Harrow and District CWU » Trade union

CWU TV News | Ed’s Epic Everest Challenge

admin — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 22:01:09 +0000

CWU member ED Buckingham has recently returned from climbing the worlds highest mountain. Ed attempted the grueling feat to help raise money for The British Heart Foundation. CWU met with Ed to find out more about this incredible feat. (Created August 2011)

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CWU TV News | TUC Conference 2011

admin — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 21:55:45 +0000

A quickfire round-up of the important issues affecting CWU members at the 2011 TUC Conference at Congress House in London. (Created September 2011)

The Tory council assault on unions

admin — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 05:42:24 +0000

The government has opened a new front in its war on Britain’s trade unions. It is attempting to wreck trade union organisation among hundreds of thousands of local authority workers by saddling unions with millions of pounds in costs.

The first evidence I saw of this came in Leeds, ironically in the week that Britain’s labour movement marked the anniversary of the imprisonment of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, the six Dorset agricultural labourers who were transported to Australia in 1834 for swearing allegiance to a union.

Here’s what is happening. Councils give union representatives – elected convenors or shop stewards – time to do their union work. It’s called “time off for union duties”. The work is the nuts and bolts of trades union activity, such as representing people at disciplinary and grievance hearings. Some of it fulfils people’s statutory right to be represented.

Some convenors with thousands of members work full time on union duties, although they are employees of the councils, who pay their wages. For example in my city, Leeds, the secretary of the council branch of the public service union Unison, which has 8,000 members, is a social worker, but spends all his time on union duties.

It is in councils’ interests to have such a system. It helps maintain smooth industrial relations. It avoids the disruption of pulling people off their jobs daily to represent colleagues. It provides a mechanism to solve potential disputes before they happen.

In Leeds, Conservative councillors are attempting to sabotage the arrangement by calling on the Labour-controlled council to stop paying the union convenors’ wages, and make the unions find the money. There are 15 convenors. The Tories say stopping their pay would save Leeds council around £400,000, at a time when the council has to find £90m in cuts (cuts imposed by the Tories and their Lib-Dem supporters in government).

The proposal is accompanied by mealy-mouthed lip service to the “valuable role” played by trades unions, and reaffirming “reasonable support” for trades unions, including time off for union duties. But if implemented it would cripple the Leeds council unions’ abilities to provide representation for their members.

At first I thought the plan might be a one-off from some ambitious, union-loathing Tory wanting to make a name for himself, and make life difficult for the unions. It isn’t. It’s happening across the country, with other Tory councillors making similar proposals or preparing the ground for them. The Tories are even targeting union organisation in police authorities. If successful, it would financially cripple public sector unions.

Local authorities spend billions of pounds a year in taxpayers’ money to provide refuse collection, street cleaning, housing, old people’s homes, state education and other services. Some Tories want the billions it costs to run these services handed to the profit-hungry private sector. Union organisation is the biggest single obstacle to this aim, so it has to be removed.

If the Tory strategy succeeds, remaining services in the public sector will be privatised and their provision will be motivated by profit, not people’s needs. Dividends and bonuses will be the key factors in running our schools and old people’s homes.

Margaret Thatcher recognised that organised labour was the biggest stumbling block confronting privatisation. Now David Cameron and his allies plan to finish the job of destroying union organisation.

In 1834 the Tolpuddle Martyrs were transported to Australia for organising collectively. Transportation may be a thing of the past. The Tories’ determination to remove obstacles to private sector profit is not.

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 | TUC March For The Alternative – London

admin — Wed, 04 May 2011 23:42:15 +0000

CWU TV joined up to half a million people and marched on London as part of the TUC’s March For The Alternative campaign. CWU together with other trade unions, political organisations and members of the public voiced their anger and dismay at the government’s public spending cuts plan, which will potentially put more than a million people out of work. CWU’s Billy Hayes joined Brendan Barber, TUC General Secreatry and Labour Leader Ed Miliband at the rally in Hyde Park.

CWU TV News | March For The Alternative: Saturday 26th March 2011

admin — Wed, 04 May 2011 23:02:43 +0000

TUC’s March For The Alternative National March and Rally will take place on Saturday 26th March in London. All trade unionists along with other organisations and groups will come together to stand up against public spending cuts and the Conservative and Lib Dem Governement. CWU Senior Deputy General Secretary Tony Kearns explains why it is important that all CWU members, as well as activists, attend this vital key event.

CWU TV News | Keep The Post Public – Birmingham

admin — Wed, 04 May 2011 22:58:43 +0000

Birmingham saw over 500 postal workers, labour supports and other trade union activist come together to march against privatisation of Royal Mail as part of CWU’s Keep The Post Public campaign. Speakers included TUC Midlands Regional Secretary Cheryl Pidgeon, local MP Jack Dromey together with CWU’s Dave Ward and Midland Regional Secretary Lee Barron. To keep up to date with campaign events and the latest videos, please visit the blog at www.keepthepostpublic.org.uk

HARROW UNIONS DEMONSTRATE AGAINST THE ‘DEMOLITION’ GOVERNMENT CUTS

admin — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 23:25:16 +0000

UNISON LG Branch are joining together with other Harrow trade union branches to take part in a demonstration as part of the European Trade Union Confedereration’s (ETUC) ‘Day of Action’ on Wednesday 29^th September 2010 at the Council Chambers, Civic Centre, Station Road, Harrow, HA1 2XF between 12.30 and 1.30 PM.

Harrow UNISON firmly believe that the harsh and reckless austerity measures being witnessed not only in this country but whole-scale across the European continent will do nothing but worsen the already difficult plight of the poor, jobless and low paid but could lead Europe into further recession, resulting in even more unemployment which currently stands at a worrying 23 million.

The TUC recently made it clear in its Manchester Conference that it does not accept this approach because cutting in a recession is not only economic madness but it is a regressive act which will impact and hit the most vulnerable people in British society hardest (as recently assessed and independently confirmed by the Institute for Fiscal Studies). The austerity measures also do not reflect the fiscal stimulus packages deployed by the world’s biggest economy, the United States, which under Barak Obama is stimulating economic revival by creating jobs, not destroying them.

On the 29^th September 2010 in Glasgow, London, Brussels, Madrid, Berlin and Athens, to name but a few, the ETUC is coordinating various mass demonstrations, rallies and national strikes in its ‘Day of Action’ which aims to send a clear message to European governments and advocates an alternative approach;

“NO TO AUSTERITY, YES TO JOBS AND GROWTH”

In Harrow we invite all trade union members from local unions, community groups and voluntary organisations to stand together in conjunction with our European counterparts to demonstrate against the imposed cuts and share the reality of an austerity regime which takes no prisoners.The branch has already witnessed the tip of the ‘cuts’ iceberg because over the next several years, and on top of the voluntary severance scheme, it faces 300 redundancies. It has also seen services outsourced to the private sector in the assumption and belief that money can be saved as a result of ‘efficiencies’ or ‘cuts’. This is the stark reality of the austerity agenda at a local level and will continue if nothing is done to challenge it.

Therefore, on the 29 September 2010 we ask people to convene at 12.30 PM within the Council Chambers bringing their flags, banners, placards (and smiling faces) of their respective unions and organisations in readiness for an outside demonstration at 1.30 PM for photographs and press interviews.

The Civic Centre is easily accessible via many bus routes e.g. (140, 182, 186, 258, 340) and is a short walking distance from Harrow & Wealdstone station (Bakerloo & London Overground). Public parking is also available.

SO COME AND JOIN IN WITH THE REST OF EUROPE!

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)