Tower Hamlets School Strike

Picture is from the Strike yesterday against the Tory-led government cuts by NUT and UNISON members in Tower Hamlets schools. 

I went to the picket line at Albert Jacob House in Bethnal Green and met up with these strikers on route to their rally in Whitechapel.

I understand that UNISON deputy General Secretary Keith Sonnat spoke at the rally (I had a clash so couldn't make) which was well attended.

25 Years On: News International Dispute 1986-87

Hat-tip SERTUC

Picket line at the Birmingham Fleet & Waste Management depot

This picture was posted live from the picket line via Facebook and the Blackberry of Graeme Horn. 

Graeme is joint branch secretary of Birmingham UNISON Local Government branch.

The first message posted was around 7am "Good morning from the picket line at the Bham Fleet & Waste Management depot in Lifford Lane. Nothing going in. Minus 9 degrees. No to pay cuts".

I'll link to full story later.

UPDATE: check out BBC report here

FBU rep attacks SWP "Wrecker of the Week" Minitrue

The journal of (un)Democratic Centralism (my latest Wrecker of the Week) has been forced to publish the following attacks by a very angry FBU rep over their coverage of the recent strikes.

The Socialist (minitrue) Worker is accused by this rep as follows "your coverage of the London firefighters’ dispute has  angered FBU activists".... "Your reports of the first strike on 23 October were outlandish"...attacking the FBU General Secretary; "fantasising that you were witnessing the French revolution" ...publishing a video that was "used to discredit the union"...wanting to "Have some people die on bonfire night to ‘prove’ the scabs are rubbish?"..using the media to attack the union and not bothering to contact the union beforehand...and "disparage the democratic structures of the FBU".

Well, this is no great surprise to me. Check out report in Solidarity magazine and even the modern day Socialist Minitrue itself.  Hat-tip Col. Roi.

Something very odd is happening with Socialist Minitrue and their contributors.  Is their parallel universe crashing down upon them under the weight of truth?

Check out this bizarre story here in the West Yorkshire News where the SWP Chair of a Unison branch wrote a "misleading, inaccurate and unhelpful” on Minitrue of a "successful" outcome of a meeting before the branch and the employer had finalised negotiations.  What is going on? Hmmm. 

Hat-tip thingy Tynesider

Tory Toad Plans to Slash & Burn London Fire Brigade.

It is now clear that the Fire Brigade Union fear that that the proposed changes to their terms and conditions by Tory London Fire authority Chair, Brian Coleman, was actually all about reducing the number of fire engines and firefighters - was pretty accurate.

Let us check out Tory blogger Iain Dale here 1 November 2010 where he said "the FBU have used it to put about scare stories about future reductions in night cover or a possible reduction in fire appliances. Coleman has said publicly on several occasions he will guarantee that neither of those will happen. But the union pretends not to hear".

Now check out the notorious toad of London City Hall late amendment to the London Fire budget here that

"officers [should] explore, as part of the budget process, and report back to the Committee... on whether the Brigade needs all 27 of the fire appliances removed from stations during the current industrial action to be returned or whether there is an over-supply of appliances".

This would result in 500 Job losses and a 16% reduction in the number of fire engines. Now it could be Coleman is just being his usual petty minded and vindictive self or the FBU fears were legitimate from get go. You can guess my view.

Et tu, Red Tel? (in joke).  Hat tip thingy Col. Roi.

20th Anniversary of National Ambulance Strike

This year is the 20th Anniversary of the National Ambulance Strike.  UNISON Health NEC member Eric Roberts (and current branch secretary of the London Ambulance Service) remembers the strike and the aftermath in "Ambulance Today". 

Overall, thanks in part to this dispute and hard work by UNISON over the years the Ambulance Service is now much improved and a far better employer to work for.

See PDF page 28 here.  Eric is the one speaking.  (Nowadays he does not need a hat to keep his hair dry:)

Cradley Women Chainmakers' Festival

From this week's TUC UNIONREP's e-newsletter "The festival to be held on 18 September commemorates the 100th anniversary of the fight of the Cradley Heath Women Chainmakers, who in 1910 went on strike for 10 weeks and were successful in winning the first ever minimum wage. The TUC-organised event will celebrate the importance of Trade Union History and women at work.

The event will be held at the Black Country Living Museum, Tipton Road, Dudley, West Midlands DY1 4SQ. Speakers include TUC Deputy general Secretary Frances O'Grady and Tony Benn".

Check out the Wolvestuc website for further details.

“Even the Olives are Bleeding...”

Yesterday I posted here on listening to an interview on Radio 4 with a BNP apologist for the murder and torture of British POWs.

I was driving home to London from Edinburgh. The next radio programme iPM calmed my soul and restored my faith somewhat in the world. The iPM programme firstly had an intelligent feature on “strikes” and “picket lines”. Its listener’s reported mostly positive and uplifting experiences of taking part in strike action including romance, humour and camaraderie. But there were also some negative experiences.

A former British Leyland machinist turned coal miner who scabbed during the national strike of 1984-85 talked about his experiences and how now 25 years later he recognised that NUM leader Arthur Scargill had been right at the time to fight pit closures but he should have “...had the guts to hold a national ballot”. Which I thought was just a little bit rich and self serving. This “anonomised” worker had recently been out on strike action over zero pay offers which he supported. Not least since the company enjoyed not only good profits but was still paying their executives big bonuses!

The next feature was about the Irish poet, Charles Connolly, who was killed aged 24 in action fighting the fascists during the Spanish Civil War. His family had been invited to Spain to take part in recent commemorations.

Shortly before Charles was killed in battle he made the remark to a compatriot about this bloody war that “even the olives are bleeding....”.

You can listen again to the programme (recommended) on iplayer for the next few days or so - but I have down loaded it as a podcast so if you send me your email I assume I can forward it to you (12MB file!)