A draft of the campaign guide following the social security summit with Unite and the PCS.
Download here: Campaigning guide for a fair social security system
Campaign guide from social security summit
categories: Social Security Summit
Tag: pcs
Unite Community, and Public and Commercial Services (PCS) hold Social Security summit
categories: Social Security Summit
This is the first ‘myth busting’ conference that brings together those who need benefits and those who administer them to mutually support one another against the austerity agenda.
The keynote speakers include:
- Unite general secretary Len McCluskey
- PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey will tell delegates: “This government sneaked its way into power by refusing to tell the electorate in May that the true nature of its underlying plan was savage cuts to the welfare system.
“We know that ministers are mounting a twin-pronged attack on the financial support that people in work receive and in swingeing cuts to those out of work. The strain on frontline benefit workers, who have to deal with desperate people every day, is appalling.
“That is why we are bringing these two communities together. It is vital that those who need benefits and those who administer them understand that this dreadful situation is not their creation, but manufactured in Number 10 and cruelly refined next door in Number 11 by chancellor George Osborne.”
Workshops at the summit will cover topics including:
- Building a broad-based coalition with charities, religious bodies, food banks and non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
- Using the media to get out the real stories about welfare budget cuts
- Engaging with women, the disabled, young people and BAEM communities disproportionally hit by the welfare axe
- Campaigning against the Welfare Reform and Work bill
- Lobbying politicians to build support to stop the cuts
The latest version of the programme is available via http://www.unitetheunion.org/
Members of the media are warmly invited to attend this conference and should get in touch with Unite director of communications, Pauline Doyle by email pauline.doyle@unitetheunion.
To PCS Members in Barnsley DWP office
categories: No2Sanctions
On 19 March Unite Community will be demonstrating outside the Barnsley DWP office to highlight the Coalition Government’s unfair and unjustified attacks on the benefits system and on the unemployed, the sick and disabled and their families who rely on these benefits.
We ask you to support the action in any way you can. I want to emphasise that this demonstration is not aimed at DWP employees/PCS members who we know are under similar attack from this Government in terms of redundancy threat and squeeze on pay and conditions. We want to make common cause with you as out fight is your fight and vice versa.
Instead this demonstration is aimed at the Government’s savage policy of cutting the £30 billion out of the benefits system and forcing people of benefits through measures like the cruel sanctions regime and the discredited Work Capability Assessment.
Job 6837 Sanctions A4 poster
Job 6837 SANCTIONS A5 v2 leaflet newest
Job 6837 Sanctions stickers newest
Huddersfield Job Centre
categories: Huddersfield Unite Community
Unite Community members in Huddersfield continued their Job Centre information stalls this week.
Our joint leaflet with the PCS is still going down well, with sanctions being the biggest issue facing claimants at the moment. Huddersfield Unite Community is growing in numbers and they will be launching their branch officially in the coming weeks.
Get in touch for more info. Solidarity is strength! Please see photos in our gallery below.
Strike Action: Britain Needs a Pay Rise
Here is a round-up of strike action in our area. We would like to encourage all Unite Community members to please go and support your local picket lines, marches and rallies. Unite flags can be obtained from your local branch office. Please also send your photos and reviews of any strike action that you attend to Joe or Andy, so that we can include them on the blog.
March with us in London on Saturday 18th October, to call for an end to the longest squeeze on living standards for nearly a century. March for a better Britain, full of hope for ordinary people and the next generation, jobs that pay and affordable homes. Book your seat – Contact Caroline on 0113 322 3385 to book a seat on Unite’s free transport for members and family.
Please note that all of the details below are correct at the time of publication. As more details become available, we will update the list, so check back regularly. Please also check with you local branch office if in doubt.
Monday 13th October 2014
BARNSLEY: NHS solidarity BREAKFAST
Hospital workers in UNITE, UNISON and RCM (Royal College of Midwives – striking for the first time in their history) will be on strike from 7am-11am.
Pickets at Barnsley Hospital, Keresforth Centre, Kendray and Mount Vernon hospitals/day care centres.
SHEFFIELD: Strike Action
NHS workers in UNISON, GMB, UNITE and Royal Society of Midwives are taking limited strike action against George Osborne’s refusal to pay even the 1% pay rise recommended by the Government’s own Pay Review Body.
SHEFFIELD: Rally
Northern General Hospital
Herries Road Entrance at 10am
Speakers:
Tony Pearson, UNISON
Bill Adams, Reg TUC Sec
John Dunn, Orgreave Campaigner
Doncaster Care UK striker
All staff welcome to join the rally
0114 2714408 john.campbell@sth.nhs.uk
YORK: March
Assemble at 12noon by the West End of York Minster.
We don’t just want strike day to be a stay-at-home day. We want to show that this is an active campaign with demands that people are passionate about. Better pay in the public sector means more pressure for better pay in the private sector – and more taxes to provide support for those unable to find or undertake work. Its a win-win-win.
Picket Lines: 7am to 11am
Scarborough Hospital
Woodlands Drive
Scarborough
YO12 6QL
Bridlington Hospital
Bessingby Road
Bridlington
YO16 4QP
York Hospital
Wigginton Road
York
YO31 8HE
Keresforth Centre
Keresforth Close
Barnsley
S70 6RS
Fieldhead Hospital
Ouchthorpe Lane
Wakefield
WF1 3SP
Northway Clinic
Northway
Scarborough
YO12 7AF
Leeds Blood Transfusion Service
Bridle Path
Seacroft
LS15 7TW
Reginald Centre
263 Chapeltown Road
Leeds
LS7 3EX
Leeds General Infirmary
Great George Street
Leeds
LS1 3EX
St James Hospital
Beckett Street
Leeds
LS9 7TF
Durham Health
UHND – Darlington Memorial
07880 196359
Gateshead Health
Queen Elizabeth and Bensham Hospitals
0191 4452371
Newcastle Hospitals
RVI and Maternity Services
Freeman Hospital
0191 2231373
North Tees & Hartlepool
Outside main gates at University Hospital of Hartlepool and University Hospital of North Tees.
01642 383804
Northern Blood
Blood Centre – Holland Drive, Newcastle.
0191 219 4518
Northumbria Health
Main Hospitals – Wansbeck, North Tyneside, Hexham.
01670 529347 / 825
South Tees Health
Three main sites – JCUH Middlesbrough, Redcar Hospital, Friarage (Northallerton).
01642 246 434
South Tyneside Health
General Hospital and other sites.
0191 2024066
TEWV
Four main sites – Middlesbrough, Darlington, Durham and Northallerton.
01642 837 364
Wearside Health
Sunderland Royal Hospital
0191 569 9909
Tuesday 14th October 2014
HUDDERSFIELD: March and Rally
Assemble from 11.00 am St George’s Square HD1 1JS
Move off 11.30 am for town centre march
Rally back at St George’s Square
Speakers will include: Paul Holmes UNISON, Lyall Singleton UNITE, speaker from GMB, chair Nick Ruff Huddersfield TUC.
For more information: Bob Stoker 0730633708
www.huddersfield-tuc.org
Facebook/ Huddersfield TUC
BARNSLEY: March and Rally
Assemble at 10.30am outside Gateway Plaza for an 11am set-off, followed by a rally in the precinct. Local trade union speakers. Local MPs invited. Contact: Dave Gibson.
SHEFFIELD: March and Rally
Local Authority workers in UNISON, GMB and UNITE are taking a day’s strike action over pay restraint which has seen their pay fall in real terms faster than any other group of workers.
Assemble 11am Devonshire Green. Speakers at 11.15am. March sets off 11.30am. 12.30pm arrive at City Hall steps Barkers Pool for final rally and speeches. Close 13.30pm.
YORK: March
We’re going to be marching with UNISON, UCU and members of other unions. We want this to be a representation of our whole city. Many staff, both public and private sector, are being told year after year that they won’t get a raise, whilst money is pumped into the hands of the few. York may be doing better than many places for ‘job creation’ but so many of those jobs are paying below the Living Wage.
DONCASTER: Picket and March
Picket North Bridge, Doncaster. March Civic Building Doncaster (no other details yet available).
ROTHERHAM: Picket and March
(no details yet available).
Picket Lines: 7am to 11am
City of Sunderland
Youth Offending, Lombard Street, Sandhill View, Civic Centre
0191 5532730
Darlington
Town Hall
01325 388 270
Durham
County Hall
03000 263300/ 301/ 302/ 303
Gateshead
Civic Centre.
Still establishing position re Schools.
0191 4776638
Hartlepool
Main Admin Buildings, Departments and Schools.
01429 523027
Newcastle
Same as July. Civic Centre and other Offices and Depots.
0191 211 6980/6981
North East Ambulance
Bernicia HQ, Newburn, Riverside
0191 232 0348
North Tyneside
Bernicia HQ, Newburn, Riverside
0191 232 0348
North Tyneside
Main HQ buildings – Cobalt
0191 643 8953
Northumberland
Branch Committee meets Monday, 6 October. Will picket County Hall.
01670 624406/01670 624409/01670 624410
Northumberland, Tyne & Wear Health
St Nicholas Hospital, St George’s, Hopewood Park, Monkwearmouth.
01670 394161
Redcar and Cleveland
Civic Heart, R&C House, Belmont House.
01642 444 468
South Tyneside LG
Three main buildings – South Shields Town Hall, Middlefields Depot and Gordon House, South Shields.
0191 454 4167
Stockton
Kingsway House, Queensway House, Municipal Buildings (Church Road).
01642 528685 / 528684
Wednesday 15th October 2014
BARNSLEY: Solidarity Walk
3 PCS picketlines in Barnsley. Assemble at 7.30 am at John Rideal House, Shambles Street.
SHEFFIELD: Strike Action
PCS civil servants on strike over attacks to their pay and conditions
BRING YOUR BANNERS!
The PCS will have a picket line at every Job Centre, please visit their website for more details.
Saturday 18th October 2014
LONDON: Britain Needs a Pay Rise
Support the TUC’s Britain Needs A Pay Rise demonstration in London. The Trades Council has organised a coach which is filling fast. To book your seat on Unite’s free transport for members and family, contact Caroline on 0113 322 3385.
10 July industrial action – your story. Hundreds of thousands of people took industrial action on 10 July to call for fair pay for local government workers. Here, a few of our members tell us why they felt they had to take their demonstration right to the heart of London. Click here to view.
A message from Mark Serwotka of the PCS Union.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vwRjgsL9PFo
Leeds Unite Community Members In Action
categories: Unite the Union
Leeds Unite Community members teamed up with Hands Off Our Homes today, to leaflet two of the city’s Job Centres simutaniously (not bad for a rainy Friday!). Here is the leaflet we put in. The Bed Room Tax Tool Kit also goes down well when we do our sampaign stalls, here. All these materials are available from your coordinator Joe Rollin. Why not organise a stall in your Town? As always we put a letter into the Job Centre showing our solidarity with the PCS members.
This week on Friday the 1st of August, Unite Community will be holding an information stall outside the Leeds DWP Jobcentre Plus office, to highlight the Coalition Government’s unfair and unjustified attacks on the benefits system and on the unemployed, the sick and disabled, as well as their families who rely on these benefits.
We ask you to support the action in any way you can. I want to emphasise that this Information stall is not aimed at DWP employees/PCS members who we know are under similar attack from this Government in terms of job cuts, increased threats of disciplinary measures and a squeeze on pay and conditions. We want to make common cause with you as our fight is your fight and vice versa.
Instead this Info Stall is aimed at the Government’s savage policy of cutting £30 billion out of the benefits system and forcing people off benefits through measures like the cruel sanctions regime and the discredited Work Capability Assessment.
Yours in Solidarity
Leeds Unite Community Branch
Public Sector Strike – Barnsley
categories: 10 July Public Sector Strike
It was a fine day for marching around Barnsley in support of public services and the pay of public sector staff.
The media machine has been in full swing today, bending over backwards to find those ‘inconvenienced and angry’ at the strikers. Aghast that trade unions and their members possess the temerity to demand a living wage during these austere times. Paving the way, smoothing public opinion for the raft of anti-trade union legislation to come. In much the same way as the crude hatchetting of benefit claimants ahead of the vicious wave of welfare reforms last year.
You will no doubt have heard many stories of the pampered public sector in the news today. However, since 2010 pay freezes have eroded the wages of public sector workers by as much as 15-20%. Now an under the rate of inflation 1% pay offer, kicks sand in the face of workers who are already down, battered by the rising cost of living and increasing pension contributions for a far lesser return. Far from the Tory myth of a sector full of generous pay and gilt edged pensions.
Barnsley is still struggling to recover from the loss of its main industry. The death of deep coal mining decimated Barnsley and it is still trying to pick its way out of the wreckage. The public sector is now one of, if not the largest employer in Barnsley. The loss of even just a few jobs hits the area hard, but the year upon year mauling handed out in the form of local authority funding cuts and real terms pay cuts, is holding any hope of a recovery for Barnsley back.
With this backdrop in mind, hundreds of public sector workers gathered in the shadows of the two monolithic structures of Westgate Plaza and Gateway Plaza, in which many council employees are stationed. Representatives of Unison, GMB, PCS, NUT, FBU and Unite came together, along with Barnsley Retirees Action Group and the Anti Bedroom Tax campaign, banners and flags flying to march together around the town centre. Also present in large numbers were the Freedom Riders, a group composed of Barnsley retirees, who have held a number of protests against the withdrawal of free travel for pensioners and the disabled in South Yorkshire.
The march was followed by a rally with nearly a dozen speakers, representing the unions, the Freedom Riders and visiting trade unionists from Norway and Eastern Europe. All gave rousing speeches highlighting the attack on public services, led by the spectre of austerity.
The fundamental question is, why is there no money for public services? Austerity is not an accident, it is a construct that is designed to hoover wealth upwards and convert public money into private profit. A government hell bent on forcing through their neoliberal agenda, killing our public services while handing contracts to their wealthy friends, is the enemy of the people. The very people that governments are tasked to defend and protect.
Our second enemy is apathy. Those colleagues that have given up, think that they can’t make a difference or have absorbed the propaganda pumped out by the main stream media on a daily basis, are the very people that crossed the picket lines today. Or even went on strike, but stayed at home. These are the people that we need to motivate, they too are our comrades but need our support and encouragement. We should not give up on them, as they too need protection and representation.
At a time when the government is the enemy of the people, we need unions more than ever.