Jennie Formby quits as Labour General Secretary

 Matt Honeycombe-Foster of POLITICS HOME

JENNIE Formby is standing down as general secretary of the Labour Party, it has been announced.

The longstanding ally of Jeremy Corbyn, who took on the top Labour job in 2018, said it was the “right time to step down” following the election of Sir Keir Starmer as Mr Corbyn’s successor last month.

She said: “When I applied for the role of General Secretary in 2018 it was because I wanted to support Jeremy Corbyn, who inspired so many people to get involved in politics with his message of hope, equality and peace.

“It has been a huge privilege to be General Secretary of the largest political party in Europe for the last two years, but now we have a new leadership team it is the right time to step down.

"I would like to thank Jeremy, our members and my staff colleagues who have given me so much support during what has been a very challenging period, in particular when I was suffering from ill health.”
Ms Formby added: “I wish Keir and Angela the very best of luck in taking the party forward and leading Labour to victory at the next General Election”.


Ms Formby, previously a senior official at the Unite union and a long-serving member of Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee, took on the role in 2018, in a move that was seen as significantly strengthening Mr Corbyn’s grip on the party.

She saw off a challenge from rival candidates including Momentum boss Jon Lansman and former NUT union boss Christine Blower to become only the second woman ever to hold the key party post.

Ms Formby announced last year that she had been undergoing treatment for breast cancer - but said in January that she was now “hopefully” cancer free after her treatment ended.

In a statement, Sir Keir said:   "I would like to thank Jennie for her service, and for the personal and professional efforts she has made in advancing the cause she has fought all her life for.

“Jennie has led our party's organisation with commitment and energy through a period of political upheaval, including a snap General Election last year. I wish her the very best for the future."

The party’s new deputy leader Angela Rayner meanwhile said: "As a trade unionist and party activist as well as General Secretary, Jennie has been a great servant of our movement for many years and blazed a trail as one of our highest achieving women. 

“She goes with our thanks and gratitude, and I've no doubt she will stand squarely behind us as we continue to fight for social justice and the Labour government our country so desperately needs.”

Labour sources said Ms Formby's resignation was with immediate effect, and her exit tees up the race to be Labour’s next general secretary, with the party saying a meeting of its NEC officers would be convened soon to discuss a timetable for the contest.

The vacancy comes amid a bitter row in Labour ranks over a leaked report into the party's handling of anti-Semitism allegations, with Labour last week naming barrister Martin Forde QC to head up and investigation into the dossier.
The document, prepared for party bosses amid an investigation into Labour by the Equalities and Human Right Commission, alleged that anti-Corbyn sentiment among staff at its headquarters had hindered efforts to tackle anti-Jewish abuse.
Responding to news of her exit, pro-Corbyn campaign group Momentum argued that Ms Formby had taken on the role of general secretary “at an incredibly difficult time”.

A spokesperson said: “She inherited a party bureaucracy that was often hostile to Jeremy’s leadership, with senior staff members allegedly misusing party funds and attempting to sabotage Labour’s General Election campaign in 2017. 
“Struggling against this while undergoing chemotherapy must have taken a herculean effort. 
“We thank her for everything and wish her well for the future.”

 ************************************

*   INTERESTINGLY ON the 16 April 2020  GMB union members at Labour HQ backed a no-confidence motion in the general secretary, Jennie Formby.

It follows the leaking of an internal report, which included emails and private WhatsApp messages.
The motion calls on Ms Formby to "personally apologise to the current staffers named in the report".
Among its findings, the report claims factions opposed to former leader Jeremy Corbyn hampered efforts to tackle anti-Semitism.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has ordered an inquiry into why the report was commissioned, its contents, and how it came into the public domain.
But in its motion, the GMB, which is the largest union at Labour Party headquarters, accuses Ms Formby of leaking the report, the BBC's Iain Watson reports, and criticises current, as well as former, party managers.
The motion says that by "trawling the emails and instant messenger logs, the general secretary has effectively unilaterally placed all members of staff under investigation" without due process.
And it adds: "Staff can no longer be confident that the general secretary has the safety and welfare of staff as her top priority, and [she] has allowed the mental and physical wellbeing of staff to be put at risk with the creation and leaking of this report."
The motion also refers to a "hostile environment created post-2015", when Jeremy Corbyn was first elected leader, "in which staff who did not appear to support the new leader were marginalised, ignored, harassed and hounded out of the party".
The Unite union, headed by key Jeremy Corbyn ally Len McCluskey, also has a branch at Labour HQ.
It has released a statement saying the report should not have been released unredacted, according to the LabourList website.
But the branch describes as "shocking" the allegations in the report that an anti-Corbyn faction at party HQ worked against a Labour victory at the 2017 general election and warns against the investigation being "kicked into the long grass".
The GMB and Unite branches have previously clashed over their respective responses to the leaked report's contents.

Unions welcome Welsh social distancing rule

forwarded to NV by Joe Bailey

UNIONs have welcomed the decision by the Welsh Assembly to enforce new social distancing rules at work. Peter Hughes, Unite Wales regional secretary, said: “Unite in Wales applauds this move. We have been repeatedly raising our members' safety concerns during this health crisis, and airing our fears that some employers are not respecting the two metres distance, so it is good that the Welsh government is listening.”  He added: “We hope that employers will understand the intention behind this law and act now to take every possible step to keep workers safe at work, rather than wait to be hit by a fine. Unite will work with our members to promote this new law and with employers to ensure that they adhere to these new regulations.”    

Howard Beckett, Unite's assistant general secretary for legal affairs, added: “This law will send a clear signal to bosses that they are now required by law to put their workers’ safety first.  Our members are putting themselves on the line to keep public services and businesses functioning during these extraordinary times, so we say to employers, keep them safe, provide them with the protective and sanitation equipment they need, or find yourselves in legal conflict with Unite because we have vowed to do whatever it takes to keep our members safe.” 

Dan Shears, GMB health, safety and environment director, said many employers have been ignoring the 2-metre stipulation.  “Those companies will now need to fall into line or fear the consequences,” he said.  Nick Ireland, a divisional officer with the shopworkers’ union Usdaw, said:  “Our communities need shops, but we need to keep all workers in the food supply chain safe so they can stay open. So we are pleased that the Welsh government recognises the heroic efforts our members are making and have introduced these new social distancing rules.” David Evans, Wales secretary for the teaching union NEU Cymru, said “we would urge our members to stick as closely as possible to the 2-metre rule where practicable.  It will be difficult, but ultimately, we need to ensure educators and learners are as safe as possible, and of course we should continue to ensure that as few students and staff as possible are in school.”

***************************

All Carillion's victims

 & the risks of speaking up!

AFTER a year the fall of Carillion is still having consequences with many sub-contractors having lost huge amounts.  Today in Construction News Rob Davies spoke with some of those affected to find out why:

In the aftermath of Carillion’s failure, there were concerns that its liquidation would lead to multiple collapses in the contractor’s supply chain.

Rob Davis writes:
'Carillion’s construction arm was estimated to have liabilities of close to £7bn when it went bust last year; it owed £1.9bn to creditors at the end of 2016 according to its last published set of accounts. The contractor was known to have 30,000 suppliers.
'Publicly though, some of those worst affected sought to downplay their exposure to Carillion, with very few construction companies revealing their losses.
'But behind closed doors, clients and principal contractors were conducting wide-scale supply chain interrogations targeting partners they either knew of or suspected had worked with Carillion.'

Mr. Davis continues:
'Credit referencing agencies, used by businesses to assess the risk profile of potential suppliers, also went into overdrive, compiling lists of all the companies they believed could be next to go under.'

  Death knell reported by Construction News:

ANY company that was identified by more than one of these agencies struggled to get its payments insured beyond a week at a time.
 
Multiple contractors have told Construction News how they felt gagged from speaking out as a victim of Carillion both to clients and the wider public as doing so could effectively sound a death knell for their business.

Unions accuse Government of failing to learn lessons

Equally on the anniversary of Carillion's collapse trade unions have accused the government of failing to learn lessons from the collapse of Carillion, instead pumping even more money into outsourcing companies, a year on from the firm’s high-profile demise.

The lifetime value of outsourcing contracts awarded in 2017-18 “rocketed” by 53% from £62bn to £95bn in the past year, according to the GMB union, which pointed to nearly £2bn in contracts awarded to Capita and Interserve despite both issuing profit warnings.

The GMB said this showed a government “hell-bent” on privatisation, despite the warning signs given by the collapse of Carillion, which managed public sector contracts to provide services such as prison maintenance and school dinners.

Unite union critises lack of action

Unite, Britain’s largest trade union, bemoaned a lack of action taken against former Carillion directors, who were accused by a committee of MPs of “recklessness, hubris and greed”, reiterating calls for a criminal investigation.

The Unite assistant general secretary, Gail Cartmail, said: 'It is staggering that a year after the biggest corporate failure in modern UK history the government has carried on as though it is business as normal.

'The fact that no one involved in Carillion has yet had any form of action taken against them, demonstrates either that the regulators are failing to do their jobs or that existing laws are too weak.  If it is the latter then we need better, stronger laws.

 'A year on from Carillion’s collapse the government needs to stop prevaricating and start taking effective action to drive bandit capitalism out of the UK.'


The government has introduced measures to make companies in charge of major public sector contracts draw up “living wills” to ensure the smooth operation of the services they provide in the event of financial failure.

But Unite said the measures did not go far enough to reform the system of public procurement.
A spokeswoman for the Cabinet Office, which manages the outsourcing of public sector contracts and faced criticism over its role in the administration of the bust of Carillion, said the government had put in place measures to prevent a repeat.

She said:  'This government has taken great strides to improve how we work with the private sector, including requiring companies to demonstrate prompt payment to suppliers and piloting "living wills" for critical contracts, allowing contingency plans to be quickly put into place if needed.'

The accounting watchdog Financial Reporting Council (FRC), which was criticised by MPs for being 'chronically passive' over the audits of Carillion by firms including KPMG, is still investigating the circumstances of its failure.

The Insolvency Service, an arm of the department for business, energy and industrial strategy, is also investigating the affair and began interviewing former directors of the company last year.

**********

GMB asks Carillion workers to get in touch

Taken from the BLACKLIST SUPPORT GROUP Blog this morning:
GMB Union

21 hrs

‼️ Are you a Carillion worker who wants to speak out? You can speak to us anonymously - our inbox is open 📩
Commenting on the leaked memo, Rehana Azam, GMB Uni...
See more

Leaked Internal Memo Orders Carillion Staff To Stay Silent

Exclusive: Speaking out is 'unhelpful to us all', memo says.

No Double Yellow Lines for Rochdale Blacklist Co.

AT LAST night's full council meeting of Rochdale MBC held in the Gothic revival Town Hall, Tory Councillor Pat Sullivan tabled a question about problems encountered by the contractor maintaining the highways in Rochdale.  Councillor Sullivan's quiery was:
'Recently contractors [Balfour Beatty] were putting yellow lines down and were unable to complete the job as two cars were parked.  Should the contractor not put notes out the night before in order to make sure that the work can be completed?'

Even Councillor Ashley Dearnley, Leader of Conservative Group and Shadow Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, got involved.  These construction companies are not always competent themselves, the building firm Carillion which has a partnership with Tameside MBC once claimed it couldn't repair the leaking roof of Ashton Library because it didn't have a long enough ladder at its disposal.

In March 2015, Rochdale Council took out a Highways Maintenance Contract with Balfour Beatty until 2020.

The works Balfour Beatty will do includes jobs for the repair and minor improvement work to the Council's highways infrastructure, including it seems double yellow lines.

What was not mentioned at last night's Council meeting was that the Rochdale Council has a contract with a firm labelled a blacklister by the Information Commissioner's Office [ICO].

The ICO website states:
'During 2008/09 the ICO carried out an investigation into employment blacklisting in the construction industry.  As part of that investigation, the ICO seized information from a company called The Consulting Association.  Some of the information we seized amounted to a 'blacklist' of individuals who were considered to pose a risk to their employers if employed within the construction industry.'

No doubt Labour Councillor Allen Brett, the newly crowned leader of Rochdale Council (not to mention his predecessor Richard Farnell) has forgotten what one of their earlier predecessor Colin Lambert said in 2013:  'Rochdale MBC wanted no truck with companies who blacklist workers and trade unionists'.

Ofcourse, it was Colin Lambert's friend, the deceased Labour MP, Jim Dobbin, who in 2012 sponsored the early day motion:
'That this House is aware of the campaign led principally by the trades unions, the GMB, UNITE, UCATT and others for justice for blacklisted workers, many of whose lives have been ruined by the secretive and malicious practice which has denied them employment in their industry without them having either the knowledge or privilege of being able to see or challenge information listed against them; believes such practices to be fundamentally wrong and against the very principles of freedom and democracy; and calls on the Government to condemn such behaviour and consider introducing new legislation to prohibit such practices.'

These days with Rochdale Council still under the control of Farmell's Labour Party cronies like Councillor Brett, companies such as Balfour Beatty with a history of blacklisting trade unionists are now on easy street being awarded fat public contracts by uncaring Labour councils like Rochdale MBC.

Death or life sentences for Indian trade unionists

13 TRADE UNIONISTS IN INDIA FACING DEATH SENTENCES OR LIFE IMPRISONMENT

SAVE THE LIVES OF THE MARUTI 13!

Letter to his Excellency Y.K. Sinha
High Commissioner of India in London:

We the undersigned are writing to you regarding the Indian trade unionists at the Maruti Suzuki car factory in Haryana State, an Indian plant of the Japanese Suzuki multinational corporation, who were arrested and charged in connection with incidents that took place at this factory in 2012, in which a factory manager died, have just been tried in court. (1)

117 of them were acquitted and 31 were convicted of various offenses, including 13 who were convicted of murder -- which in India is punishable by death or life imprisonment. Finality of the quantum of punishment will be out on March 17.

Of the 13 convicted of murder -- convictions in which no evidence was produced to prove their guilt -- 11 were leaders of the MSWU, the independent union that was formed in Maruti and that management sought to break through violence.

SAVE THE LIVES OF THE MARUTI 13!

Excellency, we ask you to communicate the following demands to the Indian authorities:

FREEDOM FOR ALL THE IMPRISONED WORKERS!
DROP ALL THE CHARGES!
(1)  This car factory was first privatised in 2002, and the consequences that flowed from this notably included making 50% of the monthly salary variable, depending on the level of production, and having the workers lose around 25% of this part of their wages if they were absent for a day due to sick leave! In order to defend the employees’ rights, an independent trade union, the Maruti Suzuki Workers Union (MSWU), was set up in 2011. This was nothing more than the application of recognised provisions under the international Conventions 87 and 98 of the ILO. However, the company’s management stated attitude was that it was not even worth trying to set up a trade union, and it then resorted to deploying armed thugs around the factory.

Endorsers - pers cap

John Sweeney trade unionist, Member of the Mumbai Conference Continuations Committee; Mike Calvert, Deputy Secretary Islington Unison ; Ian Hodson, National President Bakers and Food Workers Union (BFAWU) ; Steve Hedley, RMT Senior Assistant General Secretary ; Jane Doolan, Secretary Islington Unison ; Nick Phillips Secretary Southwark Trades Council pers  ; Ronnie Draper General Secretary BFAWU ; John McNally National Vice – President Public & Commercial Services Union  ; Dave Auger Unison NEC; Adrian Kennett Unison NEC; Dean Ryan Islinton Unison  ; Dean Kirk Hull Unison  ; Keith Dunn Tottenham CLP ; Rachel Harris Halesowen and Rowley Regis CLP- USDAW ; Tam Dewar CWU- Labour party; Alison Birmingham Norfolk County Unison; Mina Rodgers Unison Retired members Secretary Leics Health Branch NPC National Committere; Tony Goss Trade Union Managers in Partnership Organiser , Torbay CLP; Rachael Harris, Halesowen and Rowley Regis CLP and USDAW; Michael Calderbank, Brent Central CLP; Cllr Mouna Hamitouche, Islington Labour Councillor; Jo Cardwell, Islington Unison; Mark Still, RMT; Jane Gebbie Bridend CLP Unison NPT; Geoff Jelly. Unison; George Binette Camden UNISON Branch Secretary & Camden Trades Council Chair; Steve Campbell Unite Community & Unison Retired; Liz Davies, UK barrister, Honorary Vice-President Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers; John Dennis Secretary Dumfries Trade Union Council & Secretary; Terry Luke, Islington Unison; Alex Wood, Unison; Richard Gill (Islington Unison); Claudia Calvino. Labour member Heeley CLP. Unite; Fiona Monkman  Islington Unison, Mike Arnott Dundee Trades Council; Stefan Cholewka Greater Manchester Association of Trades Councils ( GMATUCs) ; Doreen McNally Unite Liverpool Community Branch; Raymond Mennie Unite Dundee; Dave Green National Officer Fire Brigares Union FBU ; Islington Unison BC; Roger Silverman Newham NUTNewham Momentum; Brian Lawton,  Unite , London IT branch; Harry Smith UNITE;  Vinothan Sangarapillai, Camden Unison; Ayten Selcuk RMT; Kath O'Connor unison; Neil Parry  Unison Welsh Government Branch Secretary Cynon Valley CLP; Roger Lewis Lambeth Unison assistant branch secretary; Victoria Cuckson PCS; Michele Marshall UNIT; Richard Knights NUT; Peter Durrant, Unite. All members of Islington Unison Branch Committee: Isabel Handovsky. ; Andrew Berry; Denise Facey; Ghile Ghebrenegus ; Kevin Perkins; Angela Faventi; Tina Clayton Unison; Alison wood West Yorkshire; Adrian Kennett Unison NEC; Sue Dockett president Wisbech/March TUC; Lucia Collins, Nipsa General Council Member, (pers cap); JON ROGERS unison nec; Eddie Dempsey RMT NEC; Sean Fox Haringey UNISON Joint Branch Secretary; Richard Gerrard, Camberwell + Peckham CLP (pers cap); Oliver New, president Ealing TUC; Seema Chandwani Tottenham CLP; Tony Church PCS DWP Leicestershire/ Secretary Leicester and District Trades Union Council; Lee Cooper, Socialist Party; Katrina Coomber UNISON Health Branch; Jane Gebbie and Kerry Jones Unison Ymlaen Branch; Katie Hall. Unison. Cardiff University Branch; Danuta Kulisa; Jonathan Dunning UNISON NEC; Tara Styles-Lightowlers UCU;Findlay, Mark, Unite, Brighton Pavilion CLP; Ann Whitton CWU; Maggie Simpson, unison Cardiff County Branch; Pam Woods, Islington South and Finsbury Labour Party; Alison Bushell, Member Felixstowe CLP and Momentum; Gerry Downing;
Mike Hogan; Jim McFarlane; Bobby Clelland; Phil Buyum Jackson Tottenham CLP; Naomi Fearon Wythenshawe and Sale East CLP Socialist Educational Association Equalities Officer , NUT rep; Councillor Peter Rees, Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council, Chair of joint Council for Wales,
Arlene  Chaves,   GMB,  neath Port Talbot County Borough Council,
LYNNE Doyle, unison Neath Port Talbot Council Borough Council,
David Smith,  unison cwm taff  local government branch; Jan Davies, UNISON, Monmouthshire Local Government Branch; Cheryl Morgan, UNISON Torfaen Local Government Branch; Peter Garland UNISON Newport Local Government Branch; Jackie Griffiths GMB Swansea County Council;?Dorothy Gordon GMB Swansea County Council; Mick Hutchinson GMB Powys County Council; Alwyn Rowles Unite North Wales Wales Branch; C Rogers Unite North West Wales Wrexham CLP;James David Unite Wrexham County Borough Council; Gary Simpson Unite Wrexham County Borough Council; Jane Isles UNISON Bridgend County Borough Council; Alyn Thomas GMB Wales and South West Region;Karen Evans GMB Denbighshire Composite Branch; Glenn Pappa UNISON Vale of Glamorgan;Tina Greaves GMB Vale of Glamorgan; Tommy Bower Unite Pembrokeshire County Council; Jo Rao UNISON Cardiff County Council Branch; Gwyn Roberts GMB Vale of Glamorgan Council; Owain Davies UNISON Ceredigion County Council; Lesley Davies Unite Rhondda Cynon Taff; David Andrew Williams Unite Caerphilly Council; Mark Preece Unite Carmarthenshire County Council;

Joint Trade Union Statement on Police Spies

Joint Union Statement: 

We the undersigned are outraged at the news that despite court orders to the contrary, the Metropolitan Police Service has destroyed evidence required for use in the Undercover Policing Public Inquiry. State spying on trade unions and political campaigns is a human rights scandal that affects millions of British citizens.  

Despite continued reassurances, the Pitchford Inquiry has failed to secure the documents that will be central to the investigation. Trade union core participants are beginning to question whether the Inquiry team has the ability to stop the police from obstructing the pursuit of justice. Lord Justice Pitchford needs to act now to restore our faith.  

We are calling on Lord Justice Pitchford to announce an urgent Inquiry hearing to examine the destruction of evidence by the police. The Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe should be forced to give evidence under oath to explain why, how and under whose authority documents have been destroyed. 

Lord Justice Pitchford needs to take immediate measures to secure all documentation held by the police, in order to prevent future destruction and avoid the entire inquiry descending into a hugely expensive cover-up on the part of the Metropolitan Police.  

SIGNED:

Len McCluskey (General Secretary) and Gail Cartmail (Acting General Secretary) UNITE the Union, incorporating UCATT 

Matt Wrack (General Secretary) Fire Brigades Union

Chris Kitchen (General Secretary) National Union of Mineworkers

Tim Roache (General Secretary) GMB union 

Mick Cash (General Secretary) Rail Maritime and Transport union 

Michelle Stanistreet (General Secretary) National Union of Journalists 

Dave Smith and Roy Bentham (joint secretaries) Blacklist Support Group

Threat to Labour Leader in Unite's Election?

LEN McCluskey stepped down early as general secretary of Unite, Britain’s biggest trade union, so as to stand again for a third term.  The New Statesman writer, Stephen Bush wrote in January that 'The contest has potentially far-reaching consequences for the Labour party. McCluskey was elected in 2013 to serve a five-year term; but his supporters hope that the move will allow him to stay in post until the next general election.'

Unite is the largest affiliate to the Labour Party. That makes it a power player in the party’s internal politics, although, writes Bush in the New Statesman of Unites leadership 'their reach and influence may often be overstated.  It is the GMB, a trade union from the party’s centre, which has dominated parliamentary selections so far in this parliament.'
McCluskey, who is 66, has some believe been handicapped by the idea, which Unite's press officers briskly deny, that he favoured Andy Burnham, not Jeremy Corbyn, in the 2015 Labour leadership election:  see the New Statesman, 6th, December 2016.  In the end Unite backed Corbyn.
In the last leadership election for Unite's top job, it was the left-wing candidate, Jerry Hicks, that threatened McCluskey most, and since then McCluskey has been a solid supporter of Corbyn, and it seems Unite 'underwrote much of the Islington MP's second leadership bid' last year.
Yet, according to the journalist Stephen Bush:  'the perception that he is a fairweather friend of the Corbyn project still lingers in some circles'.
The great hope for Labour’s Corbynsceptics and the right-wing centre is Gerard Coyne, the regional secretary in the west Midlands.  It has been said that allies of McCluskey hoped he could be bought off with a parliamentary seat, but  that hasn't happened and some are worried that a victory for Coyne would upset the current political complexion of the Labour Party.
We now know on the left, that Jerry Hicks will not be a contender in the current election for Unite General Secretary, but he has promised that he will support the new left-wing candidate Ian Allinson for the job.
Ian Allinson is Fujitsu's Unite convenor in Manchester, and has been involved in Unite and its forerunners for 25 years. He also has a blog, which records his union activities since 2007.  Whereas Len and Gerard are both entrenched in the union bureaucracy, Ian Allinson makes a claim to being the closest to trade union rank and file membership.  Here is the shop-floor Manchester lad to take on the tired union establishment. men.
The result of this election could well have wider consequences for British politics.

DCI Gordon Mills Sues GMB Union

Blacklist News:

1. Compensation is not the same as Justice

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-a666-Compensation-could-never-equal-justice#.V_4bC_krLs2

2. DCI Gordon Mills sues GMB

The senior police officer who gave the PowerPoint presentation at a Consulting Association meeting to senior executives of blacklisting construction companies is suing the GMB union for defamation. You couldn't make it up!  

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/oct/10/former-police-officer-suing-gmb-trade-union-for-defamation

http://www.policeprofessional.com/news.aspx?id=27378

3. Ricky Tomlinson at COPS meeting 

Jailed Shrewsbury picket turned national treasure Ricky Tomlinson spoke at a packed out Campaign Opposing Police Surveillance (COPS) public meeting on Monday night. He talked about the conspiracy between building employers and the state that resulted in his imprisonment and the chemically induced Parkinson' Disease that killed his friend Des Warren. Over 40 years after the events, the Home Secretary still refuses to release the official government papers in order to cover up the involvement of undercover police and the security services in the 1972 building workers strike and the Shrewsbury trial. Ricky shared the platform with 'Lisa', a female activist who had a long term relationship with the undercover police officer Mark Kennedy, Duwayne Brooks, friend of Stephen Lawrence and witness at his murder and lawyer Tamsin Allen.  https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/undercover-with-paul-lewis-and-rob-evans/2016/oct/05/duwayne-brooks-ricky-tomlinson-and-lisa-jones-to-tell-how-police-spied-on-them

https://onesmallwindow.wordpress.com/2016/10/11/spy-cops-watching-me-watching-you/

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/nov/20/lisa-jones-girlfriend-of-undercover-police-office-mark-kennedy-interview

4. COPS Scotland launched

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/local/dundee/296366/calls-for-police-spy-inquiry-to-include-scotland/

https://theferret.scot/review-of-secret-police-condemned-as-an-insult-and-whitewash/

5. House of Lords 

Baroness Jenny Jones put down a question in the House of Lords on Monday after consultation with me & Phil and relating to the whole police spying on trade unions issue. Below:

"To ask Her Majesty's Government, what plans they have to strengthen provisions in the Investigatory Powers Bill to give sufficient protection to data relating to trade union and political activities?"

Unsurprisingly, the Tory government are not intending to make any changes. 

6. Police spying on unions during News International dispute

http://www.unitetheunion.org/how-we-help/listofregions/scotland/latestnews/union-leader-calls-for-inquiry-into-policing-during-historic-newspaper-strike/

7. Andy Higgins R.I.P.

Details of funeral
11am Friday 21st October 2016
St. Marylebone Crematorium
East End Road
Finchley
N2 0RZ

Wake: 
The Boston Arms
178 Junction Road
N19 5QQ

Message from Construction Safety Campaign: 

Andy Higgins died on 17th September age 86.
Andy Higgins member of UCATT, previously a member of its London regional council and branch secretary. He dedicated his life to fighting for all those whom faced oppression. Having left Ireland to come to Britain at the age of 17. He went on to become a Carpenter Joiner working in many parts of the country. Andy alongside other Irish construction workers were in their
early years very involved with the Construction Safety Campaign (CSC) and also involved in the 1960-70s civil rights movement carried out by Connolly Association in the UK. Andy was one of the leading campaigners that successfully exposed the establishment lies which led to the Birmingham Six convictions being overturned and them being released from prison. From the
1960s up to before his death he continued to be involved in all the major worker's battles, in particular the 1972 Building Workers Strike. Andy was also a great singer and dancer. In 1988 when the Construction Safety Campaign was founded he became its National Treasurer and held this position up until early this year. He didn't just do the important paperwork needed as treasurer as he was a major figure in galvanizing construction workers to support all our activities. He was a very important part of what the CSC achieved. 
Condolences go to Teresa Andy's wife and family.
In preference to floral tributes Andy would have appreciated a donation to The Morning Star or The Construction Safety Campaign.

8. Thanks for the invites:

GMB Justice conference Liverpool, Institute of Employment Rights Liverpool, North West Labour Film Festival Liverpool and Orgreave Truth & Justice confernce

Roy Bentham, Tony Sweeney and Dave Smith representing 

https://www.facebook.com/GMBNWItradeunion/

http://www.ier.org.uk/events/health-and-safety-update-2016-liverpool

http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/orgreave-campaigners-to-hold-sheffield-conference-1-8147451

https://www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/files/NWFF16_Postcard_A6_310816_v2_WR.pdf

9. Blacklisted book

Thank You to UNITE Liverpool Construction branch, UNITE Middlesborough construction branch, NW&I region GMB for purchasing bulk orders 50 copies each of the updated edition of Blacklisted book. 

Bulk orders of the book for union branches receive a reduced rate and are available directly from the publishers: Dan at New Internationalist danrb@newint.org

10. Blacklisting coming up soon at:

Sat 15th Oct  - CWU Youth event - Sheffield 

Sat 15th Oct - Lucy Parker at Equity - The Old Vic, London https://vimeo.com/177553232

Tues 18th Oct - Institute of Employment Rights - London 

Sat 29th October - The new 'Blacklisted' film at the London Anarchist Bookfair https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNcgrNs6pB8

11. Labour Party Conference in Liverpool

Jeremy Corbyn states support for full inquiries into justice campaigns including blacklisting, Orgreave and Shrewsbury in his keynote speech. 

John McDonnell co-founder of the BSG attended the Liverpool v Hull match where a banner was unfurled on behalf of those justice campaigns with our collective support being reaffirmed for Corbyn after his reelection as leader of the Party

http://www.itv.com/news/granada/update/2016-09-24/fans-to-unfurl-corbyn-banner-on-the-kop/

Blacklist Support Group

book: http://newint.org/books/politics/blacklisted-secret-war/

video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNcgrNs6pB8

facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/blacklistSG/

blog: www.hazards.org/blacklistblog

GMB Slams Manchester Council For Managers' Pay Rise

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

GMB Slams Manchester City Council Proposals For Above Inflation Pay Rises For Managers

Senior officers have regularly seen their pay packets swell in the last 6 years whilst our members have faced below inflation pay awards and job insecurity says GMB.

GMB, the union for local government workers, has commented on proposals from Manchester City Council that would see senior managers receive increases of up to 20%. The council has seen swingeing cuts amounting to £300m a year while other council staff were given a pay rise of just 1% earlier in the year.

Simon Walsh, GMB regional organiser, said:
'To say we are disappointed that senior officers have moved to bump strategic management team pay is an understatement. Senior officers have regularly seen their pay packets swell in the last 6 years whilst our members have faced below inflation pay awards and job insecurity while their jobs are outsourced.'

Manchester City Council has faced the most savage cuts since 2010 and our members have had to bear the brunt of decisions taken by national and local Government. We are currently bracing ourselves for further cuts following the council’s current consultation with staff and residents which are to be finalised by November.

With an ever decreasing workforce and ever increasing pressure, our members are struggling to cope across all services. We find it inexplicable that Manchester City Council can find this level of funds to address senior officers pay. There is no way the council can justify some of these payments, especially when paying some officers over £100,000 plus thousands of pounds in market rate supplements.

GMB is seeking further clarification on the proposals and have submitted comment directly to the Personnel Committee.”

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Scottish GMB Statement on Labour Leadership

GMB Scotland Statement: Labour Leadership Ballot

GMB Scotland has been consistently clear that the Labour Party’s problems in Scotland cannot be attributed to one person alone and extends far beyond one electoral cycle.
It is also clear that the party as a whole is not fully focused on fixing the problems affecting so many people across Scotland and the rest of the UK.
Labour cannot hope to regain its electoral relevance unless it unites and starts acting as the party of labour, standing on a platform that is relevant to the lives of all working people.
In Scotland, Labour’s decline over the last decade has been stark.
Opinion polls now consistently show declining support among the Scottish electorate, both in Holyrood or Westminster and the party now sits in third place behind the Tories after the recent Scottish Parliament elections.
Therefore, GMB Scotland sees no merit in a ballot of our entire Scottish membership on the question of the UK Labour leadership when the party’s resonance is so minimal.
Instead, our party members in GMB Scotland will make up their own minds through their own private vote and we will make members aware about how they can participate and who is eligible.
In the meantime our focus has to be on the defending the interests of our members against a backdrop of constitutional, economic and employment uncertainty.

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Contact: Peter Welsh, GMB Scotland Communications, on 07976 447 077

GMB Backs Owen Smith For Labour Leader

From Trevor Hoyle

OWEN Smith made much of his backing by the GMB union. He was delighted to have won 60 per cent of the vote, as against 40 per cent for Corbyn.  Sounds impressive until you look at the actual figures.

The GMB has over 600,000 members. Turnout in this election was 8.1 per cent.  Yes ~ 8.1 per cent.

The actual figures:

TH, Owen – 25,969 (60%)

CORBYN, Jeremy - 17,450 (40%)

GMB Backs Owen Smith For Labour Leader

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Britain's third largest Labour Party affiliate announces support for leadership candidate following membership ballot.

GMB, the UK’s third largest trade union, today endorsed Owen Smith in the Labour Party leadership contest.

The union, which represents members across the public and private sectors, balloted members to ask their opinion on who the union should support.

By 60% to 40%, GMB members voted to endorse Smith over his rival Jeremy Corbyn in a ballot administered by independent agency Electoral Reform Services (ERS)*.

Tim Roache, GMB General Secretary said:

“The Labour Party is at a crossroads. I’m under no illusions that we’re living through dangerous political times – the like of which I haven’t seen during my three decades in our movement. It's time for us to face up to reality.

"GMB balloted our members because this kind of decision shouldn’t be taken from up on high. We’re a democratic organisation here to serve our members’ interests. I was determined that our members would have their say. And they've had it.

"I’ll proudly campaign alongside Owen in the coming weeks and months to deliver on his pledges to end the public sector pay freeze, to support defence workers, to invest in health and industry, and to build an industrial strategy – these are bread and butter issues for the people I represent.

"But we can only tackle them if we’re in government. That’s the end game and I hope whatever the final result, the Labour Party will unite when all this is over. GMB members cannot afford for Labour to be talking to itself in a bubble for the next five years while the Tories run riot through our rights at work, our public services and our communities.”

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Contact: GMB press office on 07958 156846 / 07813 541658 or press.office@gmb.org.uk

Did Carlo Neri Spy on Trade Unionists?

CARLO NERI

Blacklist Group Claim to have caught undercover copper on camera!

'UNDERCOVER police officer Carlo Neri', according to the Blacklist Support Group, was caught on camera and 'spied on the RMT union'.  Photographic evidence, the Blacklist Group claim, shows that in October 2004 an officer was present at the industrial dispute following the sacking of the prominent union militant Steve Hedley (now elected as Senior Assistant General Secretary of the RMT union) during construction of the Kings Cross terminal for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link.  

If this report is true, and it was indeed Carlo Neri captured on camera by the freelance photographer Andrew Wiard at the RMT picket and just assuming he was not supporting the industrial protest, but was indeed employed as a police spy (allegedly from the Met's disgraced Special Demonstration Squad), then it is yet further evidence of penetration by the police and security services into the trade union affairs of English activists.

The photographs sent to Northern Voices by the Blacklist Support Group show the alleged 'police spy' lurking behind an RMT banner with the slogan ‘Reinstate Steve Hedley’ while handing out leaflets to construction workers who had walked out in support of the victimised union activist.  Also present at the picket line were RMT activists Alex Gordon and Sarah Friday plus GMB construction organisers Kelly Rogers and Steve Kelly (who was subsequently banned from the project controlled by the blacklist companies Costain, O'Rourke and Emcor).   

Photographs only available for use in the media upon direct email request to Andrew Wiard andrew@reportphotos.com     

http://reportphotos.com/albums/qO1oC/undercover-police-officer-carlo-neri-at-union-meeting-1/5b8e82c0c8a22d8fd64cfb398a9b31347bbc57de

Steve Hedley commented:    'I am appalled that a secret police spy thought that it was justified to turn up on a peaceful RMT picket line in order to gather information. I had earlier housed this person rent free as he claimed he was being made homeless and feel shocked that taxpayers money could be used like this to betray the trust of people engaged in completely legitimate industrial action.  We heard a lot growing up about police states in other countries whilst it turns out  our state was doing exactly the same thing here.' 
The photographs were rediscovered by Dave Smith while researching for the updated version of the book Blacklisted and were first made public at the GMB conference in Bournemouth on Sunday evening (5th June). Smith commented afterwards:  'We were standing up for workers rights but apparently the British state considered us such a threat, that we were kept under constant surveillance by shady anti-democratic units in the police. This is nothing less than political policing and has no place in a democracy.  This took place during the Tony Blair government and I want to know why trade unions were were being spied on under a Labour Home Secretary. David Blunkett has serious questions to answer.' 
The Channel Tunnel Rail Link dispute is recorded on Consulting Association blacklist files of Steve Hedley and GMB organiser at the time, Steve Kelly. 
Both Steve Hedley and Dave Smith have been granted core participant status in the Pitchford public inquiry into undercover policing.

Information from Blacklist Support Group

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LAST November, Northern Voices was one of several publications to receive a solicitor letter from a firm of solicitors that  has been known to do work for the Police Federation.  The allegation was that NV had defamed a former police officer who had more recently done work as a university lecturer.  It seems that the officer in 2008 had given a power-point presentation on policing at pub down South to a group of individuals, who it later turn out were affiliated to the Consulting Association.  Ian Kerr was among those present taking notes:  Mr. Kerr, who has since died, is famous as the administrator of a blacklist for the Consulting Association, and he later pleaded guilt to running an illegal data base.  Kerr was exposed as such by the Information Commissioner in 2009.  We therefore caution our readers because the officer who gave this power point presentation to the Consulting Association has since claimed that he didn't know that he was addressing the Consulting Association, and that he'd never heard of either Ian Kerr or the body now known to be the Consulting Association.  He was just filling in for a colleague we are told, and is innocent of any complicity with the Consulting Association, Ian Kerr or blacklisting in the British build trade.  We only mention this now, in case it later turns out that Carlo Neri, if that is what he is called, was just out for a stroll and accidentally got caught up in the trade union protest of the RMT.

Unite do deal, but contractors still at risk!

CONSTRUCTION NEWS REPORTS:

UNITE was the last of the four unions to settle its case, after the blacklist firms reached agreement with GCR, GMB and Ucatt in April.

In total, more than £10m will be paid to 256 workers represented by Unite, with payouts ranging from £25,000 to £250,000.

The contractors who have reached the settlement are Balfour Beatty, Carillion, Costain, Kier, Laing O’Rourke, Sir Robert McAlpine, Skanska UK and Vinci.

Sir Robert McAlpine added co-defendants to the blacklist trial in 2013, after it was named as a defendant.

The settlement does not include Amec or Bam, both of whom were originally brought into the trial by Sir Robert McAlpine.

Between them, the 10 companies owned 33 of the 45 companies originally named as part of the blacklist operation.

Blacklisting was exposed when the offices of The Consulting Association were raided by the Information Commissioner’s Office and closed down.

The ICO found in the offices a handwritten database containing information on 3,212 workers.

The contractors are still subject to legal action, including from the man who blew the whistle on the use of the blacklist, which was uncovered in 2009.