Bursary or Bust!

Picture from demonstration yesterday in London by 5000 NHS nurses and supporters against Tory plans to scrap their bursaries.There was also demonstrations in Manchester and Newcastle.

From UNISON "The government plans to force nurses into debt of at least £51,600 by making them pay the entire bill for their training, even though nurses spend 50% of their training time working for the NHS on clinical placements, and their starting salary is £22,799".

Sign the petition to keep bursaries here https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/113491
Hat tip picture Captain Swing

Custom House Labour Branch New Year Social - 14 January 2016

This looks good. RSVP customhousebranch2016@gmail.com

West Ham Ward Councillor Report

Councillor Report to West Ham Ward

WEST HAM WARD LABOUR PARTY tel: 020 3373 2615 or email John.Gray@newham.gov.uk

Ward meeting 6 January 2016

·         Apologises for not attending all of this meeting but I have been invited to speak to a joint meeting of Forest Gate South and North on the Governments Trade Union Bill.

·         Return Site visit this week with Cllr Whitworth, Residents and Family Mosaic Housing officer to Ladywell Street, E15 regarding security, ASB and disrepair.

·         Site visit on 22 December with LBN Parking design Officers with residents and Councillor Whitworth to Plaistow Grove, E15 regarding need for double yellow lines to prevent the roads being obstructed and preventing emergency vehicles from entering. Officers agreed that redesign needs to be done and it is hoped that works will begin in the near future.

·         We also inspected the open gate in Dirleton Street, E15 Road which keeps getting its locks cut off and is being used as a "rat run" causing nuisance and danger to local residents.  Officers agreed to clarify the status of the gate and consider ways to prevent cars from using the road as a rat run but still providing access to emergency vehicles.

·         Following a number of complaints and petitions it was agreed at West Ham & Stratford Neighbourhood Cllr forum on 14 December that Parking officers to look into a consultation extending the Plaistow CPZ (controlled Parking Zone) to cover streets south of Portway, E15

·         Also at forum it was agreed that Parking officers will look into consulting on further parking restrictions in Ham Park village area following the exercise last year which resulted in some areas rejecting further controls and others requesting it.

·         Other case work on planning enforcement (on going issue with the Education and Community centre) in Plaistow Road.  Excessive service charges by East Thames Housing Association, other parking issues, homelessness, issue that you can only apply for permits online, trading on pavements, closing off of the Greenway to cyclists and other users (I also attended a cycling site visit to inspect the alternative routes), Xmas Hampers for elderly, ASB.

·         On Monday 4 January Cllr Whitworth and I leafleted commuters outside Plaistow Station against the new Tory train and bus fare increases on behalf of Labour London Mayor Candidate, Sadiq Khan.

·         On Friday 11 December Cllr Whitworth and I attended the funeral of Councillor Charity Fiberesima.

·         On 10 December Cllr Whitworth and I attended a candle light vigil outside East Ham Town Hall to coincide with Human Rights Day and the end of the United Nation’s 16 Days of Action which aimed to raise awareness of violence against women.

·         At the Newham Council meeting on 7 December both Cllr Whitworth and I expressed our concerns regarding the cost and threat to our finances from the £563 million of LOBO loans that we had. We did not receive satisfactory assurances so we will be taking the matter further.

·         The motion at Full Council against the Trade Union Bill that Cllr Whitworth proposed and I seconded was passed unopposed.

·         On 3 December West Ham ward Party member Veronica Oakeshott was elected overwhelmingly at the Council by election in Boleyn Ward. Congratulations!

·         On 3 and 4^th December I attended the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum annual conference.

Future dates

·         16 Jan - Super Saturday. Lyn Brown MP will be joining us to talk to voters about Sadiq Kahn. Meeting 11am in Canning Town South at St Luke's Church, Tarling Road, E15 1HN and again at 2pm at Forest Gate station

·         West Ham Women's Forum Open Discussion evening with the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Seema Malhotra MP January 21 January at St Johns Church Stratford.

·         Launch of Newham United Against Austerity (NUAA) with Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell MP at UEL, Water Lane E15 on Saturday 30 January at 2pm

·         31 January Sunday Night Live at Stratford Picture House E15.

"10,000 terrorists were ready to strike at any moment"

Hat tip Facebook "Red London" (I suspect that this may not be a strictly genuine Metro letter but...)

"The 12 employment law cases of 2015"

"Before 2015 is consigned to history and 2016 presents a new set of employment law challenges, it is timely to reflect on the year’s significant cases. We have identified 12 cases which developed the law and potentially changed HR policies and practices:

Working time and travel FSP del COO v Tyco Integrated Security/Fire & Security: The CJEU ruled that for certain workers who do not have a fixed or habitual place of work, travel between home and the first and last assignments of the day counts as working time. The ruling does not mean workers must be paid for travel time but shift arrangements may need to be changed to comply.
Redundancy consultation USDAW v Ethel Austin Ltd and others: The CJEU confirmed that the trigger for collective redundancy consultation should be the dismissal of at least 20 employees from an establishment within a period of 90 days, not 20 employees across the whole employer. The CJEU reiterated that an “establishment” is the entity to which the workers are assigned to carry out their duties and this will depend on the factual circumstances.   Read our briefing here
HR’s role in disciplinary proceedings Ramphal v Department for Transport: In this unfair dismissal case, the EAT ruled that in disciplinary proceedings an Investigating Officer is entitled to call for advice from HR; but HR should confine their advice to questions of law and procedure and avoid straying into areas of culpability or, except when addressing issues of consistency, what is the appropriate sanction. The decision has been appealed.
Whistleblowing and the public interest Chesterton Global Ltd v Nurmohammed: Despite changes made to the law in 2013, which added a “public interest” element, the EAT ruled that a worker’s complaint about a breach of his own contract of employment may still satisfy that requirement and qualify as a protected disclosure where the alleged breach also affects other workers. The Court of Appeal is due to hear an appeal against this decision in 2016.   Read our briefing
Associative indirect discrimination CHEZ Razpredelenie Bulgaria: The CJEU ruled that the concept of so-called “associative” discrimination applies to indirect discrimination claims. This suggests that once it is established that those with a protected characteristic are particularly disadvantaged by a provision criterion or practice applied by an employer, anyone who suffers that same disadvantage can bring a claim of indirect discrimination even if they don’t share the same protected characteristic as the disadvantaged group.   Read our briefing
Indirect discrimination Home Office v Essop: This judgment could make it harder for some claimants to make out claims of indirect discrimination after the Court of Appeal stressed the need to consider the nature of and reason for the claimed disadvantage. This is because there will only be indirect discrimination if the disadvantage suffered by the claimant is the same as that experienced by other members of the disadvantaged group. The decision is being appealed to the Supreme Court.  Read our briefing
Employment Tribunal fees Unison v The Lord Chancellor: Unison's attempts to have the Employment Tribunal fees regime quashed suffered another setback, with the Court of Appeal rejecting the union’s claim that the fees regime is unlawful. Unison is now looking to take their case to the Supreme Court.  Read our briefing
Holiday pay Lock v British Gas: A Tribunal ruled that EU law can be read across into the Employment Rights Act 1996 so as to require employers to take into account commission payments when calculating pay for the basic four week holiday entitlement under the Working Time Regulations 1998. The EAT heard an appeal in December and its decision is awaited.  Read more about Lock
Carrying forward annual leave Plumb v Duncan Print Group Ltd: The EAT clarified that although workers on sick leave can carry forward up to four weeks’ untaken leave into a new holiday year (even if they are capable of taking annual leave during their sickness absence), such untaken leave will be lost if not taken within 18 months of the end of the leave year in which it arose.  Read our briefing
Pay during strikes Hartley v King Edward VI College: This case concerned how much pay can be withheld for a day's strike by salaried employees. The Court of Appeal accepted that the employer in this case was entitled to withhold 1/260 of the strikers’ annual salary, because they worked a regular five day week (5 days x 52 weeks = 260 working days). The case makes it easier for other employers to base deductions for strike time on the total working days per year, rather than calendar days, although in each case the contract of employment must be considered.  Read our briefing
TUPE: employees on long-term sick leave BT Managed Services v Edwards: Against a backdrop of prolonged sickness absence and exhaustion of phi cover, an employee was kept “on the books” for commercial reasons but with no expectation he would return. The EAT concluded the employee was no longer “assigned” to a relevant grouping for TUPE purposes. The case has now been appealed.  Read our briefing
Data protection and US safe harbor Schrems v Data Protection Commissioner: The CJEU ruled that the US Safe Harbor scheme does not provide adequate protection of personal data of EU citizens and is therefore not lawful. In the immediate aftermath, EU employers must either refrain from sending such data to US until an alternative solution is identified by the EU or do so with caution, where possible applying appropriate model clauses and internal or intra-group protections.  Read our briefing

Key
EAT Employment Appeal Tribunal
CJEU Court of Justice of the European Union

Employment law is very important but it is only at best a safety net (and has been watered down in recent years by this Government). The best protection at work is of course from joining a trade union (JG).

Hat tip Eversheds

A West Ham evening with Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Seema Malhotra MP

"West Ham Women's Forum Open Discussion evening with the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Seema Malhotra MP: 

• How does Labour gain economic credibility with the British public and by when?
• What is Corbynomics and could it work? How radical is it in reality, and does it stack up as a practical plan for creating economic growth?
• How will we encourage economic empowerment of women entrepreneurship?
• How are we as a party developing our policies and policy positions for a very important Party Conference in 2018?
• What is the Labour Party’s vision of a 21st Century Welfare State?
• What is the Labour Party’s vision of UK Technology and digital infrastructure?
• What is Labour’s response to local government budget cuts.

The discussion evening will be an open event to ALL members of the Labour party, supporters and friends in East London. The aim of the event is to hear from a senior member of the party, what Labour’s plan are to build economic credibility among the British public before 2020 election campaign begins". 

Hat tip  West Ham CLP Women's Officer, Seyi Akiwowo.

Getting to Work Shouldn't be a luxury. But Tory Tickets Cost a Fortune.

This morning I was outside Plaistow Underground station with West Ham Labour Party comrades handing out leaflets on fare rises to commuters going into work.  Outside railway and bus stations across the country, Labour and trade union activists were handing out similar leaflets protesting against rises and calling for these services to be brought back into public ownership.

On Saturday fares were increased nationally and in London, the latest rise has meant that in the last 7 years fares have increased by a staggering 40% outstripping pay increases.

Train and Bus fares are hugely regressive. The very poorest and the very wealthy pay the same in theory for fares. In fact the better off are more likely to pay less since they will often have access to cheaper season tickets provided with interest free loans by their employer.

Labour Mayoral candidate, Sadiq Khan, (son of a London Bus driver) has pledged if elected in May to freeze all fares for 4 years and introduce a new "hopper" ticket allowing unlimited bus travel within an hour for a set fare. 

Great stuff!

Save Our NHS Bursaries

I have just signed the Parliamentary Petition here to keep bursaries for trainee NHS Nurses. The petition has 148,815 supporters (according to the map on the site 250 have signed from my West Ham Consistency.

Parliament will debate this petition on January 11th.

The Government is proposing to axe the bursary from next year and charge tuition fees for nurses the year after. This will mean that anyone training to be a nurse in the future could face debts over £50,000 for a starting salary of under £23,000.

Trainee nurses are already expected to work for half of their courses on full time placements in hospitals. There is already a shortage of nurses in the NHS. This latest latest Tory wheeze towards the privatisation of the NHS will make the situation even worse.

A "New" Labour Year

In between Christmas and New Year I was laid low with the lergie so stayed in and managed to finish off inputting the "marked register" data for the ward onto the Party database "Contact Creator" for the 2015 General Election.

The register is an actual copy of the list of voters eligible to vote and records whether or not they did vote. Political parties have to pay for copies and of course, they don't know how the vote was actually cast.

This is one of the most boring and frustrating tasks going but it is important to know who actually turns up to vote. The list they use at polling stations does not fully coincide with the actual register so it is a bit of a hair pulling nightmare to complete. 

I started my 2016 political (and personal fitness) campaign this morning delivering Sadiq Khan for London Mayor leaflets and a Labour tabloid to West Ham housing estates.

Not a very cheerful message in the newspaper as Newham faces further savage cuts to its budget of £91 million.

We need to make sure that our residents understand that it is the Tories who will be slashing Council services by cutting funding. This is also why the launch of the "Newham United Against Austerity" campaign on Saturday 30 January 2016 with keynote speaker, John McDonnell MP, is also so important.

Austerity is an unnecessary political choice that the Tories are making. Cut the deficit by increasing taxes on those able to afford it and not by cutting services to the vulnerable. Labour has so far failed to effectively counter the Tory media myth that there is "no alternative" to Austerity.  There are always choices and alternatives to be made in politics. We need to get this crucial message out.

Today train and bus fares went up again by more than inflation. On Monday morning (and evening) 4 January 2016 West Ham CLP activists will be out at railway stations protesting and handing out leaflets to commuters reminding them that :-

"In the last seven years, tube and bus fares have increased by more than 40 per cent, while wages have failed to keep pace.

That's why Sadiq Khan, Labour's candidate for Mayor of London, has pledged to freeze all tube, train and bus fares for the next four years".

Getting Sadiq elected as a Labour Mayor for London is going to be a key part of any wider Labour revival. I hope (and expect) that all parts of the Party who actually want to defeat the Tories will stop the name calling and bickering and rally around Sadiq and Jeremy in the run up to May.

Hat tip to Mrs Grayee for her support with inputting and leafleting! 

My Favourite Picture of 2015

Off message but been looking through my albums for my favourite photo from 2015. This one is from a walk up and down Place Fell, in the Lake District narrowly wins. Click on photo to bring up more detail.

See my post on the walk here.

 Take only Photos, Leave only Footprints.