Striking journalists could link the private and public sectors

This morning I spent some time with pickets outside the South London Guardian office in Sutton.
It was bleak, it was pouring with rain. I was proud of my fellow National Union of Journalists' members battle to save local newspapers from the butchers who own them.
Another round of redundancies had pushed these proud workers over the edge.
The strike was their response - with picket lines in Sutton and Twickenham.
Local papers make money for the corporations that run them - in this case the American-owned Newsquest.
But newspaper bosses have given up trying to provide any sort of service to the communities they milk for cash.
Here's an article I wrote about it in 2005
Journalists at North London and Herts Newspapers, owned by Tindle Newspapers, struck in April because staff numbers had been halved.
Someone else is leaving the Enfiled-based firm. There is no sign of a replacement.
The nine NUJ members left have re-balloted and voted unanimously for more strike action.
So both these chapels - workplace branches - have ballots that would allow them to take lawful strike action on Thursday June 30 when 750,000 other trade unionist are already due to walk out .
The NUJ is a bottom up democracy. These journalists will - rightly - decide their own next move.
But I think it would be brilliant if they joined the June 30 action.
It would strike back at a ruling elite trying to turn private and public sector workers against each other.
It would be a great PR opportunity as the first private sector workers to join the strike.
It would create a massive audience for the campiagn to save local journalism among the members of the other unions already taking part - the National Union of Teachers (NUT), Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), University and College Union (UCU), and Public and Commercial Services union (PCS).
And it would give an opportunity to argue that local media is a vital service, holding acommunities together by publicising and scrutinising the vital work of the other public servants striking on June 30.

Daily Star readers poll backs Millbank student rioters

Readers of the Daily Star have voted by 54 per cent to 46 in support of students who rioted at the end of a union-organised march on Wednesday.
The result of the readers poll is tucked at the foot of a story in today's paper about the unrest at the Conservative Party offices on Millbank, London.
The rioters were part of a 50,000 demonstration against education cuts and rising fees organised by the University and College Union (UCU) and the National Union of Students (NUS). Daily Mirror columnist Paul Routledge has also expressed his support for the rioting students saying: "I stand four square with them".
Routledge denounces the "career-seeking" leaders of the NUS for condemning the disturbance.
The president and secretary of the UCU branch at Goldsmiths college, New Cross, south east London, posted a statement on their website supporting the rioters.
It said:"We also wish to condemn and distance ourselves from the divisive and, in our view, counterproductive statements issued by the UCU and NUS leadership concerning the occupation of the Conservative Party HQ."
The branch has called a meeting at 1pm on Monday November 15 at Goldsmiths to discuss further anti-cuts activity.

Union-organised march ends with riot in Conservative offices

More than 30 people were arrested after a big demonstration against education cuts and increased tuition fees ended in the occupation of the ruling Conservative Party's headquarters.
Windows were smashed, fire extinguishers were set off, and graffiti daubed on the walls of 30 Millbank in London.
Police were overwhelmed by the crowd outside the building.
The march had been organised by the National Union of Students (NUS) and the University and Colleges Union (UCU).
Sally Hunt, general secretary of UCU, told various papers: "The actions of a minority should not distract from today's message. The overwhelming majority of staff and students on the march came here to to send a clear and peaceful message to the politicians. The actions of a minority, out of 50,000 people, is regrettable."
COMMENT:
On Tuesday evening in comments on The Workers United John Tymon called for the occupation of public buildings. Twelve hours later it was happening! Where next?
Maybe other Conservative offices around the UK could be occupied. Or the roads outside them blocked by protestors.

Lecturers facing job cuts in Northern Ireland

A lecturers' union fears thirty jobs are about to be axed at a college in Northern Ireland.
Management at the North West Regional College warned in September that public spending cuts would lead to redundancies.
David Limb of the University and College Union (UCU), told the Derry Journal: "There is going to be a lot of courses that are going to suffer."
One union representative said: "These cuts amount to a loss in teaching time of 20,000 hours."
The Journal says the cuts will be confirmed by the end of the month.
The college has campuses in Derry, Limavady, and Strabane.

Trade unionists protest at Brixton, south London

Trades unionists in Brixton, south west London, are demonstrating against the government cuts today (October 30) - at 12.30pm in Windrush Square.
The protest has been called by the Lambeth branches of the GMB union, the National Union of Teachers (NUT), Unison, and the University and College Union (UCU) and Lambeth Save Our Services; with support from the Right to Work, Defend Council Housing, Green Left, and Youth Fight for Jobs campaigns.

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.

UCL cleaners must wait five years for a living wage

Campaigners who thought they had secured a big pay rise for cleaners at one of the UK’s most prestigious universities have been shocked to learn that some of the low paid workers won’t get the money until 2015.
University College London (UCL) announced it would be implementing the London Living Wage of £7.85 per hour after a campaign by cleaners, students, trade unions, and the local media.
The London Evening Standard reported the victory just five days after the paper had ambushed the provost of UCL, Malcolm Grant, at a community outreach event and questioned him about low wages.
Mr Grant earned £404,000 last year – more than the bosses of Oxford University and Cambridge University.
The small print in the UCL promise to increase cleaners wages said that the rise would not be implemented until the current agency contracts come up for renewal – in some cases that will take five years.
Students and staff lobbied the university’s governing council meeting on Wednesday October 6 to complain about the delay.
And now the UCL branch of the University and Colleges Union (UCU) has appealed for information from other workplaces where cleaners have won the London Living Wage.
The UCU wants the answer to these four questions:
- How long after your campaign was told that the London Living Wage would be paid did the cleaners get the money?
- Who paid for the wage increase, the institution where the cleaners worked, the agency that employed them, or a combination?
- What changes to the existing contracts were actually made?
- How did you argue to management that the agency staff shouldn't have to wait?
COMMENT:
Organising low paid workers employed by private companies should be at the forfront of the trade union movement.
And our employment laws should allow university lecturers and other workers to take industrial action in support of low paid colleagues.