UNISON Save our NHS March and Rally Sunday 29 September

Save our NHS

Lobby of the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester
Saturday 29 September

Say No to Austerity
Defend Jobs and Services

Supporters of the National Health Service and all those who want to defend jobs, services and a decent welfare state will be marching in Manchester to deliver a clear message to Conservative Party Conference that we mean to Save Our NHS from cuts and privatisation.

A march and rally have been called by the North West TUC, backed by UNISON, other unions and NHS campaign groups. They'll be assembling at Liverpool Road (M3 4FP) from 11am, and marching to a rally in Whitworth Park.

The protest will highlight the impact of huge job losses and spending cuts across the health service, as well as the rapid sell-off of the most lucrative parts of the NHS to private healthcare companies - many of whom like Circle are also Conservative Party donors.

The event will also raise concerns about the wider effect that government economic policies are having upon communities across the UK.

Getting there:

Coaches to Manchester are being laid on by London branches. Will send details nearer the time.

Get Involved:
Poster
Sign up to the Facebook event
Add a twibbon or badge to your facebook page or twitter profile
Sign the e-petition

Tweet#NHS999

(hat tip my Housing Association branch e-newsletter)

Vote Jason Anderson for UNISON London National Labour Link

The ballot paper arrived this morning at my home address and I have already voted for Jason Anderson as the London representative on National Labour Link Committee. Jason works shifts providing front line emergency aid to the public for the London Ambulance Service (LAS) and will make a great rep for UNISON members in London.

He is also a committed health and safety rep and experienced trade union steward. Please encourage Labour Link members to support him.

436,000 reasons why we need employee reps on Housing Association Boards

Last Friday Inside Housing magazine disclosed that the former CEO of the so called "not for profit" Housing Association "Places for People" received a total pay off of £436,000 when he recently retired (voluntary).

Because of this the Housing Regulator has downgraded the Association due to "governance concerns" and 3 board members have resigned.

Frankly, this response is grossly inadequate and appears to be mere hand wringing. This is not just an isolated cock up but indicative of a wider malaise. The impression given is that some large Housing Associations are run by some unaccountable, self perpetuating mates club. Solely concerned with enriching themselves from their residents, clients and of course, the public purse.

So what can be done to reverse this? There are vague calls for "restraint" but come on - do turkey's votes for Christmas? Will Hutton in his 2011 report on Fair Pay recommended there should be employee reps on public sector boards especially the remuneration committees (who decide pay). Such organisations should also publish the multiples between the lowest paid and the highest paid. Personally I believe we also need far more independent resident and client reps on all boards.

I had a quick look at the "Places for Executive Profit" website tonight and noticed an advert for an estate cleaner in Sleaford, Lincolnshire for £6.33 per hour (for a whole one hour per week!). This is  poverty pay and only 2p per hour above the uprated national minimum wage. I work it out that the CEO got pro rota 35 times as much as the cleaner that year. I suspect that office cleaning is outsourced. I wonder how much the worker who cleans the CEO office receives?

Why can't employee reps sit on all Boards? They sit with management on joint safety committees where they take decisions on the lives of workers and residents? They have employee reps on  pension committees where they decide on investing millions of pounds.  So why not on Boards and especially remuneration committees? In other arguably more successful countries than the UK this is just considered the norm? Employee representatives will be a brake on greed and corruption.

Unless Housing Associations clean up their act then I don't think there is a long term future for the sector. There has been a lot of genuine fuss and bother today about 30 staff at 14 foreign aid voluntary organisations being paid more than £100k per year. While I share this concern this is just small beer compared to the huge amounts paid in executive pay in most Housing Associations.

Why Eric Pickles is an eejit

Guest post by our Edinburgh Correspondent  shows why Eric Pickles proposal to allow 15 minutes parking on double yellow lines is a really bad idea.

"At about 18:25 last Sunday 4th August I left Maxies Bistro and emerged onto Victoria Terrace. I soon became aware of an open-topped tour bus stopped below in West Bow. The driver was headed from Grassmarket for George IV Bridge, but could not get round the bend into Victoria Street.

Someone had parked a car on the double yellow lines on the off side of the bus. Much consternation and discussion of what to do about it. Eventually 10 concerned citizens grabbed hold of a perfectly reasonably parked car on the near side and moved it. Two Lothian buses inspectors appeared and carefully avoided getting involved in that.

The 10 concerned citizens then crossed the road and moved the obstruction. Tourist bus departed and one person wrote an abusive message on the back window of the former obstruction".

Bling your Bike at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

Today I went to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford to watch the start of the professional riders taking part in the Prudential 100 mile cycle race.

I was hoping to pick up some tips to help me with my Ken Biking in Central London. After the start of the race I went to the stalls in the Park where you could cycle for free smoothie drinks; try out weird bikes and find out how to "pimp up your ride".

The Olympic Park is now open (in part) to the public for free and it is just a fantastic asset to East London. There are great facilities for families, especially those with young children.  I must admit that I did think that it was noticeable that there were relatively few Black and Ethnic minority families in the Park today?

I wonder how many of my (West Ham Ward Councillor) constituents were there? I will contact the Park to see if they know. We don't want the Park to turn into some sort of privileged white middle class ghetto. It should be open to all.

Years ago I use to cycle/run into work through this area when it was probably the most grotty and ugly industrial estate in London. How things change.

How to Solve the Recession: End Prohibition and Tax Drugs?

I listened this morning to "From our own Correspondent" on BBC Radio 4. One report was from Uruguay where they are considering legalising drugs. The main reason given for this was to put out of business violent drug gangs.

I remember being at a pension meeting a few months ago where we received a briefing from an economics adviser on the financial outlook. It was pretty bleak with the prospect of years of little or low growth, demand or investment and continuing cuts in public expenditure. The adviser broadly supported current government policy.

I said there is always an alternative economic policy and why couldn't the UK do what governments did before the second world war - borrow money and invest into massive infrastructure projects to pump prime the economy out of recession?

The adviser made an interesting but provocative response. He said that many people who look to the massive state investments during the New Deal economic programme in 1930's America as an example of what we should be doing now miss an important point. This huge investment was largely fully funded and not borrowed. It was paid for by the ending of the prohibition on alcohol in America, which led to increases in taxation, which paid for the New Deal investment.

While I do not accept all his arguments it did bring the question to the fore that should we in Britain legalise and heavily tax drugs in this country to bring in enough Government revenue to pay off the national debt and invest to bring about recovery?

Since we were at a pension trustee meeting, sadly it was decided that such matters were not really within our remit and we continued to discuss the normal "boring but important stuff" such as valuations, fund manager reports etc. 

I have for many years been convinced that we have lost the war on drugs and we should consider legalising them to get rid of the violent drug gangs. There will still have to be safeguards and it will have risks but if by ending this prohibition and then heavily taxing drugs, we can bring about the end of this recession, is this not yet another powerful reason to at least consider it?

Personal views as always. Photo of anti-prohibition pro-Beer Tax parade in 1930's USA.

West Ham Ward Cable Car Beano

Off message a little but just to prove that not all Labour Party events take place in dusty meeting rooms or involve knocking on doors with clip boards. 

We normally hold our Party ward (or branch) meetings the first Thursday of the month. This month we decided to hold a summer social event instead and take the Emirates Cable Car which goes across the river Thames to Greenwich. 

We met at the new Abbey Road Docklands Light Railway station which is just outside our ward.  While waiting for others to join us, we had a quick tour of the nearby magnificent Abbey Gardens. 

By 7pm 10 of us had turned up (including comrades from Plaistow North ward). I was stopped on the station platform by 2 tourists who asked me where "The Beatles" Zebra crossing was? I had to tell them that they were at the wrong Abbey Road and the one they want is near St Johns Wood station. This is quite a common mistake here. I was also once stopped by an American tourist at Stratford station who asked which way was it to "Shakespeare house"?

The nearest station for the cable car was Royal Victoria. The Dock and the Cable station was extremely impressive. Only £3.20 one way. Cabins normally took 10 people but it was a bit windy so we were restricted to 6. There was no queue and you just walked onto the cabin. 

I have never been on this ride before. Our oldest ward member 84 year old Gerry had never been in a cable car before in his life! The view during the journey over Newham and East London was superb. Visibility was excellent. At Greenwich we had a few drinks, missed the last Cable Car back (9pm) then took a train on the Jubilee line to Stratford, then off to the Jamie Oliver Restaurant at Westfield shopping centre for a late meal and lots of hot air putting the world to rights. It was a good evening.  

Strong, Committed and One Nation Labour MEP Candidates

This is a Labour Party press release. Of the candidates that I know its congratulations in London to Lucy Anderson and commiserations to Ivana, Kamaljeet and Sanchia. Well done to Newham Councillor Farah Nazeer for a credible performance in the South East region.

"Today Labour unveils its candidates to fight the 2014 European Elections. Harriet Harman MP, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, said: “I am proud that such strong, committed and inspiring people have been picked by Labour Party members to be their MEP candidates for next year’s Euro Elections.

“Like the people they seek to represent, they come from all walks of life and from all different communities across the UK. “Unlike David Cameron whose first priority on Europe is appeasing the ever more extreme demands of Tory backbenchers, Labour MEPs will be a powerful One Nation voice who stand up for ordinary hardworking families.

“Their top priority is to be a strong voice in the European Parliament to make sure they get the best deal and bring jobs and growth here in the UK.”

1. The following candidates have been selected to represent Labour in the 2014 European Parliamentary election:

East Midlands 1. WILLMOTT, Glenis 2. PALMER, Rory 3. WOODINGS, Linda 4. HADADI, Khalid 5. BROOKS, Nicki Eastern 1. HOWITT, Richard 2. MAYER, Alex 3. MARTIN, Sandy 4. JOSHI, Bhavna 5. BISHOP, Paul 6. AYUB, Naseem 7. OSTROWSKI, Chris

London 1. MORAES, Claude 2. HONEYBALL, Mary 3. ANDERSON, Lucy 4. DANCE, Seb 5. BARTOLETTI, Ivana 6. JANDU, Kamaljeet 7. ALASIA, Sanchia 8. BIONDI, Andrea

North 1. KIRTON-DARLING, Judith 2. BRANNEN, Paul 3. SHOTTON, Jayne North West 1. MCCARTHY, Arlene 2. GRIFFIN, Theresa 3. KHAN, Afzal 4. WARD, Julie 5. KHAN, Wajid 6. STOGIA, Angeliki 7. CARTER, Steve 8. LAMB, Pascale

South East 1. DODDS, Anneliese 2. HOWARTH, John 3. WESTLEY, Emily 4. SINGH, Del 5. NAZEER, Farah 6. SWINDLEHURST, James 7. HUGHES, Maggie 8. WATKINS, James 9. LANDLES, Karen 10. To be confirmed

South West 1. MOODY, Clare 2. FORD, Glyn 3. REEDER, Ann 4. ROBERTS, Hadleigh 5. ROBINSON, Jude 6. ALI, Junab

West Midlands 1. GILL, Neena 2. SIMON, Siôn 3. WALTHO, Lynda 4. KHAN, Ansar Ali 5. HAMER, Olwen 6. ETHAPEMI, Tony 7. EDWARDS, Claire

Yorkshire and The Humber 1. MCAVAN, Linda 2. CORBETT, Richard 3. TUNNICLIFFE , Eleanor 4. KHAN, Asghar 5. MIRFIN-BOUKOURIS, Helen 6. HUGHES , Darren

Scotland 1. MARTIN, David 2. STIHLER, Catherine 3. MUNN, Derek 4. MURRAY, Katrina 5. KHAN, Asim 6. O'BRIEN, Kirsty

Wales 1. VAUGHAN, Derek 2. BRYANT, Jayne 3. THOMAS, Alex 4. REES, Christina 2.

Labour party applies a "zipping procedure" to ensure a balance of male and female candidates. 3. The election to the European Parliament is a list system. The Labour Party ran a one member one vote ballot of its members to determine the order of candidates on the list. Across the country, nearly 70,000 Labour party members took part in the process.

VICTORY FOR LEWISHAM HOSPITAL CAMPAIGNERS!

Great news! Press release from today "UNISON, the UK’s largest health union, today welcomed the High Court decision that Jeremy Hunt acted unlawfully in deciding that casualty and maternity services at Lewisham Hospital should be downgraded.

Dave Prentis, General Secretary of UNISON, said: “Today’s decision is a victory for all the local people who turned out time and time again to protect services at Lewisham Hospital. The High Court rightly ruled that the health secretary acted unlawfully in riding roughshod over the wishes of the community and that is a lesson that the Government ignores at its peril

“This decision will give heart to health campaigners across the country where other hospitals may be threatened by Government plans to close or downgrade much valued health services.”

The BBC reports that the challenge had been brought about by Save Lewisham Hospital and the London Borough of Lewisham and quotes Labour Mayor, Sir Steve Bullock, that "justice had been delivered to a hospital well-managed, highly-respected and financially solvent".

Hat tip Nicole Minet

Procrastinators UNITE...tomorrow

Mañana Rules OK. Hat tip Franzi Bee.