Racism on Facebook - the UNISON angle

This blog has covered before the question of racist activity on Facebook.

So it's good to see UNISON responding to evidence of racist Facebook activity by a UNISON member.

But why does the official UNISON news report state that "the investigation by the union also established that neither of the individuals named in the complaint had submitted evidence to, or participated in, the union's National Executive Committee Disciplinary Sub Committee hearing which heard charges against Yunus Bakhsh in 2008."?

If the Union is going to go into the detail of individual UNISON disciplinary cases in public statements surely there is an obligation to be honest and comprehensive. Why was Yunus Bakhsh originally suspended from UNISON? Who was amongst the complainants? Did Yunus complain of racism? Was his complaint disregarded?

There is much more to say about this case, and much more to be done.

Peoples Charter

What follows is the latest (final?) draft of a "Peoples Charter" which has been the subject of prolonged private discussion between a number of groups and individuals on the political left over the past few months.

Bob Crow told a conference last week that this will be launched at the end of January but I believe the timetable has slipped til mid February now.

We had discussion on the document at the National Committee of the Labour Representation Committee (LRC) yesterday and decided to support it whatever the final text.

The discussion at yesterdays LRC centered around what campaigning activity we will do around the charter and i'm pleased to report a few concrete plans are in place - Owen Jones will coordinate the LRC's campaign committee - which will start immediatly and will be meeting one day next week (contact o.p.jones@gmail.com)

The idea behind the Charter is that there is a great gap between the crying need for a socialist response to the capitalist crisis and the political and organisational weakness of the left (within and without the Labour Party) to meet this need.

Following a generation of defeats and the collapse of the only global alternative to capitalism there is a need once more to educate and organise around a basic socialist response to the crisis.

The text of the charter is a bit vague and general ( I have heard it described as both wishy washy and boring :p) but it is a series of demands to make of Governments rather than organisational prescriptions for our movement itself.

Whatever the reservations I personally have about the way this charter has come into being I believe it can play a useful role in mobilising support for socialist policies and ensuring that these reach the political agenda - however those who are organising its launch now need to get on with it!

It will be great if all those on the left promote the charter, those who are good with street stalls can do those, shop stewards in their workplaces can get support that way.

Those who can take the demands of the Charter and begin to put them formally to the organisations of the labour movement can do that too.

Anyway enough talking about it here it is (and as I said previously this is the latest version)

The People’s Charter
A Charter for Change

Britain is in the grip of an economic crisis. So is the world.
Every time there is a slump the politicians and financiers seem mystified as to how the system has failed. But boom and bust is the way it works. It’s not stable.

When the economy grows, banks, corporations and speculators, driven only by greed, gamble other people’s money in their global casino. When they lose ‘confidence’ in their profit making schemes and panic, the bubble bursts and we pay the price.

Redundancies throw hundreds of thousands on to the dole. Savings are lost. Homes are repossessed. Pensions lose value. Workers are put on short time. Wages and conditions are cut. Public services are slashed.

Government is spending billions of pounds of our money bailing the banks and big business out of their crisis.
Its not right and we didn’t vote for it.

Those £billions are our money. And our children’s. We want that money better spent.
We have launched a People’s Charter. It sets out what must be done to get out of this crisis and put the people first, before the interests of bankers and speculators.
We need one million signatures to show we mean business. So sign and support the Charter - on line, at work, in your community.

Together we can get the changes we need. Can we do it? Yes we can!

A fair economy for a fairer Britain. Take the leading banking, insurance and mortgage industries fully into democratic public ownership run for the benefit of all. Regain control of the Bank of England and keep interest rates low. Tightly regulate the City markets to facilitate lending and to stop speculation and takeovers against the public interest. Ban hedge funds, raids on pension funds, asset-stripping and corporate tax loopholes. Restructure the tax system so big business and the wealthy pay more and ordinary people pay less.

More and better jobs. Existing jobs must be protected. Public and private investment must create new jobs paying decent money. In particular in manufacturing, construction and green technology. More jobs mean more spending power to stimulate the economy, increased tax revenue and fewer people on benefit. Build full employment. Reduce hours, not pay, to create more jobs. Raise the minimum wage to half national median earnings and end the lower rate for young workers.

Decent homes for all. Stop the repossessions and keep people in their homes. Offer ‘no interest’ loans. Control rents. We need 3 million new homes. Give local government the power and money to build and renovate affordable quality homes and buy empty ones, ending the housing shortage, and creating jobs.

Protect and improve our public services – no cuts. Save public money: bring energy, transport, water, post and telecommunications back into public ownership. End corporate profiteering in health, education, social and other public services. Stop the EU privatisation Directives.

Fairness and Justice. Free heating and transport for every pensioner. Link state pensions and benefits to average earnings. Protect pension schemes and restore the lost value of private pensions. End child poverty by increasing child benefits and tax credits and providing free nurseries and crèches. Enforce equal pay for women. End racism and discrimination in all its forms. No scapegoating of migrant workers.
Invest in young people and give them a real stake in the future. Provide youth, community, arts and cultural centres, sports facilities, and clubs for all. Guarantee training, apprenticeships and education with grants for everyone and no fees.

Restore union rights to allow them the freedom to fight the crisis and to protect workers.
Build a secure and sustainable future for all.

End the cost of war in blood and money. Bring our troops home. Don’t waste £billions on a new generation of nuclear weapons. And beyond the current economic disaster, climate change threatens us all. Our future must be based on massive investment for a greener, safer world now. Debt is crushing millions of people forcing them to move and producing war, famine and misery. Get rid of the debt economy in Britain and cancel the debts of the poor of the planet.

A better future for all the people of the world.

Ends

I'd sign that and would encourage others to do likewise - let's hope we soon have the chance!

Unison elections update

Quick reminder that deadline for nominations is 13th February

Please check the list below for candidates that the left is supporting in your region/Service group as there has been some changes.

NEC Candidates 09
Black members seats
Female seats
April Ashley
Lorraine Mngadi
Male seat
Hugo Pierre
National young members seat
Chris Leary
REGIONAL SEATS
Eastern region
Male seat Martin Booth
East Midlands region
Female seat Jean Thorpe ; Sharon Vasselin
Male seat Richard Buckwell
Reserved seat Ann Macmillan-Wood
Greater London region
Female seats Mandy Berger ; Sonya Howard;
Male seat Jon Rogers
Northern region
Female seat Hannah Walter
Male seat Alan Docherty ;
Reserved seat gail callaghan
Northern Ireland region
Male seat Terry McGoran
North West region
General seat Alex Mcfadden
Female seats Bernadette Gallagher Fran Kelly
Male seat Roger Bannister ;
Scotland
General Jim McFarlane
Female Clare Lyall
Male seat Gordon McKay
South East region
Female seats Diana Leach ; Jessie Russel
Male seat Mike Tucker
South West region
Male seat Nigel Behan
Reserved Seat Kath Budd
Cymru/Wales region
Male seat Mark Evans
West Midlands region
Female seats Sue Gallagher Sue Brealy
Male seat Clive Shakespeare
Reserved seat Claudia Campbell
Yorkshire & Humberside region
General Seat Brian Steele
Female seats Helen Jenner Vicky Perrin
Male seat John McDermott
SERVICE GROUP SEATS
Health Care service group
Female seats Kate Ahrens Karen Reissmann ;
Male seat Roger Davy
General seat Stephen lintott
Local Government service group
Female seats Phoebe Watkins Marshajane Thompson
Male seat Glen Kelly
General seat Paul Holmes
Higher Ed Barry Blinko
Police staff service group
Female seat Rachel Hemingway
Transport Service Group
Male seat Tony Wilson
Water & Environment service group
General seat John Jones

John McDonnell kicked out of commons!

John has been silenced from speaking up for his constituents and the hundreds of thousands of people opposed to the third runway @ heathrow.

On top of being thrown out of the commons for rightly calling it a disgrace that MPs wouldn't get a vote on heathrow he has been suspended for a week.

MarshaJane
xx
www.unionfutures.blogspot.com

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Local Gov pay claim 09

Although we still don't have a final outcome of the 2008 local government pay claim – the 2009 increase is due in a few weeks.
Yesterday the claim went in for a one-year, across-the-board pay increase of at least the level of retail price inflation, with additional increases for the lower paid.

I would sooner see a flat rate claim to really address low pay in local government – and have some doubts about the wisdom of tying our claim to the Retail Price Index at present – however we now need to campaign in support of this claim.

As the UNISON newsletter puts it;

"This is going to be a difficult year for all public sector workers. We have argued in our claim that NJC employees are going to be vital to supporting local communities under stress. Councils therefore need to preserve jobs, while recognising the work our members have done to bring about widespread improvement through a decent pay rise.

We are also arguing strongly that a decent pay increase is affordable. Councils have made more cuts than necessary and put record amounts into reserves in recent years, while cutting jobs and keeping pay rises below inflation. The Audit Commission has recently said that councils have not been as affected by the credit crunch as the media has made out."


We need to lobby MPs now – and importantly we need to start working on unity with other public sector workers if we are to stand any chance of a decent pay rise for low paid local government workers in 2009!

MarshaJane
xx
www.unionfutures.blogspot.com

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Demonstrate today to end Carnage in Gaza - and letter from Hoping

I hope to see lots of you at the demonstration today (assemble Hyde Park 12 30) with the latest figures of 800 Palestinians killed in Gaza the majority of which are Women and children and over 3 thousand injured we all need to get marching and demand an end to the fighting.

UNISON's national and london regional banners will be there along with many other branch banners - All the TU banners will be at the front leading the demo so you know where to find us - we need to have a huge presence today.

Also in case you haven't seen this there is a letter in the Indy from Hoping calling for an end to the carnage signed by a number of celebs

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/letters/letters-carnage-in-gaza-1242494.html

We demand an end to the carnage in Gaza, As supporters of Hoping, a charity working to strengthen the lives of Palestinian refugee children, we are horrified by the cruel and massive loss of life of the citizens of Gaza, and by the failure of our politicians to put adequate pressure in order to achieve an immediate end to the carnage.

Hoping's work with UNRWA in Gaza and elsewhere is centred upon building hope for the young generation of Palestinians that they might have a life with peace, justice, and dignity.

We are shocked by the bombing of three UNRWA schools in Gaza where families have taken refuge, killing so many of them, and by the deaths of dozens of children this past week.

We demand immediate action from our political leaders, and the leaders of Europe, who under the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law have a responsibility to stop the continuing assault, and who have not done enough to ensure a ceasefire.

We call for an immediate end to the Israeli attack on the citizens and civic institutions of Gaza; for an opening to all crossings points into Gaza; and for an end to the siege and blockade of Gaza.

We insist upon hope for the children of Gaza, and the children of Palestine wherever they live in refugee camps across the Middle East, so that they can live in freedom from injustice, war, and military occupation.

Bryan Adams, Laura Bailey, Russell Brand, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Caryl Churchill, Lily Cole, Sophie Dahl, Robert Del Naja, Harry Enfield, Rupert Everett, Eric Fellner, Colin Firth, Robert Fox, Stephen Frears, Bella Freud, John Galliano, Bobby Gillespie, Jools Holland, Carsten Holler, Bianca Jagger, Stephen Jones, Jemima Khan, Hanif Kureishi, Annie Lennox, Christian Louboutin, Shane MacGowan, Davina McCall, Samantha Morton, Karma Nabulsi, Philip Pullman, Hannah Rothschild, Will Self, Alexandra Shulman, Sharleen Spiteri, David Tang, Philip Treacy

The Hoping Foundation, London WC1
MarshaJane
xx
www.unionfutures.blogspot.com

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Updated UNISON NEC Candidates

NEC Candidates 09
Black members seats
Female seats
April Ashley -
Male seat
Hugo Pierre
National young members seat
Chris Leary
REGIONAL SEATS
Eastern region
Male seat
Martin Booth 
Reserved seat
East Midlands region
Female seat
Jean Thorpe ;
Sharon Vasselin
Male seat
Richard Buckwell 
Reserved seat
ANn Macmillan-Wood
Greater London region
Female seats
Mandy Berger  ;
Sonya Howard;;
Male seat
Jon Rogers 
Northern region
Female seat
Hannah Walter
Male seat
Alan Docherty ;
Reserved seat
gail callaghan
Northern Ireland region
Female seat
Male seat
Terry McGoran
North West region
General seat
Alex Mcfadden
Female seats
Bernadette Gallagher  
Fran Kelly 
Male seat
Roger Bannister ;
Scotland
General
Jim McFarlane
Female
Clare Lyall
Male seat
Gordon McKay  
South East region
Female seats
Diana Leach ;
Jessie Russel  
Male seat
Mike Tucker 
South West region
Female seat
Belinda Burton ;
Male seat
Nigel Behan
Reserved Seat
Kath Budd
Cymru/Wales region
Male seat
Mark Evans
West Midlands region
Female seats
Sue Gallagher
Sue Brealy
Male seat
Clive Shakespeare
Reserved seat
Claudia Campbell
Yorkshire & Humberside region
General Seat
Brian Steele
Female seats
Helen Jenner
vicky perrin
Male seat
John McDermott
Reserved seat
SERVICE GROUP SEATS
Health Care service group
Female seats
Kate Ahrens
Karen Reissmann ;
Male seat
Roger Davy
General seat
Stephen lintott
Local Government service group
Female seats
Phoebe Watkins Phoebe Watkins
Marshajane Thompson <mailto:marshajanethompson@yahoo.co.uk> marshajanethompson@yahoo.co.uk
Male seat
Glen Kelly
General seat
Paul Holmes
Higher Ed
Barry Blinko
Police staff service group
Female seat
Rachel Hemingway
Transport Service Group
Tony Wilson
Water & Environment service group
General seatJohn Jones




MarshaJane
xx
www.unionfutures.blogspot.com

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Updated list of UNISON NEC candidates

Here is an update of candidates from the left seeking election to UNISON's NEC
Expect at least another addition in the next couple of days :)

Black members seats
Female seats
April Ashley -
Lorraine Duduzile Mngadi
Male seat
Hugo Pierre
National young members seat
Kit Leary
REGIONAL SEATS
Eastern region
Male seat
Martin Booth
East Midlands region
Female seat
Jean Thorpe ;
Sharon Vasselin
Male seat
Richard Buckwell
Reserved seat
ANn Macmillan-Wood
Greater London region
Female seats
Mandy Berger ;
Sonya Howard;;
Male seat
Jon Rogers
Northern region
Female seat
Hannah Walter
Male seat
Alan Docherty ;
Reserved seat
gail callaghan
Northern Ireland region
Female seat
Male seat
Terry McGoran
North West region
General seat
Alex Mcfadden
Female seats
Bernadette Gallagher
Fran Kelly Fran Kelly
Male seat
Roger Bannister ;
Scotland
General
Jim McFarlane
Female
Clare Lyall
?
Male seat
Gordon McKay
South East region
Female seats
Diana Leach ;
Jessie Russel
Male seat
Mike Tucker
South West region
Female seat
Belinda Burton ;
Male seat
J
Reserved Seat
Kath Budd
Cymru/Wales region
Male seat
Mark Evans
West Midlands region
Female seats
Sue Gallagher
Sue Brealy
Male seat
Clive Shakespeare
Reserved seat
Claudia Campbell
Yorkshire & Humberside region
General Seat
Brian Steele
Female seats
Helen Jenner
vicky perrin
Male seat
John McDermott
Reserved seat
SERVICE GROUP SEATS
Health Care service group
Female seats
Kate Ahrens
Karen Reissmann ;
Male seat
Roger Davy
General seat
Mick Griffiths
Local Government service group
Female seats
Phoebe Watkins
Marshajane Thompson
Male seat
Glen Kelly
General seat
Paul Holmes
Police staff service group
Female seat
Rachel Hemingway
Transport Service Group
Tony Wilson
Water & Environment service group
General seatJohn Jones

UNISONS NEC elections 2009

Hello all as promised here is more on UNISON's NEC elections
The nomination period opens tomorrow (5th Jan) and closes on the 13th of February.
Branches are able to nominate people in the region, service group, for national black member’s seats and for the national young member’s seat.

The "left" have a joint slate this year composed of UNISON united left, the socialist party and Independant lefts. (See it can be done :p)

Clearly we need a fighting union at the moment with attacks on public services coming thick and fast and with the squeeze on jobs and terms and conditions creeping in because of the economic climate.

I am standing as part of the slate for a National Local Government seat (Wish me luck) (see previous post with my nomination request)

Here is the list of NEC candidates 09 so far, this list is likely to have additions in the next day or so.

Black member’s seats
Female seats
April Ashley -
Male seat
Hugo Pierre
National young members seatChris Leary
REGIONAL SEATS
Eastern region
Male seat
Martin Booth
Reserved seat
East Midlands region
Female seat
Jean Thorpe;
Sharon Vasselin
Male seat
Richard Buckwell
Reserved seat
Ann Macmillan-Wood
Greater London region
Female seats
Mandy Berger;
Sonya Howard;
Male seat
Jon Rogers
Northern region
Female seat
Hannah Walter
Male seat
Alan Docherty;
Reserved seat
Gail Callaghan
Northern Ireland region
Female seat
Male seat
Terry McGowan
North West region
General seat
Alex Mcfadden
Female seats
Bernadette Gallagher
Fran Kelly
Male seat
Roger Bannister;
Scotland
General
Jim McFarlane
Female
Clare Lyall
Male seat
Gordon McKay
South East region
Female seats
Diana Leach;
Jessie Russell
Male seat
Mike Tucker
South West region
Female seat
Belinda Burton;
Reserved Seat
Kath Budd
Cymru/Wales region
Male seat
Mark Evans
West Midlands region
Female seats
Sue Brealy
Male seat
Clive Shakespeare
Reserved seat
Claudia Campbell
Yorkshire & Humberside region
General Seat
Brian Steele
Female seats
Helen Jenner
Vicky perrin
Male seat
John McDermott
Reserved seat
SERVICE GROUP SEATS
Health Care service group
Female seats
Kate Ahrens
Karen Reissmann ;
Male seat
Roger Davy
General seat
Mick Griffiths
Local Government service group
Female seats
Phoebe Watkins Phoebe Watkins
Marshajane Thompson
Male seat
Glen Kelly
General seat
Paul Holmes
Police staff service group
Female seat
Rachel Hemingway

Request for nomination to UNISON NEC

Please see below my request for nomination to UNISONs NEC.

I am standing as part of a joint left slate - see next post :)

To Local Government UNISON branches.

Marshajane Thompson membership number 8115644

UNISON National Executive Council (NEC) Elections 2009.

I am writing to ask your branch to consider nominating me for election to represent the Local Government service group on UNISON’s National Executive Council (NEC) in a Female Seat.

I am standing for election because I believe we need a leadership for UNISON that is prepared to fight to defend our members, defend our pensions, for equal pay and against privatisation.

Experience
I have worked in Local Government for 10 years, since the age of 18 mainly in Housing and Homeless services but I have also worked as a youth worker in the Community and Voluntary sector and I am keen to see UNISON develop its structures to ensure that the thousands of community and voluntary workers in UNISON are represented effectively by our union.
I have worked both as an employee and as an agency worker and have first hand experience of the need to organise agency workers into our Union.

I have been proud to serve UNISON members as a shop steward, Regional Committee member, Regional Young Members Convenor, National Young Members Forum member, TUC young members forum and on the National Community and Youth workers forum for UNISON.

Pay
Winning fair pay is a priority for UNISON's local government members, our members are at the heart of our communities providing vital services in the face of continuous attack by the government.
Despite rising living costs and the economic crisis we still have not had 2008’s pay rise in full with the dispute now in arbitration.
This year’s pay settlement seems destined to be low unless we learn the lessons from the last few years of negotiations.
It is very important we achieve a decent pay rise for our members in the current negotiations.
We need to remember that UNISON’s policy is opposition to multi year pay deals and further that Pay negotiations should be settled by April every year.
Our members shouldn’t be forced to wait for their annual rises.
Further we should remember that both UNISON policy and TUC policy is unity with other public sector workers.
To stop this government from forcing public sector workers to take real term pay cuts our union needs united action – including coordinated industrial action to fight for decent pay rises and defend our bargaining rights.

Single Status
We need more support for branches - and an approach to equal pay which aims to level up not down. It is not acceptable that thousands of our members are facing pay cuts or "marking time" especially in the current economic climate.
As a union we need to share the experiences of and advertise our success stories where branches such as Kirklees and Greenwich have protected their members.

UNISON’s Future
Although I am no longer young enough to serve on UNISON’s young members structure, I believe we should be encouraging and developing our young members as the future of our union. I continue to recruit and organise young members as our trade union desperately need to recruit more young members if we are to survive and grow.

Defending trade unionists.
We need a strong vocal union fighting for our members and defending trade unionists. This last year or so has seen the victimisation of union activists growing, the sacking of Karen Reissmann, my previous Branch chair Michael Gavan and the suspension of Nigel Behan all UNISON representatives attacked for speaking out on behalf of our members, UNISON must not allow employers to get away with this

Public Services Not Privatisation
I have organised, chaired and spoken at meetings up and down the country against privatisation of our services. I have been an active campaigner against the cuts in Barnet Council and have been an active supporter of the struggle of the Fremantle workers against the consequences of privatisation for their pay and conditions.
Privatisation equals cuts in pay, worse terms and conditions and poorer public services. As the current economic crisis shows private companies cannot even control their own sectors with banking needing bailouts from the tax payers – why should we even consider letting them run our public services?
I believe that UNISON should be leading the way in defending all our Public Services and if elected I would push for UNISON to link up with the Public Services Not Private Profit campaign – a campaign that has the backing of 16 other unions – united against privatisation we are stronger.
Local Government Pension SchemeDespite assurances to the contrary and the taking of an unsatisfactory deal following the day of strike action on the 28th March 2006 the Government are still attempting to erode our pensions scheme further. I believe we should be saying enough is enough and standing up for a decent pensions.

Anti-Racism

UNISON is at the forefront of anti racism campaigns and campaigns against the BNP and I am proud to be a part of that. In the borough where I work we have a BNP Councillor, I have leafleted and demonstrated with UAF and searchlight against the BNP and will continue to do so, recently I created a group on facebook a social networking site to remove the racist images from the BNP and fascist groups, this groups is one of the more successful on facebook with thousands of members and when it was set up received favourable media attention.

Labour Link
I choose to pay into UNISONS Labour Link fund as I believe we should be using our Labour Link more effectively within UNISON not just signing blank cheques to MP’s that seek to privatise our public services and take away our pensions. I have founded and now co-Chair the Socialist Youth Network which seeks to involve young people in campaigning to win back the Labour Party for our trade union policies and principles. I am on the National Committee for the Labour Representation Committee an organisation that assists trade unions with representation in parliament and speaks up for socialist values inside and outside the Labour Party.

I am a member of UNISON United Left in order to work with a wide variety of people who all believe in a democratic lay led union.

I recommend that UNISON branches also consider nominating Phoebe Watkins, Glenn Kelly and Paul Holmes in the National Local Government seats.

I run a blog http://www.unionfutures.blogspot.com/ where you can see more about my campaigning activities.

I hope that your branch will consider giving me your nomination.

Best wishes for 2009,

MarshaJane Thompson