Nothing About us with us! by Andrew Wastling

Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal (1957) A magnificent classic of world cinema .The most visceral religious response to the plague we see is through the flagellants, who are so fearful of death and the plague that they turn to self-inflicted violence as a form of public penance. Death is constantly on their minds. When they arrive in the nearby town, the leader of the flagellants accosts the townspeople by reminding them that death could come for them at any time. The flagellants represent a religious extreme – piety turned fanaticism. The musical cues underscoring their arrival and the frantic camerawork make them appear horrific, almost zombie-like. Bergman aimed to bring about revulsion for this extreme response to the plague, and thus implicitly condemned religious fanaticism as a whole.

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UNISON Regional Organiser Paddy Cleary has recently stated that: “Alternative Futures Group's treatment of its care workers is nothing short of shameful. It is clear that “A Chance for Change” is nothing more than a chance to cut costs- with the burden being felt by front-line workers.

“All contractual terms are set to be reviewed, leaving open the prospect of AFG cutting their occupational sick pay scheme during a pandemic. This would pose a public health risk- putting both care workers and service users at increased risk, as care workers are forced to choose between health and hardship.”/i> (1)

At the same time Alternative Futures Group CEO, Ian Pritchard, was hit with a scathing open letter signed by 21 MPs and 63 councillors, condemning the proposals.

The letter from the MPs and councillors also criticised AFG for setting an "ambition" to pay all its staff the living wage, rather than making a binding pledge. (2)

The letter from MP’s points out that: ”It says 84 percent of commissioned providers in Rochdale accepted the increase in funds to pay the living wage.” This begs the question: why is the Local Authority still commissioning services from the 16% of providers (including Alternative Futures Group) who didn’t?

Incidentally proving the maxim that 'all publicity is good publicity' one only needs to spend a few minutes online to see the number of current adverts for new recruits to Alternative Futures Group who despite everything are obviously acquiring new residents to support across the Northwest who need new staff to support them. It’s self-evident that people with personal Budgets are being treated as ‘cash-cows’ by a diaspora of private health care providers who in some cases employ staff based on being able to use a mobile phone & drive a car regardless of any experience at all in the sector. When advertisers state (as they often do) : ‘No experience necessary‘ for Social Care jobs yet mandate a range of necessary skills & experience for shelf stacking jobs ( no that there is anything less worthy in the dignity of labour of a shelf stacker comrades ) it begs the question what value do we as a nation place on the safeguarding & care of our most vulnerable community members ?

It's highly disappointing (although not entirely surprising!) that only TWO Rochdale Councillors signed the letter from councillors given the importance of social care provision to so many of their vulnerable constituents across the Township. Particularly noticeable by its absence was Rochdale Councils Portfolio holder for Social Care, Iftikhar Ahmed, who by all accounts is a splendid chap but so obviously floundering out of his depth amid a Social Care crisis (3). Perhaps the absence of an impending election explains their reticence & lack of enthusiasm to speak out?

Urgent questions also need to be asked (but no doubt won’t be!) of Westminster decisions to cut back on Public Health as new research from the Local Government Association points out: “Public health funding has been frozen or cut for 100 councils. Those hit by public health cuts for the 2021/22 financial year include Doncaster, Rochdale and Wakefield, which have all seen above-average levels of COVID-19 cases.” (4).

The perceived wisdom of cutting funding to Public Health during a global health pandemic which places Rochdale 33 highest out of 315 locations nationally for Covid transmission also needs serious scrutiny. Clearly the pandemic is not yet over. Simply reducing the number of 'pings' from the Covid Smart phone app is the twenty-first century equivalent of removing the clappers from the handbells carried by medieval lepers so as not to alarm the local peasantry of the disease’s proximity!

Incidentally the reported news that local Tory Leader Ashley Dearnley ( and Covid-Idiot ! ) claimed making people wearing a mask was akin to adopting Socialism at a recent Full Council Meeting shows us the superstitious DNA of our forebears still courses through the veins of some less well evolved Englishmen. As we know in medieval times a cult of fanatics called Flagellants travelled from village to town beating themselves with whips & sticks to act as penitents for perceived sins

Working themselves into mad fits of hysteria terrified of the Black Death they spread the Plague around Europe! Dearnley and our local twenty-first century tory Flagellants have got it half right – only this time the pain they inflict is on the rest of us rather than themselves & instead of whips & sticks they use more subtle implements of torture in the form of austerity cuts to the poor, the sick, the old & the vulnerable.

Expectations that The North will continue indefinitely to wear a Tory cilice whilst the likes of Boris Johnson & Carrie Johnson ( previously only famous for being sacked for fiddling her expenses ! ) squander £850 on a single roll of wallpaper are doomed to failure whilst Johnson buggering off to Chequers like some latter day Henry VIII whilst the plague ripped through the slums of Tudor London show like nothing else that the ruling class are totally bereft of new ideas & offer no solutions for the long suffering working -class – whoever or whatever they might actually be in post Brexit Britain ?

You’d have thought funding cuts to Public Health locally would be a major local news story, wouldn’t you? Especially when we learn from

insider sources that Rochdale’s Director of Public Health Andrea Fallon believes it was a mistake to unlock at Christmas and as a result lives have been lost as a direct consequence.

The shocking breakdown of deaths in Britain’s Care Homes makes grim reading. The Care Quality Commission released details of Covid deaths in Care homes across the UK listing them on a town by town & home by home basis (5).

Hancock was obviously otherwise engaged in other affairs when he failed to throw a circle of steel around Britain’s Care homes!

Nothing illustrates the powerlessness of Britain’s vulnerable when their wellbeing is handed lock stock and barrel to a faceless & unaccountable State more starkly!

Riding roughshod over the views & feelings of vulnerable clients with varying degrees of brain damage, their families & their support staff should act as an alarm bell for those who believe in the oft cited mantra: “Nothing about us without us“

Our local Social Care Dystopia, it is clear, has twisted this wonderful aspiration into: “Nothing about us with us!”

It’s almost as if someone somewhere would much rather, we weren’t told what was going on?

APPENDIX:

(1).https://www.unisonnw.org/care_provider_afg_slammed_by_mps_and_councillors_for_callous_cuts_to_carers_working_conditions

(2). https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/care-firm-refuses-pay-living-21204816

(3). Please see email Attachment

(4). https://www.localgov.co.uk/Public-health-funding-frozen-or-cut-for-100-councils/52137

(5). https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/141963/people-with-acquired-brain-injuries-left-feeling-%E2%80%98worthless%E2%80%99-by-a-council-consultation-that-led-to-closure-of-lifeline-care-service

(6).https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiOGE1YTZlODItYzA2Ni00MmUxLTkyZjQtYjk3OTg0ZmYwMTIyIiwidCI6ImE1NWRjYWI4LWNlNjYtNDVlYS1hYjNmLTY1YmMyYjA3YjVkMyJ9

To Him That Hath Shall Be Given More by Les May

IT’s no secret that since the Tories came into power in 2010 local authorities have been starved of money. My local authority, Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council (RMBC), is no exception, so it is interesting to look at how our councillors are trying to save money. Or to put it another way, who is being targeted in any cost cutting exercise.

Schools have a number of employees who are employed on a term time only basis. Such employees remain on a continuous contract, work a reduced number of weeks during the year and are entitled to a pro-rata amount of paid leave.

Since April 2019 guidance in the form of an updated ‘Green Book’ has been available to employers and employees which is intended to ensure that the pay and conditions of term time only workers is consistent and fair, both locally and nationally.

Whilst no specific legislation is in place about how to calculate pay for term time only workers the guidance is intended to ensure that they are treated no less favourably than workers on full time contracts.

Not all local authorities across Greater Manchester have interpreted the guidance in the same way with the result that some Councils have made calculations more favourable to term time only employees than others. The calculation used by Rochdale MBC falls into the ‘less favourable’ class.

To date at least seven Employment Tribunal claims from past employees have been submitted to Rochdale MBC. Late in 2019 UNISON submitted a Collective Grievance which says that term time only employees are being treated less favourably than full time employees. So far this seems to have produced a ‘working party’. In the future Rochdale MBC may have to face something like 500 individual claims from ex-employees.

So how are some ‘full time’ employees being treated by Rochdale MBC? According to one of my informants it seems to depend on ‘who your are’. He claims ‘whilst Rochdale Council's Chief Executive Steve Rumbelow has enjoyed (and continues to enjoy) a whopping £40,000 / year pay rise. This pay rise came about due to Mr Rumbelow being handed a second £40,000 / year full-time job at the NHS, on top of his existing £160,000 / year full-time job at Rochdale MBC.’

I’ve no reason to disbelieve this so it would seem that ‘Superman Rumbelow’ is performing the remarkable feat of doing TWO full time jobs simultaneously. Presumably he keeps a sleeping bag handy in his office so as to be on call 24/7!

Are our councillors happy that the town’s Chief Executive is moonlighting in another full time job whilst supposedly working full time for the people of Rochdale and being well paid for it? Seemingly the answer is yes, at least in some cases.

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Trouble Times Outsourcing by Wigan Council

Wigan Trades Council Press Release:

‘Unison Workers at Addaction will be on the picket lines again in Wigan and Leigh this coming Wednesday 9th, Thursday 10th and Friday 11th October and Wigan Trades Council is calling upon trade unionists to show their support by visiting picket lines, inviting strikers to their meetings, and holding collections for their hardship fund.

‘The strikes this week are a significant escalation of the dispute in the face of an intransigent employer which portrays itself as a charity but behaves in a way that is anything but charitable. And the support now being shown to strikers indicates that the Trades Council is not alone in this opinion.

‘Wigan is a working-class town that as such has suffered disproportionally under the Tory and Lib Dem heel of austerity, producing a range of terrible consequences for which workers at Addaction are picking up the pieces.  Their work in the rehabilitation of adults and young people who have drug and alcohol misuse and related problems, is a vital service that was once under the NHS. Its privatisation has resulted in more pressure on workers and the service, and the going back on promises made on wages and conditions by Addaction.

‘Wigan Council commissioned Addaction to undertake work that should always have been performed by our NHS. In awarding contracts all privatised services are required to sign up to Wigan Council’s ‘Deal’. This ‘Deal’ clearly doesn’t require companies to honour agreements on pay and conditions and neither it seems does the ‘Deal’ require Addaction to honour recognition agreements with trade unions. To date, Addaction doesn’t recognise unions anywhere in the country. Clearly the ‘Deal’ is designed to benefit employers over Wigan’s labouring classes.

‘Wigan Trades Council will be supporting the strikers for as long as the dispute lasts and we will support all initiatives that give justice and respect to Addaction workers for the important and vital role they play in our communities.

‘Picket lines will be on from 8.00 am at Coops Building, Dorning Street, Wigan and Kennedy House, Brunswick Avenue, Leigh.’

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VICTORY FOR COUNCIL WORKER ACCUSED OF ANTI-SEMITISM!

Marxist Stan Keable

I'm pretty sure that one of the things that unites Brexit and Donald Trump supporters, is an abhorrence to what is termed 'political correctness'. People are sick to the back teeth of being told what they can or cannot say or what they can or cannot think by  politically correct dipsticks, and it has led to a kind of reactionary backlash, in both the U.S. and UK. It's a kind of creeping and subtle form of totalitarianism, that is intolerant to free speech.

Christian's who have objected to gay marriage or to gay people adopting children on religious grounds are denounced as homophobic or told they must submit to a kind of 'Maoist' re-education, known as equality and diversity training, or have been dragged through the courts. Parents are told that they cannot exempt their five-year-old tots from classes in same sex relationships and this has led to protests outside schools. 

What lies behind much of this negation in freedom, is the notion that there is a set of liberal social values and language that aims not to offend minorities, is all inclusive, none discriminatory, and which we must all subscribe to, as members of society. Just to suggest that something is sexist, racist, or homophobic, is guaranteed to stop debate dead in its tracks. It's almost as though the lunatics have taken over the insane asylum. And it now applies to the ruckus about anti-Semitism, both in, and outside, the Labour Party. Whereas not long ago, anti-Semitism meant simply hostility to or prejudice against Jews - which is real enough -  it now seems to encompass almost anything that is deemed offensive to the State of Israel and people are losing their jobs, because they have expressed opinions, critical of Israel and Zionism in general. 

In May 2018, I reported on the case of Stan Keable, a London council worker who was suspended by his employer Hammersmith & Fulham Council, after claiming that Zionists "collaborated" with the Nazis. 

Keable, a  Left-wing activist and environmental enforcement officer, had shared a tweet on Twitter in March 2018 while attending a counter demonstration outside Parliament protesting that Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, had been unfairly smeared as an anti-Semite. The Board of Deputies of British Jews, had organised a demonstration against 'anti-Semitism' in Parliament Square. He was removed from his duties as an environmental enforcement officer after writing:

“The Nazis were anti-Semitic. The problem I’ve got is the Zionist government at the time collaborated with them. They accepted the ideas that Jews are not acceptable here.”

A council spokesperson said that Keable had been suspended  while an investigation was carried out and that the council "does not tolerate anti-semitism." His trade union, UNISON, told Stan to plead guilty and to plead mitigation. He was subsequently dismissed and claimed unfair dismissal. 

Although Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention of Human Rights, guarantee freedom of assembly and freedom of speech, and Keable was attending a demonstration in his own free time, Hammersmith & Fulham Council, claimed that Keable had expressed views that were contrary to the Council's "Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy" and the Council's Code of Conduct. The council's charges against him were:

"That, in attending a counter demonstration outside the Houses of Parliament on the 26th March 2018, you knowingly increased the possibility of being challenged about your views and subsequently proceeded to express views that were in breach of the Council’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy and the Council’s Code of Conduct."

"That you made inappropriate comments which were subsequently circulated on social media which are deemed to be insensitive and likely to be offensive and potentially in breach of the Equality Act 2010 and/or the Council’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy."

The Central London Employment Tribunal, recently upheld Stan Keable's claim for unfair dismissal both procedural and substantive. The Judgement has not yet been put online but it took two hours to read out. At the time of writing, it is not known if Stan Keable also intends to take legal action against his trade union UNISON, who have questions to answer.

Public inquiry says Mark Cassidy was police spy

Undercover police officer HN15 = Mark Cassidy = Mark Jenner 

THE undercover policing public inquiry has finally confirmed that the joiner many of us knew as Mark Cassidy was in truth an undercover police officer.  His real name is Mark Jenner and 

between 1995-2000, he infiltrated the construction UCATT (his subs were paid from a bank account set up by Special Branch) 

He also infiltrated rank and file groups including the Building Worker Safety Campaign, the meetings of which he chaired at the Colin Roach Centre in Hackney. Jenner / Cassidy also targeted RMT, Unison, CPSA, TGWU and was on numerous picketlines including Dahl Jenson at Waterloo, JJ Fastfoods at Tottenham Hale and L.B. Southwark DLO.

Mark Cassidy / Jenner was first publicly named in by an article by journalist & union activist Mark Metcalf and in Blacklisted book by Phil Chamberlain & Dave Smith.  The Met Police issued a public apology to 'Alison', the activist he lived with during the five years of his deployment. It is shameful that the Met and the public inquiry have taken so long to admit that Mark Cassidy was an undercover police officer from the Special Demonstration Squad, something that everyone has known for years.  

'Alison', Mark Metcalf, UCATT (now part of UNITE) and blacklisted workers Brian Higgins, John Jones, Steve Hedley, Frank Smith, Dan Gilman & Dave Smith (who attended meetings, protests and pickets with Mark Cassidy / Jenner) have all been granted core participant status in the undercover police public inquiry. 

This public confirmation about Mark Cassidy comes just a week after the Met confirmed that police provided information to the building industry blacklist. 

Blacklist Support Group send a huge hug to 'Alison' and all the women activist at Police Spies Out of Lives for their inspirational battle to force the authorities to tell the truth about the undercover police officers that abused them.

https://policespiesoutoflives.org.uk/finally-confirms-hn15-mark-cassidy/

Full story on Mark Jenner: http://powerbase.info/index.php/Mark_Jenner

Justice for Grenfell

Public Meeting:

Justice for Grenfell
We need answers!

WE DEMAND SAFE, SECURE HOMES

6 pm on Tuesday 22nd of August
Salford Arts Theatre, Kemsing Walk (off Liverpool St), Salford M5 4BS.

Speakers from:
Justice4Grenfell Campaign
Mark Rowe, FBU North West Regional Secretary
Hilda Palmer, GM Hazards Campaign
Salford City Unison

All Welcome

For more information contact Salford City Unison Branch Office on 0161794 7425 or got to http://salfordcityunison.org.uk/justice-4-grenfell/

Bullying, Positive Behaviour & Culture

ALMOST a year ago, a report was disclosed to the Bury Times that claimed one in ten council staff at Bury MBC had been bullied in the last 18-months up to March 2016, and a quarter felt unable to cope with their work demands.
Last Monday (23rd, January 2017), a body entitling itself the Positive Behaviour Task Force met to consider the situation.
The Bury Positive Behaviour Task Force is in theory composed of representatives of the unions UNISON and Unite the Union, as well as representatives of management and HR (Human Relations).  Initially the Unite union which is the biggest union at Bradley Fold Waste Depot, was not invited to participate on this Task Force, more recently however, after complaints from the Unite Commercial Branch, a full time officer was incorporated onto the Task Force but has yet to attend.
In a response to a question about the level of alleged bullying up to March last year a Council spokesperson said:  'The Council takes any allegations of bullying and harassment very seriously and we place the utmost importance on dignity and respect for all our employees... (I)n response to this question 26 Dignity at Work complaints have been investigated in the past three years (6 since April 2015) and there have been 18 cases which have been handled via the mediation route (4 since April 2015).'
The spokesperson then added:
'In terms of taking action, a positive action taskforce has been established along with an Employee focus group to make our policies work effectively on the ground in practice.  We have a further survey planned for the autumn which will be anonymous as are all of the staff surveys we carry.'*
Speaking to the Bury Times (2nd, March 2016), Labour Councillor, Sandra Walmsley, said:
'I don't think there is a culture problem at the council with bullying.  If that was the case, we would have known about it before the survey.... I am hoping the taskforce will get to the bottom of this issue.'
At Bradley Fold Waste Depot there has been various complaints of forms of harassment over the last decade or so, yet at the time of writing the Unite union which represents the bin-men has not had an update or as yet seen any of the minutes of the meetings of the Positive Behaviour Task Force.  Nor, as yet, has the Bury Unite Commercial Branch representing the Bury bin-men seen the results of the 'further survey planned for the autumn (2016)' promised by Bury MBC.
This must be troubling.  
*  https://councildecisions.bury.gov.uk/documents/.../Questions%20responses%20web.p

Non-violent action in Tameside dispute

by Martin S. Gilbert

REPORTS of different forms of action around the world give ideas about replicating them at home.

Also, they can remind us about fairly similar action in our own  areas.  'Rev Billy & the Church of Stop Shopping' (Peace  News October-November, pp 9 – 11) gives an example of well planned, effective NVDA (non-violent direct action).  In the late 1990s during the year-long Tameside Care Workers dispute*, at Ashton-Under-Lyne in Greater Manchester we performed a non violent 'invasion'.  Tameside Care Group were forcing new contracts: a second pay cut, reduced service conditions and no sick pay**.  A local solicitor who had financial interests in those care homes was refusing to negotiate with the union.  Also, that gentleman was showing interest in child fostering businesses.  

Supporters of Earth first and Northern Anarchist Network assembled close to that solicitors office.

On my own, dressed in business suit and with a shiny brief case I told the receptionist about my 'appointment'.   She looked at various papers for a record of such meeting.  While thus distracted, it was enough time for our non-violent invaders to swarm over the building.  They emptied filing cabinets and tossed stuff out of windows before leaving as quickly as they came.  

It raised moral among the strikers and made the solicitor negotiate with them.  Sadly this strike, the longest ever in that area failed to win it’s objectives.

Some readers will be critical of the above account claiming it was  dishonest of me to put on a business suit to confuse the receptionist.  Others might claim that we all should have stayed to get arrested and should not have destroyed any office records.   But those records were 'caring'  for the 1%.   Also,  there is the idea that always getting arrested at actions is 'putting oneself on the

sacrificial plate of the state'.  

On balance I think that Rev Billy would have approved.  

*  A report in the journal 'Caring Times' (1999): 'About 150 people took to the streets between Stalybridge and Ashton-Under-Lyme in Greater Manchester on Saturday, 27 March (1999) to mark the first anniversary of the dismissal of some 200 care workers by the Tameside Care Group. Accompanied by supporters, children and a police escort, the sacked care workers were calling attention to the year long dispute which is scheduled for a 10-day industrial tribunal hearing in Manchester beginning on 1st June. The Tameside Care Group took over the operation of residential care homes from Tameside Council in 1990. In January last year (1998), close to 200 care workers at 12 residential homes in Tameside were served with termination notices after they refused to sign new contracts. The contracts involved acceptance of a pay cut (the second since the Tameside group had assumed control of the homes), reduced conditions of service and having the company sick pay scheme abolished. The workers then balloted for official strike action and were subsequently dismissed. '      
**  In April 1999, UNISON North West Region published a report which outlined the impact on staff:
'Throughout the history of the Trust and its subsidiary company financial savings have meant reductions in staff costs, with all the decreases falling on already low paid and undervalued staff. The staff working for Tameside Care Group have been poorly treated for nearly a decade and any improvements in the condition of the homes have been at the direct expense of care workers and domiciliary staff, most of whom are low-paid women workers. 200 staff went on strike in March 1998 and were sacked by the company. A year later the dispute is unresolved; an Industrial Tribunal set for June has already cost the company large sums in terms of legal fees, employment of agency staff and disruption to the service.'
                                                                                                        

Public Oppose Council Allowance Rise

PROTESTORS stood on the steps of Rochdale Town Hall before Wednesday night’s council meeting (14 December) to demonstrate against the 34% rise in councillors’ allowance.

As councillors arrived for the meeting, the protesters took up chanting ‘They want 34%, we can’t even pay our rent’ and ‘No ifs, no buts, no public service cuts’.  A survey was also handed to councillors by Unite representatives asking if they had asked their local constituents if they believed they deserved a 34-51% pay rise and to justify this with evidence.

Whilst most councillors passed the demonstration by arriving through the front door, Council Leader Richard Farnell was accused of 'snubbing the people' and 'cowardice' after he was spotted avoiding the protest by entering the Town Hall through the back door.

Before the Council meeting commenced, Sam O’Brien, of Unison, said:
'If the councillors vote for this then they will prove they are completely out of touch with the people they are supposed to serve. The idea that they could vote for such a huge rise whilst cutting services will strike most people as appalling.

 'Council workers are being told that the council have to take tough choices that austerity will be permanently written into our contracts. Why is it an easy choice to increase councillors’ pay but everything else is tough: no wonder 75% of UNISON members recently voted to strike against the proposed cuts.'

 A council worker, who wished to remain nameless, said: 

'To pass this is immoral and puts council workers at risk of redundancy.  

'We’ve had these never-ending cuts; we haven’t had pay rises. Our wages have been frozen since austerity started, even with inflation, so in effect, our pay has gone backwards, but here they are giving 34% to councillors and the free food before each meeting, be it planning or scrutiny.

 'I used to work at a neighbouring council, who scrapped this earlier in the year to save money. They should cut councillors to two per ward to save money, but here we still have 60 fat cats who are stuffing their faces with allowances- I’m appalled.'

 Robert Mudd said: 'This increase has been based on the average, which is false criteria. It should be based on the median or the modal value to make it more accurate.'

 Jeff Slough said:  'The only thing I’d like to ask directly to Mr Farnell is to justify his £1,000 a week for doing a voluntary role.  It’s ridiculous.  I’ve nothing against legitimate expenses, if the business is within the Rochdale Borough.'

For more go to http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/106924/shouts-of-disgraceful-as-councillors-vote-themselves-a-massive-34pc-increase

Conference on Bullying & Blacklisting

by Brian Bamford

ON my way to the University of Greenwich for the conference organised by the Blacklist Support Group, I picked up a copy of the Morning Star with a leading story about an undercover policeman who had used the alias Carlo Neri, who had successfully seduced three women to infiltrate the RMT  trade union and other leftist organisations in the early years of the 21^st century.  When I got to the conference a lass he targeted who used the name 'Andrea' described how he won her over with his plausible Italian personality. 

More revelations of the involvement of the security services and the police in the practice of blacklisting trade unionists and spying on radical organisations have been documented in the 2^nd  edition of 'Blacklisted:  The Secret War Between Big Business & Union Activists' authored by Dave Smith and the journalist Phil Chamberlain.

The Blacklisting conference itself which lasted for two days last weekend, was attended by well over 200.  The Conference Programme was populated by many academics like Pro. Sian Moore (University of Greenwich), Dr. Jack Fawbert (Anglia Ruskin University), Pro. Keith Ewing (Kings College London) and Pro. Phil Taylor (Strathclyde University); trade union leaders like Gail Cartmail of Unite, Amanda Brown (Assistant General Secretary of the NUT), Roger McKenzie (Unison) and Matt Wrack of the FBU; legal advisers like the barrister David Renton and Shamik Dutta; and activists like Helen Steel of the 'McDonald Two' and a participant in the Pitchford Enquiry.

Issues such as bullying at work; the tragedy of modern performance management and its consequences for the workforce; Edna's Law; protection for whistle-blowers; the campaign opposing police surveillance; 'Angry Women' and the Pitchford Enquiry were all discussed at the conference.  All in all I told Dave Smith in the interval that this was another triumph for the London based Blacklist Support Group, and as a proud northerner I don't give my praise to Cockneys that easily.

www.northernvoicesmag.blogspot.comFreedom Collective Statement!  on this blog 09/08/2016

Considering a Labour Party Split

by Les May

THE stories about an imminent split in the Labour party are brought to us by the same people who have been busy telling us that Jeremy Corbyn was half hearted in his support of the Remain campaign in the EU referendum, that Corbyn inspired thugs smashed the windows of Angela Eagle's constituency office and that found themselves accused of bias by an LSE investigation into media coverage of Corbyn in the period 1 September to 1 November 2015... need I go on?  These are the people for whom the 'story' matters more than the truth.

I've briefly dissected some of these stories in Northern Voices during the past couple of weeks and Tim Fenton dissects the latest one from Dan Hodges on the Zelo blog.

Media talk of a split pre-dates the events leading to the current leadership contest.  The same Dan Hodges had been promoting a Labour split with an article in the Mail on Sunday on 8 May.  Read this carefully and you'll spot his reference to a four week 'window of of opportunity' to challenge Corbyn between the EU referendum and the summer recess.  Notice also the reference to 'planning for Labour’s long-awaited leadership coup'.

Some of the stories implying there will be a split are more subtle.  Who 'owns' the name 'Labour' is a question which is suddenly being asked.  Why? If not to implant the idea of an imminent collapse of the party.

Whilst I think it is right to talk of a coup being planned within the Parliamentary Labour Party I think the attempts to infiltrate into the discussion the notion of a Labour party split was and is just a ploy to egg on the plotters and encourage the uncommitted to join them.  Presenting the present contest as a fight for the 'soul' of the party is an attempt to promote an apocalyptic message by people who have anything but the best interests of the Labour party at heart.  

There's one excellent reason why the Labour party will not split.  It's called 'follow the money'.

Labour receives a significant amount of funding from unions affiliated to the Labour party.  Speaking to a group of peers about the then 'Trades Union Bill', in March Labour's general secretary Iain McNicol revealed that, out of the £22m ($30m) which Labour-affiliated unions raised in political funds in 2014, £10m was handed to the party.

Now ask yourself a simple question. Will unions like Unite and Unison be more likely to spend their political funds with a party led by supporters of Corbyn or one led by supporters of those Blairites whose sense of entitlement that they, and they alone, have the right to determine party policy makes them incandescent with fury that they have been denied?  

If you object to the notion that in the end pragmatism will rule and the outcome will be decided by where the unions are prepared to put their money, ask yourself whether you prefer Labour to be funded by the pennies of a lot of ordinary people or the millions of a few of the very rich.

Interested readers might like to follow the link to the 'Labour Leaders Office Fund'.
http://northernvoicesmag.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/performance-figures-in-referendum.html
http://northernvoicesmag.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/angela-eagle-brick-coup.html
http://northernvoicesmag.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/jeremy-corbyn-misrepresentaion-in-media.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-3579033/DAN-HODGES-Congratulations-Sadiq-just-proved-Labour-split.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-3705171/DAN-HODGES-Reckon-s-nice-decent-bloke-let-dark-menacing-reality-Great-Corbyn-Myth.html
http://zelo-street.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/dan-hodges-sells-corbyn-pass.html
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/trade-union-bill-conservative-crackdown-funding-will-significantly-hit-labour-party-finances-1547099
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_Leader%27s_Office_Fund

Special Demonstration Squad Spied on Workers

NEWLY uncovered documentary evidence shows how police officers infiltrated campaigns by construction workers protesting against deaths on building sites. The documents include a series of letters written to and from Mark Jenner, an undercover officer from the discredited Special Demonstration Squad (SDS), who during the late 1990s claimed to be a carpenter while infiltrating the construction union UCATT.  Using the cover name of Mark Cassidy, the spycop ingratiated himself with the Colin Roach Centre (formerly known as Hackney Trade Union Resource Centre) and targeted a series of trade unions and union backed campaigns, attending union branches, conferences, picketlines and pay talks.   

The new documents give an insight into how deeply, the police went to embed themselves into even grassroots union campaigns. On 21st March 1997, Cassidy / Jenner  wrote a letter to a number of different organisations regarding the 'Building Workers Safety Campaign',which he describes as a 'rank and file organisation run by building workers', asking for support in getting 'information on deaths on building sites' in order to visit 'the site within one week after the event and ask workers to stop work'. The police authored letter continued: 'We believe that only by hitting production can we hope to stop the killings on building sites'. This was in 1997, when the fatality rates in construction were averaging around 3 deaths a week. 

The identical letter was sent to a number of trade union bodies including Haringey UNISON, Hammersmith UNISON, TGWU North London Textile branch and civil servants in the CPSA union (forerunner to PCS). The police spy also sent the letter to the charity 'Inquest' that provides free legal advice to people bereaved by a death in police custody. Why a charity dealing with deaths in custody would be an obvious source of information about deaths on building sites is difficult to fathom but raises questions of public interest about what the undercover police officer was trying to achieve.   

One response from the local authority funded and well respected safety charity the London Hazards Centre, identifies HSE inspectors, the Coroners Office and the local police as sources of information but highlights that the authorities 'can be very tight lipped when it comes to giving out information' - this no doubt brought a smile to Jenner's face when reading it.  

The documents were uncovered by Brian Higgins, a 75 year old Glaswegian grandfather and blacklisted retired bricklayer based in Northampton who was the national secretary of the rank & file Building Worker Group (BWG). Brian Higgins has been granted 'core participant' status in the Pitchford public inquiry into undercover policing alongside a number of other union activists from the Blacklist Support Group, as information gathered by police officers appears on a number of blacklist files kept on construction workers by the notorious Consulting Association. 

Brian Higgins commented: 

'The police would be infinitely better employed investigating, prosecuting and jailing the corporate criminals responsible for the killing and maiming of many building workers, rather than spying on those of us who dedicate our industrial lives to trying to put a stop to this wanton carnage and the terrible grief which accompanies it. Intelligence gathered by these police spies has found its way onto an illegal blacklist in the construction industry. They say justice never sleeps: time it woke up over this!'

Alison (not her real name) was the female activist that Mark Jenner deceived into a long term relationship and lived with during his deployment.  It was from their shared address in Hackney that the undercover police officer joined the construction union UCATT and became a regular attendee at the Hackney branch meetings.  Alison is one of the women that has received an unreserved apology and compensation from the Metropolitan Police for the abuse and human rights violations they suffered due to the activities of undercover police.  Alison recalls having numerous conversations about the building industry and trade union campaigns which she describes as 'a key part of his work' and 'a big part of what he was doing during this period'.  

Another trade unionist who was spied upon by Mark Jenner and has been granted core participant in the Pitchford inquiry is the RMT Senior Assistant General Secretary, Steve Hedley.  He commented: 

'Mark Jenner gained my confidence and even stayed at my mothers home in Ireland. When I learned that he was a police spy I was dumbfounded .Why the police would be interested in a trade unionist like me is quite frankly astonishing. All my activities were open and transparent and usually even minuted. What kind of a society are we living in, when the state feels it's necessary to employ people at the taxpayers expense to snoop on people carrying out perfectly legal activities?'

Blacklist Support Group

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

video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlCa8yQmZ70

blog: www.hazards.org/blacklistblog

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

Mental Health in Manchester

Manchester Deserves Better

Mental Health—a national scandal

Public Meeting, Saturday 7th November, 2pm-5pm

Friends Meeting House, Mount Street, M2 5NS

Speakers: UNISON Manchester Community & Mental Health branch

Service Users, Carers groups, Refugees, Campaigns against cuts, Greater

Manchester Keep Our NHS Public

“Is it acceptable that mental health services are on their knees?” 
Jeremy Corbyn asked David Cameron this question at Prime Minister’s Questions in September. 
We know that however bad it is in the rest of the country, it’s even worse in Manchester.
Manchester has high rates of depression, anxiety and severe mental illness—such as psychosis or bipolar disorder.  At least 1 in 4 people has a mental health problem at some time.  That’s over 110,000 people. 

Manchester Community & Mental Health branch, c/o Chorlton House, 70 Manchester Road, M21 9UN. 

www.mcmh.org.uk

On the stump with Ashton's prospective parliamentary candidates. Elections 2015!

A series of election events known as ‘question time hustings’, have been organised by Community & Voluntary Action Tameside (CVAT), to take place in Ashton-under-Lyne, Hyde and Denton, prior to the General Election in May. On Tuesday evening, I attended the first of these meetings at the Holy Trinity Centre, Dean Street, in Ashton.

Angela Rayner, the Labour candidate for Ashton-under-Lyne, - who was selected from an all women’s short-list - was the first to speak. She began by paying tribute to her predecessor David Heyes, who is retiring at the next election. Ms. Reyner is a socialist but doesn’t believe that people should get something for nothing. Although she is now a trade union official with UNISON, she began her working life as a home help and didn’t go to university. Referring to the financial cut- backs she told the meeting that Tameside Council had lost 50% of its budget and that over 1 million people, were relying on food-banks in Britain in order to feed themselves and their families. “I’m not here to manage the decline she told the meeting.” She also told the meeting that public services should be defended and should remain in the public sector.

Charlotte Hughes, the Green Party candidate, is a single parent who was born and bred in Ashton. She believes that because of this, she is fully aware of the needs of her constituents. Unlike many of the other mainstream parties, who are only interested in ‘hardworking families’, Hughes believes that everybody should be helped, not just those who are in work. She told the meeting that she was sick of the way in which the Labour controlled council in Tameside were using people as guinea pigs to pilot Tory government projects, such as Universal Credit and the so-called ‘Troubled Families’ phase 2 initiative, which is bullying and harassing  single-mothers who are unemployed. She told the meeting, “So far there has been no consultation with the public” about these schemes or the way in which, the Labour council in Tameside, are implementing Tory policies. A community activist, Ms. Hughes, can be seen on a regular basis protesting outside Ashton Jobcentre against unfair and illegal sanctioning. She told the meeting that this year, she had stopped two people from committing suicide.

Another candidate who was born and bred in Ashton is bungling Maurice Jackson, the UKIP (Kipper) candidate. A former Tameside Labour Party member, he was hopelessly out of his depth on the night. Jackson declared that he would not be making a three-minute speech but was happy to take questions. At times, he was barely audible or coherent and struggled to even string a decent sentence together. For most of the evening, he could be seen reading from what presumably, was a UKIP leaflet, in order to check what the party’s policies were. Judging from his performance on the night, he had obviously drawn the short straw.

A Canadian study that was published in January 2012, in the Journal of Psychological Science and reported in the Daily Mail the same month, stated that people with conservative beliefs, were likely to be of ‘low intelligence’ and were receptive to ideas that appealed to their basest and stupidest impulses. 

As right-wing Thatcherites, UKIP seems to draw their fair share of English cranks into their ranks. The former UKIP MEP, Godfrey Bloom, resigned from the Party after calling women ‘sluts’ and after complaining of foreign aid going to ‘bongo-bongo land’. Another UKIP member declared that the floods which brought havoc to parts of Britain two years ago were caused by the Wrath of God, after the introduction of ‘Gay Marriage’.

Most of the evening was taken up with questions from the floor. One questioner complained about a lack of political leaflets through the door. All the candidates said it was either down to lack of funding or resources. Bungling Morris said that UKIP didn’t have any money to back the candidates and that he was a paper candidate.

Ms Rayner, was asked how she would retain public services in Tameside when the Labour Council was a privatizing council? She responded that it was all about giving adequate funding to local government. Asked if she thought the number of councillors could be reduced as they now had less to do, since many public services had been hived-off to the private sector, she said she didn’t believe in reducing things to their lowest common denominator. 

For the Green’s, Ms Hughes said there was a lack of transparency in Tameside Council and that the council leader was getting an ‘obscene amount of money’. She believes that councillor’s allowance should be on a fixed ratio vis-à-vis council workers wages and salaries.

A questioner asked the candidates if they agreed that volunteering should stay voluntary and asked if the voluntary sector should be participating in the Government’s workfare (work-for-your-dole) schemes.  

Ms Hughes said that she was against workfare and was a member of Boycott Workfare. She thought people should be paid a decent wage for a decent day’s work. The UKIP candidate said his party didn’t believe in workfare. (UKIP have branded claimants a ‘parasitic underclass of scroungers’ and have plans to stop them buying tobacco and alcohol). Ms Reyner said that she didn’t want to bring back the work-house and opposed workfare (which the last Labour government introduced with their work-for-your dole schemes). She favours more apprenticeships as a way of getting people back to work.

Another questioner asked -  “If elected would your government remove the market principle from the NHS?” 

The Green Party candidate said yes. The Labour candidate said her party would repeal the Health & Social Care Bill. The UKIP candidate said his party would remove car-parking charges and was against the privatization of the NHS.

From the floor, another questioner asked: “Do you agree with Nigel Farage (UKIP leader) that the NHS should be replaced with an American style health system? Bungling Morris, denied that Farage had ever said this, whereupon, the questioner offered to show him where the quote had come from.  Ms. Reyner then said that both the leader and deputy leader of UKIP had said they wanted to privatize the NHS.

All three candidates were asked about their views of Europe. Ms Rayner said that she was pro-Europe but it needed reform. “I don’t believe immigrants come here just for housing and benefits. We’ve been enriched by Europe. It would cost us £6.5 billion if we came out of Europe.” Ms. Hughes said that it was Green Party policy to stay in Europe but the party favoured a referendum. “Immigration is positive. The NHS would not be what it is without immigrant workers.” Mr Jackson said that UKIP wanted a referendum. “We have an Islanders mentality”, said gaffe prone Morris, “I think we should come out of Europe.”

A questioner asked: “What do you think of fracking in Tameside, even if Tameside Council supports it?” 

Ms. Hughes said that the Green Party was against fracking. “You wont be able to insure your house if it is near to fracking. Fracking leads to pollution. Fracking is being rolled back in America.” The UKIP candidate said that his party were in favour of fracking. Ms Reyner said that Labour was not entirely against fracking but that it must be safe and the decision should be taken locally.  “I’m not going to rule fracking out.”

The outcome of the Parliamentary elections in Tameside next month, is probably a foregone conclusion even though Jonathan Reynolds is defending a 2,700 majority in Stalybridge. Labour has held all three seats for as long as I can remember.

Although UKIP have gained support from the blue-collar, male, working-class former Labour voter in the North, who struggle financially, and feel left behind and alienated from the political class, they are unlikely to get elected in Tameside. UKIP has virtually no support among the financially secure and the thirty-and-forty age group of university graduates. Support for UKIP is also weak among women, white-collar professionals and the young.

The Green Party, who will probably struggle to retain their deposits in the Tameside elections 2015, do have some good policies such as the citizens basic income, renationalisation of railways, a living wage, a wealth tax, and a maximum pay ratio (no executive should receive more than ten times the salary of the lowest paid worker). However, these policies tend to get overshadowed by wackier policies like banning sporting events such as the Grand National and dog racing.

Barnet Care Worker's Strike

Dear Supporter

I want to take the opportunity to update you on the dates of strike action by our Your Choice Barnet care workers.

The action will be takenon 24 & 25 February in the middle of the Fair Pay fortnight (16 Feb-1 March 2015) which is highlighting around Britain's cost of living crisis.

As you know that our members had a 9.5% pay cut imposed from 1 April last year add to that the fact that prices have risen by just under 20. Before the 9.5% pay cut the impact on our members pay has seen around £3,400 stripped from the value of their wages.

This will make a total of 8 days of strike action since the dispute began. This is in a bid to reverse the harsh 9.5% pay cut imposed on them by their employer.

YCB has not met with UNISON as they have indicated they have nothing new to offer. Barnet Council has failed to become involved in a positive way at all. The Council has clearly been giving preferential treatment to its private contractors with the news of Capita receiving some£110million on top of its contract in order to keep the contract working. If YCB were to receive this, it would carry on producing a service to the residents on the scale it does for the next 18 years with no pay cut to staff!

At the same time our members are continuing to deliver a quality service to adults with disabilities, often with less staff and an increase in agency workers.

Our Commissioning Council continues to spend millions on consultants to help deliver its privatisation programme which are clearly designed to undermine our members pensions, pay and terms & conditions,

In the past two weeks I have been ashamed to see how our Council is determined to socially cleanse ordinary working people out of our borough.

I dare you not to scream at the screen when you listen to 86 year old resident facing compulsory order.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OXc814Q9ps

Over the week I have watched in horror as residents were being dragged out of their homes in Sweets Way and are now protesting outside the Housing offices

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=4992672349841&set=vb.1690622435&type=2&theater

The 9.5% pay cut was not the only attack on our members there had already been other attacks to unsocial hours and a third of the workforce were made redundant.

The 9.5% was the final straw as members can already see the impact of a two tier workforce where staff doing the same work are being paid less money.

Our members are determined that they will not be ignored. They know the Tories could intervene to help resolve this dispute which is why they agreed the next round of strike action.

I hope you are all agree that the stakes for our care workers are high and as with the CARE UK dispute UNISON will continue to back our members fight to defend our members’ claim every step of the way.

Picket line information

1. Flower Lane Day Centre

41 Flower Lane

Barnet

London NW7 2JN

2. Rosa Morrison Day Centre

83 Gloucester Road

Totteridge

Barnet

London EN5 1NA

The start times are 7.30am to 12noon

Best wishes

John Burgess

Branch Secretary.

Barnet UNISON

0208 359 2088

www.barnetunison.me.uk

Barnet UNISON “Watch it & Share it”

Barnet UNISON Facebook

Barnet UNISON Twitter

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH, FROM 4 PM

Care Workers vote for strike action

Care Workers on 90% majority to take strike action

BARNET UNISON has concluded a ballot of care workers based on a slightly improved “offer” from Your Choice Barnet (YCB) following the close of negotiations in mid-July. The offer still means our members would lose 8.31% from their wages rather than 9.5%. It still represents a swingeing cut to their wages at a time when other workers up and down the country have rejected a1% per cent pay rise. On a 73% turnout 90% voted in favour of taking action to reinstate their pay.

During the negotiations YCB was very open regarding their finances. Even if our members took this hit on their wages now, YCB couldnot guarantee this would be an end to the cuts in pay even in the short term. Indeed their proposed budget for the next year breaks even only if they pay nothing on the loan from Barnet Homes. YCB confirmed in the negotiations this left a huge funding gap. This lack of reassurance from YCB that they would not be coming back for more cuts undoubtedly contributed to the resounding rejection of the latestpay cut.

 

What the negotiations did reveal is thescandalous charging arrangements foisted onto YCB, which make it difficult to see how YCB can befinancially viable in the future without making the workers’ pay an even heftier price. Significantly where a service user fails to turn up to the day service e.g. because they are sick, YCBcannot charge for the service. Yet YCB will have organised their staffing based on those service users turning up and have to bear the brunt of those staffing costs when the service user does not appear. Many service users need 1 to 1 support. The failure to turn up or “no shows” costs YCB a significant loss of income. This significant sum of money would go a long way torestoring our members’ wages. Barnet Council is refusing to pay YCB for these “no shows” and yet this is a company whollyowned by Barnet Council!

Our members pointed to the fact that if they were to cancel their child’s childcare arrangements without a week’s notice, they are still charged. For any course, you have to pay up front and turn up or lose the money. So if we are to adopt an “oh-so- very-private-sector” ethos how can this charging arrangement for YCB be allowed?

 

UNISON Branch Secretary John Burgess said:

'If we are to avoid strike action we need urgent talks betweenBarnet Council and Your Choice Barnet. It is clear that thecurrent payment mechanism & lack of referrals from the Council are severely hindering the financial viability of YCB. It beggars belief that the Task & Finish Group in November 2013 failed to spot the glaring financial crisis haunting YCB. To carry on as is,is not an option, either there is a three way meeting in order to come to an arrangement whereby YCB has a real futureor the Council honours its promise to return the service in house. It isunacceptable that service users, parents/carer and our members should have to continue to bear the brunt of failed business case imposed on them by Barnet Council.'