Harrow and District CWU » Strike action

Burston Strike School Rally

admin — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 22:50:14 +0000

Date Sun, 4 Sep 2011

Time to from 11:00 to 16:00

Location Church Green, Burston, near Diss, Norfolk

Cost Free

Description
Annual rally to celebrate the longest strike in history: schoolchildren ‘went on strike’ in 1914 to support their teachers, sacked by the rural squirarchy for organising agricultural workers.
Join us for food (or bring a picnic if you wish), drink, entertainment (John Hegley, Robb Johnson & the Irregulars), and speakers (Diana Holland AGS Unite, Kelvin Hopkins MP, Mary Robinson, Dave Carr – introduced by Megan Dobney SERTUC and Jim Kelly Unite)

Travel Coaches will be organised by a number of different organisations – contact the office for information when available.
Dedicated car and coach parking is available in Burston.
Nearest railway station: Diss (c.4 miles)

Register interest or request more information
Please use this email form or contact:
sertucevents@tuc.org.uk

Solidarity with striking public sector workers

admin — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 00:59:58 +0000

CWU sends a solid message of solidarity to all public sector workers on strike today (Thursday). Across the UK, CWU activists have been turning up at picket lines to demonstrate support.

Commenting on the nationwide strike action today, CWU general secretary Billy Hayes said: “When the tide rises, all boats lift. Let’s make waves.”

0CWU’s senior deputy general secretary Tony Kearns, President Davie Bowman, policy advisors Steve Fishwick and Fevzi Hussein, and executive member Steve Catterall visited a picket line at Rutlish School in Wimbledon to stand with striking NUT members (pictured). While there, a Royal Mail driver pulled up and decided against crossing the school picket line, receiving a huge round of applause.

Tony explained: “We went to show solidarity this morning with striking public sector workers. The government is picking on workers to pay for the bailout, mistakes and greed of bankers, but driving up pension contributions for a worse pension will lead to people opting out of schemes. It’s false economics which will cost us all more in the long-run and a blatant attack on working people.”

Davie went on to say: “It’s important that we show solidarity against the unjustified cuts to public sector pensions. People on strike today are being victimised by the Con-Dem government and we stand fully behind their cause for fair and affordable pensions.”

0The BBC is coming live from Bristol today where TUC general secretary Brendan Barber is visiting picket lines. CWU Bristol branch have been on the NUT picket line at Filton Abbeywood School and the UCU picket at University of Western England with branch youth officer Kye Dudd (pictured) saying “we admire what these unions are doing to protect their members’ pensions and they have our full support.”

Commenting on the support CWU is giving striking public sector workers across the South West, regional secretary Kevin Beazer explained: “All branches in the South West are supporting events and pickets in towns and cities across the region. We’re giving as much support as we can because these people have supported us strongly in the past.”

Paul Moffat, CWU eastern regional secretary, is speaking at number of events across the region and activists are attending events in Bedford, Peterborough, Norwich, Cambridge and rallies in Ipswich and Luton and visitng pickets lines in Milton Keynes.

In the North West, CWU is supporting demonstrations in Preston, Manchester, Blackburn, Blackpool and Liverpool with regional secretary Carl Webb sending messages of support to public sector workers on strike across the region. Read more on the North West Region website.

North East regional secretary Paul Clays and CWU activists in the area are supporting activities across Yorkshire and Northumberland giving full support to strikers.

In Northern Ireland, CWU members are supporting striking workers and regional secretary Lawrence Huston is joining PCS strikers at Belfast’s main civil service building Millennium House at lunchtime.

In Scotland, where strike action is principally being taken by PCS and UCU, CWU regional secretary John Brown and activists are supporting the rally in George Square in Glasgow and have sent messages of support to strikers across Scotland.

In Wales, regional secretary Gary Watkins has sent messages of support to the regional secretaries of the four unions taking strike action and CWU is supporting events taking place in Cardiff, Aberystwyth, Llandridrod Wells, Merthyr Tydfil, Newport, Swansea and Wrexham.

South East regional secretary Paul Carpenter has sent message of solidarity to the unions on strike and CWU members are visiting pickets at the Border Agency in Chatham and Christchurch University in Medway. Paul and other CWU activists are supporting rallies in Chatham, Portsmouth, Reading, Camberley, Worthing, Brighton and Hastings.

Midlands regional secretary Lee Barron is speaking at a massive rally in Birmingham where local government Unison members are on strike in addition to the national strikes of NUT, PCS, ATL and UCU. CWU activists are attending and speaking at rallies across the region including Stoke, Wolverhampton, Nottingham, Northampton and Birmingham.

via | Media | News Archive | Solidarity with striking public sector workers.

General strike now needed!

admin — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 19:12:05 +0000

The CWU has thrown its weight behind the growing chorus of demands for a 24-hour general strike against Government-led attacks on working people and the vital services they rely on.

Committing the CWU to join forces with other trade unions and campaigning organisations in the fight against Coalition Government attempts to make working people pay for a crisis caused by bankers, delegates at the union’s Annual Conference in Bournemouth unanimously called on the CWU’s leadership to seek to co-ordinate campaigns and strikes with other unions.

Faced with an unprecedented ideological attack on workers’ rights – amplified by yesterday’s thinly veiled threat by Business Secretary Vince Cable (pictured) to curtail the right to strike by UK workers – delegates agreed that only strike action on a scale already seen in France and Greece will force the Cameron Government to change tack and urged the TUC to co-ordinate a 24-hour general strike.

Pointing out that, left unchallenged, the Government’s current policies will see a return to levels of inequality in Britain which haven’t been seen since Victorian times, Eastern regional secretary Paul Moffat (pictured) told Conference: “We’ve seen cuts on vulnerable groups, youth services, the elderly, the NHS, schools, teachers, education, police officers, prison services and all local services – in fact all areas of state provision and services in this country – without any regard for the long-term consequences.

“These attacks are not determined by mere economic choice but by a clear ideological policy. It will lead to mass unemployment, irreversible damage to public services including Royal Mail and exploitation of ordinary people in favour of the privileged few in this country.”

Paul Garraway of South Central No 1 branch stressed: “It’s imperative that we fight these cuts and defend these services before we lose them. They say we’re all in this together, but are they suffering? The bankers continue to get their bonuses and the champagne continues to flow for the rich, and what do we get? A bigger share of the poverty! I don’t remember the good times being that good, yet now we are expected to foot the bill for a crisis we did not create.

“It’s time to unite and fight back. On June 30 the PCS, UCU, NUT and ATL unions will be taking action against these cuts. Over 800 000 workers will be on strike. On that day I will be stood alongside my partner outside her school. This is our fight, and we must all be doing our part.”

Rob Wotherspoon of Bristol branch cited the “sickening” statistic revealed in the Sunday Times ‘rich list’ that, at a time when workers are seeing their real incomes reduce for the fourth year running, the collective fortunes of the richest 1,000 people in Britain actually increased by 18% last year – something which hasn’t happened since the 1870s.

“There’s no recession for the rich…but this Government of millionaires isn’t satisfied with that,” he said. “They want more and they want to get more by attacking our public services and our employment rights.

“Without a general strike we’re not going to beat back these attacks.”

With the strike of June 30 now looming, Midlands Regional Secretary Lee Baron (pictured) stressed the importance of all trade unionists standing united and refusing to cross each others picket lines.

“When we do that we break the law…but it’s a simple principle. We’d rather break the law than break their pickets any day of the week.

“If this generation is remembered for anything it has got to be the generation that put and end to the politics of greed and reintroduced into this country the politics of fairness once again.”

Mark Taggart of Manchester Clerical agreed: “A 24 hour strike in the public and private sector will be met by writs, challenges from the Government, the CBI and businesses. It potentially propels the trade union movement into a legal quagmire, but that is not an excuse for not supporting it.

“We have responsibility as a trade union to aspire for working people in the UK. We have a responsibility to fight for their interests, and we need to fulfil that responsibility.”

Supporting the motion, senior deputy general secretary Tony Kearns (pictured) warned of the “trickery of the law which talks about when you can and cannot take industrial action”, but stressed: “This is a ‘make your mind up time’ for this union. We’re sick and tired of hearing David Cameron saying ‘we’re all in this together’, because the reason he says that is that if we’re all in this together as part of the solution we must have been all part of the problem – and that simply isn’t the case.

“What we’re seeing is an ideological attack by this Government. This is the systematic deconstruction of the society that we live in – there is no other way of describing it.

“George Osborne’s mantra that everything can be privatised is a threat to every single thing that we hold dear and the very fabric of the society that we have enjoyed living in for the past 60, 70 or in some cases 80 years.”

Ultimately, Tony concluded, the CWU has no option but to stand up and be counted in the fight against “a race to the right”.

CWU TV News | April 2011

admin — Wed, 04 May 2011 23:44:25 +0000

Emma Howard brings you the latest headlines from around the CWU this month. CWU TV reports from the TUC March for the Alternative March and Rally in London and from Brighton as part of CWU’s Keep The Post Public. We bring you full details on the London Mail Centre Closures and Royal Mail ColleagueShare Scheme together and the new agreement between CWU and POL over pay and the future of the Crown network.

CWU TV News | February 2011

admin — Wed, 04 May 2011 23:12:48 +0000

Welcome to the new look CWU TV News bringing you the latest stories from around the communications industry. This month includes CWU’s ongoing Keep the Post Public Campaign, impending strike action at Crown Post Offices, Isle of Man Post Ofiice and iPSL, CWU save BT Barrow Call Centre and Billy Hayes is re-elected as CWU General Secretary. Look out for new icons on screen where you can watch more indepth interviews on CWU TV and in the latest edition of eVoice.

CWU TV Matters | Keep The Post Public National Rally – Westminster

admin — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 01:12:28 +0000

Having defeated the Labour Government back in 2009, CWU now faces a new fight against the Coalition Governments plan to privatise the Royal Mail. Over the last couple of months, Keep The Post Public events have taken place in the 71 marginal constituencies around the country and December saw a national rally take place in Westminster. Nick Thatcher brings you up to date with the latest plans and speaks to Dave Ward and MP’s who pledge their support. (Created December 2010)

Romec pay deal ballot

admin — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 02:01:00 +0000

Engineers and cleaners in Romec will get a basic wage increase of 2.75 per cent if they accept an improved pay and allowances package negotiated by the CWU. Engineers will also receive an additional £680 on basic rates from April 2011 while cleaners will have 15 per cent of total bonus money consolidated into pay from January 2011.

Ray Ellis

National officers Ray Ellis and Bob Gibson are calling on members to back the draft deal, after talks with the company saw bosses increase their initial offer.

If the agreement is endorsed, hard-working Romec staff will receive an immediate 2.25 percent pay increase – backdated to April – with a further 0.5 per cent to come in October.

The main engineering bonus scheme will be “bought out” with a lump sum payment of £800. A new scheme will be introduced from 1^st January 2011. CWU has secured the potential for a leave purchase scheme for cleaning grades with effect from April 2011 and also a full review of the cleaners’ bonus scheme. Next year’s pay review date will come forward to January.

Bob Gibson

Bob Gibson described the draft deal as “reasonable in the current circumstances and certainly much improved on the opening offer from the company.” Ray Ellis agreed, adding: “That we have been able to consolidate a significant proportion of bonus earnings.”

Ballot papers went out to Romec members yesterday. The poll closes on Tuesday September 14 and the CWU is urging a big Yes vote.

“We have no hesitation in recommending that members vote Yes in favour of the deal,” said Bob & Ray.

You can download the LTB LTB 802/10 - Romec Pay Offer 2010 (121)

CWU TV 360 | July 2010

admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 12:00:24 +0000

CWU 360 brings you the latest news and issues affecting you in an action packed 20 minutes. Catch up with the latest news from around the union, find out about the BT Pay Deal, Ed Balls’ endorsement by the CWU executive and he facilities offered by CWU Legal Services as well as a news round up from around the union. (Created August 2010)

CWU TV Matters | CWU Legal Services

admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 11:55:40 +0000

CWU Legal Services is not just there for members who have been victims of crime, it provides a wide range of benefits and services to it’s members. And whats more it’s free to all CWU members. So are you making the most of this service? CWU TV went to find out more about what CWU Legal Services can offer you. (Created August 2010)

CWU TV News | August 2010

admin — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 17:28:52 +0000

CWU TV brings you the latest stories from around the communications industry. This month we talk to Andy Kerr, Deputy General Secretary Telecoms about the BT Pay Deal, CWU Nominates Ed Balls for Labour Leadership, Non-address Mail Integrated into Workload, Climate Solidarity ‘e-group’ Launched and CWU Scoops TUC Communication Awards. To find out more about these stories, please visit the CWU website.