If you’ve got kids going back to school next term, see if you could get help with the cost of their uniforms. Apply from 1 July www.unison.org.uk/schooluniform2021
If eligible grants of £50 per child (max £150 per family)
My own personal blog. UNISON NEC member for Housing Associations & Charities, HA Convenor, London Regional Council Officer & Chair of its Labour Link Committee. Newham Cllr for West Ham Ward, Vice Chair of Local Authority Pension Fund Forum, Pension trustee, Housing & Safety Practitioner. Centre left and proud member of Labour movement family. Strictly no trolls please. Promoted by Luke Place on behalf of J.Gray, Newham Labour Group, St Luke’s Community Centre, E16 1HS.
If you’ve got kids going back to school next term, see if you could get help with the cost of their uniforms. Apply from 1 July www.unison.org.uk/schooluniform2021
If eligible grants of £50 per child (max £150 per family)
The meeting was Chaired by Yvonne Green and our guest speaker was Labour MP for Erith & Thamesmead, Shadow Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, Abena Oppong-Asare (a long time UNISON Labour Link activist). Abena gave a marvellous talk and Q&A about how tough it is to get on in local and national politics as a Black women but how the support of her political sisters (and others) helped her get through.
Next we we had brief introduction on "What is UNISON Labour Link" by our local organiser, Jack Phipps, followed by a presentation by me on "The Role of the Labour Link Officer" (which I hope people found useful).
We then split into workshops and later reported back on how Labour Link can help branches with campaigns, how to increase engagement and persuade more members to join and participate in Labour Link.
The final session was a training by UNISON Labour Link activist, Anu Prashar, on Dialogue, the Labour Party telecanvass software and in particular how to support our Labour candidate Kim Leadbeater in the by election in Batley and Spen.
I thought the training went well and this will be the first of many.
It was a peaceful and relaxing walk mostly next to water but also across fields and hedgerows. The weather forecast was a bit dodgy but luckily there was only a few spots of very light rain.
It is difficult to imagine that this area was for hundreds of years a Royal factory for the production of gunpowder and armaments. There still remains a very large fenced off former military "research station" which appears to be gradually being knocked down to build modern flats and offices.
Many of the lakes and water features were also caused by industrial scale gravel extraction.
The riverboat community were very friendly (apart from one who told us off for cooing at her cat which was sleeping in the bow of the boat).
There are a number of interesting modern sculptures scattered around the area which are well worth a stop and a ponder and at least one wildlife hide.
There was a "Viking" signpost and information board which pointed out that this used to be the border between the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms to the west and the Viking controlled territories known as Danelaw to the east.
By coincidence last night, I started watching the "Last Kingdom" series on Netflix, which is set in this period. It is not for the fainthearted (thank you Shabs) and I will give it another go tonight but if the death and gore count is similar to last night, I may give the rest of the series a miss.
I recommend this walk but it is likely to be very busy for the first half if a warm and sunny weekend.
My political campaigning life is beginning to somewhat come back to "normal" (whatever that means nowadays).
On Wednesday evening I took part in a Labour Unions telecanvassing session for Kim Leadbeater, the Labour candidate in the by election next week being held in Batley & Spen. This was hosted with Mick Whelan from ASLEF and Rachel Reeves MP. Kim herself, also joined and gave a barnstorming speech about her politics, her support of trade unions and what she wants to do for the people of Batley & Spen if elected.
The dialogue telephone session itself was quite frustrating since in about 45 minutes I rang 73 electors in Batley & Spen but only managed to complete 5 voter surveys. Nearly everyone had an answerphone on.
The voters I managed to speak to were very positive, including 2 who had been marked down as "Against" the Labour Party on our records but told me how Kim had won them over.
This morning we were due to have a Labour Group physical door knocking session in Custom House, Newham. However, when we arrived at the meeting point, it turned out that part of the Labour Party website was down and we could not download the names and addresses to call at on our smartphones. Lesson learnt is that while new technology is fantastic when it works, you should have a hard copy backup system.
While some of the canvass teams were coming back later that day with paper lists, I cycled back home and joined the Newham Labour Group online telecanvass session (dialogue software which worked for me) targeting our Little Ilford ward.
In a similar 45 minute time frame I "only" managed to make 26 calls but completed 13 surveys. There was far less telephone answer machines and I managed to speak to more people and had some pretty decent discussions. Possibly people are more relaxed and ready to chat on a Saturday morning.
On Monday evening I am chairing a Greater London UNISON training for our "Labour Link" branch officers. At the end of the meeting we are planning to do another telecanvass session to support Kim.
https://newhamforchange.org/home/the-newham-mayoral-referendum/
Not only a historical record but I in particular, agree with his final point.
"Many of the committee model campaigners from Newham will be willing to use their experience to support the challenge to the mayoral model in the October referendum in Croydon posed by the leader and cabinet alternative – and indeed in other authorities where the directly-elected mayor is contested."
Some of us will be arranging a future meeting of people interested in keeping N4C going (in a different form) as a wider campaigning body for the democratic reform of local government.
Wednesday 23rd June at 7PM and we're
delighted Kim Leadbeater, Labour's candidate for Batley & Spen will be
popping in.
Click below to register and help Labour win this crucial by-election.
I was also really pleased to finally go for a 5 mile circular walk around "The Glyders" in Snowdonia (Route 28 "Snowdonia, Anglesey and the Llyn Peninsula "Pathfinder Guide).
My favourite artist, Kyffyn Williams, has painted a marvellous picture of Welsh Shepherds on top of Glyder Fach, a copy of which hangs in my living room (see collage). I had promised myself that I would go up after lockdown.
The walk started next to YHA on Llyn Ogwn. I arrived at 9.30am and was incredibly lucky to get a parking space nearby. I would recommend getting there far more early on busy Saturdays when the weather is good. There was decent toilets there and a takeaway shop (I enjoyed a hot sausage roll). It took me 5 hours to complete the walk but maybe I should have had more rests to recover and taken longer.
It was probably amongst the toughest walks I have ever done. I had thought that during lockdown, I had got pretty fit but jogging in Wanstead flats and walking along Kent green lanes and Essex fields had not prepared me for walking up and down (or rather scrambling on your hands and knees) Welsh mountains. I had plenty of cuts and bruises from minor falls and scrapes. When your legs start going shaky and your feet are sore with blisters on the way up then the way down is always going to be problematical. Wearing shorts wasn't a great decision either.
From the start, after about 10 minutes of walking up and up on the hard stone surfaces it all started to came back to me and knew I was up for a bloody awful challenge. The painful ascent of Bristly Ridge confirmed this.
There again, the views were simply phenomenal and the rock formations on top were amazing, Most fellow walkers were also very friendly and open to a chat on how knackering it all was but how great it was as well.
Near the end, after beautiful Llyn Idwal, I passed a couple with their young daughter, probably aged about 6. As I passed, I heard her say to her Dad "that man in the hat looks like a Partner". The Dad responded by saying "We don't talk about what people look like when we are in public but what do you mean by "Partner". His daughter said "he looks like a cowboy with that hat". I had to turn and smile broadly (see collage and make your own mind up but anything to keep the sun off my face).
Enjoyed a cool Welsh bitter beer in Bethesda on way back to Ruthin.
(Please note warnings in guide book that you should not do this walk unless you are "fit and experienced". I was not but was lucky on this occasion and the weather was good).
Job Title: Newham Labour Group Campaign Organiser
Working For: Newham Labour Group
Location: London
Salary: £36,108.99 (gross and inclusive of London Weighting) per annum (full-time and based on national Labour Party pay scale:26)
Length of Contract: Fixed term to July 2022
Job Details
Newham Labour Group are seeking a highly motivated, well-organised and experienced campaign organiser fulfil the campaigning requirements for Newham Labour Group as the Mayor and Cllrs gear up for the London local elections in May 2022. The role of Group Campaign Organiser will be to support the campaigning, organising and mobilisation efforts of the Mayor and local councillors in Newham; and support delivery of campaigning and training content via the group’s campaign platform: the Newham Labour Campaign Academy.
Promoting the achievements of the Labour led council administration and the Labour Party amongst local voters and residents in the borough will be the priority focus of the Campaign Organiser working alongside local Labour Party members, CLP officers, the Local Government Committee, Labour Parliamentary Candidates and their agents; and the Labour Assembly Member. The role of the Campaign Organiser will be critical in promoting the achievements of the Labour-led Council and galvanising local support for Labour in the run up to the London local elections on 5th May 2022.
Newham is a young, vibrant and diverse borough shaped by a strong sense of local identity and long tradition of political activism in the local Labour parties. Labour controls the Council, where Labour’s Directly Elected Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz and all 60 councillors have been elected on a radical and transformative Labour manifesto which puts community wealth building and inclusive economy strategies right at the top of Labour’s agenda locally to address poverty and inequality, the housing crisis, youth safety and climate emergency.
This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced organiser, skilled in a variety of campaign, social change and social movement building techniques to work with a dynamic Labour Council leader and Group, in collaboration with local parties, local member so that Labour in Newham builds an authentic people powered and community based support base to initiate positive social change for local residents – in line with the participatory democracy agenda being pursued by the Labour Mayor.
You can find the full job description at
Closing Date: 21 June 2021
Interview/Start Dates
Interviews will be held w/c: 21st June 2021 with a panel comprising of the Mayor of Newham in her role as leader of group, the deputy Mayor, the Group Chair, Group Secretary, Chief Whip, and up to two non-Group executive representatives from the wider Labour group.
Application Details
Please send a CV and covering letter addressed to the Group Leader, Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz via Shakerul Haque, political assistant to group via: groupassistant@newhamlabour.org.
Deadline: midday
Website: https://newham.laboursites.org/
Additional Notes
Today was the first day of the virtual (for obvious reasons) UNISON delegate conference. It will finish on Thursday. Last year there was no conference due to Covid, so it seems a long, long time since we had our last conference.
The "conference" is taking place in the TUC Congress House with the UNISON lay presidential team, a few officers and video technicians. Delegates and nearly all speakers joined virtually.
The day started at 8.30am with an NEC pre meeting to discuss any urgent business. That went quite smoothly. The conference kicked off at 9.30am and so far it seemed to have gone quite well with only a few minor electronic glitches.
The President Josie Bird, gave a powerful and personal address, firstly thanking her family for all their support during her extended term while then making a direct attack on the Tory Government for all their failures over Covid and the recovery.
I was pleased to see our current General Secretary Christina and our recently retired GS Dave Prentis, Dave was there to receive his award of honorary life membership of UNISON.
I will blog further on SDC but was made up that it today passed the branch resource review motion and after 10 years of endless debate, we can finally move on and modernise the way we support our branches.
However, this was the first proper summer social I had been to since 2019 and it was great to meet people again at such a lovely venue to eat, drink (and most importantly - gossip!).
Some of us will be launching a new campaigning group on promoting democracy in local government. We will also offer help and assistance to those opposed with the attempt to bring in an executive Mayoral model in Croydon Council during their referendum in October.
HM Treasury and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy(external link) have commissioned the City of London Corporation to lead an independent taskforce to boost socio-economic diversity in UK financial and professional services.
Recently I was appointed as a member of the taskforce advisory board. By coincidence The Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (I am a Vice Chair) earlier this year had been discussing this issue and we had approached the task force to see how we could contribute.
We had our first introductory virtual meeting on Thursday. I was impressed by the contributions made and the many powerful personal stories, experiences and points of view put forward about why this subject is so important. The first official meeting will be on 30 June.
This link is to a post I that I did on the taskforce earlier this year https://www.johnslabourblog.org/2021/02/class-and-social-economic-diversity-in.html
(Picture Newsroom City of London)
Which was a blow but I offer sincere congratulations to my opponent Kevin Jackson on his election.
Kevin is a former long serving Chair of our Community Service Group Executive and someone who I have worked with closely in the past and is experienced, sensible and pragmatic.
I lost by 251 votes on a 5.1% turnout out of 84,487 eligible voters but such is life.
11 years ago in a similar Community election we had at that time a 9.1% turnout (still very poor)
I am used to fighting elections in our Labour Movement family. Most I win but some I lose. If you cannot accept losing any election then don't stand in the first case.
My fantastic Community running mate, Denise Thomas, also lost but rest assured we are going nowhere and look forward to remaining active and a possible (very probable) rematch in 2023.
My condolences to the many superb candidates who were not elected on this occasion and I would suggest that people do not totally accept the rather OTT (in my view) analysis of the results expressed in some of the more excitable sections of social media.
In the meanwhile check out my mentor George Orwell, on how to make the perfect nice cup of tea http://www.booksatoz.com/witsend/tea/orwell.htm
and about "Wellbeing and burnout"
During the last Bank holiday weekend, Gill and I went on some superb walks in the Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire border. Beautiful countryside and historic stone villages. It reminds me of the Cotswolds without all the tourists.
All the 3 walks finished with a pint of the local Best.
Check out https://shop.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/cambridgeshire-the-fens-pathfinder-walks-guidebook/ and https://www.walkingbooks.co.uk/acatalog/Walking-Close-to-Oundle-0695.html for great walks.
https://boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/2021-06-08-London-Initial-Proposals-72.-West-Ham-and-Beckton-BC.pdf
https://boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/2021-06-08-London-Initial-Proposals-23.-East-Ham-BC.pdf
https://boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/2021-06-08-London-Initial-Proposals-63.-Stratford-and-Bow-BC.pdf
I am a trade union appointed member of the board which "assists" the Council in the running of its billion pound plus staff pension fund. I have been a member of the Pension Board for the past 5 years and before that an observer on its Pension Panel/Committee since (around) 1996.
So it was good to go back to Mulberry Place after such a long absence due to Covid and to see people again in real life but most Board members, officers and advisors still joined virtually.
Interestingly I had forgotten/miscalculated how long it takes to get ready and then "commute" (cycle in this case) into physical meetings and arrived only just in time for the start.
Also, the Board meeting overran (for good reasons since there was a lot of important business to discuss) and since I had not allowed for this and the commute home then this impacted badly on my back to back virtual meetings for the rest of the day.
So today I was reminded of the efficiency of virtual meetings but also how nice it is to meet real people in real buildings. However, I need to organise my diary better if this "blend" is going to be the new normal.
If you’re a migrant worker from a country outside the UK and need advice on immigration issues related to your work situation and right to work in the UK then get in touch.
UNISON provides free immigration telephone advice to UNISON members who have come to work in the UK from a country outside the UK. We work with the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) to provide this support.
If you have been a member of UNISON for more than four weeks and need immigration advice and information, please call UNISON Direct at 0800 0 857 857. Your contact details will be passed on to a JCWI adviser who will call you on Tuesday, between 10am and 4pm.
When calling UNISON Direct, please be ready to give your full name, contact phone numbers and your UNISON membership number.
https://www.unison.org.uk/get-help/knowledge/vulnerable-workers/migrant-workers/
Ironically, by introducing pension credits under Blair and Brown, Labour was responsible for reducing pensioner poverty.
So what are the real reasons and more importantly, what can we do about it? Many of these retired Tory voters will have been Labour supporters when they were at work.
Between June 8-10th, 2021 the CWC will host two 90 minute virtual brainstorming events to engage with its global network.
We will review how leading asset owners are integrating labour rights at a time when regulatory contexts around sustainable finance are rapidly shifting.
Furthermore, we will report back on the CWC's engagement with BlackRock, upcoming meetings with SSGA and Macquarie and create a space for discussion around the CWC Asset Manager Accountability Initiative.
Finally, we will curate a discussion with the network around recent cases of engagements on worker rights in a) public equities, b) private markets and c) regulation.
Click here to register and to see the agenda
Session 1 will be organized for a North American/ European audience on June 8th at 7am PT| 10am ET| 3pm BST| 4pm CEST.
Session 2 will be organized for a North American/Australian audience
on June 9th at 4pm PT| 7pm ET | June 10th at 9am AEST.
*Please note that the agenda for both sessions will be the same, participants are encouraged to register to one session that best suits their time zone.