"I don't believe it"

You will be aware of my previous rants against el presidenti dave prentis. well bugger me he's gone and done it again, his speech today could have been the one he did last year or the year before that. Same old rhetoric, last year it was the smashing of the ice, "we will smash this pay freeze" says dave, the year before "we will fight for our pensions"and now hes saying "the time for solidarity has come" .Run that past me again dave, the time for solidarity has come. Snap my vitals, the activists have been yelling that for years and now dave has woke up, pull the other one. What shall we do dave have another rally at the tory party conference by any chance? Absolute bull shit, a rally? that will really make the employers and the government shake in their boots. If the TUC don't organise one the we will, says dave. Thats fighting talk eh mates. Is it just me or is there something fundamentally wrong with the leadership of this union. If you watched the conference you
will be aware there was no descent from the floor or the NEC, in fact they clapped him.
I CANT BELIEVE IT!!! Is this what trade unionism has come to protests.? Where is the fight, the wildcat action, the mass strikes its because our so called unions are scared of a real fight. Thats why you get all this hot air from prentis because he is afraid to stand up to the government and the Labour party. We see them move fast to recruit people and put more money in the coffers so we can protect Unison towers but get rid of the towers and use the money for fighting and saving peoples jobs.
We now see jackie smith being appointed without any democratic process. Come the revolution these money grabing, self appointed bureaucrats will be first againt the wall for selling out the working classes they claim to represent.

Will the real Dave Prentis please stand up

Well here we go again! Dave Prentis creates more hot air than a jet engine and the worse part is that some people believe him. Yesterday we see him blustering on about how the unions are going to defeat the Tory governments plans for austerity however this won't happen until after the march in October and we all know what march's achieve!. Nice one give the condem time to plan contingencies! Get real Dave you recently said we will fight the coalition on the issue of pensions, thousand of people went on strike in November for what? all we did was lose a days pay, members were still up for the fight but the union leadership and full time unelected officials capitulated to the condems demands and now union members have a worse deal. Its ironic that this announcement comes days after the result of the consultative vote on pensions. The union actively campaigned for a yes vote (organise around a no vote and stand the chance of a disciplinary) to accept the condems proposals and the result was appalling, over 600,00 ballot papers were issued and only just over 100,000  returned them. That means 500,000 didn't bother to vote and they could return the vote for free or register on line.Members are fed up with being told what to do by an incompetent leadership.The condems must laugh their socks off when they see Dave enter the arena. you can't say there will be strike action when the majority of the members won't. If we have to have a leadership of this union it should be someone who is strong, has principals and someone the membership will believe in, not a joke dictator. what is really needed is branch autonomy from all this shit. Branches are where the real work is done, give the power to the members and stop the rhetoric! Stand down Dave.All this is reminiscent of crying wolf. Fight the power!

There is democracy in a union (well not this one)

Here is a message sent by the Unison regional secretary to his regional officers in respect of the current ballot over pensions. The package that is being offered is totaly inadequate and means people will work longer, pay more yet receive less. Yet we see the union urging people to vote yes by letter, e mail and text. Why is this one wonders? Now we see the regions probably backed by national unison urging its regional officers to spy upon their branches and report back so those who are against this crap deal can be disciplined under rule I.
Rule I says 2.1 "disciplinary action can be taken against anyone who disobeys any instruction" ie the Sevice Groups "recommendation". If it is a recommendation then it is not policy but this shows how draconian Unison is.
However prior to this in Unisons own rule it says B2.2 we should "establish a member led union". Well this email flys in the face of that. Democracy in Unison my arse!
At the end comrade Ravi says what about if it were for strike action? in a democratic union the issues would be discussed with those who were against it and hopefully the arguement would be won and the majority prevail but in this instance that hasn't happened that is why p. The heads of agreement was agreed without consultation with the branches (membership)and when he regions asked forspecial meeting to discuss it was dismissed.
All Organisers

With respect to my email sent on Sunday about compliance with the union’s Democracy in UNISON Guidelines we’ve had a couple of reports of possible breaches and we need to get tighter on this. So can I please ask all ROs to do the following

- Please re-read the email below

- For all ROs who have a county or unitary / met borough branch can you please (casually and unobtrusively) check with your branch secs that they have received and read my email from Sunday and try to establish if their branch is going to follow these guidelines. I’m asking we focus on the County and unitary councils as this is where the bulk of the membership is and where we are likely to have the most problems.

- Please have these discussions in a casual way and don’t say “I’ve been asked to do this by the regional secretary” – we need to be subtle about this.

- Please report back the results of your discussion to me cc whole RMT by 4pm this Thursday. If you’ve not been able to speak to your br sec I still need you to email me to say so. Sorry about this extra work but we do need to get on top of this.

- If you are out and about at a branch committee meeting and this is discussed and the branch seek to vote to campaign against the SGE recommendations remind them of the points in the third bullet point in the email below. If they then vote on the issues please ask them to take a recorded vote and also take your own privates notes of who voted to breach the guidelines.

- And finally, if any of you doubt the advice is correct, think on this. If we were running a national industrial action ballot with a recommendation to vote yes to action, would we find it acceptable for branches to campaign for a no vote? I’m pretty sure none of the branches unhappy with the current SGE position would happy about this.

Cheers

Ravi

Britain a democratic country?

We keep on hearing politicians banging on about how democratic this country is. Everywhere else is so uncivilised and ruled by dictators. Am I missing something here? Ian shithead Duncan Smith is now trying to take the right to strike away from those on the lowest pay by withdrawing their family tax credits. We now see someone given an extended ASBO because they want demonstrate against the scronging royal family and the corrupt olympic games.Here we see again the rich, judge "hang the prols" Purdy, snuffing out any opposition to the royals and the olympics and by inference stopping any demonstration that upsets the state (see below). As I have said many times before when are people going to do something about this. When are people going to take to the streets and make these dictators accountable.Time is running out, this country is all ready an  oligarchy and that will soon be become a dictatorship if we don't do anything. RISE UP     



Full Two Year ASBO Imposed On Simon Moore For Peaceful Protest

• travelling around London and elsewhere and passing through and by the various Olympic routes and venues as part of a consequence of taking part in everyday activities including visiting family and friends and even coming to the court today. (in contravention of prohibition 1).

• engaging in peaceful demonstration against unreasonable aspects of the games or other issues in, around or near Olympic venues or routes such as Leyton Marsh.

• Living on disused land and using camping equipment such as sleeping bag, tent and other equipment in order to create low impact sustainable communities. (In contravention of prohibition 3).

I have decided that I would rather live in prison than be entrapped and controlled by fear of breaching the prohibitions contained within this ASBO. Control by fear is a worse prison than physical prison. Only reacting to fear can imprison the mind and spirit.I would also like to take this opportunity to say that the heavy reliance of ASBOs and other forms of coercive or punitive laws to regulate society and prevent ‘anti-social behaviour’ is failing to create a just, peaceful and free society. I think we need a radically different approach to dealing with anti-social behaviour which is based on ‘restorative’ justice.

June 19th, 2012 | Add a Comment

On Monday morning at Westminster Magistrates Court, District Judge Purdy delivered his judgement on the case of the ASBO sought by the ‘Commissioner of police for the Metropolis’ to prohibit various activities; the stated reason being the prevention of ‘conduct leading to the disruption of the Olympic Games events 2012′.

The full text of Purdy’s judgement can be read here.

Scene of the ‘crime’ – Simon (centre) asserts his right to sit peacefully in the Lee Valley Regional Park without interference from large vehicles.

DJ Purdy decided to authorise the ASBO.  He made some minor adjustments to prohibitions 1,2,4 + 5.  He removed prohibition 3 relating to trespassing on land or buildings with camping equipment.  The full text of the amended ASBO (the final order) can be read on the Indymedia link shown above.

Outside the court Simon issued the following statement:

”The effect of this ASBO is to criminalise peaceful protest.  There are legitimate issues for concern around the Olympics such as the destruction of Leyton Marsh in East London for a temporary basketball training facility and the ethics and human rights records of corporate sponsors for the games.  These punitive and coercive laws will not stop us from peacefully protesting or from doing what is right.”

You can read a full report of Simon Moore’s case from the Save Leyton Marshes Campaign here.

Simon represented himself at court as he wanted to politically (rather than legally) challenge the charges against him. This is the statement Simon read out:

“I feel that this ASBO is symptomatic of the nature and feel of the Olympic games in London 2012 and the general state of consciousness of the authorities at this time.

I think it is clear to see from the delivery of London 2012 that these games are not simply about sport and amusement. They involve the channelling of very large amounts of public funds into the hands of private corporations whose primary aim is to make as much profit from their service as possible.

Partly due to this, I believe that a culture of greed has been created as London 2012. It has been reduced from an event which could be a benefit to everyone to a profit making exercise which places private interests above public.

The games offer the government the chance to increase its national and international image and popularity at a time when austerity and turbulence are becoming commonplace. The government appears to be desperate to use the games to better its image.

For these reasons I believe that there is a pathological desire on the part of the authorities and private interests to insure that the delivery of the games is executed to exactly as they intend. This is not a healthy, balanced and reasonable attitude and it is creating negative effects.

The needs of local communities in the areas where the infrastructure of the games are located are being ignored and in many cases overwhelmed or infringed on by the delivery of the games. This is evidenced by multiple examples including:

The intensive and ecologically destructive developments for games related venues on open metropolitan land at Hackney Marshes, Leyton Marsh and Wanstead Flats to name a few. This destruction of local community resources illustrates that the authorities believe is a price worth paying despite how unpopular the decisions have been in the local areas. It feels like a case of: ‘the games must be completed at any cost’.

The pathological desire for results has created an atmosphere of intolerance towards anyone or anything that disagrees with any aspect of the games or its delivery.

This has meant that when local communities have expressed legitimate concerns about the way some aspect of the delivery of the games is being delivered in their neighbourhood, not only have they been ignored, they have been criminalised and penalised. The campaign to Save Leyton Marsh which is made up of residents and locals has been subjected to coercion and intimidation through the use of the law as it attempted to peacefully stand up for the protection of a community space which was taken without their consent for the construction of a basketball training facility. The construction has created a lot of problems for the locals there including the exposure to dangerous toxic waste in areas in which children, adults and animals regularly play, not to mention being effectively locked out of a vital community space indefinitely. Their concerns are legitimate and have not been listened to by the authorities to any degree which could be called understanding.

The use of measures such as the ASBO which are tools to coerce and punish, are being used for those who are engaging in ordinary peaceful demonstration against aspects of the games which are unpopular. They can and are being used to stifle legitimate dissent. This reflects a possible desire by the authorities to ensure that the public image that they are crafting for the games is not tarnished in anyway by peaceful protest. It is a further indicator of a pathological mentality which characterises the undertaking of the delivery of the games

Personally I do not think disrupting the ceremonies or sporting events of the Olympics would necessarily be an effective form of helping to awake people to an injustice. I think there is a risk of alienating and irritating those people who may be open to a message, but are also keen to enjoy these events.

However I believe that this use of punitive and coercive measures to intimidate and punish those who cause or are under suspicion of causing some form of limited, temporary and non-harmful disruption is unreasonable and is symptomatic of the pathological mentality which characterises these Olympics.

This attitude shows no attempt to understand why people have issues with aspects of the games including its delivery, its timing and its relationship with private interests.

The authoritarian nature and behaviour of the authorities in its behaviour in delivering the games are also present in its everyday activities, although perhaps in a less extreme way. It seems that our system of diluted fascism is becoming more fascist everyday. It need not be this way and it is within our power to change it.

In my case this ASBO has imposed on me a challenge whether to proceed with activities which I know are fair and reasonable and by so doing break the law or to succumb to its coercive nature and stop. I have decided to break the law.

The activities which I speak of include:

Sir I would like to put to you that if you think the prohibitions contained within this ASBO are just then you should do as you see fit. However if you see the injustice of this ASBO or any legislation which you think is unjust, you would show the highest respect for the law by resigning your post.”

Well here we go again

El presideti Dave Prentise and unison what can you say. Yet again a deal has been stitched up with the government to the detriment of the workers. Yet again the bureaucracy of this union has rode rough shod over the membership. There has been no consultation with the members and now they are asking members to vote for a pensions package that still makes them worse off than they already are. However you won’t be surprised to see that El Presidenti Prentis is one of those unfortunate fat-cats who earn between £100,000 and £112,950. Someone on that money is subject to personal allowance tapering. This means his marginal rate of tax was 60%.





Rather than pay this rate of tax though, Prentis has engaged in some personal tax avoidance and paid the money into his pension, ensuring the state couldn’t get its hands on it. By doing so he has effectively got a 60% tax relief on those payments. Because the Unison financial year doesn’t match the fiscal year, its not possible to say exactly what Mr Prentis’s pay in 2010/2011 was, but I understand that it was not more than £99,999. El Presidenti also went on record saying “The Government would be better advised to look at plugging tax loopholes for the rich and tackling tax evasion that costs us billions, rather than giving top earners a cash break.” Nuff said Dave!

Its conference season again and what don't we see? a debate on cutting ties with Labour. Daves mates on the standing orders committee ruled a motion on Labour and the trade unions "out of order" as they don't want a debate on the affiliation issue as they know they will loose It is clear that the membership doesn't want any truck with the traitors in the Labour party as less than a third of the membership actually subscribe to the party but Daves waiting for his gong so we mustn't leave.Its also ironic that if a branch doesn't send delegates to conference they are fined, what a joke. A trade union fining its own membership, who the fuck would want to attend their stage managed conference anyway!

El Presidenti Dave is now Non executive director of the Bank of England I don't suppose he will be giving his salary to the union or paying it into his pension. It all becomes laughable, he has is head of the biggest public sector union but he can find time to brown nose. We need to fight to take the power from the right in this union and make it a member led democratic union not this Stalinist junta that we currently have.

You Must Read This

Is This Chris Grayling’s Biggest Lie Yet?

Posted on March 26, 2012 by johnny void | 12 Comments

Employment Minister Chris Grayling told a string of breathtaking lies last Monday when he appeared before the Work and Pensions Committee.  The Committee asked a number of questions about the Atos shambles, Work Experience and other current DWP schemes.  Looking increasingly shifty-eyed the Minister bluffed and blustered his way through right up until almost the last question,when he was asked:
“Chair:  Can I ask about another possible area for confusion, at least for me? Say you are in the Work Programme and are in one of the black boxes; is it possible that some of those black boxes contain mandatory work experience and that is where some of the media confusion is coming from?”
The black box is DWP jargon which means that Work Programme providers such as A4e are able to mandate claimants to almost any activity if they think it will help them find work.  This can include workfare.
Grayling’s response was astonishing:
“Chris Grayling:  There is no evidence to suggest that has happened, and indeed all of our Work Programme providers said to us, “What would be the point of forcing somebody to go and work for one of our commercial partners, because if we did we would lose the opportunity to send other people in the future?” What we have done since the Work Experience row is sat down with our Work Programme providers and agreed with them that they will pursue exactly the same strategy as us nationally for the Work Experience scheme. They have the power to mandate but they will only mandate to community benefit projects. All participation in Work Experience with commercial organisations will be done on a voluntary basis in the Work Programme as well as through Jobcentre Plus. So we have exactly the same rules applied across the board and we are making sure all the guidance is in line with that.”
Note he says no evidence.  Not I haven’t seen any evidence.  Not even I am unaware of any evidence.  The Minister is adamant.  Which seems a little strange when you consider this Freedom of Information response.  The DWP were asked which organisations were involved in providing mandatory work placements under the Work Programme in the South East.  The document reveals that claimants had been mandated to work at Holiday Inn, ASDA and Poundland amongst others.  This document was removed from the DWP’s website during the workfare row and the DWP are now refusing to answer FOI requests relating to the Work Prgramme.
It doesn’t end there.  Up until recently the DWP’s Work Programme Provider Guidance stated:
“Where you are providing support for JSA participants, which is work experience you must mandate participants to this activity. This is to avoid the National Minimum Wage Regulations, which will apply if JSA participants are not mandated.”
When this paragraph was pointed out, after Grayling had lied in the Telegraph that no-one was mandated to work for a big company, it promptly disappeared from the the guidance notes.  Perhaps this is what Grayling meant when he said that guidance had been updated to bring it into line with the new rules that up until last Monday hadn’t even been announced.  It’s far more likely however, that just like the disappearing freedom of information response, this was a bodged attempt to cover up for Grayling’s lies.
The DWP even contradict Grayling’s claims that he sat down with the providers and decided: “They have the power to mandate but they will only mandate to community benefit projects. All participation in Work Experience with commercial organisations will be done on a voluntary basis in the Work Programme as well as through Jobcentre Plus. “
A Freedom of Information response received just over a week before the Committee meeting stated explicitly that: “Jobcentre Plus is not routinely informed of participant’s activities, which may include work experience placements, by the Work Programme provider.”  The DWP had been asked specifically how many people had been mandated to workfare  for private companies.  If Grayling had been telling the truth they would surely have said no-one.  Even if Grayling had only been fibbing a bit, they would have said that no-one will be anymore.  But they said they didn’t know.
So Chris Grayling lied to the Committee when he said there was no evidence of people mandated to workfare on Work Programme.  He lied when he said that all work experience for private companies would be voluntary, when in fact until recently the guidance said it must be mandated, and he quite possibly lied again about his cosy little chat with Work Programme providers.
Furthermore, documents have been altered, or removed from the public view, in an attempt to cover up these lies.  Lying to  Select Committee can be punished by a fine or imprisonment, although this power has not been used since the 19th Century.  It still remains a serious charge however, and Grayling should, at the very least, be forced to resign.
It is now impossible to know whether people are mandated to private companies under the Work programme.  The DWP said they were, now they say they don’t know.  Chirs Grayling says they weren’t, and still aren’t.  Someone, whether under Grayling’s orders or not, is rewriting and hiding documents to make it appear this is the case.
Not even a Commons Select Committee can get to the truth about what the DWP are really up to.  Secretary of State Iain Duncan Smith, who is ultimately in charge, should also consider his position.  He has been just as economical with the truth.
It remains to be seen what action, if any, will be taken.  It is likely they will do everything they can to sweep this under the carpet as well.  Should that happen, then we now have clear evidence that this Government will lie to the press, to the public and even to Commons Select Committees about their activities and we can no longer trust a single word they say.
If Ministers can lie with impunity to the public and Parliament alike, then we have entered a different league in British politics.  The House of Commons becomes little more than a talking shop whilst the Government carries out their real intentions under a cloak of secrecy.  And that, however you stretch the word, is not democracy

Get up Stand up!!!

Yet again I feel that I have to write about this shitstem that we the people are wedded too and the scary fact that we are heading fast towards a totalitarian dictatorship.
We now hear that this government that was unelected as a coalition and those did vote for it were few are now hell bent on privatising the road. What a great idea that is, what next toll keepers? Will we have to pay different companies for different stretches of road. Will there be roads where only the few can drive and we the tax payers have already paid for them many times over. I don't remember anyone asking the public if that's what they want I also don't recall seeing it as an election pledge.
Come to think of it I don't recall the public being consulted on the destruction of the NHS, the privatisation of the railways, the introduction of CCTV, academy schools, tax on petrol , tax on beer and removal of working family tax credits to name but a few. Isn't it ironic that none of these ideas affect the rich. All these sweeping changes have be done with little or no concern for the working man / woman yet they have major impacts on the them. We also see that during the Olympics shop opening hours are to be relaxed. Who does this benefit. It doesn't benefit the workers! it would appear it would benefit the mindless morons who rush to the openings of shopping centres, those who have nothing better to do and the rich who are making money off the labour of the store workers. The British see all this happening and do nothing. The common refrain is "oh that's terrible, not to worry, have a cup of tea and everything will be OK. When will the apathetic British get off their arses and fight these rich parasites. GET UP, STAND UP! STAND UP FOR YOUR RIGHTS.