Socialist Appeal - Trade Unions

Trade Unions - Send us your letters, articles or workplace and trade union reports!

Severfield- Reeve Structures Ltd - Fight wage cuts and Union Bashing

By Socialist Appeal reporters
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
The recent period has seen some serious attacks on workers living standards in industry; but its also seen a militant response in some sectors. The workers at Severfield-Reeve Structures Ltd. in Dalton have managed to win trade union recognition and the employers are developing the plant, this puts a different slant on the matter. The fact that the workers have rejected the pay cuts and are now looking at strike action is a sign that things are beginning to change.

PCS strike - North-east region report.

By Gavin Jackson, PCS member.

Thursday, 11 March 2010

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!

Stop the witch hunts. For a fighting and democratic union

By Unison United Left Press Release
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

PCS Strike: London march and rally

By Steve Jones
Tuesday, 09 March 2010
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

PCS strike: Report From Norwich

By George Deacon
Tuesday, 09 March 2010
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.

PCS STRIKE: Voices from Coventry

By Darrall Cozens (Coventry Trades Council) Photos: Pat Cowling (Coventry PCS)
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 8^th, 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.

PCS Strike: Notes from a picket line

By Matt Wells
Tuesday, 09 March 2010
"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.

Civil Service Workers On Strike!

By Socialist Appeal
Sunday, 07 March 2010
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.

UNISON: Elect Paul Holmes for General Secretary; Campaign Update

By UNISON Socialist Appeal Supporters
Friday, 05 March 2010
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.

UNISON: Though Cowards Flinch: Paul Holmes Interview

By Dave Semple
Friday, 05 March 2010
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.

Thousands march to save London hospital

By Melanie MacDonald - Islington North Labour Party member
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.

PCS Strike Ballot: The phoney war is over

By Gavin Jackson
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.

UNISON Witch hunt continues

By UNISON Socialist Appeal Supporters
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
This Wednesday, four Unison members are submitting their appeals against being suspensed from office for distributing a leaflet at Unison conference.

Unison gives Alan Docherty a 3 Year Ban whilst he is busy fighting New Labour Cuts

By Socialist Appeal
Thursday, 18 February 2010
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).

Paul Holmes: Interview From Ireland

By Fightback (Ireland)
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.