Entering a Spring of Discontent.
Tomorrow nearly quarter of a million civil servants will be on strike protesting at the way they are being treated by their employer, i.e. the government. I can fully understand why they are so angry and why they have been forced to take action.
I was in Parliament when, in the middle of the budget debate, Gordon Brown unilaterally announced without any consultation with unions or MPs 104,000 civil service job cuts.
I was at the PCS trade union conference when we heard that, in a speech to the City, the Chancellor had announced a pay cut for civil servants each year for the next three years.
I have been there listening to Ministerial statements announcing new rounds of privatisation in Government departments in services and on a scale not even dreamt of by Thatcher for selling off.
How does any New Labour Minister or MP expect public service workers to react when faced with this continuous attack on jobs, wages and conditions?
We are also faced with the risk on Thursday that the Government seeks the imprisonment for contempt of court of Brian Caton, general secretary, and Colin Moses, the president, of the Prison Officers Association.
Their crime is that when the Government tried to open new prison cells by forcing prison officers to work overtime, the POA reminded their members in a circular that the POA refuses to accept that the Home Secretary is able to demand compulsory overtime. The Government interprets this as industrial action and POA members are not allowed legally to take industrial action. And so to court!
In support of both the PCS and POA I will be joining a picket line in the morning and speaking at a strike rally in Westminster Cathedral Hall, off Victoria Street in the afternoon.
In addition I will be addressing the launch seminar organised by the Institute for Employment Rights on the Trade Union Freedom Bill.
If there is ever a time for the movement to back this Bill, it is now. We are entering a spring of discontent engendered by Government actions which are at times worse than some of the worst anti-union private companies.
Support the PCS and POA, but also the campaign for trade union rights.
I was in Parliament when, in the middle of the budget debate, Gordon Brown unilaterally announced without any consultation with unions or MPs 104,000 civil service job cuts.
I was at the PCS trade union conference when we heard that, in a speech to the City, the Chancellor had announced a pay cut for civil servants each year for the next three years.
I have been there listening to Ministerial statements announcing new rounds of privatisation in Government departments in services and on a scale not even dreamt of by Thatcher for selling off.
How does any New Labour Minister or MP expect public service workers to react when faced with this continuous attack on jobs, wages and conditions?
We are also faced with the risk on Thursday that the Government seeks the imprisonment for contempt of court of Brian Caton, general secretary, and Colin Moses, the president, of the Prison Officers Association.
Their crime is that when the Government tried to open new prison cells by forcing prison officers to work overtime, the POA reminded their members in a circular that the POA refuses to accept that the Home Secretary is able to demand compulsory overtime. The Government interprets this as industrial action and POA members are not allowed legally to take industrial action. And so to court!
In support of both the PCS and POA I will be joining a picket line in the morning and speaking at a strike rally in Westminster Cathedral Hall, off Victoria Street in the afternoon.
In addition I will be addressing the launch seminar organised by the Institute for Employment Rights on the Trade Union Freedom Bill.
If there is ever a time for the movement to back this Bill, it is now. We are entering a spring of discontent engendered by Government actions which are at times worse than some of the worst anti-union private companies.
Support the PCS and POA, but also the campaign for trade union rights.
posted by John at 11:53 PM
3 Comments:
what with Loangate or should I say Levygate and the ridiculous threat to imprison Brian Caton and Colin Moses (I was on Radio 4 with the latter at conference and as always he was is the voice of reason on prison matters; it's just a shame the leadesrship don't listen to him)for quite rightly refusing to eb bullied into doing compulsory overtime words just fail me at the latest of New Labour's pecadilloes. You couldn't make it up! (as has been said many times before.....)
In the interests democracy we must get John on the ballot paper to give people a chance to vote for him as the sane alternative to this government gone mad as far as I can see.
As we saw at the TU4John meeting tonight there is plenty of supprt out there; we just need to cross this first hurdle of geeting the 44 nominations so there can be acontest in the first place so lobby your Labour and UNISON MPs please comrades!
If Brian and Colin are imprisoned I shall personally stage a protest outside with a big banner or something (though then they'll try to ban banners I expect) as this can not go on. It's bad enough what they've done to peace protestor Brian Haw as well. Are we turning into a police state??
It is reassuring, as a Civil Servant currently earning less than 15,000 pounds per year, that there is still a Labour MP that is prepared to defend some of the poorest paid workers in the UK.
Yes, and what a shame there aren't more. If your trade union is not affiliated to labour,please lobby your MP to nominate John in the leadership vote.The current media hoo-hah over the deputy leadership is empty spin.If your TU is affiliated to Labour, then lobby the trade union leaders.
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