UNISON Eastern Region Community Service Group AGM & Seminar 2013

Last weekend I was in Bury St Edmunds for the Regional SGE Annual General Meeting and Seminar.

UNISON nationally is divided into 13 different regions. Eastern Region comprises the big English Counties of Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk.

The Community Service Group is the part of UNISON for the voluntary sector and Housing Associations. Community is the newest but third biggest Service Group in UNISON.

There were 16 Community branch delegates from all over the region. I work in London Region but my employer has offices in 4 different UNISON regions and we had three Eastern region delegates present at this meeting.

First there was the business AGM. Their excellent Chair, Henry Meiklejohn, went through minutes, accounts, elections, work plan, constitutional amendments and motions. Afterwards I was their guest speaker. I spoke on the current state of our sector, which is pretty disastrous, due to cuts in Supporting People budgets, welfare reforms and certain rogue employers leading and cheering this Governments race to the bottom; what we can do about it now to defend members and provide quality services but also where we should be aiming for in the long term to transform our sector.

I will post an edited account of my speech soon.

There was a wide ranging and constructive Q&A afterwards then we broke up for a meal which was followed by even more debate in the hotel lounge and later in the Bury St Edmunds Corn Exchange (which is now by a complete coincidence a Weatherspoons bar)

The following morning the seminar began with a presentation by Simon Watson, who is a UNISON National Officer for Community. He gave a comprehensive overview of our Service Group history, structure and plans for the future. One delegate made a point that he had heard Simon 2 years give a similar presentation on Community but since then a lot of the obvious gaps highlighted have since been filled.

There was a fascinating talk on the history of politics and trade unions by Community SGE member, Peter Todd. He made it clear that trade unions must grow up and stop talking about the past but find new ways of doing things.

UNISON Local organiser in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, Catherine Ward, led a workshop on strategic campaigning. Analyise, identify issues, plan, set targets but most of important to stop, think and evaluate. Be prepared to develop new tactics to fit new strategies.

Next Regional organiser (and Head of Community in Eastern Region), Nalin Cooke, talked about organising and recruitment in our sector. He referred to the key techniques that the Barack Obama campaign used to motivate supporters: Use “Anger, Hope and then Action” to galvanise support.

We then had a role play where we had to interview each other and act a meeting with a non union member and try to persuade them to join using the Obama principles. Afterwards each group had to demonstrate what we had discussed in the role play.

One Group (mention no names) played out this role play:-

Union rep: did you know that your employer is planning to kill your first born son? 

(ANGER)

Non member: NO!!!! OMG what can I do about it? 

Union rep: don’t worry; together we can stop this 

(HOPE)

Non Member: Fantastic, but how? 

Union rep: Here is an AK47 and the home address of your CEO. 

(ACTION)

Now, will you join the union? 

(Joke, repeat Joke)

I really enjoyed speaking at the AGM and participating in this well organised and thoughtful Seminar. Our Community Service Group is finally finding its feet and establishing itself throughout the union.

(Thanks also to Theresa for all her hard work in organising this event). 

Picture credit to Ian Kalinowski

Obama Wins: "The best has yet to come"!

Nice of the American people to arrange some good news to start my birthday! :)

Vote Barry - Message for White Voters

Seriously - Good luck for tomorrow President Obama. Fingers crossed. Hat tip Harry Place (check out the other videos) 

Re-elect Obama Video #Forward

Wake the F**K Up

Brilliant. Wake up everyone both sides of the pond. Please share link.

Tax Payers Alliance take on death of Bin Laden...

"Greedy Public Sector Workers with their Gold Plated Pensions, Kill Prominent Saudi Tax Paying Millionaire"

BBC Picture of USA troops watching President Obama's TV announcement while in Afghanistan.

Hat tip Col Roi.

Operation Black Vote: CLG MP Shadowing Scheme

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time.

We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”

President Barack Hussein Obama

Our House?

The need to urgently address the systemic under-representation of Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BME) communities in our local, regional and national democratic institutions is imperative. Of 646 MPs, only 15 are from BME communities. Of those, only 2 are women, and to date, there has not been an Asian woman MP. A closer reflection of society would be nearer 60 MPs of which over half would be women.

Operation Black Vote in partnership with the Communities and Local Government (CLG) are delighted to re-launch the dynamic MP Shadowing Scheme. The aim of the project is to address the deficit of BME individuals in all areas and at levels of political life for the benefit of all communities.

The Programme

The cross-party programme will enable 25 dynamic BME individuals aged 18 years upwards to shadow senior Members of Parliament from constituencies around Britain. Participants will gain an invaluable experience of parliamentary politics at Westminster and in the local constituency. The programme will comprise of approximately 10-12 non-consecutive days over a six-month period and individuals will participate in a mixture of shadowing days and training sessions.

What is the next step?

If you are interested in applying to the programme, act now.

Applications can be obtained via:

Web: www.obv.org.uk

E-mail: mpATobvDOTorgDOTuk

Tel: Francine Fernandes - 0208 983 5426

Application deadline: Monday 15th February 2010 at 12 noon".

(double click picture to bring up detail - hat-tip thingy SERTUC)

You deserve better - join a union

Well done To West Midlands UNISON for winning the TUC one minute video competition to promote Worksmart/Union finder. The video will be shown to delegates at conference next week.

Obama tells it as it is. Great stuff. Direct and to the point why we need strong unions and why people need to join.

Hat-tip thingy to James NEC Update

UK to US: The Truth About the NHS!

The British health care system isn't perfect, but we would never trade it for the one in the US.

Yet conservative US politicians and greedy insurance companies are pushing lies about the NHS as a way to scare the American public off national health care - risking Obama's whole movement for change and threatening his majority in Congress.

Sign the petition below and tell friends - huge numbers of us will cause a stir in the US media and affect the debate, and Avaaz will deliver our message to wavering US Senators this month before they cast their vote in Congress.

To the US Congress and the people of America, We urge you to ignore the myths about health systems in our country and others that are being pushed by US healthcare companies. Our national system of public healthcare works very well and enjoys extremely high levels of public support. We wish you a healthy and honest debate about healthcare in the US.

This request to support this campaign and petition the US Congress was emailed me via the TUC so I assume it is legit. It certainly makes sense to me.

Cuba: Call off the Embargo President Obama

Today I was part of a UNISON London region reception at Congress House for the General Secretaries of the two biggest Cuban public sector trade unions. Dulce Maria Iglesias Suarez (Public Administration Union SNTAP 3rd left) and Maria del Carmen Rodriguez Reyes (Health Union SNTS 4th left).

Our region recently signed a “Capital to Capital” twinning agreement with the Havana public sector unions. £45,000 was raised towards the cost of a new Ambulance control centre. It is always interesting to meet trade unionists from other countries and share experiences. Recently the role of Polyclinics in London has become a hot topic. Cuba invented “Polyclinics” and their primary health care system is second to none. Housing policy in Cuba and Britain has changed over the last 50 years and is changing still. Many problems are similar to both countries.

However, it is crystal clear talking and listening to the Cubans that the United States embargo on Cuba is still having a hugely detrimental effect on the Country and its people. Because of the embargo workers find it difficult to obtain the specialist safety equipment needed to operate sanitary and sewage works effectively. Ambulances are off the road due to problems obtaining spare parts and even instruction manuals. The economy is obviously adversely affected by the embargo and the ban on US citizens from travelling to the country.

Recent reports suggest President Obama is considering lifting the embargo. It would be a superb symbolic gesture that would mean so much to the world if the “ban” and embargo is lifted. It has been proved to be an embarrassing failure and it continued existence undermines US policy in the region and elsewhere. How can the US morally trade with China but not with Cuba? It all just looks like bullying. It is also completely counterproductive.

I’m not all that sure that President Obama will be listening to advice from John’s Labour blog but the number one rule in politics is if you find yourself in a hole - stop digging.

"Put People First" – G20 Demo London 28 March

UNISON is supporting the call for a large turnout of trade unionists at this march next Saturday. The gathering point is from 11am outside Temple tube on the Embankment.

UNISON and the other unions will be sending out more details later.

You can sign a petition and send a message to the Prime Minister Gordon Brown here.

You can also send a message via the Labour Party web site to Gordon and President Obama here.

The official "Put People First" website is here.

New Dawn in America - Obama on Unions (and the UK?)

Brian posted a comment here about Obama and the US trade unions. I also got an email from a US trade union colleague with the full speech made by President Obama here.

Obama signed an executive order and said...

“I also believe that we have to reverse many of the policies towards organized labor that we've seen these last eight years, policies with which I've sharply disagreed.

I do not view the labor movement as part of the problem, to me its part of the solution. We need to level the playing field for workers and the unions that represent their interests, because we know that you cannot have a strong middle class without a strong labor movement. We know that strong, vibrant, growing unions can exist side by side with strong, vibrant and growing businesses.

This isn't a either/or proposition between the interests of workers and the interests of shareholders. That's the old argument. The new argument is that the American economy is not and has never been a zero-sum game. When workers are prospering, they buy products that make businesses prosper. We can be competitive and lean and mean and still create a situation where workers are thriving in this country”.

Powerful stuff - I am now waiting patiently for Lord Mandelson to make similar announcements to the British people and for the Daily Mail to demand the return of the “closed shop” in the interests of British Business.

Seriously, the big issue is about balance – a level playing field for workers and unions. Things have been much, much tougher for US unions than British. But we still have a similar problem as in the States. Crudely put, management have too much power and unions not enough. Many executives, managers and HR (not all by any means of course) will use this discrepancy to exploit workers. It’s “what happens” in real life. I can accept that unions need to modernise and change as well.

But you actually end up with more conflict, more confrontation and more damaging mistrust and inequality in companies that do not recognise and value trade unions. In the long run (and even the short) this is bad for all businesses, bad for their bottom line and bad for the workforce.

We will always argue about what the balance should actually be – but the present arrangements are clearly still unfair and unequal.

Obama also appears to be suggesting that current crisis has been caused in part by this inequality (yep).

So the future of capitalism is dependent upon strong vibrant trade unions. Discuss?

Obama to Cap Executive Pay?

If true “happy times”. Tom P has posted here on a report in the New York Times that President Obama is going to impose a cap of “only” $500,000 on the total salary of CEO’s whose companies receive large amounts of bail out money.

Good news! I assume that the same will happen here? Since surely we want to make our own markets “competitive” with the US?

This is still an absolutely huge amount of money for one person to “earn”.

Maybe this should a realistic earning ceiling for all companies? This should only be for exceptional performance. Ordinary shareholders (pension trustees and insurance policy holders) must be allowed to vote on CEO maximum remuneration packages.

This could result in a fairer and more equal society. The real end of history?

This is a 97.5% reduction I think for some (from $20 million). It is also roughly what the top CEO’s of British housing associations get (£327,000). A rethink here will also be in order?

TSA - is there anyone listening?

"Main Street" John Gray on President Barack Obama

I thought that instead of me wittering on about yesterday’s inauguration I should post on my long lost cousins' thoughts, who live across the pond on this very special occasion, courtesy of a Google alert.

"I've been watching all night and all day, sleeping a little, then watching again," said Korean war veteran John Gray, 79, of Flint (home of General Motors).

The Mississippi native still remembers coming home from war and having to go through back entrances at certain restaurants.

"It made me feel terrible," he said. "I had risked my life for the country and when I came back, I was treated like a stranger, like I wasn't supposed to be here."

"...Beaumont resident and All Star customer John Gray, 22, who said he did not watch the ceremonies -

"It's a nice thing and a nice time, but we just have to wait and see if something really happens," Gray said".

"Ashtabula resident John Gray spent his birthday shivering, as he stood in long lines at the inauguration. He said Obama’s promises to America are the greatest birthday gifts he could ever receive.

“Obama inspires people. He is a breath of fresh air. His actions and his words give you a sense of hope you are looking for,” Gray said. “I was ready for this inauguration.”

For what it is worth - "John Gray" is apparently is the 1,073th most popular full name in America. “Gray” is the 76th surname while “John” is the number one first name. So pretty Main Street?

“Yes We Can” – UNISON Black members lead the way.

I have received a number of really positive reports from delegates to UNISON Black members conference which took place last weekend in Bristol.

Apparently it was an extremely upbeat conference with many people talking about how proud they were to be UNISON members and what the union had done for them, and a lot of people speaking about how inspired they are by the example of Barack Obama's rise to power.

Conference concluded with a show of unity as extracts from speeches by Martin Luther King and Barack Obama were read to conference by National Committee members and there was a moving communal rendition of Bob Marley's 'Redemption Song'.

Interestingly, unlike past years, there was not a single SWP or SP intervention in debates and it was refreshingly free of such malign influences.

Apparently three SWP members tried to leaflet the delegates in the hotel foyer as they entered conference on Friday. The hotel called the police and escorted the comrades from the premises, leaving them to stand out in the street away from the hotel's entrance, where they were completely ignored.

I think that black members are showing the way to the rest of UNISON in rising to the challenge of Barack's example and also excising madcap Trotskyist interference from their self-organised group.

A leading member of the London delegation has promised to write a guest post on the conference for me. At this moment he will be heading for a TV screen like the rest of us.

“What Do We Want..Quantitative Easing..When Do We Want It..Now!”

The SERTUC Regional Council meeting on Saturday morning (see previous post) had invited the economist, Graham Turner, of GFC Economics to update us on the “impact of workers of the current economic situation and future prospects”.

A huge topic to cover in 15 minutes. Graham to his credit didn’t seem fazed at all by this and did his best to cram in a minor PhD worth of alternative financial info in the allotted time spam. Despite the odds - it worked.

Graham argued that the Banks are still lending as much as they did during the boom years despite the common perception of a “credit crunch”. However, what they are doing now is lending to the OFC or “other financial corporations” such as lease and finance companies who use to get their money from capital markets. Which have now all dried up. The Banks are using the money they got from the government to lend to this “shadow banking sector” rather than directly to industry and consumers. He wants the Banks to be nationalised outright since piecemeal recapitalisation of Banks is not working.

He feels for Obama “I really do” since he thinks he will be overwhelmed by events - 1:10 US mortgages are in arrears or being foreclosed. This will increase as the recession takes hold. 1.5 million US jobs have been lost or more commonly, people are forced to go part time. The true unemployment and forced part time rate is now 13%.

He believes that the weakening of Unions in the West contributed to the present crisis since it led to a squeeze on earnings which meant consumer goods and homes were unaffordable which resulted in excessive lending

Graham’s solution is the infamous “quantitative easing” - large scale financial fiscal stimulus of the economy. In April 1932 the tide was turned in the States by buying bonds not cutting base rates. The gilt yield at the moment in the UK is some 4% pa; it needs to get down to 1.5%. By printing money or by whatever is needed. There is no current inflation threat only a real deflation threat. We need to learn from Keynes and from what worked in the 1930’s. Probem is that the lesson of history is of course we don’t learn from history.

Graham is based in Mile End around the corner from where I work. Well done to SERTUC for having him speak. He went down very well with the audience. I did my usual question to him about the role of workers capital governance in the current crisis but got my usual reply (he thought that I was talking about the current dire financial state of many pension funds not workers capital – it must be me?).

Graham has a book out called “The Credit Crunch – Housing Bubbles, globalisation and the Worldwide Economic Crisis”. I queued up with many others to buy a copy which now sits on a shelf immediately to my right and is now glaring at me unread.

Two further things of interest – the first question he had from the floor complained that there hadn’t been enough “class analysis” in his presentation. Graham answered by apologising for not referring to the impact of on the working class of the crisis but made no reference to any theories on class consciousness (which was a relief and a welcome surprise).

Steve Hart, the Unite London regional secretary, asked Graham if could think of a more snappy, user friendly slogan to explain what he was arguing about. Steve, quite reasonably pointed out that he could not imagine going on a demo with thousands of people shouting “What do we want...Quantitative Easing... When do we want it?..."“Now”. I think that Graham suggested “Print Money Now” and “No Wage Cuts”. Which are not that catchy but will do.

Yes We Can (watch on telly)

What a good idea! UNISON Labour Link are celebrating Barack's inauguration for UNISON staff by watching it together live on telly. Hopefully this will catch on in other workplaces.

It Looks Just Right...President Obama and family.

I was sent this picture today by a British colleague of African origin who was pleased as punch with the election result “across the pond”.

He wasn’t the only one. I’ve mentioned before in previous posts that I tend to get a bit of stick and good natured ribbing from work colleagues when I bring up matters which could be construed as “p-o-l-i-t-i-c-s”.

The election of Barack Obama, as President elect of the United States of America has changed this attitude. At least for today, maybe much longer, maybe not, but there is a change.

Black and white workers I thought were genuinely interested in the result; they were pleased, touched and at least a little inspired by his election. Over lunch someone mentioned that he never, ever expected that a Black man would become the most powerful person on the earth.

People were also realistic about the problems ahead and that now he is in power, poetry is not enough and he needs to deliver on economic bread and butter issues.

I listened this morning on the “Today” radio 4 news programme, while jogging around muddy Wanstead flats, a report about the controversial Black American civil rights leader, Rev Jessie Jackson, sobbing his heart out while holding an American flag and listening to Obama’s acceptance speech in Chicago. Someone else (sorry, I forget who) said that this election wiped out the original sin of America since many of its constitutional founder fathers had declared that all men are equal, while remaining slave owners. Powerful stuff.

It seems that America retains its revolutionary ardour when compared to “old Country”. While I think that this election result is also part of an international realignment of progressive forces following the failure of unregulated capitalism (which will benefit the British Labour Party). How realistic is it to imagine a Black British politician becoming Prime Minister?

I suppose that 4 years ago most people would have said the same about the prospect of a Black American President. In his autobiography, Colin Powell, the former Black head of the American Armed forces said that if his family had emigrated to Britain rather than America (from the West Indies) and he joined the British Army he would have been a non-commissioned Warrant officer at best. I don’t think that this is necessarily true nowadays but statistically it would have been true in the past and probably today.

There are a number of really talented and capable young political activists that I have met across all political parties (mostly Labour I will say) who happen to be black. I think there is at least one future Prime minister amongst them.

Of course I knew that Obama would win last week when I received a text from top Tower Hamlets Councillor (and UNISON member), Bill Turner, while he was on route to the States to help out with the Democratic campaign. As I know to my cost, Bill is a super enthusiastic election campaigner and will have no doubt spent every single waking hour (23.5/7) “fighting the good fight”. Bill being Bill, he of course also gave me an errand to do on his behalf back in “blighty”, but such is life and he obviously deserves it for his good work (on this occasion!)

Barack Obama - Yes We Can

Earlier on today I had yet another rather dispiriting exchange with a BNP supporter on my blog over Ken Livingstone and the London GLA elections. Is it politically incorrect to call people morons nowadays?

Tonight, while checking out my daily “bloggers4labour” digest, I came across the Tom Watson MP link to “Yes We Can - Barack Obama Music video”. Tom calls it “powerful” stuff. I agree. Barack really has got something. He is very, very good. I’m not naturally that keen on inspirational “Kennedy” type figures. However, maybe I am just a little too cynical?

Anyway, good luck to the US Democratic Party candidates. Either way there will be UNISON members who will be giving up their holidays and flying across the pond to help out in the actual Presidential elections.

I know I shouldn’t but if Ken decides to retire (God forbid of course) as Mayor in 2012, I just hope we have an inspirational Black Labour candidate whose parents were originally immigrants to London. The prospect of winding up BNP supporters with such a candidate is just too good to miss.

Curse of Labourhome – Why Barack Obama lost in New Hampshire

Now the dust has settled, it is time to explain what happened. Last week I posted about Money Shop and Payday UK who have high street stores which target vulnerable “customers” with unsecured short term loans and charging up to 1330% APR.

I also posted these items on Labourhome and got some useful information. Labourhome commentator “Rwendland” pointed out that even in the land of the free; many US states limit the amount of interest that can be charged on loans. They are even called usury laws. Other countries also have such laws. In Canada they have a legal limit of 60%.

So there are precedences to ban this vile practice.

“Redrooster” pointed out that there is a UK website called “debt-on-our-doorstep”, this is a bit out of date but it provides a lot of useful information about how excessive interest rates can be restricted by the state.

Finally, Rwendland also posted on Saturday a comment that pointed out that the Democratic front runner at the time, Barack Obama, had actually voted against a poplar congress resolution to “To limit the amount of interest that can be charged on any extension of credit to 30 percent” while his rival Hilary Clinton had voted in favour of it.

Of course, once this disclosure had filtered through across the pond – Obama was history. Such is the power of “Labourhome”.