Leicestershire Against the Cuts meeting

An uplifting and well attended meeting was held yesterday at the Y theatre.

The turnout exceeded expectations so we ran out of chairs and quite a number had to stand.

There were speakers from Unison, NUT, a community based campaign and, of course, PCS.

The best speech of the night was by the PCS National President, Janice Godrich (pictured).

There were a number of compelling contributions from the floor rounded off by an impassioned rallying call from our own Tony Church.

We need to continue to build the campaign so we are ready when the really big cuts start to bite.

Together we can win.

A Fond Farewell

It has now been announced that Sir Gus O'Donnell (known as GOD) the Head of the Civil Service & Leigh Lewis, the Permanent Secretary of DWP, are both retiring.

Neither have been best friends to the unions but I wish them well.

I could be cynical & say that they are getting out now while the pension scheme still applies & because they know what is coming.

But I'm not that cynical.

Or am I?

Union Fightback

The TUC lobby was a good event and the TUC passed motions in support of co-ordinated action to oppose cuts.

The coverage in the media was good with Tony appearing on Radio Leicester a couple of times.

The cracks are starting to appear in the coalition at the Lib Dem conference. In spite of still being in the honeymoon period Lib Dem members have voted against Free Schools and are worried about the effect of cuts.

It is not time to worry about the cuts, it's time to organise the fightback.

Our branch was instrumental in setting up Leicestershire Against the Cuts to do just that.

Get all your friends, relations & neighbours to come along to our rally next Tuesday 28 September 2010 at the Y Theatre from 19:30.

There are national speakers including the PCS National President, Janice Godrich, but they also want to hear from you.

Let's send a message to the government that we won't accept attacks on the poorest & most vulnerable in society.

The fightback begins.

TUC - Get Off Your Knees

Yesterday around 500 activists demonstrated in Manchester, where the TUC conference is taking place this week.Tony Church and Noel Corry attended, so our branch was represented.The demonstration was called because although trade unions throughout Europe will be having demonstrations against public spending cuts on September 29th (many in fact will be staging one day general strikes), the TUC, who are supposed to be the leadership of the British trade unions, have so far failed to call any demonstration against the policies of our own Con-Dem government. We were in Manchester to put pressure on the TUC to effectively get up off its knees and name an early date for a national demonstration that all trade union members can attend to show the potential for defeating the cuts agenda.

The demonstration, which included both an outdoor and indoor rally as well as a march, was excellent. Speaker after speaker made the point that the policy of the TUC General Secretary, Brendan Barber, and those around him of trying to have a 'constructive dialogue' with Prime Minister Cameron and Chancellor Osbourne is ridiculous. The Tories (for it is now clear the Lib Dems have no real role except to make up the numbers) are waging a war against working people; they don't want to talk to us, they want to annihilate the services that those of us who do not have the privledges of the Eton and Oxbridge lifestyle depend on and the jobs that go with them. It is the most blatant example of class politics for decades.

The TUC have a choice to make this week and we hope that it is the correct one. If, however, the TUC General Council fail to grasp the nettle, there are thousands of actual and potential activists in Britain that will in the coming months push them aside to provide the leadership that members need and deserve. This war has to be won by us.

Votes on Superannuation Bill

Hansard records that Sir Peter Soulsby and Liz Kendall both voted not to give the Bill a Second Reading last night; the proposal was defeated. They also voted against the Bill, but as members now know the government won the day.

Keith Vaz did not appear to have voted in the debate and, whilst he supported the Early Day Motion against the government proposals, members who live in the Leicester East constituency may wish to enquire of their MP why he did not use his vote when it mattered.

We becoming easier to sack

Making it easier to sack us took a step closer last night when the House of Commons approved the Second Reading of the Superannuation Bill. The Bill caps payments at 12months pay in cases of compulsory redundancy and 15 months in cases of voluntary redundancy. The Bill now passes to discussion in committee before it returns to the Commons for its third and final reading. If the Speaker of the House accepts the proposal from the Con-Dems that the Bill should be treated as a Money Bill, it can become law without going for debate in the House of Lords.

If you thought that redundancy could never happen to you, it is time to think again. We are all at risk, regardless of the years we have been in the civil service. The con-dems intend to cut thousands of civil service jobs and this Bill gives them the instrument to do it.

We are beginning the fight of our lives to protect jobs and services. We and other public sector workers didn't create the financial crisis, the banks did and they are being shielded by their friends in the con-dems whilst we pay for their follies; follies they are still getting paid massive bonuses for. There is an alternative to public sector cuts as detailed on the PCS website at the link below

http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/campaigns/index.cfm

The Tories are using the state of the countries finances as an excuse for seemingly making their traditional ideology of everything public is bad and everything private is good more palatable; they are still under the influence of Margaret Thatcher whose policies during the 1980's were disastrous. The Lib-Dems hungry for some power have unfortunately become little more than their poodles.

Now is the time to get active and stand up to this government, who have no real mandate and who are weak not strong. You can begin to do this by attending the Leicestershire Against the Cuts rally on Tuesday 28 September at the Y, East Street, Leicester from 19:30 to 21:30. We were instrumental in creating Leicestershire Against the Cuts and it is growing fast. Our National President, Janice Godrich, will be the keynote speaker and the platform will include national figures from other unions.

We hope to see you there to make a successful show of defiance to what the con-dems propose.

Important debate in Parliament on CSCS

The second reading of the bill to amend the CSCS takes place in the Commons tomorrow. A number of MP's have signed a motion opposing the bill. In Leicster, that includes only Keith Vaz. Constituents of Sir Peter Soulsby (now a member of the PCS Parliamentary Group) and Liz Kendall should be rightly disappointed after what they said at our hustings before the election; Ms Kendall hasn't even had the courtesy to reply to my three e-mails on the matter. Watch this space for developments.

http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=41235&SESSION=905

Leicestershire Against the Cuts rally

Leicestershire Against the Cuts has called a rally in Leicester on Tuesday, 28 September. The rally will take place in the Dance Studio at the 'Y', East Street, from 1930 to 2130. The speakers who are confirmed are Janice Godrich, PCS National President, Nina Franklin, National Union of Teachers Vice-President and Jean Thorpe, Unison NEC, who is currently heavily involved in fighting cuts at Nottinghamshire County Council.

As our National President is the keynote speaker, we hope as many branch members as possible will attend.