Support the Weetabix strikers!

by New Worker correspondent

London trade unionists were out leafleting and collecting for the Weetabix strikers outside Sainsbury’s on Kilburn High Road last week.
    Some 80 engineers at the Weetabix plants in Kettering and Corby are taking industrial action against new ‘fire-and-rehire’ contracts, which would leave them up to £5,000 per year worse off.
    It began with two-day mid-week walk-outs in September following the break-down of talks in the summer between their union, Unite, and management. Now the strikers have stepped up their campaign, moving to a four-day stoppage each week.
    Weetabix is the largest cereal manufacturer in the UK, exporting to over 80 countries, and has production facilities in Europe, North America, and East Africa with a combined global workforce of 1,800 employees. It was taken over by an American company, Post Holdings Inc, in 2017.
    Weetabix Management claim the dispute has nothing to do with fire-and-rehire – but this was dismissed by Unite leader Sharon Graham this week. “These attacks are totally unjustified,” she said. “They are a serving of corporate greed. And what’s more, although Weetabix deny it, we have irrefutable evidence that they are using ‘fire-and-rehire’ strategies.”
    Last year Weetabix turnover grew by five per cent to £325 million and profits leapt by almost 20 per cent to £82 million.

Pickets out in force in London!

By New Worker correspondent

Pickets were out in force at RATP’s London United bus depot in Harlesden last week after peace talks broke down over proposed attacks on conditions and real terms pay cuts.
    The London United dispute is a result of RATP seeking to use the coronavirus pandemic as cover to slash the pay and conditions of drivers. Following four days of negotiations Management made an offer for the outstanding pay increases for 2019 and 2020 and also sought to introduce new contract clauses. The pay offer fell well below the expectations of members and the proposed changes to conditions had not been previously discussed, and as such Unite was unable to propose the offer to members at this stage.
     London United is owned by RATP which is Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens, a French state owned company which has branched out from running most of the public transport in the Greater Paris area where it carried about 3.3 billion passengers per year before the pandemic.
     It presently operates in 13 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the United States, notably Texas, with 64,000 people, claiming to be the world’s fourth largest public transport company. Despite claiming that last year was one of successive crises the company’s turnover was £4,700 million. Christine Chardon, the chief executive of their London based operation, saw her pay dramatically increased from £196,000 to £363,000. Three cheers for equal pay!
     Originally both Stamford Brook and Hounslow Heath depots heavily voted for industrial action but turnout was too low to legally join the action already underway at London United’s five other depots at Fulwell, Hounslow, Park Royal, Shepherd’s Bush and Tolworth garages. These five depots were on strike on Wednesday and will be joined on the 16th by the two latest recruits. As a consequence they had to be re-balloted.
     Unite the union say negotiations broke down last week when the company’s proposed pay offers to resolve the 2019 and 2020 pay claims were well below expectations and at the same time Management also attempted to alter drivers’ contracts.
     Unite regional officer Michelle Braveboy welcomed the result saying: “This is a significant and welcome development, the strike action will now intensify.
     “The drivers who have been considered key workers throughout the dispute are rightly asking how on earth RATP believes it is acceptable to cut drivers' pay in real terms and undermine their conditions, when they have gone above and beyond the call of duty to keep London moving”.
     She concluding by lobbing the ball into RATP’s court by saying “If increasing disruption to bus services is to be avoided then RATP must make a significantly improved pay offer and end its attempts to undermine its workers’ conditions”.
     Other RATP subsidiaries such as London Sovereign have seen drivers reluctantly voting to accept a pay rise of 1.25 percent and a one-off payment of £500 which is only 0.5 per cent bigger than the first offer. Over at Quality Line drivers voted in favour of a pathetic one per cent pay rise. Why does Unite not coordinate its action across the whole of London or better still across the country?

 

Putting the boot in

by New Worker correspondent

One of Britain’s oldest and most effective trade unions recently secured an important legal victory which could pave the way for workers they represent securing huge pay rises. The ruling overturns an attempt by the bosses to impose caps on workers’ earnings.
The issue in question was actually that which led to the creation of the union in 1907. For the union is the 4,000 strong TUC affiliated Professional Footballers' Association.
    Originally founded as the Association Football Players’ and Trainers’ Union (AFPTU) in Manchester’s Imperial Hotel it succeeded a short lived Association Footballers’ Union (AFU) formed in 1898 and dissolved in 1901. The AFU had tried and failed to relax restrictions on players moving from one club to another and to prevent bosses introducing a maximum wage of £4 per week for players in the Football League.
    Two years after its foundation, bosses, in the shape of the Football Association (FA) withdrew recognition of the Union, a threat of strike action in response was met by the FA banning altogether players belonging to the union. Membership fell as players put their jobs before their union card, but Manchester United players stood firm, forcing the cancellation of a 1909 match. A prominent player, Tim Coleman of Everton gave his support shaming the FA, which encouraged members to return to the union and forced the FA to allow bonus payments.However, a later botched court case on the transfer question nearly broke the union.
    During the slump in 1922 clubs arbitrarily cut the maximum wage from £9 to £8, a move successfully opposed by the union. But major successes had to wait until the 1950s.
    When Jimmy Hill, footballer and later commentator became secretary of the Players' Union in 1956, it became the PFA. In 1957, the League’s maximum wage of £20 was scrapped, and the first £100 a-week player came in 1961. The age of footballers making the front pages for their drunken antics in sunny climes and tumbling out of nightclubs at 4 am finally dawned.
    In 1963 the PFA won a High Court case which declared that the “retain and transfer” system was an unreasonable restraint of trade. The commercialisation of sport clearly has its downsides, but unions are primarily there to get good deals for their members.
    Never very militant the union registered under the Industrial Relations Act 1971, which caused its departure from the TUC, but it returned in 1995. In the late 1990s it found itself in court for banning a woman football agent from its annual dinner. The case eventually cost £200,000.To compensate it now actively promotes women footballers so that they can in future misbehave in posh hotels just like the men.
In the same spirit of promoting inclusion, last month the PFA pointed out that although Asian and Asian British people make up almost 7.5 per cent of the British population, in the 2019/2020 season just eight players made first-team appearances across the Premier. To remedy this it launched its Asian Inclusion Mentoring Scheme (AIMS).
    In November 2018 the PFA had a revolt from its members over its management practices,which is presently unresolved with the much complained about CEO still in post.
    On the matter of the present dispute PFA’s CEO, Gordon Taylor OBE no less, said: “We were disappointed that the EFL decided to introduce salary cap proposals, which were voted through without the proper consideration or consultation with the PFNCC. As a result, in August 2020, the PFA served a Notice of Arbitration on the EFL stating the introduction of the new rules were in breach of obligations under the constitution of the PFNCC. We are pleased the panel upheld the PFA’s claim".
Needless to say not all players are in the multi-millionaire category. Comparatively minor injury can end a playing career, which in the best cases comes to an end decades before the pension age. To help get non-playing players it funds several education programmes for ex and current players. One is a physiotherapy degree course at Salford University. Media-savvy footballers can even be taught to be sports journalists.
    In line with ancient trade union practice it provides medical care including paying for injured players to attend the Lilleshall Sports Injury Rehabilitation centre in Shropshire for physiotherapy and sports injury.
    PFA is also a campaigning union. Recently it took up the problem of racist abuse directed at black players. Unfortunately some football fans are like Trotskyites and SNP supporters in the level of abuse they hurl at their enemies. Writing to the CEOs of Facebook and Twitter it pointed out that “The language used is debasing, often threatening and illegal. It causes distress to the recipients and the vast majority of people who abhor racism, sexism and discrimination of any kind. We have had many meetings with your executives over the years but the reality is your platforms remain havens for abuse”.
    PFA demands that the social media giants block racist or discriminatory material with an approved verification process for users and they urge co-operating properly with the police in such matters.
    It is also demanded more research into neurodegenerative disorders as the affect footballers, an a issue recently highlighted by the fact that many prominent footballers from the 1960s and 70s have been diagnosed with dementia, perhaps caused by frequent heading of footballs which were much heavier than now. The PFA is now funding such research.

Cuts on the campus

by New Worker correspondent

A dispute is bubbling away at the University of East London (UEL) where the University and College Union has warned of industrial action against the university’s plan to impose compulsory job cuts.
     Balloting it presently underway. The issue is over ten compulsory job cuts, including seven academic posts, and the effects of the additional workload which remaining staff would face. Last July the university said it needed to make 134 people redundant due to an expected decline in student numbers due to Covid-19, but the now the university is forecasting higher student enrollments than last year. These cuts would mean 92 jobs would go in total, after 82 staff agreed on voluntary redundancy. The latest cuts target senior academics in the social sciences and the university’s architecture departments.
     The union said it sent a worrying message to students that the university was cutting almost 100 jobs despite the university forecasting an increase in student enrollments, and with staff workloads already at unbearable levels.
     In addition UCU argues UEL is acting unlawfully and is considering a legal challenge on grounds of lack of meaningful consultation, unfair selection, unfair dismissal, victimisation and discrimination. Six of the seven academics facing the sack are over 50 years old, five are of black and minority ethnic heritage, and five are female. This, said UCU makes the university’s pious claims of commitment to equality and diversity “ring hollow when it treats staff like this”.
     By a strange coincidence no less than four of the seven academics facing the sack are also UCU activists, including the branch chair and vice-chair.
     The university claimed it has been acting properly stating that “Following an extensive consultation, that commenced at the beginning of July, at the end of both the legal process and then a further nine weeks of consultation with at-risk individuals – demonstrating the university’s commitment to seek all reasonable alternatives to compulsory redundancy – eight roles remain at risk and efforts are continuing to identify suitable redeployment opportunities for those people.
    Evidently unconvinced UCU regional support official Amanda Sackur said: “UEL staff are reporting unmanageable workloads but the university is insisting on more cuts. The decision to sack another 10 staff on top of the 82 who have already accepted redundancy this year is completely unjustified”, adding that “Most of the academic staff the university is trying to sack have protected characteristics, and we believe UEL has deliberately tried to get rid of UCU activists. It is outrageous that the university trumpets its commitment to diversity and equality and then attacks staff in this way. UEL now needs to step back from the brink, limit any further damage to its reputation, drop these disastrous cuts and engage meaningfully with us in finding alternate solutions”.
     On the same campus teachers at the London Design & Engineering College (LDE) are taking strike action over the dismissal of a National Education Union rep. This is one of those free schools where the headmaster is a law unto himself.
     Squashed into a corner of the UEL, it is far too small for the number of pupils and even lacks a playground. After a NEU rep raised health and safety concerns during the pandemic, the Head promptly sacked the rep saying she had no rights because she had been employed for less than two years.
     Even after a judge found the sacking was unjustified and instructed LDE management to reinstate her the bosses reneged on their promise to do so and another person was appointed in her place. The rep said she was unaware of any investigation and simply had a dismissal pack sent to her house.

London Workers’ Notes

by New Worker correspondent

In the good old days of the 1970s when trade union membership was twice what it is today, Tories frequently complained that trade unions would go on strike at the drop of a hat to get a pay rise. With few exceptions at present, trade unions are equally active but their energies seem to be almost entirely devoted to attempting to save jobs or prevent wage reductions that bosses are attempting to impose under the cover of the COVID-19 crisis.

Waltham Abbey

Essential supplies of Brussels sprouts, port, cranberry sauce and Stilton in and around London could be at risk as a result of a planned Christmas strike. Twelve drivers, employed by Harper & Guy Consulting Ltd at Sainsbury’s Waltham Abbey distribution centre, have voted unanimously for strike action in protest at being paid £12,000 less per year than those directly employed by Sainsbury’s. As a result, deliveries to about 100 Sainsbury’s stores in London and the south east will be severely affected during the six days of strikes before and after Christmas.
    The driver’s union, Unite, said that Sharper & Guy had point blank refused to discuss the pay claim for 2020 and parity pay.
    Regional officer Paul Travers thundered: “What we have here is one of the most flagrant cases of pay parity injustice that I have been involved with, as our members are getting paid £12,000-a-year less than their counterparts employed directly by Sainsbury’s doing the same job at the Waltham Abbey depot.
    “You don’t have to be a mathematical genius to work out that 12 times £12,000 is nearly £150,000-a-year and that someone is benefiting from that figure – and it is definitely not our members.
    “Ironically, Harper & Guy Consulting Ltd has pay parity with Sainsbury’s drivers for all the agency drivers it employs at this depot which just adds insult to injury for our 12 members who are being treated appallingly.”
    The union’s national officer for road transport and logistics, Matt Draper, added: “This dispute further puts the spotlight on Sainsbury’s desire to pursue its misguided ‘race to the bottom’ strategy.” He also pointed out: “We have opposed the introduction of these lower paid ‘new generation’ contracts within Sainsbury’s. The way these drivers at Waltham Abbey are being contemptuously treated shows Sainsbury’s is implicated at arm’s length in the actions Zero Hours–Zero Benefits of Harper & Guy Consulting Ltd.
    “Sainsbury’s needs to remember a ‘key worker’ is not just for the present COVID-19 emergency, but for the long-term as a contented workforce improves productivity.”

London Airport

Tuesday saw workers at Britain’s main airport, London Heathrow, who are directly employed by Heathrow Airport Limited (HAL) mount a socially distanced picket as part of a long-running dispute over savage wage cuts imposed on the workforce through a brutal fire and rehire programme. In addition, an advertising van toured the area condemning “Heathrow’s super-rich shareholders are jetting off with workers’ wages”, in which Heathrow’s chief executive officer John Holland Kaye was portrayed as the “Heathrow Grinch CEO is stealing workers’ wages”.
    These actions come after workers voted by 84 per cent in opposition to fire and rehire policies that will result some workers suffering permanent pay cuts of up to £8,000 per annum or a quarter of their take-home pay.
    The targeted strike action involves workers who are vital to the operation of the airport and includes: firefighters, engineers, campus security, baggage operations, central terminal operations, landside and airside operations.
     Unite warns that despite the union representing thousands of workers who will still be at work, HAL has refused to discuss its contingency plans for keeping the airport open and as a result the union has raised serious safety concerns.
     Unite regional co-ordinating officer Wayne King said: “Workers face losing their homes and surrendering their cars due to the savage cuts being imposed on them.”
    The union notes that the pay cuts are all about greed and not needed: “HAL and John Holland Kaye are guilty of using the COVID pandemic as cover for forcing through long-held plans to cut pay. If this was genuinely about the pandemic any cuts would have been temporary.”
    He added that: “Unite have tried to negotiate temporary pay cuts but Heathrow were simply not interested” and cast serious doubts on bosses claims that “under its ‘contingency plans’ Heathrow can operate safely but despite seeking the evidence to prove this, that information has not been forthcoming, raising serious questions about how the airport will operate during the strikes”.
    Three further days of strikes are planned before Christmas.

Camden

Amongst the workers most affected by the COVID-19 crisis are casual workers on zero-hours contracts. Just one example of this comes from the north London borough of Camden, where staff who have given years of service at the Kentish Town Sports Centre, which is presently closed, have been told they will not be receiving any furlough pay.
    The centre is managed by notorious contractor Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL) on behalf of the Labour-run council.
    An investigation by the local Camden New Journal newspaper discovered that staff working for five or more years were still on zero-hours contracts. One was Deena Mostafa, who has in the sales and reception team for five years, who had her weekly pay packet stopped in September. She said: “I am down £600 a month. We don’t qualify for things like free school meals, and life has come to a standstill.” This was because casual staff did receive furlough support based on their average weekly hours in March, but this is not the case now.
    Another member of staff added that: “We have been struggling. Due to this second lockdown I was hoping the furlough would continue, but they said only full-time will receive it. We are all casuals working full-time hours. It’s unfair. Most of my colleagues been working there for years but treated as if it didn’t matter.”
    Mostafa added: “What annoys us is that GLL haven’t even acknowledged we are staff. It is like we do not exist. It is unethical to leave people in a position like this. The only reason to keep us on these contracts is to save money and to be able to get rid of us when they want to.
    “They say they have no obligation to give us hours, and we have no obligation to take them – but that’s simply not true. We are obligated, as we need to earn a wage.”
    A local Unison branch organiser said the union was on the ball, and suggested the contract should be brought in-house to put staff on the same terms and protection as council staff , adding that the case “is another example of why zero hours should be scrapped. The council’s official stance is their contractors should not be using them – so this needs to become an iron-clad policy.”
    A Camden Council spokesman meekly said GLL would furlough employees who had a role to return to but that: “Very sadly this has meant some of the roles previously occupied by GLL staff on flexible hours have been reduced, meaning these staff will not have roles to return to.
    “The government must now provide councils and our partners in the charity sector with the necessary funding to support residents who lose their work back into employment or training.”
    GLL, which is a ‘not-for-profit’ spinoff from Greenwich Council, has form in this area. Founded in 1993, GLL runs leisure centres in more than a dozen London boroughs, as well as libraries in Bromley and Greenwich. It has over 50 local authority contracts and employs 14,000 staff nationally – with about 70 per cent of these workers on casual contracts. The ‘not-for-profit’ bit means it does not make pay-outs to shareholders, but to compensate it pays high salaries to senior managers.
    It was recently forced into a union recognition agreement by Unite at the south London borough of Lewisham. Unite regional officer, Onay Kasab, said: “Local authority leisure services, whoever the providers, face dire financial circumstances. It is a matter of public record that we want services in-sourced,” adding: “But where services are outsourced, the minimum requirement must be that trade unions are recognised.”
    GLL modestly describes itself as “an award winning charitable social enterprise which cares for its staff and local communities alike”. As can be seen from events in Camden, the reality is quite different.
    In the early stages of the pandemic it ‘generously’ offered its library and leisure centre workers across London an offer of six-months unpaid leave in return for the promise of a job when they returned. At the time Unite said it would subsequently lead to “drastic” cutbacks in work offered to those on casual contracts.
    The union accused the company of being in “real financial trouble” and said the “simple and straight forward” answer was for the service to go back into public ownership.
    “Local authorities must not wait until the company goes bust with all the unemployment and disruption this will cause to council services. Instead, they must act now to save jobs and much-appreciated public amenities.”

Battle of the Thames

By New Worker correspondent

 

 An ongoing battle is being fought by IWGB street union at the University of Greenwich on behalf of outsourced security officers employed by French management services company Sodexo. They are demanding hazard pay, which has already been granted to White British porters, but not the majority Black security officers have been denied it.

 Pointing out that the Thames-side university boasts of having an inclusive reputation that it purports to have IWGB complain that security officers, mostly BAME, have taken on additional responsibilities during the pandemic, but have not received any hazard pay or a bonus. At the same time porters, also employed by Sodexo and, mostly white British, have received a £300.00 per month bonus for working during the pandemic.

 Sodexo is taking disciplinary action against a security officer, Kingsley Osadolor, after a student complained about him being prevented from entering a university building without a mask. The officer argues was following the procedures that were set out unclearly to him in an extremely difficult environment, but he is now facing the threat of dismissal and made to bear the blame for unclear procedures handed down by Sodexo and University management.     

 After security officers spoke out on social media about the disciplinary action against Kingsley, Sodexo insisted all security officers sign a conduct and social media policy, which includes restrictions on their abilities to speak publicly about issues at work, in direct contravention of their statutory rights.

 In June the new Vice-Chancellor of the University of Greenwich said: “We have a duty to do better. Equality, diversity and inclusion are founding principles of our institution and core beliefs of our students and staff”. The university has also launched a campaign on campus describing outsourced staff as “our heroes” in thanks for their work during the pandemic. But actions speak louder than words, the University has so far declined to intervene.

            Maritza Castillo-Calle, who chairs the IWGB University of London branch, said: “The University of Greenwich has failed to put adequate health and safety policies in place and has relied on outsourced staff to pick up the slack during the pandemic. To refuse to give majority Black security officers bonuses for this extra work in line with those paid out to other White British staff is pure discrimination”.

 Umar Monday Usifoh, a security officer at University of Greenwich said: “We have happily taken on extra work for the University of Greenwich during the pandemic because we know we play a vital role in keeping the university safe and secure. However, the threatened action against Kingsley has made all of us feel intimidated and less able to do our jobs. We are all Kingsley”.

Danger Money

 By New Worker correspondent

Another dispute is brewing in Hackney, this time as part of a national campaign to secure a decent wage increase for local government workers.

After the rejection by Unite members of the 2.75 per cent wage offer for local government workers in England and Wales, local pay battles are now taking place. These individual battles are seen as pathfinders in the hope that local victories will persuade other local authorities to fall into line. This is the first skirmish, of what is called a “pathfinder” strategy.

Those involved are 32 drivers and passenger escorts on the borough’s school buses for disabled children in Hackney. The aim is to secure a one-off £500 payment and an extra day’s holiday for risking their health working through the pandemic. One of the reasons for choosing Hackney was that the Labour council had earlier reneged on an earlier local deal that would have given them a lump sum and made agency workers permanent employees.

Unite’s regional officer for London, Onay Kasab, said: “The national cost of living rise for 2020 has now been settled and this has been reluctantly conceded by our members.

“However, we feel that many of the issues in the national claim, such as the working time and annual leave elements, remain outstanding – and that there is scope for negotiations with local council employers.”

He also noted that there were serious concerns about Covid-19 measures on buses – specifically because buses with a capacity of 30 have over 20 children on them. No social distancing is possible and the ‘bubbles’ that are in force in schools are broken on buses where new ‘bubbles’ are formed.

This is part of a national campaign for a one-off £500 payment for frontline workers as compensation for the added pressures of working throughout the pandemic, a reduction in the working week to 35 hours from 36 with no loss of pay, and an extra day of holiday.

 

Victory at the Ministry of Justice!

By New Worker correspondent

 UVW members have overcome the odds winning a ballot for trade union recognition at the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) with a whopping 70 per cent vote in favour!

The victory has come just three weeks after the workers won full pay sick pay for Covid-19 related absences and some two months after the death of their colleague, cleaner and UVW member, Emanuel Gomes. Gomes’ death was mired in controversy with reports the MoJ ignored repeated warnings of potential Covid-19 infections and had put workers’ lives at risk through its refusal to provide full pay sick pay or face masks. Something which saw Labour’s Shadow Justice Minister, David Lammy MP, call for an official investigation.

This victory has come despite the MoJ contractor, OCS, subjecting the workers to a vicious campaign of union busting. The cleaners, security guards and porters have voted in favour of recognition of their union, United Voices of the World (UVW), in a statutory ballot administered by the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC). The UVW is a street union founded in 2014 that mainly represents outsourced migrant workers in London and beyond.

And this marks the first time that a non-TUC affiliated union has won a recognition deal in Whitehall.

The workers defied what the union called the OCS’s “shocking union busting” which led to the UVW submitting several complaints to the CAC. They say OCS offered pay rises to UVW activists if they agreed to transfer to other sites while blocking other key union members from attending meetings for the purposes of discussing recognition. The union claims the contractor also refused to provide employees with facemasks which prevented meetings between the workers and the union from taking place - something which saw the UVW lodge a formal complaint with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

The UVW has vowed to continue fighting until the Ministry of Justice ends outsourcing and hires the workers directly on equal terms and conditions with civil servants. To that end the union is going to also bring a case to Employment Tribunal arguing that outsourcing the entirely BAME and migrant workforce on inferior terms and condition to civil servants is a breach of the Equality Act 2010.

The union has also pledged to bring a Judicial Review against the Health and Safety Executive and the Ministry of Justice’s failure to mandate the use of face masks, which the union claims encourages employers to breach health and safety legislation.

Speaking after the result of the ballot was announced, one of the cleaners, Fatima Djalo, said the following: We have won, we have won, we have won. We beat them. We beat their union busting and won our rights. I’m delirious with happiness with this result. Now let’s go for full victory!”

Yet again UVW members have shown what can be done when workers organise and use their collective power to show the boss that they will not be intimidated. The fight isn't over and they still have a long way to go before their members are treated with the full equality and dignity that they deserve, but they are getting closer than ever!

Shutting the Sites

By New Worker correspondent

Last Friday saw campaigners demand that Labour-run Hackney Council cease work at construction sites in the north London borough. Organised by ShutTheSites, protesters picketed the Parkhaus development on Downs Road to demand developers close the site for the safety of workers and the wider community.

Local Labour Party member George Binette also said that such as cannot be considered essential work because they lack any social housing provision, which is what you would expect when one-bed flats start at £550,000 and features will include a rooftop pool.

Binette said: “It seems to me that profit has been put before people, with original guidelines on social distancing diluted with working practices on the sites.

“It is inherently impossible to have proper social distancing. You can’t say it’s two metres for the rest of the population, and less than that for construction workers.”

ShutTheSites protesters are also calling on the council to pause work at another local redevelopment, which includes social housing. The protestors say that all sites should be paused “unless the project was very near completion and it was a situation where people were going to be moving in in weeks or months”.

The group is also calling for the government furlough scheme to be unlocked for construction workers because this would pressure large construction companies into paying up as the crisis continue.

At present, brickies, sparks and scaffies face loss of all pay if not working despite the attendant difficulties faced in maintaining social distance and using the correct PPE [personal protective equipment] on-site, because most construction sites are not covered by the furlough scheme and many workers are paid on piecework rates rather than hourly.

Hackney Council said it follows government guidance by keeping work going whilst putting measures in place to protect workers and locals, and it has been understood to be working site-by-site putting protection measures in place. Berkeley Homes suspended work on the Woodberry Down Estate but has reopened, albeit with fewer staff.

Surreal times indeed…

by Oliver New, Secretary

(personal capacity)

Ealing Trades Union Council

It’s a very surreal time, not just because of the threat of infection. A right-wing Tory Government has finally noticed that big Magic Money Tree growing in the yard and they’ve flipped economic policy over from austerity to desperate spending and borrowing, including paying wages of inactive workers.

This wasn’t just made possible by the virus, it’s also because the trade unions and the radical leadership of the Labour Party helped to undermine the failing right-wing orthodoxy of neoliberalism.

Self-interest and the free market are no longer championed as the solution. Overnight, exploited delivery workers are recognised as key workers and previously ignored NHS staff are being extolled (although no pay rise, something we should also demand). There are, of course, many more vital workers who should be valued and paid more, including cleaners, carers, refuse collectors and food workers. Perhaps they could swap places and salaries with the City ‘trader’ parasites.

New Ways of Organising

We are all coming to terms with how we can organise with less meetings. Hopefully as this crisis unfolds solidarity and group support will win over hearts and minds. Community support groups are already springing up to support the vulnerable across communities. Many unions are also organising practical support for members in different ways. There are so many issues. Shop workers and others in constant contact with the public are at risk. Vulnerable zero-hours workers are facing poverty, little or no sick pay, limited rights at work.

Talks with employers are under way everywhere: schools are closed; privatised cleaners on the Underground are to get full sick pay if they have to self-isolate; PCS, the main civil service union, has requested a moratorium on tax office closures; talks have agreed reduced services on rail with safety provisions. Some employers have been good, others need to be named and shamed.

Meanwhile many union branches are starting to organise online with activists being asked to sign up to WhatsApp and especially to Zoom, a free app that enables video conferencing.

NHS Solidarity

Our local hospitals have been under huge pressure (how much worse if the Shaping a Healthier Future closure plans had gone through!). NHS staff at Ealing and elsewhere have been bravely working long hours. The main local hospital dealing with the virus, Northwick Park, became overloaded at one point even though we’re still in the early stages. The lack of protective clothing led to some nurses clothing themselves with bin bags.

Solidarity and support for NHS Staff has to be stepped up, especially the demand for all NHS staff to be tested. Please support the Keep Our NHS Public petition online – or see the Ealing Save Our NHS website.

There is no doubt that the weak response in the UK is heavily down to the huge under-funding of our NHS over the last decade. Meanwhile, Boris Johnson, like all weak bosses in a crisis, is trying to give himself draconian powers. From a quick reading, this includes powers to lock up people for reasons of quarantine or mental health, remove the obligation of local authorities to provide care, close ports and airports, and shut down gatherings. He tried to obtain these arbitrary powers for a period of two years without renewal – even longer than the anti-terrorism or wartime powers – but under pressure from the opposition parties and some of his own MPs it was agreed that they will be subject to review every six months.