The Socialist 21 January 2009 No more bailouts for bosses! Fast news: My Lords, Ladies and cash dispenser Gaza war paves way for further conflict Protesting against Gaza attacks Egypt: Gaza conflict fuels anti-Mubarak opposition Readers' comment: media reporting on Gaza Fighting the cuts in Greenwich Shop workers need a fighting trade union leadership Hoover workers march in protest at job losses Obama takes power: What change will the Democrats bring? Refugees and repression in war ravaged Sri Lanka Exiled Zimbabweans demand Brown acts Capitalism kills, concludes study of privatisation era Opposing the expansion of Heathrow Waltham Forest anti-incinerator campaign: Residents get results Campaigners fight attacks on education and the environment What's going on? The meanderings of a comic mind in confusion, by Mark Steel |
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Home | The Socialist 21 January 2009 | Join the Socialist Party Fighting the cuts in GreenwichIn a quite vicious and vindictive move, Greenwich council have announced plans to attack pay, conditions, jobs and services right across the council. This follows a number of victories won by the Unison branch, notably the magnificent single status battle. Greenwich Unison have always known that no victory is permanent, that at some point the employers will try to undo agreements or to claw back what has been won in hard-fought campaigns. But what has taken many by surprise is the sheer scale of the attacks proposed which include compulsory redundancies, downgrades, a cut in the number of front-line emergency children's social workers, and the setting up of a trading company that council services and staff will transfer into. This is a half-way house to privatisation. It will also mean cutting pay protection for staff who transfer to new jobs, on poorer pay in order to avoid redundancy, from five years to one year, restricting opportunities for those faced with redundancy to redeploy to new posts, introducing a 'capability' procedure, removing the right to appeal to councillors in dismissal cases and removing the need to consult with the unions on changes in the workplace. Of course, there is no cut in the salaries of councillors. The Unison office has already been visited by distraught staff who face the sack and who see no hope for the future. However the Unison stewards in Greenwich, where the branch is led by Socialist Party members and supporters, have been hardened by years of successful campaigning. A decision has been made to fight these cuts. The branch knows that this also means a fight with the union bureaucracy who will want to engage in 'concession bargaining', giving away rights and having a say in who loses their job. The branch view is different. Over the years, the slogans of "an injury to one is an injury to all" and "not a penny from our pay, nor an hour on the day" have become a reality and the branch is determined to stick to these principles. A lobby has been organised of the first full council meeting of 2009. All are welcome to attend to support the campaign. The lobby is on 28 January, 6pm-7pm. Town hall, Wellington Street, Woolwich, London SE18. In this issue
War and occupation
Socialist Party campaigns
Socialist Party feature
International socialist news and analysis
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