Who ordered bin men back to Bradley Fold?

Binmen escape from unsafe waggon - the photos here are of a Bury MBC bin waggon that burnt out on Wednesday 23rd, March on Stand Street in Radcliffe, while returning to the Bradley Fold Depot in Bury. It was staffed by a team of 3 agency workers who had been ordered to return to the Depot despite a dangerous oil leak on the vehicle. The driver noticed the oil leak while at the Salford tip & contacted the Bradley Fold Depot several times for advice. It is said that at that stage the oil was running onto the exhaust pipe. None-the-less the driver was instructed to return to Bradley Fold at least 10 miles away: a garage that has done repairs on Bury MBC vehicles is situated near the Salford tip.

On the way back, it seems the brakes failed while in Radcliffe apparently because of damage due to the leak: the driver did the best he could and swerved so that the wheels rubbed against the kerb and the waggon slowed down so that the 3 men in the cab were able to jump clear before the vehicle burst into flame. It is not known why the agency workers were told to drive back to base, but members of the UNITE union suspect that pressure is being put on both employees and their supervisors to rush to finish their work. This means serious risks are being taken.

Last week, Bury MBC told the Bury Times that an investigation is being conducted into the incident.

NAN Conference

The NAN Conference held in Burnley on March 27 was particularly successful with a good geographical spread from Wellington in Shropshire to York. The discussions were both stimulating and far reaching covering a range of issues including electoral politics and freedom of speech.

It was also agreed that the NAN and the newly formed Yorkshire Anarchist Group should hold a joint conference at the 1 in 12 Club in June. There is clear evidence that the anarchist movement in the North is growing in strength with 2 further anarchist bookfairs planned in Bradford and Sheffield.

Barry Woodling

NEC Dumps Reynolds!

The contest to find a replacement for Tory boy James Purnell MP, has led to a bitter row within the higher echelons of the Labour Party. On 17th March, 'The Times' reported that a national executive selection panel, had dumped Jonny Reynolds from the list of candidates hoping to replace Purnell as the MP for the constituency of Stalybridge & Hyde.

The selection panel which met on 15th March, had been set up to conduct interviews and to decide on a final shortlist. Amongst the members of the panel, were former minister Keith Vaz, Paddy Lillis, deputy general secretary of USDAW and Tom Watson, Downing Street`s nominee on the panel. A source who was 'familiar with the discussion' told the newspaper that Reynolds 'had performed poorly' and... 'had not even defended the MP (James Purnell) effectively when asked about questions over his expenses.' It was also claimed that another candidate, Peter Wheeler, who is sponsored by UNITE, 'gave an impressive performance.'

Despite the fact that the NEC special selection panel has 'full delegatory authority to make decisions which cannot be overturned', the newspaper reported that Purnell, with the aid of Lord Peter (Mandy) Mandleson, had forced the leadership to reopen the shortlist so that his 'preferred successor', Jonny Reynolds, was included.

In a statement issued to The Times, Tom Watson, said: "I was not aware that there was an appeals process. But I have been told that Peter Mandleson and James Purnell have demanded that Mr Reynolds be placed on the shortlist. I know of no rule that allows for an appeal once the panel has decided the shortlist." He later quoted guidance from the NEC which stated that the special selection panel had full authority to make decisions which cannot be overturned.

Following the decision to put Reynolds back on the shortlist, two other candidates, Barbara Roche and Floyd Millen, withdrew from the race. We also understand that another candidate, the former Greater Manchester East MEP Glyn Ford, (who failed to make the shortlist despite being endorsed by the UNITE North West Region), has also demanded that he be given the same right of appeal.

Review: La Buena Nueva (The Good News)

YESTERDAY, the Cornerhouse in Manchester showed the Spanish film 'La Buena Nueva' (The Good News), the true story of the trials of a young sincere priest who is sent to a poor village in Navarra, bordering the Basque region, but in 1936 the centre of traditional right-wing Carlist politics and religion. On his arrival the socialist mayor and his party are about to be overthrown by a group of Falange fighters and incomers, who are sent to unite with the local Carlists to take over the village. Several socialists who take to the hills to escape are shot by the Falange. Others are thrown in a pit.

The priest trys to maintain some sort of neutrality for the Church and adopt a prudent postion helping some of the widows of the victims. But tensions develop, not just between the priest and the Falangist incomers, but also between the Carlists and the Falange. Conflicts between differing approaches to the Church and religion of the conquerering parties are lightly touch upon. More interesting is the priest threat to the boss of the Falange that one day he would have to pay for the killings. The implication throughout the film is the underlying suggestion that some day the bodies will be discovered, making the film a harbinger of what is now happening in so far as there is a recuperation of historical memory and a recovery of the bodies of Spanish Civil War victims all over Spain. Writers in Spain are already turning out novels about the civil war and no doubt there will be many more films on similar subjects.

NAN Theme: Social Democracy on its last legs?

NAN Conference at Central Methodist Hall, Hargreaves St., Central Burnley: Saturday 27th, March, starting at 11.30am:

Long time Burnley anarchist, John Simpkin, told Northern Voices last night that this Saturday he intended to address the Burnley NAN Conference on what he called 'The collapse of Social Democracy in the UK'. Dealing with the forthcoming election he said he was asking: 'Is Parliamentary politics any longer relevant to ordinary people?' He will speak at 2pm.

Jim Petty, a well known local anarchist, will consider the relevance of the General Strike and its historical conception from the English Civil war through the 19th Century and the notion of the National Holiday, to the experience of the general strike in the 20th Century. Speaks 12 o'clock.

Brian Bamford, of the Northern Voices affinity group, will address the issues of middle class influences in British politics including anarchism; the failure of the left to provide a vision or strategy owing to its cultural fragmentation, and the current problem of party political funding.

Neil & Graham, from Wellington, Shropshire, will describe the history of the struggle against open-cast mining in the Wrekin Forest and discuss the the issue of the climate camp in a Shropshire area of natural beauty.

Spanish Civil War talk at Working Class Movement Library, Wednesday 24th March 2010

This wednesday 24th March 2pm, a local historian Chris Carson will give a talk at the Working Class Movement Library on local participation in the Spanish Civil War. Hopefully he will make reference to Anthony Beevor's excellent book on the the war entitled "The Battle for Spain".

There is a section on the International Brigades which makes extensive references to the Moscow Archives and is a devastating critique of the role of the Communist leadership of the Brigades alluding to the hundreds of executions of brigade members and the concentration camp at Camp Lukacs.

Northern Anarchist Network (NAN) Conference Agenda

BURNLEY NAN CONFERENCE

on Saturday 27th, March 2010
hosted by Burnley Anarchists:
at Central Methodist Church Hall,
on Hargreaves Street,
near main Post Office and shopping centre:

Revised AGENDA:

Start:

11.30 ................................. Group Reports.

12.00 ................................. Jim Petty on the General Strike.

1pm to 2pm ...................... Lunch: plenty of local pubs, cafes & shops.

2pm to 3 pm ..................... John Simpkin: anarchists & the General Election.

3pm ................................. Brian Bamford: Workers' Next Step & Party Funding.

4pm .................................. Neil & Graham: Combating Open Cast Mining.

5pm .................................. Close of meeting.

WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT, DEREK?

Is it dumber & dumber Derek or will it be Lord Simpson of Stalybridge?

WITH the UNITE union giving £11 million to the Labour Party since 2007, last Monday on Radio 4 it was astonishing to hear Derek Simpson, one of the joint UNITE General Secretaries, declare that the recent attacks of Gordon Brown on the union's decision to launch a strike at British Airways - only goes to show the Government is not in the union's pocket or words to that effect. £11,000,000 of UNITE member's money going to the Labour Party and nowt to draw?

Some say this money is allowing UNITE, through its Political Director and Downing Street groupie, Charlie Whelan, to place UNITE candidates in constituencies such as Stalybridge & Hyde; where the Labour Party is looking for a successor for James Purnell, former Work & Pensions' Minister. On Wednesday, Nick Robinson, the BBC's political correspondent on Radio 4, drew attention to UNITE's role in the struggle going on in that constituency Labour Party association. Purnell's entry in the Register of Member's Interests shows the Stalybridge & Hyde Constituency Labour Party got £2,000 from the UNITE union - or rather, from the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers as it then was, in 2001: it is not clear if this record is up to date and Purnell's local Party didn't receive anything after that date (see Northern Voices 11 - out shortly). At least one UNITE Branch Secretary in the North West has been seeking information about details of political payments from the union to regional MPs like Purnell and their constituency associations. Mr Purnell had displayed some wrongheadedness in his MP's expenses claims: most notoriously hundreds of pounds for some fridge magnets. As yet, this Branch Secretary has only been told that UNITE pays money to the Labour Party constituency associations, not the Labour MPs.

In the February/March issue of UNITE's 'The Workplace Reporter', the joint UNITE general secretaries, Derek Simpson and Tony Woodley, say: 'The Tories will do nothing to help hard pressed communities.' What would those Northern folk who are right now having their houses bulldozed by New Labour's HMR Pathfinder Project in Derker, near Oldham, and in Toxteth, Liverpool, on the famous 'Welsh Streets' (see below and in Northern Voices 11, out this month), have to say about that? Then our dynamic duo, Simpson and Woodley, say hopefully: 'Of course, we also need positive reasons to back a fourth Labour term.' Then comes their act of faith: 'We believe that Labour's manifesto will offer them, and will make a shift towards the values of traditional social democracy.' One might like traditional furniture, or traditional music or even traditional food, but 'traditional social democracy' - well I don't know about you, Derek, but I can take it or leave it?

They'd be better off saying nowt, as to call upon us to fight for something as devoid of meaning as traditional social democracy. So why does UNITE keep throwing its member's money at the Labour Party? It can't be idealism or ideology; when it just amounts to managing and engineering social democracy. And the BA dispute seems to show that it's not about furthering our member's interests: after over 12 years in power the Labour Government shows no sign of getting rid of, what Simpson and Woodley admit, are 'the most restrictive anti-trade union laws in Europe ...' Perhaps, in the end, it is nothing less than another case of 'cash-for-honours': Arise: Lord Simpson of Stalybridge! Don't forget that predecessor of yours - Lord Scanlon, who went from being a communist party fellow-traveller in Manchester to playing golf with the bosses on the South Coast of England.

I`m being harassed says Parker-Perry!

The question of who smeared Councillor Jonny Reynolds is becoming more intriguing by the hour. As we reported on 14 March, someone using the nom de guerre 'Sam Smith' has being sending e-mails to the website 'Tameside Eye' in order to smear Councillor Jonny Reynolds who is seeking to replace James Purnell as the MP for Stalybridge & Hyde.

In one e-mail to Tameside Eye, Sam Smith alleges that Councillor Reynolds (who worked in the constituency office of Purnell) continued to receive £500 pm from the taxpayer, in a secret deal to pay his mortgage, despite never attending the constituency office or doing any work for almost 12 months. He then adds that this can be checked by cross referencing his (Reynolds) start date at University with the MP`s staff payroll. Sam Smith then says: "You will not receive any reply to this e-mail address. Keep it secret and there is more to come."

Whoever Sam Smith is still remains something of a mystery. But as we pointed out previously, the computer used by Smith was located to the offices of Tameside Council. Likewise, it also appears that Councillor Sean Parker-Perry has being using the same IP address as Sam Smith. Liam Billington, the Tory blogger who runs the website Tameside Eye, says: "I used the service 'Did they Read It' to trace if Parker-Perry had read the e-mail that I sent. He opened the e-mail under the same IP address as Sam Smith - 81.149.96.144. The source code for this e-mail confirms this."

It appears that when Billington confronted Parker-Perry with this evidence, he reacted angrily saying: " I question both the source and motivation of the editor of this website. Since being expelled from the Conservative Party, spending time in police captivity and his close relations with the Tory PPC, Billington has continued to harrass(sic)me. I have categorically denied this allegation that I have e-mailed Billington and I believe Billington struggles to grasp the technological intelligence to make these statements...I have instructed solicitors to deal with Billington and his accusations, a matter that could once again involve the Police."

Readers of Northern Voices magazine (see NV 10) will be aware that this is not the first time that Councill Parker-Perry has alleged that he is being harassed by Billington. In 2008 he made a complaint to the police alleging harassment. On that occasion the Manchester CPS refused to bring a prosecution against Billington although he did spend 7 hours banged up at Ashton police station.

We would also point out that while Parker-Perry denies having e-mailed Billington, a perusal of the website (Tameside Eye) will show that on Feb 26 a Sean Parker-Perry sent not just one, but two e-mails to Billington - see website for further details.

Who smeared Councillor Jonny Reynolds?

In Tameside the local Labour Party is affectionately known to some as Zanu-Labour. This is due in part to the fact that its leader, Cllr Samuel Roy Oldham, has now been in power longer than Robert Mugabe who leads Zanu PF in Zimbabwe. It also refers to the corrupt and incestuous nature of politics in the One Party State of Tameside. Recently there have been moves to oust Oldham as leader of the council and to replace him with Kieran Quinn, the cabinet deputy for Economic Services. Though Roy Oldham announced last year that he was 'minded' to step down as leader, he now says that this challenge to his leadership is like a 'slap in the face'. The contest to replace James Purnell as MP for the constituency of Stalybridge & Hyde is also becoming sleazy, with one candidate already being smeared with a view to undermining his candidacy.

We have learned that a certain 'Sam Smith' has been spreading vile and damning rumours about Cllr Jonny Reynolds who hopes to replace Purnell as the MP for Stalybridge & Hyde. In an e-mail sent to the Tory blogger, Liam Billington, the falsely named Sam Smith says of Mr. Reynolds: 'Who ordered the infamous James Purnell fridge magnets from the LFI connected company in Israel?' 'Who continued to receive £500 per month from the taxpayer, in a secret deal to pay his mortgage at 86 Broadbottom Road, despite never attending the constituency office or doing any work for almost 12 months?' 'Who announced he would stand as MP within hours of James Purnell's resignation in a 'done deal'. In a further e-mail, Smith says: "Reynolds left in July before Doherty (who formerly worked for Purnell) was sacked. He was still paid for 12 months after that date. If you want to cause damage you will need to release this on your website (Tameside Eye) on Monday morning."

Councillor Sean Parker-Perry (married to Fiona Pendry, daughter of the former Stalybridge & Hyde MP, now Lord Pendry) has confirmed that he will be seeking selection as the PPC for Stalybridge & Hyde. From an analysis of the various e-mails (IP addresses) undertaken by Tameside Eye, it appears that the computer used by Sam Smith to smear Jonny Reynolds, was located within Tameside council offices. Furthermore, it appears that when Parker-Perry opened an e-mail using the IP address 81.149.96.144, this was the same e-mail address as used by Sam Smith. As they say, the plot thickens. Watch this space for further developments!

Licence to Blacklist: Blacklist Support Group Comments on Tribunal case

The written judgement from the first full-merits Employment Tribunal (Dooley v Balfour Beatty) today found in favour of the company.

This is despite written documentary evidence showing that Balfour Beatty supplied information to a secret blacklist database complied by the notorious Consulting Association being shown to the Tribunal (which the judge Mr. B T Charlton described as "ghastly" in court).

The blacklisting evidence was not disputed by Balfour Beatty, as it was the company themselves who provided the blacklist file as part of their bundle of documents arguing that the information on the file was justification for a dismissal in the early 1990s.

The decision turned on the question of employee status and found that Mr. Dooley (an ex-bricklayer, now a UCATT full-time official) was not an employee of Balfour Beatty, and only "employees" are covered by the legislation. In an industry where sub-contracting and agency labour is widespread, this effectively allows the major multi-nationals such as Balfour Beatty, Sir Robert Mc Alpine, Skanska and Costain to blacklist workers who complain about safety or unpaid wages with impunity (as almost all labour is sub-contracted out).

Coming only a few days after the newly introduced Blacklists Regulations were condemned by Human Rights Experts for :

• failing to comply with even the minimum requirements of the Eurpoean Convention on Human Rights
• failing to make blacklisting a criminal offence
• continuing to allow blacklisting for issues such as environmental or peace activists
• not making any compensation for proven victims of the current blacklisting scandal

Professor Keith Ewing - Kings College London (author of Ruined Lives Report by the Institute of Employment Rights into blacklisting in the UK construction Industry) said of the new regulations:

"the blacklisting of construction workers because of their trade union activities is a vile practice, to which the current government has to its eternal shame done next to nothing to eradicate, and even less to compensate the victims."

A spokesperson for the Blacklist Support Group said today:

"The secret database and Invoices exposed by the Information Commissioners Office following their raid on the Consulting Association provides overwhelming documentary evidence that 44 UK building companies have been systematically blacklisting trade unionists in the construction industry for nearly 2 decades. The firms involved are multi-national household names and have publicly accepted that their senior Industrial Relations managers were part of the blacklisting operation. If the companies concerned had any sense of decency or corporate responsibility, they would come clean and offer to make recompense to those workers who have suffered over many years.

The Dooley decision and the new Blacklisting Regulations are basically a get out of jail free card for the major contractors. The blacklisters can hide behind the fact that they sub-contract most of the labour on major projects to escape any kind of legal responsibility. The new regulations will not make an ounce of difference to the likelihood of success for any blacklisted building worker seeking legal redress. If the new Regulations fail to make any difference for workers who can prove they have been blacklisted, what is their purpose?

The Consulting Association conspiracy is a clear breach of Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Blacklist Support Group send out an unambiguous message today: if our human rights cannot be upheld in the UK courts or from UK Regulations, then we will be taking our claims to the European Court of Human Rights. We have suffered for many years: we are prepared to fight all the way."

Blacklist Support Group

Michael Foot: A political class that outlived its mission

Sunset for Socialism?

Michael Foot, former Labour Party leader [1980-83], who died last Wednesday [3rd, March] reflected the fundamental folly of the tradition of parliamentary socialism. He is a better example of this parliamentary foolishness than the much abused northern MP James Purnell [see previous post]. In Michael Foot we have had what appears to be a sincere socialist parliamentarian, who I saw in the late 1950s at a Labour Party Conference in Blackpool with his finger wagging from the rostrum at Hugh Gaitskell and the Labour leadership on the platform, denouncing their retreats in the socialist program. He was for decades the star orator of the left-wing rebels in parliament and a founder member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament; a rebel who argued that 'You can take a horse to water, but you can't make him drink!' In the end Foot, the Honorary Member for Ebbw Vale (or Blaenau Gwent) from 1960, accepted first his appointment as Secretary of State for Employment in the government of Harold Wilson in 1974 and during the Falklands war, as leader of the Labour Party, he seemed to dither between first calling for resistance to Argentine aggression then emphasising the need to work for a peace settlement with the Junta.

James Purnell, MP for Hyde & Stalybridge and former Minister for Work & Pensions, as we now know is standing down at the coming General Election [see previous post] and, like Michael Foot, has been a bit of a career politician. The 40-year-old Purnell has said he does not want to spend all his life in 'front line politics'. Over two weeks ago, following Purnell's decision to stand down, The Financial Times in an editorial regretted this saying he had been unusual in that he had been a Minister 'interested in ideas'. He may well be 'interested in ideas' but in his utterances it's hard to find any coherent philosophy. In his looks there is something of the hotel bedroom about him: something rootless and slightly insincere.

But is there a contrast between a 'sincere' Michael Foot and James Purnell MP, who some see as an opportunist; is it right to portray this as a distinction between left and right-wing Labour? I remember Foot in the late 1980s, in a Radio4 talk with AJP Taylor, the historian, and the broadcaster Malcolm Muggeridge, and at the time a keen Foot fan said to me: 'Thatcher could never fit in with such company'. Maybe not, and Purnell, or even Tony Blair, would always seem like Cheap Jacks when measured against the intellectual skills of a Michael Foot. Yet George Orwell in a letter the novelist Julian Symons in 1948, wrote, commenting on the Labour party paper Tribune that: 'The evil genius of the paper has I think been Crossman, who influences it through Foot & Fyvel.' Orwell then went on to argue that: 'I really think I prefer the Zilliacus lot, since after all they do have a policy, i.e. to appease Russia.' Orwell's point here is to suggest that the Labour left, including Michael Foot, were really rather mealy-mouthed opportunists willing to make anti-American squeals on Foreign Policy to appeal to the far left, while in essence supporting the Labour Government on major matters such as conscription.

In retrospect it seems to me that Blair by inventing the concept of 'New Labour' in the 1990s performed a work of genius at a time when in reality the Labour Party was well past its sell-by date. Consider a movement like the Labour Party that began with the likes of Keir Hardy only to end up with prominent men such as Peter Mandelson and James Purnell. Progressive movements often start off with fresh dynamic characters such as Sun Yat Sen or Gandhi and conclude with something less savoury. Remember the words of Tony Blair on the first day of his election win in 1997: 'A New Dawn has broken!' He could only use that kind of terminology in the context of a virtual reality trick that portrayed 'New Labour' as something actually 'new'. In reality it was nothing of the sort but more a sordid sham to cover up the fact that, in terms of the Labour Party, we are not at the dawn of something but rather at its sunset. It seems to me that we are looking at a political class that has increasingly outlived its mission and this description of the political arena may go beyond the Labour Party.

Doing Away With Derker!!!

The Massacre of the North by Labour Party Loons & Ambitious Academics

This was in the most recent Sunday Times - another indictment of the demolition of Derker, Toxteth, Edge Hill, Bootle, Anfield, etc. Please distribute and comment (and don't forget to click 'recommend')

From The Sunday Times: February 21, 2010

LIVES are being bulldozed and no one listens Charles Clover Elijah Debnam is a plucky 89-year-old who served in the Royal Engineers in Gibraltar, Normandy and Germany during the war. He haslived in the same house in Derker, Oldham, since 1954. He loves his house, which was built in 1937 and which holds memories of his deadwife, Alice. The house has central heating and a garden where he can sit in the sun. Elijah would like to die in it. But now it looks as if that is not to be.

Elijah used to drive bulldozers when he was in the army: now the bulldozers are coming for him. His home and the terrace of five houses like it are to be knocked down, even though all of them are in perfectly good condition. He is to be removed from his neighbourhood and the network of neighbours who look after him. It is unlikely to do him any good.

Oldham borough council won a battle in the High Court just before Christmas to impose compulsory purchase orders to sweep away Elijah’s home and 467 others for a “pathfinder” scheme where private developers are given land that was once someone else’s to build on. The theory behind the pathfinders is that this will “renew the housing market”, make the remaining homes more valuable and make more people want to live in the area.

Unfortunately, the recession means no developer is likely to want to build, free land or not, so the areas the council has cleared so far are being grassed over and planted with cherry trees. So in a country which has run out of money and where housing is in short supply, good houses are being knocked down and not replaced at public expense. It’s a disgrace, but nobody’s listening.

If this had been a Tory government sponsoring private developers to chuck people out of their homes across the Midlands and the north of England, instead of a gigantic piece of social engineering dreamt up by left-wing academics and implemented by a Labour government with the aid of Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors and housing associations, you can be fairly sure you would have heard more about it on the BBC. There would have been talk of the vulnerable, their rights and about the people — there are dozens — who have died during the years of distress and bureaucratic intimidation by threat of compulsory purchase.

The other day I watched a film by Nick Broomfield, the documentary director, called Who Cares (1971). You can find it on YouTube. Broomfield filmed the felling of Liverpool’s elegant Georgian terraces and the forced removal of the people who lived in them to a brave new World of tower blocks where they lost touch with friends and neighbours. Nearly everyone in the political class today would regard what happened to town centres in the 1970s as a tragic mistake. So you wonder how the whole thing could happen again.

An as-yet-unpublished account by David Webb, a Newcastle academic, explains what happened and it goes back to Liverpool. There, a group of housing academics called the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies (CURS), based at Birmingham University, were trying to explain what to do about the depopulation of the late 1990s, which resulted in boarded-up homes. The group, led by Brendan Nevin, formulated a theory, based on Liverpool, called housing market renewal. This said that 400,000 homes across the north of England needed to be demolished if northern towns were to be revived again.

CURS sold the idea to John Prescott’s sprawling department. Nevin was brought in as an adviser. Parliament and press were never properly consulted — otherwise there would have been an outcry. The idea was buried in a paragraph in Prescott’s 2002 Communities Plan. Prescottgot the money from Ed Balls at the Treasury, whose wife, Yvette Cooper, came to preside over the 12 pathfinders as housing minister.

Nevin is now acting chief executive of New Heartlands, the pathfinder which is ripping the heart out of Bootle and Edge Hill and is about to start on the lovely “Welsh streets” in Toxteth, where Ringo Starr was born. But his ideas are increasingly under fire. The theory of housing market renewal identifies the cheapest housing as a problem requiring state intervention. It ignores the welfare of the people affected, the quality of their houses or how well they fit into the cityscape, the environmental impact of demolishing them and the blight that the threat of demolition imposes on an area.

The theory may be discredited but it bulldozes on through the lives of thousands of people like Elijah. Pathfinder has cost £2.2 billion to date. It has demolished four times more homes than it has built and the few homes it does build are often of worse quality than those that came down. It has also trampled our freedoms — the Homes and Communities Agency now has powers to compulsorily purchase any private property for the purpose of regeneration (undefined). There is no longer even the 1970s test that property has to be unfit, unsightly or underused.

The Tories have said they would stop unnecessary demolition and overhaul the pathfinder schemes. But I’m not sure they have fully understood the electoral opportunity, for the tinned-up houses and bulldozed wastes of Labour’s heartlands could not be a more photogenic example of broken Britain.

PURNELL QUITS!

Last weeks announcement by James Purnell MP that he`s intending to quit Parliament at the next election, will come as welcome news to many Northern Voices readers. The departure of this smug obnoxious little bastard will also be welcomed by many of his constituents, who have grown to loathe him during his time as a Member of Parliament. Elected as the Labour MP for Stalybridge & Hyde in 2001, he will be best remembered as a politician who courted contoversy.

He was once described by Mark Serwotka, the General Secretary of the PCS trade union, as the "the worst secretary of state for social security this country has ever had the misfortune of having". Though Purnell oppposed Labour`s 50 pence tax rate for all those earning over £150,000 p.a., in December 2008, he signed off a proposal to charge the poor on State benefits 26.8% interest on a social fund loan which had been interest free. Though he was accused of lining his own pockets at the tax payers expense, he believed in being tough with benefit claimants. He favoured lie detector tests to tackle benefit fraud and introduced welfare-to-work schemes which failed to deliver jobs but forced the unemployed to work for their benefits.

While Chairman of Labour Friends of Israel, a post he held for two years, he often accused critics of Israel of being anti-semites and he was a staunch supporter of the war against Iraq. His resignation from the Cabinet in June 2008, came at a time when he was embroiled in the expenses scandal. He was exposed as a profligate claimer who was was prepared to milk the system to its fullest extent. Although at the time of his resignation he called for the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, to step down, he recently wrote in the Guardian that he considered Gordon Brown, to be a 'remarkable man' who would lead Labour into the next election.

In his maiden speech to Parliament in 2001, Purnell, referred to a speech made by Hugh Gaitskell in Stalybridge in 1952, when he attacked the Bevanites for being communist fellow travellers. He told the House that most of the Labour Party hated the speech and he hoped that the party would remember the lessons of those events adding: "there should be no place in our party for talk of counter-insurrections or coups; nor should we forget the importance of unity of purpose that got us where we are today". It seems that Purnell could never learn that lesson for himself and was always prepared to put his own interests first.

Did Unite legal team contact Information Commissioner's Office?

RECENTLY, sources close to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) suggest that people claiming to be from the Unite union legal team have asked that the ICO only present 'semi-unredacted files', when the Information Commissioner appears before the Employment Tribunal. It must be emphasised that this has not yet been confirmed, but, if true, it would mean that any reference to the names of union officers in the files found at the officers of the 'blacklister', Ian Kerr, would be blacked out.

If true, then the legal reasoning may be that as the cases of the union members are directed against the companies alleged to have been paying Mr Kerr, operating the blacklist and perpetuating victimisation's, then any reference in the files to the involvement of the union or its officers would not be relevant to the proceedings. This can only be true in the narrowest sense, because some of the evidence seems to show, as in the DAF case, that the presence of a union official at management deliberations about the suitability of employees lent an air of respectability to what was happening and thus a sub-contractor, like the managers of DAF, could be influenced to act against their better judgement.

Protest Picket at Fiddler's Ferry - Terrorism Act threat to Northern Voices Photographer

'If you want to be done under the Terrorism Act just keep taking photographs!' exclaimed a Security Guard at the Fiddler's Ferry Protest Picket today. This exchange, between an anxious security official and an NV photographer, occurred as some 30 supporters of blacklisted electrician Steve Acheson assembled beneath the cooling towers of Scottish & Southern Power Station just off the M62 near Widnes. The company representatives seemed taken aback as dawn broke and the multi-coloured banners of the demonstrators began to decorate the wire fences facing the plant.

It was special turn out because a week or so previously the company's security guards had seized the banners denouncing the blacklisting of construction workers on grounds that they were defamitory. On that occassion the female police officer on duty had looked on while a female head of security had ordered the removal of the banners. Those reporting the event of that morning suggest that both the police officer and the Company boss of security addressed each other using their own Christian names as if they were pals.

Today the male police officers who presented themselves were very diplomatic and reasonable, even suggesting how the protesters might seek to regain their banners from the company. Today their were dozens of banners including Warrington Trade Union Council; the RMT union of railway workers; the Right to Roam ramblers; Unite the Union; the Socialist Party and loads of independent and do-it-yourself flags manufactured by the blacklisted electricians themselves. Later a company representative asked Steve Acheson to take down a couple of banners on their fence: one saying 'Scottish & Southern sold our banners' and the other an elaborate flag calling for 'Justice for the Shrewsbury Pickets'. Following this the protesters took the banners outside the gates were they gave out leaflets explaining their case.

It seems clear that Scottish & Southern PLC are determined to collect evidence to go to the County Court to get some kind of restraining order against these recurring protest pickets. Today, the Security Guards were themselves taking photos of the demonstrators as the sun shone on the nothing new.

Fiddler's Ferry Rally to support Steve Acheson

Following the mugging of Steve Acheson's banners by company security guards last week, with police looking on, a rally has been planned to take place at Fiddler's Ferry Power Station on Tuesday 16th, February at 7am.

The Power Station is situated between Widnes & Warrington just off the A49.

To Warrington Trades Council contacts:
Dear All,

Manchester Campaign Agaist Blacklisting have called for a peaceful protest at Fiddlers Ferry next Tuesday morning from 7 a.m. to support Steve Acheson against the latest (probably illegal) actions from the power station security in taking down Steve's banners, then taking them from him - all under police protection. We now have legal advice from a lawyer specialising in human rights law that they had no right to take down the banners; as they were tied on the fence there was no criminal damage, and although the power station Head of Security said they were defamatory, that is a civil not a criminal matter. Also to take someone's property like that is a form of theft, even if supervised by a police officer. So 7 a.m. at Fiddlers Ferry, Tuesday 16th Feb. Best to park in the pub car park rather than the lay by.

AndyWarrington: Trades Council

County Court Writ served & banners snatched at Fiddler's Ferry picket

Editorial comment: Steve Acheson has been on picket at Fiddler's Ferry since he was made redundant in dodgy circumstances almost two years ago. In an attempt to stop this picket last October, the Power & Energy Company at Fiddler's, issued a writ for him to appear the Royal High Court of Justices in London. This was what is called a 'super injunction' and is normally only used in extreme circumstances: it was rejected by the High Court Judge as an application by the company 'bordering on the edge of paranoia'. Now, it seems, the company is again trying to return to the Courts: below Andy from Warrington TUC reports on the events of Monday the 8th, February:

Steve's [Acheson] banners taken by security at Fiddlers Ferry. Police in support of security guards. Had a phone call from Steve today - a police officer came down to the protest today, went into the power station for 2 minutes, then came out with 4 security, one with a video camera, and the Head of Security as well. They told Steve to take down his banners, when he refused they said that they would remove them from the fences. As Steve told them to leave his property alone, the police officer told him that if he stopped them, he would be arrested for a breach of the peace. Security proceeded to remove the banners, and take them inside the power station. Steve asked where they were going with his property, Head of Security said if he writes to them to ask they will see. Steve asked the police officer what was she going to do as this was theft, however she took no action. They also served Steve with a writ for the County Court, again no date, time or place is on the court papers. The whole time apparently they were filming, must have been hoping to provoke him and get an arrest.

Andy: Warrington Trades Council

Syndicalists Speak at Right to Work Rally

Manchester is a city with one cathedral; two serious socialist parties - the Socialist Workers' Party and the Socialist Party; three universities - Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan and Salford University; a handful of veteran anarchist adherents to the Solidarity Federation, the Anarchist Federation and the Northern Anarchist Network; not to mention umpteen local anarcho-climate activists. So many worthy, well meaning people, it is the ideal spot to stage a Right to Work rally like that held last weekend on Oldham Street, Manchester.

Some 600 folk gathered in 'resistance & solidarity' to protect us from all manner of wickedness in this world. A Rag-Bag Rally of remarkable pretension and proportions endeavouring to gee-up those of us who're still either very young, ideologically drunk or incurably naive. A Conference 'of Resistance & Solidarity': proclaiming 'The Only Solution is Revolution' with minor celebrities on the platform and undergraduates in the audience all loaded with more than a little vain expectations.

Jerry Hicks, unemployed since he was sacked 4 years ago, ran a workshop labelled 'Stopping the Jobs Massacre' which might help him advance his campaign for the General Secretary's job in our biggest trade union: Unite the Union. Will he get it? If he does will he change the union or will the union change him? We must wait and see. In the meantime Jerry offers us a few syndicalist amendments to the status quo: 'all union officers must be elected'; 'the union must serve the members not the other way round'; 'union leaders must lead from the front, as I did on the Staythorpe power station picket last year, when the police broke my leg' or 'the solution is workers' control and revolution'. Stirring stuff delivered in a strained, strangled, shouting bellow to a roomful of about 30. Colin Trousdale, a Manchester electrician and typical English syndicalist, spoke about the blacklist in the building trade and the way the Unite union bosses were dragging their feet rather than fighting the victimisations.

The SWP bosses, who were running the rally, don't much like Jerry Hicks since he left their party - hence this workshop was in the equivalent of outer-Mongolia at the Mechanics Institute, well away from the main conference venue on Oldham Street. Because of this I missed the 7 minute speech delivered by Dave Chapple, who alongside Dave Douglass, is probably the most important revolutionary syndicalist in the country. Dave Chapple who was on the platform as President of the National Shop Stewards' Network and according to reports hammered home an attacked on ballot box politics referring to Wobblies of the American IWW like Bill Heywood, and dismissing the left-wing giddiness associated with the coming General Election; telling the Conference that these days he only bothered to vote in union elections.

The rally produced a 'wish-list' and voted to set up a 'Rank & File' movement, which will stand in contrast to the NSSN that is based in the existing unions. In the end it is likely that the 'rank & file' project will render itself to be little more than a fart in a bottle. The SWP organisers are good at rallies but not so clever when it comes to following through: soon the novelty will wear off and they will be off on some other campaign or venture. We should note the headline in the current Socialist Worker: 'Be Part of the New Wave of Resistance'. Well it's part of the DNA of the British left to be always 'in resistance' and never to make serious practical proposals for change. The Government and the bosses set the agenda and the trade unions and the left react to it as best they can. This more than anything displays the primitive and immature [if not feeble-minded] state we are in as a political movement.

The Blacklist & Our Part in its downfall: Colin Trousdale's perspective

To whom it may concern:

Following on from my recent protestations about the need to organise the Media City project, it is with some regret that I have to report that myself, Graham Bowker and Gary Littler are currently on enforced paid leave following an attempt by management to dismiss us on Friday 22nd under false redundancy . This follows a series of meetings with management where the three of us have raised Health & Safety issues and the fact that the New Year pay rise has not been implemented and our refusal to work Saturdays for single time. There are seven of us working for an agency alongside seven full-timers (not cards in) none of which are in the union , two of the agency lads are non union and have no desire to join despite my best efforts so if we formed a shop it would comprise of only five lads in a workforce of fourteen . However as I have previously stated the full site has 300-350 men who are traditionally UNITE members amongst a workforce of 1800. These men are completely unorganised and most are lapsed members due to the abolition of the check off . There is a full-time UCATT convenor on site who is trying to help our lads on an almost daily basis. I recently advised him on three cases:

1. an apprentice plumber (member) being paid over £3 p/hr below the rate for his age and qualifications.
2. a group of cards in sparks (lapsed members who feel UNITE has done nothing to sign them back up after check off ) accused of falsifying their time sheets although management fill their sheets for them and just give them to the lads to sign? 
3. a sub-contractor paying well below the rate for sparks . It is his opinion (and one which I share) that we should be organising the workforce putting stewards & safety reps in place with all the sub-contractors and having a convenor splitting his time between working for one of the main M&E contractors and co-ordinating the efforts of the stewards & sorting out industrial relations problems amongst the subbies. 

The trend on site at the moment amongst the M&E companies is to see who can get agency labour the cheapest with no thought for National Agreements or ratios of skilled to unskilled labour. I myself am approached on a daily basis to advise on some problem or another - something that has not gone unnoticed by management- and on Friday 15th, January 2010, I was called to a meeting with our project manager at which he said he had been made aware of the alleged BLACKLIST. My reply was that we now had irrefutable proof of it, and although this meeting was minuted he is refusing to give me a copy of the minutes but has sent them to head office and my agency. I feel this meeting was the catalyst that led to the attempt to remove the three of us from site . If we do not organise this site soon we will not be the only three victims of this witch hunt . WE MUST DEFEND OUR MEMBERS & AGREEMENTS. YOU MUST ASSIST IN THIS. This could be another D.A.F. or Manchester Royal Infirmary brewing.

Yours in Unity, Colin

The Blacklist & My Part In Its Downfall by Brian Bamford, Secretary of Tameside TUC

Overshadowed by the DAF dispute and the findings of the Manchester Employment Tribunal; in 2005, at the National Conference of Trade Union Councils (TUCs) in Liverpool, Alec McFadden, North West Rep. of the TUC Joint Consultative Committee, moved an emergency motion against the blacklist, which he argued was mainly being perpetuated by employers in the private sector. I, as the delegate of Tameside Trade Union Council, seconded this motion pointing out that one of the DAF managers, Michael Fahey, had stated under oath to the Tribunal that an officer in what was then Amicus had been involved in deliberations about the blacklisting of certain Manchester electricians. These were subsequently dismissed and took part in a picket against DAF in Piccadilly and later in Crown Square. The motion before the National Conference was overwhelmingly supported and it was referred to the Trade Union Congress in London for its consideration.

At the next National Conference of TUCs in Torquay, in 2006, the Trade Union Congress replied, as I recall, to the effect that since evidence for a blacklist in the UK was only 'anecdotal' the Department of Trade & Industry (DTI), as it then was, would not act. About that time in 2006, Alan Wainwright, a former manager in the British building trade who had by then become a whistle-blower, had published a blog showing over a thousand names of individuals in UK construction, who, he claimed, had been on a national blacklist. Construction News had just run a front page article on the issue Mr Wainwright had exposed. Late Pat McFadden, of BERR which replaced the DTI, was to argue in a letter to a MP for one of the blacklisted Manchester electricians that though the Government was aware of Mr Wainwright's allegations and his use of the list to exclude people from employment, it seemed that he couldn't define the criteria used to by the firms to put people on the list. Hence nothing further was done.

It was only this year, with the raid of the Information Commissioner in February, that Ian Kerr was caught with a smoking gun and a list of 3,213 names on an illegal database held by the Consulting Association that things started to happen. Confronted with this evidence the Government at last had to act and Lord Mandelson issued a statement to this effect soon afterwards. Last Wednesday (2nd December 2009), the Government issued its response to its consultation on the outlawing of blacklisting in the UK. A week later Employment law pundit Professor Keith Ewing has given his verdict that the Government's proposed new regulations are not much to write home about.

Is this just another Government fudge? Just more cosmetic laws to cover up inaction against the bosses' discrimination against safety reps. and shop-floor activists?

Free-lance journalist, Phil Chamberlain, claimed on his blog [December 8th, 2009]: 'In fact the Government's consultation document appears to give the green light to employers to blacklist in certain circumstances.'

Chamberlain argues: 'The difference is clearest in event of workers stopping work due to serious safety concerns. This is considered to be unofficial industrial action. Such unofficial action, which is legal, would not be covered by the proposed regulations and companies could continue to discriminate [against] workers who took part in such a stoppage.' Mr Chamberlain thinks the Government doesn't do anything to discourage such blacklisting when it says: 'The Government believes such [unofficial] industrial action is especially disruptive and injurious to orderly industrial relations because, by definition, the trade union has not endorsed and controlled it.'

Alan Ritchie, General Secretary of the union UCATT, said of the proposed new regulations: 'Not only are these regulations entirely inadequate, the Government's consultation response favours the continuation of blacklisting in certain circumstances.'

It seems the Government's 54-page document fails to deal with the everyday blacklisting of safety reps. and activists; and Phil Chamberlain says: '[this] was a notable feature of the Consulting Association's blacklisting practices.' UCATT is anxious about the proposed law's failure to protect safety representatives and its allowance of 'vetting' by bosses for activities other than trade union matters, meaning that workers who the boss considers to be troublemakers will still be blacklisted.

Maybe I'll just have to wait a bit before I can blow my own trumpet about my part in the downfall of the UK blacklist.

Keystone Kops in Clean-up Bury Campaign

Terry Nieland and other managers from the Bradley Fold Depot, Bury, Lancashire, have been running round like blue-arsed flies in an effort to clear up rubbish left as a result of Bury Council's introduction of a new scheme for waste collections thought up by Waste management supremo Glenn Stuart. It all started last month when Councillor Dorothy Gunther, Bury's Executive Member for Environment & Transport, justifying the new changes in refuse collection, declared: 'We all know about the threat of climate change. These changes will help reduce the amount of carbon dioxide we release into the environment and improve recycling opportunities for more residents.'

Two weeks into the new scheme the benefits to the environment and the taxpayers are far from clear; with the local binmen struggling to complete their new rounds on time and bin wagons having to be tipped on Saturday morning by specially employed Agency workers instead of Friday night by the regular crews. The Head of Waste Management in Bury, Glenn Stuart, had promised:

'... the crews are making sure they are up to speed by familiarising themselves with the new more effective routes' and reassuring 'local residents that we will be working hard to make sure the changes take place smoothly ...'

Two days ago, it is reported, a Bury binman chipped a tooth while emptying an overfull bin whose lid was raised so that it blew into his face. We must wonder if in the anxiety to bring in new schemes designed to run the waste service more cheaply, but sold under the guise of a greener service with a reduced 'carbon footprint', the council is putting the safety of its workforce at risk: especially with management chasing round like Keystone Kops. Meanwhile in nearby Bolton, a new scheme of waste collection introduced in September, has brought claims that there is a risk of rat infestation owing to rubbish being left around. An enterprising company called GSD Pest Repeller is already advertising its services in Bolton based on the claim that Leeds residents suffered through the refuse collectors' strike, which, they say, has 'led to a marked increase in the area's rat control problems'.

One Of The Great Blues Guitarists - Check This Out

Chumbawamba eat your heart out! This is blues music at its best. Walter Trout playing his version of the Elmore James song Dust My Broom. I saw Walter Trout a while ago when he was playing a gig at Manchester University. He`s without doubt one of the best blues guitarists of all time having played with the Father of British blues John Mayall, Canned Heat, and the legendary, John Lee Hooker. The next time he comes to Manchester, go and see him.

Greater Manchester serves-up Festive Season of Demons of Anarchy to go with the Angels of Anarchy

While the Manchester Art Gallery has an exhibition on 'The Angels of Anarchy' representing the female artists that contributed to the Surrealist movement; down at the Bury Met Theatre, this Wednesday night, at 7.30 pm, the notorious band Chumbawamba is teaming up with the radical theatre group - Red Ladder - to put on the 'Adult Panto': RIOT, REBELLION AND BLOODY INSURRECTION (see promo video at the bottom on this post).

The anarchist credentials of Chumbawamba are solid and the anarchist lead writer on Northern Voices says they performed a benefit for him when he was editor of 'Libertarian Education'. They did much more than that: at the Brit Awards they famously threw water over the then Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, and his wife. The Manchester Evening News journalist, Kevin Bouke, claims that 'in that late Nineties ... the band turned down a reported $1.5million from Nike to use the song Tubthumping in a World Cup advertisement.'

The great thing about this performance is that it features a series of mostly one night stands at various venues only in the North of England (apart from one date in Somerset):

Wednesday 2nd December, 7.30 pm, - Bury Met, in Bury
Thursday 3rd & Friday 4th December, 7.30 pm, - The Viaduct, Halifax.
Saturday 5th December, 7.30 pm - Bradford Playhouse.
Monday 7th & Tuesday 8th December - Holmfirth Picturedrome.
Wednesday 9th December, 8.00 pm - Barnsley Civic.
Thursday 10th December, 7.30 pm - Oldham Coliseum.
Friday 11th December, 7.30 pm -  Sheffield Greentop Circus.
Saturday 12th December, 8.00 pm - Kirkgate Centre, Cockermouth.
Monday 14th December - Irish Centre, Leeds.
Tuesday 15th December - Balne Lane Working Men's Club, Wakefield (phone 01924 212335 for tickets).
Wednesday 16th December, 7.30 pm - Art Centre, Washington
Thursday 17th December, 7.30 pm - The Mart, Skipton
Friday 18th December, 7.30 pm - Queen's Hall, Hexham
Friday 4th January, 7.30 pm - The Octagon, Hull
Saturday 5th January, 8 pm - Pacific Road Arts Centre, Wirral
Monday 7th January - Bridgwater Arts Centre
Tuesday 8th January - Civic Theatre, Oswaldtwistle
Wednesday 9th January, 8 pm - The Sage, Gateshead

Blacklist: is the Employment Tribunal the proper arena?

On Monday 23rd, November, some 30 supporters of the blacklisted building workers and applicants at the next day's Employment Tribunal attended a meeting at the Mechanic's Institute on Manchester's Princess Street. Chaired by Colin Trousdale for the Manchester Campaign Against the Blacklist and Dave Smith for the Blacklist Support Group, it attempted to make people aware of the issues that would be dealt with at the Employment Tribunal's Case Management Meeting on the 24th, November. The barrister for the applicant workers, Nick Tongue, and another solicitor, outlined the probable procedures and legal issues involved. Mr Tongue warned the meeting not to expect the legal profession to bring about social transformation or political change through these cases; social change, he said, could only come about, as ever, through human solidarity and community action via organisations such as trade unions, and recourse to the law was no substitute for this. Asked if the Employment Tribunal was the proper arena to get justice in these blacklist cases, he cautioned against people expecting too much from the civil courts, such as the High Court; judges in the High Court, he said, could be 'conservative' and unsympathetic to trade unionists, as had been shown in some of the decisions of the civil courts in recent times.

The meeting questioned the apparent involvement of AMICUS officials (now part of Unite the Union) in the past enforcement of the blacklist as indicated in The Guardian, last Saturday, by Phil Chamberlain. It was suggested that there should be an internal inquiry into this by Unite the Union. Derek Pattison, President of Tameside TUC, asked about the evidence of the 'blacklist merchant' Ian Kerr's involvement with state intellegence agancies such as MI5. Mick Abbott, an applicant in a Blacklist case and leader of the Campaign for the Shrewsbury Pickets, addressed the meeting and suggested that these two campaigns be linked together.

Meeting to commemorate 25 years since the start of the Miner's Strike

The metaphor that comes to my mind is that Arthur Scargill and the British miners in their strike of 1984-85, have come to increasingly resemble Napoleon and the French at the Battle of Borodino, just before entering Moscow and their historic retreat.  The historic fact is that Arthur Scargill, the brilliant tactician and skilled orator with an overwhelming media presence, made possible one of the greatest retreats the British labour movement has ever experienced. A retreat that, in its length, now rivals that of the one that followed the General Strike. One would have thought such a debacle, such a disaster, in its magnitude would render itself as valuable lesson from which to draw conclusions on how to proceed in future, but the emotions surrounding this dispute are still raw and make this, even now, a difficult endeavour.

A meeting to launch a book edited by the journalist Granville Williams about this miners' strike given at the Working Class Movement Library on the 21st November, demonstrated this dilemma.  It was well attended but full to bursting point with nostalgia, sentimentality and self-righteousness about how the police are brutal, the judiciary unjust and the Tory politicians deceitful.  It was as if Boxer, the cart-horse in Orwell's Animal Farm, had been reincarnated to shout:  'We must work harder Comrades!'  Nobody seemed willing to ask themselves if there was something systematically wrong in the British trade unions and on the Left that led to our failure beyond implying that we were cheated and swindled by the boss-class.

Blacklist Case Management Meeting

In Parsonage Square, Manchester, on Tuesday 24th, November 2009, there was a scene that would have delighted Charles Dickens. About 30 solicitors, representing over 40 firms accused of blacklisting workers in the British building trade, trooped like rats on a treadmill between the windswept shrubs wheeling their portfolios behind them, to attend a landmark Case Management Meeting at the Manchester Employment Tribunal.  The unions UCATT and Unite were represented at the hearing by the barrister Nick Tongue for some of the applicants, others, perhaps non-union members, were employing their own solicitors and the odd ones were representing themselves. The indications are that these cases will weigh heavily upon the Tribunal system in 2010: last Tuesday, in a day-long trudge through the 20-odd separate cases to find a common legal locus on which to focus against over 40 employers, stretched the minds of these lawyers to breaking point as they twisted and turned to find simple solutions and engineer test cases. In the end, it seems, there will be no test cases as most of the cases have unique qualities and it will prove too unwieldy to run them together as one.

Such was the legal gravy train that has now been set in motion, that it seems some of the employers' solicitors ended up arguing with each other as to who was representing whom. On the applicants side if they start calling for Dave Clancy of the Information Commissioner's Office to be asked to bring the 'unredacted' copies of Ian Kerr's files to the Tribunal: that would be dynamite given that the names of some of the spies and informants would become visible for all the see. Northern Voices understand that before this hearing one firm; the Swedish company Skanska, has said it used the information from Ian Kerr's database to get health and safety information because they didn't want to end up employing 'drug addicts' and the like.

It is likely that most of the cases won't be heard before April 2010, but Steve Acheson's recent case against BMS is set for February 9th, 2010.

How much is Amicus implicated in Blacklisting?

Phil Chamberlain's report in The Guardian on Saturday 21st November contained an item from Ian Kerr's blacklist database:

Mick Anderson, 40, married with 3 children, from Kerry, Ireland.

Submitted 250 job applications and took courses to keep his electrical training up to date but was out of work 16 months... His file includes this extract:

'Information received by 3271/81 site manager at Heathrow T5 that the above is "not recommended" by amicus.'

If officers in Amicus, now merged with the Transport & General Workers' Union in Unite the Union, have been involved in informing on individual electricians this is a serious matter and one that deserves to be investigated. Up to now Tommy Hardacre, a national Unite the Union officer and formerly from Amicus, has asked those fighting the blacklist to 'name the names' of those involved, but, as he knows, the names of the Amicus informers in Ian Kerr's blacklist data files have been blacked-out by the Information Commissioner's Office acting under the data protection laws. Rather than hiding behind the fig-leaf of data protection, Tommy Hardacre should now be more concerned to clear the good name of the Unite the Union by launching an investigation to expose those inside the union who may, in the past, have been guilty of trading in names for Ian Kerr's blacklist.

Today's Guardian - Boys From The Blacklist

Following up on his original story of over two years ago that brought the blacklist in the British building trade to widespread public attention, today investigative journalist, Phil Chamberlain, splashed another report across the front of the 'WORK' insert of today's Guardian.  In it he quoted Bacup electrician, Colin Trousdale, who has only had eight weeks work since last December and is now on the dole, as saying:  'I can only think [it is] because I've raised health and safety concerns - and remember this is an industry in which 53 people died last year - I'm affecting profits and they don't want me doing that.'  Colin Trousdale is a highly qualified spark with one fatal flaw in that he comes originally from Crumpsall, in Manchester, and in common with folk from round there has a habit of speaking his own mind.

Will the likes of him get more protection under the new laws against discrimination at work now being proposed by Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary?  Research by Professor Keith Ewing, from the Institute of Employment Rights, suggests he may still be struggling:  such as under the proposed new law he, and others, will still have no right not to be blacklisted as it does not make blacklisting a criminal offence and it puts the onus on the victim to bring a case; also the definition "trade union activity" is tightly drawn in so far as spying information data on other actions could be lawfully collected and held.

The building union UCATT, that commissioned Professor Ewing and is supporting the Campaign Against the Blacklist demo outside the Manchester Employment Tribunal at Alexandra House in Parsonage Gardens on the 24th, Nov. at 9am, through its own blacklisted General Secretary, Alan Ritchie said:  'The regulations need to be stronger in order to eradicate blacklisting'.  He added:  'For example, many of those blacklisted were due to health and safety issues, therefore the regulations should cover all activities associated with trade unions.'   Alan Ritchie told the Guardian:  'These scandals have thrown into sharp focus that the UK construction industry is not fit for purpose in the way it operates.'  Mr Ritchie also claims:  '...many of the biggest blacklisters were multi-national corporations, and their international boards have been shocked at what was happening... we are seeing personal changes at senior level and different approaches to work because of the scandal.'

Meanwhile, Colin Trousdale declared to the jounalist Phil Chamberlain:  'I am not interested in the money, I am just interested in getting back to work.'


NB - you can read Phil Chamberlain's blog about the article and the wider issues here, and all of his blogs on the subject of blacklisting here.

Colin Trousdale, who has long been an avid reader of Northern Voices, has agreed to do an interview with us in our next issue in the New Year.

Booklet on Spanish Civil War and its Aftermath: The Snobbery & Elitism of Professional Historians

In 2006, Tameside Trade Union Council and other North West trade unionists brought out a booklet to commemorate the kick-off of the Spanish Civil War: now in its 3rd edition [Oct. 2009] the book has been extended from 20 to 28 A4-size pages and has a Preface that uses Noam Chomsky's essay 'Objectivity & Liberal Scholarship' to challenge Professor Paul Preston's work 'The Spanish Civil War'.  This 3rd edition booklet by trade unionists defends Orwell's 'Homage to Catalonia' and the value of primary sources, and eye-witness accounts, against the glossing interpretations of professional historians like Preston.  It draws upon the observations, in interviews, letters and journal-form of the foot-soldiers, such as Ralph Cantor, Pedro Cuadrado and Orwell, mocked by Professor Preston.  Preston in the 2006 edition of his own book 'The Spanish Civil War' belittles other historians for being partisan, but makes it clear that he himself has an axe to grind.  This trade unionist 3rd edition booklet of 'The Spanish Civil War - The Aftermath', also includes an interview by Richard Porton with Ken Loach, the director of the film 'Land & Freedom' and a 1995 interview with Jim Allen, the screenwriter on the film.

Further reading - Manchester's Radical History has interviews with Spanish Civil war veterans Sam Wild and Bessie Berry & Bernard McKenna (all Communists)

Spanish Civil War booklet 3rd edition:  Price £4.60/€5.00 post included, cheques payable to 'Tameside Trade Union Council' from c/o 46, Kingsland Road, Rochdale, Lancs.  OL11 3HQ.

To read comments received about this publication, please click through the 'Read more' link below:

New Year 2010 - Northern Voices 11 preview

Contents include:

'Six o' Best: Northern Tea Time Treats' by Chris Draper:
Eccles Cakes from Salford or maybe, Hebden Bridge; Fat Rascals from Harrogate; Sad Cakes from Burnley;  Chorley Cakes from North Lancs.; Bakewell Tarts from Derbyshire; Turd Tarts from the West Riding of Yorkshire; Singing Hinnies from Newcastle and Yorkshire Parkin.  Which is going to be the best that the North has to offer?

Municipal Motoring by Chris the Clippy on the disappearance of the North's regional buses and their unique colour schemes.

'Can tha' keep a secret?: An old Yorkshire tale of class war, conspiracy, murder' by Christopher Draper;  a history of Ned Ludd in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

'On the banks of the River Roach, Jacky Brook, Healey Dell in Rochdale & the Cheonggyecheon in Seoul' by Brian Bamford.

Price £1.50 [£2.00 post included] cheques payable to 'Northern Voices' obtainable from c/o 52, Todmorden Road, Burnley, Lancashire BB10  4AH.

And on sale at a large number of newsagents in Greater Manchester, Rochdale, Tameside, Salford, Swinton, Eccles, Burnley and bookshops in other areas such as News From Nowhere in Liverpool, Bob's Bookshop in Oldham and Bookcase in Hebden Bridge. Northern Voices is also on sale in Glossop at Bay Tree Books, George Street Books and Bestsellers in the Market Arcade.

Buenaventura Durruti 1896-1936

This youtube video celebrates the life of Buenaventura Durruti,the Spanish anarchist revolutionary. A legend within the anarchist movement, Durruti, symbolised the spirit of Spanish anarchism and the feelings and goals of the Spanish anarchist workers who took up arms to resist Franco and Fascism in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39).

Northern Voices contributors have taken part in the publication of a booklet commemorating the Spanish Civil War, and you can read more about it here.

Protest lobby against building trade blacklist

A protest lobby against the blacklist in the British building trade is being called by the Greater Manchester Campaign Against the Blacklist and the London based, Blacklist Support Group:  it will be held outside the Employment Tribunal at Alexandra House, opposite Parsonage Gardens in Central Manchester near Deansgate.  This protest lobby coincides with the start of the Case Management Meeting to deal with a large number of tribunal claims by building workers from all over Britain: solicitors for members of Unite the Union; Ucatt and members of no trade union, will be presenting their arguments on how their cases for justice should proceed against some of the biggest construction companies in the land.

OUR PROTEST WILL START AT 9AM ON TUESDAY THE 24th, NOVEMBER OUTSIDE THE EMPLOYMENT TRIBUNAL IN PARSONAGE GARDENS:  Trade Union banners welcome
 
Brian Bamford, former electrician, Secretary of Bury Unite the Union and Secretary of Tameside Trade Union Council, states:

'I believe that the blacklist is the unacceptable face of the British building trade.  It is like something out of a 19th century novel by Charles Dickens sent to haunt us.  It is a repugnant phenomena; in the same way as slopping-out was a repugnant activity in our jails until recently.  It ruins lives and domestic harmony, and it persecutes people for their honestly held political beliefs and trade union activities.  It has no place in a decent society in the 20th Century.'

This whole matter of blacklist is now the subject of an Early Day Motion promoted by Michael Clapham MP, and now Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, is considering legislation to deal with blacklisting.


For more information contact either Brian Bamford (Secretary of Bury Unite the Union NW 6/353 Branch) on 01706  861793 or Colin Trousdale (EPIU Greater Manchester Contracting Branch - Unite NW 6/1400) on 07792  358697.