Oppose Driver-Only Trains, Tory/Council Cuts and sign RMT petition

TUSC (Trade Union & Socialist Coalition) news release:

Support the RMT's call to lobby Merseytravel at Mann Island on Monday 17 July at 1pm, gather at 12.30 p.m.

Late news (added 16.7.17): RMT's meeting with Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram over the Merseyrail guards' dispute, which was due to take place Monday 17 July, has been rescheduled for Monday 24 July‎. The lobby is also postponed, new details will published when known.

The general election result reflected a popular surge in support for Jeremy Corbyn's anti-austerity alternative. It has sent out the clearest possible message that the British people have rejected the Tory programme of cuts, austerity, privatisation and division and there is no mandate for diluting safety on our transport services by imposing driver-only trains.

Labour's city region mayor and Labour Councillors on Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Transport Committee should immediately lift the threat to guards on Merseyrail trains and stand firm in the face of any opposition they may incur from the Department of Transport.

TUSC decided not to stand candidates in the general election and to campaign for a Jeremy Corbyn-led government, but the Blairites have not gone away. They are preparing to mount another attack on JC and his supporters; they are especially strong amongst Labour councillors who continue to implement cuts.

TUSC will campaign for the Tories to be forced out of government before the next set of local elections in May 2018, and for Labour councils to stop implementing cuts even if the Tories are clinging on. TUSC calls on Labour Party members to deselect any Labour councillor who intend to continue making cuts, and to replace them with candidates willing to defend local public services.

P.S. Please sign the RMT letter to lobby your local MP about driver-only operation trains - link here.

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For further information contact: 

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

Trump - join the resistance!

All forces opposing bigotry, bullying, narrow-mindedness, misogyny, unbridled capitalism, racism, a myopic view of the world, laced with phoney promises to desperate workless victims of neo-liberalism, must unite to send a clear thunderous message to Trump that there will be ongoing resistance by millions to his reactionary policies.

Tony Mulhearn, ARMS NW.

Three things you can do straight away:

• Tell Trump: with the Muslim ban, Trump has shown that our worst fears about him are true. Add your voice to this open letter to him, then spread it far and wide. Click here.
• Tell Parliament: no state visit for Trump. More than 1.4 million have signed this petition. Not keen on the wording, but it is the main petition on the subject. Click here.
• Tell Theresa May to demand an end to Trump's Muslim ban. Click here.

"We in Britain have an obligation and a responsibility to make crystal clear to President Trump that this ban is a mistake - and to urge him to put it right." - Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London.

Sign Up To Stop CETA

When EU member states vote on the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) on October 18, all it takes is one "No" vote to derail the whole deal. The CETA trade deal is less famous than TTIP, but just as dangerous - this EU-Canada pact provides big business with the same toolbox to bully governments into doing what they want.

We’ve been doing all we can to shore up Austria’s opposition to CETA, but now it looks like there’s another opposition voice that needs our support - Belgium’s regional governments.

We should use all avenues possible to block this hideous piece of neo-liberal oligarchical legislation.

• Here is a petition to your MEPs asking them to stop CETA. 
• Here is a typical MEP's reply annotated with responses debunking the points made.

Tony Mulhearn

NW ARMS

Stop the pensioner bedroom tax

Pensioners could be hit by a new "bedroom tax". The government wants to cut housing benefit for elderly people who have a spare room. But experts say there aren’t enough smaller homes to move into, particularly for pensioners who need ground floor flats.

Some people will lose up to £34 a week if this cut goes ahead. If you’re on a state pension, it could mean choosing between turning on the heating or paying your rent.

Back in 2012, the government protected pensioners from the original bedroom tax. They knew then that it would be too controversial to turf elderly people out of their homes. A huge petition right now will show the government this is still hugely unpopular - we know it's just the bedroom tax by the back door. It could convince them to let pensioners stay in their homes.

The original bedroom tax was controversial. It hit some of the most vulnerable people in our society, such as parents with disabled children. And to make matters worse, experts say it’s been completely ineffective because there aren’t smaller homes to move into.

Theresa May’s new government won’t want to be tarnished with the scandal of forcing pensioners out of their homes. If enough of us get behind the huge petition we could convince them to scrap their new bedroom tax on the elderly.

If you think no pensioner should have to face the choice between heating their home or paying their rent, please sign the petition now - here.

Short URL for petition: tiny.cc/ebstfy

Rudd: don't make targets of migrant workers

Amber Rudd, the worst Home Secretary since Theresa May, declared at the Tory Party rally that: "Twenty years ago levels of immigration weren’t really an issue in British politics. As net migration has risen, that has changed." Extraordinarily, this nonsense was uttered by a history graduate. She has clearly chosen to forget the long history of racism in this country, such as the thousands of workers who went on strike as long ago as 1968 in support of Enoch Powell's "Rivers of Blood" speech - surely one of British organised labour's low points - or, ten years earlier, the Notting Hill race riots of 1958. Pretending that concerns about immigration are a modern phenomenon provides her xenophobic proposals with an spurious contemporary justification.

Accordingly she announced to the party faithful extensive new powers to reduce the numbers of people coming into the country, and plans to 'name and shame' companies employing workers from abroad by forcing them to publish figures showing how much of their workforce is 'foreign'.

I wouldn't be too surprised if in a couple of years' time she announces that 'foreigners' will have to wear badges sewn onto their coats to identify their alien status. Too fanciful? There is a precedent: G4S, still a recipient of many government contracts, recently had the doors of asylum seekers painted red in Middlesbrough, leading to a number of racist incidents.

With Rudd's speech, we are entering an nastier period of discrimination in the UK, this time subtly led by the government. Rudd has strenuously denied that what she said was racist, saying we ought to be able to have a discussion about immigration. While that is true in itself, it doesn't mean that the boundaries have been abolished. It doesn't excuse incitement to racism, whether deliberately or inadvertently: it seems highly likely that companies that are revealed to have a higher proportion of migrant workers on the payroll would face a racist backlash, a reaction that would rapidly extend from the company to the workers themselves. They might as well put a sign outside saying, "Here be foreigners!"

It is possible that these are not Rudd's intentions, but as a professional politician she ought to assess the possible consequences of her words and actions. If she hasn't, she's failing in her job. If she has, she is a more unpleasant and dangerous person than I have so far judged her to be.

Please sign this 38° petition - here - calling upon Rudd not to force companies to publish how many migrant workers they employ.

Neville Grundy
NW ARMS

Miners pension fund fight

This petition calls upon the UK Government to review the mineworkers' pension fund to reduce the 50/50 share of the surplus that the Government takes from the system. It has been many years since the mineworkers and widows have had an increase in their pension (other than cost of living increases). They deserve a fair increase in their pension.

Since 1994, both Labour and Tory governments have taken from the surplus of the miners' pension fund at a rate of £1 million per day, making a total of £8 billion. The government must reduce the deduction from 50% of the surplus to a more reasonable percentage. 

Sign the petition here.

Jeremy Hunt: reveal your plans for the NHS

Health Minister Jeremy Hunt has a secret plan to force changes to local NHS services in order to cut costs. The changes, called "sustainability and transformation plans", are being kept secret. But they could mean cuts to hospital beds, local walk-in centres or family planning services near you.

Across England, these plans are being drawn up in the next few weeks. Because they're secret it's hard to say exactly which services near you are at risk. But the plans for one area have been leaked and show the scale of the threat: they include axing 500 hospital beds and some emergency ambulances. No wonder Jeremy Hunt doesn't want us to see them!

The best way to stop these cuts is to get them out in the open and demand the public has a say. So please can you sign the petition now, demanding that Jeremy Hunt publishes his plans for local NHS cuts? It only takes 30 seconds to add your name to the petition - here.

HMRC cleaners strike 25 & 26 July

A message from Phil Dickens, HMRC PCS Union Representative

Next Monday and Tuesday (25 & 26 July) PCS members working for ISS as cleaners in HMRC buildings in Liverpool and Bootle are taking part in a 48 hour strike, following a unilateral decision by management to cut the hours of cleaning staff.

PCS has called for the actual Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation (LWF), currently £8.25 per hour outside London, to be paid to the cleaners. ISS is accredited by the LWF and claims to be a Living Wage employer. Yet to pay for the government's much lower 'national living wage' (NLW) of £7.20, it is imposing the cuts to HMRC cleaners' hours.

We believe that ISS, having turned a £250 million profit in 2015, can more than afford the real Living Wage. We also believe that HMRC, as the department responsible for implementing the government's NLW, ought to save itself embarrassment by ensuring that it is properly applied without shortcuts on its own estate.

Cleaners are clear that they want a wage they can live on without cuts and are willing to fight in order to get that. If this initial strike doesn't move ISS, they are willing to escalate their action. Please support them in every way you can:

• Sign the on-line petition.
• Donate to the cleaners' strike fund on-line here.
• Send messages of support to NWRC@pcs.org.uk

Please attend picket lines (see below) if you can, and show your support for the lowest paid and most precarious section of the union's membership in HMRC.

More details about the campaign (including how you can support us through social media) can be found on-line here.

Support the pickets:

Bootle

• Litherland House, Litherland Road, Bootle (map) – 7am to 9.30am
• The Triad, Stanley Road, Bootle (map) – 7am to 12pm

Liverpool

• Graeme House and Regian House, Derby Square, Liverpool (map) – 3pm to 5pm
• Imperial Court, Exchange Street East, Liverpool (map) – 12.30pm to 2pm

Petition for a conference to defend Jeremy Corbyn

The nine month nascent civil war in the Labour Party has been escalated in earnest. The majority of the Parliamentary Labour Party has never accepted Jeremy Corbyn’s democratic election as leader and is now determined to get rid of him by any means necessary.

This is not, as they claim, because Jeremy Corbyn is unelectable but because they fear he could win a general election. Blair himself said that Jeremy Corbyn as prime minister would "be a very dangerous experiment"; an experiment his acolytes are determined to prevent. Jeremy Corbyn was thrust into power by an uprising against austerity. If he was to win a general election the 1% are terrified that the hopes of millions of working class people would be raised and, as a result, that government would be pressurised to take radical measures which would threaten their system and gargantuan profits.

Now that war has been declared by the PLP, the worst possible response would be to capitulate. It is much to Jeremy Corbyn’s credit that he has so far stood firm. Now the labour movement, together with all those who are opposed to austerity, needs to mobilise to support Jeremy against the Blairite onslaught.

Petition here.

Support sacked union activist

Leicestershire-based food manufacturer, Samworth Brothers, which supplies baked goods and other products to major UK retailers, responded to the introduction of the National Living Wage in April by eliminating paid breaks, premium pay and overtime rates, measures which can reduce workers’ pay by thousands of pounds per year. When hundreds of workers responded to these attacks by joining the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union, Samworth Brothers bosses responded by harassing Kumaran Bose, a leading union organiser who spoke out against the attack on pay and conditions, and then sacking him from his job at Samworth’s Kettleby Foods on 3 June.

Kumaran’s only offence was to convince over 50% of the workers at his factory to join the union; he has worked there for 12 years with a spotless record. Samworth Brothers, who last year recorded profits of over £41 million, refuse to recognise the bakers union at this site, despite the union’s majority membership. The union is energetically defending Kumaran and is appealing against the company’s refusal of voluntary recognition.

Send a message to Samworth Brothers telling them to reinstate Kumaran Bose, recognise the BFAWU and stop attacking workers’ pay and conditions!

The petition is here.

Info: Samworth Brothers own Cornish pasty maker Ginsters, and are the largest maker of certified Melton Mowbray pork pies. It is listed at number four in The Times Top Track 250.

Petition to demand on-line voting in industrial action ballots

MPs could be voting on an important amendment to the Trade Union Bill in just a matter of days. They will be deciding whether to allow trade unions to use on-line voting for industrial actions, which is currently banned. The government is acting like it has a huge majority, but in reality its majority is only 12, which means there's a good chance we can make sure this important change to the bill is approved.

On-line voting is a sensible reform to existing trade union law. It would make it easier, cheaper and probably increase turnout in union ballots, making votes more democratic and increase their legitimacy: no wonder the government wants to stop it.

Cameron’s government is handing big business and dodgy employers a golden opportunity to weaken our rights at work and treat workers unfairly. But if we can force the government to accept the Lords amendment on on-line voting, we can help our unions fight back.

Send a message to your MP here.

The clock is ticking on UK steel – help save it now

A message from Unite:

This week Britain’s steel industry was dealt another devastating blow as a further 1,050 job losses were announced by Tata Steel and 100 losses at Sheffield Forgemasters taking the toll of job losses in recent months to over 5,000.

Port Talbot, Llanwern, Trostre, Corby, Hartlepool and Sheffield have become the latest communities to be hit by the crisis engulfing the industry, while steel workers from Motherwell to Redcar and Rotherham to Scunthorpe are counting the cost of closures and job losses.

Unite is pulling out all the stops, pressing the government to put words into action and to step up to the plate to save our steel. They stepped in to bail out the banks, now minsters must put words into action and support our steel industry.

We need your help to spread the word and keep the pressure up to save our steel. As our latest animated film ‘The clock is ticking’ shows, losing our steel industry will have a devastating effect on jobs, our communities and our future.

Please watch the film, share it on social media and sign and share The Mirror’s petition.

Together we can save our steel!

Thank you

Tony Burke
Unite assistant general secretary

MPs feathering their own nests - petition

MPs and political parties should not be able to profit from any company that takes on public sector work, such as in the civil service, local authorities, police, NHS, fire service, and so on. Nor should they profit from any company involved in the arranging of public sector contracts.

Any shares owned should be sold before taking up post as an MP, and this should also include MPs' immediate families so they do not just transfer them to their partners. At present, many MPs profit out of their own decisions to award contracts.

If you agree with this proposal, please sign this petition.

Don't Bomb Syria - petition & demo

Lobby your MP to vote against UK military action in Syria. Click here.

Every Lidl helps ...

Lidl is getting great press right now for paying local staff living wage salaries in the UK and Ireland, but did you know there's a campaign to support workers in Lidl's supply chains to get fair pay too? The company said recently that it's developing an action plan to ensure living wages are paid to workers in its supply chains, and will share details on October 27.

Every extra petition signature now could make a difference!

Please add your name to the Lidl petition and share it widely so the company continues to feel the pressure. Click here to sign.

Thank you.

Tell your MEP: vote against TTIP this week

The TTIP vote that got delayed a few weeks ago might finally happen. MEPs across Europe will recommend the parts of the deal they do and don’t like.

The good news first: thanks to people power, a huge majority of our UK MEPs are now against one of the worst parts of TTIP. That’s the part that would allow corporations to sue the government if they don’t like our laws. Let’s make sure they follow through by voting the worst parts of TTIP out. Petition here.

Say no to a Thatcher museum

If the Tories want a museum to the most detested Prime Minister in modern history (although it is perhaps only a matter of time with Cameron), then they should fund it from their own bloated bank accounts. But preferably, not at all.

If you agree, please sign this petition.

Independent pay review for the Civil Service

The Civil Service used to have independent pay review. It was abolished in, I think, 1981 by the Thatcher regime because they didn't like the rises it had recommended. There has been no orderly system of determining Civil Service since then. Since 2010, many public sector salaries have been set by pay freezes and arbitrary caps. This petition proposes that an independent body be established to wholly review and set salaries to reflect inflation, housing cost rises, and market rates. This will bring them in line with MPs.

At the time of writing, it has 3850 signatures. At 10,000 signatures, government will respond to this petition, and at 100,000 signatures, this petition will be considered for debate in Parliament

To reach the petition, please click here.

News and a petition from the PCS website

• Michael Cook, chair of the PCS DfE Branch, was sacked under a performance management process within a year of his retirement - here.

• PCS members working at Amgueddfa Cymru/National Museum Wales are being urged to vote yes in a ballot for strike action in a dispute over the removal of premium payments for working weekends or anti-social hours - here.

• PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka has recorded a video to stress the need for members at the DVLA contact centre to vote yes for action in a dispute over Saturday pay - here.

Attack on trade unions - sign the petition

If these proposed rules were appled to all ballots, we would be left with:

• No police commissioners. 
• No directly elected mayors. 
• Almost no local councillors. 
• Almost no MEPs. 
• A seriously reduced House of Commons. 

Mark Serwotka makes it clear that the anti-trade union bill is an attack, not just on unions, but on society. The full text of his argument is here.

Sign the 38 degrees petition here.