Category: Solidarity

Solidarity with Rail Unions

Solidarity with Rail Unions striking for Pay, Jobs and Services

rmt picket
UNISON members support Southend RMT picket line

We in Southend  UNISON want to express our solidarity with you all in the strike action you are currently taking.  You are showing this Tory government that we are prepared to stand up and resist the biggest attack on our living standards in a generation and demand that we do not pay for their crisis.

The Tories are very quick to say that it’s our wages that cause inflation, now at the highest it’s been for years, even though working class people have suffered pay cuts over the last decade. If they want to find the cause, they need look no further than their billionaire mates who have got richer during the pandemic. Or just look at how much profit the private train companies have made and how much their bosses are pocketing. As the CWU have said, our bosses use Swiss Banks whilst we use food banks – but your fight is a real challenge to that.

Organising to defend our right to decent pay and conditions and to fight for the services we provide is something we all need to do. We know that without ticket offices and station staff, the service will be less accessible and less safe, especially for the vulnerable. And without enough maintenance workers we will all be less safe. Your fight is also our fight, and you are giving hope across the trade union movement.

The Tories have always protected the rich: as they try to cut our pay, they also remove the limits on City bonuses and they give their family and friends contracts worth billions of pounds. Then they try to divide us with racist policies threatening to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, with sexist polices saying working class women who can’t budget or cook are the reason for foodbanks. But we will not be divided by this bunch of bigots.

The Tories are in a crisis, fighting amongst themselves without a leader, so now is the best time to take them on. We stand in solidarity with you, and your victory can help build the resistance against their attacks.

In Solidarity,

Claire Wormald– Branch Secretary Southend  UNISON

Louise McDermott-  Branch Chair Southend UNISON

Lunchtime protest – Postponed!Defend Business Support Jobs and Services

Friday 17th December 12-1pm

This event has had to be postponed to the New Year due to the surge in Covid cases

Business Support Restructure – Don’t let Jobs and Services get Scrooged!

Join our ‘festive’ protest! Meet on the steps of the Civic Centre – photos, carols and mince pies at 12:30!

Business Support jobs and services across Southend Council are under threat from a restructure involving a planned 25% cut in resources. Staff have been left in the dark about what their jobs will be and how services will be delivered. All teams and service users across the Council will suffer as their admin is taken away and cut back.

Scrooge Postponed

 

#fightthecuts #nocuts #defendjobsandservices

Write to Coca-Cola today and condemn their anti-union practices and demand they cease to abuse the rights of their workers #CokeZeroRights

Subvertisement feature image reading: “Coca-Cola: Zero Rights”

Members, Stewards and Officers,

Southend UNISON has been asked by Southend West Constituency Labour Party and fellow trade union branches to help raise awareness of the virulent attacks on workers in the UK, Ireland and around the world by the Coca-Cola Company.

Please write to Coca-Cola today and condemn their anti-union practices and demand they cease to abuse the rights of their workers. The International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF) have set up a campaign page where you can  SEND A MESSAGE  to Mr. James Quincey (CEO, The Coca-Cola Company) in just a few seconds.

Southend UNISON express anger and disappointment that the Coca-Cola Company is failing to live up to expectations with regards to workers’ and human rights at its factories and bottling plants. The Coca-Cola Company has received repeated warnings from the IUF to deal with their ongoing rights violations. However, the company has failed to take any meaningful action to remedy the abuses seen at its own operations, and at its bottlers in Haiti, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

Also in the UK, The Coca-Cola Company announced the closure of plants in Milton Keynes and Northampton, affecting the jobs of nearly 300 people. The Coca-Cola Company, which makes £1.7 billion a year in profit, made the decision to close the factory and warehouse as they believe they will save around £12 million a year. This is despite the Milton Keynes factory being the number one site in Europe in terms of ‘cost-per-case’.

Abuses are not limited to the bottling system. In Ireland, The Coca-Cola Company had earlier closed its directly owned, strongly unionised concentrate plant (where the ‘secret formula’ syrup is manufactured) in Drogheda and has recently announced the closure of a second plant in Athy while refusing to engage with the Services Industrial Professional and Technical Union (SIPTU) at the remaining concentrate plant in Ballina.

Workers are being victimised as a result of Coca-Cola’s virulent anti-union views and corporate greed causing basic human rights to workers in Indonesia, the Philippines and elsewhere to be denied and hard-working and productive staff all across Europe being made redundant to boost already significant profits.

For more information visit the Coca-Cola Zero Rights campaign page.

 SEND A MESSAGE to The Coca-Cola Company 

Southend UNISON extends solidarity with Ladywood Primary School’s Dinner Ladies who have gone on permanent strike! #StarsInOurSchools UNDER ATTACK! @UNISONBarnsley

Announcement graphic reading: "Save our Dinner Ladies, UNISON Barnsley Branch. Stars In Our Schools UNDER ATTACK!" This announcement text overlaids a photograph of picketing Ladywood Primary School’s Dinner Ladies.
Stars In Our Schools UNDER ATTACK! Picketing Ladywood Primary School’s Dinner Ladies.

Southend UNISON has sent £250 toward the Dinner Ladies’ strike hardship fund and calls on the Governors and Headteacher to stop attacking our STARS IN OUR SCHOOLS and drop their unacceptable plans to axe jobs.

The Headteacher and Board of Governors of Ladywood Primary School (Grimethorpe, Barnsley) have proposed to make all nine School Meals Supervisory Assistants (dinner ladies) redundant.

The school’s proposals would lead to the hardworking Teaching Assistants replacing the dinner ladies and supervising the children at dinnertime. These plans have been put forward because the school’s management do not believe the dinner ladies have the skills to support the children.

UNISON is campaigning hard to save our members’ jobs. The redundancies will be devastating for our dinner ladies, and it’s unfair to ask the already overworked Teaching Assistants to pick up this important job. Our members know how damaging these proposals would be to the school’s children.

We believe the proposals are completely unnecessary and the school does not need to do this. The dedicated dinner ladies are at the heart of school life and have been supporting the children for generations. UNISON does not believe the school has to make these redundancies because of budget cuts.

We are asking all UNISON members and friends to stand together in solidarity and sign the petition at: https://bit.ly/2mdyaBP

To learn more about the Dinner Ladies’ situation and to contribute to the hardship fund please visit Barnsley UNISON website and/or contact the branch.

UNISON Southend-on-Sea extends solidarity with Kirklees Bin Workers

Announcement graphic reading: “Bin strike is ON. UNISON Kirklees Branch."

In West Yorkshire, Kirklees Bin Workers were on strike in July and have unanimously voted for an all-out indefinite strike.

Paul Holmes, Kirklees UNISON Branch Secretary, said that although Kirklees Council had now addressed the issue of members’ holiday by hiring 10 permanent staff and 30 temporary ones, the problems regarding alleged bullying, harassment and racism, and unmanageable workloads had not been resolved.

UNISON Southend-on-Sea has sent £200 toward the strike hardship fund and will be organising a workplace collection to raise further funds and awareness if necessary.

To learn more about the Kirklees Bin Workers situation download these newspaper cuttings and/or contact the UNISON Kirklees Branch.

To contribute to the hardship fund please make cheques payable to ‘UNISON Kirklees Branch’ and post to: UNISON Kirklees Branch Hardship Fund, 4 New North Parade, Huddersfield HD1 5JP

Latest News:

Paul Holmes, Kirklees UNISON Branch Secretary, has said an all-out bin strike across Kirklees has been suspended and an agreement with Kirklees Council has been reached.

UNISON Southend-on-Sea extends solidarity with Birmingham Homecare Workers

Group photograph of UNISON Southend-on-Sea members holding placards reading: 'Southend UNISON Showing Solidarity with Birmingham Homecare Workers'.

In Birmingham, homecare workers are striking because they’ve been pushed to breaking point. Government cuts to local authority budgets have led to Birmingham City Council slashing the home care/enablement budget by 40%.

UNISON Southend-on-Sea extends solidarity with the Birmingham Homecare Workers who are fighting back against savage cuts to their contracted hours and wages, and the subsequent knock-on negative impact to essential services that support individuals back to health and independence.

UNISON Southend-on-Sea has sent £250 toward the strike hardship fund and is organising a workplace collection to raise further funds and awareness. Additionally, Southend Trades Union Council is sharing the request for support with all local trade union branches.

To find out more visit the UNISON Birmingham website and Facebook page and to contribute to the hardship fund please make cheques payable to ‘UNISON Birmingham Branch Hardship Fund’ and post to: 19th Floor, The Mclaren Building, 35 Dale End, Birmingham, West Midlands, B4 7LN