The Sheffield NUJ Miners Strike Anniversary Rally was absolutely packed on Friday night 7/3/14, with some fantastic speakers including ex miners, the women against pit closures, striking Unison care workers, and Barbara Jackson Unite Community Member and founding member of the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign. The meeting remembered the bravery and courage of the Miners in that year long dispute and heard about how communities rally together in times of struggle. Truly inspiring with many lessons relevant in today’s fight against austerity. The fight continues …
Category: Unite the Union
Donation from Sheffield East Branch
Unite Community Barnsley would like to thank our brothers and sisters in the Sheffield East Unite Geographical Branch NE/GEO/1 for the Generous Donation of £500, this money will help us continue organise our community activists and campaign against the cruel and unnecessary Welfare Reforms. United we bargain, divided we beg!
Women’s Assembly Against Austerity
Six Unite Community Members from Doncaster made the trip to the Women’s Assembly Against Austerity in London on the 22nd of February, following on from the success of the previous week’s Women’s Event in Doncaster. Please see full report here http://www.thepeoplesassembly.org.uk
Unite Community Members are really gearing up the activities in Doncaster, supporting strikers, running a local food bank and offering Welfare Advice. Please get in touch if you would like to be involved.
Images of the Past – THE MINERS’ STRIKE
Images of the Past – THE MINERS’ STRIKE is Unite Education March book of the month at http://www.unitetheunion.org/growing-our-union/education/bookofthemonth/march/
We’re Not Going Back
Written by Boff Whalley
We’re Not Going Back is about the 1984/85 miners’ strike… more or less.
But, in this hard-hitting musical comedy there are no miners. Instead, we follow the fortunes of three sisters in a pit village, hit hard by the Government’s war against the miners and determined to set up a branch of ‘Women Against Pit Closures’.
The North East, Yorkshire & Humberside Region of Unite are supporting this event, however its success depends upon all of us working and funding this together collectively.
This performance ‘We’re Not Going Back’ by Red Ladder can be rolled out across the country, sending our message of solidarity and commitment to our communities. We are already intending to have a number of events within this Region-the play can be performed in schools, colleges or any venue where this story can be told and will resonate with all our members and activists and their families.
To ensure the success of this venture we are asking you as comrades to spread the word throughout your organisation to seek financial pledges. Any amount will help to launch this event and all who contribute will be clearly recognised as supporters on all publications.
It is in all our interests to support the Miners, their families and our communities. We must not forget what the Miners and their families did in the name of solidarity. As memories fade it is our responsibility to ensure their strife is understood by future generationswhat could be better than showing this with music and theatre- this is an opportunity to show our movement remains proud and strong.
PLEASE HELP US REACH OUR TOTAL!!
Please could you contact your branch secretary and request a donation at your next branch meeting or if you wish you could make a personal donation.
All donations should be forwarded to Karen Reay, Regional Secretary, Unite the Union, 55 Call Lane, Leeds, LS1 7BW with cheques made payable to “Unite the Union”
Thank you for your support.
Download the flyer: Were not going back
DID YOU DIG DEEP IN ’84?
Remember 1984-85? Digging deeper for the miners. Frankie Goes to Hollywood at number one. Everton win the league championship. And a medium-sized t-shirt was ample big enough. For those whose principles have endured the test of time a thirtieth anniversary T-shirt in classic ‘Coal not Dole’ colours. And perhaps best of all raise funds to expose the cover-ups and illegalities behind the policing of the miners strike at Orgreave. Many of those police officers five years later would be involved in another cover-up, at Hillsborough.
Available from those lovely people at Philosophy Football
PLUS! Half-price and postage-free Enemy Within book when purchased with your T-shirt.
Unite Community Protest Against ATOS in the North East Yorkshire and Humberside
Disabled people face discrimination from employers which makes it much more difficult to find employment. Yet Government ministers blame disabled workers.
Unite rejects the vilification of disabled workers in the media, portraying disabled workers as benefit scroungers.
Unite holds the current Government responsible for work capability assessments, they have employed private company Atos to carry out assessments which declare disabled people fit to work and cut vital benefit payments.
Atos are a profit driven multi-national; they set targets to reduce benefit claims, plunging disabled workers into poverty
• Over 40% of appeals against Work capability assessments succeed, but they take months to process while benefits have been cut
• 10,600 people have died within 6 weeks of being deemed ‘fit to work’ by Atos.
• Atos’ own whistle blowers have called the assessments ‘skewed’ and ‘unfair against the claimant’
• Assessors often don’t have the correct training and skills to be carrying out such vital assessments
• If a person has a permanent disability or a terminal illness they are still forced to sit an assessment every six months
• Atos and the crude tick-box system they use to assess a person’s ability to work does not identify mental ill-health. This has resulted in countless suicides and attempted suicides by vulnerable people.
Doncaster Unite Community Anti-Austerity Conference
Saturday the 15th Of February Saw Doncaster Unite Community Members come together for a Conference against Austerity.
The First Session was Titled Austerity Against Women – Women Against Austerity and include speakers Lyndsey German (People’s Assembly) and Kate T from London – who has been working for ten years trying to sustain and support women led groups who help survivors of domestic violence. The conference heard how Austerity is impacting severely on women’s rights cuts to emergency services and child care are making it very hard for women across the country. Doncaster Unite Community will be taking six women to the Women’s Assembly conference in London Saturday 22nd February
The second Session focused on Social justice with speakers Janet Alder (Deaths in Custody Campaigner) Mike Simons – film: ‘Still the Enemy Within’ and Barbara Jackson- Orgreave truth and justice campaign. The speakers talked about the different Campaigns for Justice and the need for working class solidarity. A whole list of Anniversary Strike Events can be found here http://barnsleycsc.com/
Unite members to protest about Atos’s ‘capability’
Members of Unite, the UK’s largest trade union, are to join disabled campaigners in peaceful demonstrations outside Atos work assessment centres across the country tomorrow (Wednesday 19 February).
Atos – a profit driven multi-national company hired by the government to assess the capability of disabled people to work – has increasingly come under fire for its treatment of disabled people attending for work capability assessments.
Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner said: “The government’s own figures last year showed that 10,600 people died within six weeks of being declared ‘fit for work’ by Atos. This alone should have set alarm bells ringing that the assessments were not fit for purpose.
“We are calling on the government to stop this degrading policy and introduce a fairer transparent system that restores dignity to the sick and disabled.”
Over 40 per cent of cases where people have been deemed fit to work, and had their benefits cut have had their appeals upheld. However the appeals process can take months while some of the most vulnerable disabled are plunged into poverty.
The ‘tick-box’ nature of the tests does not cater for the complex nature of peoples illnesses, particularly for those with mental illness. This has also led, in some cases, to those with long-term degenerative and terminal illnesses, such as Parkinson’s and cancer, being told they are fit for work.
South Yorkshire Unite Community AGM
Last Wednesday night, February 12 2014, saw The South Yorkshire Unite Community Branch hold it’s first Annual General Meeting,
The Unite members battled through terrible weather conditions to hold a lively meeting with speakers from The Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign and the Bakers Union. Lots of fantastic contributions from the floor were made including from our volunteers in the Barnsley Community Centre, and from our members in Doncaster, who are helping people struggling with the Con-Dem’s cruel and unnecessary Welfare Reform.
Other Contributions were made on the Bedroom Tax Campaign and Workfare and plans put in place for the ATOS demonstration on the 19th of February. All the new Branch positions were filled with delegates elected to the Area Activist Committee and Trades Council’s, The Branch also voted on a Motion to allow greater participation within Unite’s structures, which it is hoped other Community Branch’s will follow.