UNISON Winter Essentials Grant - one month to go

A month to go before low paid UNISON members can apply for this welcome grant. I was worried that the cuts to the welfare budget approved by the majority NEC Group would have meant it might have been discontinued but the money cut could have helped thousands of extra UNISON members.

The system is also a little fairer this year as members will have a 24 hour window to apply and be selected at random (see below). Not perfect but better than previous system.

Please pass on this link as many members (and branches) are unaware of this potential £200 grant.

"You shouldn’t have to choose between heating and eating, but UNISON Welfare is there for you. If you’re a UNISON member on a low income, you may be eligible to apply for a £200 voucher towards your food shopping.

Applicants must:  

• Be a UNISON member and have paid at least four weeks’ subscriptions as of 11 December 2024. Subscriptions must be up to date.
• Not have received a grant from UNISON Welfare since 11 June
  2024, excluding the School Uniform Grant.
• Have savings (including the total combined rolling balance on current accounts) below £1,000 to qualify.
• Must be responsible (or their partner, if applicable) for household fuel bills. Only one application per household will be considered.

And EITHER:

Be on a low income, meaning a net household income of no more than £26,000/year (£2,166.67/month)**

OR:

Be in receipt of means-tested benefits. This includes:

• Universal Credit
• Housing Benefit
• Child and/or Working Tax Credits
• Pension Credit
• Means-tested Jobseekers Allowance
• Means-tested Employment Support Allowance
• Income Support

**Where members have no recourse to public funds and their household income is above £26,000/year an assessment will be undertaken to see whether they would be eligible for benefits if they did have recourse to public funds so that they are not disadvantaged.

How do I apply?

All applications should be made online. Applications will open on this page for 24 hours from 12 noon on Wednesday 11 December. Eligible members will be chosen at random from the applicant pool and contacted to submit supporting documents.

Due to limited funds and in anticipation of high demand, we regret that we will not be able to help all members who apply.

If you are unable to complete the application due to a disability access need, please email: weg@unison.co.uk or call UNISONdirect on 0800 0 857 857.

AFG: Cancel the Cuts

"As Support Workers, we have gone above and beyond during the pandemic to support some of our community’s most vulnerable residents.

Despite this, our employer Alternative Futures Group (AFG) is proposing drastic cuts to our pay and conditions. This includes sick pay, holiday entitlement, sleep-in pay and bank holiday enhancements. We deserve decent pay and conditions for the exceptional job we do. We need occupational sick pay to protect the health and wellbeing of ourselves and the people we care for. 

We call on our employer, AFG, to stop proposed cuts to our pay and conditions and to pay the Foundation Living Wage to all Support Workers at AFG. 

We call on local authorities that commission AFG to take responsibility for how public funds are being spent, to ensure that our pay and conditions aren’t cut and to improve commissioning standards to ensure all care workers receive decent pay and conditions. 

And we call on members of the public to hold local councillors to account and to stand with us in our campaign for reward and recognition at work".

Say NO to: Attacks on pay and conditions Cuts to occupational sick pay Fire and rehire Profits before people in social care

Say YES to: A Foundation Living Wage Sick pay for all A voice at work through union recognition Publicly delivered social care

Sign the petition!

"UNISON calls on government to pull back from scrapping Union Learning Fund"

 

UNISON is calling on the government to pull back from its plan to scrap the Union Learning Fund in England, saying that the decision makes no sense.

The announcement that the fund would be scrapped came as the economy struggles to bounce back from the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, and as the Department of Education’s own findings revealed that the proportion of employers not providing any training at all increased from 34% in 2017 to 39% in 2019; and the proportion of employees not getting any training increased from 38% in 2017 to 40% in 2019.

In Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, the devolved governments remain supportive of the fund. So do employers in England – including Tesco, Heathrow, British Steel, Arla Foods and Müller Milk, who have already given support to the TUC-led campaign to defend union learning.

For 20 years, the fund has been getting working people into skills training they’d otherwise have no access to, with courses directly relevant to the workplace, tailored to workers and supported by funding from the government.

Workplace learning is a massive success. Not just for employers – 77% say that union learning has a positive impact – but for the economy too. It is a success that delivers a return of £12.30 for every pound invested.

Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, explained: “Lifelong learning has a key role to play in helping us close the UK’s productivity gap with our competitors. Workplace learning is a big part of this – and union learning has proven to be brilliantly effective.

“It’s a unique way of switching people onto learning that cannot be replaced. It depends on the trust and support of a workmate who has been trained as a specialist learning rep. If the funding goes it will be a tremendous loss, harming business and the economy just when training and skills are needed for our economic recovery.”

UNISON members who take part in skills training not only widen their own horizons but improve the public services that they deliver as well.

For example, in Newcastle City branch, union learning rep Linda Slasor and branch education co-ordinator Wendy Aitman have established learning zones across the city council, allowing many traditionally excluded workers to improve their IT skills.

Ms Aitman explains: “For the most part, the learners haven’t been on a computer before and might not even have used a mouse before, so we get them started so they can access things like our weekly update for members and the council’s update for staff – a lot of them have been fascinated to see their payslips online.”

From digital to diplomas, from maths to mental health, the workers getting our country through the pandemic deserve the opportunity to access education. Now’s the time to invest in learners in our NHS and our care homes, in our police forces and our schools, in our local communities and everywhere else – not to scrap a scheme that makes it all happen.

Roger McKenzie, UNISON assistant general secretary with responsibility for organising, said: “The Union Learning Fund has made a massive contribution to raising basic skills levels across the country and, through that, makes a massive economic contribution.

“It’s not all about pounds, shillings and pence though. Many UNISON members have been able to read a bedtime story to their children or grandchildren for the very first time because of the Union Learning Fund. The government needs to change its mind and continue funding this vital work.”

Teresa Donegan, head of learning and organising at UNISON, says: “UNISON has always had a proud tradition of providing learning opportunities for our members. The Union Learning Fund allowed us to extend our reach to non-members as well, meaning that we could help thousands more public services workers improve their skills and knowledge.

“In councils, schools, hospitals, call centres and universities – to name only a few of the plethora of workplaces the Union Learning Fund reaches – union members and non-members alike have benefited.

“Subjects as fundamental as English, maths and IT open doors that may have remained locked since a worker left school.”

Sign the petition here - https://www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/uk-gov-don-t-cut-union-learning

Under the Tories everything's been cut. Except waiting times. Your vote can save the NHS

#YourVoteCan

Speaking at Trades Council Rally Against Cuts

This afternoon I was invited by Redbridge Trades Council to speak at their rally outside the Town Hall in Ilford against public service cuts & in support of postal workers.

As Chair of London UNISON Labour Link (our union Labour Party supporting political fund) I offered solidarity to Postal workers and spoke about the Tory cuts to the NHS which has resulted in:-

horrendous reductions in services such as the longest ever waiting times for GP appointments & A&E admittance, Cancer patients not being seen in accordance to targets (and 10,000 fewer doctors).

As a Housing trade union activist I was also able to point out that this current Tory government has since 2010 built the least homes in the country since 1923; in the last 5 years they have only built 40,000 Council or Housing Association Homes compared to the 142,000 that the last Labour Government built in their last 4 years.

Labour are committed to building an average of 155,000 social housing homes per year with 100,000 being Council houses at Council rents. 

It was good to meet up with Redbridge trade union and Labour comrades as well as our Labour Candidate for Ilford South, Sam Tarry. Hat tip to Pushpa for photos and video.

It was great to be invited to such a well organised trade union rally.

Motion 2 – Local Government Finance #LabLink19

This is my speech to UNISON Labour Link Forum on behalf of the National Committee on Government cuts to Local Government.

"Forum, the scale of the problem is simply staggering.

Government funding to local authorities has been cut since 2010 by an incredible 60%. This means Councils have lost 60p in every pound since the last Labour Government. 60p in every pound!

While at the same time, councils have had to deal with rising demand for its services. For example.

· the number of homeless families living in temporary accommodation has increased by 34%

· the number of “looked after” children living in our care grew by 11%; and

· the number of elderly people in need of care aged 65 and over increased by 15%

So Forum, we have vulnerable families, children and the elderly suffering the most from vicious Tory and Lib Dem austerity

But surely Forum, last year didn't he Tories claimed that austerity is coming to an end? I think you will find Local Government beg to disagree.

A few special funds, here and there maybe, but nothing, repeat nothing, which meets the real needs we face.

And anything really new in the current Tory leadership debate? Sorry, a big fat zero; nothing about the role of Local Government and its services

A few crumbs on social care but NO concrete plan.

It is only fair to say that Labour’s last manifesto, while excellent on many things, was short on detail for local government – and rather short on cash as well.

However, our colleagues in Labour Local Government, do have plans for what will be needed from day one of a Labour government, to begin the task for putting local government finance back on firm foundations.

And most importantly, where Local Government workers get a fair reward.

UNISON is best placed to be the voice of the local government workforce and residents.

We must build a campaign,

Like no other in recent years

This week at local government association conference, Even Tory council leaders, were admitting that a third of all councils are frightened they will run out of money for statutory services, never mind everything else.

We must be the champions of Local Government across the whole country.

Forum, get behind the motion and fight for local government. Please support".

Motion was passed unanimously.

In Newham we are going to be a staggering £1337 worse off per household due to Tory cuts.

Check out this Tory cuts calculator to find out how your community has suffered (and due to suffer even more) from a decade of Tory cuts. Think about how much more housing or extra Police or healthcare,education and youth services could have been provided with this money.

OPINION: Community Links life-president Kevin Jenkins wonders how Newham can maintain services on a council tax freeze

This article was in last weeks local Newspaper, the "Newham Recorder". I have had no contact with Kevin about this but it would appear that this highly respected former senior Councillor shares some of my my concerns about the recent budget. 

"Once again the Mayor of Newham is recommending to Newham Council a budget which includes no increase in the Newham element of council tax - for the ninth year running, no additional precept for social care and saving of £80.08 million without cutting frontline services. I’m sure such a budget will be very popular with the electorates.

Probably much less popular will be my view, that perhaps the freeze on the council tax and not taking the opportunity to raise additional resources for social care is one freeze and one missed opportunity too many. I am conscious that I do not have view of the detailed data that the mayor and council have, my instincts are based on a combination of the data I can see, my year round observations and personal experiences. My key concerns

are:

1. Although this year’s budget proposals may retain the current frontline services, these frontline services are a lot less than they were three, four or five years ago, for example, there are a lot less youth clubs, holiday playschemes, advice services, more erratic street sweeping in residential roads, poorer quality and less used parks etc.

Similarly, although a frontline service is still there, if the essential criteria required to access the services is raised, fewer people will benefit from the services even though they are still there. More worryingly, over a period of time, services that were originally preventative become reactive due to the ever increasing access criteria, meaning that problems and issues are dealt with when they are much more deep rooted and much harder to resolve, costing more money to do than they would have done at a much earlier stage.

2. It’s always easier and more popular to cut the back office, however, the frontline services do need back office support. I fear that the back office services in Newham are creaking and may not be able to continue supporting the frontline due to the continuous cuts they are enduring.

3. Although the restructuring on the repayments of the council’s debt is welcome, the actual overall level of council debt (and growing) is concerning, especially in the medium to long term.

4. The most concerning, is the failure to take the opportunity of raising additional funds for social care. The level of real genuine need in Newham far outstrips the services available, which no restructuring or new ways of doing things will cure. These services which effect the most vulnerable in the borough need additional resources to deliver the quality of care that the people need and deserve.

Although I applaud the efforts of the Mayor and council to balance the books, there does come a time when you need to increase the pot rather than rearranging inadequate resources within the pot".

School Cuts (92% of schools will have their funding cut in England); Book Launch & Demo

Check out the http://www.schoolcuts.org.uk website and enter your postcode and you will see the schools around you that face savage Government cuts in funding. Incredibly 92% of schools face cuts, an average primary school will face £96,000 cut and average Secondary £290,000.

Locally there is a Newham bookshop/NUT book launch this Thursday called "Standing up for Education".

with Christine Blower, Louise Regan,
Victoria Baskerville and Mark Holding

“There is a crisis in our schools now. Children are facing rising class sizes,
there is a shortage of teachers and parents already face a crisis in finding school places.”
— Jeremy Corbyn at the National Union of Teachers Conference 2016.

What is education for? What should be taught? Who should control schools? How should educational progress be measured? What are the real barriers to learning? How much testing is too much testing? Are schools being privatised? Should schools be privatised? Do academy schools work?

These are just a few of the questions at the heart of a major debate over the future of education and schools. Many of the issues in this debate are long-standing concerns that have found new relevance in new circumstances. Some of the issues are new but demand an urgent and forceful answer.

Standing Up for Education offers a wide-ranging intervention into the education debate with contributions from teachers, politicians and students themselves. Its overall message is clear: current government policy is not fit for purpose and is failing teachers and students alike.

There are alternatives to over-testing, teacher shortages, demoralisation and privatisation. Standing Up for Education shows the way.

The panel

Christine Blower is international secretary of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) after being general secretary from 2009 to 2016; Louise Reganis senior vice-president of the NUT; Victoria Baskerville is a parent and is active in the Redbridge Against Academisation campaign; and Mark Holding is an assistant general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), and is a founder member of Our Community – Our Schools and a parent governor.

and to continue the "Education, Education, Education" theme there will be (supported by UNISON)  Saturday 19 November the NUS and UCU have called a national demonstration under the banner of ‘United for Education’. It looks set to be the biggest demonstration in defence of education in many years. Students and staff will march together through central London, assembling at Park Lane at 12 noon.

Proof council cuts hit poorest areas hardest

Hat tip Ravi. "In recent days there has been a storm about the recently announced 2016/17 local government grant settlement from central government. The creation of a new £300m relief fund will mainly be used to help Tory-run councils, like David Cameron’s Oxordshire County Council, with Labour leveling the accusation that this is to buy off Tory MPs.

I will leave it to others to form a view on whether this is fair or not. But this whole storm did get me thinking about the scale of the cuts not just for this year, but over the past few years, since the Tories came to power.

So I grabbed hold of the 2011/12 figures for “council spending power” and compared them to the recently announced 2016/17 figures and worked out the percentage cut in spending power for each council. I picked 2011/12 as a base year this was the first full council financial year the Tories were able to fully influence after being elected.

I decided to look only at the 152 County Councils and Single Tier Councils (e.g. London Boroughs, Unitary Councils, Metropolitan Boroughs etc) as they make up over 93 per cent of all council spending. There are 201 district council but they make only about 7 per cent of total council spending. Hence looking only at the “Upper Tier” councils as this made the analysis more focussed.

The thing I wanted to test was the theory that the most deprived councils were worst hit. So I took a trip over to the Office of National Statistics (ONS) English indices of deprivation for 2015 website. Here I got the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) average score breakdown by council areas and then  used the rank of the average IMD score to plot percentage change in revenue spending power using versus the IMD average score rank.

Below is the very telling plot of this data. Note councils with low ranks on the IMD (those plotted to the left) are the most deprived and those with high ranks on the IMD (those plotted to the right) are the least deprived.

 This graph shows a strong and clear relationship that the councils that are serving the most deprived communities have suffered the largest cuts over the past five years. This very strong relationship is evidenced by the high R² value (or coefficient of determination) of 0.81. A value of 1 would indicate a perfect fit on the line of best fit, and a value of 0 would mean the data does not fit the line in any way. A value of 0.81 shows a strong and clear fit/relationship.

So there you have it: the numbers don’t lie. The poorest and most deprived have suffered the largest percentage council cuts. The poor have been robbed to subsidise the rich.

If you want to check the data and my calculations you can download it here."

"Newham Needs"

So far I haven't heard whether the Budget last week will have any impact on the £50 million saving that Newham Council believes it will have to achieve next year. 

This is on top of £106 million cut in government funding during the last five years. The government not only want to reduce public expenditure but also move away from a needs based support for local authorities to one based on simple population. 

This means that Councils like Newham that has amongst the worse poverty and deprivation in the Country will be harder hit than other more richer councils. Newham thinks that next year we will receive "£284 less for every home in the borough while Richmond Council, a much wealthier part of London, is only losing £57 per home".

Things will be very tough. The Council has started a formal consultation process on "Newham Budget Challenge" where residents and local businesses can sign up here to receive information and take part in surveys. 

What I would like to do as a ward councillor is to consult directly with my constituents about what is important to them and what we (Council and residents) should collectively do about opposing the cuts.

I think that it is not enough for Councils to just "manage" the cuts by cutting services and raising income to try to protect essential services as best we can. Important as this is. We must also see if we can oppose and campaign against cuts. 

Privatisation of Council services is no answer. It only results in local management awarding themselves huge pay rises and profit being extracted from public services. The low paid and the vulnerable always suffer. 

While I fully accept that there is a majority Conservative government in power, I do not

believe that we have to just "go along" with the cuts and not actively oppose them. Under past Tory governments we were able to stop some of the things that they wanted to do. Plans to introduce the Right to Buy for Housing Associations were overturned in the House of Lords after a successful campaign. Remember how the poll tax was defeated by a combination of popular protest and rational argument. The privatisation of the Forestry Commission in the last government was also stopped by a well run and organised campaign.

The cuts in benefits for families is causing genuine unease amongst "one nation" Tories and those concerned with Children's welfare and housing.  Intelligent Tories know that our country faces civil unrest and disaster if inequality just keeps on rising.

The Council supported "Newham Needs" Campaign in the 1980s and 1990s was successful in highlighting the shortfall in government funding. We have to work again with the trade unions and resident groups. The trade unions have 6.5 million members and are the largest civil society organisation in the country. They are national (and local) mass organisations that have the scale and resources to help us win.

We also need to show our residents clearly who is to blame for the cuts. These are Tory cuts not Labour Council cuts. They need to know that they are suffering from being expected to fund tax cuts to millionaires and their mansions.

The Tories only have a small majority and run the obvious risk of a major split over Europe. Cameron said he is will only be Prime Minister for 5 more years and there will be infighting about who will succeed him.  Sensible Tories know that they only won in 2015 since voters don't like one term governments and were prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt.  Which they won't do in 2020.

We need to play to our strengths and not our weaknesses.  We will probably not be able to get rid of this rotten government until 2020 but they are in the meanwhile vulnerable to targeted campaigning. While it is silly and pointless to think that Newham residents will go on never ending demos to "smash the state". We can and will win victories if we seek real unity, achievable aims and fight back intelligently. 

Tomorrow Newham Councillors have been invited to meet with local trade unions to discuss the cuts and what we can do with residents and other stakeholders to oppose them. We must start the fight back together and not surrender. 

Hat tip picture Newham Photos

Newham "was the hardest hit" Council after Tory spending cuts

From Inside Housing "The poorest parts of England have endured spending cuts 16 times greater than the country’s
wealthiest areas since the last election, Labour Party analysis has shows.

The London council of Newham was the hardest hit, where £1,002 was lost per household.

A Labour analysis of council spending between 2010/11 and 2015/16 shows that the budget in the 10 most deprived local authority areas in England has been slashed by £782 per household, while more affluent households experienced just a £48 fall.

The London council of Newham was the hardest hit, where £1,002 was lost per household. Its neighbour, Hackney, lost £973 per household.

The research showed some local authorities in Surrey enjoyed a rise in spending power: Elmbridge spent £41 more per household and Waverley £26".

No surprise really. Tories doing to the poorest and most vulnerable what Tories always do.

Lib Dem Sutton Council cuts Carers' wages by 40%

London UNISON press release:-

"Care staff lobbied London Borough of Sutton Council Adult Services Committee tonight (Tuesday19th June) and handed in a letter to the Committees chairman Councillor Colin Stears to highlight the plight of dedicated care staff

50 care workers looking after vulnerable London Borough of Sutton residents/clients with learning difficulties (previously known as mental handicap). employed by MCCH (a registered charity) are facing the prospect of a 40% cut in their pay, equivalent to £10,000 per annum, some of our qualified nurses face even larger pay cuts.

Many of the clients are ex-Orchard Hill (Carshalton) NHS patient/clients/residents who have been relocated into the community in 2008. The staff have cared for the residents/clients over many years and as former NHS employee have always taken pride in the quality of care they provide.

When Orchard Hill closed, as a NHS employee they were transferred to MCCH (a registered charity) under TUPE arrangements the staff were reassured these arrangements would protect our terms and conditions into the future. They also hoped the London Borough of Sutton would honor those arrangements after it took control of the contract from the NHS.

However, now the care the clients receive and the pay and condition of care staff are facing significant detrimental changes. UNISON understands that the London Borough of Sutton have notified MCCH that they intend to cut significantly the hourly rate they are willing to pay for care.

The Council officers have stated that the reason for the high level of cuts in funding, is due to Central Government ‘s reduction in Council funding, yet as recently as 14th June 2012 Government Ministers have stated that far from being cut extra resources were being made available for Adult Social Service.

The cuts are such, that the pay falls well below that agreed by the Mayor’s London Living Wage commitment of £8.30 and at £7.60 represents a significant cut in our hourly pay. Apart from the loss in pay, the care staff are also set to have cuts to our holiday leave entitlement, sick pay entitlement, London weighting and our pension for our retirement axed.  Those single mothers employed by the organisation face particular hardship and now face the prospect of losing their homes as a direct result of these proposals.

Michael Walker UNISON Regional Officer states "The experience of cuts of this magnitude elsewhere in care services has led to the loss of dedicated staff who the clients know and trust, problems recruiting quality staff and high turnover of staff.  "The situation is very grave for the is group of long serving and dedicated care staff, UNISON is not going to stand ideally by and watch a spiral of pay cuts to develop in the care sector"

"We urge the London Borough of Sutton to reopen discussions with UNISON and the MCCH to resolve this intolerable and devastating proposal".  Kim Brown UNISON Steward at MCCH states  "The care staff are truly shocked at the level of pay cuts they are being expected to accept and have no idea how they will be able to pay their bills.

"Some long serving staff are informing UNISON that the cuts in pay are so severe that their take home pay is equivalent to that they were paid 10 years ago, in 2002, Other staff are informing us that their own sons and daughters are earning more at local supermarkets"

NOTE: Paul Burstow MP is the local MP for Sutton and is the Governments Community Care Minister. London borough of Sutton is a Liberal Democratic Controlled Council

CUTS are NOT the CURE

Cuts Are Not The Cure from Unionfilms on Vimeo.  Great video and alternative economic message.  Hat tip UNISON Lancashire Police branch website

London asked to help give Cameron and Clegg a "savage" Council election beating

In London there are no local elections this year. UNISON Greater London have distributed the following list of 11 target Council's in areas surrounding London.  So, if you want to send a real message to Cameron and Clegg about what you think of their "savage" Cuts, their attempts to privatise our NHS and to destroy our welfare state. Then get out and mobilise the vote against Tory and Liberal Democrat Councillors in these target seats.

If these CONDEM Councils get completely smashed on May 5th then this will make the local Tory and Lib dem MP's think again about the Cuts. If the defeats are really deep and profound then think "rats and sinking ships" - a real election beating may even help result in this Coalition's well deserved early demise. Even if you don't usually support Labour you can see this makes political sense. So if you live in London and really hate what this government is doing and want to do something positive and practical to oppose it, then get yourself out there and help defeat them on May 5th.

5 MAY 2011 LOCAL ELECTIONS

TARGET SEATS OUTSIDE LONDON

"On 5 May local elections will be taking place outside London. UNISON's objective is to sustain our anti public sector cuts campaign by defeating Tory and Lib Dem councillors and returning Labour controlled Councils where we can. Eleven target Councils have been identified in surrounding areas where I would encourage activists and members to volunteer some time to help campaign to defeat the Lib Dem and Tory Councillors who currently hold those Councils.

The list of 11 target Councils is attached along with the contact details for the local campaign organisers. Please cascade this request for volunteers encouraging them to give up a few hours of their time to ensure that Labour is successful in these elections. 

Council area linked	Reg	Name	Phone	email
Bedford	East	Lou King	01234 272472	louisejacksonking@gmail.com
Brighton and Hove	South East	Paul Barlow	07966 260262	paulbarlow@me.com
dover	South East	Paul Harrington	07545 421412	paul_harrington@new.labour.org.uk
Gravesham	South East	Simon Wady	07843 344318	simon_wady@new.labour.org.uk
Harlow	East	Charlie Cochrane	01279 625870	charmal@ntlworld.com
Luton	East	Francis Steer	01582 730764	francis-steer@luton-labour.org.uk
Reading	South East	Ben Zielinski	07743 595426	benzielinski@gmail.com
Stevenage	East	Joseph Sherry	01279 625860	joe_sherry@new.labour.org.uk
Thanet	South East	Michelle Fenner	07766 452552	mhfenner@gmail.com
Thurrock	East	Richard Speight	07794 307840	rspeight@gmail.com
Watford	East	Steve Cox	07505 843553	steve.cox2@virgin.net

Picture basin of gravy

UNISON National Housing Seminar 2011: "We Ain’t Seen Nothin' Yet"

Keynote speaker, Heather Wakefield, Head of UNISON Local Government. (Usual health warning about the accuracy of my hurriedly typed notes) "It seems to have been a very long year. So much destruction has taken place. We now know that Nick Clegg “cries”. Bless his heart. His cabinet of millionaires that wreaks our welfare state. £80 billion in cuts. With no mandate to do so. Before the election Nick Clegg said not a single front line worker would be affected.  Check out Richard Murphy’s excellent blog on taxation. The Tory minister who boasted that these are cuts that “Mrs. Thatcher could only have dreamed about”.

This financial crisis was caused by banks and financial services. Who caused a massive reduction from 60% to 35% in the share of wealth. This led to the debt crisis. They lent mortgages to those who could never pay for them. It was not us, not you, that caused this crisis - but the friends of this Cabinet. They are proposing massive cuts in housing and people’s rights. Pay cuts, even though Local government pay is the lowest in all public services. The new White paper that will propose that all public services in England will have to be put out to tender. Also the review of “public duties”. We ain’t seen nothing yet - I am very sorry to say. We all know someone who has been made redundant. Many Tory and coalition councils don’t have to cut as much as they need to - they are not necessary. Thanks to Pete Challis for his work on educating branches and regional organisers on Council finances and show it is possible to not make such cuts. There are 3 things to do

1. Get technical – get on top of budgets.
2. Get political. There has been a lot of disengagement by branches in politics - especially in England. Nowadays a lot of branches do not think they should engage politically but I think we should be doing this. We have to use the local elections to give the coalition a “bloody nose” if we can. This is essential. Certainly not everything was rosy under a Labour government and Labour councils, we all know that, but just think of the difference between now and then. We have to undermine them.

3.Massively increase density. It is around 50% in local government but below this in some branches. We cannot allow our industrial bargaining position to fall in line with lower density. There is no excuse for any reduction in density. We must build organisation and strength. We have got to use our industrial muscle only when we can and when it will achieve what we want it to do. Industrial action is an important weapon. I’ve been told off in the past as being too keen than some about strikes but if we have industrial action that does not deliver – this does not improve things. If we have industrial action over pay or pensions we need to get our records updated. We cannot afford to take action that is not successful. That is what the government wants us to do – to get egg on our face. Take precipitate industrial action.  

UNISON branches are doing an amazing job day in and day out. We may not stop every redundancy. But we have seen success by taking councils on over finance, equality impact statements and campaigning. We have had successful industrial action and I am sure we will continue to have more. This is a government who despite being hard nose bastards can be forced to backtrack and do a “U turn”. Have seen this over Forests but also plans to cut housing benefit for those who are unemployed. There was a partial victory over EMA and the “break” over plans to privatise our NHS. It can be done. Got to be very canny about the way we do it.

Our primary job is to defend our members - we are a trade union but we must also win the argument with the public against privatisation. We cannot afford it. Public money goes down the drain; millions spent on drawing up processes and increased money for senior management. Don’t forget the shareholders premium. Privatisation only delivers cheaper services on the backs of cuts in our member’s wages and conditions. They have got rid of the 2 tier code so new starters will not be paid decent pay and terms. Decent Pensions will also soon go. Privatisation is the biggest threat face the union.  

So what to do? March 26th was a great day. In itself it may have affected the NHS proposals. They, the government, would love us to wear ourselves out by constant marching and industrial action. How do we build on March 26th? How to keep the pressure up on the government and coalition councils? Develop a massive movement against this government from the bottom up. There is no other alternative. We can have another March 26 and this would not change the governments mind. We in housing have to work with tenant and resident groups, voluntary organisations and others and not just fight for pay and pensions. The groups who are taking action against tax corruption such as London Citizens and UK uncut. Important social movements that are born of the same feelings as us. They are different from us. We in the unions are big organisations and are use to leading, but we have to work with others. There are problems with the politics. But by working with other unions and peoples who feel like us - we can derail this government". 

It's tomorrow! Stand up for your Public Services and an Alternative Economic Policy

Get out and march tomorrow.  Newham Trade Unions and the local Labour Party are meeting up outside Stratford Station ticket barrier at 10.30am. But you can turn up as late as 2pm to Embankment to take part in the March. Check TUC latest tips here. 

Lyn Brown MP attacks Tories over abolition of EMA

Watch this YouTube clip of West Ham Labour MP, Lyn Brown, tearing into this Tory–led Coalition while on the floor of the House of Commons, over the abolition of the Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA).

Save Our NHS: Sign 38 Degrees petition

Cick on here  to sign the Petition "Save Our NHS" by 38 Degrees.  They have over 195,000 signature and are aiming for 250,000.

"The Petition Text

To the Coalition government,

Our NHS is precious - we won't forgive you if you ruin it

• Don’t break up our health service and hand it to private healthcare companies
• Listen to the the real experts - doctors, nurses and patients - when they give warnings about these plans
• Don't rush through massive changes without testing them properly first
• Protect patient care - don't cut beds, wards, doctors or nurses"

March with us for Newham: Saturday 26th March

I am really pleased that in Newham, our Local Labour Party and trade unions are mounting a joint campaign against these vile Tory-led Government cuts.  This Labour Movement family leaflet was jointly produced and paid for by the Party and the unions.  Yesterday it was handed out across Newham.

Never let anyone forget that the blame for these massive and unnecessary cuts lies solely with this dogmatic and ideological Tory-led government.  There is an alternative.

UPDATE: DISTRICT LINE DOWN ON 26.3.11 - EVERYONE NOW MEET UP 10:30AM OUTSIDE TICKET BARRIER STRATFORD STATION