Mensaje de solidaridad a los 33 mineros de la mina San Jose, Copiapo, Chile

"West Ham Ward Labour Party saluda a los 33 mineros valientes de la mina San Jose y les mandamos nuestros mejores deseos de solidaridad y para un rescate segura. Su valor es otro testimonio mas del heroismo de los mineros y su accidente nos recuerda que las empresas mineras tienen que hacer mas para proteger la salud y seguridad de sus trabajadores.

Fuerza!"

Message of support to the 33 miners of the San Jose mine, Copiapo, Chile

"West Ham Ward Labour Party greets the 33 brave miners of the San Jose mine and sends you our best wishes for a safe rescue. Your courage is yet another testimony to the heroism of miners and your accident reminds us that mining companies must do more to protect the health and safety of their workers".

On Thursday evening I was at the monthly Labour Party meeting of West Ham Ward (which I represent as one of their three Councillors) and was very proud that the above motion was put to the meeting and not only passed unanimously but with genuine and heartfelt expressions of solidarity and support. 

One of the older members present, Gerry, who in his youth, shovelled coal into generators all day for a living, proposed that we send a donation of £100 from ward funds to their union to support the families of the miners trapped below.  This was agreed and we sent the motion with a request for further donations to this week's West Ham CLP Executive meeting.

Sometimes we can all be a little bit too cynical about traditional grass roots Labour Party structures.

I'm trying to find out the best way to pass on the money to the appropriate Chilean union via UNISON. 

Thinking of the health and safety hazards of working underground also made me think of the strike that started this evening against Tory Mayor, Boris Johnson, plans to close ticket offices on London Underground and reduce numbers of staff available to deal with accidents and fires.

UPDATE: Great news!

UNISON London Regional Council 2 - BA Unite speaker

2nd Speaker was BA Unite cabin crew steward, Nikki Marcus. Who gave an excellent and inspirational speech about the real reasons for the strike and why it matters to all of us.

The strike started over BA demands for £120 million of savings from the 14000 cabin crew. Despite being unfairly targeted for more savings than other parts of the group the union negotiated with management and were within £9 million (BA figures) of a deal. BA wouldn’t compromise and forced strike action which has cost over £100 million. This has made staff believe that BA is not after a deal but is more concerned with “union bashing” and intent on smashing the union.

BA cabin staff are also by definition not a “militant” bunch of people. There is no “shop floor”, it is a dispersed workforce based all over the world. Yet they have shown amazing solidarity. Perhaps it is true that a company gets the union it deserves.

In the first ballot an incredible 92.5% of members voted in favour of strike action. Yet because 800 members applying for redundancy were balloted BA were able to get the strike declared unlawful even thought these 800 votes made no “material difference” to the outcome of the ballot. BA have also withdrawn travel concessions even though many of their workers have to commute from all over Europe, disciplined 56 members and sacked 8. Despite this 81% of members voted in a fresh ballot for further strike action. There was another injunction by BA on yet another immaterial technicality which was thankfully over turned by the Lord Chief Justice.

It is now clear that this is nothing to do with cost savings but an attempt to smash the union. BA wants to “race to the bottom” and have their staff on the same rate as the lowest paid in non unionised Ryan Air. Why don’t management want this same “race to the bottom” to take place for the pay rate of CEO’s?

Nikki gave not only a great emotive speech but put over a powerful but simple argument that will ring particularly well with those in the audience that represent members in the private sector and have to deal with anti-union, anti-democratic employers who want to destroy us.

“Idiots” and “lunatics” SWP break up meeting between Unite and BA at ACAS

Check out this BBC and Sky news report. Just when you think there can be nobody as stupid and self destructive as BA management up pops “the life of Brian” head banging cultists to prove otherwise.

Who on earth on their Central Committee authorised them to break up a meeting at Acas (Acas for crying out loud!) which was trying in last ditch talks to reach an agreement on a bloody serious dispute between a trade union and management? I recognise in the videos some of the usual suspects who should know better. How can any real trade unionists now have anything to do with these cultists who attack workers?

Excuse the language but until today I had actually thought that the commonplace trade union joke about the initials SWP actually standing for “S**t on the Workers Party” - was infantile. Silly me.

Picture is from the BBC report showing Unite Joint General Secretary Tony Woodley showing incredible (and unusual) restraint while telling the moronic protestors that if they supported BA staff they would leave and let him get on with his job. I am sure that if TV cameras had not been present the former Ellesmere Port Vauxhall car factory steward would have undertaken some form of working class “direct action” with the largely public school, middle class “fantasy union” protestors to show them the error of their ways.

This is the Sky Report. “Some 100 people broke into the HQ of the conciliation service Acas where talks were ongoing to try and settle the long-running dispute.

But the discussions have now been abandoned after BA chief executive Willie Walsh was forced to leave the venue.

A furious Tony Woodley, joint general secretary of Unite, told Sky News the activists were "idiots" and "lunatics".

"Negotiations have not broken down, they have been broken up. We have made some progress but there is more to do," he said.

"This was a complete waste of an early-evening.

"I am so disappointed... that idiots, who think they are helping, but they are outsiders. They are lunatics."

When asked if talks would continue on Sunday, he added: "I hope so, but Willie Walsh was harangued and left the building quickly, understandably."

Unite members of BA cabin crew are set for a five-day walk-out from Monday unless an agreement can be reached”.

UPDATE: check out the fall out in Socialist Unity and UNISONactive