Resisting the cuts in London

London resisting the cuts

I have reproduced a list of meetings and marches in London published in Jon's blog, as you can see there is a lot going on and the resistance is being stepped up. The big event will of course be on the 26 March when we should

Time for the Iraqi Government to listen

Massive demonstrations will take place across Iraq tomorrow calling for jobs, basic services, an end to corruption and respect for workers' rights. TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber sent his message of solidarity to the General Federation of Iraq Workers who are backing the protests.

http://www.tuc.org.uk/international/tuc-19212-f0.cfm

Climate Week: 21 - 27 March 2011; Guidance from Green Workplaces Network

A new national occasion is set to enter the annual calendar this year with the launch of the first ever UK climate week from 21 - 27 March. Union branches can join thousands of organisations across the public and private sector showing what can be done to combat climate change. The week long campaign offers the chance for reps to offer powerful examples of union green activity and has the potential to encourage thousands more to follow in their footsteps.
http://www.tuc.org.uk/workplace/tuc-19199-f0.cfm

Gender Impact of the Cuts

This is an A4 leaflet aimed at reps, giving the key facts and arguments about why women are bearing the brunt of the government's cuts programme.
http://www.tuc.org.uk/equality/tuc-19193-f0.cfm

Labour Market Report: Number 12 February 2011

Twelfth edition of the TUC's brief report on the state of the labour market, using the latest data from the Office for National Statistics.
http://www.tuc.org.uk/economy/tuc-19194-f0.cfm

Labour Market Report: Number 12 February 2011

Twelfth edition of the TUC's brief report on the state of the labour market, using the latest data from the Office for National Statistics.
http://www.tuc.org.uk/economy/tuc-19194-f0.cfm

Join the Green Workplaces Network

This pages announces the launch of the new Green Workplaces Network.
http://www.tuc.org.uk/workplace/tuc-19203-f0.cfm

Robin (Hood) all over the world!

Thursday 17 February 2011 was the second global day of action for Financial Transaction Taxes, and there was a lot more activity than the first day in May 2010. Action was taken in 25 countries around the world, including more than half of the G20 countries whose Finance Ministers are meeting in Paris on Friday and Saturday.
http://www.tuc.org.uk/international/tuc-19185-f0.cfm

TUC backs Bahraini unions' general strike

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber has sent a message of support to his opposite number in Bahrain, Salman Jaffar Al Mahfoodh, General Secretary of the General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU). The statement expresses solidarity with Bahraini unions and the general strike called by the GFBTU for Sunday 20 February, in support of the protests for democracy. The TUC has also written to the Bahraini Ambassador in London urging him to register concerns with his government over the violent repression of demonstrators over the past few days, and calling for the right to peaceful protest to be respected.
http://www.tuc.org.uk/international/tuc-19191-f0.cfm

Stewards for March for the Alternative, London, March 26th, 2011

The March for the Alternative is going to be huge!   That means we are going to need lots of volunteer stewards to help make the day a well-run, family-friendly event. Good events need about one steward for every 50 people attending, so that tells you how many we will need.

http://www.tuc.org.uk/economy/tuc-19038-f0.cfm

Solidarity with Mexican unions

Global unions have started a week of action from 14 February until and as close as possible to the fifth anniversary of the Pasta de Conchos mine tragedy on 19 February. Support the campaign now by writing to the Mexican government through the LabourStart campaign, and joining the UK demonstration on Thursday 17 February outside the Mexican embassy.
http://www.tuc.org.uk/international/tuc-19152-f0.cfm

response from the TUC.

Proposals to encourage economic growth set out by the Institute of Directors early in February received a scathing response from the TUC.
Reducing training, restricting flexible working rights and ending national collective bargaining in the NHS would all lead to a race to the bottom and hinder prosperity, the TUC said.
More on this @
http://www.tuc.org.uk/economy/tuc-19102-f0.cfm

greek

Το άρθρο αυτό εξηγεί

Egypt and TUs

As the Egyptian revolution plays out, independent unions are calling for the dissolution of the state-run Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF) as workers continue to protest for better rights and conditions. This is further evidence that Egyptians are keen on root and branch democratisation of their country, not just replacing one elite with another.http://www.tuc.org.uk/international/tuc-19153-f0.cfm

Assassination of Manuel Esteban Tejada

The TUC General Secretary has written to the Colombian Ambassador in London to protest at the killing of Manuel Esteban Tejada. Manuel is the 25 teacher to be killed in Colombia over the last 12 months.http://www.tuc.org.uk/international/tuc-19087-f0.cfm

The Kings speech

I Went to see the film The King's Speech at Clapham picture house tonight. The film was cleverly made with some splendid sound affects and it tells the story of King George the 6th who tries to overcome his speech disability with the help of a therapist played by Geoffrey Rush who, I thought, was the best actor out of them all.Disappointed with Helena Bonham Carter's part so I am crossing her off my Christmas list and don't bother writing in asking me to reconsider my decision. I thought she probably 'over acted' and did not portray the character of Queen mum ( who I did not know at all) as accurately as she could have.Colin Firth, on the other hand, was superb as he always is. No point telling you the story as you can easily go to your local library (before the Tories close them all down) and find out what its all about. So ignoring the class issues involved with the plot the film was interesting and you should all go and see it before the cultural revolution starts

Nick Venedi

Some posts..

http://www.strongerunions.org/2010/07/01/facility-time-here-we-go-again/

http://www.tigmoo.co.uk/?q=aggregator/sources/170

http://www.bristolnuj.org.uk/2010/11/11/do-bloggers-need-a-union/

Egypt

The people of Egypt have won their fight against corruption and tyranny by turning up on the streets of major cities and protesting confronting the corrupt system and saying that they will not go back home until their demands were met so they have managed, through peaceful (mainly) demonstrations to force the 30 year old regime out of office. All democrats will now hope that the transition to democracy will be a smooth one and that the elections that have been promised will be fair.

http://lawatwork.blogspot.com/2011/02/egypt-dictatorships-will-fall.html

Join “Trafalgar to Tahrir” live cross this Saturday

Saturday's demonstration in Trafalgar square (12 noon to 2pm) will feature a live video cross with protestors in Cairo's Tahrir Square, in a pioneering act of real time solidarity with the Egyptian people.http://www.tuc.org.uk/international/tuc-19127-f0.cfm

International Women's Day centenary

The TUC will be marking the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day with a celebration of sisterhood and solidarity at Congress House on March 7. Leading trade unionists from Peru, Ireland and Nepal will join Frances O'Grady and Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities Yvette Cooper as speakers at the event.Details @http://www.tuc.org.uk/events/detail.cfm?event=3273

Changes to national insurance contributions

The changes to NI contributions mean that the primary employee threshold for national insurance contributions increases by £570.At the same time National insurance contributions increase by 1% for employees. The personal allowance for income tax for basic rate tax payers under the age of 65 is increased by £1,000.

The standard rate of statutory sick pay increases from £79.15 to £81.60 per week. Information on the new rates (PDF format, 232K) can be viewed on the Department for Work and Pensions website.

Nick Venedi

Unison response to cuts

UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis chaired a special meeting of the TUC where the affiliated unions agreed to step up their united response to the government's cuts agenda.Mr Prentis declared: "I am proud to report that we agreed a join strategy to bring all unions together to fight cuts to jobs, pensions and public services."The unions agreed to defend their members against the series of attacks they are facing - including pay freezes, job cuts, privatisation and attacks on pensions - including if necessary to look at taking national and co-ordinated industrial action. And in the run up to the TUC demonstration in London on 26 March, Mr Prentis vowed that: "All unions will work with campaigning and community organisations to push our alternative agenda."Mr Prentis also spoke on public sector pensions, noting that workers would have "no choice" but to take action if their pensions were threatened. However, he explained that the government had agreed to talks on this issue and will not impose changes in March's budget. "This is an important step forward," he said.He called on members of the public, trade unions, and all those who use public services to make sure that "the 26 March demo is a huge show of strength which will show the government that we do not accept the cuts agenda."

Nick Venedi

Minimum wage

The minimum wage simply means that employers are obliged to remunerate their employees at or above the rate set.For periods starting on or after 1 October 2010, the main rate of the national minimum wage for workers aged 21 and over rose to £5.93 The development rate for workers aged 18 to 20 went up to £4.92, and for those employed and under the age of 18 who are no longer of compulsory school age rose to £3.64. A rate of £2.50 per hour was brought in for apprentices who are aged 19 or under in the first 12 months of the apprenticeship

Nick Venedi

http://www.blogsitelist.com/detail/the-world-of-nick-venedi-9194.htm

What's a Greek?

The reality is that history tends to repeat itself and trends come and go. The world keeps changing and man evolves and learns from previous experience. We as a nation of Hellenes have found ourselves in difficult situations when we allowed ourselves to become more focused on material gain. Another one of our problems comes from polarising and losing unity.
The Hellenes are not and never have been a homogeneous race. We have always been a good and diverse mixture of people who have a number of cultural individualities in common. We were best united during the Byzantine times and what brought us together was our culture, our religion and our language. We somehow allowed ourselves to lose that unity and faced occupation for 3 centuries and have been trying to define who we are since independence in 1825. But that should not be a great task as the elements that brought us together before as Greeks from Crete, Macedonia, Thrace, Cyprus or anywhere else are still there. We should all be proud of our specific differences but should also celebrate what unites us. We are modern Hellenes sons and daugthers of Byzantium and we must never allow disunity to bring us down again.

Na tin valoume tin sklava pali sto throni, na tin proskinisi o kosmos rigisa trani...

Appeal for organ donation

leading UK charity dedicated to finding life-saving donors from Black, Asian, Mixed Race and other minority ethnic communities in the UK would like to hear from you about an exciting new initiative, if you or a family member has ever donated an organ, received an organ donation or are on the organ transplant waiting list. They would like to speak to you or someone from your family in confidence. As the initiative is due to start later in February, they would like you to contact them as soon as possible. To find out more and for their contact details, visit: http://www.unison.org.uk/blackmembers/pages_view.asp?did=12419

Nick Venedi

http://www.tigmoo.co.uk/?q=aggregator/sources/170&page=4

http://www.blogsitelist.com/detail/the-world-of-nick-venedi-9194.htm

Retirement issues

A bleak picture of retirement has emerged , with a study revealing that millions of people will have to work in retirement, or struggle with barely enough income to survive. And while it is worrying enough that over 50% of those over 55 do not have savings, even more alarming is the level of debts older people are carrying.So just how bad have things become?Among the most shocking findings of the report is that one in ten people over the age of 75 are still paying the mortgage, with an average outstanding debt of £72,500. Some 20% of those over 55 still have a mortgage, with an average of £64,511 left to pay on it.This is of course of great concern to those members who have retired with average pensions falling and with government proposals to changing the way pay increases are awarded. More should be done for those in retirement to link with 'parent branches' and join the fight that we will all have to be involved with soon.

Nick Venedi

London Olympics by Nick Venedi

There is a lot of talk in the press about the advice given to the organisers of the London Olympics by those who developed the Athens 2004 event. They have warned the London committee to avoid creating venues that can't be used after the games finish.I am in two minds about the whole thing here. On the one hand I think we should all celebrate their arrival as it will give London a break and would at the very least create a mini economic boom.There is no question that the games would bring in many tourists who will spend money in the capital and that in itself will help job creation. On the other hand I can see what the organisers of Athens 2004 (I was there after it all ended) mean. You have a situation where all the new buildings you have put up are sitting there doing nothing. I think that the Athenians are still worried about the fact that it cost more than 9 billion pounds to put it all together and about 30 million a year to keep the white elephants (or pink if you prefer) sitting there doing nothing.

Nick Venedi

http://www.blogsitelist.com/detail/the-world-of-nick-venedi-9194.htm

Equal treatment directive, Nick Venedi

Another interesting change coming in from 1 October 2011, concerns the way employers deal with agency workers they will now be entitled to equal treatment on basic employment conditions, such as pay and holidays, after they have worked in a role for 12 weeks.Trades Unions have of course been arguing that all staff should be permanent but the area and the way in which some employers use agency workers has become very complicated. I remember many difficulties we had on the ground when we were dealing with permanent staff being made redundant and the employer replacing them almost immediately with agency staff that they would just bring in. There was then a conflict of interest between the two. Agency staff now will have to be treated the same way but isn't the agency the employer?

Nick Venedi

X Factor

I have suspended my quest for fairness and equality throughout the world to get online and record my profound disagreement with the panel of judges on X factor who, tonight, made the big mistake of choosing to remove Tracey Cohen and keep Katie instead. I am also rather annoyed that the British public, well the part of the public who watch the 'programme' keep voting for Wagner to stay in. He is as talented as I am Swedish in other words he can't sing and can't act, yet the public keep voting for him to stay in. This could be because the British public like to challenge the silly little judges so I have some sympathy with that as a tactic, but Tracey Cohen was the better singer and should have been kept in even though I say so myself!! Its all going pear shape, what with Sugar puff removing the gorgeous Paloma on Weds from the apprentice and the judges getting rid of Tracey tonight!! Whats the united left going to do about this??

Nick Venedi

Tribunal warning, Nick Venedi

As the government plans to launch a major review of employment tribunals, the TUC has warned that any reforms to the system could stop employees who have been wronged at work from seeking justice and give rogue employers the green light to break the law.While employer groups have been lobbying for ministers to make fundamental changes, the TUC says that rather than complaining about the cost of cases, employers should improve practices and ensure they stay within the law.Full story available @http://www.tuc.org.uk/industrial/tuc-18989-f0.cfm

Nick Venedi

Flexible working

The right to ask your employer for flexible working will be extended to parents of children under the age of 18 on 6 April 2011. It currently applies to parents of children under the age of 17, or 18 if the child is disabled.The Government is also intending to extend the right to request flexible working to all employees and will start consultation on these proposals in January 2011. The process will end and will be reviewed by December 2011

Equal Treatment for agency workers

Another interesting change coming in from 1 October 2011, concerns the way employers deal with agency workers they will now be entitled to equal treatment on basic employment conditions, such as pay and holidays, after they have worked in a role for 12 weeks.Trades Unions have of course been arguing that all staff should be permanent but the area and the way in which some employers use agency workers has become very complicated. I remember many difficulties we had .

Equality Act 2010

Under the new amended version of the Equality Act 2010, employers will be able to treat applicants with a 'protected characteristic' differently (i.e. more favourably) during the recruitment and promotion stages when dealing with a number of candidates of equal merit. This distinct treatment will only be lawful if the different process applied is intended to address under-representation in the workforce. The single public sector equality duty will also come in and both provisions will become the law as from 6 April 2011. Unions have been consulted and I would expect to see a detailed response from the TU's.