep Metro Public – Newcastle Labour Club 6pm
4th November – Keep Metro Public – Newcastle Labour Club – 6pm

It looks like they are moving to short list for companies to tender in October so it is all moving very fast. I will try and post more after the meeting on 2 Sept, or see you all the meeting

Ed

Negotiations start and Heather Wakefield has nothing to say....

Unison and Unite began pay negotiations with the Employers today and members in my office will be asking tomorrow what happened. But according to unison they just set the timetable? It would be useful to know what the employers are bringing to the table .. but yes its okay because we can read the lead negotiator and head of local government for Unison's report... but can we? well if you follow the link it appears Heather Wakefield has nothing to say.

Well jokes aside (and i have emailed the unison website to ask what the error is).

It would be good to find out what will be discussed by the NJC next week, and for activists to be able to discuss what action we can take now and how we can put maximum pressure on the employers and give maximum support to the negotiators, but we will be stronger if the employers know that negotiators have the full support of our members and for this we need to know as much as possible as soon as possible

inflation, pay rises and negotiations

Inflation (as measured by Retail Price Index) is up to 5% the highest for 17 years. This is the measure usually used to inform pay negotiations so should add much needed weight and confidence to our Unison negotiations who met today with the local government employers.

And meanwhile Labour Research Dept showed that pay increases for private sector were at 4% for the last month

And the guardians polly toynbee (not that i have ever been much of a fan) rreported 20 years ago directors of FTSE top 100 companies earned 17 times average earnings and now 75 times as much. So lets remember who is fueling this record inflation and who is suffering massive pay cuts.

So what happened in pay negotiations today ? well according to the unison website not much, but next talks are on 22 August and in between that there is an NJC meeting. So getting in touch with NJC reps would seem like a good think to do if we want them to ensure that negotiators don't:
- sign upto a multi year deal when inflation is still rising quicker than ever
- agree any attacks on terms and conditions as a compromise for this deal

PS anyone got any idea what "nothing ruled in, nothing ruled out" negotiations means? what is it that the employers don't want us to rule out?

lets be clear when we speak to our negotiators that for our members there are some things that should be ruled out and an attack on our conditions is one of them.

Test with photo

With a pic too? Eating cake in berlin's tv tower.

Test

Test post from mobile. Ed

Happy Birthday to... me (and Deb too!)

I took a well deserved break to celebrate mine and comrade Deb's 38th birthday's at upstairs at my local and a lovely bunch turned up too, thanks for coming y'all and for cards and stuff especially those who came far (Anna & Jose spain) and near (Lyndsay like me had to travel well 50 yards) but i heard there were folks a few folks from Manc, a canny few from North Tyneside and even from Gateshead (can you blame them!)
And for those of you who couldn't make it, here's an arty photo of me and Lyndsay dancing

Picture of me fella by the river at a campsite in Snowdonia, forget what it was called but Lee will hopefully post a comment with the website for it, cos it was beautiful, next to the river (which you can swim in) and was very quiet, with nice facilities..
oh but don't forget some of those candles that stop the midgies or don't camp next to the river...
anyway we found it by accident and had a lovely second anniversary there, before a day trip to Portmeirion (yes i know we don't agree with privatised villages - £7 to get in, but they are remaking prisoner ...)

oh just found link to the website click here

August - a good month for crushing a labour movement

Forwarded from Eric Lee at LabourStart please act! Ed

August is a time when many of you (particularly those living in the northern hemisphere) are on vacation. Thousands of you won't even see this message until you come back to work.

If I were the leader of a country intent on crushing an independent trade union movement, this would be a good time to do so. The outcry around the world will be limited. After all, it's August.

About ten days ago, the South Korean government issued arrest warrants for the leaders of the country's trade union movement. Among those named were the President, Vice President and General Secretary of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), as well as leaders of affiliated unions. The KCTU Vice President was arrested by police and she's now being held at the Youngdeungpo Police Station.The others are still at large. Police have encircled the union headquarters in Seoul.

The “crime” these trade union leaders are accused of committing is this: in early July, they called for a general strike. The South
Korean government, in defiance of universally recognized human rights standards (including ILO conventions) has decided that this strike was illegal.

The KCTU has asked us all to take a moment and send off a strong message of protest to the South Korean government. LabourStart has launched a major new online campaign to do precisely that. Please go here now to send off your message:
http://www.labourstart.org/kctu

If you are on Facebook, sign also up the new Cause we've created, here:
http://apps.facebook.com/causes/107071

Time is of the essence and we need to mobilize thousands of our fellow trade unionists very quickly. I know that I can count on all of you. Thank you.

test post from facebook

Sorry, just still learning this so posted this from facebook

Scottish Council Workers Strike 20 August

Advance notice - council workers' strike on 20th August
 
For the first time ever all 3 unions in Scottish local govt have simultaneously balloted for strike action, won resounding YES votes [see figures below] and now plan a one-day strike on 20 august, followed by selective action and probably further all-out one day strikes in September
 

Ballot results
UNISON 70% YES -  35% turnout
GMB 74% YES-  30% turnout
Unite(TGWU) 68% YES - 25% turnout

and some comments:

- when unions all work together for action you get a higher turn out

- the situation is getting worse with prices rising and this could help explain a higher turnout and yes vote in this ballot

- if English regions want to build confidence this side of the border then publicising and supporting this action by organising high profile regional and city protests could both build real solidarity and help make english local government workers feel stronger by seeing this as an important step in winning an increase in negotiations

- worth noting that the scottish unison website proposes that this day of action will be followed by key dates of selective action of workers

If the scottish leadership are serious about coordinating this action, and Unison's Local government this side of the border listening then together both sets of employers can be put under serious pressure.

But we need to remind them that the vote for action by Unison members is actually getting stronger not weaker. Now what we need is leadership and a clear strategy to win.