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By Gavin Jackson, PCS member.
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Thursday, 11 March 2010 |
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Better late than never... Here is a short report on the effect of the PCS strike (held earlier this week) in the North-East of England. Scoll down this page to read more reports.
STOP PRESS: NEXT NATIONAL STRIKE 24 MARCH!
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By Unison United Left Press Release
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Wednesday, 10 March 2010 |
A couple of
days after four London based Socialist Party activists were banned from office
in UNISON. Regional Full Time Officials raided their branch offices seizing
computer equipment and records including confidential case files. This Police
style raid has nothing in common with the democratic traditions of the Labour
and Trade Union Movement and much more in common with the methods of Stalinism,
circa 1937
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By Steve Jones
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Tuesday, 09 March 2010 |
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Today several hundred PCS strikers left their picket lines to join a lunchtime march through the capital city to show the workers of London that the members are angry and won't take no for a answer. The march ended in a rally at a hall next to Westminster Cathedrall.... Socialist Appeal sellers were on hand and a full report with pictures will appear shortly
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By George Deacon
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Tuesday, 09 March 2010 |
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On an extremely cold and windy morning a large gathering of Civil
Servants, Fire Brigade workers , the deputy leader of the Green Party
and Students from the University gathered outside the Froum in Norwich
to hear speakers from PCS and UNISON call for united action of all
public sector workers in defence of not only the compensation scheme
but also against ongoing cuts and privatisation.
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By Darrall Cozens (Coventry Trades Council) Photos: Pat Cowling (Coventry PCS)
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Tuesday, 09 March 2010 |
As was to be expected the propaganda war has already started
after the first day of strike action. One the one side is the government
claiming that the PCS action had little effect as only 80,000 PCS members took
strike action on Monday, March 8th, as compared to the PCS figure
from the front line of over 200,000. This shows that the battle is not only of
strike action and resolve but also of words as the government tries to
undermine the democratic ballot result of PCS members to defend terms and
conditions that were negotiated and settled as far back as 1986. It would seem
that the anti-union government of Margaret Thatcher was prepared to agree a
deal with the civil servants unions which the present Labour government is now
trying to unilaterally rip up in order to save money on future redundancies.
Working people are yet again being forced to pay the price for a capitalist
crisis that they did not cause.
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By Matt Wells
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Tuesday, 09 March 2010 |
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"It was a freezing morning but spirits were high." PCS striker Matt Well reports from a picket line in Cambridge on the first day of the two day strike by civil service workers taking action against government plans to slash redundancy payouts.
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By Socialist Appeal
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Sunday, 07 March 2010 |
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As reported in the current issue of Socialist Appeal, over 250,000
members of the Civil Service union PCS will be taking strike action
tomorrow, Monday 8th and Tuesday 9th March. As
workers come out in defence of the Civil Service Compensation Scheme
which the governments wants to water down, job centres, law courts,
government offices and so on will be shut.
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By UNISON Socialist Appeal Supporters
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Friday, 05 March 2010 |
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UNISON Socialist Appeal Supporters have been active in the
campaign to achieve 25 nominations for Paul and their have been some
notable successes. The campaign is hotting up now as was shown by the
fact that members from several branches attended the Elect Paul Holmes
Public Meeting in Newcastle.
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By Dave Semple
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Friday, 05 March 2010 |
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This interview with Paul Holmes (who is seeking support to stand for Unison General Secretary in the forthcoming election for that position) by Dave Semple is reprinted from the Though Cowards Flinch
Blog, which carries some very interesting material. We are extremely
pleased that Dave has agreed to let us reprint this article, which we
have posted in full.
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By Melanie MacDonald - Islington North Labour Party member
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Tuesday, 02 March 2010 |
An estimated 5,000 people marched through the streets of Islington last Saturday with one intention: To 'Save Our Whittington' from plans to close the Accident and Emergency department and maternity ward at the Archway hospital.
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By Gavin Jackson
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Thursday, 25 February 2010 |
PCS have just announced a YES vote for industrial action over the proposed changes to the Civil Service Compensation Scheme. The date of March 8th and 9th has been pencilled in for action by over 270,000 civil servants.What's this all about? We explain the issues and what needs to be done.
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By UNISON Socialist Appeal Supporters
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Tuesday, 23 February 2010 |
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This Wednesday, four Unison members are submitting their appeals against being suspensed from office for distributing a leaflet at Unison conference.
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By Socialist Appeal
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Thursday, 18 February 2010 |
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Unison has continued its witch hunt by banning Alan Docherty,
Darlington LG’ s Branch Secretary, for 3 years from office. His crime
was defending himself from attack from Unison Northern Region’s
leadership for his involvement in the National Shop Stewards Network
(NSSN) as the Tees Valley Secretary of the NESSN (North East Shop
Stewards Network).
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By Fightback (Ireland)
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Sunday, 14 February 2010 |
Paul Holmes is standing for election as General Secretary of UNISON.
Paul has been active in the union for 36 years, he’s branch secretary
of Kirklees Branch in Yorkshire. The branch has over 10,000 members and
an 80% membership density. Paul agreed to be interviewed for Fightback
which is the Journal of the International Marxist Tendency in Ireland and we are pleased to reproduce that interview here.
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