Blacklist Support Group Report

1. TUC Day of Action on Blacklisting Round of Applause to everyone who participated in the Blacklisting Day of Action on November 20th. There were protests, occupations, road blockades and lobbies of parliament across the UK - too many to mention them all. It worked so much better by having dozens of genuine grass roots events rather than one single official protest in London. Loads of blacklisted workers got on the radio, TV plus national & local newspapers. So whether your event was two people giving out flyers or hundreds blockading the main road outside the Houses of Parliamen - Thank You. Thank you to John McDonnell MP, Jim Sheridan MP, Ian Davidson MP and Neil Findlay MSP for chairing meetings for blacklisted workers in the Westminster and Scottish parliaments. Both Ed Milliband and Chuka Umunna MP - pledged an inquiry from the next Labour government - Blacklisted workers want a fully independent public inquiry. If anyone has any reports, photos, TV clips or videos of protests - please post to the Blacklist Support Group facebook page http://www.facebook.com/groups/blacklistSG/ or else share on social media with the hashtags #blacklisting #N20 #BSG Special mention of the Leeds protest where two blacklisted workers, Pete Shaw and Sandy MacPherson were both assaulted by an aggressive security guard in an unprovoked attack at Sir Robert McAlpine offices. Despite being battered and hospitalised - both Pete and Sandy are now both OK. http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-e093-The-real-thugs-are-the-elite#.Uo4IosRSiSo http://www.constructionenquirer.com/2013/11/20/scuffles-break-out-at-blacklist-protest/ http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tucs-day-action-blacklisting-victims-2810924 http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-7661-Unions-raise-heat-on-blacklisters#.Uo4IicRSiSo http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/blacklisting-construction-industry-challenged-nationwide-2809390 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-25013402 http://www.tuc.org.uk/union-issues/tuc-calls-proper-national-inquiry-blacklisting-%E2%80%93-not-political-posturing-over-union http://socialistworker.co.uk/art/36914/Day+of+action+around+Britain+against+blacklisting http://thepeoplesassembly.org.uk/reports-tucs-day-of-action-against-blacklisting/ Pix of day of Action: http://guy-smallman-photos.photoshelter.com/gallery/Blacklist-City-protest-20-11-13/G00002TpOOoLSyYk http://www.ucatt.org.uk/Pictures-blacklisting-day-action-november-20-2013 Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEPEySKI7rE&feature=youtu.be 2. High Court Claims: On the Day of Action UNITE and UCATT both announced their intention of taking High Court claims on behalf of their members. This brings the number of High Court claims to four in total. The GMB have already submitted their claim earlier in the summer and the lead claim by Guney Clark & Ryan (GCR) solicitors, supported by the Blacklist Support Group has been running for over 4 years now. The first ever hearing in a High Court blacklisting claim will be the GCR case on Friday 29th November. This will be a hearing to determine how the cases will be run, what are the main legal points to be argued etc.. It is likely that there will be a court order that says that all 4 High Court cases will be heard at the same time. They would remain 4 separate claims, with 4 separate legal teams representing different clients but there would only be one physical court case. The Blacklist Support Group will be holding a protest outside the High Court in the Strand on Friday 29th November. Everyone welcome. If you have a BLACKLISTED T-shirts, please bring it along to wear for the photo-opportunity. 3. Scottish Government announcement: On the Day of Action the Scottish government published plans to refuse public contracts to blacklisting firms. This step has only came about because of the fantastic campaigning by the Scottish blacklisted workers. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-25016063 http://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/wider-political-news/firms-will-have-to-declare-blacklisting.22758412 4. Blacklist Compensation Scheme: The latest update on the blacklist compensation scheme is that all 3 unions and the BSG have sent a joint letter making it clear that the compensation scheme is not acceptable to blacklisted workers. Whilst everyone thinks an industry funded compensation scheme is a good idea, the present proposals are simply a PR stunt intended to deflect attention away from the High Court claims or even an attempt to delay the legal process altogether. We are prepared to negotiate with the scheme but do not intend to pause any of our legal claims for something that in its current state is worthless. The various legal teams including Guney, Clark & Ryan solicitors are also in discussions with the compensation scheme. Our red lines are: Everyone on the Consulting Association blacklist to be compensated Jobs for blacklisted workers on major projects - including costs for retraining if needed Compensation to fully represent the loss of earnings and severity of the human rights violations No Gagging Clause - we still want a full public inquiry Even if some blacklisted workers are only interested in financial compensation - BSG advice is to have nothing to do with the employers blacklist compensation scheme - because the final offers they make will be massively better than the insulting £1000 they expect to give to most people at the moment. http://union-news.co.uk/2013/11/blacklist-compensation-scheme-wont-buy-silence-want-justice-say-campaigners/ 5. Information Commissioner's Office announcement: After 4 and a half years, the ICO has finally decided to do what they should have done in the very first week of seizing the files and send a letter to everyone with a blacklist file where they have a name, address or national Insurance number. This means another 1200 letters should be sent out in the next few weeks and many more workers will receive their files. The ICO letter directs people to the employers blacklisting compensation scheme: the very people who blacklisted them in the first place. This beggars belief. The ICO has not taken legal action against a single blacklisting firm despite mountains of documentary evidence that they have broken the law. And now they are directing the victims of crime to the perpetrators of the crime. The fact that the ICO is willing to direct victims to the firms but not to the Blacklist Support Group which has led the campaign for justice and acts as a support network for blacklisted workers speaks volumes. It is an outrage and calls into question the supposed impartiality of the ICO. http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/523866/20131120/blacklisting-firms-construction-workers-jobs-ucatt-unions.htm 6. The government has announced an inquiry into the leverage tactics used by UNITE the Union in various industrial disputes including Crossrail, BESNA and Grangemouth. Blacklist Support Group are proud supporters of using leverage as part of a strategy combined with rank & file action to put pressure on rogue employers to negotiate. Leverage works - it helped us win the reinstatement of Frank Morris on Crossrail. As part of the so called inquiry into industrial disputes, it was announced that the practice of blacklisting will be looked at. Steve Kelly - co-chair Blacklist Support Group & UNITE branch secretary said: 'The Tory proposals are nothing more than an anti-union witch hunt masquerading as an inquiry. To equate the blacklist scandal with Unites leverage campaign exposes the government's entire attitude towards organised labour. Blacklisting is a human right conspiracy involving multinational firms and the state. Leverage is perfectly legal protest with a giant inflatable rat. Blacklisted workers refuse to participate with this reactionary election stunt and no principled trade unionist should collaborate in our name.' http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/nov/18/blacklisting-union-activists-investigated-government http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24976760 7. George Tapp - working class hero: George Tapp - a leading blacklist campaigners was run down by a motorist, dragged 100 yards down a road and suffered two fractured knees at a protest in Manchester earlier this year. George spent many weeks in hospital undergoing reconstructive surgery but is now walking again and is now back protesting against the blacklist again. An inspiration to us all. Despite Greater Manchester Police initially blaming George himself for the incident, the driver of the vehicle is now facing criminal charges and will appear in court in the next few months. Watch this space. 8. Message below from construction rank & file national committee: National construction Rank and File meeting 12 noon - 3pm Saturday 23rd November Mechanics Institute, 103 Princes Street, Manchester M1 6DD Hopefully there will be a representative from GMB , Ucatt and Unite at the meeting please inform people about this meeting. All construction workers welcome. 9. Sorry if I have missed anything out - there is a lot going on at the moment Blacklist Support Group video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlCa8yQmZ70 blog: www.hazards.org/blacklistblog facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/blacklistSG/

N20 Report from Colin Trousdale

IN co-ordinated action BLACKLISTED workers from U.C.A.T.T. and Unite targeted a Robert McAlpine site in Hulme south M/C (where over 200 site operatives were leafleted )and a Laing O'Rourke / Bailey Building Services (N.G.Baileys )site at M/C town hall extension where amongst the 100 or so operatives leafleted were the project manager for Laings & supervision for Baileys , before meeting up at the town hall proper to leaflet staff & the public over 1,000 leaflets were handed out including to the chair of the council , the chief executive of the council and the deputy police commissioner . After a couple of hours protest by 30 BLACKLISTED construction workers and approx. 20 of their supporters from other unions a delegation was invited in to speak to two councillors who gave us assurances and evidence that a motion had been passed by the full council denouncing BLACKLISTING . And that we now had an open door to express our concerns over the use of known BLACKLISTERS on public projects in Manchester , we were asked to give them a couple of days to find out who we should be speaking to at the council to force L.O.R. to allow union officials on site to address & recruit the workforce . RESULT FOR THE RnF /B.S.G. over to the fulltimers (I will forward you the contact details of the two councillors for ACTION ). Oh and we got on the telly .KEEP THE FAITH

Tragedy at Leeds protest?

THERE was an unconfirmed report today that one of the pickets on the protests against blacklisting at the Laing O'Rourke site in Leeds suffered a heart attack after being set upon by security guards. Reports are vague and at present the position is unclear because small protests taking place across the country as well as the big ones in London and Manchester.

Manchester City Council's policy on blacklisting

AFTER an encounter on the doorstep of the staff entrance to Manchester Town Hall with the leader of Manchester City Council during the protest today against blacklisting, six electricians had a meeting with the Executive Committee of Manchester City Council at Noon. It was agreed that in future there will be more exchanges, but the nature of this will depend on proper protocol and on what decisions are made at the Greater Manchester Contracting Unite Branch when it meets next month. This protest was called purely on the initiative of the Greater Manchester Contracting Branch, mainly at the instigation of the blacklisted electrician Colin Trousdale and with the support of Tameside TUC. It later came to light that the Manchester City Council carried a motion on the 9th, October 2013 and it was decided as follows that: 'Manchester City Council is deeply concerned by revelations that major companies have been involved in "blacklisting" in order to deny employment to workers who have engaged in trade union activity, such as reporting breaches of health and safety regulations. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) found that a blacklist of copnstruction workers was maintained by an organisation called The Consulting Association who traded for profit the personal information of over 3,200 workers. This blacklist was used by over 40 companies and included information about workers' personal relationships, trade union activity and employment history. The use of such blacklists is unacceptable and cannot be condoned, as it has a potential negative impact on the employment rights of Manchester construction workers. This Council has constructive relationships with trade unions and upholds the right to freedom of association, and we expect all suppliers and partner organisations to do the same. Council calls on the Chief Execfutive to examine existing contracts with any of the companies listed by the ICO and ask for reassurances that the company uses no form of blacklisting to inform their employment decisions.'

Manchester Town Hall Blacklist Protest

SOME 50 people joined a protest outside Manchester Town Hall today as part of a TUC National Day of Action against the blacklist in the British building trade. The Manchester campaign action had been called by the Greater Manchester Contracting Branch of Unite the Union and supported by Tameside Trade Union Council, as part of the TUC's national Day of Action. Other protests are scheduled to take place today in London, Cardiff, Glasgow and Liverpool. In Manchester, over 1,000 leaflets have already been distributed at the Town Hall in the centre of Manchester. Manchester City Council is still awarding contracts to companies that were involved in blacklisting and who were affiliated to the Consulting Association, a body closed down after in 2009 the Information Commissioner discovered that it was operating an illegal data base or blacklist. Howard Bernstein the Chief Executive of Manchester City Council, took a leaflet attacking the blacklist off me this morning, as he received it someone shouted 'Howard Bernstein you could stop all this!' Granada Reports has just done an interview with Graham Bowker one of the blacklisted electricians who helped to found the campaign against the blacklist during the Daf dispute in Manchester in 2003. As I write this several protesters including Graham Bowker and George Tapp have asked for an interview with either the leader of Manchester Council or some other senior councillor in the Labour dominated administration. A man representing the 'facilities staff' at the Town Hall has told them that all the senior councillors are in a meeting and that the protocol is to fix a meeting through the Democratic Services Department at the Town Hall. The blacklist protesters said that this is a serious issue of human rights and that as the protest was scheduled to last all the rest of today they would be available all day to see anyone who was suitable.

Elderly dying mum forced to move because of Tory 'Bedroom Tax'!

An 82-year-old sick pensioner, who has less than a year to live, is facing eviction from her three-bedroom home because she cannot afford to pay her Tory Bedroom Tax.

Mary Bennett, a widow from Runcorn, Cheshire, has been told that she must leave the home that she has lived in for the past 20 years because she cannot afford to pay the £14 a week tax. The widow, who’s dying wish was to die at home, suffers from a cardiac condition and dementia. Over the past 20 years, she has spent £10,000 on disability adaptations to her home.

Although pensioners are normally exempt from the Bedroom Tax, Mrs Bennett cannot claim the OAP exemption because her son Alan Clark, 47, is her live-in carer. Mr. Clark gave up his job as a hotel manager, to look after his mother. A discretionary grant from Halton Council has paid the short-fall in Mrs Bennett’s housing benefit since she fell into arrears, but she will be forced to move from her home, when this expires in March.

Alan told the Daily Mirror that though he plans to move his mother to a smaller rented house where his sister lives, he fears that the ‘upheaval could unsettle his ill mother’ and added: “How dare they take away a dying woman’s wish for the sake of £14 a week. It is a travesty.”

A council spokesman told the newspaper: “Discretionary housing payment cannot exceed March 31 in any given year as the council receives annual fund allocation from Government. Until this grant is known any awards cannot be made into the next financial year.”

Since the introduction of the Bedroom Tax in April, thousands of families have been pushed into homelessness and a spiralling cycle of debt as they struggle to pay the tax. According to a recent study, more than half of households hit by the Bedroom Tax have been unable to pay their full rent.

While the Tory government imposes punitive taxation like the Bedroom Tax on hard-up families, it is making the British taxpayer foot a £1 million legal bill so that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, can go into battle with Brussels to defend banker’s mega-bonuses. The chancellor has filed a complaint against the European Union (EU) over its plans to cap bonuses, even though this measure has the support of the EU’s twenty-six other European Finance Ministers. 

Threat to British Press Freedom?

IN Saturday's International Herald Tribune (IHT) an editorial entitled 'British Press Freedom Threatened' began:
'Britain has a long tradition of free, inquisitive press.  That freedom, so essential to democratic accountability, is being challenged by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government of Prime Minister David Cameron.'

Because, unlike the USA, Britain has no constitutional guarantee of press freedom, the IHT editor claimed that 'Parliamentary committees and the police are now exploiting that lack of protection to harass, intimidate and possibly prosecute The Guardian newspaper for its publication of information based on National Security Agency documents that were leaked by Edward Snowden.'

In the USA the New York Times has published similar material from the same source, they did this believing the public has an interest in knowing about and debating the N.S.A.'s 'out-of-control spying on private communications'.  The IHT and Northern Voices believes that interest is shared by the British public as well.

The IHT editorial attacks the feebleness of the British parliamentarians writing:
'British legislators have ducked their duty to ask tough questions of British intelligence agencies, which closely collaborate with the N.S.A., and have gone after The Guardian instead.'

The Guardian editor, Alan Rusbridger, has been summoned to appear before a parliamentary committee in December to testify about The Guardian's internal editorial decision-making regarding the material provided by Edward Snowden.  M.P.'s have also demanded to know about the paper's decision to make some of the leaked data available to other journalists.  At the same time Knacker-of-the-Yard is busy on a criminal investigation into The Guardian's actions surrounding the Snowden leaks.

As we watch freedom of the press appears to be going down the plughole in this country, and it is taking the American IHT to sound the alarm.   The International Herald Tribune editorial continues:
'These alarming developments threaten the ability of British journalists to do their jobs effectively.  Britain's press has long lacked the freedoms enjoyed by American newspapers.  Now it appears they are less free from government interference than journalists in Germany, where Der Spiegel has published material from the Snowden leaks without incurring government bullying.'

We now know that for years there was a blacklist operated in the British building trade, paid for by major building companies, that prevented known trade union activists from gaining employment and went about spying on their families:  this week on Wednesday is the TUC Day of Action against blacklisting.  This practice was uncovered when the Information Commissioner raided an office in the Midlands in 2009 and discovered illegal data on the premises including a list of over 3,000 names, national insurance numbers and addresses.  Though the business was closed down and one individual, Ian Kerr, pleaded guilty to keeping an illegal data base, very little has been done by the government to hinder the practice of blacklisting in the building trade or anywhere else.   It is also known over the years that people involved in the shady business of blacklisting have had links to the security services and the police.  Perhaps it is not surprising then that the government is going for The Guardian over Snowden, while letting the likes of construction giants like Carillion, McAlpine, Balfour Kilpatrick off the hook over blacklisting.

Modern Indian at Marks & Spencer!

IF you want to eat a 'Modern Indian' meal in the First Floor Cafe of Marks & Spencers on the corner of Market Street and Cross Street in Manchester today, don't bother! The Modern Indian based on a Goan cuisine sold out hours ago after noon. But you may be mislead into joining the queue because the floor manager, Steve, insists on keeping the board advertising this dish on display come what may. No matter that folk have to wait in the queue for half an hour to be disappointed; that doesn't bother Stevie, who told one woman that M&S can't employ people to inform the customers that they are wasting their time needlessly. Indeed not, he even offered a woman a baked potatoe instead. The idea at M&S, according to Steve, is that by the time they come to be served they are so hungry that they'll eat owt!

Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake: Is this the death of feminism in the theatre?

IT was a smashing performance of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake that we saw yesterday at the Lowry at Salford Quays. But I left wondering if Matthew Boune's interpretation if carried out throughout the industry may lead to the decimation of jobs for the lassies in the theatre world. All the swans in this version of Swan Lake are lads not lassies, and as a consequence at the curtain call I counted over twenty men, leaving a the women in the cast in single figures. This idea of turning tradition upside down which is reported as taking the dance world by storm may have the effect of reducing the employment prospects of women. Since its London premiere, Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake has been acclaimed as a landmark achievement on the international stage, collecting over 30 international theatre awards, including three Tonys. So here in Salford we have an end to swans in tutus, and instead a blending of humour and spectacle to give us a post-modern Swan Lake for our time. This Swan Lake at the Lowry will be on until Sat 16 November.

AGM of Construction Safety Campaign

CONSTRUCTION Safety Campaign AGM 11am Saturday 16th November 40 Bull Street Birmingham B4 6AF All welcome The recent death of Richard Laco on a Laing O'Rourke building site in Kings Cross has again raised the issue to construction safety to centre stage. A silent vigil has held for Richard Laco organised by the Construction Safety Campaign and was attended by family members and the girlfriend of the deceased building worker. Pix of the silent vigil in the links below: http://www.flickr.com/photos/60718029@N06/sets/72157637672440305/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/hethb/sets/72157637679163356/ Recent figures show that construction deaths have soared in London and even Laing O'Rourke's own internal reports state that there has been a "huge rise" in hazards and and near misses on their sites last year. Laing O'Rourke have adopted a harsh anti union stance on their projects and officials from construction unions have been banned from their sites in London and Liverpool. Where unions have elected safety reps on sites in London, the company has denied them facilities expected in legislation. Laing O'Rourke and their wholly owned electrical contractor Crown House are also proven Blacklisters of union members who raise concerns about safety on building sites. They are defendants in the blacklisting High Court claim being brought by Guney Clark & Ryan whose first hearing is November 29th. Because of their anti-union attitude and systematic blacklisting of safety reps, Laing O'Rourke will be a target of the Blacklist Support Group on the TUC Day of Action on Blacklisting on November 20th.

Laing O'Rourke & Workplace Death

THE Construction Safety Campaign are organsing a wreath laying and minutes silence for Richard Laco, the worker killed last week on the Laing O'Rourke building site at Kings Cross.

2pm Thursday 14^th November
Laing O’Rourke site entrance
Francis Crick Institute project
Kings Cross (behind the British Library). 

Pete Farrell (painter) Chair of Construction Safety Campaign said:
'Our thoughts go out to the family and friends of Richard Laco. And we intend to hold a respectful event as an opportunity for friends and workers on the site to show a moments respect for this tragic death. Too many workers die on building sites. Too often this is because construction firms give safety a lower priority than profit. We need to make sure no other families have to suffer the heartache of losing a loved one.'

Unite Assistant General Secretary, Gail Cartmail said:

'This fatality is a tragedy and our condolences go out to the bereaved family and friends. This is a harsh reminder of the importance of high standards of health & safety in an industry that is extremely dangerous. Trade unions have a role to play in maintaining safe working environments but Laing O'Rourke has bizarrely banned Unite officials from their sites. There is no place for anti-trade union behaviour in an industry where we should be working together in the interests of safety. We urge Laing O'Rourke and its subsidiary Crown House to give Unite access to the sites to support workers and help make improvements where necessary.'

 

People before Profit
Mourn the Dead – Fight for the Living  

Blacklist Support Group

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

blog: www.hazards.org/blacklistblog

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

Gradely Things on Lancashire Day at Number Ten Gallery

NUMBER TEN GALLERY

ON the 27th, & 28th, November 2013, there will be a celebration of 'Gradely Things' to commemorate LANCASHIRE DAY at Number Ten Gallery, 10, Baille Street, Rochdale.
(tel. 01706 354076).

Tickets £10 (Book in advance):

 

Food, Music, Poetry, Ghost Stories &

 

an exhibition of Lancashire Art - photos &

 

paintings by local artists.

TUC Day of Action on Blacklisting November 20th

BLACKLIST Support Group (BSG) are calling on all supporters, Trades Councils and trade union branches to organise an event in your area for the TUC Day of Action.

A protest outside a building site being built by a blacklisting company or a public body still using blacklisting firms to provide public services. This is an official TUC sponsored Day of Action, so all unions in an area should work together to coordinate action. Official TUC flyer attached (print out and distribute - with local details printed on the back if needed)

Whether it is a protest, a media event or direct action please take pix and post on social media and contact the local press to ensure the story runs everywhere.

Use the hashtags #blacklisting #N20 #BSG 

 

Some ideas to maximise the chances of getting media coverage: Blacklisted T-shirts, banners, placards, PA (play some music not just speakers on a megaphone), hand in a giant oversized protest letter, inflatable rat, it's just been firework night so make a guy in a suit with a Cullum McAlpine face mask, blacklisted workers have been locked out of work so a big padlock & chain might come in handy. Whatever you do - make it visual.

Planned events:

London

7:00am - Protest at Laing O'Rourke, Cheesegrater, Leadenhall St, City of London (opposite Lloyds Building)

10:00am - Protest at Laing O'Rourke, Francis Crick Medical Research Centre, Kings Cross (behind the British Library)

1:00pm - TUC protest with MPs & 4 union General Secretaries, College Green, Parliament Sq, Westminster

2:00pm - TUC Lobby of MPs, House of Commons

3:30pm - House of Commons Committee Room 11 - John McDonnell MP chairs BSG meeting speakers: Sean Curran (GCR solicitors for High court claim) & blacklisted workers.

 

Edinburgh

12:00pm - STUC protest outside Holyrood

1:00pm - film show inside Holyrood organised by Neil Findlay MSP

transport from Glasgow via: vicki.thomson@unitetheunion.com 

Cardiff

12:00 WTUC event - Senedd media briefing room. Speakers include Andy Richards Unite, Nick Blundell UCATT, Martin Hird GMB and Jane Hutt the finance minister.

Anyone wishing to attend contact: ghathway@tuc.org.uk 

Manchester

7:15am - Manchester Town Hall protest against NG Bailey - organised by BSG - speakers include blacklisted workers: Graham Bowker, Colin Trousdale, George Tapp

There are also a number of direct action events taking place across the country.

Send us the details of your event and we will update this list to maximise a turnout at every protest.

____________________________________________

The current printed issue of NORTHERN VOICES No.14, is now available for sale at all our usual outlets in the North of England and beyond - see below. This issue N.V.14 has a Tameside Eye story about how Tameside has a history of involvement in blacklisting, it also contains an interview by Barry Woodling with George Tapp - the Salford electrician injured in May on an anti-blacklist picket. The Voices has been in the forthfront of the campaign against the blacklist since 2003 and the DAF dispute at Manchester Piccadilly, its editor, an electrician, was on the blacklist of the Economic League in the 1960s, and there was an attempt to blacklist him while he was working in Gibraltar in both 1964 and 1967, but at the time this intervention by the Foreign Office was resisted by the Gibraltarian authorities, and the Gibraltar Transport & General Workers Union.
Postal subscription: £5 for the next two issues (post included). Cheques made payable to 'Northern Voices' should be sent c/o 52, Todmorden Road, Burnley, Lancashire BB10 4AH.
Tel.: 0161 793 5122.
email: northernvoices@hotmail.com 

Victoria Woods at Royal Exchange

VICTORIA WOOD’S NOSTALGIC LOVE STORY

COMES TO THE ROYAL EXCHANGE 

THAT DAY WE SANG

By Victoria Wood

Directed by Sarah Frankcom

Designed by James Cotterill  

The Royal Exchange Theatre

St Ann’s Square

Manchester

Thursday 5 December 2013 to Saturday 18 January 2014

Press Night: TUESDAY 10 DECEMBER at 7.30pm   

THAT DAY WE SANG – a play with music by Victoria Wood – comes to the stage of Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre from Thursday 5 December 2013 to Saturday 18 January 2014.   

The show has been reinvented and re-orchestrated for the Royal Exchange’s unique space by BAFTA award-winning writer Victoria Wood -  one of Britain's best loved stand-up comedians, and creator of VICTORIA WOOD AS SEEN ON TV, DINNERLADIES and ACORN ANTIQUES: THE MUSICAL!  

THAT DAY WE SANG is a big-hearted and nostalgic Manchester love story for all the family. Set in the summer of ‘69, insurance clerk Tubby and secretary Enid are back on stage at the Free Trade Hall. Granada Television are recording a documentary celebrating the forty years since they first stood there as children, singing their hearts out with fellow school pupils and accompanied by the Halle Orchestra.   

This is the humorous, warm and uplifting story of two people who are trying to reconnect with who they were then and who they could be now. The show was commissioned for the Manchester International Festival 2011 and was one of the must-see events that year.   

The production will feature a 25-strong children’s choir, featuring youngsters from schools across Greater Manchester.   

Talking about the show, Victoria Wood said: 'It is a play with songs, and dancing and insurance men. It’s a love story – played against a background of The Wimpy, The Golden Egg, Piccadilly Gardens … it’s a very Mancunian story.'

The cast includes Dean Andrews, as Tubby, best known for his role as DS Ray Carling  in the BBC TV drama LIFE ON MARS and the spin-off series ASHES TO ASHES; and Anna Francolini, as Enid, who was last seen at the Royal Exchange in A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE. Her other stage credits include INTO THE WOODS (Royal Opera House), THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE (Royal & Derngate, Northampton) and ONASSIS (Novello Theatre) and her film and TV  work includes TOPSY-TURVY and ROME.   

The cast also includes Sally Banks, Andy Brady, Faye Brookes, Joel Danziger, Craige Els, William Haresceugh, Darren Lawrence, Laura Medforth,  Aki Omoshaybi,  Kelly Price, Alex Starke and  James Quinn.   

The production is directed by Royal Exchange Artistic Director Sarah Frankcom. Her recent RET successes include PUNK ROCK, WINTERLONG, THE LADY FROM THE SEA, A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE, MISS JULIE, BLACK ROSES: THE KILLING OF SOPHIE LANCASTER and OPRHEUS DESCENDING and THREE BIRDS. She also directed MASQUE OF ANARCHY, with Maxine Peake, for this year’s Manchester International Festival.   

The creative team is completed by James Cotterill (designer), Nigel Lilley (musical supervisor), Ian Townsend (musical director), Sammy Murray Brown (choreographer), Jeff Borradaile (choir master), Johanna Town (lighting designer), Peter Rice (sound designer), Sorcha Williams (associate sound designer) and Liz Stevenson (assistant director).

For further information please contact JOHN GOODFELLOW (Press & Communications Manager, Royal Exchange Theatre) on 0161 615 6783 / john.goodfellow@royalexchange.co.uk. 

 

Production photos for THAT DAY WE SANG will be available for download from the Royal Exchange Theatre Online Press Office from Monday 9 December 2013 at www.royalexchange.co.uk/press

Link to online information  http://tinyurl.com/pbu4ggu

THAT DAY WE SANG - Listings Information

 

The Royal Exchange Theatre presents

THAT DAY WE SANG

By Victoria Wood

Directed by Sarah Frankcom

Designed by James Cotterill

The Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester

Thursday 5 December 2013 – Saturday 18 January 2014

Evening Performance Times: Monday – Saturday 7.30pm (no performance Christmas Day)

Matinee Performance Times: Wednesdays and Saturdays at 2.30pm

Press Night: Tuesday 10 December, 7.30pm

Half Price Previews: Thursday 5 & Friday 6 December

Ticket Prices: From £10 (Concessions Available)

Cheap Seats: Tickets £6.00 for Students and 25-year-olds and under, Fridays only

Audio-described Performance: Saturday 4 January, 2.30pm

BSL Interpreted Performance: Tuesday 14 January, 7.30pm

Captioned Performance: Friday 10 January, 7.30pm

Backstage tour: Wednesday 11 December, 11am

After-show Discussion with Director Sarah Frankcom: Thursday 9 January after 7.30pm performance

Box Office: 0161 833 9833.

On-line: www.royalexchange.co.uk/bookonline   www.royalexchange.co.uk   

Holodomor: Eightieth Anniversary of Man-Made Famine

IN July 2013, Author Dr Ray Gamache and Taras Melnyk, from the Rochdale Ukrainian Community at the book launch in London.  Northern Voices now publishes this as many Ukrainians remember the man-made famine of 1933 and beyond.
 

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The association of Ukrainians in Great Britain has helped to launch a book reporting on the events surrounding the Ukrainian famine in 1933.
The Rochdale branch of this organisation was the first group within the UK to publicise it and had previously pushed the council to place a memorial remembering the disaster outside Rochdale Town Hall.

The book titled ‘Eyewitness to the Holodomor’ is written by Ray Gamache and talks about the discoveries made by former Foreign Adviser Gareth Jones.
The book is the first academic work on Gareth Jones. It informs the reader how Gareth was the first person to bring the famine to the attention of the general population and the first to blame the Soviet Union for the part they played in causing the famine.

At one time the rural population of Ukraine was dying at a rate of 25,000 per day. The land which was known as the breadbasket of Europe had been ravaged by a man made famine of unprecedented scale.

It is hoped the release of this book and the publicity it’s getting from the Ukrainians currently based the United Kingdom will help in the aim of trying to get the UK government to recognise this as genocide.

It’s only recently that countries such as the United States and Canada have actually recognised it as genocide. This has recently been discussed by MPs in the United Kingdom and it’s hoped they will follow the example set by the USA and Canada.

Many people within Ukrainian communities had thanked Gareth Jones for speaking out against the famine when many of their family members had no voice and simply couldn’t speak out.

Taras Melnyk, a member of the Holodomor committee and part of the Ukrainian community within Rochdale, said: “This famine has always been close to the people of Rochdale, we hope the book raises awareness of the tragedy.

'The fact that it’s being discussed in the House of Parliament is a positive step for certain.'

The Holodomor (Ukrainian: Голодомор, "Extermination by hunger" or "Hunger-extermination";^[2] derived from 'Морити голодом', "Starving someone" ^[3]) was a man-made famine in the Ukrainian SSR and adjacent Cossack territories in 1932 and 1933. During the famine, which is also known as the "Terror-Famine in Ukraine" and "Famine-Genocide in Ukraine",^[4][5][6] millions of Ukrainians and Cossacks died of starvation in a peacetime catastrophe unprecedented in the history of Ukraine.^[7]
The estimates of the death toll by scholars varied greatly. Recent research has narrowed the estimates to between 1.8^[8] and 5^[9] million, with modern consensus for a likely total of 3–3.5 million.^[10] According to the decision of Kyiv Appellation Court, the demographic losses due to the famine amounted to 10 million, with 3.9 million famine deaths, and a 6.1 million birth deficit.^[11]
Scholars disagree on the relative importance of natural factors and bad economic policies as causes of the famine and the degree to which the destruction of the Ukrainian peasantry was premeditated on the part of Joseph Stalin.^{[7][12][13][14]} Some scholars and politicians using the word Holodomor emphasize the man-made aspects of the famine, arguing that it was genocide; some consider the resultant loss of life comparable to the Holocaust.^[15] They argue that the Soviet policies were an attack on the rise of Ukrainian nationalism and therefore fall under the legal definition of genocide.^{[16][17][18][19][20]} Other scholars argue that the Holodomor was a consequence of the economic problems associated with radical economic changes implemented during the period of liquidation of private property and Soviet industrialization

Blacklist Demo at Alder Hey

THIS morning (Saturday 9th Nov), 60 activists demonstrated outside Alder Hey Hospital construction project in Liverpool in protest at the continued blacklisting of union activists and the denial of union facilities on the project. The demonstration was called by the Blacklist Support Group at the anti-union attitude being adopted by the main contractor on the site Laing O'Rourke (LOR) and its wholly owned electrical subsidiary Crown House. The company has refused to negotiate with construction unions over rates of pay or safety and has even denied union officials access onto site to speak to workers. The construction unions UNITE, UCATT and GMB all had members on the protest.

The protest came only a day after the announcement of the death of a construction worker on the Laing O'Rourke Francis Crick medical research centre project in Kings Cross.

Unite assistant general secretary, Gail Cartmail said: "This fatality is a tragedy and our condolences go out to the bereaved family and friends.

'This is a harsh reminder of the importance of high standards of health & safety in an industry that is extremely dangerous. Trade unions have a role to play in maintaining safe working environments but Laing O'Rourke has bizarrely banned Unite officials from their sites. There is no place for anti-trade union behaviour in an industry where we should be working together in the interests of safety. We urge Laing O'Rourke and its subsidiary Crown House to give Unite access to the sites to support workers and help make improvements where necessary.' 

LAING O'Rourke is one of the eight major contractors who are defendants in the High Court on November 29th for their role in the blacklisting conspiracy in a claim being brought by Guney Clark and Ryan solicitors and are one of the firms that last month announced a scheme to compensate blacklisted workers. Blacklist Support Group walked out of the first negotiations with representatives of the blacklist compensation scheme describing the proposals as a 'publicity stunt'.

On the TUC Day of Action on Blacklisting on November 20th, the Blacklist Support Group has announced that it will be targeting another Laing O'Rourke site, the Cheesegrater in Leadenhall Street in the City of London (possibly the most recognisable building under construction in the UK today). 

Steve Acheson - blacklisted electrician & chair of the Blacklist Support Group said:

'Laing O'Rourke may pretend they have turned over a new leaf by their involvement in the compensation scheme but they show their true colours every day by their anti-union actions on building sites across the UK. They appear to be pathologically predisposed to victimise worker prepared to stand up for basic rights such as safe conditions or wages.

Laing O'Rourke, Crown House and the other blacklisting firms have attempted to destroy our working lives and genuine trade unionism in the building industry.   Until blacklisted workers are able to gain long term employment on major projects, everything else is just window dressing and we will continue to hound these wretches.'

Roy Bentham - blacklisted joiner from Liverpool & spokesperson from the Blacklist Support Group said:

'Our message is simple. Our message is clear.

Full compensation which reflects the human rights violations and suffering of blacklisted workers.
Employment for those workers on major contracts for which they've been previously excluded.
And lastly a full independent inquiry into this whole tawdry scandal with no stones left unturned whatsoever.'  

Blacklist Support Group

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

blog: www.hazards.org/blacklistblog

facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/blacklistSG/
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The current printed issue of NORTHERN VOICES No.14, is now available for sale at all our usual outlets in the North of England and beyond - see below. This issue N.V.14 has a Tameside Eye story about how Tameside has a history of involvement in blacklisting, it also contains an interview by Barry Woodling with George Tapp - the Salford electrician injured in May on an anti-blacklist picket. The Voices has been in the forthfront of the campaign against the blacklist since 2003 and the DAF dispute at Manchester Piccadilly, its editor, an electrician, was on the blacklist of the Economic League in the 1960s, and there was an attempt to blacklist him while he was working in Gibraltar in both 1964 and 1967, but at the time this intervention by the Foreign Office was resisted by the Gibraltarian authorities, and the Gibraltar Transport & General Workers Union.
Postal subscription: £5 for the next two issues (post included). Cheques made payable to 'Northern Voices' should be sent c/o 52, Todmorden Road, Burnley, Lancashire BB10 4AH.
Tel.: 0161 793 5122.
email: northernvoices@hotmail.com

Unite General Secretary's Election Query

Jerry Hicks lodges complaint after revelation that Unite sent over 158,000 ballot papers to 'former members' 

 

What follows is a press statement from Jerry Hicks which Northern Voices' publishes without comment:

 

JERRY Hicks, Len McCluskey’s only rival in this year's election for Unite General Secretary has lodged a complaint calling for the result to be annulled after it emerged that 158,000 ballot papers were sent to members no longer paying fees. And it may result in the election having to be re-run.

Len McCluskey, 63, won the election in April with a margin of 60,000 more votes than his opponent Jerry Hicks, who surprised everybody by polling nearly 40% of the vote. Remarkable given that he [Jerry Hicks] remains unemployed following his unlawful sacking for Trade Union activities by Rolls Royce in 2005. 

But Jerry Hicks is complaining that between the end of December last year and January this year the union increased the number of potential voters in the leadership race by about 158,000. He has written to the trade union watchdog – the Certification Officer - to ask how "former trade union members" could be allowed to vote in the leadership election.

During the election there were some attempts to slur the name of Jerry Hicks, and these matters are also included in the complaint.

 

The certification officer has wide-ranging powers and in 2011 forced construction union UCATT to re-run a leadership election, declaring the vote invalid. The Barrister acting against UCATT on that occasion was Jody Atkinson, and he is now representing Jerry Hicks on a ‘pro bono’ basis [free of charge].   Mr Atkinson said  'it appeared that Unite had been balloting people who had left the union, most likely because they had not paid their subscriptions. And it seems that ballot papers have been sent to people who have not been members for years.'

 

In an interview with ‘The Guardian’s Randeep Ramesh’ Jerry Hicks said 'that he was told by Electoral Reform Services, which oversaw the union ballot, that Unite had identified "there was a group of "members" who the Union had considered no longer to be members of the union' but 'it was decided that they should be treated as continuing members and therefore for the purpose of the election eligible to vote'.  More interestingly it might be that as many as 77,000 of the 158,000 ballot papers had no postal address at all, so what on earth happened to them?. 

Jerry Hicks said he wanted 'Unite's leadership to explain why people who weren't members of the Unite union could vote in the election of its General Secretary. So far I've been offered no explanation.'
Jerry Hicks, said Mr McCluskey called the 'snap election' after the union's Executive Council last September changed the rule book to raise the retirement age of senior officials to 67 and an attempt was made to double the number of branch nominations required to stand in a leadership election from 50 to 100.

Adding 'They thought that would deter me but they failed. I am an ordinary member who managed to get more than 150 nominations," The leadership got arrogant about their own power. They are paid six figure sums and have lost touch with ordinary members.'
Len McCluskey, who has been Unite's General Secretary since 2010, had called the election early arguing he did not want to take to the hustings in the run up to the general election in 2015. Labour's biggest donor by far is Unite, which has provided 20%, about £12m, of party donations since the election. 

Bristol Radical History Group

Details of upcoming Nov/Dec events, see you there.... Remembering the Dublin Lockout 1913-2013 Speaker: John Newsinger Date: Thursday 14th November, 2013 Time: 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm Venue: Room 202/203, Tony Benn House (Unite), Victoria Street, Bristol BS1 6AY Price: Donation http://www.brh.org.uk/site/events/remembering-dublin-lockout-1913-2013/ Book Launch: In Letters of Blood and Fire: Work, Machines, and the Crisis of Capitalism Speaker: George Caffentzis Date: Tuesday 19th November, 2013 Time: 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm Venue: Hydra Bookshop, 34 Old Market St, Bristol, BS2 0EZ Price: Donation http://www.brh.org.uk/site/events/in-letters-of-blood-and-fire/ The Game of Drones Date: Saturday 30th November, 2013 Time: 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm Venue: Hydra Bookshop, 34 Old Market St, Bristol, BS2 0EZ With: Heathcote Williams, Alan Cox, Price: Donation Film screening of Game of Drones: The President and the White House Fly (Handsome Dog Productions, 2013). Investigative poem on topical issue of ‘Unmanned Aerial Vehicles’. Written by Heathcote Williams; Narration and Montage by Alan Cox; produced by Margaret Cox. Screening will be introduced by anti-Drone campaigner John from Bath Activist Network. About Heathcote Williams: "I'd say the overwhelming feature of these poems and perhaps of Williams' whole oeuvre is a sense of the development of an argument, either in favour of a cause or in opposition to what he clearly perceives as either an idiocy or a malign government or establishment force. Yet he's rarely narrowly didactic and at his best his 'argument', whatever that may be, comes through experience and the development of empathy and understanding. In this sense he's a bit like George Orwell and Charles Dickens, using language as a weapon on behalf of the defenceless and in defence of sanity. Yet there's also a delight in language for its own sake, not something he takes to excess but it's there nonetheless and his writing is all the better for it." (Huxley Scientific Press) Handsome Dog Productions: Anarcho-Pacifist documentary filmmakers supporting the work of one of the best and most neglected living English poets - Heathcote Williams - and pioneering a new art form bringing ponetry to the screen. Heathcote's work uses "language as a weapon on behalf of the defenceless and in defence of sanity". Why was Charles I executed? Justice, liberties and popular petitioning in 1648-49 Date: Monday 2nd December, 2013 Time: 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm Venue: Hydra Bookshop, 34 Old Market St, Bristol, BS2 0EZ With: Norah Carlin Price: Donation The regicide of 1649 has often been presented by books, articles and TV dons as the result of religious beliefs related to the King's role as a 'Man of Blood', whose own blood must be shed to deliver England from the taint of killing and the fear of God's vengeance. However the evidence suggests a far more sophisticated political response rooted in the concepts of 'Justice and Liberties' displayed in both public and military petitions. 'Justice' signified what we would now call war crimes trials (and not just of the king), while the word 'liberties' was used at the time to describe far-reaching and permanent constitutional reforms. Norah Carlin will present her new research into this fascinating period, when not only the monarchy but the Parliament which had sat for the past eight years were confronted for their crimes. Norah Carlin lectured in history at Middlesex Poly/University for her whole career, retiring in 2002 to her home town of Edinburgh. She is the author of The Causes of the English Civil War, published by Blackwell's in 1999 , a number of journal articles on the Levellers, Cromwellian attitudes to Ireland and similar themes; and contributed a great diversity of articles over many years to International Socialism, Socialist Review and Socialist Worker. _______________________________ Brhmob mailing list Brhmob@brh.org.uk http://www.brh.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/brhmob

News from Blacklist Support Group

1. Blacklist compensation scheme UCATT give an accurate summary of the scheme: http://www.ucatt.org.uk/blacklisting-compensation-scheme-travesty-justice Report of BSG meeting about the scheme: http://industrialreporter.wordpress.com/2013/11/05/breaking-news-anti-blacklist-campaigners-walk-out-of-compensation-talks/ 2. Helen Steele - working class hero Sued by McDonalds - Spied on by undercover police - Blacklisted by the construction industry We are proud to have her on our team http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/real-life-stories/perfect-boyfriend-undercover-police-officer-2677256 3. TUC Day of Action - November 20th Every union in the UK is supporting the TUC Day of Action - contact your local region to see what is planned or about transport to the big events. Direction Action and Official TUC events are taking place in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Manchester and other undisclosed addresses across the UK. Blacklist Meeting inside the House of Commons in the afternoon. http://www.tuc.org.uk//workplace-issues/employment-rights/health-and-safety/own-pay-clean-tuc-day-action-blacklisting 4. High Court first ever hearing - November 29th Blacklist Support Group support the Guney Clark & Ryan solicitors legal claim. This will be the first time a blacklisting cases has been heard in the High Court. Expect lots of media coverage.
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The current printed issue of NORTHERN VOICES No.14, is now available for sale at all our usual outlets in the North of England and beyond - see below. This issue N.V.14 has a Tameside Eye story about how Tameside has a history of involvement in blacklisting, it also contains an interview by Barry Woodling with George Tapp - the Salford electrician injured in May on an anti-blacklist picket. The Voices has been in the forthfront of the campaign against the blacklist since 2003 and the DAF dispute at Manchester Piccadilly, its editor, an electrician, was on the blacklist of the Economic League in the 1960s, and there was an attempt to blacklist him while he was working in Gibraltar in both 1964 and 1967, but at the time this intervention by the Foreign Office was resisted by the Gibraltarian authorities, and the Gibraltar Transport & General Workers Union.
Postal subscription: £5 for the next two issues (post included). Cheques made payable to 'Northern Voices' should be sent c/o 52, Todmorden Road, Burnley, Lancashire BB10 4AH.
Tel.: 0161 793 5122.
email: northernvoices@hotmail.com

Greater Manchester Repossessions Bonanza

TODAY the Manchester Evening News reported a 1,000 repossession orders of people's homes. It went on to announce: 'Thousands of families had to be given emergency shelter by charities or councils - and experts warn that benefit reforms such as the 'bedroom tax' will only make the problem worse.' Last year, there were 3,668 cases when the court bailiffs were authorised to forcibly gain entry to homes and change the locks. Altogether there were over 10,000 repossession orders issued by the Greater Manchester courts last year. Don't be surprised if this kind of thing leads to social and political trouble in the years ahead.

Portsmouth Shipyard to Close

SHIPYARDS in SCOTLAND have won out against the southern yard at Portsmouth it was reported this morning. This looks like a sop to the Scottish referendum over independence. Had they closed one of the two Scottish yards it would have been a gift to Scottish nationalism. The Financial Times reports today: 'Although the company (BAE Systems) will not want to have large assets located in a foreign country should Scotland choose to become independent, the government will also be keen to make sure that it does not look like Scottish workers are being punished for decisions made in Westminter.' Ther two Scottish yards are Govan and Scotstoun.

African Jamboree Radio Programme

THE radio programme African Jamboree is broadcast every Saturday on the local radio station 96.9 All FM. (Levenshulme local radio).   The programme discusses African politics, economics, history etc together with the playing of African music.    There is also a segment dedicated to the latest developments in British politics.   Furthemore one of Northern Voices' citizen journalists is a regular studio guest.    It is well worth listening to.   Every Saturday from 3pm to 5pm.

European Echoes at Genk & Grangemouth

Primitive Politics of Little England & the intellectual Eunuchs’! WHAT often passes for the left in Britain today is basically anti-European or with Bob Crow and his RMT union crudely just no2eu, and the same goes for the rump Socialist Party, formerly Militant. This is the primitive politics of little England and the political Eunuchs. Yet, when we contrast two recent industrial disputes: that of Ineos at Grangemouth in Scotland where the workers and their union, Unite, was decisively beaten last week, and that of the car workers at Ford in Genk, near Limburg in Belgium, were the ACV union forced the employers to negotiate a respectable settlement. Why did the Belgium ACV union prove a more substantial foe than Britain's Len McCluskey and Unite? The explanation is that the trade union tradition in much of Europe is often more in tune with a culture of 'initiativa' in so far as the workers in places like Belgium, France, Spain, Greece, Italy, operate in a more unpredictable way using political initiative and cunning to defeat their employers. Often these European workers are less disciplined and law-abiding than the Brits. And sometimes they don't even pay their union dues so readily as their English brothers, but they are often more courageous, that means less afraid of the police, than the Anglo-Saxon and the German trade unionists. At Grangemouth almost as soon as Fred Radcliffe announced his plan to close the oil plant in Grangemouth, Mr. McCluskey, his stewards and the workforce caved-in. At Genk, a year ago when Ford decided on closure of the plant in December 2014, the Belgium workers immediately set-up barricades at the factory gates, and according to Jack Ewing in yesterday's International Herald Tribune set about 'penning up 6,000 newly built Mondeo cars, S-Max minivans and Galaxy vans that had already been promised to customers – creating a traffic jam that would effectively shut down production for months – the workers were not going to make things easy for Ford.' This action forced Ford to deal with the union. Ford ultimately got a settlement in Genk but the cost was high at $750 million merely to settle with the 4,000 blue-collar workers, or just about $190,000 per worker. The cost for the white-collar workers will make it higher. Jack Ewing in the International Herald Tribune [IHT] writes: 'That cost of layoffs is substantially higher than in the United States, where Ford set aside $374 million in 2009 to cover severance costs for 2,400 workers, or about $155,000 each. Moreover, European labor law is much more favorable to unions than in the United States and tends to support workers in their tradition of militancy. In Genk, workers prevented the plant from operating normally for more than four months and received unemployment benefits for some of the time they did so.' Genk is a city of 65,000, many of them descendants of Italians, Turks or Moroccans who came decades ago to dig coal. The closure of Ford at Genk will let Ford consolidate production and mean that the next generation of production of Mondeo, the Kuga SUV, the S-Max and some other vehicles at a factory in Valencia in Spain. But justified or not, this decision has left a sense betrayal in Genk that has enraged people with the result that Mr.Dries, the mayor, was seriously anxious about violence. The IHT reports; 'Two weeks after Ford announced the closing, about 170 Belgium workers rode chartered buses to the main Ford plant in Cologne, Germany, where top management was meeting. The workers threw firecrackers and burned tire outside the factory gate. About a dozen people were arrested after they managed to break through security and into the Ford grounds in an unsuccessful effort to confront Mr. Odell.' The Belgium union officials say most of the protesters were peaceful and that 'the rowdiness was just the Belgium way of doing things'. Peter Kunnen, a lead negotiator for theACV-CSC union that represents Ford workers, said: 'A tire in Belgium – that is no problem [but] in Germany this is a big problem,' It is important to understand that if British trade unionism is to become more successful it will have to adopt other tactics that are more European. But this is too much for the rather narrow, small-minded and amatuer British left to grasp.

Blacklist Talks Lead to Walk Out

THE first talks to take place between blacklisted workers and representatives of the blacklist compensation scheme last night ended in acrimony as the delegation from the Blacklist Support Group walked out of the meeting in disgust at what they described as "piss take" proposals. The Blacklist Support Group delegation, made up exclusively of blacklisted workers, Dave Smith, Steve Kelly and Roy Bentham, met with John Taylor ex-chief executive of ACAS, Richard Slaven (partner, Pinsent Mason solicitors) and Daryl Taylor who were representing the blacklist compensation scheme. The meeting held at the offices of Pinsent Masons solicitors in the City of London ended in acrimony when the delegation of blacklisted workers walked out following blunt exchanges. Roy Bentham, blacklisted joiner from Liverpool and UCATT member said: 'These are not proposals designed for genuine negotiations. It is a piss take masquerading as a publicity stunt. We were not prepared to continue with the charade. The blacklist compensation scheme press release claims they are making this offer because of their altruistic concerns for blacklisted workers. If the firms have really turned over a new leaf, they can prove it by offering jobs to blacklisted workers on Crossrail and other major construction projects. Blacklisting breached our human rights, forced us into years of unemployment and made our families suffer financially. Why is a celebrity whose phone has been hacked, worth so much more than the human rights of a building worker? If there was any justice in the world, the directors implicated should be on their knees begging our forgiveness. We will settle for offers of employment, full compensation and a public inquiry into this squalid conspiracy. These blacklisting wretches have the brass neck to offer us a thousand pounds in compensation. They can shove their grand, right up their profit margin.' Attached pic (L-R) Steve Kelly, Dave Smith, Roy Bentham Blacklist Support Group video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlCa8yQmZ70 blog: www.hazards.org/blacklistblog facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/blacklistSG/

Grass Roots Left: 'For a rank & file free from interference of appointed full-time officials'

[Third] National conference in Birmingham. Saturday 9th November 2013: 12 noon to 4pm. Comfort Inn Conference room Station Street, B5 4DY. Birmingham City centre Opposite New St Station: Also only a short walk from Snow Hill & Moor St stations. This meeting is open to members of UNITE the union, their families & friends. Fellow trade unionists who are supporters the Grass Roots left initiative are also most welcome to attend. Refreshments are available from the hotel's bar on the ground floor. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unite, leverage & Grangemouth: Jerry Hicks BBC Radio 5 live 1st Nov on the Victoria Derbyshire programme: http://bbc.in/1aqxb5r http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03ffflz then "Listen Now" & wind fwd to 1hr 20mins

Anti-Workfare Protest in Ashton-under-Lyne

TODAY some 20 protesters demonstrated outside Ashton Job Centre calling on customers to 'BOYCOTT WORKFARE'. The response of the cliants was mostly sympathetic, but the management called the police who tried to keep order in the street outside as people handed out leaflets insisting that there be 'No Work for Dole - Only Work for pay'. This action was supported by the Tameside Unemployed Workers Alliance, Tameside Trade Union Council (TUC) and the Manchester Peoples Alliance. A loud hailer was employed to castigate the staff of the job centre for supporting the 'forced labour' policy of the current government and banners were raised. The leaflet declares: 'The DWP continues to refuse to publish the names of charities and businesses where tens of thousands of unemployed people are being made to work without pay.' It seems that already Wetherspoons, Argos, Shoezone, The Red Cross, and Superdrug have dropped out of the scheme since the begining of this year. At one point a crowd of young sympathisers congregated across the street to shout their support for the protest. Because of the success of this event it is likely that the will be other such protests. Visit Boycott Workfare www.boycottworkfare.org

Scruffy Workmen in Hoodies Wreak Havoc in Lovely Hampshire Village : Bosses say: 'Industrial Strife, NOT IN MY BACKYARD!'

IS NO WHERE safe these days from those hordes of the uncouth horny-handed labourers. The miners can knock shit out of each other in our Northern towns and at Olgreave or up North in Sunderland, but now these people are invading the land of the southern swine at Lymington Town Sailing Club, or Limewood Hotel in the New Forest, or Highclere Castle in Hampshire where Downton Abbey was filmed, damn-it, this is all too much for the likes of southerners such as journalist Dominic Lawson, the brother of Nigella, in yesterday's Sunday Times, David Cameron in Parliament this week, and editor Paul Dacre's Daily Mail. These grimy-faced tribes of northern working-men have been descending on the doorsteps of managing directors and frightening the horses. It seems that this Leverage campaign by the Unite union is having a significant effect , because according to Dominic Lawson in yesterday's Sunday Times: 'that last week a manager at Grangemouth petrochemical facility in Stirlingshire – which had been besieged by the union's activists. It was during the school holidays and the director was telephoned by his wife to be told that a “mob” had appeared on their doorstep. Children in the street had apparently also been co-opted by this band of brothers “to portray me as someone evil... it had quite an impact on my kids. It is hard to find words for the lunacy of their behaviour.' Another director from the same firm Ineos has described his plight to the Daily Mail [31st, Oct. 2013} thus: 'They have send [sic] flying squads of protesters to dozens of businesses we have links with. The[y] put leaflets through the door of pretty much every house in Lyndhurst where we have our headquarters. My daughter received a poster explaining what a terrible person I am.' 'Lunacy' indeed! We know that these folk who run and write in newspapers like the Sunday Times, The Sun, and the Daily Mail, who are themselves incomers in leafy Cotswold places like Chipping Norton and Morton-in-the-Marsh don't want to have their lunches spoiled at their favourite restaurants by gangs of protesters waving banners and even in one case carrying an effigy of a giant rat. We all now know thanks to the widespread publication of the activities of some residents in the Home Counties whereby friends and neighbours of David Cameron such as Rebekah Brooks, former chief executive of News International, and Andy Coulson, former editor of the now defunct News of the World, may dwell in these leafy towns swap horses and shag each other's arses off. In The Diary of a Chambermaid, the French writer Mirabeau puts words in the mouth of Mademoiselle Célestine who draws the conclusion which the reader is also invited to draw: 'However much riffraff are vile, they are never as vile as decent people'.

Blacklist Group To Target Laing O'Rourke

THE Blacklist Support Group is targeting Laing O'Rourke at the Cheesegrater construction project as part of the TUC Day of Action on blacklisting. Assemble 7am - Wednesday 20th November Laing O'Rourke Cheesegrater Leadenhall Street City of London (Nearest tube: Liverpool Street) One of the most high profile building sites in the UK is being targeted because Laing O'Rourke and their wholly owned electrical subsidiary Crown House are both proven subscribers to the Consulting Association blacklist. Laing O'Rourke are a defendant in the High Court claim being brought by Guney Clark & Ryan solicitors on behalf of blacklisted workers and supported by the Blacklist Support Group. Crown House was one of the major electrical contractors that attempted to cut electricians wage rates by 35% when they pulled out of the JIB national agreement during the failed BESNA fiasco in 2012. Organise transport - Bring your banners- let's make this one a major set piece in the battle against the blacklist Spread the word - splash it all over social media This is an official TUC Day of Action on blacklisting - we need to mobilise to make sure the blacklisting firms get the message. Own Up! Clean Up! Pay Up! Jobs for blacklisted workers Fully independent public inquiry No public contracts for blacklisting firms