London posties rally over pay

by New Worker correspondent

Thousands of posties rallied outside Parliament last week after walking out in their latest round of strikes in the run-up to Christmas. Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) said it was the biggest postal workers’ demonstration in living memory.
    Many wore pink CWU hi-vis vests, waving flags and holding placards that read “strike to win” and “save our Royal Mail”. The union says Royal Mail has imposed a 2 per cent increase on members without consultation and that it is refusing to treat its employees with respect.
    “They’re fighting for their jobs, their livelihood, and the service that they provide to the public,” says Dave Ward, the general secretary of the CWU.

    "Postal workers want to get on with serving the communities they belong to, delivering Christmas gifts and tackling the backlog from recent weeks,” Ward said. "But they know their value, and they will not meekly accept the casualisation of their jobs, the destruction of their conditions and the impoverishment of their families”.

    The CWU says more strikes will follow throughout December if Royal Mail management refuses to respond realistically to the union’s demands.

George Johannes: freedom fighter and communist

by Theo Russell

Comrade George Johannes, a member of the South African Communist Party (SACP), the African National Congress and for several years the New Communist Party, passed away in Rome last week. He was 78. He will be greatly missed by many comrades who knew him in the NCP.
    He was a member of the NCP for several years when he lived in exile the UK and later served at the South African High Commission in London from 1998 to 2005, first as Political Counsellor and then as the Deputy High Commissioner.

    After returning to South Africa, he worked at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (foreign ministry) in Pretoria as Director for the UK, Ireland and Benelux Countries.

    George was a frequent visitor to Scotland, before and after the end of apartheid, and Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) is home to the George Johannes Collection archive.

    George joined the African National Congress in 1970, and his varied roles included: journalist with Radio Freedom in Angola and Zambia: Administrative Secretary of the Department of Information and Publicity in Lusaka; Chairperson, ANC Youth Section, London; Member of Editorial Board of Sechaba, the ANC’s official journal; member of the Regional Political Committee of the ANC UK Region; Administrative Secretary of the ANC Office in London; and ANC representative at the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) in Budapest.
    In 2007 George became Deputy Head of Mission in the German capital and was posted to Berlin. In April 2009 he was posted to Bern, where he became South African Ambassador to the Swiss Confederation, the Principality of Liechtenstein, and the Holy See (the Vatican), and in February 2021 he met Pope Francis himself.
    After leaving the diplomatic service slightly more than a year ago, George continued teaching at a Pontifical University in Rome. He died on 30th November 2022 at the Generalate House of the Missionaries of Mariannhill in Rome, where he had been staying with the community of Mariannhill priests and brothers from November 2021. The congregation has its foundation in South Africa.
    George’s former wife, Jan, wrote that “he was living, and died, in a home for priests in Rome. Comrade George, my former husband - we were together for over 30 years - and father of my children Charlotte (grandchildren Jack and Zuri) and Daniel Johannes.
    “We lived through the crucial years of struggle, and life was often tough. Banu, his wife and son Liam, 12, live in Munich. Sad news and he will be missed".
    Many in the NCP have fond memories of George who they recall as a warm, humorous and charismatic comrade.

Let the world hear China's voice

By Liang Xiao

With nearly 50 years of diplomatic experience, Liu Xiaoming, who served as ambassador of China to the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2021, considers promoting the deepening of understanding between the Chinese and people of other countries a top priority for China's diplomats.
    But the wider public mostly knows him for a comparison he made eight years ago in an opinion piece for the Daily Telegraph. Liu likened Japanese militarism to Harry Potter's arch-villain Lord Voldemort following then Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine where Japan's war dead, including 14 Class-A World War II war criminals, are worshiped. Liu wrote at the time, "If militarism is like the haunting Voldemort of Japan, the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo is a kind of Horcrux, representing the darkest parts of that nation's soul."
    The article soon became the topic of worldwide discussion. Within 10 days, Liu was invited by almost every major British television and radio networks for live interviews. On 3rd January 2014, he appeared on ITV's News at Ten, explaining to correspondent John Ray that "Lord Voldemort will not be destroyed if you do not destroy all the seven Horcruxes. And I made the comparison because militarism has not been completely destroyed [in Japan]." Five days later, during an interview with Jeremy Paxman on BBC2's Newsnight, Liu quoted Winston Churchill—those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it—to elaborate on China's position and warn the international community to beware of the revival of militarism in Japan.
    In the years that followed, Liu gave many interviews, covering everything from China's stance on COVID-19 and Hong Kong to the country's relationship with the UK, pitting him against many of Britain's best known TV presenters and interviewers.
    With his 11 years of service in London, Liu became the longest-serving Chinese ambassador in the history of China-UK relations and the longest-serving ambassador-level diplomat since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. These feats aside, Liu deems three other records in China's diplomatic history to be his proudest achievements: During his time as ambassador to the UK, he made more than 700 speeches, wrote more than 170 articles for the mainstream press and gave more than 170 interviews, including 29 live ones, to major Western media outlets. On 9th October, Liu's new book, a bilingual compendium of his live interviews with British media published by Beijing Publishing Group under the title Sharp Dialogue, became the latest addition to that list.
    The compilation comes with the recommendation of several high-level dignitaries and scholars, including former Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and former Commercial Secretary to the UK Treasury Jim O'Neill.
    "The huge value of this book is it provides a unique case study of how Ambassador Liu Xiaoming made valuable pioneering efforts from the Chinese Embassy in the UK to make an optimal impact to 'let the world hear the voice of China'," Alistair Michie, Secretary General of the British East Asia Council, wrote.
    At the book launch, Liu shared his belief that as China is increasingly put under global spotlight, the world is eager to know more about the country. However, the majority of people in Western countries know very little about China.
    "We should improve our ability to engage in international communication to tell China's story well, make the voice of China heard, understood, and recognized. We should present a true, multi-dimensional and comprehensive China to the world. Let the world see a reliable, admirable and respectable image of China," he explained.
    During a recent interview Liu also touched on the high expectations he holds for the younger generations, especially for Chinese students studying overseas.
    "When I was in the UK, I reached out to many universities; this is a good way to make more young people know about China. Another reason is that the biggest percentage of overseas students in the UK hails from China," Liu said. He hopes these students can become good storytellers, telling their classmates, teachers, neighbors, and so on, about the great changes taking place in China, in their hometowns, as well as communicating their own experiences.
    "I've said this many times: Every Chinese student studying abroad is a Chinese ambassador".
Beijing Review

Sharp Dialogue by Liu Xiaoming is published by the Bejing People’s Publishing House. The bilingual 448 pages paperback is available from the Guanghwa bookshop, 112 Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1D 5EJ for £23.70. It can also be ordered online from Cypress Books at https://cypressbooks.com/ ( plus £3.20 postage and packing)

Charity Begins at Home…

by New Worker correspondent

But not for some working in the burgeoning charity sector like the staff at Shelter which was founded way back in December 1966. It emerged from the efforts of Bruce Kenrick, the Church of Scotland Minister who was doing missionary work in west London’s Notting Hill, then the stamping ground of notorious slum landlord Peter Rachman who had a violent way of dealing with those behind with the rent for one of his empire of grotty overcrowded properties. The Notting Hill Housing Trust, also founded by Kendrick in 1963, continues today as a major housing association owning thousands of properties.
    Shelter had the good fortune to be launched ten days after the BBC first broadcast Cathy Come Home by Jeremy Sandford and Ken Loach which exposed effects of homelessness in Britain.
    It soon became the leading body for advice with housing problems, and it campaigns for tenant rights spending much time lobbying local and central governments.
    It spends about 21 per cent of its revenue on fund raising, a figure which might raise a few eyebrows, but the charity world is a cut-throat business. Shelter faces brutal competition from children in need and fluffy polar bears seeking the nation’s conscience money. In comparison bedraggled homeless people and people sitting in mouldy rooms do not look very cute.
    Its latest Annual Report shows Shelter has an overall income of £59,699,000, of which £41 million came from donations and legacies, with £10 million from grants and contracts and £7 million from its shops. Its expenditure was £59,720,000 which suggests they are doing their job, spending rather than saving, It has assets worth £31 million which is not unreasonable giving that it needs a London base and a network of offices to do its job.
    The highest paid member of staff was the CEO, on £132,625. Shelter claim it is very ethical as its median salary was £28,104, a ratio against the highest salary of 4.72:1. However salaries for van drivers and assistants in their shops start at £19,000.
    Shelter had 1,335 employees, 118 on fund raising, with about 800 giving direct support, both in person and remotely. The CEO get £99.34 for each staff member, chicken-feed to bankers.
    Such is the institutional background of the current strike which starts on Monday until the Sunday before Christmas. The issue, unsurprisingly, is pay. In early November 85 per cent of the charity’s Unite branch voted to reject a three per cent pay offer, which Unite describes as a huge real terms pay cut.
    At the time of the vote, General Secretary Sharon Graham said that “Rather than sit on ever expanding reserves, Shelter should be paying its workers a fair pay rise”.
    She has a point, its last reported reserves were £14.5 million, comfortably above their target of £8.9 million.
    One of the strikers added that: “The work we undertake, particularly in frontline services, is so valuable and clients depend on our teams. But that shouldn’t mean they have to sacrifice a decent and dignified living because the work they are drawn to is in this sector. At the very base level, absolute bare minimum, those working for a housing charity shouldn't be experiencing housing insecurity as a result of being unable to pay rent.”
    Regional Officer Peter Storey warned that: “Strike action will inevitably cause substantial disruption to the services that Shelter provides. However, the organisation has created this dispute through the arrogant and high-handed manner in which it has treated its loyal workers.”
    This is not the first time Shelter workers have been involved in a pay battle in which strike action was at least threatened. In 2008 strike action took place while in both 2014 and 2018 industrial action was called off at the very last minute. In the latter case a four per cent deal composed of 2.25 per cent consolidated, plus 1.75 per cent unconsolidated paid at a flat rate, worth about £500 for each was secured after management offered a paltry one per cent. That dispute also saw 100 Shelter workers join Unite.
    This time round, in March, Shelter made a three per cent offer alongside a one-off £250 payment. Since then the one–off payment was increased to £1,500. This was still rejected, partly because it would actually make things worse for some workers. This came about because it would push the lowest paid over thresholds which would prevent them claiming working tax credits and Universal Credit to top up their low earnings.
    The wishy-washy left magazine Tribune recently interviewed three Shelter workers about the dispute. One Mark, who was formerly homeless himself, reported he relies on a foodbank twice a month, and his general quality of life has rapidly deteriorated in the past year.
    He also noted that when Shelter workers suggested flat rate consolidated increases to benefit the lowest paid, Management, responded that this would weaken the pay structure within Shelter, meaning the pay rise of those promoted wouldn’t be worth as much.
    Another staff member, Sarah, herself a twenty year veteran told Tribune that in the 2008 dispute: “They tried to impose contractual changes on us. Historically, there’s been disputes around Shelter actively going after our pay and pension contributions”, and “I’ve never had an inflation-based increase in pay in the twenty years I’ve been here.”
    The result of this pattern is a charity set up to tackle issues like housing insecurity now exacerbating housing insecurity among its own staff. “A lot of our staff are young private renters based in London,” says Sarah. “They’re caught up in the very housing emergency that they themselves are campaigning on.”
    She concluded by pointing out that Shelter workers urgently need a consolidated increase instead to get them through the coming winter months and beyond. Unless this is done condition will worsen after next April when it comes harder to claim means-tested benefits.
    Lucy, a London based Shelter worker told Tribune that: “It’s commonplace for staff to have no money left at the end of the month. I have colleagues who have fallen into arrears with bills, are eating less to cut down on the cost of food, and we hear constant accounts of staff suffering with stress and anxiety.”
    All three complained that Shelter spends too on external contracts and consultants and that in common with many charities management take advantage of dedicated workers “where committed and passionate workers are made to feel that they should put up with attacks on pay and conditions out of misguided notion of philanthropic instinct”.
    The anonymous Sarah added that management: “Know that most people that come to work for Shelter are very committed to Shelter’s cause. And I think they play on it. They expect charity workers just to put up low pay really and not complain.” Winning this dispute, conclude would “to send a message to charity sector workers that they can organise for union recognition and fair pay”.