Trade Union & Current News

Why is it always the taxpayer who ends up paying?

By Tony Parsons 11/10/2008

Gluttonous, bonus-hungry spivs got us into this mess, and that big-hearted, mythical figure, the British taxpayer, is told to bail them out.

No other way, we are told. If the banks collapse, the country collapses.

So the ordinary working man and woman must suffer, and their families must suffer too because of the greed of the few.

The spivs of Wall Street and the City who dragged us this low are criminals. They are as guilty as a drunk driver or a mugger.

They are worse than most criminals, because the misery they have sown will be felt by millions. And I wonder – at what point does the taxpayer collapse under the weight?

When do the men and women who actually work for a living get to the point where they have given all they have to give?

You do not need to be an economist to realise that as unemployment soars, there are fewer real people in real jobs paying real taxes.

The City spivs stand there with their hands out, asking for a compassion that was never shown to the miners, the printers, the ship-builders, the steel workers or the fishermen.

This was once a country where people built things, and made things. A country where you sold your skill or you provided a service.

Then Thatcher arrived and proclaimed that the jobs where people got their hands dirty were old-fashioned and that the financial sector would generate the money we needed to pay our way.

New Labour went along with it. It has not worked. That kind of casino capitalism, a culture of unfettered and unapologetic greed, has brought us to this wretched point.

And, personally, I can’t tell the difference between the unemployed investment banker and that Afghan woman who is in the news because she receives £170,000 a year in benefits.

Toorpakai Saindi resides in a seven-bedroom, £1million Edwardian mansion in West London paid for by everyone’s favourite sucker, the British taxpayer.
To me this mother-of-seven looks exactly like the scalded fat cats who are being bailed out from Canary Wharf to Wall Street.

I mean, I honestly can’t tell the difference between them.

They look identical to me. Both want someone with a real job, in the real world, paying real taxes to pay their way. Our country is on its knees because of leeches like these.

The old ways do not work. Capitalism was never meant to be a casino where the greedy gambled with someone else’s money. The welfare state was never meant to be a lucky dip for anyone who wanted something for nothing.

Something has changed. It feels as profound as the Berlin Wall coming down, and the sudden acceptance that Communism was one of the dumbest ideas that human beings ever had.

Now unregulated capitalism looks as morally and intellectually bankrupt as any nuttiness cooked up by Karl Marx.

We need to get back to the country that some of us can still remember.

Where real people had real jobs. Where the safety net that the state provided for the poor and the vulnerable was a last resort, not a bouncy castle to be abused by all and sundry.

Above all, what we need is a realisation that the British taxpayer is made out of flesh and blood and bone. He or she does not ask for much. They want to provide for their family. They want to keep their job. They want to keep their home.

They want safe streets for their children, respect for their parents, and an old age that is not lived out in fear and poverty.

The freeloaders, the greedy, the abusers of the system all need to be asked something, and it is the same question whether they are a pin-striped fat cat wondering where his next Porsche is coming from, or that Afghan woman who says life in Britain is like winning the Lottery.

The British taxpayer has this question for them both. The free money is earned by real people. How long do you expect it to last?

Britain: Policing of climate camp a major attack on democratic rights

Saturday, August 16th, 2008

By Paul Bond | A week-long climate protest camp in north Kent has ended, amidst widespread claims of disproportionate and aggressive policing. Around 100 people were arrested over the course of the protest, 46 of whom have been charged, mostly with obstruction offences. The multimillion-pound policing of the camp marked a significant attack on democratic rights and civil liberties.

The camp was held to protest the building of a new coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth, on the Medway estuary. Energy company E.ON UK is proposing replacing the existing coal power station with a new one. This would be the first new coal power station built in Britain in more than 30 years. The proposal has yet to be agreed by John Hutton, whose portfolio as secretary of state for business, enterprise and regulatory reform includes energy security issues. The proposal has been passed to Hutton’s office following its agreement by the local authority, Medway Council.

Kingsnorth is the first of several new coal-fired power stations proposed for sites across the UK. The government has made these stations a key factor in ensuring energy supplies. Protestors argue that coal power stations, with their high CO2 emissions, are the most polluting means of producing electricity. Between 1,000 and 2,000 protestors came to the camp over the course of the week to protest at the development of Kingsnorth. Aside from their direct protest activities, the camp also staged workshop and discussion events.

Assistant Chief Constable Gary Beautridge of Kent Police acknowledged in a press conference that the police had been planning their response to the camp since April of this year. That response saw 1,400 officers, from 26 different forces across Britain, being brought into the area. They were supported by constant air surveillance. The Medway Ports Authority also authorised the police to “enforce” sections of their bylaws to prevent protestors approaching the power station from the river.

The final cost of the policing operation is not yet known, but has been estimated variously between £1 million and £8 million. It is understood the Kent Police are considering applying to the Home Office for financial support in footing the bill.

There has been a noticeable trend in recent years for the police to underreport numbers of demonstrators and protestors. In the case of Kingsnorth, the police set the attendance at 1,000. According to their own figures, therefore, they had provided a level of policing intended to overwhelm the protestors. The organisers’ own estimate of attendance was 1,500, giving a 1:1 ratio of police to protestors. Even the highest estimate only put attendance at 2,000.

That the police levels were aimed at discouraging protest was reinforced when Beautridge said he regarded “the majority of the protestors” as “law-abiding people there for a legitimate reason.” He justified the policing levels as a response to “a small hard core of people…prepared to use criminal tactics and criminal activity.” According to one report, this “small hard core” was set at just 150 people. As the camp’s legal spokesman Kevin Smith noted, “Every year police use the supposed existence of a hardcore minority as justification for the heavy-handedness and every year this hardcore minority fails to materialise.”

It is quite evident that the policing was aimed at deterring any form of protest. Protestors at the camp have described the constant attention of police helicopters, which served to disrupt meetings and speeches. There are also reports of police impounding vehicles being used by protestors to bring supplies into the camp.

In particular, protestors drew attention to the aggressive tactics of the riot police, who used batons and shields in making arrests. Several protestors were injured when police baton-charged them as they tried to enter a cornfield. Beautridge maintained that such a response was “proportionate…. Because of the level of resistance, officers were authorised to carry batons during two days of the protest. There are strict legal standards for their use and we gave clear warnings when any specialist team was deployed.”

Green MEP Caroline Lucas, who visited the camp, said she was “horrified that [the] police…have used pepper spray, riot gear, [and] physical intimidation.” The police controlled demonstrators with horses, dogs and trail bikes, as well as with constant helicopter coverage.

To sustain this level of intimidation and intrusion, the police sought extraordinary powers to stop and search protestors. Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act was implemented to authorise this. Initially, the Section 60 provisions were applied only to the immediate area of the camp. They were subsequently extended to cover the whole of the Hoo peninsula. The provision allows police to stop and search a suspect if an officer of superintendent rank or above believes there may be incidents of serious violence.

At Kingsnorth, Section 60 was used to monitor all visitors to the camp. One eyewitness describes joining a queue to be searched. The searching officer did not know who had authorised the searches. Having been frisked and had his bag searched, the witness was then issued with a pink slip. He had to show this to another three officers before he actually reached the camp. He was searched again when he tried to leave the camp. There were also reports of protestors being threatened with strip searches. Elsewhere there were reports of police attempting to use Section 60 to justify destruction of homemade rafts.

Lucas, along with Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker and Labour MP Colin Challen, wrote to Kent Police to express concern about such use of discretionary powers. Lucas warned that this was “undermining our civil liberties.”

Lucas, amongst others, has also drawn attention to a booklet apparently dropped by an officer policing the camp. The booklet, “Policing Protest,” is produced by the National Extremism Tactical Coordination Unit and offers “tactical advice and guidance on policing single-issue domestic extremism.”

Police mounted a systematic programme of confiscation from the protestors during the searches. The police told press that they had confiscated many knives, although demonstrators described this as a smear tactic. Police also showed journalists a satirical board game (“War on Terror”) they had confiscated. There seems to have been a policy of making life as uncomfortable and awkward as possible for protestors. Other items confiscated included glue, soap, a clown costume, bits of carpet, toilet paper, disabled ramps, marker pens, blackboard paint, nuts and bolts for toilet cubicles, and banners.

They also confiscated demonstrators’ emergency radios and lifejackets. One demonstrator involved in the river-borne protest described a meeting with a local coast guard crew. The coast guards were complimentary about the demonstrators’ attention to safety, but criticised the police confiscations of lifejackets, saying, “It was irresponsible and could have put lives at risk.”

Such tactics were clearly designed to stifle any form of dissent and deter any future protests. Of particular concern in this regard is the complaint by the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) that its members were also subject to the same searches, manhandling, and observation. The NUJ is looking at legal challenges against “this unwarranted conduct by the police.” According to the NUJ, journalists were searched as they entered and left the camp. Searches continued after police were shown press cards. Journalists were also “pushed and shoved” by police, and filmed whilst using WiFi facilities at a local McDonalds.

Such developments indicate a determination to clamp down on any form of legitimate protest, and should be taken as a very serious attack on democratic rights.

Unison & Unite

2nd July 2008
800,000 Unison members are to strike nationally for two days 16 / 17 July 2008 Please respect picket lines,and make a stand with Unison members,Schools will also close as many unison members are now employed by the education authorities, an attack on one is an attack on all of us.

Workers voted to reject a wage offer of 2.45 percent, which with inflation now at 4.3 percent represents a real terms pay cut.
Unite are also on strike on the 18 July at Nottinghams Queens Medical Centre/Hospital, please support them.

Hatfield Victory

6 May 2008
In what can only be described as overwheming the miners at Hatfield in Yorkshire have voted by postal ballot for NUM recogntion.

A total of 165 votes were cast for the NUM with only 7 against representing a resounding 95.76%.

A total of 235 members of the workforce were entitled to vote and the turnout was 73% a stunning turnout for a postal ballot. The 165 voting for the NUM represent just over 70% of the total workforce entitled to vote.

Fire Brigades Union Win Land Mark Case

Notts and Lincs fire authorities have failed in a landmark appeal case in which they had argued firefighters must attend medical emergencies ahead of ambulances.
The Court of Appeal today backed an earlier ruling that Fire Brigades Union members are under no contractual obligation to participate in 'co-responding' schemes.
This is where firefighters are trained to give medical support - including giving oxygen and heart defibrillators - when they are scrambled to an accident scene before an ambulance can arrive.
The fire authorities argued co-responding is a 'paradigm instance of a reasonable activity designed to save human life' and there was nothing unlawful about it.
But the FBU said that while its members had no problem offering first aid when called out to emergencies, they should not become a replacement for the ambulance service.
The ruling is of enormous significance to fire and rescue services all over the country.
However, the Master of the Rolls, Sir Anthony Clarke, rounded off the case with a plea that the FBU and fire authorities should get their heads together to make co-responding work.
He told the court in London: "Co-responding is of great benefit to the public and is likely to save lives. "
I can not believe that the firefighters and the FBU on the one hand, and the fire and rescue services on the other hand, do not wish to reach a voluntary agreement under which co-responding services can be provided to the public in future.
"I urge the parties to reach such an agreement as soon as possible".

Castro Phones Chavez

I'm gaining ground, Castro tells Chavez phone-in
By Elizabeth Nash in Madrid
Published: 01 March 2007
Fidel Castro chatted on the phone with the Venezuelan leader, Hugo Chavez, for 30 minutes in a live broadcast early yesterday, the first time the ailing Cuban leader has spoken publicly since emergency surgery forced him from power in July.

"I'm gaining ground. I feel I have more energy, more strength and more time to study," President Castro said, speaking slowly but confidently during a relaxed conversation broadcast live on Venezuelan radio.

The conversation formed an apparently unscheduled highspot of President Chavez's regular chatshow, Aló Presidente, and was accompanied by video footage of the Venezuelan leader's last visit to Mr Castro's sickbed in Havana in January. Cuban television later interrupted its nightly news programme to broadcast the exchange.

The Venezuelan leader broke into English at one point to ask: "Fidel, how are you?" The Cuban leader, 80, barely missed a beat before replying "very well", to applause and laughter from the studio audience.

The telephone encounter was reported extensively on the websites of Spanish newspapers yesterday, complete with video and audio coverage.

It seems that the Cuban leader took the initiative to call President Chavez, who sounded surprised to receive an on-air call from Havana. "You don't know how happy we are to hear your voice and know that you are well," Mr Chavez said.

The veteran Cuban leader showed that he had been keeping up with the news, commenting that the plunge on the American and Chinese stock markets earlier that day showed that capitalism was in crisis.

The two old friends chatted for more than 30 minutes, although Mr Castro confessed he had been listening in to the programme for a while before he phoned. "Everything's OK and the country is running smoothly, that's the important thing," he said. The former leader handed power temporarily to his brother, Raul, on 31 July last year, following an emergency operation to stem intestinal bleeding. Since then, the Cubans have declared his medical condition "a state secret".

The Spanish doctor who treated Mr Castro in Havana in December, Jose Luis Garcia Sabrido, dismissed speculation in the United States that he was suffering from cancer.

Medical sources at the Spanish hospital where Dr Sabrido is chief surgeon said in January that the Cuban leader had suffered complications from three botched operations, and was very ill.

Amid an official media blackout, President Chavez has become Mr Castro's de facto health spokesman - "a sort of emissary, a source", as the Venezuelan leader said with evident satisfaction during their conversation.

For seven months, President Chavez has maintained contact with Mr Castro by phone or visits, and has spoken frequently about his medical condition, state of mind, prospects for recovery and the future of Cuba and Venezuela - such snippets being virtually the only news available to Cubans, and the world.

Raul Castro said in a rare statement two weeks ago that his brother was "getting better every day". He said he had a telephone by him "that he uses a lot".

Burberry protests go global

Demonstrators are planning world-wide Valentine's Day protests against the closure of Burberry's south Wales factory.

The protests are planned for Burberry shops in New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Boston, Houston and Paris. British workers will hold demonstrations outside London stores.

Campaigners are protesting against plans to shut the Burberry factory in Treorchy at the end of March, with the loss of 300 jobs.

It follows Burberry's announcement on Friday that it is pulling sponsorship of the Bafta nominees' reception after workers planned to demonstrate at the event to be held at the Natural History Museum in London.

Trade union GMB is co-ordinating the protests, with activists from sister unions across the world taking part.

GMB organiser Mervyn Burnett said: "The protests will be called 'Stop Burberry Breaking Our Hearts'.

"We know America accounted for £72 million in revenue for Burberry last year. Americans aren't going to be best pleased with their plans."

Protests were held at Burberry's flagship stores in New Bond Street and Regent Street last month. The campaign has attracted the backing of celebrities including Sir Alex Ferguson, Tom Jones and Emma Thompson.

Americans Take to the Streets in Anti War Protest

January 27th, 2007 4:32 pm
Tens of thousands in D.C. protest against Iraq war


By Deborah Charles / Reuters

WASHINGTON - Chanting "bring our troops home," tens of thousands of anti-war protesters rallied in front of the U.S. Capitol on Saturday to pressure the government to get out of Iraq.

Veterans and military families joined some lawmakers, peace groups and actors including Vietnam war protester Jane Fonda to urge Congress and President George W. Bush to stop funding the war and pull troops from Iraq.

"When I served in the war, I thought I was serving honorably. Instead, I was sent to war ... for causes that have proved fraudulent," said Iraq war veteran Garett Reppenhagen.

"We need to put pressure on our elected government and force them to ... bring the troops home," said the former sniper to cheers from the crowd at a rally held on the National Mall.

Tens of thousands of people attended the rally, according to a park police officer.

For more than two hours, speakers criticized Bush and the U.S. presence in Iraq before protesters marched around the Capitol.

A group of families of soldiers killed in Iraq stood holding pictures of their loved ones, including one photo of a soldier in full dress uniform lying in a coffin.

More than 3,000 U.S. troops and tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The protest was one of several expected around the country, including a large march scheduled in Los Angeles. Protesters planned coordinated efforts during the week to lobby lawmakers to take action against the war.

Bush's approval rating has dropped to some of the weakest of his presidency and polls show a majority of Americans disapprove of President George W. Bush's plan to send an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq.

But Bush said he has no intention of backing off his plan.

Asked about the protests, White House national security adviser spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Bush "understands that Americans want to see a conclusion to the war in Iraq and the new strategy is designed to do just that."

The demonstrations come amid growing efforts by lawmakers to protest Bush's plans in Iraq. The Senate Foreign Relations committee passed a resolution on Wednesday opposing the plan to send more troops to Iraq.

Protesters said they hoped to send Bush and Congress a message that Americans did not support the war.

"I'm convinced this is Bush's war. He has his own agenda there," said Anne Chay, holding a sign with a picture of her 19-year-old son, John, who is serving in Iraq. "We're serving no purpose there."

Chay said her son, who has been in Baghdad since last July, said he was proud of her for traveling from Andover, Massachusetts, to take part in the anti-war rally.

Fonda, who was criticized for her opposition to the Vietnam war, drew huge cheers when she addressed the crowd. She noted that she had not spoken at an anti-war rally in 34 years.

"Silence is no longer an option," she said. "I'm so sad we have to do this -- that we did not learn from the lessons of the Vietnam war."

Democratic Rep. John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat and chair of the House Judiciary Committee, said the November 7 election -- which gave Democrats control of both houses of Congress -- showed Americans want change.

"It takes the ... outrage of the American people to force Washington to do the right thing," he said. "We've got to hold more of these ... until our government gets the message -- Out if Iraq immediately. This year. We've got to go."

(additional reporting by Timothy Ryan)

A quarter century of anti-union laws

2007 MUST be the year in which trade unions begin to win their freedom from more than a quarter century of anti-union laws, Britain?s largest specialist transport union says today.

Exactly a century after parliament ruled that 'An action against a trade union…shall not be entertained in any court,' RMT has renewed its call for the restoration of the trade-union rights envisaged by the framers of the 1906 Trade Disputes Act.

"A century ago today even Tories accepted that the courts were no place to drag trade unionists involved in an industrial dispute," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"But today's employers have been handed so many legal traps that any union standing up for its members' rights and jobs is hauled in and out of court like a yo-yo.

"At the turn of the last century our forebears were sued by the Taff Vale Railway Company and fined £23,000 in damages simply for exercising their right to strike.

"It was the massive upsurge of protest and political organisation that followed the vicious Taff Vale judgement that forced parliament to accept that unions should have legal immunity from employers seeking damages from workers in dispute with them.

"The Trade Disputes Act is still theoretically there, but after nine lots of Tory anti-union laws chipped away at it there are now countless ways that employers can drag unions into court for daring to stand up for workers' rights.

"Today we need to build massive backing for the TUC's campaign for a Trade Union Freedom Bill, to help right the wrongs of the last 25 years and level the playing field.

"Sadly, the Blair government seems more interested in doing a state-funding deal with the Tories that would end the Labour-union link and keep union rule-books under legal seige, and is even egging the European Court of Justice to rule that there is no such thing as the right to strike.

"Nonetheless, most Labour back-benchers have signed up to the idea of a bill that would enshrine basic trade union rights into law, and publication of the bill by John McDonnell early next year should be the trigger for a mighty campaign behind it," Bob Crow said.

ends

Notes to editors:The Trade Union Freedom Bill would establish as law basic trade union rights, including the right to strike and take solidarity action, better protection for striking workers, fairer balloting and industrial-action notice procedures, restricting the use of injunctions by employers, and preventing the use of replacement labour during strikes.

EDM 532 Trade Union Freedom Bill campaign

Tabled by John McDonnell and signed by 30 others to date

That this House recognises that free and independent trade unions are a force for good in UK society around the world and are vital to democracy; welcomes the positive role modern unions play in providing protection for working people and winning fairness at work; notes the 1906 Trades Disputes Act granted unions the legal freedom to take industrial action; regrets that successive anti-union legislation has meant that trade union rights are now weaker than those introduced by the 1906 Trades Disputes Act; therefore welcomes and supports the TUC campaign for a Trade Union Freedom Bill whose principles include better protection for workers, such as those sacked by Gate Gourmet in 2005, the simplification of ballot procedures and to allow limited supportive action, following a ballot, in specific circumstances; and therefore urges the Government to bring forward legislation to address these proposals.

2007 must be the year of trade-union freedom, says RMT on centenary of the 1906 Trade Disputes Act

Fury over 'Blair union plot'

Fury over 'Blair union plot'
By Rob Merrick

Angry: Kevan Jones
FURIOUS North-East MPs last night accused Tony Blair of plotting to break Labour's 100-year link with trade unions as one of his last acts as Prime Minister.

The MPs fear Mr Blair is preparing to back proposals - first aired by Tory leader David Cameron - to slap a £50,000 cap on all political donations, including those from unions.

The move would end the bankrolling of the Labour Party by the likes of Unison and the Transport and General Workers Union, which give about £1m each a year.

The Prime Minister is also thought to be sympathetic to a related proposal to require all 3.5m workers who pay an annual £3 levy to be registered as individual donors.

That would force unions to ask members each year if they wished to donate to Labour.

At present, unions have to ballot members on the issue every ten years.
The twin recommendations are made in a draft report by Sir Hayden Phillips, appointed by Mr Blair to clean up political funding in the wake of the cash-for- honours scandal.
North-East MPs were outraged to be told, at the weekly meeting of the Parliamentary Labour party, that the Prime Minister may back the plans.

Kevan Jones, the Durham North MP and a former GMB national organiser, said: "This started out as a cash-for-honours issue, and it has now ended up being about the link to the trade unions.
"Even in the worst and darkest days of Thatcherism, there was never any suggestion of breaking that link - and that's what most concerns me."
Hartlepool MP Iain Wright said: "The link between the party and the union movement is absolutely vital and very important for our renewal.
"I have a lot of sympathy with the unions, if we are saying that funding needs to be tightly restricted."

And Nick Brown, Newcastle East MP, warned Mr Blair: "We were all solid. We want to keep the trade union link and we write the rule book."

David Anderson, the Blaydon MP and former president of Unison, was understood to be "livid and incandescent" at No 10's behaviour.

There were rumblings that the row could bring forward the date of Mr Blair's departure from Downing Street unless tempers were swiftly cooled.

However, the Prime Minister will miss an emergency discussion today at Labour's National Executive Committee, because he is flying to Brussels for an EU summit.

Labour sources have said that nothing is decided and have denied that Mr Blair is trying to weaken the unions.

Mr Cameron has ruled out any deal with Labour on party funding unless a cap is imposed and applied to trade unions, as well as to individuals and corporations.

Construction not Destruction

THE TENS of billions of public pounds the government intends to spend on new weapons of mass destruction should be spent on public services, Britain?s specialist transport trade union says today.

As the government was due to publish its White Paper on Trident replacement, RMT called for the cash earmarked for it to be ploughed instead into helping Britain meet its climate challenge.

"We need to spend money on saving the planet, not on weapons that can help destroy it," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"The £25 billion the government wants to spend on replacing Trident - and it could be three times that - could go a long way to helping Britain reduce carbon emmissions, build some of the transport infrastructure we desperately need and to help bolster our public services.

"Blair took us into an illegal war over weapons of mass destruction that didn't even exist, and now he wants to tear up the nuclear non-proliferation treaty to build some new ones of his own - there is only one word for that, and it is hypocrisy.

"While there is starvation, poverty, homelessness, illiteracy and a grave environmental threat hanging over our planet it would be nothing short of obscene to go ahead with replacing Trident, whether it's with 200 warheads, 100 or just one.

"The brave MPs who have come out against Trident are to be congratulated, but there are far too many, across the parties, are totally out of step with what people in the real world want.

"MPs are supposed to be there to represent the people, but it seems that we are going to need to take to the street again in huge numbers to make it clear that we want our money spent on peaceful construction, not on bloody destruction," Bob Crow said.

ends

Note for editors: Below is the RMT motion on Trident adopted by this year's TUC Congress

Congress notes that the Prime Minister has stated adecision on whether or not to replace Britain's nuclear weapons system, Trident, will be taken this year.

Congress welcomes the demand of the Defence Select Committee for a full public and Parliamentary debate on this issue.

Congress believes that Britain's nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction, capable of killing millions of people and are tied into US military and foreign policy and that far from deterring nuclear threats, replacing Trident may increase the risk of nuclear conflict.

Congress is alarmed that a successor to Trident could cost tens of billions of pounds.

Congress believes that in the absence of any rational argument for Trident replacement such expenditure would not only be immoral but a scandalous waste of public funds that could otherwise be invested in health, education, pensions, transport and manufacturing.

Congress also notes that the UK is a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has made 'an unequivocal undertaking' to accomplish the total elimination of its nuclear arsenal.

Congress callsupon the Government not to replace Trident and also requests that the General Council urgently explores how it can work with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament to oppose the replacement of Trident.

Finally Congress urges the Government not to reach a final decision on Trident replacement before issuing a consultative Green Paper on all the options for replacement, including non-replacement and a policy of arms diversification, followed by a White Paper and a deciding vote in Parliament.

RMT Union Submits Eight Point Plan on the Environment

22 November 2006

STATUTORY TARGETS to get people out of cars and onto public transport must be a central plank of any strategy to combat climate change, Britain?s specialist transport union says today.

As MPs prepared to debate the environmental aspects of last week's Queen's Speech, RMT put forward for discussion an eight-point action plan aimed at harnessing public transport to help combat global warming. The eight points are:

Introduction of statutory targets for 'modal shift' in transport use from private car and air travel to trains, buses and trams
The Climate Change Bill to include statutory targets, averaged over three years, for the reduction of carbon emissions in the transport sector.
A statutory requirement for the Department for Transport to publish a strategy for reducing carbon emissions in the transport sector.
Regulated and simplified rail and bus fares structured to encourage modal shift, rather than dictated by commercial considerations.
Investment for significant increases in rail and bus capacity to be supported by ring-fenced revenues from road pricing.
Increased investment and research into the production of carbon-efficient buses, trains cars and aeroplanes.
An immediate review of the government's road-building and airport-expansion plans.
Amendment of the ACAS Code of Practice and legislation to give trade-union environmental representatives the same rights as industrial and health and safety reps.
"A climate-change bill is an important first step, but Britain will only be able to meet its climate-change challenge if policy measures are introduced that will get people out of cars and planes and onto trains, buses and trams," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"To do that public transport has to be made attractive, available and affordable for all.

"Ring-fencing revenue raised from road-pricing would be a welcome step towards making sufficient funds available to invest in the public transport Britainneeds.

"The joined-up transport network the environment needs must also mean an end to the damaging fragmentation brought about by bus deregulation and rail privatisation," Bob Crow said.

ends

Notes to editors: Carbon emissions from transport account for around a quarter of all UKcarbon emissions, the vast majority from road transport, and transport is also currently the fastest-growing source of greenhouse gases.

A recent Universityof Oxfordreport said that forecasted aviation growth would mean all other sectors of the economy would have to cut their emissions by between 71 per cent and 87 per cent by 2050, rather than the 60 per cent proposed by the government.

Public transport role central to climate challenge, says RMT

Clean coal for Oz

Union calls for investment in clean coal technologies
PM - Thursday, 16 November , 2006 18:50:00
Reporter: Alison Caldwell

MARK COLVIN: The Australian Coal Association has welcomed union calls for greater investment in so-called clean coal technology, and called on electricity companies to do the same.

The Coal Miners' Union is worried about possible future job losses.

It's adopted a novel approach, by buying up significant parcels of shares in the industry and making plans to flex shareholder muscle.

The union wants mining companies to invest six times as much in clean coal technology.

Environmental groups including the Australian Conservation Foundation and WWF see it as a major development.

Alison Caldwell reports.

ALISON CALDWELL: Australia's 20,000 coal miners believe they're being demonised in the ongoing debate about how this country should deal with climate change.

So their union has decided to seize the agenda, calling for their employers to boost their investment in clean coal technology.

National Secretary Tony Maher.

TONY MAHER: We need to solve the climate change problem and the coal companies have got a big role to play. They make a fortune out of it and they've got to position themselves, or be positioned by others into part of the solution instead of the problem.

ALISON CALDWELL: Australian coal companies are spending $300 million on clean coal research. It's a fair whack of money, isn't it?

TONY MAHER: I mean, it's a good start but it's 15 cents a tonne. It's $300 million over five years. There's no reason why it can't be $1 a tonne.

ALISON CALDWELL: Tony Maher says ultimately his members' jobs are at stake, unless the industry can clean up its act.

TONY MAHER: I'm honest with our members. I say look, if we don't solve this climate change thing we don't have any job security so we've got to fight really hard to get it solved.

ALISON CALDWELL: The Union has been congratulated by the Australian Conservation Foundation and WWF.

Wednesday 18 October RMT opens ?1.5m National Education Centre in Doncaster

BRITAIN?S FASTEST-GROWING trade union today opens a new ?1.5 million residential National Education Centre in Doncaster.

The centre will be used to train RMT workplace and health-and-safety reps as well as branch, regional and national officers and staff.

It will be opened this afternoon by Marine Union of Australia national secretary Paddy Crumlin and Women Against Pit Closures co-founder Anne Scargill.

"This is an exciting moment for a growing union and enables us to offer state-of-the-art IT training and other education facilities in a comfortable residential centre" said RMT general secretary Bob Crow today.

"With a growing membership and more and more new reps to train, opening a new national education facility was rightly identified by the RMT executive as a priority for the union.

"The labour movement has always aimed to educate as well as to agitate and organise, and this splendid new centre gives a tremendous boost to an essential function.

"It is fitting too that we the guests we have opening the centre today represent both the internationalism of the trade union movement and the best traditions of trade-union struggle in Britain," Bob Crow said.

Centrally located and less than a mile from Doncaster station, the former nursing home building was chosen with ease of access in mind for RMT transport workers from all over Britain.

The building has undergone six months of renovation and refitting and now boasts a fully equipped classroom suite with full IT facilities, 15 bedrooms, living and dining rooms, a kitchen, garages and a bar.

Arrangements for under-five child-care have also been made with a local nursery less than 500 yards from the centre.

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TUC delegates angered by warmonger Blair’s speech


Issues such as privatisation have enraged rail workers (Pic: Duncan Brown)

by Simon Basketter at the TUC



Delegates at TUC conference shook Tony Blair during his speech in Brighton on Tuesday. The anger at Blair for his policies of war and privatisation was clear.

Members of the RMT rail workers’ union delegation and others held up “Time To Go” posters when Blair came into the hall. They then walked out when he began his speech.

Other delegates heckled when he spoke about “defending democracy” in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many wore “Troops Out” T-shirts and held up similar placards.

Many of the posters advertised the anti-war demonstration at Labour’s conference on Saturday of next week.

Blair, rocked by the response and the continuing crisis over his prime ministership, felt the need to shout at those opposing him. His defence of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan triggered sustained heckling.

Blair received only polite applause from the rest of the conference when he finished his speech.

Peter Skelly of the RMT union told the BBC, “The walk-out was unanimously voted on by the RMT delegation.

“We are walking out in protest to show how he and his government have betrayed us and the trade union movement over the last ten years.”

After his speech Blair was forced for once to answer questions about the issues which affect workers such as privatisation and union rights.

He was flustered and stuttery. His responses received absolutely no applause. His praise for academies and private operators angered many delegates.

The crisis in the Labour party dominated the conference. TUC leader Brendan Barber tried to call for a toning down of the debate and even attempted to organise a standing ovation for Blair - to no avail.

Union leader after union leader criticised the government harshly. Any mention of opposition to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan was met with applause. Any criticism of the government’s policies of privatisation was met with acclaim.

Opposition to Blair ran through the conference.

The underlying mood - that the TUC leaders were trying to dampen down - could be seen when the delegates cheered Dave Prentis, the general secretary of Unison, when he announced the successful strike vote of the workers in NHS Logistics.

Many union leaders are cautiously backing Gordon Brown to be the next leader of the Labour Party.

Derek Simpson, the Amicus union leader, said, “If we don’t have Labour, then we will get the Tories.

“In a limited sense Labour haven’t brought in any worse legislation. But it’s not good enough. The membership of the Labour Party has halved.

“The local government elections were a disaster, the by-elections have been a disaster. The Welsh and Scottish elections will be a disaster. It doesn’t matter which leader we have if we are going in the wrong direction.”

While his support for Brown may go down well among some union leaders, the real mood among many workers against Labour’s policies was seen on the floor of conference.

The following should be read alongside this article:
» Demanding action to defend workers’ pensions
» ‘Protest on the farewell tour’, says Mark Serwotka
» Fighting NHS privatisation
» TUC voices
» Photos of Blair's reception by TUC



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Blair Traitor

BLAIR BASKING IN A PITIFUL TORY LEGACY
14 July 2006 The Daily Mirror
NYE Bevan said "this island is made mainly of coal and surrounded by fish".

We've eaten most of the but the coal is still there, great wealth underground.

You wouldn't know that from the government's latest energy review, which is a bonanza for the nuclear power industry.

North Sea gas is running out but there are 300 years of coal reserves under our feet. Yet coal rates hardly a mention in the government's plans for the future.

I wonder why. And so do the many thousands skilled miners prematurely thrown on the scrapheap the "dash for gas", begun by the Tories and brought to today's sad conclusion by New Labour.

"Tony Blair has finished off the job that Maggie Thatcher started," was the verdict I heard in the Brookside working men's club in South Elmsall, where the Frickley pit closed a decade ago.


Only six deep mines operate in Britain today and the once-mighty National Union Of Mineworkers has fewer than 3,000 members.


These men and their fami lies were the mainstay of the Labour Party in the locust years of Thatcherism. Their loyalty has been shamefully King Coal. The Industry Secretary wants a coal forum to secure "the long-term future of coal fired generation and UK coal production".


If this initiative is merely a talking shop to massage the feelings of core voters, then New Labour should be damned to hell. But coal producers and mining unions are taking the government at its word.


abused.


Yet modern, clean coal technology promises a bright future. Why else would a Russian businessman want to buy mothballed Hatfield colliery, near Doncaster, and build a state-of-the-art ^ power station alongside?


Alistair Darling's energy review offers a i slim chance of reviving King Coal. The Industry Secretary wants a coal forum to secure "the long-term future of coal fired generation and UK coal production".


If this initiative is merely a talking shop to massage the feelings of core voters, then New Labour should be damned to hell. But coal producers and mining unions are taking the government at its word.


The market is clearly there. In Britain last year, we burned 57million tonnes of coal. Absurdly, 36 million tonnes of this was imported.


Yet British coal can deliver on price.


And the Clean Coal Task Force, a joint industry/union/ government body, has produced a blueprint for the next generation of low carbon emission, environmentally friendly power stations - an encouraging start for the forum.


Last Saturday, 50,000 people attended the Durham Miners' Gala. The county's pits may have gone but this festival of working people shows just how much spirit still survives in the old coalfields.


Perhaps that's the real problem. Blair has never replied to invitations to attend the gala, even though it's near his constituency.


New Labour doesn't like miners. They don't always do as they are told and their unions put the fear of God up Middle England (where it belongs).


Destroying the NUM was Maggie's greatest pleasure and Blair continues to bask in her cruel legacy.