by New Worker correspondent
On Tuesday the Office of National Statistics (ONS) confirmed what many of us have suspected for a long time, that the number of working days lost to strikes is highest since the bad old days of Margaret Thatcher drew to their miserable close. To be more precise, in 2022 some 2.4 million working days were lost. To find a higher number we have to go back all the way to 1989, when 4.1 million days were lost. To exceed 1989 will take a great deal of effort but as can be seen below from our selective samples, it is perfectly possible. It is certainly necessary with real pay falling dramatically.
The same batch of figures also shows real-term pay, excluding bonuses, fell by 3.6 per cent in the last quarter of the year, almost the largest since 2001.
Although workers won pay rises worth 6.7 per cent in the same quarter, that is still well below inflation. Whilst private sector workers got 7.3 per cent, that figure is distorted by city bankers taking the lion’s share. The 4.2 per cent secured by some public sector workers is effectively a pay cut.
Strike-wise the year ended with a bang. Some 843,000 working days were lost in December, when postal workers took action in Royal Mail’s busiest month. While action by driving instructors did not have such a great impact, the case of workers not known for militancy taking action is encouraging.
The Government rejoiced that the workforce has increased, with the ONS showing that many more younger people and students and older people between 50–64 now at work, this is likely to be a sign of desperation for many. Lack of support for students means that an evening or Saturday job, which was once a bonus, has now become a dire necessity. High energy prices will be seen to drive many of the early retired people off the golf course and freezing living rooms back to the workplace.
These are unlikely to be very secure jobs. The number of zero-hours contracts are now at a record high of 1.13 million. This shows the shame of the claim by Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt that the present (but rising) low levels of unemployment (only 3.7 per cent, which is supposed to be good) were an “encouraging sign of resilience”.
Hunt added: “The best thing we can do to make people’s wages go further is stick to our plan to halve inflation this year,” a statement which can easily be interpreted to mean that he will not be keen on opening the Treasury’s purse to finance much-needed pay rises for public sector workers – unless, of course, he is forced to by strike action.
The Resolution Foundation think-tank says that the picture is grim for most people, apart from the likely decline in inflation. That should have started already as wholesale gas prices have recently declined, but unsurprisingly gas bills have not.
Monday, February 27, 2023
Saturday, February 11, 2023
On the street;...
by New Worker correspondent
Outsourcing was one of the issues exercising the security guards employed by Bidvest Noonan belonging to the small street union, the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) at University College London (UCL) who joined in the massive day of strike action on Wednesday 1 February.
In addition to a demand for a £15.00 hourly rate (which is the equivalent to that paid in 2002), they are seeking an end to outsourcing, and union recognition. In October UCL attempted to break a IWGB strike by employing subcontracting workers on a lower rate of pay in an attempt to break the last IWGB strike, despite running a £90 million yearly surplus.
This was condemned by University and College Union and the IWGB as an intimidatory strike breaking tactic and as a violation of UCL’s theoretical commitment to parity on account of these workers receiving lower rates of pay.
The IWGB states that commitment to parity of terms and conditions with directly employed staff was won following IWGB strike action in 2019, while this resulted in improved pay, pension contributions and sick pay and annual leave entitlements full equality has not been achieved.
Matteo Tiratelli, UCU’s Anti-Casualisation Officer at UCL added: “Outsourcing creates terrible working conditions for workers on the lowest grades at UCL, yet UCL management is determined to keep up this discriminatory practice. It is one of several ways in which working conditions are being worsened across the board. All staff at UCL are seeing our pay fall behind inflation, our jobs casualised and rights stripped away, and it is sadly not just staff, but students who are paying the price.”
Yusuf Nur, a striking security guard, says: “I have young children and on the poverty pay I receive as an outsourced worker I am struggling to support them. I’ve been left with no choice but to strike - it’s the only way we can make our voices heard. After bullying, mistreatment and consistent basic errors with paying us our wages and pensions from Bidvest Noonan and neglect from UCL, we must fight for better conditions for each other and our families.”
The same union also claims victory in one of the north London borough of Barnet, which for two decades was held up as model of economical outsourcing by the Tory controlled council, who outsourced just about anything that was not nailed down.
Now under Labour control, 330 affected workers presently employed by outsourcing multinational Capita, (or Crapita to Private Eye readers) will be brought back in-house from 1 April.
2012 saw the Tory council hand over much of its services to Capita on decade-long contracts. Capita lived up to its nickname, with a decade of controversies including a multi-million-pound fraud and contracts running vastly over budget.
After the May elections Labour won control of the council, and although the contracts had already been due to end next year, the council has fast-tracked plans to bring some services back in house.
John Burgess, the union’s Barnet local government branch secretary declared: “This is good news for staff, good news for residents and good news for the services. I welcome the decision and look forward to welcoming back all the services back into Barnet Council where they all belong”.
He pointed out that after a decade of campaigning, and a start to bringing services in-house: “there are still many issues to address for our members who are being TUPE’d”.
“These include workplace inequalities such as staff being paid differently for the same role. Barnet UNISON is already seeking discussions with the council about harmonisation of the terms and conditions of the TUPE’d workforce”.
Another strike involving outsourced workers is taking place in the north-west London borough of Hounslow whose most lovable of workers, Parking Enforcement Officers, started a strike which could last until 5 March.
Employed by giant outsourcer Serco who last declared profits of £309.9 million, they are fighting for decent pay.
Neighbouring boroughs Ealing and Brent councils recently conceded a pay rise after strike action. Civil enforcement officers and CCTV operators in Ealing received a 9 per cent rise pay increase back dated to April 2022 with low paid new starters getting 11.94 per cent, with another eight per cent from next April, and extra annual leave entitlement. In comparison, in Brent, workers are getting a total increase of pay rise of 10.7 per cent from last April with nine per cent to come in April.
Unite’s general secretary, Sharon Graham said: “Serco and Hounslow council’s refusal to address the scourge of low pay is shameful. The truth is that the London Living Wage is not enough to live on. Serco is hugely wealthy. The Council and its outsourcer have the ability to pay workers more.
“The strike will inevitably mean that parking restrictions across the borough will fall apart. Bosses need to realise the workers have Unite’s total support.”
Outsourcing was one of the issues exercising the security guards employed by Bidvest Noonan belonging to the small street union, the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) at University College London (UCL) who joined in the massive day of strike action on Wednesday 1 February.
In addition to a demand for a £15.00 hourly rate (which is the equivalent to that paid in 2002), they are seeking an end to outsourcing, and union recognition. In October UCL attempted to break a IWGB strike by employing subcontracting workers on a lower rate of pay in an attempt to break the last IWGB strike, despite running a £90 million yearly surplus.
This was condemned by University and College Union and the IWGB as an intimidatory strike breaking tactic and as a violation of UCL’s theoretical commitment to parity on account of these workers receiving lower rates of pay.
The IWGB states that commitment to parity of terms and conditions with directly employed staff was won following IWGB strike action in 2019, while this resulted in improved pay, pension contributions and sick pay and annual leave entitlements full equality has not been achieved.
Matteo Tiratelli, UCU’s Anti-Casualisation Officer at UCL added: “Outsourcing creates terrible working conditions for workers on the lowest grades at UCL, yet UCL management is determined to keep up this discriminatory practice. It is one of several ways in which working conditions are being worsened across the board. All staff at UCL are seeing our pay fall behind inflation, our jobs casualised and rights stripped away, and it is sadly not just staff, but students who are paying the price.”
Yusuf Nur, a striking security guard, says: “I have young children and on the poverty pay I receive as an outsourced worker I am struggling to support them. I’ve been left with no choice but to strike - it’s the only way we can make our voices heard. After bullying, mistreatment and consistent basic errors with paying us our wages and pensions from Bidvest Noonan and neglect from UCL, we must fight for better conditions for each other and our families.”
The same union also claims victory in one of the north London borough of Barnet, which for two decades was held up as model of economical outsourcing by the Tory controlled council, who outsourced just about anything that was not nailed down.
Now under Labour control, 330 affected workers presently employed by outsourcing multinational Capita, (or Crapita to Private Eye readers) will be brought back in-house from 1 April.
2012 saw the Tory council hand over much of its services to Capita on decade-long contracts. Capita lived up to its nickname, with a decade of controversies including a multi-million-pound fraud and contracts running vastly over budget.
After the May elections Labour won control of the council, and although the contracts had already been due to end next year, the council has fast-tracked plans to bring some services back in house.
John Burgess, the union’s Barnet local government branch secretary declared: “This is good news for staff, good news for residents and good news for the services. I welcome the decision and look forward to welcoming back all the services back into Barnet Council where they all belong”.
He pointed out that after a decade of campaigning, and a start to bringing services in-house: “there are still many issues to address for our members who are being TUPE’d”.
“These include workplace inequalities such as staff being paid differently for the same role. Barnet UNISON is already seeking discussions with the council about harmonisation of the terms and conditions of the TUPE’d workforce”.
Another strike involving outsourced workers is taking place in the north-west London borough of Hounslow whose most lovable of workers, Parking Enforcement Officers, started a strike which could last until 5 March.
Employed by giant outsourcer Serco who last declared profits of £309.9 million, they are fighting for decent pay.
Neighbouring boroughs Ealing and Brent councils recently conceded a pay rise after strike action. Civil enforcement officers and CCTV operators in Ealing received a 9 per cent rise pay increase back dated to April 2022 with low paid new starters getting 11.94 per cent, with another eight per cent from next April, and extra annual leave entitlement. In comparison, in Brent, workers are getting a total increase of pay rise of 10.7 per cent from last April with nine per cent to come in April.
Unite’s general secretary, Sharon Graham said: “Serco and Hounslow council’s refusal to address the scourge of low pay is shameful. The truth is that the London Living Wage is not enough to live on. Serco is hugely wealthy. The Council and its outsourcer have the ability to pay workers more.
“The strike will inevitably mean that parking restrictions across the borough will fall apart. Bosses need to realise the workers have Unite’s total support.”
Off the Rails
by New Worker correspondent
Last week Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London announced that another 800 sub-contracted cleaners working on Transport for London sites would become entitled to free transport on TfL services. They work on MTR Crossrail and on London Overground operations. They now join 5,000 sub-contracted cleaners at TfL who have secured the same rights. These came only after long struggles.
Given the high bus and tube fares in London, this is a major development for low paid workers who often need to live long distances from their workplaces.
When London’s bus services were privatised in 1994-5 this move brought considerable hardship to bus drivers as many had taken advantage of free public transport offered by the then London Transport to live in John Betjeman’s Metroland and take a free tube to their central London depot. Having lost their status they had to stump for long journeys to work, a wrong that still grates.
But to return to the present RMT general secretary Mick Lynch welcomed the move saying: “This is another step in the right direction by the Mayor of London and we’re calling on him to extend it to all TfL sub-contracted workers. Sadiq Khan’s welcome action stands in stark contrast to the Tories who earlier in the week forced legislation through the House of Commons that would remove these workers’ right to strike. Instead of attacking cleaners, the Tories should be following the Mayor’s lead and ensuring all rail cleaners have free travel”.
He added that: “The Mayor needs to do more too. Labour nationally has committed to oversee the biggest wave of insourcing of public services for a generation when it’s elected. London’s Mayor is already in power, so we’ll be stepping up our campaign for Sadiq to tackle the scourge of outsourcing in TfL, starting by bringing London’s Underground cleaners in-house.” Such a touching faith in the Labour Party.
RMT has launched a petition making just such demands: this can be found at: https://www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/bring-london-s-tube-cleaners-in-house.
This has been a long running dispute. Last June RMT denounced TfL officials for renewing a £450 million contract in March in secret using Chair’s Action between meetings. When it was belatedly discovered Mick Lynch attacked the decision which he said: “This is deeply shocking and raises serious questions about TfL officials and the functioning of the Board. Who is running TfL?” he asked: “The democratically elected Mayor who is chair of TfL or the Commissioner of TFL who the Mayor appoints? It appears to us that unelected officers are now in charge of the capital’s transport system”.
Last Friday night maintenance workers on the new Elizabeth Line held a 24 hour strike action. Rail for London Infrastructure which employs the workers, offered four per cent but workers at MTR – the outsourced part of the Elizabeth Line – received an 8.2 per cent increase this year and Docklands Light Railway (DLR) staff got almost ten per cent. Mick said: “It cannot be right that maintenance staff doing essential work keeping the Elizabeth Line running are being short-changed. The employer must make a decent offer on pay that reflects the vital work our members perform in order to avoid future strike action.”
However TSSA members also involved in the dispute over pay and pensions suspended striking on the same day saying “Discussions with the company have been significant and serious” but warning that: “The company should take note however, that we reserve the right to reissue our notice to take action at any time with 14 days’ notice.”
Last week Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London announced that another 800 sub-contracted cleaners working on Transport for London sites would become entitled to free transport on TfL services. They work on MTR Crossrail and on London Overground operations. They now join 5,000 sub-contracted cleaners at TfL who have secured the same rights. These came only after long struggles.
Given the high bus and tube fares in London, this is a major development for low paid workers who often need to live long distances from their workplaces.
When London’s bus services were privatised in 1994-5 this move brought considerable hardship to bus drivers as many had taken advantage of free public transport offered by the then London Transport to live in John Betjeman’s Metroland and take a free tube to their central London depot. Having lost their status they had to stump for long journeys to work, a wrong that still grates.
But to return to the present RMT general secretary Mick Lynch welcomed the move saying: “This is another step in the right direction by the Mayor of London and we’re calling on him to extend it to all TfL sub-contracted workers. Sadiq Khan’s welcome action stands in stark contrast to the Tories who earlier in the week forced legislation through the House of Commons that would remove these workers’ right to strike. Instead of attacking cleaners, the Tories should be following the Mayor’s lead and ensuring all rail cleaners have free travel”.
He added that: “The Mayor needs to do more too. Labour nationally has committed to oversee the biggest wave of insourcing of public services for a generation when it’s elected. London’s Mayor is already in power, so we’ll be stepping up our campaign for Sadiq to tackle the scourge of outsourcing in TfL, starting by bringing London’s Underground cleaners in-house.” Such a touching faith in the Labour Party.
RMT has launched a petition making just such demands: this can be found at: https://www.megaphone.org.uk/petitions/bring-london-s-tube-cleaners-in-house.
This has been a long running dispute. Last June RMT denounced TfL officials for renewing a £450 million contract in March in secret using Chair’s Action between meetings. When it was belatedly discovered Mick Lynch attacked the decision which he said: “This is deeply shocking and raises serious questions about TfL officials and the functioning of the Board. Who is running TfL?” he asked: “The democratically elected Mayor who is chair of TfL or the Commissioner of TFL who the Mayor appoints? It appears to us that unelected officers are now in charge of the capital’s transport system”.
Last Friday night maintenance workers on the new Elizabeth Line held a 24 hour strike action. Rail for London Infrastructure which employs the workers, offered four per cent but workers at MTR – the outsourced part of the Elizabeth Line – received an 8.2 per cent increase this year and Docklands Light Railway (DLR) staff got almost ten per cent. Mick said: “It cannot be right that maintenance staff doing essential work keeping the Elizabeth Line running are being short-changed. The employer must make a decent offer on pay that reflects the vital work our members perform in order to avoid future strike action.”
However TSSA members also involved in the dispute over pay and pensions suspended striking on the same day saying “Discussions with the company have been significant and serious” but warning that: “The company should take note however, that we reserve the right to reissue our notice to take action at any time with 14 days’ notice.”
Saturday, February 04, 2023
The Anti-Strike Bill
by
New Worker correspondent
Monday evening saw the House of Commons predictably pass the misnamed Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill, whose name ought to have been prefixed with the word “Anti”.
The bill applies to six sectors: health, education, fire rescue, transport, border security and nuclear decommissioning. Under the law, unions would be required to take “reasonable steps” to ensure members comply with the work notice to maintain “essential” services and could be sued if they fail to do so. It will also allow bosses to sack striking workers whom they claim are essential.
In the debate Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said the Bill should be called the “Conservative sacking nurses Bill” and said Labour would repeal it if the party was elected to power She denounced it as an “attack on our basic British freedoms”. That promise should be taken with ladleful of salt as Labour pledges to overturn Tory anti-union laws do not last very long.
The final vote was 315-246. A number of opposition amendments, some designed to exclude Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and water down the requirements on the levels of service unions were expected to maintain were thrown out.
Anyone hoping that the noble lords and ladies on the red benches will introduce positive changes are probably the sort of people who believe in fairies and magic crystals. The protests on Wednesday described on the front page will be a good start.
The measure has been widely denounced even by the most traditionally right-wing unions. Paddy Lillis, of shopworkers union said on the eve of the debate: “This anti-union legislation means that when workers democratically vote to strike, they could be forced to work and sacked if they don’t. That is undemocratic, unworkable and almost certainly illegal. We are also staggered that the Tories have chosen to unjustifiably fast-track the legislation through the House of Commons, so that it won’t receive the necessary scrutiny and MPs won’t hear important evidence from those affected”.
Even a Tory supporter of the measure, Jacob Rees-Mogg partly agreed with the latter, warning it was so badly written that it will be subject to legal challenges unless it is drastically amended by the House of Lords. The former Business Secretary also said that it gave sweeping powers to his successor, in particular he took aim at Clause Three which he denounced for allowing the Business Secretary the power to define minimum service levels at a later date.
The TUC while denouncing the “draconian nature” of the legislation has done little apart from submit a freedom of information request to discover why the Government published the Bill without an impact assessment. No doubt that will put the fear of God into the Government.
The Tories claimed minimum service agreements are already in place citing agreement with Royal College of Nursing when it took strike action recently, but the Bill obviously goes much further and is an attack on the right to take industrial action.
The debate also signalled that the Tories will continue to take a hard line in the present round of public sector strikes when the minister claimed that “An inflation-matching pay increase of 11 per cent for all public sector workers would cost £28 billion, which would put just under £1,000 on to the bills of every household in all our constituencies”.
Another dangerous move by the Government against trade unions, which has been overlooked in recent weeks is the new regulations which will allow agency workers to be hired in disputes to fill in for striking workers.
This will be the subject of legal action in the High Court next month. The measures have even been criticised by employment agencies, who do not want to be involved in industrial disputes. Their trade body, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), which represents suppliers of agency workers, described the proposals as “unworkable”. Even the House of Lords Committee which examined the measure said: “the lack of robust evidence and the expected limited net benefit raise questions as to the practical effectiveness and benefit” of the new laws.
Last December retiring TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady pointed out that: “The right to strike is a fundamental British liberty. But the government seems hellbent on attacking it at every opportunity. She added that “these attacks on the right to strike are likely illegal. Ministers failed to consult with unions, as the law requires. And restricting the freedom to strike is a breach of international law”.
However it is rare for the TUC to actually mobilise workers against such laws. They seem more upset about the fact that they do not get invited round for herbal tea and hummus wraps with the minister to discuss the legal technicalities than stirring up mass action.
Wednesday, February 01, 2023
Free all Ukrainian political prisoners!
London comrades returned to Whitehall on Saturday to bring the crimes of the Ukrainian government to the attention of the British people. Some 30 protesters joined the picket opposite Downing Street organised by the International Ukraine Anti-Fascist Solidarity (IUAFS) campaign, to let the people “know that the regime in Ukraine, to which the British Government has given billions of pounds in financial and military support, has been committing horrific crimes against its own people, including Russian speakers, opposition activists and campaigners, journalists and Roma people, under the cover of accusing them of treason”.
A IUAFS spokesman said: “Several mayors in eastern Ukraine have been summarily executed as well as local elected civilian officials for "crimes" such as negotiating humanitarian corridors with the Russian military. They should have been entitled to a due process of law, instead of being tortured, shot, and then dumped in the street.
“Hundreds of journalists, bloggers, politicians, elected representatives, activists, priests, sportspeople, and even Ukrainian negotiators and military officers have been arrested and beaten, and some tortured or murdered. Most were charged with treason simply for opposing Kiev's policies, and not brought to trial after many months.
“Alexander Matyuschenko, one of dozens of leftists arrested in Dnipro, central Ukraine, was an activist with the Livizta (Left) organisation, which campaigned against social spending cuts and right-wing propaganda. He was arrested by SBU (Ukrainian intelligence) and Azov members, tortured and forced to shout the nationalist salute, Slava Ukraini!, while his wife's hair was cut off with a knife.
 |
| NCP leader Andy Brooks |
"We know about these crimes because Ukrainian ultra-rightists and even regular soldiers have bragged about them in social media posts, including one of a Russian soldier who had one of his eyes gouged before he was killed, with the caption 'One-eyed captured Russian pig'.
"We think it is essential to speak out about the actions of a government for whom the British government seems to have unlimited resources to support, at a time when millions here in Britain are facing a grim and uncertain future and our basic public services are chronically underfunded and understaffed”.
During the protest a woman waiving the flag of the Donetsk people’s republic was attacked by a reactionary, believed to be from the Caucasian republic of Georgia. But he was dragged away by a policewoman supported by an Iranian who left a nearby protest to chivalrously intervene on the picketer’s behalf.
Towards the end of the protest the demonstrators came under a torrent of abuse from a small group of Ukrainian and English supporters of the Nazi-infested regime in Kiev. They were, however, speedily warned off by the police.
The protest was supported by the Consistent Democrats, CPGB (ML), New Communist Party, Socialist Labour Party, Socialist Fight and the Posadists in Britain. Solidarity messages were received from former Labour MP Chris Williamson who is now a leading member of the Socialist Labour Party, Phil Wilayto of the Odessa Solidarity Campaign in the United States, and Leonid Ilderkin from the Union of Political Refugees and Political Prisoners of Ukraine, who has recently moved back to Ukraine.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)