Firefighters, tube workers, and broadcasters all on strike next week

London is the venue for a week of discontent with tube workers, fire fighters and BBC journalists all set to strike in the next seven days.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) and the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) are taking action on Tuesday evening and Wednesday over hundreds of job cuts on London underground.
Fire Brigades Union (FBU) members in London will be striking for eight hours on Monday, and again on Friday and Saturday in a row over shift changes.
And across the world - but including Television Centre, Broadcasting House, and Bush House in London - National Union of Journalists members at the BBC will be walking out on Friday and Saturday over cuts to their pensions.
Latest releases:
RMT: Today is solidarity day
TSSA: Boris is like Pinnochio
FBU: Hardship fund
NUJ: Ballot result
COMMENT:
As discussed on The Workers United two weeks ago there is a growing chance for co-ordinated action against cuts.
In London it would be a big step in that direction if the unions in dispute organised a joint event - maybe a big rally.
The NUJ, RMT, and FBU are all part of the Trade Union Co-ordinating Group (TUCG). Let's see some co-ordination.
Activists should be encouraged to visit each others' picket lines.
And union branches should be inviting speakers from all the disputes and holding collections for hardship funds.

Anti-cuts coalition holds in south east London

Trades unionists in Southwark, south east London, will protest outside the town hall tonight – to urge the newly elected Labour council not to implement Tory cuts.
Activists from the Southwark Save Our Services (SSOS) group have been leafleting in recent weeks in Bermondsey, Camberwell, Dulwich, Elephant and Castle, and Peckham.
They’ve supported students protesting about big price rises for adult education classes in the borough, and against the closure of the language school at London South Bank University.
The campaign was instigated by Southwark Trade Union Council – the umbrella body for unions in the area.
It has brought together activists from the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), National Union of Teachers (NUT), the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA), Unison, Unite, and the University and Colleges Union (UCU).
Those involved have worked hard to stay united after the anti-cuts movement in neighbouring Lambeth was torn asunder by splits between rival left groups.
Tonight Southwark council will meet to discuss its budget in the wake of the government’s spending announcement.
A delegation of trades unionists will meet representatives of the ruling Labour group- who took control in May's election - and urge them to put people in Southwark before the spurious need to cut the deficit.
The lobby of the council starts at 6pm tonight - October 20 - outside the town hall on Peckham Road, London, SE5 8UB.
Tomorrow - October 21 - there is a meeting to organise the next stage of the campaign, at which a convenor will be elected. Everyone who lives or works in Southwark is welcome. It's at 7pm in room A3, London South Bank University, London Road, SE1 6LN.
There will be a SSOS public meeting on Thursday November 4, at 7pm in the Salvation Army Hall, Elephant and Castle.
COMMENT:
I've been involved in Southwark SOS and was delighted to learn that between 100 and 150 people attended tonight's protest - which is brilliant on a freezing night.
I'm very pleased we have held everyone together and have some words for my friends in small left organisations.
If someone in another small left organisation does something that annoys you, think of your obligations to the wider trade union movement. Bite your lip and carry on - don't go off and form a rival campaign.
Until the latter becomes the default position we will rarely win.
In Southwark - so far - it has been.

Synchronised ballots have created a chance for unions to work together

The opportunity for co-ordinated union action against the massive cutbacks in the UK economy grew yesterday.
London firefighters voted heavily in favour of strike action over plans to sack them all and re-employ then on less favourable contracts.
The regional committee of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) will meet today to discuss possible strike dates.
As this blog predicted on Sunday BBC union activists have now launched rank-and-file campaign to encourage a no vote in the ballot over new pension proposals.
Read their leaflet
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ), Broadcasting. Entertainment, Cinematograph, and Theatre Union (BECTU), and Unite have already held ballots to allow lawful industrial action at the BBC.
The Rail, Martime, and Transport union (RMT) and Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) have an ongoing dispute on the London underground over job cuts.
On Wednesday (October 13) RMT members who work on tube fleet maintenance voted by 88% in favour of industrial action short of a strike over cuts which the union says have left brakes and other equipment in a lethal state of disrepair.
More than 2,000 UK border agency staff, members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) held a two day strike this week over changes to rosters and roles.
In anticipation of this rash of disputes the Trade Union Congress - the umbrella organisation for British unions - passed a resolution calling for co-ordinated action against cuts in jobs, pensions, and public services.
COMMENT:
Strikes are about winning for ordinary workers. The best way to do that is to co-ordinate action to cause the maximum disruption for employers.
Britain's complicated trade union laws make it difficult for unions to synchronise legal strikes.
Having all these ballots completed at once gives a rare chance for joint action.
Union leaders need to talk to each other to stop the TUC resolution from being empty rhetoric.
FBU, NUJ, PCS, and RMT are all part of the Trade Union Co-ordinating Group, which doesn't have a website, but which brings togther a group of eight unions that pledge to work together on things like parliamentary lobbying.
This would seem to be a good time to co-ordinate.

Jobs to go at Metronet today

Rail union activists are predicting that 800 more job losses will be announced on the London Underground today.
The cuts are at Metronet - which runs the infrastructure on the tube.
There have already been strikes over job cuts organised by the Rail, Maritime, and Transport union (RMT) and the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA).
If the announcement is made it will mean 2,600 jobs cut on the underground in recent weeks.

McDonnell's bill aims to give workers the right to strike

Nearly 150 people crammed into a committee room at the Houses of Parliament, in London, to express their support for a private members bill to stop employers using trivial legal loopholes to prevent industrial action.
Two hours and 15 speakers later the numbers had dwindled considerably.
Those who stayed heard union leaders describe how - despite massive votes in favour of strikes – they had lost legal cases because the wording of a ballot notice had been slightly wrong, or there had been a short delay in telling bosses the result.
John Hendy QC, a top employment lawyer, said: “These irregularities do not harm the employer or cause them a damage or detriment.
“And the legislation has no concern for the democratic vote of members. The court takes no regard of whether the vote for action was 91 percent or 51 percent.”
Labour MP John McDonnell has tabled the Lawful Industrial Action (Minor Errors) Bill to protect union members’ right to strike.
The meeting heard that where union members are strong and determined they can defy the law.
Maria Eagle, from the Communication Workers Union (CWU), said of postal workers: “When the law doesn’t fit our members walk out anyway – and the employer doesn’t take action.”
In 1994 it was made unlawful to induce prison officers to take industrial action – but there have been unofficial strikes since.
Steve Gillan, general secretary of the Prison Officers' Association (POA), said: “If any public sector prison is privatised, we have already decided, we will have a workplace ballot and strike.”
Other union speakers were from the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), National Union of Journalists (NUJ), the Rail Maritime and Transport union (RMT), Trades Union Congress (TUC), Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA), Unite, and the United Road Transport Union (URTU).
The bill is before parliament on Friday October 22. Rules say 100 MPs must attend for the legislation to go any further.
Trades unionists can lobby their MPs and urge them to turn up and support the bill by using www.writetothem.com.
COMMENT
UK union laws are draconian and should be scrapped so union members can decide their own rules democratically.
John McDonnell’s bill is a small step in that direction.
But highly paid union officers shouldn’t be allowed to use the complications in the law as an excuse for making mistakes or frustrating workers who want to take action.
And expecting people to sit through 15 speakers is an affront to their solidarity.