Annual Report for 2013-2014 Wolverhampton, Bilston & District Trades Union Council www.wolvestuc.org.uk
info@wolvestuc.org.uk
Secretary’s annual Report of Work and Plan of Action for 2014 Good Services and Decent Welfare - much of what the TUC is campaigning on the trades union council movement has long been engaged in: Opposing outsourcing and privatisation Fighting NHS fragmentation and privatisation Exposing the effects of austerity on services, benefits and working people Campaigning to defend welfare and oppose the stigmatisation of claimants Government attacks on the unemployed, sick and people with disabilities were again top of the ConDem government’s priorities this year. Bedroom Tax - Introduced in April 2013, it is affecting an estimated 660,000 working-age social tenants in receipt of Housing Benefit (HB) who – the government claims – have at least one spare bedroom. Their HB is cut by an average of £14 a week even though their pre-cut HB was already set at the minimum needed. At the Wolverhampton protest (pictured) about 150 turned up to a rally which had been announced online (by someone who then never came!), so we co-ordinated the rally, which got front-page Ex&Star coverage. A dozen people spoke from the crowd, many for the first time, showing the strength of feeling of people against the government's attack on the poorest in society. For the second time in a fortnight, protests took part in over towns. Wolverhampton Against the Bedroom Tax www.facebook.com/groups/179125605570388 was set up as a result of the protest, and 100 joined within a day; it was intended to use this group to make collective decisions about future activities but because it lacked any leadership it did nothing. Within 5 months of its introduction, the Bedroom Tax pushed two of every five Wolverhampton council tenants affected into arrears. Wolverhampton is the worst affected area in the Midlands. Additionally, Wolverhampton Council makes people on Benefits contribute 8.5% of their Council Tax whilst several other local councils do not require any contribution. Disability – the private company Atos continues to get paid to conduct the assessments and continues to reject almost all disability claimants at the first assessment, meaning such Benefits are stopped. Those able to appeal have a very high success rate. Atos get paid twice by the government– first for the (questionable) assessment and second for the (often successful) appeals. Food banks have been set up all over Britain including Wolverhampton, some run by churches here which place a Jesus loves you sticker on every single item. Fair pay and a Living Wage Trades union councils are asked to join the national campaign to spread the living wage to private and public sector workplaces and continue on-going work supporting co-ordinating union campaigns to win better pay and continue campaigning for better state and workplace pensions.
Strong Unions Trades union councils can bring unions together to strengthen bargaining and campaign power. We should be looking to work with young activists developing their organising and campaigning experience and abilities. Industrial action UCU – we began 2013 demonstrating in the snow at Halesowen College in support of four sacked UCU activists from the Maths department. Several demos and lobbies were followed by strike action. The union is still pursuing employment tribunals on their behalf. Further and Higher Education – members of UCU, along with UNITE and UNISON went on strike twice in their first ever combined action over their continued low pay. Teachers – after two years of action-short-of-strike-action, in the dispute over pay, pensions, working conditions and jobs, teachers’ unions NASUWT & NUT took combined strike action which forced talks with the government but it appears that strikes will take place again in 2014. Fire Brigades Union members (pictured) have taken strike actions seven times since the end of September over pension cuts and being forced to work to the age of 60. NAPO – probation officers and family court workers took strike action for only the fourth time in their union's history. Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union General Secretary brother Ronnie Draper, spoke to our delegates on the strike victory of 357 BFAWU members’ at Hovis in Wigan after several weeks of industrial action over staffing levels, agency workers and zero-hours contracts. CWU – the Tory/Liberal government privatised the Royal Mail, losing billions of pounds by massively underselling to their rich friends. The CWU threatened national strike action which brought about a pay deal.
Jobs Growth and a New Economy Fighting back against austerity Trades union councils must use every opportunity to expose how austerity fails as economics and rips society apart. Trades union councils have been told to support the People's Assembly against Austerity, take forward our experiences into building the movement locally and press for an economic model that delivers good sustainable jobs for all. The People's Charter has identified six major reforms to reverse the crisis and the government's austerity policy • A fair economy for a fairer Britain • More and better jobs • Decent homes for all • Protecting and improving public services • Social justice • A secure and sustainable future and for urgent action against global warming. Several of our delegates attended a 4,000+ People's Assembly meeting in London which was supported by all unions and Frances O’Grady the TUC General Secretary. It is an umbrella organisation of anti-cuts campaigners. A meeting there of West Midlands delegates present agreed to meetings of Black Country Peoples' Assembly to be co-ordinated by Wolverhampton & Bilston, Dudley, Walsall and Sandwell trades union councils. These have been taken place in Wolverhampton regularly since the summer, involving people from across the Black Country and many new activists. There is a need to move the organising venues around the area or set up assemblies separately. Activities against government attacks on the working class have been supported and publicised across the Black Country. This included 20,000 flyers being distributed in co-ordinated organisation of local coaches to the 29th September demo in support of NHS (see below) outside the Tory conference in Manchester. A Hands Off our Unions campaign has been launched and there will be a recalled conference and national demonstration in London in 2014.
Black Country People’s Assembly – launch on 25.01.14 We have a joint TUC development grant with the other four local Black Country trades union councils to organise a big public launch of the Black Country People’s Assembly, the umbrella anti-cuts groups. The two national speakers are comedian Francesca Martinez; and the People’s Assembly Secretary Sam Fairbairn, who suffered an undercover intelligence raid on his home. We aim to encourage participants to get involved in anti-cuts campaigning and we have designed sessions to share and teach skills.
NHS Socialist Health Association – their Defending the NHS workshop early in the year was well attended but did not generate any campaign and did not involve current NHS workers. Mass demonstration – on Sunday 29 September there was mass national demo in support of NHS outside the Tory party conference, Manchester. Three coaches of protesters went from Wolverhampton and joined over 50,000 demonstrating through the centre of Manchester at the Tory conference. Our coach as with other coaches was half full but we gained contact with ten new local activists. Respect and a voice at work Defend social Europe, workers' and union rights; press for an employee voice and expose discrimination against older working women and pregnant workers. Action For Rail – it has been 20 years since the disastrous privatisation of the railways by the previous Tory government. Twice this year our Trades Union Council, with RMT & ASLEF helped organise volunteers (pictured) to give out thousands of postcards to early morning commuters at Wolverhampton Railway Station, for them to send to MPs to support the TUC-backed campaign calls for re-nationalisation. Defending Children’s Centres and Youth Services – stalls were successfully run by us gaining several hundred signatures in Wednesfield and Wolverhampton, joining activists from the Children’s Centres campaign and Youth Services campaign alongside UNISON, CYWUNITE. These petitions forced debates at the council. Workers' Memorial Day – on 28th April sixty people attended in Wolverhampton; several excellent speakers; wreaths were laid by FBU, UNISON General, UNISON University, UCATT, PCS, CWU, & WB&DTUC. Wolverhampton 23rd annual Workers' Memorial Day Remember the Dead, Fight for the Living. Monday 28th April 2014 @12.30pm at the Cenotaph, St Peter's Square Wolverhampton WV1 1TS
TUC Women Chain-makers’ festival 2013 had a much bigger turnout and was a very successful day. It remains the biggest celebration of women’s history in Britain. Our motion was passed at the Midlands TUC in support of future Chain-makers’ Festivals and increased local involvement. The Midlands TUC is to hold the tenth Women Chain-makers’ Festival 2014 on Saturday 7th June 2014 11am-5pm at Bearmore Mound Playing Fields, Cradley Heath, B64 6DU. We'll have a stall again, so volunteers would be welcome. We have put a further motion for the 2014 AGM in support of Friends of Chainmakers’, the group which has been set up to assist the event and to encourage more local people to become involved. May Day festival (pictured) – went well, good turnout again. Total cost reduced to £1,150 this year – generous donations from trade union branches again covered this and helped it continue as a free community event. 9,000 flyers were distributed.
The 20th annual event will be at the Pegasus, Whitmore Reans 7pm Thursday 1st May 2014. Wolverhampton Palestine Solidarity Campaign held several public meetings and film shows as well as leafleting supermarkets and its biggest ever lobby of Parliament. Affiliations – 24 local trade union branches affiliated to our trades union council, representing 16,200 affiliated trade unionists. ASLEF, Community 17000, Community(W’ton Craft), Community Hall Palm, Community(West Midlands), CWU(W’ton), FBU, GMBx13, NASUWT, NUT, PCS(West Mercia), PCS(Central Valuation), POA, Prospect, RMT, UCATT, UCU College, UCU University, UNISON Acute, UNISON General, UNISON Police Staff, UNISON University, UNITE(L&G) and UNITE-CYW(WM7697) These branches elected 57 delegates to us with a gender ratio of 35% female delegates. Our attendance maintained an average of 13.5 per meeting but barely over 20% of attendees were women. Affiliations were lower than in the previous year, principally because we have not had many affiliations from Britain's biggest union UNITE due to re-structuring meaning that several of our affiliated UNITE branches were closed down.
Visa refusals – a delegation of senior Chinese trade union leaders from Hubei Province had arranged to address our trades union council during a visit here but were also denied visas by Britain. Another of our speakers was refused entry to the UK by our government; this time one of the foremost youth organisers of the non-violent popular resistance in the Palestinian West Bank. The Morning Star is a lone voice for trade unionists, reporting on issues that Fundraising – Wolverhampton directly involve our class and our organisations. TUC sends local teams to work Despite its meagre resources, our paper is unique, for over 80 years, the world's on the bars at music festivals only English language socialist daily paper; telling real stories of real people. and we get £6.50/hour for each It is also the only newspaper in Britain owned by its readers; we take part in their worker. A record £3,000 was Annual General Meeting each June in Birmingham to elect the editorial board. raised in the summer by 22 Our trades union council supports the paper’s Fighting Fund by donating half the volunteers (twice as many as funds raised from the festivals; previous year) working for us £13,700 donated now in 15 years. through the Workers’ Beer Available at all newsagents on order daily Company(set up by Wandsworth & Battersea TUC) & now on the shelf at many places. at Glastonbury, Latitude and Leeds festivals for our work/Morning Star.
We are recruiting up to March 2014 for bar work volunteers (see www.wolvestuc.org.uk) for: Glastonbury (June), Latitude (July) & Leeds (August). If you offer to work, you must be available. Website = www.wolvestuc.org.uk Next year is our 150th anniversary yet there has been no progress on updating our history for the last 25 years. We put the History of Wolverhampton, Bilston & District Trades Union Council 1865-1990 online at www.wolvestuc.org.uk/index.php/wbdtuc/589-wbdtuc1865-1990 Our website was read for a total of 900 hours in 2013, by 20,000 different people, reading 32,000 pages. A quarter of visits are via mobile devices; the website has been altered to suit reading on mobiles Most popular pages: national Minimum Wage increase; Volunteering at festivals; Homepage; Socialist songbook; Cradley Women Chainmakers' Festival; Local Government Pay Claim latest; local industrial action; Wolverhampton MPs` surgery details; Wolverhampton unemployment. Culture – we agreed to support a local project to produce a play recognising Conscientious Objectors within the 2014 commemorations of the start of WW1; however Heritage funding was refused and the project is seeking further funding before continuing. We launched Left Film Club to screen progressive free films locally by putting on our own showing of The Condition of the Working Class. We hope that this initiative will be repeated in 2014. Anti-fascism – there were no local elections in 2013 and the far right were inactive locally. There are local and European elections in 2014 where we may well need to campaign again against fascists locally. TUC courses for reps are still being delivered at Bilston, covering Stewards Stage 1 Stewards and Health & Safety Reps mikee@shrewsbury.ac.uk 01743 342 531. Deaths – two of the world's greatest revolutionaries, Hugo Chavez and Nelson Mandela died this year. But on the other hand Margaret Thatcher also died, amid unprecedented celebrations and impromptu street parties, the first since Hitler’s death; sales of our Thatcher-themed CD rocketed! Nick Kelleher, Secretary WB&DTUC Jan 2014
PRESIDENT’S REPORT 2013 has been a particularly difficult year for workers. The dogmatic approach of the current government in implementing their austerity policies has impacted significantly on those least able to afford them. The measures have begun to bite deep in Wolverhampton. The cuts to public services have meant that the NHS, Postal Service, and Education have been privatised in all but name. The cruel Bedroom Tax means that people are forced into debt with no option of downsizing even if they wish to. Often older people, who have lived in the same home for the whole of their adult life in the community where they raised the family, are made to feel like criminals because they have a spare room. On a fixed income with no chance of moving to a smaller property, they are forced into poverty and debt in their old age. This when Bankers continue to collect eye-watering bonuses; and tax evasion continues unabated. The poorest in society are paying for the mistakes of unregulated bankers who continue with their greed. 2014 does not bode well for workers either. The ideological dogma of the government around austerity measures is forcing local councils to make unprecedented cuts to services at a time when people need those most. Labour councillors are implementing a programme for which they have no mandate. Cuts to Local Government mean that in Wolverhampton 1000 jobs will be lost from the City Council. Significant Services will be lost to those people who need them most. The mainly Labour controlled council has worked for over 25 years to develop effective services. These will be dismantled over one term of a Conservative/Liberal government and thrown to the mercy of private providers. Worryingly, research carried out by the LGA indicates that for every public sector job lost, six more are also lost in the private sector. The proposed 1000 job losses from Wolverhampton city council will hit the city hard which it can ill afford.
It is very disappointing that the labour council has also decided to cut redundancy pay the statutory minimum. It will mean that people in the city who have been loyal public servants have no financial cushion while they seek alternative employment. Workers are being expected to pay for the mistakes of the bankers. Economically it is short sighted as it is money that they would spend in the local economy. Staff who for years had reasonable terms and conditions find when they need to rely on them, they are withdrawn. Staff who have committed their working life to public service, some with over twenty five years of loyalty find themselves redundant and labelled a scrounger The Trades Unions have struggled to find an effective way of combating these policies. The People’s Assembly was developed to link unions and communities to be more effective in developing campaigns against the austerity measures. The trades council has played a key part in working together with the Black Country Trades Councils to develop a local people’s assembly. It is vital that delegates promote the launch event on Saturday 25th January and encourage members and community groups to link in with a coordinated campaign to fightback in 2014. It is hard to believe the assertions that the economy is on the mend and we are beginning a period of growth. No green shoots in Wolverhampton. Marie Taylor, President WB&DTUC Jan 2014
Thanks to the outgoing Officers: President: Marie Taylor (UNITE -CYW) Secretary: Nick Kelleher (UNISON General) Minutes Sec: Marion Halfpenny (NUT)
Vice-President: Rob Marris (UNITE) Treasurer: John Grant (UCU)
MEETINGS 2014 We meet the 3rd Thursday each month (executive meets one week before)
7.15pm – 8.45pm Wolverhampton Civic Centre, (Wulfruna Street entrance), all meetings in Room 2 on 3 rd floor Thursday 16 January 2014
WB&DTUC 150th AGM
Saturday 25th January launch @ Arena Theatre Black Country People’s Assembly Thursday 20 February WB&DTUC Delegate meeting Saturday 22 Feb Midlands TUC AGM, Nottingham Thursday 20 March
WB&DTUC Delegate meeting
Thursday 17 April
WB&DTUC Delegate meeting
Monday 28th April Workers Memorial Day 12.30pm @cenotaph/WMDay Tree Thursday 1st May Workers Day@ Pegasus 7pm WV6 0QQ Thursday 15 May
WB&DTUC Delegate meeting in Council Chamber
Saturday 7th June Cradley Women Chainmakers festival Bearmore Park B64 6DU Thursday 19 June
WB&DTUC Delegate meeting
Thursday 17 July
WB&DTUC Delegate meeting
No August meeting
Thursday 18 September
WB&DTUC Delegate meeting
Thursday 16 October WB&DTUC Delegate meeting Thursday 20 November
WB&DTUC Delegate meeting
Thursday 18 December 2014 WB&DTUC Delegate meeting