Salford University to offer free legal advice!

"Salford University law students will offer free legal help to vulnerable people hit by benefits sanctions in a bid to overcome drastic and devastating cuts to legal aid.

From next week students in Salford Business School will help guide people through the legal process and offer free training and support.

Law students will be trained to act as ‘Community Companions’.

Based upon something called the ‘Mckenzie friend principle’, these are people who can assist a litigant in person in a court of law.

It’s a joint project with the Citizen’s Advice Bureau in the city.

The biggest source of legal problems for locals at the moment are benefits appeal tribunals, say Salford Law, where there is “substantial local need”.

“Large swathes of the local community are being left without access to legal services and are being left to fend for themselves in an often technical and confusing system,” said Head of Law at The University of Salford, Dr Shane Sullivan.

70% of cases in Civil courts now see people representing themselves because they can’t afford professional legal representation.

By early 2013 18% of cases in the Family Court saw parties with no legal representation. By the end of the year this had increased to 42%.

Third year Law student Lorna Benson will be one of the first to take part.

She said: “Growing up in the Salford area I can relate to the issues that these people are going through, which hopefully will give them more confidence to speak openly with me.

“We want to help people gain a better understanding of our legal system and for them to be able navigate their way through it.”

Legal aid was first introduced in the UK in 1949 as part of the new welfare state.

But rounds of cuts in 2004, 2007 and 2010 slashed the number of people eligible for free legal help.

And the Ministry of Justice still wants to cut around £220m a year from the legal aid bill, hitting the country’s most deprived areas hardest.

The CLOCK (Community Legal Outreach Collaboration) project will see Law students lending a hand.

Dr Sullivan added: “This is a great project for Salford to be involved in.

“It gives our students experience of dealing with real legal situations, and it also provides a vital service to the community and the most vulnerable members of it.”

Source: Salford Online

Legal Aid & Justice Alliance North

Justice Alliance North

To Trade Unions/community groups

Dear Union Branch

Cuts to legal aid and funding for legal advice services are denying many of us advice about our legal rights and representation to enforce them, denying us access to justice - unless we can afford it

Local campaign groups Access to Advice and Northern Save Justice have teamed up with others fighting the cuts to justice to form Justice Alliance North to show why equal access to justice matters and to carry on campaigning for comprehensive publicly funded legal advice and representation.

Justice Alliance North is building on the local campaigning work over the last 5 years including Access To Advice’s two very successful campaign conferences, two packed fringe meetings at the Labour Party conference, local demonstrations, petitioning and leafleting, lobbying local politicians.

We are also linked to the national Justice Alliance which is a coalition of legal organisations, charities, community groups, grass roots and other campaigning groups, trade unions and individuals who are united against the government’s attacks on legal aid and the justice system. For information about Justice Alliance national campaigning and film about why legal aid and advice is vital go to http://justiceallianceuk.wordpress.com.

We wondered if your organisation/members/supporters are already involved in campaigning against cuts to legal aid and advice, and government attacks on the justice system. If so, it would be good if you can let us know what you are doing and whether we can help or get involved in any way.

We'd also like to invite you to join in with our activities, which at the moment include mass leafleting in shopping areas, lobbying councillors and MPs, getting media coverage.

We would be happy to come and meet and talk with you about working together.

If you are organising any activities that you would like us to publicise please let us know.

We are planning another national event on Saturday 7th Feb 2015 in Manchester, to organise actions in the run up to the General Election. More details soon.

If you would like to work with us at all on this please contact me or on our group email northernsavejustice@gmail.com

Yours sincerely Margaret Manning

On behalf of Justice Alliance North

Justice Alliance is a coalition of legal organisations, charities, community groups, grass roots and other campaigning groups, trade unions and individuals who are united against the government’s attacks on legal aid and the justice system, as part of a wider assault on the welfare state.

Justice Alliance campaigns to show why equal access to justice matters.

Social Security Cuts.

Solidarity and Social Security Cuts

A seminar at Congress House

24 July, 14.00 – 16.00 

The government encourages everyone with a job to see themselves as threatened by people who claim benefits. People in employment are “strivers” whose taxes are being wasted by lazy 'shirkers'.

This argument is used to win support for social security cuts that affect low paid workers, disabled people, carers and families with children.
Solidarity and Social Security Cuts is an opportunity to discuss how unions can build links to counter this dynamic. 
Chair: Paul Nowak, Assistant General Secretary, TUC
Speakers:
• Alison Garnham, Chief Executive, Child Poverty Action Group on the cuts and low paid workers

• PCS speaker, on the cuts and Jobcentre workers

• Richard Exell, Senior Policy Officer, TUC, on the cuts that have happened and those still to come

• Prof Ruth Lister, Labour member of the House of Lords, on how the 'strivers vs. shirkers' rhetoric divides us. 

To reserve a place, please contact Jennifer Mann: jmann@tuc.org.uk  020 7467 1222. 

Welfare Week 29 April- 5 May:

PCS is spearheading a united campaign against welfare cuts alongside other trade unions and charities. 

PCS will have a week of activities around welfare. It will start with a protest in Ashton-under-Lyne Town Hall (near the Jobcentre Pathfinder) from 12.30pm on 29 April. This Pathfinder is the first trial of Universal Credit (UC). 
Throughout the campaign week our members will be able hand out a variety of leaflets to colleagues and the public highlighting the problems of UC and busting myths about welfare.
Our core campaign objectives: 
Set out an alternative vision for welfare

Protect public service delivery

Defend members’ jobs from cuts and privatisation

Defend claimants’ rights and entitlements

Bust welfare myths

Coordinate a united campaign.

Join the protest

Join the protest to defend welfare at Ashton town hall steps, Market Place, Ashton-Under-Lyne OL6, on 29 April from 12:30–1:30pm. Please see flyer and circulate wide..

For information and to sign up to the campaign, email welfare@pcs.org.uk

Read and share our pamphlet Welfare: an alternative vision 

Find out more about the campaign at pcs.org.uk/welfare 

Salford Against the Cuts: A Damp Squib!

THE Salford Against the Cuts Group which is virtually a mouthpiece of the Socialist Party and a few trade union bureaucrats has completely failed to step up to the plate with regard to organising any sort of effective opposition  to the draconian cuts being imposed by Salfords Labour Council.    With the notable exception of the mental health users group it has organised a lack lustre campaign which has failed to connect with the people of Salford.  At times the organisers seem more concerned with promoting the Socialist Party and its newspaper.   In this context the Socialist Party has backed Trade Union  boss Len McCluskey rather than rank and file candidate Jerry Hicks for Unite General Secretary.   In a broader context the whole trade union movement has failed to offer any effective opposition to  the Coalitions austerity programme.   The Socialist Party has continually called for a 24 hour General Strike together with its front  organisation the National Shop Stewards Network.   Such a demand flies in the face of reality and is just whistling in the dark.  It seems that vanguardist parties will never learn that social movements have to grow from the base up like Occupy and cannot be hierarchically controlled from above.

Suicide risk linked to benefit cuts and flaws in government incapacity test!

An internal e-mail which was recently circulated to staff working within the Department of Work & Pensions (DWP), has warned staff that 'ill-handling' of benefit claims involving claimants being moved off sickness benefits to Jobseekers Allowance(JSA), could lead to suicide risks amongst 'vulnerable customers'. The e-mail says:

"Very sadly, only last week a customer of DWP attempted suicide...said to be the result of receiving a letter, informing him that his sickness benefit would be cut off."

Although the e-mail from the DWP, emphasises the need for the "utmost care and sensitivity", when dealing with 'vulnerable customers', disability campaigners have repeatedly warned government ministers that flaws in the Work Capability Assessment(WCA) - which is carried out when someone applies for Employment and Support Allowance(ESA) - could lead to mentally ill people taking their own lives.

In April, the 'Daily Mirror' newspaper revealed that: "at least 32 people are dying each week despite them being ruled not sick enough in the medical test carried out by the private firm 'Atos Healthcare', for the new sickness benefit."(ESA). Among the cases referred to by the newspaper, was that of a warehouse worker whose degenerative lung condition forced him to give up work. Although the man had trouble breathing and walking and his weight had dropped to seven stone, he was awarded no points in the medical test for ESA carried out by 'Atos', and was told that he would be fit to return to work within three months. But the man died, before the 3 months had expired.

While some people gleefully clamour for more benefit cuts and want more welfare reform, it is the less well off, and the most vulnerable, who are making the biggest scarifices to pay off Britain's financial deficit brought about by the banks.

In August 2011, northernvoices blog reported the tragic case of Richard Sanderson aged 44, from Southfield, South West London, who took his own life when he and his family were threatened with eviction following government cuts in his housing benefit.

In May, it was reported in the press that a man had slashed his wrists during an appointment at Birkenhead Jobcentre. The man - who had mental health issues - had missed several appointments and was warned by the benefits officer that he was at risk of being sanctioned and had two options. He was told that he could start turning up on time or continue being late and lose his benefit. The man replied: "I have a third option." He then took out a knife and cuts his wrists.

Last month, the Guardian reported on the case of a 48-year-old man who set himself on fire outside Birmingham Jobcentre over a dispute about delays in receiving his benefits. According to the newspaper, the man had just been found fit for work following a medical assessment.

Though these kind of cases do get reported, negative press reports about feckless workshy scroungers who are "Living the life of Riley" on state benefits, has allowed the government to take away support from the disabled, the unemployed, and the 'working poor'. As a result of this, the government has been able to slash benefits by £18bn and brush aside objections because it believes that the public support a hardline, on benefit cuts. Indeed, opinion polls do suggest that the majority of the British public tends to believe that the government pays out too much in benefits and that welfare levels overall, should be reduced. However, public attitudes towards welfare are often based on little knowledge or influenced by misleading and negative press reports which are drip-fed, to the public on a daily basis. Although many may believe that benefits are too high in this country, it is a fact that out of 27 EU countries, only Estonia has a higher level of poverty among unemployed people than this country. Benefits paid in the UK are amongst the lowest in Europe and over the last 40 years, unemployment benefit has been cut by 50% as a proportion of average earnings, to just 10%. Though the cuts in benefits have been savage, what few people realise, is that 88% of all benefit cuts are still to come.

Tameside libraries facing closure as spending cuts start to bite!

Many of the borough libraries in the one party state of Tameside in Greater Manchester, could be facing the axe as the council seeks to cut its £3.5 million annual spend on its library service by a minimum of £900,000.

The Labour controlled council currently runs 13 libraries and a home library service. Though the council says that no decision to close libraries has been taken, a report submitted to the Executive Cabinet in November, says:

"It is likely that the number of libraries we provide will need to be reduced."

Libraries which are most risk, are those like Dukinfield, where the report says that customers "are most likely to use another library", whereas, customers using Droylsden and Mossley, are thought to be less inclined to use another library.

While the council have already cut staffing levels in libraries, resulting in savings of over £200,000, the report says:

"It is likely to be necessary however to decrease staffing further in future years and every opportunity will be taken to achieve this through the natural turnover of staff."

Other cost-cutting measures outlined in the report, involve using volunteers to run libraries in place of paid library staff and using community groups, to run libraries from their own buildings. Sharing buildings with other public and private sector providers, to provide a library service, is also one of the other alternative models under consideration.

Plans have already been made to relocate Hattersley library to the new Tesco superstore being built on Hattersley. In addition, reducing library opening hours is also considered an option as well as the use of technology to reduce costs. The report says that the use of e-books and e-reader would reduce costs significantly as well as the greater use of the internet, to access library services.

The role of customer service officers, who work in libraries and offer advice and help with enquiries, is also under review. In a letter to all customer service staff, Adam Allen, Assistant Executive Director for Cultural & Customer Services, says:

"It is recognised that telephone and web based interactions are significantly more cost efficient than face to face contact and are becoming the contact methods of choice for some customers. In order for the service to be affordable going forward, it is necessary to maximise the opportunities to steer customers to use these channels of contact."

The letter says that though customer services staff will be situated at the most convenient location, Ashton Customer services will be the central hub for face-to-face contact and that this will only be provided to those that need it. Also, an appointment system will be introduced as well as a call centre to deal with a range of enquiries from customers.

Kieran Quinn, the leader of the council, is keen that people should have their say about cuts in services and this week the council launched 'The Big Conversation'. However, when it comes to having a conversation with the public about cutting the number of Tameside councillors and their allowances in order to save public money, it's noticeable how he turns a deaf ear to the issue. Perhaps this is understandable when one considers that both himself and his wife Susan, who is the Mayor, last year claimed £67,917.96 between them. His deputy leader, Councillor Taylor, has also claimed £234,810.34 in allowances over the last eight years.

Across the country, campaigners are taking action to stop library closures. Recently, the High Court ruled that the decision by Gloucester and Somerset council's to close libraries was unlawful because they failed to assess the impact library closures would have on the poor, elderly and disabled. In Suffolk, proposals to close libraries were withdrawn following action by protestors.

Suicide verdict returned on father who killed himself because of cut in his Housing Benefit!

The following article which concerns the tragic death of Richard Sanderson aged 44, from Southfields, South West London, in May 2011, has been taken from the Wandsworth Guardian. We thought this article (published in full) would be of interest to many of our readers and particulary those who gleefully clamour for more public spending cuts, and severe and rigorous welfare reform. How many more deaths will it take, before there is a re-think on welfare reform and public spending cuts?

'A desperate man who lined up three kitchen knives before stabbing himself twice in the heart, blamed cuts in housing benefit.

Unemployed Richard Sanderson took his own life after writing three suicide notes which were laid out neatly on a bed in a meticulously planned act.

In one to his wife he wrote: “Don’t come into the bathroom, this time I will most certainly be deceased”.

Mr Sanderson, who said he could not face the thought of his family being homeless, stabbed himself twice in the heart with a kitchen knife on May 29 at home in Augustus Road, Southfields, after years of being unable to find work finally took its toll, an inquest heard.

The 44-year-old former helicopter pilot wrote three suicide notes – two for his wife, Petra, and one for the police – after carefully planning the suicide over several days.

This followed a failed attempt less than a year earlier.

Coroner: Man ordered by Job Centre to give up training course

After returning a verdict of suicide at Westminster Coroner’s Court on Tuesday, August 23, Dr Fiona Wilcox said: “What I find particularly tragic in this case is this act appears to be pursued by a man who was not suffering from an illness and appears to have made a considered act in response to his inability to find employment.

“The fact his housing benefit was about to be cut and the family would be at risk of having nowhere to live, and being ordered to give up his training course because of the Job Centre's rules, would appear to be especially poignant and tragic.”

In February, Merton Council estimated up to 3,000 residents would be made poorer by the coalition Government’s policy of cutting housing benefits, which will decrease by between £5 and £400 a week from November, depending on the size of the property.

"80,000 Londoners at risk of eviction"

Annys Darkwa, who runs St Helier-based Vision Housing and helps find homes in Merton for ex-offenders, said tragic cases like this would become more frequent in the coming months because housing benefit cuts would hit the most vulnerable the hardest.

Mrs Darkwa said: “We are going to see this happen more and more as we expect 80,000 people across London to be evicted due to housing benefit cuts.

“It is especially concerning in Merton where mental health provision has disappeared. What’s going to happen to people who think they’re all alone and commit suicide because they think there’s no one to help them?”

Mr Sanderson, who was also a window cleaner, met his wife while travelling in South Africa in 1995 before the pair eventually settled in Wimbledon in 2007 to find better work prospects in London.

Widow: Council cut our housing benefit by £30 a week

Mrs Sanderson got a job but was made redundant in 2009, while Mr Sanderson constantly struggled to find work and was unable to complete training as an electrician because the job centre would not continue to pay his benefit because his training stopped him from being available for job interviews.

He tried to commit suicide the first time in June 2010 by crushing up 150 tranquiliser pills which he swallowed with a glass of whisky.

He was found at home unconscious but still alive by his wife.

Mrs Sanderson, who did not attend the inquest because she thought it would be too upsetting, gave a statement to police in which she explained the first suicide bid was done so she and their nine-year-old son could benefit from a life insurance policy payout worth 2.5m South African Rand (about £210,000), which she soon cancelled after the suicide attempt.

A psychological report by Dr Joanne Turner, who examined Mr Sanderson at St George’s Hospital, said he did not exhibit any signs of mental illness or depression and claimed to be “embarrassed” by his suicide bid.

But in her statement, Mrs Sanderson revealed: “In March or April [2011] we received a letter from [Wandsworth] Council which said our housing benefit would decrease by £30 a week, forcing us to move but leaving us with nowhere to go.”

"Despite this, I hadn't noticed any major change in Richard’s mood. I don't know why he killed himself. We had planned to go to Wimbledon Common the next day."'

Former GMB union rep wins seat on Tameside Council!

Local government politics in Tameside, is beginning to resemble something out of a farce by the 17th century French playwright, Molière. It grows more hilarious by the day. One instinctively thinks of Molière's character, 'Tartuffe', the irreclaimable hypocrite who exaggeratedly feigns virtue.

As we predicted, in this months local elections, Yvonne Cartey(pictured) the former GMB union representative, easily romped home to win for Labour the Ashton ward of St. Michaels, securing 1,627 votes. In her victory speech a jubilant Ms. Cartey, told her supporters:

"I'd like, to thank everybody for my excellent team, and I`d like to thank the voters of St. Michaels, who have put their faith in me."

Until recently, Ms. Cartey, was the tax-payer funded GMB union representative at Tameside Council. But she recently took voluntary redundancy from Tameside Council and then stood for the council in the St. Michaels Ward. Having abandoned the ship herself, so to speak, and leaving her crew to their own fate, Ms. Cartey, was nevertheless in a defiant mood on election night. In a speech that would have made the charlatan Tartuffe, cringe with embarrassment, she added:

"Cuts are malicious attacks against our people and we are going to fight them every inch of the way."

Though councillor Cartey talks of fighting the cuts, in February, there were no union protestors outside Ashton Town Hall when the leader of the council, Kieran Quinn, announced £35 million cuts this year and the loss of 600 jobs. Indeed, councillor Quinn, told councillors:

"The Trades Unions bring massive expertise, working with them, we have already cut 400 jobs and reduced management by 25%".

SAUSAGE ROLL SUBVERSIVES DO BATTLE FOR LOCAL LIBRARY

Citizens of Penrhyn Bay stage sit-in!

ARMED with sausage rolls, balloons, banners and appropriately designed Royal Wedding paraphernalia, a determined bunch of local residents in Penrhyn Bay staged a sit-in last Friday at their local library branch. Their aim is to block a plan by the Borough of Conwy in North Wales to close half the local libraries in the area.

Reports suggest it was a scene akin to an Ealing Comedy, as just before the Penrhyn Bay library branch closed for lunch on the 6th May, the disgruntled crowd of locals moved onto the premises to do battle for their precious local bibliotheca. The cheerful local librarian present loyally stayed at his post while his masters, skulking in their public offices, took the best part of an hour to show their faces. Prior to that they issued threats over the phone and when that didn't work they sent for the police.

Half an hour after the protest began a smiling, good natured bobby appeared whose first utterance was: 'This must be the most civilised protest that I have ever witnessed'. It seems that no names were taken either by the library management or the police, and that the manager had to be brought over at the request of one of the protesters. Once there she was invited to sign their petition against closure, which she declined to do. Meanwhile, a spirited atmosphere of protest songs and the munching of sausage rolls prevailed. The event will be covered in the local media, including the North Wales Weekly, and further action is planned by the citizens of Penrhyn Bay to advance their cause.

If you are interested in getting involved in the campaign to save the Penrhyn Library, phone Chris on 01492 547590.

It`s official! GMB union rep who took redundancy, is now standing for Tameside Council

While council employees in Manchester have been talking about industrial action to oppose cuts in jobs and services, in Tameside, the council has been inundated with requests from employees wishing to take voluntary redundancy. Even the union leadership is abandoning ship, as the council seeks to lose 600 jobs and to make £35 million in cuts this year.

In our look at Tameside`s incestuous political scene on 22nd February, we reported on how some Tameside Council employees with Labour Party connections, were making inquiries about taking voluntary redundancy and also hoping to become Tameside councillors after leaving the council`s employment with their severance pay cheques. Amongst those mentioned were the GMB union representative Yvonne Cartey and the Ashton-under-Lyne Town Centre Manager, Frank Travis, the husband of councillor Lynn Travis.

Although Mr Travis failed to win the nomination for the St. Peter`s ward as we reported, this week, it was reported in the local Tameside Reporter that amongst the people standing in the local elections for Tameside Council on 5th May, is Yvonne Cartey, the former GMB union representative at Tameside Council. She is replacing Bill Harrison.

Ms Cartey is not the only union representative working for Tameside Council who has taken voluntary redundancy. Another is Anne Keighley, the former Branch Secretary of Tameside UNISON, who left Tameside Council`s employment in March. Mike Fowler, who until recently was a Forward Incident Officer for Tameside Council, is also standing for the council in Denton South and will be replacing Andrew Doubleday.

While there is no suggestion of any legal impropriety in this convenient arrangement, some people nevertheless, might smell a rat and perhaps feel that there is something rather shabby about this whole affair. Some might say that it smacks of jobs for the boys (and gals). Usually, if a council employee takes voluntary redundancy from Tameside Council, they cannot apply for another job with the council for a period of twelve months. But this does not apply to those who take noddy jobs, like being a Tameside councillor.

Certainly, Mr. Liam Billington of Tameside Taxpayers' Alliance, is not amused. In this weeks Tameside Reporter, he writes:

"I am disgusted that two former employees of Tameside Council are standing in the local elections for the Labour Party. Both have recently left their jobs. One is Yvonne Cartey, who is standing for the Ashton St. Michael`s ward. She is a taxpayer funded union representative for the GMB Union. The other is Mike Fowler, who was until recently a Forward Incident Officer who is replacing Andrew Doubleday. It`s not right that two employees of the council have so cosily jumped aboard to become candidates for the local elections. It`s obviously all about who you know rather than what you know. And may I ask if anyone claimed a redundancy payment from the council? If any of the said candidates do become elected, will they be returning their redundancy payment back to the taxpayers of Tameside?"

It is highly unlikely that either Ms. Cartey or Mr. Fowler will be returning any money even if they do become Tameside councillors, which seems almost certain, but we understand, that Ms. Cartey (an Ashton Soroptimist), has recently been boasting to friends and colleagues that she`s bought a new house and feels that it is now wrong that a person with her money, should be living in social housing (Cavendish Mill).

More on the TUC March: From Manchester to Hyde Park

Up before dawn to pick up some comrades to get to Manchester Piccadilly for the 8.00 am Unite charter train. Arrived London Euston 10.50 am. Make our way to the Embankment for 11.00 start of march (30 minute walk). Just crossed Euston Road and walked into the ranks of the Camden against the cuts feeder column as we walked along in the spring sunshine to the strains of Bob Marley, more people joined the ranks at every corner. Marley now drowned out by a pipe band. Just before we got to the Embankment we came across our first GOON SQUAD about 20 strong all dressed in black and masked up, I commented to my comrades that it was obvious what their intention was. Upon arrival at the embankment it became apparent that we would not be able to make our way through to the massed ranks of the Unite contingent. As we picked our way through the crowds we passed the main Unison column headed up by a New Orleans jazz band, on past the R.M.T. headed up by their Easington branch brass band, pausing to say hello to Bob (Crow) and Alex (Gordon ) we found our way to the U.C.A.T.T. column which incorporated the justice for Shrewsbury pickets detachment . During our passage through the ranks we had encountered several similarly sized and clad GOON SQUADS It was clear they had been briefed to stay separate to avoid the chance of them all being KETTLED. We started towards Hyde park at about midday about 100 yards down the embankment I was charged with carrying the Shrewsbury banner which I did with pride until our arrival at Hyde park at 3.45 pm, along the route we saw graffiti on walls and The Ritz had been re-painted but we didn't see any violence or confrontation: on the contrary the police seemed unusually laid back. We couldn't get near enough to the stage to heckle Millibore, even had we been in time to hear his drivel. We left the park about 4.15 pm to head back to Euston, passing droves of people still heading into the park (by this time the police were filtering the columns, 100 in 100 out ).

I would estimate the marchers to be in excess of 500,000 all angry, all loud . On the way back we saw a GOON SQUAD starting a fire at the crossroads on Regent Street, goading the police to provoke a reaction. Half a million people marched against the cuts 200 got arrested, WHICH MADE THE NEWS? A good start which needs to be carried on with political resistance in the May council elections, not as reported on Radio Lancashire by the chairman of Lancashire T.U.C. with more protests during the summer and autumn commendable as that is. We must have an alternative politically to the three major parties who all want to cut. Lancashire County Council head-hunted a guy from Knowsley Borough Council on a six figure salary to orchestrate the cuts - I've got a suggestion how to save a six figure sum!

HASTA la VICTORIA SIEMPRE! by BLACKLISTED

Reflections of a TUC Marcher from Leeds

There is something a bit dismal about marches like one the TUC organised on Saturday. Hundreds of thousands turn out expecting not to be taken notice of. Their particular calls to save whatever service they most dread losing are but complaints to the wind. The TUC have hitched their wagon to the Labour party and it is headed along on the capitalist free-way. There must be some cuts, so who knows who will keep more of their share, and who will be ditched? How can solidarity survive? So the TUC demand is for 'jobs and growth'? The only way to create jobs in this way of thinking is to secure investment from capitalists and provide them with nice dividends. As if to make this more respectable the TUC are calling for 'a million green jobs'. Those who are excluded from this arrangement might wonder why they don’t call for full employment. Unions have always struck me as self-centred special interest societies, with career bureaucrats who cannot be entirely trusted. They do a lot of good in their way, but do not seem to aspire to provide any fresh thinking, or speak for the whole of society as any self-respecting organisation of 7 million should have the cojones to do. After the bank bail out and the credit boom, they should be trying to articulate some conclusions about the monopoly over money creation and the very selective availability of it for those who control it. There does seem to be unlimited availability of money for specific abstract functions but a scarcity for vital functions. The function of money as a means of exchange can therefore be challenged. By calling for full employment such a challenge is made. To borrow from Ann Pettifor, we can afford whatever we can do. Work is central to this argument, because it is the work that creates the wealth, not the wealth that creates the jobs. We simply have to identify the work that needs doing, and manage the demand in the economy to make sure the jobs are created. That might mean reducing taxes, or increasing central government spending, or allow local government to borrow or even create currency. Who can deny that the benefits of full employment would be enormous? If the TUC wanted they could plan this, get the Labour Party to endorse it and then get it on the international agenda. It would be a start.

TUC Demo

Impressions of the March 26th Demo:

This demonstration can best be described as the contrast between the TUC cart horse and the Anarchist Trojan Horse. A TUC march of 500,000 anti-cuts protestors through the streets of London achieved absolutely nothing except providing a platform for trade union and Labour worthies. The real action took place away from the official march, where the symbols of finance capital were attacked. As the Wobblies put it "direct action gets the goods". The subsequent press hysteria relating to the actions outside of the main march proves the point that the real challenge to capital and the state is to be found amongst UK Uncut activists and various anarchist formations. The compliance of the authoritarian left with the official demonstration was clear for all to see. This was compounded by the pathetic calls of the SWP and the Socialist Party for the TUC to call a one day General Strike which recognises the legitimacy of these organs of quasi-state control. The political impotence of the authoritarian left compares unfavourably with the dynamism and creativity of anarchists and other libertarians who embrace direct action and offer the only way forward to defeat the ConDem Government policies.

'I can't get over how organised these anarchists are!'

photo by Dominic Alves

A PUNDIT on Radio 4 yesterday said: 'I can't get over how organised these anarchists are!' He and Brian Paddick, a former senior Metropolitan police officer, marveled at how the anarchist last Saturday had managed to stay ahead of the police in London. Actually it seems that the chaos on Oxford Street and elsewhere was the result of fast moving activists from the young anarchist 'Black Bloc' and UK Uncut.

It had been an early kick off for us up North on Saturday morning when we, along with thousands of other trade unionists, caught the trains from Manchester Piccadilly station. It was a good humoured crowd that landed at Euston armed with whistles, tabards and banners from the Unite union. Oh yes, and the regional officers were handing out arrest cards from Thompsons Solicitors - just in case. Then it was off down to the Embankment for most of them while others made for the feeder marches from the University of London.

After sipping tea at Albertinis near the RMT officers near Euston we made for Holborn only to catch a bus to Oxford Street and the store of John Lewis where my companion wanted to buy some moisturiser before joining the TUC march on Piccadilly en route for Hyde Park. The stores round Oxford Street like Boots and Top Shop already had police outside and by that time it was 2 p.m. and the Black Block and UK Uncut were surrounding our bus as it skirted round Oxford Circus. Time for another cup of tea - this time English Breakfast in John Lewis - which provided us with a safe haven to watch the riot police vans at the back. Text messages told us of breakaways from the main march and riot police on Oxford Street with a possible kettle forming at Oxford Circus. Suddenly, sirens wailing, nine riot wagons with lights flashing tore off towards the trouble. 'Isn't it a shame', said one woman in the Coffee Bar. Then, on advice from the local Cockneys, we sneaked out by the backdoor of John Lewis anxious to dodge most of the trouble and head for the main protest at Hyde Park. 'I wouldn't go there; if you don't have to!' said a security guard on the street outside as it seemed by that time that things were kicking off all over the show around Oxford Street.

Yet, determined to show our faces, we headed off down Oxford Street past Bond Street tube station and Vodafone. Others carrying Unison banners were walking back in the opposite direction saying that they'd been on their feet since 9 a.m. and had had enough. By then messages were coming in to say that the Ritz had been trashed and Fortnum & Mason occupied and it was then 'la hora de comer' in Spain (3-4 p.m.), so we retreated, or skedaddled, back to John Lewis on Oxford Street for a plate of grilled Mackerel and salad, and a glass of tap water. After that it was time to think about getting the Unite train from Euston station even though it was 4.30 and John from the Leeds contingent still hadn't got into Hyde Park.

Later, near Euston in the Exmouth Arms, people there with the NUT from Liverpool were complaining that the anarchists would get all the news coverage. That hasn't altogether been the case and a professor on the Radio 4 Today program this morning said that the 'Black Bloc' was only a small faction among the anarchists, pointing out that anarchists were in favour of organisation but objected to top-down bosses and bureaucrats. Today's web page of the BBC says: 'The label "anarchist" has been widely used to describe violent protesters' and asks, 'what does it mean to be an anarchist nowadays?' This morning, interviewed by John Humphries, Dr Alan Finlayson, a reader in politics at Swansea University, whose research interests include protest movements in the UK, analysed last Saturday's protest including the anarchists.

How The British Get Ripped Off On Pensions!

A recent report by the Organisation For Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) into the state of the British economy, revealed an interesting fact. While basically supporting the Con-Dem millionaire governments austerity measures and the public services cut-backs, the organization nevertheless said that the government had one of the worst records in the developed world for failing to collect taxes. According to the OECD report, there has been a failure to collect more than 60% of tax revenues.

Clearly, you can`t avoid or evade paying your taxes if you are on PAYE. So who might these people be who don`t pay their full share of the tax burden? Though the current rate of corporation tax in the UK is 28%, it was recently announced that Barclays Bank paid just £113 million in UK corporation tax in 2009 - a year when it made a record £11.6 billion in profits. This amounted to just 1% of its 2009 profits. Barclays boss Bob Diamond, told a Treasury Select committee in January, that Barclays paid £2 billion in taxes to HM Revenue and Customs in 2009, but what he failed to mention, was that most of this, was payroll taxes for the banks employees.

Another company which is highly adept at using tax avoidance measures is Boots the chemist. Apparently its registered office address is a P.O. Box number in Switzerland. By using this measure, the company saves billions of pound in taxes - yet another tax loophole.

With all these tax scams going on, is it any wonder that public services and state benefits, are being cut in the UK. If these greedy capitalist bastards paid their fare share of taxes, perhaps we could keep the public toilets open in Manchester, as well as the libraries, and the pensioners and disabled could keep their free bus passes.

This week it was reported in the national press that the state pension in austerity Britain (£97.65 a week) is among the meanest in the developed world and the the British have to wait longer than people in any other industrialised country before they retire. Pensioners in the UK, receive state pensions worth around 41.5% of average after-tax earnings. This is lower than Spain where the state pension is 84.9% of average earnings and Italy where it is 75.3% of average earnings. In France the state pension is 60.4% of average earnings and Germany 57.9%. By 2050, the UK`s retirement age (68), will be the highest in the world.

Despite all the bluster from the likes of Vince Cable about closing tax loopholes and cracking down on bankers bonuses, next week, George (we`re all in it together) Osborne, is expected to announce in his budget speech, that he`s going to slash the taxes paid by major corporations on their foreign earnings as part of his 'budget for growth'. But what would you expect from a government of millionaires working in the interests of millionaires.

Roscoe occupation update

The occupation of the Roscoe Building by Manchester Autonomous students has continued for 18 days. The main objectives are to build for the anti cuts demo on the 26th March, promote alternative education, create a safe space for organising events, films, talks and workshops and build international solidarity for the movements in North Africa.

Over the last 2 weeks there have been workshops on BDS (Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions) re Israel, Discussions about NHS reforms. a talk on the Ragged Trousered Philantropists by Dave Harker, meetings of Students for a Sensible Drugs Policy, speaker on Schooled in Precarity, anti-fascist meetings, public order training and a talk on African homophobia.

Every week there is a general organising meeting and each day a catch up meeting to plan activities and review the progress of the occupation as well as discussing any issues that may have arisen. The ethos of the occupation is undoubtedly libertarian with a major emphasis be placed on consensus in the decision making processes.

The space is truly empowering and there is a strong sense of unity amongst all the activists. Future events planned inlude an anarcha-feminist day and discussions on anarchist theory and practice.

Protests & Cuts in Rochdale

ON 23rd, February, protesters were outside the Gothic style Town Hall in Rochdale as the Labour Council prepared to make £64 million in cuts: children's services cut by £7m a year, voluntary & community sector by £3.6m, vulnerable people & adult care by £6m, teen training by £1m and a plan of cutting the number of councillors by a third and holding elections every 4 years. School uniform grants to go and £25 to be charged to people for replacement waste bins. Touchstones Museum to close for 11.5 hours a week. There will be a review of the amount of cash to be given to trade unions from the Council under trade union facilities agreement.

This last is controversial in so far as it has been used in the past by Councils to neuter the trade unions by threatening to withdraw the trade union facilities agreement. The TU facilities cost in the case of Rochdale is £107,000 a year. It can lead to a cosy relationship between the unions and the employer to the cost of the union membership. In his book 'School for Dictators', the Italian novelist, Ignazio Silone argued that free trade unions are essential to a free society, but if a trade union gets grants from a local authority can it still be 'free'? It could be that in those circumstances the union official becomes as the sociologist, C. Wright Mills said: 'The manager of discontent'.

Tameside Council approves £35 million of cuts!

THERE WERE NO PROTESTORS outside Ashton Town Hall last Tuesday, when the leader of Tameside Council, Kieran Quinn, took an hour to deliver his budget speech to a full council which ultimately told us next to nowt about where the £35 million cuts, this year, were going to be made to public services in Tameside. The bankers were to blame for the crisis and the Brown government was wholly innocent of any deficit or debt. The Con/Dem government was cutting too deeply, too quickly and there was much description of the dangers to our services - including the fire service - owing to the national government's cuts. The local unions, meaning Unison, had been hugely helpful in identifying where the axe would fall. He told the council:

"The Trades Unions bring massive expertise, working with them, we have already cut 400 jobs and reduced management by 25%." 

But as he pointed out, a further 600 jobs will still need to go.

In their budget report which includes some details, the council says that it is seeking to rationalise the way services are delivered rather than carry out massive cuts. This will be achieved the report says, by streamlining services and by forming partnerships with neighbouring authorities to deliver services such as refuse collection and parks maintenance. But it is clear from the report that some front-line services will be cut or closed. The number of luncheon clubs are to be cut and amalgamated. As regards libraries, the report says:

"It is likely that library functions can be delivered with fewer buildings."

The report says that the Arts & Events programme will be reviewed and there will be a reduction in the current arts and events programme, including, ceasing capital spend. Also, more than £1.5 million will be cut from the budgets of District Assemblies who are responsible for such things as street cleansing. The report also says that capital expenditure will be cut by 58% and that volunteers, will be used to run countryside visitor centres and to provide other council services.

Unlike councillor Jim McMahon, the leader of the Labour Group on Oldham council, who recently proposed a 10% reduction in councillors allowances, councillor Quinn, did not take the opportunity to propose a cut in the allowances for Tameside councillors. But he did tell us: "We`re reducing management costs and Steve (Steven Pleasant the C.E.O. of Tameside Council) has had a reduction of 16% in his salary." The unfortunate Mr. Pleasant, is now struggling to make ends meet on only £166,929 per year, which is £24,000 more than the Prime Minister receives. But it wasn`t all bad news on the night: councillor Quinn`s wife (Susan), was elected as the next Mayor and this will add, another £25,000 to the family coffers.

When it came to the turn of the Tameside Tories, to respond to the leaders' budget speech, we listened in bewilderment, as John Bell, the leader of the Tory Group, rambled on discursively about Greater Manchester fire service, as a labour councillor shouted out: "Is this a fire service budget speech." Although the Tory leader nodded in approval at the council tax freeze and the budget, he did argue that these measures ought to have been introduced two years ago. Regarding council spending, he said that there had been money wasted and extravagance such as £36,000 for software data for a 'virtual Town Hall', which very few people had visited and the £30,000 which had been spent on staff 'lifestyle' schemes including, £4,995 paid to a private firm to teach council employees and councillors how to walk safely. What he didn`t mention was the £20k he receives for being the Vice-Chairman of the Greater Manchester Fire Authority or the £27 grand he received last year, for being the Conservative leader. While referring to an article in the Daily Mail, the Labour opposition started to laugh, as councillor (Wag) Taylor, the deputy leader, shouted out: "I thought you read the Sun newspaper."

Sitting in Ashton Town Hall last Tuesday, watching this bunch, was like sighting a shoal of grey mullets - the shit fish - on the high seas' of economic catastrophe from which we must eventually emerge.

Student occupation at Manchester University

Manchester autonomous students re-occupied the Roscoe Building at Manchester University on Wednesday February 23rd. The aims of the occupation are to build for the 26th March demonstration in London against the ConDem cuts, develop alternative education courses, and support the international movements for human rights and social justice particularly in the Middle East in the light of the current protests there against authoritarian regimes.

Unlike previous occupations a consensual decision making process is operating which is best illustrated by the banner inscribed with the words "Really Open Occupation". Everyone is welcome at the occupation and a number of events including films and workshops are being planned. Community activists and trade unionists are especially welcome and outreach work and networking are key priorities of the occupation.

Manchester autonomous students consists of anarchists, libertarians, non aligned socialists etc and is a completely inclusive body. You can contact the Occupation at info@roscoeoccupation.com; www.roscoeoccupation.com; www.facebook.com/roscoe.occupation.

Barry Woodling
Northern Anarchist Network