Save Our Libraries! Tower Hamlets Joint Trade Unions

 

I have been asked to attend this event next Tuesday. I have clash but will see if I can attend. When I was the assistant branch secretary for Tower Hamlets UNISON, I was the lead negotiator on the introduction of Idea Stores. 

Tory Austerity and Government Covid mismanagement has placed many local authorities in an impossible place but I hope that these vital public services can be saved. 

Tower Hamlets Local History Newsletter

I've signed up to receive a regular free newsletter from the Local History Library and Archive team.  The picture is from a painting of Hessell Street by the Artist Noel Gibson.

I was surprised to find out that there has been a DVD made called "14th Floor: the history of social housing in Tower Hamlets". Which you can buy for £5.  There will be a showing of the DVD in the new year. I wonder if it will cover the areas that I have worked in as a housing officer?

You can download the newsletter and sign up for future ones here.

Unsung heroes at the modern day coalface – Shop Stewards

Went today for meeting with Idea Store staffside and management reps. Picture of top UNISON stewards, Linda Benzidane and Stephen Murray thinking beforehand of questions (ideas?) to grill managers.

The Idea Store project in Tower Hamlets has gradually merged traditional libraries and life long learning centres. It has been one of the longest reorganisations I have ever been involved with (5 years and still ongoing). The work of local shop stewards is often unrecognised despite being the “meat and drink” of trade unionism. Important items discussed today were revised job descriptions, health and safety risk assessments, communications, unassimilated staff facing possible redundancy and the future of the Idea Store project.

Local stewards bare the brunt of the work, holding down full-time jobs while trying at the same time to do their level best to represent their members.

Lyn Brown MP - Alfresco in Canning Town South (& CPA Bigots)

Yesterday I went to help out at Lyn’s latest constituency development event which was held in the brand new Keizan Primary School, Elkington Road E13 (aka as “Tea or coffee mornings”).

The meeting is in Canning Town South ward, which is the only ward in Newham held by the extremist right wing fundamentalist party, the “Christian People Alliance” (CPL).

Ironically the only opposition parties to Labour in Newham are on the one hand the extremist “Shari Socialists” of so-called “Respect” in Green Street West and the fundamentalist Christian bigots in the CPL. Two sides of the same coin as far as I am concerned.

Unfortunately (or perhaps not) the first part of the meeting had to be held outside the school since the caretaker had gone to the wrong school to open up and had the wrong keys. (PFI School – no comment). For the first 30 minutes or so, Lyn and local councillors, Clive Furness and Paul Schafer held open air surgeries outside the schools.

Middle Picture is of top UNISON London Labour Link committee member and West Ham Labour Party Secretary, Alan Griffith, behind bars (no comment).

BTW - One of the CPA Canning Town South Councillors, Simon Ademolake, has been charged with assault on Police following a dispute between him and court bailiffs over unpaid parking tickets. He has apparently denied all the allegations.

I have no knowledge whatsoever about whether Ademolake is guilty or not about assaulting anyone. However I note that he won a civil court case recently over a parking ticket which a Warden was unable to put on his vehicle because he had driven off. A few years ago I represented a UNISON Parking attendant who was nearly killed by a motorist driving off at high speed to avoid having a ticket placed on his windscreen. If you have committed an offence does it really matter if a "ticket" is placed on the vehicle or not? Doesn’t Ademolake realise (or care) that every year Parking Wardens are seriously injured (and no doubt someone will one day will be killed) by people driving off in order to stop a ticket being physically put on their car? Guess not.

Striking over Safety

Strange, last month the “Daily Hate” launched a typically sensationalist attack upon the Health and Safety Executive “nanny state gone absolutely bonkers” et al. In this Jackanory they referred to a largely made up non-story about Tower Hamlets Council “banning staff from putting up Christmas decorations and lights in case they got hurt”.

In the real world, UNISON and GMB safety reps have actually been trying to persuade the Council not to remove safety screens, from the reception desks in the newly refurbished “Homeless Persons Unit” (HPU). The HPU assesses people to see if they are eligible to be rehoused by the council, if they are “homeless” and “vulnerable”. The vast majority of applicants are perfectly decent who are not any threat to staff. However, there is a small minority of homeless applicants (or their friends and family) who can be extremely violent and threatening. Management say that they want to improve the “customer environment” for users and that screens can even provoke violence. Everyone wants to work and provide quality services in clean, bright and modern offices but not at the expense of safety.

The HPU has always had security screens because of the potential risk. In the past screens were removed from local housing offices and “One Stop Shop’s”. However, they had to be reinstalled after a series of assaults and attacks on staff. One of our members on reception was punched in the head and knocked to the floor. She was severally injured and off sick for several months. In another incident a man with an axe jumped over a counter. Staff managed to retreat into a lockable room while he smashed up the office with his axe.

When I last posted on this issue staff had just voted to carry out an indicative strike ballot. In a meeting on Thursday, the results came back from UNISON members, 44 in favour of strike action and 5 against. So we will go for an official ballot. Members at the meeting also voted to support anyone who does not feel safe enough to work on an open reception and in favour of a protest (see picture) on Monday 21 May, when the new unit is due to open. Further details to follow.

On Wednesday 16 May UNISON has employed the respected health and safety specialist, Mick Holder, (member of IOSH) from the London Hazards Centre (LHC) to carry out an inspection of the new office. If management won’t pay any attention to what the people who carry out the job think then perhaps they might take notice of him and start thinking outside the box.

Another irony is that in recent years, the Council has built a number of “Idea Store’s” which manage Adult learning and Libraries services for the borough. These Stores have been very poplar. However, due to violent attacks and hooliganism, they have been forced to employ licensed doormen as security guards. I have spoken to these guards, many of whom are ex-military, who after their shift at an “idea store” go on to work at night clubs wearing body armour. So we have the ridiculous situation that licensed security guards are employed to protect library staff while the HPU will just have untrained “customer service assistants” (who have been told they are really “meeters and greeters”) to protect them.