NHS 70 - demo in Southport

NHS London demo this Saturday - coach from Manchester

Dear all,

March with us this Saturday on our "Free for all, forever" national demonstration in defence of our National Health Service and its staff. The attempts to privatise Wigan hospitals' staff, the ongoing cuts, the conditions faced by health-workers, the inadequacy of the extra money - all of these are among the reasons to march this Saturday! So, join us!

We have a coach going from Manchester city centre, 6.30am beside Chorlton Street Coach Station and getting back there about 10pm, tickets are £25 waged (cost), £30 solidarity or £10 unwaged. To book your place email me back with what ticket rate you'd like and your phone number. Multiple bookings welcome and tickets are paid cash on the day.

Cheers,

Hugh Caffrey,
Secretary,
Greater Manchester Keep Our NHS Public.

London NHS demo 30 June - travel from Liverpool

Here are details of travel from Liverpool for the NHS demonstration in London on 30 June which PCS is supporting:

Keep Our NHS Public has booked a coach leaving from the Philharmonic Hall, Hope Street, Liverpool L1 9BP at 7.00am on Saturday 30 June.

Tickets cost £20 waged and £10 unwaged and are available now from News from Nowhere, 96 Bold Street, Liverpool L1 4HY.

PCS NW office will circulate further travel information and details of local demonstrations as and when they receive them.

McStrike - They're Not Loving It

McDonald’s workers in Manchester are going on strike on International Workers Day (1 May 2018). They are standing up for a living wage of £10 an hour, guaranteed hours and for their right to a union to be respected. They need your support. Please attend their demonstration and picket to show that Manchester backs the workers.

When: 
      Midnight picket at 00:01, 1 May 2018
      Morning Picket at 07:00–08:00, 1 May 2018
Where:
      McDonald's, 36/38 Oxford Road, Manchester M1 5EJ
What:
      Picket and Demonstration - attend the McStrike picket.

The workers in Manchester will be picketing the store at midnight as the strike starts and in the morning. Please click 'Going' on the Facebook event to show you will be attending at either time.

Read the article on the Socialist Resistance website.

Stand Up To Racism - Manchester demo

Join the 100th week of fighting for Chorley A&E

Demo Wirral TUC demo 18 December

Wirral Trades Union Council demands a Labour council that will:

• Stop secret plotting.
• Reverse NHS cuts and privatisation.
• Prevent austerity killing vulnerable people.
• Halt the devastation of fire and emergency services.

PROTEST at the Wirral Cabinet Meeting:
Date: Monday 18th December.
Time: 9.00am.
Place: Wallasey Town Hall, Brighton Street, Wallasey, CH44 8ED.

• Stem the decline in support for our children now.
• Provide fully funded children's and women's aid services.
• Include effective prevention and early intervention.
• Guarantee no detriment to any to any other services.
• Merseyside has lost 1000 police officers since 2010.

Fight the Tories - campaign publicly with other Labour authorities.

Ban the Hunt!

A nurse practices her greeting
for the Health Secretary

A message from Wirral TUC:

Come and greet Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt when he visits Liverpool to address the annual conference of the Royal College of General Practitioners.

Date: Thursday, 12 October 2017.

Time: 8:00 am.
Place: Arena and Convention Centre, Kings Dock, Liverpool, L3 4FP - main entrance, between the conference centre and the Jury’s Inn Hotel.

We need as many people as possible for a short period to welcome Mr Hunt and to leaflet delegates going into the meeting. Bring banners, placards, etc.

31 August pay protests across the North West

PCS members in the Home Office, Ministry of Justice and Revenue and Customs are gearing up for our payday protest on 31 August to put pressure on management and the government to scrap the 1% public sector pay cap. 

Please do your best to turn up and show your support.

Home Office
◈ Liverpool
Protest from 12.45pm outside the main entrance of the Capital Building in Old Hall Street and by Disclosure and Barring Service members at 12pm outside Shannon Court on Princess Parade. MPs
◈ Southport
Petition signing activities at the passport office, Trafalgar Road, Birkdale.

Revenue and Customs
◈ Bootle and Netherton:
Members’ meeting at 12.15pm at ‘The Jollys’ on Marsh Lane, for staff in The Triad and Litherland House with NEC speaker Clara Paillard.
Members’ meeting at 1pm in the car park at St Johns House.
Members’ meeting at 1.45pm at Santander Social Club for staff at Comben House.
◈ Liverpool
Protest from 1pm at the Victoria Monument, Derby Square in the city centre.
◈ Manchester/Salford
Joint protests/photo opportunities by R&C Greater Manchester branch and Salford Revenue branch at 1pm outside Crazy Pedro’s in Bridge Street and at 5pm outside The Egerton Arms in Gore Street.

MOJ
◈ Lancashire and Cumbria
Burnley County Court, Reedley MC and Blackburn County are planning to hold a lunchtime photo op/protest.
◈ Manchester
Lunchtime protest outside Manchester CJC at 1pm, photo ops at Manchester Minshull Street and Asylum Immigration Chambers.

Hiroshima/Nagasaki Day in Liverpool - 9 August

Hiroshima Day events in Gtr Manchester - 6 August

Join the anti-Tory demo in October!

NHS Protest 'In The Spirit Of The Suffragettes'

Taken from a press release by the Merseyside Pensioners Association:

On Tuesday April 11 The Merseyside Pensioners Association (MPA) will be leading a chorus of protest in the spirit of the suffragettes before the meeting of the Liverpool Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

The MPA is calling on all Merseysiders who are alarmed at continuing cuts in NHS services to join them in the protest. Please assemble with your banners and posters outside the Lewis's building, Renshaw Street at 1.30pm.

Chair of the MPA Julie Lyon-Taylor said "Liverpool NHS bosses have given themselves a 50% pay increase as a reward for running down our precious NHS and pensioners are blamed for using too many beds. The reality is that social care has been slashed by the government and many pensioners can't be sent home because there is no care for them in the community. Everyone is suffering because of privatisation and budget cuts. The CCG are a law unto themselves. It is clear in Liverpool they can do as they please and believe they do not answer to anyone. We are determined to raise the issue of the salary increases at the meeting".

Pensioners decided to protest following the outrageous revelation that the CCG chairman Nadim Fazlani got a £50,000 rise. Most of the pay rises relate to the 2014-15 financial year when the chair's salary rose from approximately £105,000 to £155,000. Deputy CCG chairman Prof Maureen Williams saw an increase of at least a third, from £70,000-£75,000 to £100,000 while the chief officer and chief finance officer both received rises of about 15%.

Keep our NHS Public!

Day of action against benefit sanctions

This is taken from a Unite press release. PCS is supporting these actions and calls on members to do so as well.

Unite members across the North West urge government to stop cruel benefit sanctions causing destitution and misery to tens of thousands of families. Campaigners, members of Britain’s biggest union, Unite, will be protesting outside job centres across the North West tomorrow (Thursday 30 March) to reiterate their call for the government to stop its 'cruel and ineffective' benefit sanctions regime. This is part of a national day of action to stop benefit sanctions.

Last year an estimated total of 39,000 benefit claimants were sanctioned across the North West. Unite wants to highlight the shocking impact the government's benefit sanctions are having on individuals, driving people further into poverty, misery and even death.

Nationally, punitive sanctions have resulted in over 318,000 people having their welfare payments cut or stopped without warning in the last year, affecting thousands of children and dependant adults. Sanctions are given for reasons such as missing or being late for appointments with the job centre, or being too sick to 'actively seek work'.

North West regional actions:

Liverpool: Williamson Square Job Centre, Williamson Square, Liverpool City Centre - 11.00 to 1.30 pm.

Manchester: Protest outside Bolton DWP, Bolton Elizabeth House, 21 Back Spring Gardens, Bolton - 12.00 to 2.00 pm.

Ashton Job Centre, 101 Old Street, Ashton-Under-Lyne, OL6 6BJ - 10.00  to 12.00.

Openshaw Job Centre, 52 Cornwall Street, Gorton, Manchester, M11 -  9.00 to 10.00 am.

Rochdale Job Centre, 2 Fleece Street, Rochdale, OL16 1LT -  9.00 to 2.00 pm.

Salford Job Centre, Churchill Way, Paddington Close, Salford, M6 5PL - 9.00 to 10.30 am.

Eccles Job Centre, Sentinel House, Albert st, Eccles, M30 0NA - 10.30 to 12.00 noon.

Stockport Job Centre, Heron House, Wellington Street, Stockport, SK1 3AQ - 10.00 to 12.00 noon.

Wirral Community Branch has created a Thunderclap: click here.  

New Brighton: 10.30 to 2.00 pm - Morrisons, Marine Point, Kings Parade. Click here.

Cumbria: Carlisle Job Centre, Broadacre House, 16 – 20 Lowther Street, Carlisle, CA3 8DA - 10.00 to 1.00 pm

Ellesmere Port: Ellesmere Port Job Centre, Port Arcades (Bus station entrance), E.Port, CH65 0AP - 12.00 to 3.00 pm.

Warrington: Warrington Job Centre, Mersey Street, Warrington, WA1 2BL - 11.00 to 1.00 pm 

Chester: Chester Job Centre, Chantry House, City Road, Chester, CH1 3AQ - 12.00 to 3.00 pm.

Preston: Preston Job Centre, Ringway, Preston - 10.00 to 1.00 pm.

A full list of regional activities is listed on the Unite website.

Fracking Day of Action - 25 February

NW ARMS is looking into the possibility of coordinated action involving PCS branches and ARMS in the National Day of Action against fracking on Saturday 25 February at Preston New Road near Little Plumpton in Lancashire.

The fracking fight is now moving into a new phase where causing physical delays and ramping up costs will hold the key to deterring future investment in the industry. There is a rolling blockade at Preston New Road (9am-3pm weekdays) when work is happening.

For more details of the Day of Action, and other information about fracking and the campaign against it, please see the Frack Off Newsletter for February and March - click here.

NHS demo, London 4 March

Dear Colleagues,

I am writing to update you on arrangements for the transport to London for members who want to attend the National NHS Demonstration on March 4 2017, we plan to arrange buses to transport members from Liverpool, Manchester and Preston.

We expect the buses to leave the appointed locations on Saturday March 4 at around 7am to arrive in Tavistock Square London, WC1 in time to assemble at noon, the buses back to the return locations would leave Parliament Square at 5pm, we would expect the journey back to take at least 4.30 hours.

Can any members wanting a place on the appointed buses please notify me on NWRC@pcs.org.uk stating which location you want to depart from by noon on Monday 13 February 2017.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation,

Regards,

Caroline Turner
Regional Organising Officer

Defend Our NHS demo, Liverpool

There is a national event in London on 28 January, but locally Defend Our NHS have organised a HOWL and protest in Liverpool city centre on the same day:

• Saturday 28 January 2017.
• 12.00 midday.
• Outside Primark, 48-56 Church Street, Liverpool L1 3AY.

If you can't attend, why not do a THUNDERCLAP and share your outrage at these attacks on our NHS? Details here.

Please tell PCS ARMS NW if there are any other Save the NHS demos on the North West so that they can be publicised on this blog.

Defend The Women's Hospital

A call for support from TUSC:

The Women's Hospital remains under serious threat. The assurances given by Mayor Anderson at a previous meeting that the Women’s would be protected need to be reaffirmed. The privateers and Tory agents in the NHS continue to sharpen their knives and spread confusion.

TUSC supports the call for a mass presence at the lobby of the extraordinary City Council Health and Wellbeing Committee meeting tomorrow Tuesday 10 January in Cunard Building. Now the proposals have been announced the fight really begins. Please assemble from 4.30pm onwards. A strong lobby, supported by your placards and banners will underline the magnificent support which exists for the present Women’s Hospital.

Roger Bannister, TUSC candidate for Liverpool mayor in May 2016, says "It is clear that, at this critical juncture, the Campaign to save the Women’s needs maximum support, and this I unequivocally pledge."

For further information, contact:

• Daren Ireland on 07787128498
• Dave Walsh on 07969511796
• Tony Mulhearn on 07939098455

E-mail: Merseysidetusc@gmail.com

Support the EHRC demo, Liverpool - 16 November

Please note: this event has been cancelled and therefore so has the leafleting.

Next Wednesday 16/11/16 (the 2nd day of the 2 day EHRC strike), the EHRC intend to hold a training seminar in Liverpool for all its employees from across the country. Obviously we have told our members, along with Unite members, not to attend this seminar.

Having said that, it would be remiss of us not to remind those EHRC employees who do attend what's going on back at their offices (or - hopefully - not as the case may be). It's our intention to leaflet this seminar. The details of our leafleting are:

• Date: Wednesday, 16 November 2016
• Time: 11:15 until around 12:15
• Venue: ACC Liverpool, Kings Dock, Liverpool, L3 4FP

Please attend - the more the merrier. We have been told that EHRC members on strike that day cannot leaflet because it could compromise them, so let's show the EHRC how we stand together ... You never know: it may help them with their team building exercises!!

Paula Wood
PCS North West Regional Secretary

ARMS at ACAS demo, Manchester

PCS held a small protest today outside ACAS in Manchester where ACAS chair Sir Brendan Barber and chief executive officer Ann Sharpe were meeting staff to talk about the office closures.

Jacquie Hadfield of ARMS Greater Manchester adds: "Small but beautifully formed. Lots of people took time to talk to us and take leaflets. The irony of ACAS forcing staff to move without proper consultation was not lost on people. We have had enough of cuts to vital services like ACAS, the EHRC and the NHS. Keep services local."