In brief

Housing Corporation

Suzanne Muna, Unison secretary at the Housing Corporation, has been fighting against unjustified disciplinary action from management for representing one of her union members.

It has taken the Corporation 10 days of deliberation following the disciplinary hearing before reaching a decision. Unfortunately, they have decided to issue a final written warning: a punitive action which flies in the face of the inconsistencies between witness accounts and the hard evidence that was presented at the hearing.

Suzanne will appeal against this decision and the branch is planning further action to overturn this attack on their union rep.

Letters of protest have been sent to the Housing Corporation from other trade unionists, Socialist Party members and councillors from all over the country and the world.

These letters have made a big impact on management, along with the action taken by members themselves. This included a 50-strong walkout by members at the Corporation's headquarters and a petition with over 150 signatures from satellite offices around the country. Support is still needed to keep up the pressure on the Corporation to drop this unjust persecution.

Liverpool Unison

A packed meeting of Liverpool Unison members was the first quorate meeting for a number of years in Liverpool.

Roger Bannister, from Unison's national executive, explained that the national union will have to address the issue of a serious pay campaign with industrial action if the government does not change their position. He also covered the need for national action around the issue of single status.

He reminded the meeting that during the mid 1980s, Liverpool City council employed approximately 31,000 staff under a socialist-led administration. It now employs less than 10,000 under a Lib Dem administration, who have introduced privatisation through the back door over a number of years.

The meeting supported a number of motions drafted by a Socialist Party member calling for industrial action around single status, the city council budget and possible school re-organisation. The mood of the meeting was upbeat and showed signs of members now up for a fight with their employer. The newly elected branch officers must give the leadership expected from them by their members.

Raph Parkinson, branch chair, personal capacity

Lecturers' strike ballot

Members of the lecturers' union UCU are balloting for strike action over pay. The further education lecturers are demanding a £1,500 a year increase or 6%, whichever is the greater.

The ballot covers UCU members in FE colleges in England. If the ballot supports strike action it will start on 24 April, co-ordinating with the teachers' union NUT strike possible on that day.