Strikers battle over private sector pension

16 January 2012

Workers who make Marmite, PG Tips, Pot Noodles and other famous household brands are striking to defend their pensions.

Members of three unions – GMB, Unite and USDAW – are beginning a rolling programme of walkouts at Unilever plants across the UK.
The workers are determined to stop the company closing their final salary pension scheme.

For more details of the dispute and the rolling action see the Unite website
PCS members are urged to support local picket lines and donate to any hardship funds.
Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said last month when the Unilver strikes started: “The government shamelessly tries to play public servants off against their colleagues in the private sector, when the real divide over pensions is between the wealthy bosses and shareholders, and the workforces they exploit.

"Despite ministers' best efforts, the public sector strike in November was supported by many in the private sector who recognise that the answer to their problems is not an equality of misery, but fair pensions for all.
"The real pensions scandal is not the very modest packages in the public sector, but the near destruction of decent pensions schemes in the private sector.

"We stand shoulder to shoulder with workers in Unilever who are fighting for a fair and decent pension in retirement, and we hope to work more closely with them and other private sector workers in the weeks and months ahead."

Last week Unite won a victory in the private sector when car-manufacturer BMW reversed a plan to exclude new entrants from the company pension scheme.

One million union members say no

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Blue Labour

Once again we see New Labour Jumping to the capitalist tune they seem to think out doing the Tories on cuts gives them economic credibility due to the polls showing there poor performance.  As per usual in recent years they listen more to the right wing press and lobbyists from the tax payer alliance than there own grass roots support.  We would suggest there showing in the polls is poor due to the fact the like of Balls and the rest of New  Labour actually have no balls when it comes to taking on the ruling classes.

Instead they choose to go to cowering to right wing institutions and confirm in their eyes what those aristocratic crooks in the torie party think, that were all peasants put on this earth to serve them.  Shame on New Labour to betray the very reason this party was formed

Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, has moved to challenge accusations that Labour is not credible on the economy by telling the public sector unions that he endorses George Osborne's public sector pay freeze until the end of the parliament, and that he accepts every spending cut being imposed by the Conservatives.  

The whole point of an opposition is you take up an opposite position on government policy it confirms the real opposition is us ordinary grass roots activists and ordinary people both in our unions, anti cuts groups and our communities.

Mark Serwotka@PCS Left Unity

On the 7th January PCS Left Unity held an 'organising conference' aimed at preventing a pensions 'sell-out' by Unions. 

Left Unity is "a democratic organisation that embraces a wide range of socialist opinion in PCS and campaigns for a socialist society that provides for the needs of the many, not the greed of a few". This video appeared on the PCS Sheffield Blog - www.pcssheffieldhqbranch.blogspot.com

Classroom Teacher - January 2012 Newsletter

NUT Reps had this newsletter circled just before Christmas! CTeacher Jan 2012

Defend Pensions - Escalate Action!

On Saturday January 7th January, PCS Left Unity are holding an 'organising conference' at the Friends Meeting House in London.

The PCS Left Unity conference has been called to "debate how we can build the campaign to defend our pensions and fight the cuts and prevent any unacceptable “deal” that makes us work longer, pay more and get less" and build on the activism of November 30th.

NAME DAY FOR NATIONAL STRIKE!

PCS Left Unity have called a "organising conference" in order to continue the fight back against the government plans to cut pensions.

“PCS Left Unity is organising an open meeting at Friends Meeting House, Euston Road, London on Saturday 7 January to demand further action on pensions, this meeting will be open to all reps in any union that took action on N30 and is to put pressure on union leaderships to name a further strike day, please pass on to all your contacts in other unions, put the date in your diary and attend, more details will be issued shortly.” - Janice Godrich, President of PCS, on behalf of PCS Left Unity.
 

PCS Left Unity National Committee 

DEFEND PENSIONS - ESCALATE ACTION NAME DAY FOR NATIONAL STRIKE 

Organising Conference Saturday: Friends Meeting House (opp. Euston Station) 

7th January 2012 11am – 4pm 

Chair: Janice Godrich PCS President 

Speaker: Mark Serwotka PCS General Secretary (other speakers to be announced) 

November 30th was the biggest show of strength from Britain’s trade unions in living memory. It shook the coalition government and provided a firm foundation for the escalation of industrial action to defeat the unjustified attack on pensions and to challenge the coalition’s pay freeze, cuts and privatisation programme.

At the TUC’s Public Sector Liaison Group Mark Serwotka on behalf of PCS argued the TUC should set the date for a further day of nationally coordinated strike action to bring the government into serious negotiations. Although there was some support for this position the TUC general secretary Brendan Barber argued that all the unions should sign up to a so-called “Heads of Agreement”, this means the core issues, on which we took action, working longer, paying more and getting less, are surrendered, just as the government have wanted. Dave Prentis, the general secretary of Unison, argued for acceptance of this “deal”.

It is almost beyond belief that when the confidence of the movement is at its highest point in decades as a result of November 30th and with an additional 100,000 recruits due to the action such an abject surrender is being considered. Now is the time to set the date, as early as possible in 2012, preferably January, for a further day of nationally coordinated industrial action which can be escalated by bringing even more unions on board including workers, like those in Unilever, fighting to defend private sector pensions. 

The PCS Left Unity National Committee invites all activists from all unions to an organising conference on the 7th of January to debate how we can build the campaign to defend our pensions and fight the cuts and prevent any unacceptable “deal” that makes us work longer, pay more and get less. 

 

 This will be an organising conference, not just a debating forum. It is intended to arm activists with the issues so they can go back to their workplaces and into their unions in order to build a campaign that will secure justice on pensions. 

To cover costs there will be a registration fee of £5 for waged delegates. 

FAIR PENSIONS FOR ALL - STOP THE CUTS - NO PRIVATISATION

"Public backing us, say Rotherham Unison strikers: VIDEO"

In a video on the Rotherham Advertiser website, striking workers talk about the N30 strikes!

"PUBLIC support for today's strike by public sector workers has been strong, according to a local union official.

Unison's Steve Pearson, from the Rotherham Health branch, was talking to Advertiser reporter Gareth Dennison on the picket line at Rotherham General Hospital.

Watch our video to see what he had to say."