Brighton Hove Socialist Party

Brighton bin workers strike against pay cuts!

2009-11-09T16:23:00.004Z

Over 300 Brighton and Hove bin workers began an initial week of strike action today as the battle over threatened pay cuts brings refuse collection and street cleaning across the city to a standstill.
The council’s in-house CityClean staff voted 94 per cent in favour of flexing their industrial muscles with a series of walk outs as the Tory-run council attempts to slash workers’ wages by up to £8,000 each.

Echoing the equal pay dispute taking place in Leeds, now in its 10th week of strike action, workers are being told they could lose up to 20 per cent of their annual salary as a solution to the Single Status Agreement that was designed to solve pay inequality.
With thousands of mainly female council workers having been underpaid for years, by councils across the country, the deal was seen as a means of solving the problem. But instead of bringing everyone up to the top rate, Brighton and Hove City Council aim to axe the wages of those on higher pay to get out of owing the lowest paid a better deal.

Dave Russell, a GMB steward at the depot, said on a lively and well supported picket: “The council have known that they were going to have to do something about this for more than 12 years, since 1997. It’s the employer’s fault that they’ve underpaid council workers for years, not CityClean workers. So why should we have to pay for the council’s mistakes?”
Runa Pradey, one of many refuse workers on less than the average annual salary of just £16,000, said: “My pay is going to get cut by about £3,000 a year, in one go.
“There are workers here who aren’t going to be able to keep up with their mortgages and could lose their homes if these cuts happen. It’s disgusting!” she added.
“If the council want to cut wages, they can start with the new chief executive of the council who gets £170,000. I’m sure he could cope with losing £8,000 a year, but we can’t.”

Talks with the council are ongoing and GMB Brighton branch secretary Mark Turner is hopeful of a victory. “We’re meeting with the council and we’ll see what they have to say. We’ve got dates for action sorted for next week and the week after if talks don’t progress. But with the rubbish piling up across the city, so too will the pressure on the council.”
GMB Organiser Charles Harrity added: “GMB members know that the public is on their side in this bitter dispute and we will be establishing a strike fund for any member of the public who wishes to make a donation to the workers.”

Unison branch secretary Alex Knutson also joined the picket lines to offer his members’s support and solidarity. Council workers in Unison are also facing similar cuts to their pay because of the same plans regarding the Single Status plans with a ballot for industrial action imminent.
Alex Knutson said: “The council has prevaricated and delayed for 12 years. A situation which should have been resolved through negotiation over that time has now reached a point where confrontation appears to be inevitable. This is very regrettable but even at this time could be recovered.
“However, if the council leadership continue along this very dangerous path, Unison members will vote for strike action to defend their colleagues in their branch. Members are not militants but committed public sector workers forced to respond to an inept, disorganised and threatening management.”

General Secretary of Brighton, Hove and District Trades Council Bill North came down to the picket taking place outside the Hollingdean depot to offer support on behalf of the trades council and emphasised the role the local TUC body can play in helping workers.
He said: “Last week was the largest trades’ council meeting for several years with representatives from the GMB bin workers present to talk about the dispute. The trades council agreed unanimously to give them all the practical help and support we can."
“As far as we’re concerned, the role of trades councils and the TUC is to organise support for workers in struggle, not to play the part of trying to arbitrate between workers and management,” he added.

The mood is determined and confident on Brighton pickets with still a week of official action left in this round of industrial dispute. The workers are ready to stand firm and resist any attempt by the council to attack their pay and if they do so they will win as they have done in the past. This reflects the change in the mood workers over the last 12 months, from Visteon to Lyndsey, from ununionised workers in Vestas to national action by the CWU, from Leeds to Brighton, the fightback is beginning. Ordinary people are taking up the slogan, "We won't pay for the bosses crisis!"

Socialist Party members attending the pickets to give solidarity to the strikers were well received. They distributed leaflets on building political representation for the working class and took the local GMB's own leaflets to hand out to members of the public and gather support for the strike.

Peter Knight, Brighton Thursday branch

To read more about the Leeds bin workers strikes click here:

PUBLIC MEETING: Troops out of Afghanistan!

2009-10-28T22:10:00.004Z

8.15 pm Thursday 29 October at the Phoenix Community Centre, Phoenix Place, Brighton

October 2009 marks the eighth anniversary of troops being sent to Afghanistan. It is clearer than ever that the invasion has resulted in a nightmare for the people of Afghanistan and the region and those sent to fight.

Come and hear a socialist perspective on the conflict and discuss ideas.

For more background on the Socialist Party's viewpoints on the war in Afghanistan click here.

Postal workers must win! Fight to defend your postal services!

2009-10-21T21:58:00.004+01:00

As the national strike to defend the postal service and its workforce begins on 22 October, two Communication Workers Union (CWU) members spoke to The Socialist about the importance of the dispute for all workers.

I have worked for Royal Mail for almost 30 years, I have been a rep for 20 years and have seen many industrial conflicts in my role as a local distribution rep.

I have seen management regimes come and go. Some try to marginalise the union, some try to reach a negotiated settlement with us. But this is the worst management regime I have ever encountered.

In our last dispute in 2007, the recommendation to cease industrial action was a big mistake.

My CWU branch, North West Central Amal, recommended rejection to the nationally recommended deal. Our view was that we could have the best agreement in the world but these managers can't be trusted to honour it. Our branch view has been vindicated.

Now a 76% 'yes' vote for industrial action has stunned Royal Mail and the media. The Labour government has been exposed as egging on Royal Mail to crush the CWU. The revelation on BBC Newsnight about the leaked secret strategy document has sent shock waves throughout the workplace. The membership are up for this battle." Click here to read on...

Brighton Housing Trust Workers Stage Protest

2009-10-12T11:54:00.008+01:00

by Sean Figg

More than a dozen workers at Brighton Housing Trust (BHT) staged a 12 hour ‘sleep over’ outside their offices last Thursday. In light of the continuing refusal of management to even negotiate, workers felt they needed to send a clear message that they would not be ignored.

BHT is a charity employed by Brighton & Hove Council to advise and represent people with housing, welfare, debt and other legal problems. There are glowing reports all over the internet of the good work that BHT workers do for their clients. As reported previously, 100 workers at BHT are facing cuts in pay of up to 25%, forced increases in working hours and a 50% cut in their pensions – a brutal attack. Any workers not accepting this will be dismissed! However, as so often, management underestimated the determination of working people to organise and fightback.

Amongst those sleeping out, morale was high, even into the eleventh hour. One worker speaking to the socialist said, “it’s important for management to listen to their staff. We are making the point that we are passionate about the services we provide and we know this attack on us will hurt our clients too. This about defending services as much as our own pay and conditions.”

Unison branch secretary Alex Knutsen explained how a day of strike action had been called off as a gesture of good will to open negotiations and that Unison had put forward an offer to management. This offer was thrown back in their faces by chief executive Andy Winters at the council, on the spurious grounds that he would not negotiate ‘with preconditions’. This is obvious nonsense and a further indication of the out of touch management.

The local Unison branch has endorsed the idea of all out strike action. This is being taken to Unison’s National Industrial Action Committee for approval. We will report on the outcome of these discussions in future issues. Solidarity with the BHT workers!

London postal workers: Big majority to stop funding Labour

2009-10-06T13:31:00.002+01:00

[By Naomi Byron]

An overwhelming 98 per cent of postal workers in London have voted to withdraw their union's (CWU) funding from the Labour Party. While this was only a consultative ballot it reflects the alienation and anger most postal workers feel towards the Labour Party.

Postal workers in London have been on one-day strikes regularly since mid-June against management attempts to slash jobs and casualise the workforce.

After the first day of strike action, the CWU London divisional committee declared that: "We in London will give them till the end of this month to force Royal Mail to agree a national agreement or we will start to ballot London members on whether they fund the Labour Party... We are not going to stand by and fund the Labour Party whilst they allow Royal Mail to attack the workforce in the most hostile manner we have ever seen."

New Labour and their goal of privatising Royal Mail are behind all the attacks Royal Mail management have launched on the workforce. They want to destroy it as a public service and sell it off to be asset stripped by the same kind of 'investors' that destroyed Rover, making a £40 million profit for themselves into the bargain.

But with Royal Mail the profits from asset stripping the entire national infrastructure needed for deliveries (including massive depots in city centres) would dwarf those made by the Phoenix Four. Click here to read on...

Socialist Party and Youth Fight For Jobs campaigners on the march!

2009-09-28T19:30:00.019+01:00

[Words: Lee Vernon, Photographs: Peter Knight]

As the Labour Party conference opened in Brighton on 27 September over 1,500 students, workers and young people demonstrated outside in protest at the party's cuts, unemployment, wars and tuition fees.

Called by UCU (University and College Union) and backed by other unions including the NUJ, NUT, PCS, CWU and the RMT, the demo demanded "Peace, Education and Jobs".

On the demo was a strong Youth Fight For Jobs contingent, calling for the Labour Party to invest in green, socially useful jobs for young people alongside demands for an end to slave labour internships and for free education. This attracted a lot of support from passers-by.

The latest opinion polls put Labour's vote at 23 per cent and they face a growing public backlash. Even Labour chancellor Alistair Darling sees the party in dire straights, saying that it had simply "lost the will to live". Like rats escaping a sinking ship, senior figures like Peter Mandelson say they are willing to work with the Tories. This shows how little difference there really is between the two parties.

However, although most on the demo agreed that the Labour Party no longer represents them, the organisers put forward no programme on how to build an electoral alternative. Without any plan of what to do next, such a demonstration can only act as an outlet for people's anger and, come the next election, will leave people face with a choice between three anti-worker, pro-capitalist parties.

Without the building of a genuine left alternative to appeal to the working class, we could see and increase in disenfranchisement of workers, a lower turnout and more people turning to groups like the BNP in a desparate search for answers.

Only one speaker at the final rally, PCS union general secretary Mark Serwotka, raised the need to build an alternative left wing party based on the trade union movement. PCS members are currently discussing giving support to candidates who will stand in workers' interests against public sector cuts, etc.

The trade unions need to disaffilliate from a Labour Party that consistantly fails to represent them. 35 people attended a successful meeting of the Campaign for a New Workers' Party (CNWP) after the main protest had finished and the local group is continuing to discuss the potential of standing in the next general election. If you'd like more information and/or want to get involved send us an email at info.bhsp@gmail.com

TIME FOR A NEW WORKERS' PARTY! PUBLIC MEETING: THIS SUNDAY

2009-09-22T18:14:00.003+01:00

Are you fed up with the vile way New Labour has sold its soul to capitalism to join the Conservatives and Lib Dems in attacking working people with cuts, job losses and privatisations? Are you sick of being fed false promises by big business-backed MPs from the capitalist parties who have their greedy fingers in the trough of public money? Are you angry at the lack of any politic alternative to this mess caused by capitalism that heaps all the suffering on working people?

Join trade unionists, socialists, youth campaigners and activists who are also fed up with this situation and who are organising to do something about it.

This public meeting follows on from the end of the protest against New Labour and will feature speakers from the trade union movement on what can be done to offer working people the real democratic and accountable political voice that has been missing for so long.

Public meeting: 3pm Sunday 27 September
at the Iron Duke, Waterloo Street, Brighton (50 metres from rally end)

PROTEST AGAINST NEW LABOUR!

2009-09-22T17:52:00.003+01:00

Join the trade union-led demostration this Sunday 27 September against the New Labour Party as it gathers for its conference in Brighton.

The Socialist Party and the Youth Fight For Jobs campaign will join the rally and march with a lively and vocal contingent to display the massive anger at New Labour's failure in supporting capitalism and big business instead of the millions of unemployed youth and working people who've been left at the mercy of the recession.

As the level of joblosses grow and the impact of this crisis of capitalism is heaped further and further on young people the working class with cuts, cuts and more cuts, it becomes more and more urgent that an organised fighting campaign is built to demand an end to being thrown on the scrap pile and for decent jobs and a decent future for all. Get organised and come tell New Labour what we want!

Assemble 12.30pm Madeira Drive, Brighton

SUPPORT THE VESTAS WORKERS! PUBLIC MEETING: THIS THURSDAY

2009-09-22T17:45:00.006+01:00

Come and find out about the inspiring battles that workers are undertaking against
the unjustified attacks on jobs, pay and conditions. With a speaker from the Vestas
workers' committee plus contributions from the Visteon car parts plant occupation,
Brighton bin workers/street cleaners’ in dispute with the council and Brighton
Housing Trust workers fighting to defend their pay and their jobs.

Meet 7.30pm Thursday 24 September
Friend's Meeting House, Brighton

For more information on the Vestas workers' battle click here...

Socialists campaign against unemployment in Hastings

2009-08-24T21:21:00.004+01:00

Socialist Party members from across the South East took part in a day of action in Hastings this Saturday. Comrades helped to spread word of the Youth Fight For Jobs campaign with nearly a thousand leaflets distributed and over 100 petition signitures collected demanding more is done to create real jobs for all.

With unemployment for under 25s set to top 1 million by the end of this summer it is crucial that the trade union movement, socialists, all youth and the unemployed unite and organise to demand proper support, jobs and living conditions for everyone affected by the economic crisis. If the capitalists and the bankers who caused this mess can get a bailout, why can't the rest of us?

Click here to find out about the national demonstration that the Youth Fight For Jobs campaign is organising on the 28 November with trade union support from the RMT, PCS and CWU.

For more information visit www.youthfightforjobs.com or email us at info.bhsp@gmail.com to find out how you can get involved in our next local day of action.

BHT workers strike to defend pay, jobs and public services

2009-08-24T20:57:00.007+01:00

[By Lee Vernon, Brighton Thursday branch]

Local charity workers in Brighton held their first strike action in the face of devastating attacks by management on their pay and working conditions. Over fifty workers manned a vibrant and visual picket line demanding fair pay, an immediate halt on dismissals and for an open and transparent negotiation process.

The Brighton Housing Trust (BHT), a registered charity that works for the council to provide advocacy and support to those most vulnerable in society, was up until recently an employer of choice - its employees happy to work there, even proud. This all changed when, after the usual “consultation” process, they were presented with new contracts with increased hours, less sick pay, less maternity leave and, on top of all this, between a £4,000-£6,000 pay cut! Management's reaction to date had been one of refusing to negotiate with the union or anyone else. Even more disgustingly, whilst they were demanding cuts to front line staff, their own salaries were apparently going up to fit into the new pay structure.

Anyone who refused to sign the new contract would be laid off within four weeks of it coming in leaving the workers little choice but to ballot for strike action which they came out overwhelmingly in favour of. The chief executive, Andy Winters, ironically an ex-councillor who had been thrown out of the Labour Party for refusing to pay the Poll Tax and is still a member of Unison, even sent an email around the day before condemning the strike claiming they were "only hurting their clients". This only strengthened the worker's resolve against the out of touch management as it was them who clearly worked above and beyond their paid hours for their clients rather than the money.

On the picket lines many workers highlighted that this was all part of a growing trend happening in the voluntary sector to make charities “more competitive”. This will be seen more and more as public spending is slashed and council budgets reduced. Charities will be forced to drive down costs.

However, these cuts were not a direct result of the recession. As one worker pointed out, they were discussing these attacks last year but held back until a more opportune moment to push through the changes. Even more worrying was that they were increasingly being told that the charity had to focus on making money! This is just another example of the race to the bottom mentality of bosses, who believe they can make the biggest savings by squeezing their workforce to breaking point. But all this will achieve in the long run is a massive decline in service provision as qualified workers are driven away with the remaining workforce overstretched and beaten down. As with any important public service, it is vital we fight these cuts by any means necessary. This is a fight against the long term devastation of our services.

Already the workers are making links with the local refuse collectors who are also in dispute and fighting against similar cuts to pay and conditions. Other Unison branches within the council have pledged their full support and are likely to be facing the same attacks soon and are all preparing for further action. Workers know that if this new contract stands many will be forced to leave as they simply can't afford to live off this massively reduced salary. Plus, they know that there's nothing to stop even greater cuts six months down the line. They are not deterred by threats from management and will continue the fight if they refuse to negotiate.

Support the Brighton Housing Trust Workers

2009-08-17T20:32:00.005+01:00

An urgent message from Brighton & Hove Unison:

BRIGHTON HOUSING TRUST EMERGENCY STRIKE ACTION!
MEMBERS NEED YOUR SUPPORT!

On Wednesday the 19th August, up to 125 branch members employed by BHT will be taking strike action.

They have been forced to this last resort by an employer who is hell-bent on ripping up and imposing new contracts of employment. All staff will be removed from NJC Conditions of Service and will have working hours increased, for less pay! For half of our members there will be a pay cut of up to £6,000!

This is not as bad as the original proposals to slash sick/maternity pay and other conditions, which Unison successfully fought off.

But some of our members, who work with homeless people, will face the loss of their homes due to these proposals. Bluntly, BHT, once an “employer of choice”, has moved to one of the most heartless, aggressive and bullying organisations of the 80 the branch has members within.

What you can do!
On 19th August 2009, join one of the following events
1) 8-11am: demonstration at 144 London Road (opposite Hobgoblin Pub)
2) 11.30-12noon: march from London Road to Barts Square (outside Brighton Town Hall), followed by a rally.
3) 1.30pm: demonstration at Community Base, Queens Road.

Financial
Our members are low paid, facing large cuts in salary, and for some strike action losses will cause financial hardship. The branch is appealing nationally for support, but if you want to make a contribution (cheques payable to Brighton & Hove Unison) please send this to the Branch Office, Town Hall, Brighton, BN1 1JA.

What we want
Simply, a suspension, of the threat of dismissals, and talks, to reach a negotiated settlement – nothing more, nothing less.

On the 19th please, please turn up to support your colleagues in what is a key dispute for Brighton and Hove UNISON members.

Alex Knutsen,
Branch Secretary - Brighton and Hove Unison

Brighton solidarity with Vestas workers

2009-08-17T19:58:00.003+01:00

Socialist Party members campaigning with the Brighton Vestas Workers Support Group

Brighton members of the Socialist Party have been out and about with other trade unionists and campaigners doing local stalls and leafleting to raise awareness of the campaign the Vestas workers continue to fight. A support group in Brighton is now organising activities and events. If you'd like more information about how to get involved email us at info.bhsp@gmail.com or join the support group online at brightonvestassupporters@gmail.com.

VESTAS NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION!

2009-08-10T16:45:00.003+01:00

Wednesday 12 August
12-2pm: leafleting/collecting in Churchill Square
6pm: street meeting in Churchill Square

Come along and take part in the local solidarity action in Brighton to support the workers at Vestas. With events taking place right across the country and abroad, workers young and old, trade unionists, socialists and campaigners are uniting to lend their voice to the growing support for the fight undertaken by the workers at Vestas to save jobs.

Vestas: the fight goes on!

2009-08-10T16:41:00.004+01:00

No Victimisation! Reinstate the Occupiers!

After eighteen days in occupation, the first stage of the campaign against job losses at Vestas Newport has come to a close but workers have made it clear that the fight goes on.

The eyes of the world turned to Vestas as bailiffs removed workers on Friday; a lunchtime protest of hundreds of workers and their families showed the continued support that the occupation has.

Now that support must be turned out towards the wider trade union movement to continue to build on the pressure that the government and the employer are already feeling. Click here to read on...

Join the Vestas demonstrations!

2009-08-03T21:31:00.005+01:00

Tomorrow at 9.30am there will be another demonstration outside the courts as the Vestas bosses try once again to evict the heroic workers. If you can make it to the protest get in touch with us via info.bhsp@gmail.com for directions and /or assistance.

If you can't make the demonstration and you're in Brighton tomorrow come along and help with the mass leafletting/collection at 5.30pm, Tuesday evening at Brighton Station to help spread word of the battle and build support.

A Brighton Vestas support group is being set up with the first proper meeting on Wednesday at 7pm at the Cowley Club. Everyone is welcome to get involved.

Finally, the morale of the Vestas workers inside the factory is buoyed up with every message of support. So please continue to send your messages of solidarity to the details below:

Messages of support to:
savevestas@googlemail.com,
http://savevestas.wordpress.com
text: 07980 703115

Nationalise Vestas to save jobs!

2009-08-03T20:51:00.006+01:00

(Photographs from RMT TV)

Now nearing the third week of occupation, working class people across the UK are looking towards the lads occupying Vestas as a source of inspiration for how to stand up and fight in defence of jobs. In the face of a viciously anti-union employer, Vestas workers have stood firm and stared down management. Is it any wonder, however, that Vestas workers are compelled to struggle? There are 625 jobs on the line at Vestas and currently only 124 job vacancies on the entire island!

The economic crisis that greedy bosses and pro-market politicians have helped mold means this fight is more critical than ever. But Vestas workers have got the employer on the back foot; the adjournment of the court hearing to obtain an injunction last Wednesday doesn’t just represent Vestas management’s incompetence but also the popularity of the occupation – which has made New Labour hesitant to use the courts against it. The support of the local transport union – RMT – and their commitment to provide legal support for the court hearings has been a huge boost to the occupiers; now is an opportunity for trade unionists from across the island and further afield to express solidarity with Vestas workers – we need to build mass action to bring Vestas bosses to their knees and force the hand of the weakened New Labour government!

Vestas diet plan
Prisoners in Camp Hill get three hot meals a day, yet Vestas bosses have been allowed to try and starve out occupying workers! When once of the occupiers, Luke, was forced to leave the occupation on Thursday, he was pale and shaking and paramedics found his blood sugar levels to be unusually low. How can Vestas bosses sleep at night when they know that they have sanctioned a brutal siege? We need to make sure that vital supplies get to the occupiers – not through short-term stunts, but by mobilising hundreds of people, occupier’s families, trade unionists and others to put pressure on everywhere we can. The employers have dragged Vestas workers to the courts for occupying; we should drag them to the courts for starving people! This, alongside mass action, could force supplies in.

Mass action for victory
If attempts are made to physically remove the workers from the factory a massive trade union demonstration outside the plant should be immediately organised in their support. The workers' movement in Britain should learn the lessons from South Korea, where more than 800 workers have been occupying the Ssangyong car plant since May. Despite riot police storming the plant, the occupation has continued. The Korean Congress of Trade Unions has called a two day general strike to support them. There are differences in the situation, but any moves to clamp down on the occupiers would have deep reverberations. The trade union movement needs to be prepared to harness the anger that any moves against Vestas workers would create, including organising industrial action in their defence.

Nationalise to save jobs and the environment
If this factory goes, what does the future have in store? Occupiers who’ve been separated from their families for over two weeks fighting for a decent future would be forced to up sticks and leave the island. To find work and support a family there’s no other option, and even then nothing's guaranteed. Vestas management have callously made it clear that they have no interest in keeping the plant open when it's easier and cheaper to screw workers in the United States. In that context, appealing to the government to increase subsidies, as Green MEP Caroline Lucas has, makes no sense – Vestas have already said they don’t care about the subsidies! We have to be clear about it – this plant should be nationalised to ensure a future for workers on the Isle of Wight and the environment.

Across the country, over 80 per cent of people support wind power – but none of us want unemployment in our back yard! Yet the government, and Tory local councils, are allowing a very small minority to block turbines being built. Contrast this to their attititude to nuclear power stations, which endanger local peoples' health, that the government just impose. Brown and Milliband might make the occasional green noise, but they’re so wedded to the ‘free market’ that they’re desperate to avoid further nationalisations. But this economic crisis has shown that the market doesn’t work and New Labour have been forced to nationalise – Northern Rock, RBS, the East Coast trainline; the list is getting longer and longer! As the lads in the occupation have put it: “If the government can spend billions bailing out the banks – and even nationalise them – then surely they can do the same at Vestas.” The government's hand can be forced, and we need to be clear that this is what we’re demanding. Of course, what happened at RBS and the like wasn’t genuine nationalisation – we’ve taken the risks off the bosses for them. What we really need is socialist nationalisation – where working people have a direct say in how companies are organised and run. Vestas needs to be retooled for the British market – who knows how to organise that best? The workers on the shop floor? Or managers who can’t even fill in an injunction application properly who want to shut the factory down?

Workers need a political voice
None of the establishment parties support the action that Vestas workers have been forced to take – a Labour MP in Pompey has refused to even sign a petition supporting them! This is hardly much to ask. Workers at Vestas have waged a heroic struggle and shown their strength on the industrial front. But imagine how much easier the fight would have been if a political party with a national profile had thrown its weight clearly behind them. Criminally, there isn’t a mass political party in Britain that stands in workers interests! Rather, New Labour helped push through the liberal employment laws that make it legal for Vestas to dump workers in the Isle of Wight and move to the US without a bye-or-leave. That’s why the Socialist Party along with others, including the RMT, who’ve played an important role in this dispute, participated in a list of working class candidates in the European elections. We’re hoping to get a workers list together for the General Election when it happens, so workers have candidates who stand in their interests to vote for. This could be an important step towards the sort of mass working class party that could play a decisive role in struggles like this in the future.

For more information on the Vestas campaign click here...

Support the Vestas workers! DEMONSTRATE 6PM WED 29 JULY

2009-07-28T10:06:00.001+01:00

Vestas workers, the RMT trade union and the working class community of the Isle of Wight are calling for a show of strength in support of the fighting Vestas workers at a demonstration this Wednesday evening outside the factory gates. RMT general secretary Bob Crow will address the public rally at 6pm but all supporters will be welcome at any time during the day. A report will be given of the County Court hearing happening at 10.15am that morning whereby the company is seeking to evict the protesters and a demo is planned outside this venue too.

The wind turbine company has set this Friday (31 July) as the deadline for closing the factory with the loss of 625 jobs. The factory has been under workers’ occupation since Tuesday last week. Communication lines into the factory have been cut and deliveries of food and water have been blockaded by private security guards.

This is a crucial labour dispute about the right to protection from companies who hire and fire, and the right to live in a world where the environment and sustainability are absolute priorities. There is massive support for the striking workers on the Isle of Wight with hundreds of people turning out every night, including as many as 700 on Thursday last week where RMT general secretary spoke. See the video above...

A minibus organised by the Brighton and Hove TUC Unemployed Workers' Centre will be leaving Brighton around 1pm on Wednesday to attend the 6pm demo. Please email us at info.bhsp@gmail.com if you would like to go. Spaces are limited so do hurry.

Alternatively, you can make your own way from London and the South East with these RMT supplied directions:

Travelling from London and the South East: Take the Wightlink ferry from Portsmouth Harbour and then bus number 9 from Ryde Esplanade to Newport town centre (40 minutes) and then a number 1 bus (3-4 minutes), getting off at St Mary’s and follow the signs to St Cross Business Park.

Travelling by car from London and the South East: Travel from Portsmouth Gun Wharf to Fishbourne, when exiting follow signs to Newport town centre and just before the town centre take the A3020 to Cowes and when you see the B&Q shop, turn off the dual carriageway and follow signs to St Cross Business Park

Finally, please send the workers your urgent messages of support and solidarity to savevestas@gmail.com and spread the word of the campaign.

Youth Fight For Jobs leading the youth fight back

2009-07-27T16:47:00.007+01:00

Youth Fight For Jobs demonstration in Rhondda, Wales

The Youth Fight For Jobs campaign has raised its profile right across Britain as the leading youth organisation fighting back against the effects of the current recession following a recent successful fortnight of action. Sarah Wrack, from the University of Sussex Socialist Students group, reports back from the events that took place locally.

In Brighton we decided to concentrate on a fundraising gig and a meeting for the fortnight of action. After the European election results, we thought it was important to discuss the threat posed by the racist far-right British National Party and how they have no solutions to the difficulties young people suffer in the economic crisis.

The meeting also provided a good opportunity to talk about building YFJ locally. We decided to write a leaflet and build for a protest around the issue of agencies which are used to recruit a lot of people in Brighton, particularly students, to jobs with poor pay, conditions and job security.

The gig raised £70 and speeches between bands meant we could get our ideas to a layer of young people who may not initially be interested in coming to political meetings. One of the most important things we gained from the fortnight was that people who had not previously organised activities took charge and learnt a lot from the experience, meaning they will be able to take a lead for future events.

This, combined with meeting several people interested in getting involved and making good concrete plans, means the fortnight of action definitely gave YFJ more local focus in Brighton.

For more info on the campaign check out www.youthfightforjobs.com or email us at info.bhsp@gmail.com if you want to get involved locally.

Support the Vestas workers! No to job cuts!

2009-07-21T17:21:00.006+01:00

On Monday 20 July workers at the Vestas factory on the Isle of Wight, the only wind turbine factory in the UK, went into occupation due to growing opposition to the plants closure and managements bullying attempts to silence this opposition. Workers are calling for support for their struggle, and in the face of management plans to carry through the closure of the plant, the demand for nationalisation is gaining ground.

Vestas announced closure of its plants in Southampton and the Isle of Wight taking over 600 jobs with it – but the workers of Vestas are organising their fight back.

For messages of support and solidarity please email savevestas@gmail.com

Save jobs at Vestas wind turbine plant
By Ben Norman, Portsmouth Socialist Party

Over 600 workers at the Vestas factory on the Isle of Wight are on the brink of losing their jobs after the company announced they intend to move production of wind turbine blades to America. The workers have been offered an insulting redundancy package of less than £1,000 and at a public meeting last week a call for action was raised.

The meeting, called by the Isle of Wight trades council and a local campaign group called 'Workers Climate Action', was attended by around 150 people, made up of Vestas workers and local residents.

The ideas raised by the seven speakers, none of whom were Vestas workers, varied enormously. Members of 'Workers Climate Action' called for immediate direct action and factory occupation. Speakers from the trades council simply urged workers to join their local union.

These demands are not enough, especially as the factory bosses do not recognise the trade unions. Members of the Socialist Party raised the need for a clear programme of demands to accompany coordinated action and urged both the meeting organisers and the workers to learn the lessons of Lindsey, Visteon and Linamar.

The job losses at Vestas are not unique on the Isle of Wight. There has been a 15,000 increase in the number of people forced to claim unemployment benefit since last year. Currently the island is the lowest wage economy in the UK. Closure of a factory of this size would be a disaster for the entire Island.

The workers of the island will not find allies in the bosses or even in their elected MPs. Tory MP Andrew Turner effectively turned his back on the workers by saying: "My job is not to solve this problem!"

The representative from SEEDA, the regional development agency, said that although they have a budget in excess of £169 million, there was no will to use it to save Vestas jobs.

One member of the trades council even announced that they had written to Peter Mandelson to petition him to save the plant.

We say that the answer will not be found with Lord Mandelson or an unelected government quango.

We pledge our support to and call for clear demands for the workers of Vestas, including:

No to job cuts.
Re-invest in the factory - Keep production going.
Full trade union recognition.
Take the factory into public ownership under democratic workers' control and management.
Form an action committee to take the campaign forward.
Organise a demonstration on the Isle of Wight as soon as possible to build solidarity for the Vestas workers.

Join the fightback against youth unemployment

2009-06-30T12:51:00.002+01:00

Upcoming Youth Fight For Jobs events:

Gig night!

Chairman Wow plus many more...
7.30pm Wednesday 8 July
Latest Music Bar, Manchester Street, Brighton

£1 entry on the door, under 18s welcome

Public meeting
On why the BNP have no solutions for young people

7.30pm Thursday 9 July
Phoenix Community Centre, Phoenix Place, Brighton

For more information check out www.youthfightforjobs.com

Youth Fight For Jobs!

2009-06-22T20:11:00.004+01:00

Get involved with the local Youth Fight For Jobs campaigners in the fortnight of action: 27 June to 11 July as 600,000 school, college and university leavers swell ranks of unemployed youth this summer.

New Office of National Statistics unemployment figures see further deterioration of labour market. Anger and frustration mounts with Youth Fight for Jobs campaigners staging a protest outside Lord Mandelson's Business Department demanding action.

Youth Fight for Jobs staged a protest outside Peter Mandelson's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills last week. Mandelson's department is responsible for apprenticeships and training opportunities. The protest drew attention to the worsening unemployment figures released by the ONS today and the disproportionate effect unemployment has on young people. Click here to read on...

For more information about what's going on in Brighton as part of the fortnight of action click here...

No2EU-Yes to democracy campaign gallery

2009-06-15T16:15:00.010+01:00

(Socialist Party members with fellow comrades out and about in Brighton, London, Crawley and Hastings for the No2EU-Yes to democracy European Election campaign.)

No2EU-Yes to democracy election results: prepare now for next election challenge

2009-06-09T13:36:00.004+01:00

Bob Crow, RMT general secretary, speaking at the London No2EU election rally. Photo by Paul Mattsson

Over 153,000 votes have been cast for the RMT -led No2EU-Yes to democracy coalition across the country. This represents 1% of the overall vote for a campaign that has only been active for less than eight weeks. Right from the start No2EU-Yes to democracy was up against a complete blackout by the mainstream media in fear of what the coalition of the RMT, trade unionists and left parties could achieve in the face of a collapse in support for the three main capitalist parties and endless coverage for far right groups.

In Brighton 601 votes were achieved and in the South East constituency No2EU-Yes to democracy gained an impressive 21,455 with Socialist Party members right across the region out campaigning for this working class electoral alternative. With a significant vote to build on, and support from trade union members from all over the country, the foundations are now being laid to organise a united left working class challenge at the next general election.

The follow is a press release from the No2EU-Yes to democracy campaign

EURO ELECTIONS SPARK CALL FOR LEFT AND TRADE UNION UNITY TO DEFEAT BNP AS POLITICAL ELITE COLLAPSE

With all the Euro election results confirmed, Bob Crow, convenor of the No2EU coalition and general secretary of the RMT, has called for urgent discussions involving socialist organisations, campaigns and trade unions to build a concerted political and industrial response to the volatile situation which has contributed to the election of two fascists from the BNP to the European Parliament.

The combined vote in Thursdays poll for No2EU, the Socialist Labour Party and some of the smaller left parties stacks up to nearly a third of a million votes – just over 2% of the total. In Scotland, the combined left vote was close to 4%.

Meanwhile, the Labour share of the vote has dropped by a massive 31%, the Lib Dems by over 7% and the Tories, despite all the hype, have only managed a tiny increase in share with turnout collapsing to just over 30%.

Bob Crow said today: “There is no question that the BNP have benefitted from the collapse of the establishment political parties and from media coverage that has pumped them up like celebrities on “I’m a Nazi – Get Me Out of Here.” Sections of the press, which have deliberately ignored anti-establishment parties from the left, need to take a long, hard look at the way the blanket coverage they have given to the fascists from the BNP has contributed to their success.

“But it’s the collapse of public support for the three main parties – each of which is pro-business, pro-EU and supportive of the anti-union laws – which has created the conditions for the scapegoat-politics of the BNP to thrive. The fascists support in former mining communities like Barnsley is shocking and throws down a massive challenge to the Labour and Trade Union movement.

“We now need to take stock. Along with our colleagues from the SLP and other left groups we won nearly a third of a million votes. From No2EU we won over 150,000 supporters from a standing start in the teeth of a media blackout. That gives us a solid platform to build from. We now need urgent discussions with political parties, campaigns and our colleagues in other unions like the CWU to develop a political and industrial response to this crisis.”

More election analysis can be found at www.socialistparty.org.uk

Socialist victory in European Elections!

2009-06-09T13:29:00.003+01:00

Joe Higgins, the Socialist Party candidate in Ireland, was elected to the Dublin Constituency for the European Parliament on Sunday 7 June 2009.

Joe, who is a member of the sister party of the Socialist Party in England and Wales, got 82,366 votes, with 50,510 first preference votes. Over the last few days, Joe Higgins was widely predicted in the Irish press to be best placed to take the third of three European Parliament seats in Dublin. Click here to read the full story...