When Voting NO means YES to fairness,choice and democracy: Newham Labour Mayor Selection - First Reason

I have blogged about the process and how important the position of a Directly Elected Mayor or so called Executive Mayor is here and also about a website triggerdemocracy.com that argues that there should be an open selection process for the next Labour Candidate to be the Mayor in Newham.

I now want to discuss in more detail why I think Labour Party members and affiliates ought to vote NO at the trigger ballot (or so called "affirmative ballot") meetings during the next few weeks and therefore saying YES to fairness, choice and democracy.

First Reason. 

The position of Directly Elected Mayor is immensely powerful and influential. The Newham Mayor has decided to retain near 100% of Executive power in the Council. This is in his gift according to law. Money is of course key and the Mayor is completely in charge of making appointments and patronage.

Councillors are pretty powerless, since the only way they can block the Mayor is if two thirds of them vote against the Mayor's Budget. They still have an important role in advocating and representing constituents but essentially they have little or no individual or collective power compared to the Mayor.

The Council "Cabinet" is also powerless, at best a talking shop and purely advisory. The Mayor can ignore cabinet or scrutiny decisions and appoint or fire cabinet members and advisers at will. All paid advisers and Cabinet members to the Mayor are bound by a Council protocol to support the Mayor or face being sacked with no right to appeal.

Recently 10 out of the 60 Newham Councillors were given full time paid positions receiving each up to £44,000 including the basic allowance per year and (legally suspect) pensions purely to be advisers to the Mayor - appointed solely by the Mayor.  Other payments are made for sitting on non Council bodies.

Some 27 out of the 60 Newham Councillors have been given paid positions (with pensions). While 6 of them are nominally independent of the Mayor (and I think that "nominally" is the best description given his position and influence) the rest are purely there according to the grace and favour of the Mayor. Many are dependent on the Mayor to pay their bills and their mortgages.

This is why we need to have an open and democratic selection process for the next Mayor. Such a powerful position must have some basic checks and balances. Being openly selected from time to time must be one of them.

Is there any good reason why Directly Elected Mayors should not face an open selection process every 4 years as do all Labour Councillors everywhere and and all other Labour Council Leaders?

If there is (and I doubt it) then there is certainly no good reason for not having an open selection for 19 years (2002 the last one and if not this time then 2021 the next - which may even be another trigger ballot).

Rising inequality helps explain Trump and Brexit

While I hope that the United States will not elect Trump to be their President tomorrow, I was
fascinated to read the statement below at a recent Newham Council Investment and Accounts committee.

"Even if Trump loses, the anti-Establishment, anti-trade and anti-immigration sentiment will not go away until rising inequality with rich countries is addressed and reversed". 

This was in a report by our economic advisers to our billion pound staff pension fund, Fatham Consulting. Who are not known to be any sort of lefty think tank.

At the end of the meeting I asked their consultant if I could quote them (he agreed) and also what other Marxist analysis did the firm believe in? (to which he just grinned).

I think they are 100% right and that people need to understand that the rise of Trump and the vote for Brexit was driven by a backlash against rising income inequality.

Not every supporter of Trump is motivated by this and there was plenty of principled support for Brexit but if you have a rubbish, poorly paid insecure job with no future, no access to decent housing or public services then you are going to be angry and want to protest and thump the establishment.

Ordinary working people either side of the pond feel betrayed by years of declining wages while the very rich just get more and more wealthy.

I heard a Tory minister yesterday on the BBC describe Brexit as a "punch" to the establishment similar to the 1945 General election result. I think he is right about this but I think that the Tories are simply incapable of any meaningful reform.  We need to deliver another "punch" to the system as we did in 1945 at the next General election and elect a radical alternative government which will genuinely tackle and reverse inequality. 

"Axe the Housing Act": UNISON Motion to London Labour Conference 2016

This is below a motion by Greater London UNISON Regional Labour Link to the London Labour Party Conference next Saturday 12 November. 

"Housing continues to be the biggest challenge that Londoners face in the capital today with many who grew up in the city now unable to live here, rent taking an ever increasing proportion of wages and Londoners being pushed further and further into the suburbs as prices in central London continue to soar.  

Home ownership is becoming a distant dream for many and the increasing numbers sleeping rough on the streets is evident for all to see.

This Regional Conference notes that housing formed a key issue during the recent London Mayoral election.  We welcome the election of Sadiq Khan as Labour Mayor and the manifesto commitments he made to build genuinely affordable homes for Londoners.

The recently passed Housing & Planning Act contains controversial measures such as the Right to Buy and forced sale of higher value councils homes which will lead to a further depletion of social and affordable homes in London.

Under the Pay to Stay policy social housing tenants who live in London with a combined household income of more than £40,000 will be liable to pay up to market value or lose their home.  Those who work in London and live outside who have a total income of £31,000 face the same.  Although there will be a certain disregard it will mean a massive increase in rent and tenants could face, what will effectively be, an income tax penalty rate of 83%. Those affected will be not just the well paid but caretakers, school cooks, street cleaners, hospital porters, gardeners. 

The policy will be voluntary for Housing Associations (who will be able to keep additional rents collected to invest in housing) but local authorities will be compelled to implement it without keeping the income generated from increased rents – this will have to be all remitted to the Government.

The LGA has recently estimated that more than 70,000 tenants will have to pay an average rent rise of £1000 per year under pay to stay.

Housing officers will be required to demand personal and private financial information from all tenants even those who have never applied for housing or council benefits. 

Under the Right to Buy policy councils are required to consider the sale of vacant ‘higher value’ council homes and to remit the income generated from sales to the Treasury to fund the extension of the Right to Buy to Housing Associations tenants which will be offered by Housing Associations on a voluntary basis.

The Tories claim that Starter Homes will solve the Housing Crisis. According to the treasury however only 30% of the population will ever be able to afford such homes. What about the 70%!

Furthermore the Act will also end lifetime security of tenure, restrict successions of tenancies undermine the role of the regulator and give greater planning powers to private developers. 

Fixing London’s housing crisis is undoubtedly the single biggest thing Labour can do to improve the lives of Londoners.

This Regional Conferences notes that the Government will have to return to Parliament to gain approvals for regulations and enabling legislation. This gives us campaigning opportunities. 

This Regional Conference calls for:-

• ·         All Labour Councils, Mayor, Assembly members, Labour Groups and CLPs in London to actively campaign against the Act and to oppose its implementation.
•  ·         To lobby Housing Associations and persuade them not to take volunteer to sell their stock under right to buy and impose the pay to stay tax on their tenants.
•  ·         Whenever possible to organise local public meetings and publish information about what the Act means to residents 
•  ·         To work together with tenants, residents, community groups and trade unions to oppose the Act

A great picture above of UNISON National Labour Link Committee with the now London Labour Mayor, Sadiq Khan last year. He gave us a inspiring speech on how Labour can make a real difference to housing policy.

I understand that there is at least one other Housing motion on Saturday so if this one passes Standing Orders committee then it is likely to be what we call "composited" (that is combined with the other Housing motion) at the conference next weekend.

Trigger Democracy - A choice for Newham

Can I recommend that anyone interested in the Newham Labour Mayoral selection process for 2018 looks at this new website  https://triggerdemocracy.com/ and its Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Trigger-Democracy-523048401153002/ and its twitter feed @TriggerDem  

While I may not agree with every argument put forward on these sites,  it is informative, balanced and fair minded. I am really pleased that it is about democracy and accountability and not about personalities.  It does not call for the current Mayor of Newham not to be a candidate - only for there to be a choice. 

I fully support its call for Labour Party members and affiliates in Newham to vote NO in the forthcoming "Trigger ballots" (formerly known as an "affirmative ballots") to get an open selection process.  The ballots start a week on Monday 14 November 2016. 

I have posted here trying to explain the process and why the position of a Directly Elected Mayor  is so important. 

I will post later on why we need a choice and why I personally think that if the present Mayor is reaffirmed without an open selection, he would have been in power for 27 years by the end of his next term of office.  It is surely about time now that there is a meaningful choice about who will be the next Labour candidate for Mayor for Newham. 

I shall also consider over possible reforms and alternatives to the Directly Elected Mayoral (DEM) model. 

These will be my views and will not necessarily reflect the views of others.   

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.

Councillor Yvonne Maxwell: Hoxton West

Fantastic news. Yvonne (aka Stroppy) has been elected! My former blogging pal and daughter of former Newham Councillor Doris Maxwell, was elected last night in a Hackney Council by-election.

Hoxton West (Hackney) result: LAB: 68.3% (+11.6) CON: 13.3% (+1.2) LDEM: 9.6% (+3.2) GRN: 8.8% (-11.3)

Labour 951, Con 185, LD 133, Green 123.

This is really good news for Labour. Both times I went to help out with canvassing were spent in working class social housing estates. Increasing our vote here after a time when the Labour Party has been in a bit of a mess is encouraging. But one swallow does not a summer make.

Having a hard working good candidate (who is also firmly on the "left" of the Party and a long standing supporter of Jeremy Corbyn) who local activists across the Party united to support, obviously made a difference.

I have of course been telling everyone I know that I have been her political mentor and taught her everything she knows about politics:)

Picture with newly elected (after an open selection process) Hackney Mayor, Philip Glanville, Yvonne and Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn (who has gone through 2 open selection processes in less than a year. Just saying).

Why I am Voting NO for a Democratic Choice: Newham Labour Mayor candidate selection process 2018

Within the next week or so thousands of Labour Party members who live in the London Borough of Newham will be invited to local meetings to vote by secret ballot on the future ‎of the Newham Labour Mayor candidate for the 2018 election. This process is known as a "trigger ballot" (or "affirmative ballot") and is due to be completed by 4 December 2016.

As with nearly all things in the Labour Party (especially in Newham)‎ this process is not straight forward and is complicated. Let me try to explain it here and in my next post I will give my reasons why I will be voting "NO" for what I believe to be the only way to get a real democratic choice for members.

In Newham, unlike the great majority of London Boroughs and UK councils we have what is called a directly elected Executive Mayor. This is a hugely powerful and important position. Newham has a budget of some £250 million, employs thousands of staff and has a £1 billion per year turnover.

The Mayor controls practically all "executive power" in Newham such as council tax, housing, rubbish collection, street cleaning, anti-social behaviour, budgets, staffing, parking, employment training, Community hubs, environment protection and social services. It is also very influential on planning, licencing, policing, transport, health services and education.

The Executive Mayor and local Councillors are elected every 4 years and the next election is due in May 2018. The Labour Party obviously has to have a process on how to choose its candidate for Executive Mayor ‎in 2018.

What has been "decided" (so far - it is being challenged) for Newham is that there will be a "trigger ballot" process. Eligible labour party members (and I will come to back to "eligible" later) as mentioned above will be invited to local meetings and checked in if they are eligible. There will then be a 30 minutes debate by members on whether to simply allow the incumbent labour Mayor, Robin Wales, who has been the candidate since 2002, to be the Labour candidate again in 2018 or whether there should be an 'open selection process' in which other party members could apply to be a candidate.

Each speaker will be limited to speak for 3 minutes and you could get a maximum of 10 speeches for or against Robin Wales being the Labour candidate again.

There will be a secret ballot and the question on the ballot paper will be something like "do you want Robin Wales to be the Labour Mayoral Candidate in 2018" Vote YES or NO

If a majority of official Labour branches (also known as wards), affiliates (trade unions and socialist societies) and Forums (for example West Ham Women's Forum) in Newham vote YES then Robin Wales will remain the Labour Mayoral candidate in 2018 but if a majority vote NO there will be an open selection process.

This is not a "one member, one vote" (which I would support) instead each branch, affiliate, forum has one vote. Regardless of how many members they have in their particular branch etc (I told you it was complicated). Again it is how the "majority" of branch, affiliates and forums vote that will count. 

I wonder what would happen if there is a tie?

To be clear if the decision is NO then Robin Wales will still be automatically shortlisted as a possible candidate. It just means others can apply as well and members will have a democratic choice.

I will be voting NO ‎and hope that there will be an open democratic process with more candidates to give a real choice and will explain my reasons in future posts.

(picture Newham Council coat of arms) 

Join UNISON. Support at work

Great TV advert for UNISON. Support at work is really important, it is simply horrible to face redundancy or discipline hearings or action under sickness procedures etc on your own without trained independent representation.

But we need to also point out the crucial importance to workers of union collective bargaining over their pay, terms and conditions and restructures. All workers in this country have a human right to join a union and collectively bargain under the United Nations Charter on human rights

Jezza "on the knocker" in support of Labour Councillor Candidate Yvonne Maxwell #LoveHoxton

Yesterday morning I missed the very beginning of the canvass session in support of Yvonne Maxwell, who is standing as the Labour candidate for Hackney Council in a by election in Hoxton West.

Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn MP turned up (by bike) to go out and canvass with Yvonne. By all accounts he and Yvonne had a fantastic response from residents and passer-bys coming up to him to offer their support, cars' tooting and giving them the thumbs up.

Yvonne is the daughter of a respected former Newham Councillor, Doris Maxwell.  There was 3 of us from West Ham Labour Party helping out.

I went out with a canvass team of local Councillors and activists led by Polly Billington who I had met before when she was the Parliamentary candidate for Thurrock. Also in the team was Hackney cabinet member for Jon Burke who was a former UNISON delegate to our Regional Council.

The poll is this Thursday 3 November 2016.

Meeting Point (for all sessions)
The junction of Murray Grove and New North Road, London N1  which is just a 5 minute walk from Old Street Station.  

Week Three (Polling week)
Monday 31          6-7.30pm
Tuesday 1           6-7.30pm
Wednesday 2     6-7.30pm

Polling Day
Thursday 3  from  8am to10pm

Committee Room
 215A Kingsland Road

Violence at work: When someone with a grudge against a Housing worker takes a can of petrol...

Last week was European Health and Safety week. This is a time to think about work related safety matters.

Early this month I was rang by the radio programme "BBC 5 Live investigates". They asked if I was available to be interviewed by the programme about housing officers facing violence at work.

My name and contact details had been given out by UNISON. They were not sure if I would be needed but wanted me as a reserve. Which is fair enough and the way media works.

The programme went out live on Sunday 2 October and I had to wait to see if I was called. As it happened they did not ring me about my experiences of violence at work as a housing officer. I have no complaints about that since they did interview Joanne, a housing worker in the South East of England and her story was simply shocking.

She described how a resident had thrown a chair at her in a meeting and had waited outside her office for her with knives. The police had also contacted her to warn that this person had been caught with a canister of petrol and admitted that they had intended to attack her, pour petrol over her and set her alight.

This is obviously an extreme event and thankfully very rare. However, the programme also referred to a recent Inside Housing survey where 7/10 Housing officers said that they had been punched, attacked with a weapon or held hostage. Violence at work is completely unacceptable and while some housing organisations work well with staff and unions to make safety a top issue, some don't.

I was quoted in the article about the survey:

"John Gray, housing association branch secretary at Unison, fears that as staff cutbacks continue, staff safety could end up getting overlooked.

“Organisations are cutting jobs, they’re merging, they’re reducing the number of employees,” he says.

“A housing manager has a huge amount of work to do. Will they be updating the risk assessment every year? Will they be encouraging staff to report properly on assaults or near misses, after which they would have to generate a report? Will they be going to health and safety committees or will they be going to the void panels? Generally there is less infantry to deal with the problem.”

According to the TUC in a unionised workplace you are twice as safe as in one where unions are not recognised.