Further strike action possible in Blackburn with Darwen single status dispute

11/05/08.Council workers in Blackburn are set to strike again next week in a dispute over single status pay cuts. About 200 members of the Unite union, including refuse collectors, street cleaners and gardeners, demonstrated outside the town hall last Wednesday. The dispute followed a job evaluation process at the council which has left hundreds of staff facing huge and life altering pay cuts. Last week's action affected rubbish collections in Blackburn and Darwen, with those with collections on a Wednesday or Thursday did not have their bins emptied.

Byers: New Labour is out of touch, distant and uncaring

11/05/08.If Labour is to win the next election it will have to do things differently. There will need to be a fundamental rethink about the policies that are being put before the public. It will not be enough to tinker around at the margins. The scale of Labour’s difficulties are such that much more will be required. The local election results of 10 days ago didn’t just reflect the disappointment and at times disillusionment that is part and parcel of being in government for more than a decade. The reasons for such a comprehensive rejection by the electorate went much deeper than this. Voters saw Labour as being out of touch, no longer on their side, but distant and uncaring. Gordon Brown is also seen to be manipulating the tax system for tactical advantage by the electorate.

Brown hits all-time low in shock new survey

11/05/08.Gordon Brown has suffered a devastating collapse in his public standing, according to a new survey published in The Observer today which will put his leadership under intensified pressure. The research shows that only one in five voters thinks he is doing a good job. He is rated worse than David Cameron on every key leadership quality, including competence, decisiveness, fairness, likeability, trustworthiness and strength. A unique opinion tracker using a panel of 5,000 voters, much larger than conventional opinion polls, reveals that he is floundering in his attempt to campaign for public respect after Labour's large losses in the council elections. Three-quarters think he is doing a bad job, and nearly half of them believe he is doing a very bad job.

GMB condemns National Staffs Dismissals Register

10/05/08.GMB has reacted angrily to news that a new register of people sacked in the retails sector is to be set up and go live later this month. The new on-line National Staffs Dismissals Register (NSDR) is an initiative of the Action Against Business Crime which is a partnership between the Home Office and the British Business Consortium. It has been set up by the private company Surrey-based Hicom Business Solutions. Paul Kenny, GMB General Secretary said, "The fact that the elite who run the companies who run the stores would even contemplate going down this road with the connivance of government shows how far public policy has drifted away from norms of fairness and due process. There will be an enormous kick back against this and GMB as a major union for shop workers will lead the charge.

Female workers allege they were "sold down the river" and sue their own Union

10/05/08.26 female council workers who say they were "sold down the river" by their own trade union during tough equal pay negotiations were yesterday at the centre of a landmark test case. They are accusing the GMB Union of sex discrimination, claiming they came out "losers" when the union did a deal with Middlesbrough Council. Their lawyers say the the union's failure to strike a better bargain with the council meant the women lost out on compensation they could have won for the past inequality between their pay and the earnings of men doing equivalent council jobs. The union denies discriminating against any of its members and says that, if the women win their case, the consequences for British trade unionism could be devastating.

Union to demand UK tax rise for the rich

09/05/08.One of Labour’s most influential trade union backers is to urge the party to make the wealthy pay more tax through an increase in the national insurance ceiling. The GMB union, which gave £1.4m to the party last year, will make the demand ahead of this summer’s crucial national policy forum. “The broadest shoulders should carry the heaviest loads. We want to see the cap lifted on national insurance contributions,” a union spokesman told the Financial Times. Unite, the country’s biggest union with 1.9m members, will also push for a review of the tax system to shift the burden from low-income workers to big business. In 2004, Gordon Brown and Tony Blair made more than 50 promises to the unions – the so-called “Warwick agreement” – in return for £10m to help fight the 2005 election. Some of the pledges have been implemented, including the new corporate manslaughter act. But others, such as strengthening the rights of temporary and agency workers, have been ignored. As a result, the unions – upon which Labour is increasingly dependent financially – will return to the table for “Warwick Two”, demanding the implementation of the original deal.

National Staff Dismissal Register will enable employers to blacklist workers regardless of proof wrongdoing

09/05/08.Workers accused of theft or damage could soon find themselves blacklisted on a register to be shared among employers. It sounds like a scenario from some Orwellian nightmare. But this is no dystopian fantasy. Later this month, the National Staff Dismissal Register (NSDR) is expected to go live. It is an online database of workers accused of theft and dishonesty, regardless of whether they have been convicted of any crime, which bosses can access when vetting potential employees. TUC policy officer Hannah Reed says "The TUC is seriously concerned that this register can only lead to people being shut out from the job market by an employer who falsely accuses them of misconduct or sacks them because they bear them a grudge. Individuals would be treated as criminals, even though the police have never been contacted.

GMB Leeds: Third strike against imposition of single status pay cuts

08/05/08.Binmen in Leeds are poised for a third day of strike action as the council tries to clear a backlog of uncollected rubbish from previous walkouts. Refuse workers will walk out again today, Thursday, the third week they have missed collections in the dispute over huge pay cuts. GMB regional organiser Bill Chard said: "This action will not only continue, in fact it will multiply. We will not stand by and see our members subjected to the plundering of their pockets by highly paid council chiefs and we continue the fight for equal pay for women. The Council are using Agency Workers in an attempt to break this strike. This is illegal and the GMB Lawyers are actively pursuing the Agencies who are providing the strike breaking workers. The penalty is £5,000 per strike breaker."

SEPA ballot delivers thumping majority for action against attacks on terms and conditions

08/05/08.UNISON members working for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) have voted overwhelmingly to take action in their dispute with SEPA. Nearly 88% of those voting, voted YES to take action short of strike. And the union has said that a range of action short of strike, will start on May 12. SEPA issued dismissal notices (which will be followed by re-engagement on lesser conditions) to a large number of its staff in a unilateral attempt to impose changes to employees pay and conditions. This followed a failed attempt to pressure staff into signing these conditions away.

Eliminating exploitation at work must be your great cause, Unite urges government

08/05/08.Eradicating the scourge of insecure, low paid work where abused workers have little hope of help and exploitation and undercutting are widespread, must become the political priority for the government and a major cause for our times, Unite, the biggest private sector union in the UK, has urged. The call came as the long-awaited report from the Commission into Vulnerable Employment (CoVE), a year-long examination of the causes and huge personal costs of insecure working in the UK was published.The report - produced by the business, government and workforce representatives who formed the Commission, which was coordinated by the TUC - includes a ten-point blueprint for change embracing both immediate legislative change and a renewed focus on rigorous enforcement of existing law.

New Labour Idiots think Election can be won by following the same disasterous policies

06/05/08.In a detailed assessment of the Labour party's heavy losses in last Thursday's local government elections - Labour's worst performance since the era of Harold Wilson - James Purnell, work and pensions secretary, will say that supporters are down and the public "spooked" by the state of the economy but can be reinvigorated by firm ideological leadership. But senior Labour MPs warned that the party would come unstuck in the Crewe and Nantwich byelection on May 22 unless Brown makes clear that a compensation package for people who lost out on the abolition of the 10p starting rate of tax will be backdated.

Labour rebels set deadline for Brown to restore party fortunes

05/05/08.The political crisis now enveloping Gordon Brown has sent his friends and enemies alike rushing to consult the Labour rule book to consider the ways the Prime Minister could face a formal challenge to his leadership. Mr Brown's fiercest critics have set a six-month deadline for him to prove that he has what it takes to lead the party to a general election victory. Mr Brown has been warned that a Labour loss in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election on May 22 may be "the final straw". To mount a challenge to an incumbent Labour prime minister, 20 per cent of Labour MPs must publicly call for a leadership election. It means that 71 MPs would have to put their names to a letter seeking a contest against Mr Brown. Some Labour MPs say that possible options for removing Mr Brown could use less formal mechanisms. One is the "stalking horse," a symbolic challenge mounted by a backbench MP. Another option is the palace coup. In this scenario, a delegation of senior Cabinet members would privately advise Mr Brown that his position had become untenable, offering him the chance to go with grace, or face fatal public calls to quit from senior ministers.

Low pay and poverty endemic in New Labour's Cowboy Employer Britain

05/05/08.Low pay is not just a problem of an extreme underclass or of migrants; it is endemic across the country. One in seven of all working households are poor; one fifth of all workers, 5.3 million people, are paid less than £6.67 an hour (two thirds of the median), the worst low-pay rate of any in Europe. It works out at less than a £12,000 per year. In some regions, the proportion of low-paid is well over 25%, while in some constituencies (in Wales, Birmingham, the West Midlands, even the rural West Country) it is comfortably over 40%. This is the shocking record of a country after 11 years of New Labour rule and economic boom. It explains why the 10p tax debacle caused such resentment amongst the "hard-working families" and single workers extolled in Brown's speeches who are scrabbling to make ends meet. The Brownite rhetoric of "unleashing potential" is a nonsense to those trapped in jobs that consign them to fall ever further behind.  The chance of an employer being inspected on the minimum wage is once every 330 years. Given such odds, an unscrupulous employer takes the risk. Labour has made much of bringing in the minimum wage and the working time directive (which gave many workers their first rights to paid holiday) but after these advances, the reality is that progress in tackling Britain's chronic problem with low-paid, insecure work has stalled. Increases in the minimum wage are not keeping pace with average earnings, and it is set at a considerably lower rate than in other countries. A combination of political cowardice (Brown didn't want a fight with the CBI) and indifference - it earns no political capital with middle England - ensured that Labour has repeatedly prevaricated in tackling this brutal underside of Britain's economic boom. It has fudged crucial issues such as equal treatment for agency workers or the much-needed clarification on worker status, a legal loophole which makes a mockery of employment rights - both were manifesto commitments.

Allerdale Council Workers' fury over single status pay cuts

04/05/08.Allerdale council workers are in uproar after they were told this week that some workers will have their pay cut, and the worst hit could lose up to £7,000.  About 400 council staff were told during at a meeting on Wednesday that some would receive pay cuts and others pay rises as part of single status job evaluations and regradings. One council worker, who did not want to be named, told the News & Star that many workers are angry. He said: “A lot of the workers are going to have their pay capped. The cost of living increases by six per cent. So it is like we are getting a three per cent pay cut. “I know one person who has been told his pay will be cut by £7,000. Others will see a decrease by £1,000 to £2,000.

New 10p tax revolt threat to Brown, proposals for compensation as "clear as mud"

04/05/08.The leader of Labour's backbench revolt against scrapping the 10p tax rate has threatened to revive the protest. Former minister Frank Field has urged Gordon Brown to specify how those affected will be compensated. Mr Field blamed Labour's poor showing in this week's local council elections in England and Wales on ex Chancellor Gordon Brown's decision to axe the 10p tax band. Last month he withdrew an amendment to the Finance Bill - which had been supported by 46 Labour MPs - after being told the compensation scheme would be backdated to the start of the financial year. But he said the proposal to offset losses from the axing of the rate through the winter fuel allowance, tax credits and minimum wage had been "clear as mud".

Cruddas: New Labour has abandoned it's core supporters

04/05/08.If Gordon Brown is in any doubt about why Labour crashed to a historically terrible defeat at the local elections, he should read what Jon Cruddas writes in today's Sunday Mirror. In a defining article, Labour MP Mr Cruddas goes straight to the heart of the crisis. The party's core supporters feel they no longer matter, he says. They believe they have been abandoned. After 11 years in power, they consider New Labour is more interested in wooing middleclass swing voters than the people who have always been the backbone of the party Mr Cruddas says, that not only are they not supporting Labour, they have voted for the opposition. But one issue above all others confirmed to Labour's core supporters their worst fears about the direction the government had taken - the abolition of the 10p tax rate. It struck at the most vulnerable in society, the very people who rely on Labour.

Union struggles need political leadership

03/05/08.The wave of strikes over the last week or so and the mushrooming disputes in a number of (mainly public) sectors have produced warnings of a ‘summer of discontent’. April 24 saw the biggest public sector strike in 10 years. Not only did the National Union of Teachers strike on that day, but so too did members of the Public and Commercial Services union and the University and College Union. “The cooperation between PCS, NUT and UCU proved that, together, we are greater than the sum of our parts,” said Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary. Elsewhere in the public sector the Communications Workers Union’s simmering dispute over pensions with Royal Mail looks likely to result in protest strikes, and a number of councils are coming up against resistance to their attempts to impose single status restructuring and regrading that will see the pay of thousands of low-paid workers reduced. Twenty thousand Birmingham council workers staged a 48-hour strike over April 23-24, while Blackburn is facing an indefinite walkout beginning May 7. This council ‘rationalisation’ is typically carried out under the guise of achieving equal pay, especially for women workers, but usually features attempts to ‘level down’ rates.

FE college lecturers reject pay rise

02/05/08.Lecturers in further education colleges have rejected "outright" the offer of a 2.5% pay rise offered by the employers, the Association of Colleges (AoC). The associations of College Management and Teachers and Lecturers, GMB - Britain's General Union, the University and College Union (UCU), Unison, and Unite all submitted a joint "catch-up" pay claim for 6% or £1,500, whichever is the greater. This would establish a minimum wage level of £7.38 for workers in FE. Unison national officer, Chris Fabby, said: "We reject this offer outright. 2.5% is just not enough. This year, our members have been struggling to cope with huge hikes in the cost of essentials like fuel, food and housing.

Labour suffers big council losses, worst result for 40 years

02/05/08.Less than a year after taking office, Gordon Brown has delivered Labour's worst election result for 40 years ( are you reading this Simpson and Prentis). He alienated his party's core supporters who either stayed at home or voted for the opposition. Rarely can a political leader have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory so consummately as Gordon Brown has done. The Conservatives have notched up the sort of support Labour enjoyed two years before Tony Blair swept to power.  Gordon Brown's inner circle are looking at reports of a massive turnout in the London suburbs and bracing themselves for the hammer blow of a Boris Johnson victory on Friday evening.

New Labour suffers hammering in Poll wipe out

02/05/08.Labour is suffering a grim night in local elections in England and Wales, losing more than 140 seats so far. BBC research suggests the party has fallen into third place nationally with 24% of the vote, beaten by the Tories on 44% and Lib Dems on 25%. So far they are the worst local poll results for Labour in 40 years. Elections expert John Curtice, of Strathclyde University, said: "It looks quite possible that by the time all the results are declared some time on Friday afternoon, Labour will have suffered at least 200 net losses, widely regarded before polling day as the worst possible outcome that could befall the party."

Single Status: East Staffs Council Workers set to lose £9,000 per year

01/05/08.Hundreds of staff at Burton Town Hall in East Staffs are to vote on whether they should go on strike over a controversial single status pay review. East Staffordshire Borough Council has been accused of showing staff 'no respect and disdain' amid growing disquiet among workers. It comes as part of an ongoing row after the authority told 550 staff that more than 150 of them would face cuts of up to £9,000 in their annual salaries from April 1. However, senior directors of departments, on much higher salaries than rank and file staff, were exempt from the review.

Unite teams up with cable channel to launch Union TV

01/05/08.As trade unions emerge from media obscurity with a series of high profile strikes, Unite, Britain’s biggest union, and the cable television channel Red TV will begin to broadcast a weekly programme for and about trade unions. The first episode of the show fronted by labour lawyer Rob Bhol and Richard O’Brien the Director of Communications for Unite will go out on 3 May. The show will be repeated a number of times on Red TV each week. The show will feature studio discussion on topical trade union issues and video packages showing trade unions at work. Richard O’Brien said, "There are nearly 7 million trade unionists in Britain but their lives and experiences are rarely covered by the main stream media. Our aim with this programme is to provide a trade union perspective on all the major industrial and political issues and uncensored view from working people on what’s happening to them and their families today."

Time to end the nation's 30-year wait for a new bank holiday

01/05/08.The TUC is today (Thursday) marking the 30^th anniversary of the creation of the May Day holiday - the last bank holiday to be introduced in the UK - by calling for a new autumn holiday to celebrate the great British tradition of volunteering. The Callaghan Government introduced the May Day bank holiday on 1 May 1978. As people across the UK celebrated the extra day off work, the Bee Gees were top of the charts with Night Fever, Nottingham Forest were on the way to winning the First Division and a pint of bitter cost just 40p. But while the worlds of football and music have moved on, the UK's bank holiday allocation has been left behind. No new bank holidays have been introduced since 1978, leaving Britain with just eight, the second lowest in Europe.

Brown admits mistakes over 10p tax rate

01/05/08.Gordon Brown has admitted making "two mistakes" over the abolition of the 10p starting rate of income tax. In an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, the prime minister conceded more clearly than he has done before that the final budget he introduced as chancellor was flawed. "We made two mistakes. I'll be honest about it, we made two mistakes," said Brown, who has a reputation for being reluctant to admit that he gets things wrong. He explained that, while he took steps in the 2007 budget to help some groups who were losing out from the abolition of the 10p rate, his mistakes were not to introduce measures to compensate two groups in particular. We did not cover as well as we should that group of low-paid workers and low-income people who don't get the working income tax credits," Brown said.

25,000-strong strike halts Birmingham

01/05/08.Birmingham was shut down on Thursday of last week as 25,000 workers went on strike. Over 170 schools were shut and thousands of parents took the day off work. For council workers it was their second day of action. On Wednesday thousands had struck against the imposition of a rotten single status pay deal which includes privatisation, "performance related pay" and swingeing pay cuts. Caroline Johnson, assistant branch secretary of Birmingham Unison, spoke at the rally held on the day. “There are billions for war, billions for Northern Rock, billions for the banks – I say to Gordon Brown, what about us?” she said to cheers.

No progress in Leeds Single Status dispute

01/05/08.The second day of strike action by Leeds City Council bin service will take place tomorrow Thursday 1^st May 2008. Bill Chard, GMB Organiser said “GMB is extremely disappointed that Leeds City Council is being so hard nosed. Their refusal to see reason means that 2,500 their hard working employees still face pay cuts of up to £6,000 per year each. 60% of those facing a pay cut are men and 40% are women. The jobs affected include Day Care Centre Officers who look after the elderly, Community Caretakers and they are even having a swipe at Nursery Nurses.