Thursday 30 June 2011

We've arrived on Victoria Park

The banner made it up to the park.


Hundreds of people were already there.


- Posted from my iPhone

New Walk Rally

Speakers at the rally from various PCS branches & messages of support from Unison branches & other groups.


- Posted from my iPhone

New Walk Gathering




Chris soon perks up when more strikers start to arrive.


- Posted from my iPhone

Picketing Successfully Completed

I had a wander round the DWP Picket Lines.

New Walk




Pensions









And finally Charles Street





Good results everywhere.

- Posted from my iPhone

More Picket Line News

People have now dragged themselves out of bed.


The line is still growing.

Is this number legal?

- Posted from my iPhone

Wednesday 29 June 2011

The Picket Line starts to assemble

A small but hardy band.


The cobs & coffee are on order from the canteen.

- Posted from my iPhone

Arrival at the Picket Line

The line starts to assemble outside Wellington Street at 7.

Tony is already being interviewed by Radio Leicester.


I'll post live updates as we go.

- Posted from my iPhone

Wednesday 22 June 2011

Rally




A rally has been organised on Victoria Park in Leicester for 30 June between 12:00 & 15:00.

The rally is open to anyone who is around, not just strikers, so bring the children (the schools may be shut) and bring a picnic.

There will be stalls, speakers & live music so come down (preferably after picketing).

I'll see you there.

- Posted from my iPhone

Friday 17 June 2011

Opinion: Another side to the pensions argument

Members may be interested to read this letter that has been sent to the Leicester Mercury. Will they publish it? I don't know, but I'm not holding my breath!

Dear Editor
No one could seriously expect that a regional newspaper owned by Northcliffe would take any position over proposed strike action against public sector pension proposals other than to argue in favour of the government’s position (Opinion, June 16).
As always, however, there is another side to the debate that does not often find its way into the media.
Let’s suppose we consider the position of a public worker who is in sight of the forty year qualifying period required by their current pension arrangements. Let’s also suppose that this worker is at the top of their pay scale but still earns less than £25,000 a year. Let’s go further and suggest that this worker has continually been told by their employer that the country’s financial position (not now, but in the past) meant that a better salary could not be afforded for them, but at least they had job security and a decent pension to look forward to when they retire.
Imagine how that worker feels when at the eleventh hour they are told under Lord Hutton’s proposals their pension will now be worth around £15,000 a year less and for the pleasure of this they must contribute £57 a month more until they retire.
This you may have gathered is not a hypothetical example; it is my own situation. Before anyone accuses me of wanting sympathy or special treatment, let me say that I know I made the choice of not having big banker style bonuses, company cars and share options that are available to a fair number of private sector workers as their remuneration package for doing work of a similar weighting to that which I perform. My remuneration package instead included as a major element my pension.
Let me also say that I know that many other private sector workers do not have perks available to them. As a trade unionist, I am not trying to perpetuate the private/public argument that political editors seem to love as the classic divide and rule tactic. I fully support any private sector workers trying to better their own economic position.
Your column suggested that there is a fundamental problem with current public sector pensions. I agree up to a point, but for entirely different reasons to your own. The problem with pension arrangements is that low paid workers looking forward to retirement are being told that they must work longer, pay more and receive less. Meanwhile, other public sector pensioners like Sir Fred Goodwin, former head of RBS and who, if media reports are to be believed, had his mind and other parts of his anatomy elsewhere when contributing to the country’s current financial situation continues to receive (at 2010 figures) around £345,000 a year from the taxpayers pocket.
Will Sir Fred come under the Hutton proposals? Not a chance whilst a government of millionaires who represent big business types like Sir Fred are in power; and, by the way, before someone makes the obvious point I don’t think he would (or did) suffer under Labour.
The government tell us ‘we are in this together’, when in reality their actions prove that they subscribe more to the Orwellian view that some (like Sir Fred) ‘are more equal than others.’
The fact that there is a deficit is not at issue, but the fact that it must be cleared almost at once is and so is that it can only be cleared by making public sector cuts. £126 billion worth of tax is uncollected in the United Kingdom and like your column writer I have done my arithmetic and say with confidence that if Revenue and Customs had the resources to go after this rather than facing job cuts, we could make a big dent in the deficit at the speed that the government appears to require. So why doesn’t the government seek to collect this unpaid tax?
In considering an answer, I would remind your readers of the Channel Four Dispatches programme that revealed George Osbourne’s father was moving money abroad to stop his Chancellor son collecting tax on it.
Your argument that the strikes on June 30th are premature has now been blown out of the water by the Treasury’s Danny Alexander who has said that the unions should continue to negotiate, although it will make no difference as the government has made up its mind to implement the Hutton proposals. If Mr Alexander believes that this will stop more unions calling for strike action then bluntly he is a fool. A lot of dust is thrown up about participation in strike ballots, but how many voted for a Tory government? Certainly a majority didn’t. How many voted for the coalition policies that they are trying to push through? None, these are a result of a grubby compromise between union hating Tories looking to complete the destruction of organised labour started by Thatcher and vainglorious Liberal Democrats who could never have got ministerial portfolios in any other way.
On 30 June there will be far more people on strike than just those who voted in the ballots. It will be a defining moment and will show the anger of ordinary people told that they must pay for a crisis caused by the Goodwin’s of this world who now sit pretty supported by a government who appear to condone tax avoidance and evasion. Will the government listen? They certainly would be wise to if they wish to avoid ongoing and deepening confrontation over the coming months, confrontation that is already being seen in other European countries whose workers have been re-inspired by events on another continent that show direct action can bring results.
Yours sincerely
Tony Church
Vice-Chair
Public and Commercial Services union (PCS)
DWP Leicestershire General Branch

Wednesday 15 June 2011

Interview - Strike 30 June

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p00h5tvf

At 00:38:38 on this is an interview I gave to Radio Leicester prior to the announcement of the the strike ballot vote. Please don't listen to this at work. All out on 30 June. Protect jobs, pay and pensions. This is not us on our own, but with union comrades from NUT and ATL.

Strike - 30 June

BBC are reporting that PCS has voted for strike action and will walkout with NUT and ATL on 30 June. More to follow.

Friday 10 June 2011

Why you should vote for action. There's still time?

Visit the PCS website and do your pension calculation. I'll guarantee you'll be shocked!