GLATUC News - Archive
GLATUC News   Related News   Press Releases   Events   Archives	NEXT GLATUC MEETING ON DECEMBER 9 - 01-12-2006   The monthly GLATUC meeting will be on December 9 from 10-12. The venue is the TGWU HO, TRANSPORT HOUSE, 128 THEOBALDS ROAD, LONDON WC1 - nearest tube Holborn. Glatuc ^ Top    PLACES AVAILABLE ON COACH TO BURSTON SCHOOL STRIKE EVENT - 3 SEPTEMBER - 09-08-2006   Please could you do whatever you are able to stimulate more interest in the Burston Rally on Sunday 3 September. So far the TGWU only have 15 bookings confirmed and a decision on whether to run the coach will be made on this coming Thursday, 10th August. Contact Transport & General Workers Union at £5 per seat booked and also to phone Pat O'Keefe's office to say the booking is on the way. Address to send details and money: Patrick O’Keeffe, Deputy Regional Secretary, T&G“Woodberry”, 218 Green Lanes, London N4 2HB Phone number: 020 8800 4281 Gwen Cook - HFTUC Glatuc ^ Top    GLATUC MEETING ON CIVIL LIBERTIES - 26-07-2006   TRADE UNIONS & CIVIL RIGHTS A TU response to the erosion of civil liberties. What should unions be doing? The attack on trade union rights is one of the biggest attacks on our civil liberties. Our experience is that other new repressive legislation is soon directed at us. The tide of new laws threatens our basic liberties. We are at a critical time. We need a trade union response. SPECIAL MEETING SATURDAY 14 OCTOBER 2006 (re-arranged from June 10) 13.30 TGWU HQ, TRANSPORT HOUSE, THEOBALDS ROAD, LONDON WC1 nearest tube Holborn Trade Union & Civil Liberties speakers including TONY BENN JOHN McDONNELL MP JAMES WELCH (LIBERTY) CAMPACC GREATER LONDON ASSOCIATION OF TRADE UNION COUNCILS www.glatuc.org.uk 16 Mansell Road London W3 7QH Glatuc ^ Top    GLATUC MEETING 8 APRIL - 03-04-2006   The next full GLATUC Meeting is on Saturday 8 April at TGWU HQ in Holborn, starting at 10 am. A speaker from Lewisham College will be reporting on their dispute. Thgere will also be an update on May Day. Glatuc ^ Top    GLATUC NEXT FULL MEETING ON 11 FEBRUARY 2006 - 18-01-2006   The next GLATUC delegate meeting is on Saturday 11 February 2006 at the TGWU Head Office in Holborn. Amonst the issues being considered will be May Day 2006, the Annual Conference of Trade Union Councils and disputes in London. Glatuc ^ Top    GATE GOURMET DISPUTE WEBSITE - 23-08-2005   A website has been set up for the Sacked Gate Gourmet Support Group - aimed at the wider trade union and labour movement. Please publicise this address to as many people. www.sackedbygategourmet.org.uk Glatuc ^ Top    T&G and Gate Gourmet talks - 12-08-2005   ACAS statement: T&G and Gate Gourmet talks 12 Aug 2005 Following discussions late last night between Gate Gourmet and T&G general secretary Tony Woodley, the company and the union have agreed to open discussions without prejudice, via the use of ACAS, in order to resolve the major difficulties they face. ACAS intends that the discussions are designed to find a solution to the company's business difficulties alongside our objective of securing the reinstatement and return to work of our sacked members. Discussions are starting immediately with a view to reaching agreement. from tgwu website Glatuc ^ Top    GLATUC AGM 10 JULY 2004 - 05-07-2004   GLATUC AGM will take place Saturday 10 July at TGWU HQ in TRheobalds Road, EC1. Starts from 2.30pm. There will be the election of Officers and Executive Members. glatuc ^ Top    FUNERAL OF PETE TURNER - 12-01-2004   The funeral will be at North Sheen Cemetery (Lower Richmond Road/Mortlake Road) - near Chiswick Bridge on Monday 19 January at 12noon. N earest train station - Mortlake (also North Sheen and Kew Gardens). There will be a celebration afterwards in a nearby hostelry. glatuc ^ Top    RMT ACTION ON TUBE SAFETY - 24-11-2003   20 November 2003 RMT members back call for industrial action on Tube safety RMT MEMBERS working on London Underground have issued a clear mandate for industrial action over safety In a ballot of members working for LUL and the infrastructure companies, 81 per cent of members voting backed the call for action short of strike, and 55 percent voted in favour of strike action. “Our members have issued a clear mandate for action over safety,” RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today. “The interim report on the Hammersmith derailment has painted a shocking picture of decay and neglect, and LUL and the infrastructure companies have so far failed to address any of the urgent safety issues we have raised. “Our own safety experts  the men and women who actually work on London Underground  know that Tube safety standards have declined dramatically, and it their expert views that must be heard. “Over the next three days we will be consulting our lay reps to establish which parts of the network are giving them cause for concern. “In the light of those discussions the RMT executive will on Monday detail which parts of the network will be subject to train speed restrictions, and identify which stations will have to close to prevent dangerous overcrowding. “We regret the disruption that this will inevitably cause Tube users, but we hope they will continue to show the understanding that these actions are being taken for safety reasons and continue to support our aim of a safer Underground network. “We also urge the Mayor of London to intervene with the employers and help us to resolve these vital safety issues. “As ever we remain available to meet the Mayor, London Underground and the infrastructure companies at any time,” Bob Crow said. ends Note to editors: Voting figures were: For action short of strike: 2,427, against: 577. For strike action 1,673, against: 1,342. glatuc ^ Top    NEW GLATUC SECRETARY - 14-10-2003   Mick Houghton (CWU) from Ealing Trade Union Council has been elected Secretary of GLATUC. Previously an Executive Committee member, Mick stepped in as Acting Secretary in August when long serving Secretary, Bob Tennant, moved from London. glatuc ^ Top    GLATUC AUGUST MEETING - 07-08-2003   The monthly meeting takes place on Saturday 9 August 10am at TGWU HQ Transport House on Theobalds Road. Delegates will be attending from the Trade Union Councils across London. glatuc ^ Top    GLATUC AGM ON MAY 10 - 02-05-2003   The GLATUC Annual General Meeting takes place on Saturday 10 May in the TGWU HQ on Theobalds Road. The Annual Report will be presented and the Officers and Executive Committee will be elected. Jeremy Corbyn MP will be speaking presenting a political report for 2003. glatuc ^ Top    LATEST IRAQ NEWS - 05-03-2003   Ex-Tory Foreign Minister Lord Carrington reminded people today that in the co-alition against Saddam in the last Gulf War, a late joiner of the co-alition were the Afghani Taliban supported by Al Qaida. That hostility to Saddam continues today so hardly a firm link for "terrorism" and Iraq. glatuc ^ Top    FEBRUARY GLATUC MEETING - 31-01-2003   The monthly GLATUC Meeting takes place on Saturday 8 February 10.00-12.30 at the TGWU HQ, Theobalds Road, WC1. This meeting will be devoting part of the meeting to a discussion on education. glatic ^ Top    GLATUC CONDEMNS PRESCOTT THREATS TO FIREFIGHTERS - 31-01-2003   GLATUC Officers condemned the threats made by John Prescott to take powers to impose a settlement on the firefighters. Such threats only serve to aggravate the situation which is largely due to the intransigence of the Government in not allowing real negotiations to take place. Hints about banning strikes in the fire service show an intention to force back the fire service as a lesson to the whole public sector. If going on strike after 25 years is regarded as unreasonable, what yardstick is Prescott using? The Government has made the dispute one for the whole public by trying to impose cuts in fire cover. It now makes it one for the whole trade union movement by threatening to stop normal industrial relations in the fire service. GLATUC will be calling on all unions to redouble their efforts to show solidarity with the FBU. glatuc ^ Top    GLATUC GIVES FULL SUPPORT TO FBU STRIKE DATES - 21-01-2003   GLATUC is calling on trade unionists and supporters to ensure maximum solidarity with FBU. The dates are - 09.00 hours January 21 to 09.00 hours January 22 (24 hours) 09.00 hours January 28 to 09.00 hours January 30 (48 hours) 09.00 hours February 1 to 09.00 hours February 3 (48 hours) GLATUC ^ Top    GLATUC MEEETING 11 JANUARY - 08-01-2003   The next full meeting of GLATUC takes place at the TGWU HQ in Theobalds Road at 10.00 on January 11 2003. Current disputes and concerns will be discussed by the delegates from the member trade union councils. GLATUC ^ Top    TRADES COUNCILS OUT ON FIREFIGHTERS MARCH - 02-01-2003   The highly succesful firefighters march held in London on December 7 had a good turn out of London and other Trades Councils. Banners were prominent in the March and Trades Councils reported on the highly succesful network of support groups that had been set up. GLATUC ^ Top    CITY & WESTMINSTER FIREFIGHTERS SUPPORT MEETING - 14-11-2002   With the start of the Strike we need to be building up solidarity and support work. We are calling a MEETING OF THE SUPPORT GROUP for TUESDAY 19 NOVEMBER 2002 6pm at COMMITTEE ROOM 7 17th FLOOR WESTMINSTER CITY HALL 64 VICTORIA STREET LONDON SW1E 6QP (go to Reception and ask for UNISON Meeting) We will be discussing what solidarity and support actions we can do in the Area. FBU members will be in attendance. Joint Secretaries Rahul Patel 07956 579466 Roger Sutton 07818 421327 PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU ARE REPRESENTED AT THIS CRUCIAL TIME FOR THE FBU DISPUTE SUPPORT THE FIREFIGHTERS GLATUC ^ Top    WALTHAM FOREST FBU DISPUTE MEETING - 28 OCTOBER - 22-10-2002   Waltham Forest Trades Council Support the Firefighters As agreed at last month’s meeting, we have organised a public meeting in support of the firefighters’ dispute. The meeting will be at Ross Wyld Hall,Church Hill, Walthamstow, at 7.30 pm on Monday 28 October. Neil Gerrard MP and Matt Wrack of the FBU will be speaking; we also hope to have Bob Crow of the RMT and Derek Simpson of Amicus. Please try to get to this important meeting, and to use the enclosed leaflets to publicise it to others. We have received a letter from the FBU, with a model motion for unions. Try to use this to mobilise support for the firefighters: "This (branch, committee, conference – whatever is appropriate) supports the Fire Brigades Union in its fight for fair pay. In the event of industrial action by the FBU we urge all members to raise the issue of safety at work with their employers. We ask members to support any fellow member who may be victimised as a result of refusing to do work normally done by FBU members or for refusing to cross a lawful picket line. We also ask that every member contacts their MP and local councillors to express their support for the FBU." GLATUC ^ Top    TUCJCC REP FOR SOUTH EAST - 01-10-2002   The new TUCJCC Rep for our area is GLATUC President, Peter Spalding. Peter, from Croydon TUC, takes over from Bob Tennant, who stood down. As the Rep Peter now sits on the Southern & Eastern Region of the TUC Executive Committee. For those not familiar with all the initials, the TUCJCC is the Trade Union Councils Joint Consultative Committee. This is a TUC Committee set up to co-ordinate Trade Union Councils/Trades Councils work. General Council members sit on it plus elected reps from the regions. Tony Burke of the GPMU is the lead for the TUC. GLATUC ^ Top    Defend Council Housing - 17-01-2002   The following statement from the Defend Council Housing Campaign is endorsed by GLATUC and we hope that London's trade union councils , other trade union bodies and community organizations will also endorse it. Please email your decision to GLATUC at bob.tennant@virgin.net and to Defend Council Housing at info@defendcouncilhousing.org.uk. A United response to the LGFWP and the Govt Spending Review: Council housing is vital for 4 million tenants and their families. It is part of the network of social provision won in the struggles to create a better life for working class people in Britain. We believe that decent, affordable, secure and accountable council housing is worth defending as a right for all who need it now and in the future. Council housing has been starved of investment for many years. The Conservative government cut spending hard, began siphoning off money from tenants’ rents through ‘Daylight Robbery’, and introduced privatisation through ‘transfer’ ballots. Tenants are shocked and angry that Labour has continued to privatise council housing and stepped up the Daylight Robbery. Our Manifesto for Council Housing and our joint campaign to Stand Up for Council Housing is putting the government under real pressure. We are fighting for: · first class council housing – decent, affordable, secure and accountable · tenants keep security of tenure – no watering down our rights · do the repairs, improve our estates – clear the £19 billion backlog with no strings attached · well-managed, good quality housing services – guarantee proper jobs with security and training · build new council homes to meet housing need · a tenants’ vote on any changes – honest debate and equal funding for tenants’ organisations and campaigns · spend our rents on our homes – not on fat cats, consultants and Daylight Robbery To make this happen we want investment in council housing – with no strings. We are opposed to the continuing blackmail of council tenants to accept transfer, PFI or Arms Length companies as a condition of any new investment. The government knows privatisation is deeply unpopular. The inducements and concessions to promote Arms Length organisations represent a calculated strategy to divide us, and head off growing demands for a clear commitment to council housing. The government still believes in privatisation. Maintaining a united campaign around the demand for direct investment in council housing is the best strategy to defend and improve council housing. Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) are not an acceptable alternative. They provide less secure tenancies, push up rent levels, break rent guarantee promises and ceilings, are failing the homeless, undermine local democratic control over and strategic local planning for housing, raise serious concerns over financial soundness and accountability, and are run as private businesses, becoming increasingly remote through mergers and takeovers. Direct investment in council housing will give tenants a real choice – the choice of staying with the council. This is the option supported by tenants whenever a real choice is presented honestly. We welcome the Local Government Finance White Paper’s promise to allow councils the right to borrow as a breakthrough. This is a significant policy shift, in the face of demands from tenants for direct investment in council housing. It represents the first step towards creating the ‘level playing field’ ministers have promised. We say: All councils should be free to borrow from 2002 Council rent levels should be set locally as part of a democratically-accountable housing service. We oppose tying council rents to market rents. Rent convergence threatens to drive up rents for council tenants causing more financial hardship and higher housing benefit costs. All council rent income must be spent on the management, maintenance and improvement of our homes. Any ‘surpluses’ must be invested in council housing. No rent income should be used to subsidise housing benefit or other Treasury spending, or go for ‘other expenditure outside the HRA’ (as the White Paper suggests in part 2 5.14 p95) We are opposed to preferential treatment for councils adopting Arms Length management. The extra funding offered for ALMOs should be available for all tenants through direct council housing investment. Public Spending Review Tenants, trade unions, councillors, MPs and campaigners call on government to ensure that in the next spending round: Public spending currently targeted to subsidise privatisation is redirected as investment in council housing - if more public money is available to pay for debt write-off and redemption charges, we want at least the equivalent investment for improving council housing Council housing pays for itself according to the LGFWPP – stop undermining us through Daylight, or Moonlight, Robbery and put back into Housing Revenue Accounts some of the £10 billion siphoned out over the last ten years Invest in good quality, low-rent council housing to beat the benefit trap and stop soaring housing benefit bills Conclusion Council housing has provided a vital service for generations of working class people. It was created to provide an alternative to the ravages of market forces in housing. Past generations have invested in council housing as a service bequeathed us to. The Public Spending Review needs to make provision to do the same, investing in council housing as our contribution to present and future housing needs. We want decent, affordable, secure and accountable council housing. We want first class housing as a right – not second class homes as a last resort. We call on the government through the next Spending Round, to guarantee these rights for existing council tenants and for future generations. GLATUC ^ Top    Trade Union Councils and local Police Consultative Committees - 27-09-2001   Following a meeting with the Metropolitan Police Authority, GLATUC has submitted the following document for the MPA's consideration. Our policy on policing, which needs updating in the light of the creation of the MPA and the government's "declaration of war" on terrorism, will be discussed in the New Year. The case for trade union council representation on borough police consultative committees The local community interests of London's trade unionists are served on behalf of the Trades Union Congress by the trade union councils (TUCs) in London's 32 boroughs. 26 boroughs are served by a TUC and the remaining six by 3 TUCs, each taking responsibility for two boroughs. A TUC consists of delegates from its constituent trade union branches, on the basis of proportionality of their membership. When borough Police Consultative Committees were set up in the early 1980s, in the wake of the Scarman Report, relations between the police and the trade union movement were at a low ebb, because of our perception that the government was intervening excessively in operational matters and using the police as tools of industrial and economic policies. Nevertheless, in many London boroughs TUCs responded positively to invitations to join the Committees and in some cases remain involved. We think it fair to say, however, that the Committees, which always suffered by the lack of central co-ordination, gradually lost their edge, in many cases becoming forums for quite restricted interest groups. In the 1990s the relationship between the police and the trade unions improved steadily and on practical issues such as the arrangements for marches, rallies and demonstrations we find a high degree of co- operation at local level. Even in the policing of industrial disputes there is much less friction and despite a lack, up to now, of pan-London dialogue and therefore consistency, the policing of disputes tends to be pragmatic and relatively good-humoured, with considerations of public order taking precedence over the minute observation of still-existing laws explicitly designed to inhibit trade union activity. The MPA therefore comes into existence at a propitious time and offers the chance of policing by consensus, with common standards and mutual understandings which might at least indirectly influence for the better practical operations. TUCs, in theory, represent the interests in the community of all London's trade unionists. In practice, the average TUC has about 12,000 affiliated members, with an aggregate in London of about 350,000. There are probably three quarters of a million trade unionists in Greater London, but it will be seen that TUCs nevertheless represent far more people in a given borough than any single union or even all those unions active in the direct or indirect employment of their local government borough councils (which are the biggest employers). The case for representation on borough Consultative Committees of various interest groups is sufficiently obvious. Ethnic minority groups are involved because racism (whether exposed in the Scarman Report, the Stephen Lawrence case or other notorious failures to police in an anti-racist way) is an endemic problem. Neighbourhood Watch Schemes and Victim Support organizations are officially recognized and promoted. The involvement of organizations representing tenants and residents and employers' interests is also well-established. The case for trade union involvement has perhaps not been made sufficiently. Local TUCs have a dual interest. As organizations of local workers they have informed views about the impact of policing priorities. In their capacity as workers, for example, people are disproportionally exposed to anti-social behaviour and are disproportionally responsible for the consequences of their actions. Whether it is teachers accused of offences under the Children Act, social workers struggling to relate to young people with behavioural problems, bus drivers, traffic wardens or benefit agency staff at high risk of assault, women workers subject to sexual harassment or black workers suffering from bullying, the trade union movement sees safety and protection under the law as a high priority, and one which certainly competes with the interests of other social groups. The trade unions also organize a relatively high proportion of women and black and ethnic minority Londoners. As residents, and we must recognize that only a small proportion of residents are organized in Watch Schemes or tenants/residents' associations, trade unionists provide a supplement to that aspect of community representation. Moreover, and unlike most locally-active organizations, TUCs, through GLATUC, have an international perspective and direct access to new and existing thinking on a full range of issues in Europe's capital cities. Local TUCs meet monthly and are strictly accountable to their constituent branches and, in Greater London, work under the general supervision of GLATUC. Their perspectives are distinctive and they represent interests vital for that majority of Londoners who are economically active. GLATUC ^ Top    Guest speakers at GLATUC meetings, October - January - 16-09-2001   OCTOBER 2001 Saturday 13 October RODNEY BICKERSTAFFE former General Secretary, UNISON, and new Chair of the National Pensioners Convention ... will talk about the national agenda for pensioners and how the trades councils movement can strengthen trade union input into the increasingly complex questions of state and private pension arrangements. NOVEMBER 2001 Saturday 10 November TONY BURKE Deputy General Secretary, GPMU and member of the TUCJCC ... will talk about his perspective on the trades councils movement in the light of the 2001 Annual Conference and will discuss with us our priorities and how we can work more closely with trade unions. DECEMBER 2001 Saturday 8 December We hope to have a Green Party MEP to discuss corporate globalization of the economy and whether an alternative form, more democratic and more friendly to workers, society and the environment, can be envisaged. JANUARY 2002 Saturday 12 January Cllr BRENDAN BIRD Labour Campaign for Open Local Government ... will update us on this vital campaign and will discuss with us the situation in London, with the GLA and the Boroughs. All trades council delegates and trade unionists in Greater London are warmly invited to attend our meetings as observers, on production of their union membership card. All meetings start at 10.00am and are at T&G Transport House, 128 Theobalds Road, Holborn WC1 (nearest tube: Holborn). GLATUC ^ Top    Threat to Clerkenwell Green - 23-07-2001   GLATUC has sent the following letter to the Leader of Islington Council, Cllr Steve Hitchins, LB Islington, Town Hall, Upper Street, N1. We ask all trades councils, trade union organizations and community organizations to send similar letters as soon as possible. Dear Cllr Hitchins, Clerkenwell Green: proposed development This Association represents Greater London’s 30 borough trade union councils, comprising some 350,000 trade unionists. I am writing on their behalf to express deep concern about the apparent proposal to sell off the former public lavatories in Clerkenwell Green. We understand that there is an issue of planing permission to build a restaurant in their place. Clerkenwell Green has for centuries been a centre of London’s radical and working class movement. Demonstrations in favour of traditional Liberal causes such as the nineteenth century campaigns for the extension of the franchise were held there, for example, and it where the very first trade union was organized - the print union - in the eighteenth century. It houses the Marx Memorial Library, which is in receipt of substantial National Lottery grants for its redevelopment. More importantly, it is the traditional site of London’s May Day Rally (except in those years when we march to Trafalgar Square, from Clerkenwell Green). If yet another eating place were put into the locality - which already has more than enough - our ability to maintain our traditions would be threatened. In any case, there are few enough open spaces in south Islington already, without seeing the destruction of one with great historical and architectural value. Our Association is ready to arrange a meeting of trade union officials with you for a discussion if you feel this will be useful. Yours sincerely Bob Tennant Secretary GLATUC GLATUC ^ Top    GLATUC CONDEMNS GOVERNMENT TUBE PLANS - 18-07-2001   GLATUC has long opposed the Government plans for a PFI scheme for the London Tube system. This has now reached a ludicrous position with the sacking of Bob Kiley as the Chair of London Transport. Ignoring the wishes of Londoners, transport experts, financial analysts, safety experts, tube staff etc etc, Tony Blair and financial controller, Gordon Brown, are determined to impose their disastrous scheme on Londoners. The lesson of Ken Livingstone's election does not seem to have been learnt as the WTO agenda is pursued. As London travellers we now face the prospect of no real improvements for 10 years, rising fares, stations developed for retail and offices rather then the funds going on new trains and track in a scheme that will cost taxpayers far more than the alternatives. We face a Railtrack on the Tube with safety going down the tubes. GLATUC is not prepared to accept this and will join with others in fighting the plans. We will support the tube unions, passenger groups and other campaigners in resisting the move to line the pockets of private companies at the public's expense. GLATUC ^ Top    GLATUC MONTHLY MEETING - 11-07-2001   The July meeting of GLATUC took place on Saturday 14 July at the TGWU HQ in Theobalds Road, Holborn. Delegates from London's trade union councils attended and discussing matters such as tube privatisation plans, anti-privatisation campaigns, the Annual Trade Union Council Conference and local initiatives. GLATUC ^ Top    VISIT BY CGT UNION FROM PARIS - 12-06-2001   The Paris based Confederation Generale du Travail (CGT) for the Ile-de-France region (essentially the Greater Paris area covering the city and surrounding departments) known as URIF, visited GLATUC June 13/14. There has been a long history of contact between CGT URIF and GLATUC and both organisations have sought to forge closer links between workers in the same industries in both cities. This has been most succesful in the post and telecoms industry. The workers in both cities face similar problems and challenges and can learn from each others experiences and build joint action in the face of employer attacks. For example, French railways and transport systems face threats of privatisation which London workers know only too well. The two CGT representatives held discussions with GLATUC and met a number of London based unions as well as meeting the Greater London Authority. GLATUC ^ Top