Frank Bailey - Britain's First Black Firefighter (West Ham CLP BAME Group)

West Ham Labour BAME and TULO invite members and supporters to a Black History Month Talk on Frank Bailey - Britain's First Black Firefighter.

East London Rugby Club next Tuesday 29 October 2019 at 7pm

Workers' Memorial Day - Saturday 28 April 2018 10.45-11.15am at Clasping Hands Statue, 3 Mills Green, E3 3DU

This is a really important event in the Labour movement calendar and takes place, I think, at the most significant but unknown example of historic working class art in East London. I hope that as many members of the Labour Movement family can attend as possible. Keynote speakers invited. 

Workers Memorial Day at 3 Mills Green E3 - 11am Saturday 28 April 2018

"The purpose behind Workers' Memorial Day has always been to "remember the dead: fight for the living" and unions are asked to focus on both areas, by considering events or memorial to remember all those killed through work but at the same time ensuring that such tragedies are not repeated.

That can best be done by building trade union organisation, and campaigning for stricter enforcement with higher penalties for breaches of health & safety laws.

Workers Memorial Day is commemorated throughout the world and is officially recognised by the UK Government.

In 2018 the theme for the day is Unionised workplaces are safer workplaces and will focus the huge difference that unions make in preventing deaths in the workplace. We will also be celebrating 40 years of union health and safety representatives" See TUC website.

West Ham Labour Party Trade Union affiliates & members are organising a wreath laying event at 11am on Saturday 28 April 2018 at the "Clasping Hands" statue in Three Mills Green, E3 3DU (see photo college of previous event above).

The statue is in the park next to the film studios and is to remember the deaths of 3 workers who died near this location while trying to rescue a colleague in 1901.

The park is a 10 minutes’ walk from local stations. Please contact John Gray (J.Gray2@unison.co.uk) if you wish to attend.  

"Remember the dead but fight for the Living": Workers Memorial Day 2016

Please see attached photo and press release on behalf of UNISON Housing Associations Branch, Newham NUT, Newham United Against Austerity and West Ham Labour TULO.

Last Thursday 28 April Trade Unionists and Labour Party supporters gathered around the “Clasped Hands” statue in Three Mills Green, Stratford, E3.

UNISON NEC Member John Gray (and Newham Councillor) spoke to the gathering about the “50,000 workers who die each year in the UK from either accidents or work related ill health. That is 1,000 workers each and every week that die prematurely. The vast majority of these deaths were completely avoidable”.

Tony Power, who works for a local Housing Association in Stratford reminded them about the tragedy that occurred on this site in 1901 that the “clasped hands” monument remembers.  “A worker was repairing a ventilation shaft when he was overcome and collapsed due to fumes. Three of his fellow workers sacrificed their lives by trying to pull him out but they were overcome by fumes as well and sadly died”.  

Retired Newham teacher, Peg Probett, placed the wreath on the memorial.

Newham Councillor, Obaid Khan, thanked the Newham trade unions and NUAA for organising this important event.

Newham United Against Austerity: Invite to launch Saturday 30 January with John McDonnell MP

The collage is from Wednesday evening when Newham Trade Unionists were out leafleting in Stratford, commuters and shoppers about our NUAA launch event next Saturday 30 January, 2-4pm, main lecture theatre, University East London, Water Lane, E15 4LZ  with Labour Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell MP. Considering it was a bitterly cold night we had a good response.

This is the invite from "Newham United Against Austerity" that has gone out to community groups and organisations in Newham.

"Dear Colleague,

                             no doubt, like the Newham Trade Unions, you are concerned about the economic austerity programme of the current government.

We have been trying to establish a campaign in the London Borough of Newham to challenge the government’s austerity programme and in working with the trade union liaison officers of West Ham Constituency Labour Party a public meeting has been organised to set up a campaigning group to be named:

Newham United Against Austerity.

Flyers advertising the Public Meeting are enclosed in anticipating that your organisation will be able to send participants to that meeting and begin to work together with a view to bring to the attention of the people living and working in Newham, the implications of the ongoing decline in government financial support to Local Authorities and its negative impact on the services delivered by Newham Council.

As you will see Newham Council are predicting that the Revenue Support Grant it receives from central government will be reduced from 60% of its income it received in 2013 to ZERO PERCENT in 2020.

I leave you to imagine how Newham Council can employ sufficient Council employees to continue to deliver, even with prioritising the front line, its services to the level required by the people of Newham. I remind you that Newham is one of the most deprived local authorities in the country. On top of that with Inner London Needs it is still resourced as an Outer London Borough.

We look forward to your support for and participation in building this important campaign.

                                                                                                Yours sincerely
                                                                                                Peter Smith
                                                                                                Secretary"

[NJTUC]: Formed in 1983 by Newham recognised Trade Unions: 1983 – 1987 ‘Fair Deal for Newham’ campaign against underfunding from rate-capping: 1992 -1997 “Newham Needs” campaign for Inner London Status for Newham then worth extra £48 Million to Newham.

West Ham TULO: Living wage update; Royal Mail, Bangladesh Accord, Equalities & Save NHS

On Tuesday we had had our 2nd meeting of West Ham Labour Party TULO. Chaired by our TULO officer, Kim Silver. Kim is also an UNISON London NEC member and Convenor in Newham Local Government branch.

Royal Mail CWU activist (and Labour Party Councillor candidate 2014) Idris Ibrahim gave us an update on the dispute in Royal Mail following privatisation. The strike has been postponed pending talks (which are still ongoing this weekend).

Idris thanked us for our offer of support if there is a dispute (Solidarity actions on strike days, stalls, petitions and leafleting). 

Kim gave an update on our campaign for Fair Pay for all in Newham. Our motion from West Ham CLP has been sent to Newham Local Campaign Committee for support. If it is passed at the LCF then it will be sent for consideration to Newham Council Labour Group.

I raised the issue of the TUC backed campaign in support of UK retailers who source clothing from Bangladesh to sign the international Accord on Fire and Building Safety. This Accord is trying to stop the slaughter of textile workers that we have seen in the Tazreen factory fire and the Rana Plaza collapse. There will be independent funded professional safety inspections, training of Union safety reps with the right to stop work if there is an imminent danger without loss of pay.

Only a few British based Companies are refusing to sign the Accord. The TUC are organising a protest on Saturday 23rd November and are calling on supporters to download and deliver a letter of protest to all Edinburgh Woollen Mills stores (EWM - Parent company of Peacocks, the high street retail chain).

We agreed to  send a West Ham TULO delegation to deliver the letter of protest to the Newham Green Street and Stratford Mall Peacocks stores on Saturday.This will coincide with local Labour Canvassing campaigns.

Next BECTU member (and Labour Party candidate 2014) Sue Masters briefed us on the Save Our NHS campaign in Newham. There is a heavy Labour Party presence on this campaign which is led by patient representatives and independent clinicians. It is a non party political organisation and all West Ham TULO activists are encouraged to support.

Winston Vaughan (local Cllr and retired CWU activist) is also the West Ham CLP Equalities officer and he raised with us how Union activists feel he could promote the issue of equalities in the CLP.

Reminder that at next West Ham General Committee  Phil Wilson MP will be the Guest speaker and that we will be discussing the trade union link with the Labour Party. All CLP members can attend the GC as visitors. There is also a motion from West Ham Ward on retaining the link. The special Labour Party Spring conference on the link will take place at Newham Excel on Saturday 1 March 2014.

Under AOB we agreed to add the important issue of the public ownership of the railways to our  objectives.

Next meeting will be 7.30pm on Tuesday 21 January 2014 at West Ham Labour HQ, 306 High Street, E15.

UPDATE: success - EWM have signed the Bangladesh Accord!!! the action on 23rd has been called off (for now)

The Evil Ones - 1 down 4 to go: Bench, Bank Fashion, Republic and Mexx.

On Tuesday I posted here on the campaign by the TUC "Going to Work" website about handing in letters of protest on Saturday (tomorrow) to branches of Peacocks about the refusal of their parent company, Edinburgh Woollen Mill to sign the Bangladesh Fire and Building safety Accord.

This Accord is trying to stop the senseless slaughter of garment workers in Bangladesh. See here, here and here.

West Ham Labour Party TULO had agreed on Tuesday that trade union activists will hand in letters of protest to Stratford and Green Street Peacock stores before and after Labour canvassing sessions.

Great news! We have now been told that after months of refusing EWM have now signed the Accord!!!! So the protest tomorrow is called off although we are still pressing EWM to pay compensation for workers injured in the horrific Tazreen factory fire.

The pressure will now be on the 4 "evil ones" retail stores "Bench, Bank Fashion, Republic and Mexx" who are still refusing to sign the Accord. I hope that "Going to work" will be asking us to do similar stuff with this irresponsible mob in the near future.

(hat tip picture Banksy)

Edinburgh Woollen Mill / Peacocks: 23 Nov Day of Action on Bangladesh

I got this email this morning from the TUC website "Going to Work". I have printed off the letter and will be popping into my local Peacocks store on Saturday.

I hope many others will do the same. We will be discussing this at the West Ham TULO meeting tonight as well.


"Dear John,
On Saturday 23 November, the day before the anniversary of the Tazreen fashions fire, in which over a hundred people lost their lives, we are calling out Edinburgh Woollen Mill and their subsidiary company Peacocks for their continued inaction on their deadly factories in Bangladesh.

Please help us to take the message right into their branches near where you live by printing out and signing a letter, and delivering it in person. We need them to join the overwhelming majority of their competitors in signing up to the fire and building safety plan for their factories in Bangladesh, and to pay compensation to victims of the Tazreen disaster.

Retailers are always concerned about their image locally, and getting a lot of letters passed over the counter around the country, on an important Christmas trading date, will send a very strong signal to the company that their customers won't let them just brush people's lives under the carpet.

To make this a bit easier, we've mapped their branches online, and there's likely one near you. Choose a branch in your area, and click to visit the store. We'll give you a letter to download and print out.

First step is to choose a branch that you could visit on Saturday 23 November...

NB: This action is supported by the TUC, War on Want, People and Planet, Labour Behind the Label, SumOfUs.org, SEAD, STUC and WTUC, so you'll be in good company!"

UPDATE: Great news - EWM have signed the Accord!!!!! check out here

West Ham Trade Unions for Labour

Picture is from last weeks relaunch of West Ham CLP Trade unions for Labour. This meeting was organised by West Ham TULO officer (and UNISON NEC member) Kim Silver.

Kim chaired the meeting and apologised for the lack of notice but emphasised that this was a planning meeting on how we can organise as trade unionists and build links between the Party and the Unions. All Party members who live or work in West Ham can participate (you do not have to belong to a union that is affiliated to the Party). We had 2 union members from East Ham present and apologies from others. Hopefully we can meet up as a Newham TULO in the future.

We discussed a number of possible trade union campaigns that we could support and work towards :-

Opposing the Royal Mail privatisation; Living wage; Employment rights; Blacklisting;  zero hour contracts; Collins Report, unpaid internship, saving the NHS, Welfare reform and housing.

I suggested that we should consider modelling ourselves on the socialist societies such as Fabians and Co-op. To not only campaign and build links with the Party but also have guest speakers, debates and even social events.

It was agreed that our first campaign should be to support the CWU and their likely strike action over the privatisation of Royal Mail. The CWU is currently balloting members which will end on 16 October 2013. If the strike goes ahead we can run stalls, hand leaflets and take petitions in Stratford High Street and  give practical help and assistance to local picket lines etc.

We also agreed to campaign for a Fair wage (Living wage, sickness benefits and pensions) for all workers in Newham - private and public sector.  To start this we will ask West Ham CLP to take forward its existing policy for Newham Council to be an accredited Living Wage employer by contacting the Labour Group and Campaign Forum about implementation.We will also ask for information regarding Zero hour contracts in Newham Council.

The meeting ended on a really positive and constructive note. While we are not in anyway part of the formal regional or national TULO structure nor a substitute for a trade council, I think that by organising in this way, we will help reconnect the unions with Labour at a local level.

The date of next meeting Tuesday 19 November.