Northern Voices

US cops use stun gun on Occupy DC protestor. City of London police label 'Occupy London' protestors as 'Terrorists!

2012-01-30T16:05:00.007Z

Interesting video from Youtube of an electric stun gun being used by cops in the USA against an innocent demonstrator. This video was sent as a Tweet to Northernvoices blog by Sophie Khan. How long will it be before they are used on Tent City/Occupy London protestors in London? Earlier this month 16 January, George Monbiot, writing in his column in The Guardian, had this to say:

"Last month city of London police sent a letter to the banks titled 'Terrorism/extremism update for the City of London business community'. It warned of the following 'substantial' terrorist threats?: Farc in Columbia, al-Qaida in Pakistan, and Occupy London. It advised the banks to remain vigilant as 'suspected activists' from the Occupy Movement were engaging in 'hostile reconnaissance' - language that might have been used to report German spies in the second world war. When asked to explain the letter, the police told The Guardian that it had been circulated to 'Key trusted partners'. The banks are trusted partners of our impartial law enforcers; those who seek to hold them to account are terrorists."

The following text is taken from Youtube:

"U.S. Park Police officer used an electronic stun gun on an Occupy DC protester. Police say he was tearing down fliers warning protesters about the ban on camping in McPherson Square. Police also said the unidentified man was charged with disorderly conduct. The arrest took place shortly after noon Sunday. It is reported that after the incident the man had a seizure, and was then refused medical treatment. A park police spokesman said the man became -aggressive and confrontational'' when officers tried to arrest him and that is why the stun gun was used".

Dave Douglass, Democracy, War & 'the road to hell'

2012-01-26T15:28:00.004Z

THIS MONTH's Freedom, the anarchist paper, has a centre-spread devoted to the critical comments of Dave Douglass on Barry Woodling's talk at last November's Northern Anarchist Network (NAN) conference in Newcastle on Libya's rebellion and NATO: or as he calls it 'The Support NATO bombing tendency'. Supporters of the NAN from the North West responded to Dave's diatribe in Freedom by accusing him of 'Orientalism' and 'Cookbook politics'. Dave Douglass particularly questioned the wisdom of anarchists who appealed to what he would call 'bourgeois democracies' to support the rebels, as the republican Spaniards did in the Spanish Civil War in 1936 when fighting Franco's forces, and he concluded by likening this to 'Anarchists end(ing) up so wrong-footed and totally confused and ... (that it was) in its slippery slope ... the road to hell ...,' and claiming 'but I now know the answer how old Kropotkin ended up supporting the first world war.'

Comrade Douglass, who is here also attacking Ian Bone's Blog for expressing the same sympathies as these North West elements of the NAN, claims 'bourgeois democracies' and imperialism don't 'give a monkeys about' massacres and bloodshed in places like Benghazi. For Dave it is just one of those simple Marxist cookbook explanations: 'Gaddafi was another peg in the board game against formally anti-imperialist leaders in the Middle East who proved a threat to Israel and US and Western oil interests.'

Really! I thought in recent years Gaddafi was pals with our former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, America billionaires and had financial links with the London School of Economics. In the fuller version of his critique on the Freedom website, perhaps not surprisingly Dave Douglass quotes from the Morning Star, while his opponent, Barry Woodling, based his NAN analysis on empirical work done among Libyan exiles living in Manchester.

Although America took a back-seat in Libya, Dave Douglass's squib does raise an interesting point about how nation's now pursue wars; last Saturday, Peter W. Singer (author of 'Wired for War: The Robotic Revolution & Conflict in the 21st Century') in an article in the International Herald Tribune entitled 'Drone strikes on democracy', expresses concern about how today the US government is processing its war aims. Mr. Singer writes: 'In democracies like ours, there have always been deep bonds between the public and its wars', arguing that 'Citizens have historically participated in its decisions to take military action, through their elected representatives, helping to ensure broad support for wars and a willingness to share the costs, both human and economic, of enduring them.' Mr. Singer claims that this bond has been broken with the recent US use of drones in Pakistan and that it breaches the intention of the founding fathers to ensure that the pursuit of war is not left 'to the executive ... alone'.

This brought forth a more interesting letter of response from J. Larson in Tokyo:
'Peter W. Singer's concern about the weakening bond between the American public and the wars that the country has involved itself in points to more than a problem of democracy and the Constitution. War has become a business in America, and the military just another corporation that makes its decisions based on money in conjunction with the capital power centers in the United States. This is exactly what James Burnham predicted decades ago in his 1941 book "The Managerial Revolution," where the United States would become more like an oligarchy than a democracy. The "people" now have little say in the wars that are started or their moral justification'

At the time of World War I, the philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote a column in The Labour Leader entitled 'War: the Cause & the Cure', arguing that Britain was at war 'because it has been decreed by a handful of men: the three Emperors, and the cabinets of London and Paris'. For Russell this posed another question: 'Why do ordinary citizens obey their insane commands, and even obey them with enthusiasm, and with the utmost degree of devotion and heroism?'

Clearly, Dave Douglass's 'Road to Hell', and the public support for wars, is rather more complicated than he or any cookbook recipe could define.
_______________________________________________

The next issue of Northern Voices, NV13 out in February, will include an interview between Barry Woodling and a member of the Libyan community in Manchester: this Libyan lad has now returned to Benghazi to participate in the unfolding events there.

Also in the Northern Voices 13 will be an article by the Jim Petty on the militant pacifist Philip Morrell, MP for Burnley 1910-1918, who almost alone in the House of Commons opposed the First World War forcing a debate.

"Feckless Brits on the dole should learn from hardworking foreigners" says old Etonian, Boris!

2012-01-24T17:55:00.014Z

Cait Reilly the 22 year old geology graduate from Birmingham, has certainly rattled some cages after taking legal action against the Government for forcing her to work for her dole money which her lawyers say breached her human rights.

In recent weeks a number of celebrity pundits have taken up the cudgel with which to bash young Cait, for having had the audacity to challenge the Government for compelling her to undertake forced labour in return for her dole money. Cait told The Guardian:

"I expected criticism, but some of the comments about me have been hurtful as well as inaccurate. Jan Moir's attack in the Daily Mail, for example, overlooked the fact that I was not paid for the work I carried out and implied that I believed such work, as well as Poundland itself, to be beneath me. This is not the case - I would grab a paid job in Poundland with both hands. Similarly, Vanessa Feltz attempted to humiliate me on the radio."

Now the Mayor of London, ex-'Buller' and pampered old Etonian Boris Johnson, has entered the affray accusing unemployed Cait of 'sneering' at "millions of hard-working Brits by saying the unpaid work she did (for 'Poundland') was forced labour." He also added: "It's just amazing. She shouldn't feel above it."

Boris who as Lord Mayor of London is up for election in May, also took a swipe at 'Feckless Brits' on the dole who he believes are out of work because they lack the 'energy and appetite' for it. He sees the thousands of foreigners who work in places like 'Pret a Manger' (French for 'ready to eat') the British sandwich retail chain, hotels, coffee shops and fast food outlets, as a shining example that unemployed Brits need to learn from.

In an interview with Rupert Murdoch's 'Sun' newspaper, this horny-handed son of toil, recalled his first job as a trainee reporter on The Times newspaper.

"I remember when I first got a job, I could not believe how hard everybody had to work. I couldn't believe having left university that it really did mean getting up that early and working at week-ends. It's not forced labour - she'll learn from it."

Unlike jobless Cait, it is unlikely that Boris Johnson will ever need to use a Jobcentre, fill-in a job application form or work for his dole, because of his social and political connections. Upper-class twits like Boris, who don`t have a clue about the real world of work, usually go from one arranged job to another.

Former 'shelf-stacker' turned Daily Mail columnist, Jan Moir, was even more scathing about Cait in her column on 13 January. She believes Cait is "off her trolley" and ought to be in "Cloud-cuckoo-land rather than Poundland". Ms. Moir told her readers:

"Under a government scheme designed to encourage the long-term unemployed back into work, Reilly was told that she had to leave the museum for a temporary stint at Poundland - and that she risked losing her £54 a week Jobseekers Allowance if she turned down the unpaid work experience, which involved stacking shelves and sweeping floors. Instead of meekly going to work at the discount chain, she went to law."

Though young Cait was doing unpaid voluntary work in a museum at the time the placement at 'Poundland' was foisted upon her by the Jobcentre and was seeking gainful employment, the former shelf-stacker was not impressed. She informed her readers:

"Don`t forget that she is doing unpaid work at the museum because she wants to - not because she has to."

Having explained that Reilly and her lawyer Jim Duffy, say that forcing her to do this kind of unpaid menial work amounts to slave labour and was against her human rights, Moir then issued a dire warning to young people like Cait, who stick up for themselves:

"Life is not going well for geology graduate Cait Reilly. And shall I be the first to tell her? It is just about to get a whole lot worse....Believe me, such a pinched sense of entitlement at this nascent stage of her career will not endear her to many putative employers."

Many of our readers will not be surprised to learn that in 2009, Ms. Moir was awarded the "Stonewall Bigot of the Year Award" after reporting on the death of the 'Boyzone' singer Stephen Gately. Nevertheless, what Ms. Moir and Boris Johnson fail to mention, is that though Ms. Reilly was guaranteed a job interview by her jobcentre, she didn't get an interview with Poundland. Moreover, she's also made it perfectly clear that the nature of the work was not a problem and that she would have been happy to do it, had she had a say in it and if she had been paid to do it.

Like many other young people on the Government's so-called work programme, Cait Reilly says that doing unpaid work for a major high street store, left her feeling 'useless and demeaned' and does nothing to build on young peoples' skills nor does it tackle the causes of long-term unemployment. To be unemployed today, is seen as some sort of misdemeanour which requires harsh and intrusive treatment. As Ms. Reilly pointed out in her article in The Guardian, some people on the Government's work programme, will have to do unpaid work for up to 6 months - longer than the unpaid work done by criminals given a community service order. This model of work-for-your-dole is now being securely built into the economy and as John Harris pointed out in The Guardian last August:

"Jobcentre advisers are now being told that if a company has no vacancies for a young jobseeker, they should be 'pushy' about the possibility of an unpaid placement."

Jim Duffy, from Public Interest Lawyers in Birmingham, told the Daily Mail that the government had created without Parliamentary authority a complex array of schemes that allowed Jobcentres to force people into futile, unpaid labour for weeks and months at a time and added:

"We have no problems with Government schemes that increase the chances of people getting employment - that is the key to combating the current economic crises - but these 'work-for-benefit schemes have been proven to do nothing other than increase the cycle of unemployment and poverty..."

Employment Tribunal rules that 'Agency Workers' in UK have no legal protection against blacklisting. Case to go to European Court of Human Rights!

2012-01-23T18:12:00.007Z

The text below ( which we print in full) is taken from a press release that we have received from the Blacklist Support Group concerning the case Smith v Carillion.

"Agency workers have no legal protection against blacklisting by multi-national firms according to a shock decision in the Central London Employment Tribunal today. The court found that Dave Smith (an engineer) had been blacklisted by the respondents Carillion (JM) Limited and Schal International Limited (a wholly owned subsidiary of Carillion) because he raised concerns about asbestos on building sites and because of his trade union activities. The firms actually admitted that their managers had supplied the malicious information to Mr. Smith's blacklsit file in a signed statement to the court.

David Renton (pro-bono barrister for Mr.Smith) argued that the blacklist was a major breach of the Human Rights Act and therefore the law should be interpreted in such a way as to protect all "workers" including agency workers. However the court found that because Mr. Smith was employed through an employment agency, UK employment law does not protect him (or millions of other agency workers), so on that point alone the multi-national constrcution firms won on this legal technicality.

Mr. Smith said outside the court:

"The blacklisting conspiracy is a deliberate breach of human rights by big business. Human Rights are supposed to apply to everyone but Carillion and their subsidiaries have got away with systematic abuse of power simply because I was an agency worker. If the British justice system does not protect workers rights, then we will be taking our case direct to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg"

A secret blacklist file collated by the Consulting Association was presented as evidence and contained Mr. Smith's photograph, address, National Insurance number, work history, car registration, union credentials, information about his family and pages of information about times when Mr. Smith had raised concerns about poor toilet facilities or asbestos on building sites. This information was secretly supplied to the blacklist by managers from major building companies. The blacklist file was covertly shared amongst the 44 largest construction firms in the UK and resulted in periods of unemployment.

Despite the result, the evidence that came out in court about including invoices and hundreds of blacklist files is almost certain to become a key element in a larger "class action" style claim being brought to the High Court by 100 blacklisted workers in the next few months with representation by Hugh Tomlinson QC (the barrister representing celebrity clients in the News of the World phone hacking cases).

There is more to this case still. The evidence which has come up shows that spies attended union meetings and gathered information about people outside work.

Dave Clancy said in the hearing under oath:

"There is information on the Consulting Association files that I believe could only be supplied by the police or the security services"
He also told the court that the Consulting Association held information on elected politicians, journalists, lawyers and academics.

Dave Clancy is the Head of the Investigations Team at the Information Commissioners Office, the man who led the raid on the Consulting Association premises and discovered the blacklist. He is an ex-police officer.

Labour MP John McDonnell said after hearing these revelations:

“I am calling upon the Government to launch a public inquiry into the full extent and impact on people’s lives of blacklisting. These revelations are truly shocking and warrant a detailed and open, public investigation." "

Mr. Smith was represented by: David Renton (barrister) and Declan Owens (solicitor) on a pro-bono basis via the Free Representation Unit

Blacklist campaign video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRB9DjmhBHg

Thatcher as a cop-out for failures of British Left

2012-01-23T14:19:00.014Z

BLANCO POSNET on this Northern Voices Blog (Thursday 22nd, December 2011) has been bemoaning the prospect of a State Funeral for Lady Thatcher, meanwhile in the Financial Times, Richard Vinen, history lecturer at King's College, London, writes: 'Meryl Streep remarked that she had tried, in the film "The Iron Lady", to capture what it was about Margaret Thatcher that aroused such "venom".' All this endless venom against Thatcher for castrating a bunch of union bosses who were clearly past their sell-by date in the 1980s. Genuine anarcho-syndicalists should worship the woman for this victory and lesson, because it showed us the need to put 'anarcho' into anarcho-syndicalism. For years in the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s, we deluded ourselves that somehow the simple-minded syndicalism perpetuated by the British trade unions would self-evidently bring forth power to the working people - we thought that we had identified a trend, a shopfloor syndicalist tradition in British labour relations that would eventually encroach control from the bosses.

We were wrong, because all that we got in those industries in which trade unions had dominant influence, such as down the pits and in the print trade, was another kind of bossism through the tin-pot union hierarchies. The question that 'pure syndicalists' like Blanco Posnet, Dave Douglass and Dave Chapple, must answer is 'why was it possible for Thatcherism and the Ridley Plan to triumph in the 1980's?' I suggest it was because Thatcher had a strategy and a vision, while the trade unionists and their leaders in the last half of the 20th century were hopelessly conservative, irresponsible, and self-serving: one of the major proponents of this school, the miner's leader Arthur Scargill, being a silly syndicalist tactician who had no serious strategy beyond 'miner's muscle' and a bone-headed Stalinism set in Barnsley. It is natural that such a short-sighted creature should now end up sueing his own union, the NUM, in an attempt to hang onto a union property in London. As on miner said of Scargill recently: 'For a socialist, Comrade Scargill, does have a strong penchant for property ownership!'

Thatcher and Thatcherism merely demonstrated the deficiency of 'syndicalism a la Grand Britannia': perhaps rather than castrate the trade unions Thatcher simply debagged them revealing they were little more than Eunuchs. The difficulty for Blanco and the two Dave's is that as much as we may admire their efforts to promote the cause of working people in this country, they don't seem to have grasped the significance of Thatcher's triumph in the last half of the 20th century. Dave Douglass, while his autobiography shows that he wrestles valiantly with the tactical threat of Thatcherism in the past, he does not offer a signpost to show how we should proceed in future; Blanco's most recent offering on this theme came in the Northern Voices' publication 'The Workers' Next Step', which flopped with slow sales figures over the last two years; meanwhile the trade union activist, Dave Chapple, despite his undoubtable skills and talents as a trade union organiser leading to the founding of National Shop Stewards Network which last year ended in tears owing to a power grab by the Socialist Party, has now turned to publishing 'Trade Union Solidarity', a quarterly magazine aiming to give a platform to rank & file trade unionists.

These three veterans of syndicalism, rather than anarcho-syndicalism, do have a problem as do the young syndicalists around 'Liberty & Solidarity', and it is that they are too focused on the past glories and on tactics rather than on developing a vision or strategy for change and transformation of the workplace. They are altogether too conservative and defensive. In some cases, as Dave Douglass's autobiography shows, they suffer from nostalgia for a past age - sometime in the 1970's - when the trade unions seemed deceptively great and strong. In this respect they lack an understanding of what Thatcher accomplished when she defeated the TUC. As Ricard Viner writes in his FT comment entitled 'Blaming Maggie is just a cynical alibi for the left': 'Lady Thatcher has become a kind voodoo doll for a left that talks as though sticking pins in the image of its enemy will substitute for thinking about its own problems.'

Keeping politics in the family. Local MP's wife nominated to stand for council!

2012-01-19T18:47:00.009Z

She`s an ambitious and spunky young lady is Claire Reynolds (pictured), the wife of Jonny Reynolds the Labour MP for the constituency of Stalybridge & Hyde.

Some time ago, Northern Voices was told of Claire's ambition of becoming a member of the European Parliament, MEP. Unfortunately, Claire failed in her bid to become an MEP but now seems to have consoled herself, at least for the time being, in getting elected as a Labour councillor on shiftyside council, better known as Tameside Council in Greater Manchester.

At a Labour Party selection meeting, Claire won the nomination to fight the Stalybridge/Dukinfield ward at the next May elections. The sitting councillor, former Tory, Dorothy Cartwright, who joined Labour in 2010 after falling out with her Conservative colleagues, was up for election in May, but was deselected. She's now been nominated to fight the hopeless seat of Stalybridge South for Labour.

As a disaffected Tory who left her local party whinging about "back-biting and bullying", Cartwright is flogging a dead horse in trying to win this seat for Labour. Nevertheless, the contest should be interesting. Cartwright and the sitting Conservative councillor, Doreen Dickinson, are old rivals. We understand from sources that on a previous occasion, Dickinson commenced legal proceedings against the former librarian and teacher, which for some reason, were later abandoned.

As for Claire, some might see her nomination to stand for council as being yet again, another instance of the political cronyism which is endemic within Tameside Labour. Yet times are hard nowadays for many people and it must be a struggle trying to make ends meet as an housewife and mother, on an MP`s salary plus expenses and allowances. Though being a Tameside councillor doesn't pay as much as an MEP it's still pin money and with few job opportunities available for ordinary people today, can one really blame Claire for using her political connections to jump on board the political gravy train.

Expert evidence at Employment Tribunal, points to collusion in blacklisting of workers by police and security services. MP demands an investigation!

2012-01-18T19:24:00.003Z

A Labour MP is calling on the government to launch a full Public Inquiry after shocking revelations emerged today in court about security services and police collusion in illegal covert blacklisting of trade union members in the construction industry.

In the Smith v Carillion blacklisting court case being heard at the Central London Employment Tribunal, Dave Clancy gave evidence under oath.

"There is information on the Consulting Asociation files that I believe could only be supplied by the police or the security services"

Dave Clancy is the Investigations Manager at the Information Commissioners Office and an ex-police officer. He is the man who led the raid on the Consulting Association offices which uncovered the building industry blacklisting conspiracy involving 44 of the biggest building contractors in the UK.

Mr. Clancy also told the court that the Consulting Association compiled blacklist files on elected politicians, journalists, lawyers and academics.

Responding to the evidence John Mc Donnell MP said:
"The Consulting Association scandal is one of the worst cases of organised human rights abuse ever in the UK"

“I am calling upon the Government to launch a public inquiry into the full extent and impact on people’s lives of blacklisting. These revelations are truly shocking and warrant a detailed and open, public investigation."

The ET continues tomorrow and a decsion is expected either late Thursday or early Friday

Note to editors: Mr. Smith is a 46 year old engineer who has been blacklisted because of his trade union activities and for raising concerns about safety on building sites. This is conceded in a signed document presbnted to the court by the Respondents in the case (Carillion, Carillion (JM) Ltd and Schal International Management Ltd)

Construction firm admits blacklisting union member - potential major precedent for Agency workers

2012-01-18T19:13:00.000Z

Photo: Mick Holder

(from the Blacklist Support Group)For the first time ever, construction firms have openly admitted in court that they supplied information to a blacklist file and that the reason they added the information was to penalise the worker because of his trade union activities and because he raised health and safety issues.

The dramatic revelations came during the case of Smith v Carillion at the Central London Employment Tribunal yesterday.

In an unusual legal process, Mr. Smith and the respondent companies Carillion, Carillion (JM) Limited and Schal International Limited agreed a joint statement of facts which was presented to the court. Although couched in legalistic language the agreed statement is the first time ever that any of the mutli-national building firms has admitted blacklisting a union member and the reasons behind it.

In the agreed statement of facts and during Carillion (JM) Limited (previously John Mowlem Limited) and Schal International Limited (a wholly owned subsidiary of Carillion) and Tarmac Construction (the foreunner of Carillion) admit that:

1. They blacklisted Mr.Smith

2. Their managers supplied information to the notorious Consulting Association blacklist about Mr. Smith

3. The Reason was because of Mr.Smith's trade union activities

4. An additional reason was because Mr. Smith raised concerns about health & safety on building sites.

5. The blacklisting caused Mr. Smith a "detriment"

This is the first time any of the major contractors who subscribed to the Consulting Association blacklist have openly admitted this in court.

In the same statement Mr. Smith agreed that he was not a direct employee of any of the respondent companies but worked via employment agencies (and because only "employees" are protected under current UK law, he should not be able to win his Tribunal)

In a shock turn of events, Carillion then applied for the case to be Struck Out as having no reasonable chance of success but the Tribunal refused the application and the case now continues until Friday.

Dave Renton (barrister for Mr.Smith) is now arguing that because of the scale and nature of the blacklisting scandal, the companies involved had breached the human rights of Mr.Smith and the relevent laws should be re-interpreted to cover all "workers" not just employees. If successful this would set a major precedent for agency workers and other employed via contractors.

In additional uncontested evidence presented to the court:

Sales Book and Invoices disclosed for the first time by the Information Commissoners Office following a Court Order demosntatre the extent of the usage of the Consulting Association blacklist by Carillion. Between 1999 and 2004 Carillion paid £32,145 plus VAT, whilst Mowlem paid a total of £20,444 plus VAT to the Consulting Association. Senior managers from both managers attended regional meetings as part of the blacklisting operation. Invoices indicate that managers from Carillion were attending Consulting Association meetings as late as 2008 (only months before the organisation was closed down).

The case continues tomorrow - a judgement is expected on Friday.

The Employment Tribunal continues tomorrow with evidence from Mr. David Clancy from the Information Commissioners Office (the person who led the raid on the Consulting Association offices which uncovered the illegal building industry blacklist).

Witnesses for the companies tommorw include a Director of Carillion.

Balls to 'PLAN B'

2012-01-18T13:56:00.003Z

Len McCluskey says: the Alternative is 'Austerity Apocalypse'!

MONTHS ago Ed Balls, the Labour Shadow Chancellor, was asked by John Humphies on the Radio 4 Today Program what was his 'Plan B'? Ed Balls asserted: 'Everyone needs a "Plan B": the E.U. needs a "Plan B"; the USA needs a "Plan B"!' It was no answer at all.

Yet now, we know that for Ed Balls 'Plan B' is, in reality, 'Plan A', the same as the governing Coalition Government and yesterday the political editor of The Guardian wrote: 'Balls believes he has to reassure an electorate that his support for a short-term Keynesian stimulus to kick-start growth now does not mean that he thinks cuts are avoidable later.'

On Monday, Len McCluskey, the Unite union General Secretary, commenting in The Guardian on Mr. Balls and the Labour Party, wrote: 'The political elite that was united in promoting the City-first deregulation policies that led to the crash is now united in asserting that ordinary people must pick up the tab for it.' He thinks this takes us back to effectively a 'National Government', such as existed in 1931 under Ramsay MacDonald. What troubles Mr. McCluskey now is what has troubled anarchists in England: 'The real points of differentiation between Labour and the government on the economy are now very hard to identify ...' Mr. McCluskey expresses surprise that neither Ed Balls or Ed Miliband, the leader of the Labour Party, bothered to 'consult with the trade unions' before announcing its new open approach to 'austerity'.

Mr. McCluskey, formerly a clerk on Liverpool docks, clearly believes that the trade unions are being treated like poor relations by the Labour leadership of Miliband and Balls, and that the City is in full charge of navigation of the economy. Of Ed Miliband, McCluskey writes: 'His leadership has been undermined as he is dragged back into the swamp of bond market orthodoxy.' Earlier last year, I claimed on this Northern Voices' Blog that the Labour Party had outlived its mission as a radical party of social change. Its demise as a party was only delayed temporarily by Tony Blair's skills as a devious politician when he seemed to create a new mission under the label of 'New Labour'. What is now happening may come as a surprise to McCluskey, but even he does not explain how the Labour Party, as a properly constituted parliamentary party, can get us out of 'the swamp of the bond market orthodoxy', nor indeed, has the Keynesian economist Robert Skidelsky or anyone else so far as I'm aware.

Graduate 'pilloried for taking legal action' against UK Government slave labour schemes, responds to critics!

2012-01-16T17:42:00.005Z

WHY THE GOVERNMENT WAS WRONG TO MAKE ME WORK IN POUNDLAND FOR FREE FORCING YOUNG PEOPLE LIKE ME INTO UNPAID WORK IS WRONG – AND EVIDENCE SHOWS IT WON'T SOLVE THE UNEMPLOYMENT CRISIS.

The following article which we print in full, appeared in The Guardian on Monday 16th January 2012.

"In a routine appointment with my personal Job Centre Plus adviser last October, I was informed of an open day for people interested in potential retail jobs. Having been unemployed for some time, I was more than happy to attend, and was told by my adviser that, if chosen, I would undergo a week's "training" followed by a guaranteed job interview. It quickly became clear at the open day, however, that the period of "training" would potentially last for up to six weeks. I explained to my adviser my reservations about taking part: I was already in the middle of a work experience placement that I had organised for myself (and which was more relevant to the museum career I hope to pursue), and I already had retail experience.

I thought the "training" was optional, and it came as a shock to be told I was required to attend or risk cancellation or reduction of my £53 per week jobseekers' allowance – despite the fact I have always actively sought paid work. So I began the "placement" with Poundland – it was not training, but two weeks' unpaid work stacking shelves and cleaning floors. I came out with nothing; Poundland gained considerably.

For me, this unpaid labour scheme lasted only two weeks, but some people, as part of the government's work programme, will have to do such unpaid work for up to six months – longer than the community service orders handed out to many criminals.

The nature of such work is not the problem. I would be happy to do it if I had a say in it and, crucially, was paid. While hoping for a career in museums, I have also been applying for any job I am able to do. Like more than a million young people today, I find living on £53 a week extremely difficult, and would be delighted to find any paid work.

Many people seem to think all job seekers are lazy scroungers, sponging off the government. The reality of trying to carve out a career in a tough job market is much more difficult than many appreciate, and not a position anyone would choose to put themselves in.

Last week, I launched judicial review proceedings in the high court – a challenge to regulations that require up to 50,000 jobseekers to carry out unpaid work at major corporations. A case such as this cannot result in significant damages; from day one, my challenge has been about the principle, not the money. It is about social justice.

I expected criticism, but some of the comments about me have been hurtful as well as inaccurate. Jan Moir's attack in the Daily Mail, for example, overlooked the fact that I was not paid for the work I carried out and implied that I believed such work, as well as Poundland itself, to be beneath me. This is not the case – I would grab a paid job in Poundland with both hands. Similarly, Vanessa Feltz attempted to humiliate me on the radio. Such coverage has made taking a stand more difficult than I had imagined.

I am lucky to live in a country that offers financial support to jobseekers. I am also lucky to live in one where citizens do have the right to challenge government decisions. Making a million "neets" (not in employment, education or training) work for free for high-street chains leaves them feeling useless and demeaned, denies paid workers the chance to do overtime, and potentially takes jobs from those who need them. It does nothing to build on young unemployed peoples' skills, or to tackle the causes of long-term unemployment. I hope many more people stand up to what is a badly thought-out system created without the involvement of parliament.

The coalition's commitment to getting people into work is admirable, but this is not the right way to do it. Similar schemes have not worked in other countries, and there is evidence that coercing people into unpaid work masks rather than solves the unemployment crisis. The Department for Work and Pensions hired experts find whether "work for your benefit" schemes delivered benefits. After studying similar programmes in Canada, the US and Australia, they found no evidence such schemes increased an the chances of gaining employment. Whether or not my case is successful, I hope it will make the government think again, and work with young people rather than against them."

Cait Reilly guardian.co.uk, Sunday 15 January 2012 17.47 GMT Article history

North West NSSN: Fag-End or Vanguard?

2012-01-13T14:36:00.009Z

WHEN only nine turn up to a North West National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) meeting in Manchester, that proposes to co-ordinate activity to bring about the forcing of the TUC into setting 'a date for a second day of co-ordinated national industrial action', one is entitled to ask: 'are these people fleas pretending to be elephants?' It is true that among the nine activists present last night in the Subway sandwich bar on Peter Street, three unions, Unison, Unite and PCS were represented, but the decision to join with the new 'Left Unity' campaign suggests that the NSSN bosses now realise the folly of their decision a year ago to develop their own anti-cuts campaign.

That decision broke the back of the NSSN and caused the syndicalists and independent socialists to leave the organisation; leaving only the Socialist Party and a few fellow-travellers in control. Since then Bob Crow of the RMT union is reported to have said: 'The NSSN has lost some good people!'. The result was that by forcing out the syndicalists and independent activists the NSSN became an empty shell: just another anti-cuts group. The Socialist Party leaders of the NSSN talk big and claim they forced the TUC to call a national demo last March and more recently created the conditions for the co-ordinated public sector strikes on Nov. 30th but it has little conviction. In reality the leaders of the TUC had to be seen to take some action to justify their existence but they tend to be inconclusive events and probably undermine the morale of workers in the long run. These so-called 'general strikes' have been in operation in other European countries for years with often mixed results.

As part of a series of articles on 'Capitalism in Crisis' in the Financial Times, Gideon Rachman, wrote last Monday: 'The failure of the hard left to capitalise on the economic crisis testifies to how profoundly communism was discredited by the collapse of the Soviet system.' Alex Davidson of the PCS even bemoaned this collapse at last night's meeting with some qualification. The problem for the British Left, as well as the hard left, may go further than the fall of the Soviet Union. Some self-deception may be a necessary part of politics, but the self-delusion displayed at last night's meeting and of the left in this country is based in the lack of any serious alternative plan to combat the Coalition Government. That is why 'Resistance' is the most common word on the lips of the left: we've had the 'Coalition of Resistance' and now 'Unite the Resistance' - their form of 'resistance' is merely to react to the agenda set by the Government. No-where is there any attempt by the hard left or even the main stream Labour Party to present a plausible alternative program.

There are clearly problems of capitalism now, but the hard left is using the thinking tools of the stone age to deal with the consequences, and the Labour Party has no clear agenda. Gideon Rachman in his article quotes the Italian communist, Antonio Gramsci: 'The old is dying and the new cannot be born: in the interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms will appear.' Mr. Rachman writes: 'Gramsci's observation does resonate now - in an age of ideological confusion.' Perhaps it was too much to expect the folk at last night's meeting to have any fresh ideas: it was at least recognised that the trade unions had yet to recover from the defeats of the 1980s and 90s, and some had hopes that something may yet evolve out of the Occupy movement.

Graduate forced onto Government work-for-dole scheme, takes legal action!

2012-01-12T18:10:00.004Z

Another legal challenge to the Governments 'mandatory work' schemes is going to be heard in the High Court.

In November we gave details of how many major high-street stores including Sainsbury, Argos, ASDA, Tesco, Poundland, Primark, were offering no pay, work-for-your-dole placements, for claimants as a condition for retaining their unemployment benefits.

One claimant who was told by her Jobcentre that she would have to work for no pay to keep her benefits was 22 year geology graduate Cait Reilly (pictured) from Birmingham. The geology graduate spent two weeks stacking shelves and sweeping floors for no pay, for 'Poundland' in South Birmingham. Cait told The Guardian newspaper:

"It seems we were being used as free labour in the run-up to Christmas."

Although the 22 year old was not offered an interview following her placement and had told the Jobcentre Plus of her previous retail experience and that she was volunteering at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, she was told that she would lose her benefits if she did not accept the 'mandatory' post.

Cait is now challenging the Government over a scheme which she feels compels jobseekers into "futile, unpaid labour". She is asking the High Court to quash regulations that her lawyers claim were created by the government 'without parliamentary authority' and 'force people into futile, unpaid labour for weeks or months at a time.'

Speaking to the Metro, the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) said:

"Our priority is to help people off benefits and into work. It is simply absurd to suggest that we should not be providing this support and effectively leaving people at home doing nothing."

Although Poundland didn't offer Cait a job, they told the newspaper: "Our partnership with Jobcentre Plus is a positive step to get people back into work."

Action against this type of forced labour is also being challenged under the Human Rights Act by solicitors from 'Public Interest Lawyers' in Birmingham who are seeking a judicial review of the scheme on behalf of two clients who they maintain were forced to work against their will when put on the Governments 'mandatory work activity' program. This they say amounted to a breach of their human rights under article 4(2) of the Human Rights Act which states that "No one shall be required to perform forced or compulsory labour."

Zagreb Anarchist Bookfair: Invitation for Northern Voices & NAN to Participate

2012-01-10T12:14:00.013Z

CONTRAST THE SPIRIT OF ZAGREB WITH THE SOURNESS OF MANCHESTER'S BOOKFAIR

AFTER the blackballing of the NAN and Northern Voices by a pair of curmudgeons and churls, who effectively operated as political Godfather and Godmother respectively at the Manchester Bookfair last December, we have just received an invite to the Eighth Annual Anarchist Bookfair in Zagreb this year taking place between March 31st and April 2nd. We have still yet to receive a proper explanation as to why those who reside seemingly under-the-pavement in central Manchester with the other political insects have not found it in themselves to come out into the open and present their criticism: but as we say in Lancashire, there is 'Nowt so queer as Folk'.

A good comrade of ours from the North East, who boycotted the Manchester Bookfair in sympathy because of the way in which we had been treated, said that this kind of thing would not have happened up in Northumbria. Indeed, it is doubtful that such a thing would have happened on such feeble grounds anywhere in the UK.

The organisers of the Zagreb Bookfair (ASK- Anarhisticki sajam knjiga) say they hope to bring in more people every year as participants, publishers, groups, projects - whoever is interested in what the bookfair has to offer. And they say: 'For [the] discussion part everything is open, as every year, so all suggestions, ideas, etc are welcome, as well as texts that you find interesting for further debate.' Furthermore, the organisers in Zagreb say: 'In many different situations, these bookfairs have proven to be important events and meeting places on both local and international levels.' They conclude with a welcoming appeal: 'This is why we need your help - come and support this event with solidarity and participation.'

How very different are these Croatians in Zagreb to the narrow-minded folk who seem to have been behind organising the Manchester Bookfair over the years: the 2010 Bookfair at the Dancehouse on Oxford Road, Manchester, being described by someone as 'one of the most customer unfriendly events' that they had ever attended. The program for the Zagreb Bookfair is not yet completed but for more infornmation: go to http://www.ask-zageb.org/ or email: anarhisticki.sajam.knjiga@gmail.com

Government slave labour scheme hailed as a success in getting the unemployed off the dole, but not into a job!

2012-01-06T14:25:00.010Z

The Daily Malice, better known as the Daily Mail, ran an interesting story yesterday. According to the newspaper the Government have released figures that show that half of those who are on unemployment benefit who are referred for 'mandatory work activity' by the Jobcentre, prefer to stop claiming benefits rather than be dragooned into undertaking forced unpaid labour.

Government figures show that 20% of claimants referred for 'mandatory work activity' cease claiming unemployment benefit immediately and another 30%, have their benefits stopped when they fail to turn up. So impresssed is the Government with the results that it is extending 'mandatory work activity' nationwide, so as to catch a further 50,000 unemployed. A source quoted by the newspaper said that the results so far had been 'extraordinary' and added:

"This has started on a relatively small scale, to see how it would work, but nobody expected the results we are seeing...for the majority it is proving to be a push that gets them off benefits. What this demonstrates is that there really is a hardcore of claimants who have absolutely no intention of working come what may."

Although the government presents these work-for-dole schemes as offering training and work experience for the unemployed, the figures only confirm what has been known for some time, that these schemes are about forcing people off benefits in order to reduce the benefits bill. People working on the schemes are exempted from minimum wage legislation and are effectively being compelled to undertake forced labour in order to retain their unemployment benefit.

Last November, we wrote that solicitors from 'Public Interest Lawyers' in Birmingham, were acting on behalf of two clients involved in the 'mandatory work activity' programme and were seeking a judicial review of the scheme on the grounds that their clients were forced to work against their will which amounted to a breach of their human rights under article 4(2) of the Human Rights Act, which states:

"No one shall be required to perform forced or compulsory labour."

Northern Voices blog has frequently published articles about these work-for-dole schemes (see our posting "Motivating the Workshy - New Deal Bum Deal" September 2009) which in our view amount to an appalling abuse of human rights. No one should be forced into undertaking forced labour, a practice which is more commonly associated, with totalitarian regimes like Nazi Germany.

From Blacklisting to BESNA!

2011-12-23T15:17:00.005Z

HVCA are employing an individual called Steve Quant who used to work for SCANSKA. He was apparently sacked by SKANSKA because he was involved in the blacklisting of construction workers. It is reported that he later became employed as 'Ian Kerr's right-hand man': Mr Kerr, who set up the now disbanded firm The Consulting Association in the Midlands, pleaded guilty to keeping an illegal data base in 2009 in the Knutsford Crown Court and was fined £5,000 plus costs. Steve Quant is now reported to be involved in promoting the new controversial BESNA proposals for electricians in the British building trade.

Say No to plans to give Thatcher a state funeral!

2011-12-22T18:35:00.007Z

In today`s Daily Telegraph, there was an interesting piece by the journalist/writer Peter Oborne about secret plans which are being made to give the 'milk snatcher' Margaret Thatcher, a state funeral.

In the last 200 years, only four British prime minister's have been awarded a state funeral - Wellington, Palmerston, Gladstone and Churchill. The proposal to give her a state funeral did not originate from the Conservative 'Monday Club' as many might think, but was the brainchild of Gordon Brown, the former New Labour prime minister.

According to Oborne, secret discussions have been taking place without public debate to give Thatcher a big public send off at the taxpayers' expense, at a time when public services are being cut along with state benefits and people losing their jobs. Though Oborne admires Thatcher, he argues against giving her a state funeral which he believes would insult "many honest patriotic people".

Many abhor Thatcher's memory and I include myself among them. Yet there is one thing she said that I entirely agree with. Thatcher was once asked what she felt was her greatest legacy to the country and she replied, "Blair and New Labour."

A number of petitions have been set up including "No state funeral for Thatcher" which when I last checked had attracted 6,638 signatures. It can be found here.

In Oborne's article he refers to a letter from David Farham, a former miner who wrote to his local newspaper 'The Shields Gazette'. It is worth quoting:

"I am proud to say I was on strike for 12 months in the 1984-85 strike, when Thatcher used the full might of the state to defeat us. I would stand on a picket line now if it would prevent her having a state funeral. She had a near-pathological hatred of trade unions, and referred to us as the 'enemy within', but what did we do that was so treacherous? We struck to prevent pit closures and to protect jobs, with disastrous consequences. Look at the former pit villages which she left devastated."

In his 'a history of MI5', Christopher Andrew, says that Thatcher took greater interest in the intelligence community than any other prime minister since Winston Churchill and demanded prompt action to deal with the 'wreckers' in British industry. He also says that Thatcher demanded that M15 identify all the 'wreckers' even though this contravened their so-called 'Charter'.

Although the 'Iron Lady' (a name she acquired due to her hatred of trade unions), left office in 1990, she continues to receive allowances from the taxpayer under the 'public duties cost allowance'. Despite her mental and physical infirmity, she has received £535,000 from the taxpayer since 2006 for costs incurred from public duties.

To give the woman who was one of the most divisive leaders in modern times, who destroyed the livelihoods of thousands of British working people and who admired, the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, a state funeral, would be an outrage to public decency. Say no to a state funeral for Thatcher the milk snatcher.

Europe Bans Blacklist

2011-12-16T16:35:00.003Z

BLACKLIST SUPPORT GROUP STOP PRESS REPORT (16th, December 2011):

YESTERDAY in Strasbourg, the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) passed a law to make the blacklisting of workers in the European Union illegal. Labour M.E.P's Stephen Hughes and Glenis Wilmott, were the main movers according to the Blacklist Support Group.

How To Pervert The Course Of Justice?

2011-12-15T15:29:00.005Z

Did Bury Council's H.R. Division Act In Bad Faith?

YESTERDAY Bury Council's Human Resources & Communications Division (HR) held an 'Investigation Interview' to discuss the following allegations of:
* Threatening & intimidating behaviour

* Contravention of the Dignity at Work Policy

against a Unite Safety Representative at Bradley Fold Waste Depot near Bury in Lancashire.

Ought a person, who may later be called as a witness in relation to an alleged event, be properly used by H.R. as an investigator in an 'investigatory interview' into the same event? A legal opinion sought by the trade union Unite claimed that it would be 'a breach of natural justice' for Bury Council's H.R. Division to use the potential witness Mick Morris, Senior Cleansing Manager at Bradley Fold Waste Depot., as an investigating officer into the case against a Bradley Fold Safety Representative, who is facing a complaint of 'Threatening & intimidating behaviour' as well as another separate allegation of 'Contravention of the Dignity at Work Policy'. Ursula Skinner, Senior H.R. Advisor at Bury MBC, brushed aside the legal challenge that Mick Morris may be called as a witness, arguing that she had sought the advice of her 'line manager' and had been told that it was irrelevant to the process. Ms. Skinner, on being asked as to who her 'line manager' was, failed to illuminate.

In correspondence with the Safety Representation who is under investigation, Ursula Skinner wrote: 'You have the right to be accompanied during the interview by you trade union representative or a work colleague who should not be involved in the investigation.' In this case Julie Burgess, the Unite Regional Officer, was allowed to represent the accused Safety Representative facing these charges, but his Bury Branch Secretary, Brian Bamford, who offered to observe and take notes was twice denied entry to the process of investigation by Ursula Skinner on grounds that are still unclear. And yet, Bury Council's Human Resources & Communications Division brought in Mr. Morris as in investigator, who has admitted to speaking to the accused around the time of the incident. When the union Unite made it clear that Mr Morris had a conflict of interest because he was likely to be a witness 'involved in the investigation' in one of the allegations against the Safety Representative under investigation, Ms. Skinner dismissed this as being irrelevant. The Regional Officer of Unite asked that both the banning of Mr. Bamford and the union's misgivings about the presence of Mr. Morris be minuted.

Does this represent a perversion of the course of justice by Ms. Skinner on behalf of the Human Resources Division & Communications at Bury Council?

Trade Union Protest at Ashton Town Hall

2011-12-08T11:27:00.001Z

ON TUESDAY NIGHT, delegates from Tameside Trade Union Council (TUC) and their supporters, including a few blacklisted local electricians, held a protest outside Ashton-under-Lyne Town Hall in Tameside. They were complaining at the failure of the Council Leader, Kieran Quinn, to answer questions from both the Tameside Reporter and the Secretary of Tameside TUC about his role in awarding contracts to Carillion, a global giant accused of being affiliated to firm trading information for money: including the names, national insurance numbers and activities of trade unionists in the British building industry. A local electrician from Denton, Steve Acheson, is one such person who has appeared on this unlawful data base and has been a leading figure in the campaign against this unsavory business described as blacklisting, for which a case is now being prepared by a firm of London solicitors for presentation in the civil courts.

Yesterday's protesters aired their concerns about about the recent transfer of a local authority department of Tameside Estates & Facilities to the private sector under the management of Carillion. This move was at the time of the transfer met with dismay from staff at Tameside Metropolitan Council, who are obviously unaware of the more murky history of Carillion in their recent labour relations, and also to critical comment in the columns of the Tameside Reporter.

Leaflets carrying the Email address of Tameside TUC were distributed at both entrances to the Council Chamber. There was some sympathetic reaction from some of the councillors, and some didn't even realise that Carillion had been linked to a company accused of blacklisting trade unionists. Councillor Quinn, is still presumably a member of the Communications Workers' Union, and who in the past has successfully sought the support of Tameside TUC to support strike pickets of postmen in Greater Manchester, has more recently been accused of arrogance and supercilious behaviour in his dealings with trade unionists and the Trade Union Council.

In reality, it seems that Councillor Quinn since he has donned the robes of high office in the Town Hall following a successful coup against Roy Oldham, now thinks that he can snub his fellow trade unionists shamelessly. He would do well to proceed with more prudence and caution because rumours reaching Northern Voices suggest that he is not so adept as Roy Oldham in covering himself.

Tameside Hospital appoint 'Turnaround Director' costing £1000 per day!

2011-12-07T16:34:00.012Z

The annual Hospital Guide published by Dr.Foster Intelligence, which was released at the end of November, has 'red-flagged' Tameside Hospital for its mortality (death) rate for 2010/11. According to the Guide, the hospital's death rate could be as much as 17% above the average hospital death rate.

Using the 'Summary Hospital-level Mortality Indicator'(SHMI), which measures deaths in hospital and deaths within 30 days of leaving hospital following hospital treatment, Tameside Hospital is ranked the fifth worst in the country for its SHMI.

The report criticises the hospital for its failure to operate on 40% of patients with hip fractures within two days. It also recommends that the hospital cease performing Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms, due to an increased death rate. The hospital was also found to have had 136 deaths following surgery in the same period:

"which could indicate problems with patients developing complications or could raise questions about whether some operations should have taken place at all."

The hosptal's Medical Director, Tariq Mahmood, said that Tameside Hospital took the findings seriously but pointed out that the Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratio (HSMR) of 101.1 for the hospital was well within the normal range. However, the hospital's critics have suggested that the fall in the HSMR at Tameside Hospital, has more to do with the improved recording of clinical data by management than any improvements in patient care.

The Dr. Foster report is the latest in a series of damning judgements made against the hospital this year. In November the local coroner, John Pollard, criticised the hospital for a 'lack of urgency' in the care of a 13 year old boy who died. He also criticised the hospital for its treatment of a seven month old baby who having been discharged from hospital with a diagnosis of a tummy bug, died shortly after, of meningitis.

Although her leadership abilities have been criticised and the hospital given a 'Red Rating' for lack of governance by the official regulator 'Monitor', Christine Green, the C.E.O. of Tameside Hospital, is not the type to brook opposition and she refuses to quit her post.

In a report which was published last year, a senior consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the hospital, Milton Pena, who is also the Chairman of the Senior Medical Staff Committee, wrote of a "culture of bullying and intimidation that pervades the Trust" and of hospital employees being afraid to ask critical questions.

We also understand that in August, Jack Markovic, the assistant head of Human Resources at Tameside Hospital, was escorted off the hospital premises by security staff after having attended a meeting. Despite our own inquiries, we have been unable to ascertain why the hospital took this action against him.

Health campaigner, Paul Broadhurst, from Dukinfield, is well known for his outspoken criticism of the management of Tameside Hospital. A member of the 'Local Involvement Network' (LINk), he writes regularly to his local newspapers. In September, quite unexpectedly, he received a letter from HEMPSONS solicitors in Manchester. The letter stated:

"We have been instructed by Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust who have consulted us as a consequence of your persistent abuse of the hospital's premises to conduct a campaign to discredit and harass those employed in the management of the hospital. You have previously been invited to express any concerns that you have through legitimate channels. We understand that although you had initially taken up this opportunity you have now reverted to your former behaviour which has been captured on CCTV footage and this is totally unacceptable.

When you come to the hospital you do so on license i.e. by virtue of permission granted to you by the hospital to enter their premises. If you persist in using Trust premises to display or distribute your campaign literature or attempt to disrupt the day to day running of the hospital the license granted to you will be withdrawn. You will become a trespasser and we will unfortunately have to take steps to escort you from the premises.

We do hope that such steps will not be necessary and that you will take advantage of the legitimate channels open to you to discuss your opinions or concerns about the way in which the trust is managed. We confirm the Trust do not seek to exclude you from attending the hospital for the purposes of seeking emergency or planned treatment..."

At the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Tameside Hospital which took place in September, Paul Broadhurst thanked Christine Green for the letter he'd received from the hospital solicitor "warning me off". Despite the invitation for Mr. Broadhurst to express his concerns using "legitimate channels", we understand that his e-mails to the hospital now go unanswered as well as his letters.

Although it was announced at the AGM that the hospital had a £1.39 million deficit and had made saving of £4.2 million by August, we understand that earlier this year, the cash-strapped hospital, appointed a 'Turnaround Director' costing in excess of £1000 per day. With consultants now running many NHS hospital's, one does wonder why we need hospital C.E.O.'s like Christine Green, who now receives more in salary £147,000 than the Prime Minister £142,000,(Tameside Advertiser 22 September 2010). Clearly, her enormous salary is not related to performance.

Sparks report on actions today, 7th December

2011-12-07T13:54:00.001Z

Manchester

We are inside the town hall addressing the mp's at the full council meeting as to whythey have awarded the contract of Manchester town hall and library to baileys the blacklisters and one of the party of 7 who wish to impose a 35% pay cut and de skilling of our industry. Please forward to everyone you know.

London

Shut Blackfriars this morning good tear up with rozzers 1 lad nicked. Then bb hq victoria, then grattes victoria. Blackfriars again tonight to stop nightshift going in at 6 pm.

Hartlepool Demonstration

At least 200 and closer to 300 assembled at the Vic Dock entrance to Heerema. Then a march to the Greenland Road entrance of the company.

About 8:30 we decided to march back to our starting point at Vic Dock. Initially the police were unhappy about us marching back on the main road but relented after arguments. Because of the police being argumentative the march accidentally split into two so that we marched in both directions round a roundabout of the main road into Hartlepool. There was a bit of a traffic jam but had the police listened to us in the first place there would not have been any disruption to traffic.

On the way to Vic Dock the police instructed us to march on the pavement but after discussions while marching the police agreed we could march on the road. Then almost at the end of the march the police in display of wanton aggression decided to block our route and started using force to stop us marching any further. One lad was grabbed and manhandled by 2 or 3 cops. Instinctively people went to his rescue and he was released. We then marched through the police lines to our destination about 200 yards further on. Why the police should want to display such gratuitous and reckless behaviour was beyond the belief of everyone.

Then a police sergeant told us that while the demonstration was generally peaceful and good natured the march he said was unlawful and there were he told us some antagonistic elements amongst us.

Heerema has been told that as long as they employ a cowboy outfit like Balfours they will NEVER get industrial peace. We are going to demonstrate at their front door week after week and if need be every day. Indeed if Balfours continues on its reckless union busting adventures we shall be forced to occupy Heerema to have discussions with the management.

Conoco and Corus should not think they are immune to such behaviour either. These employers also will never get industrial peace while they welcome the likes of Balfours.

'Selling England by the Pound' - The rich get richer and the poor get poorer!

2011-12-05T13:38:00.009Z

A recent report by the 'Bertelsmann Foundation', a German think-tank based in Berlin, revealed that one-in-nine people in Britain are now living in poverty.

The report which is based on the latest data from the 'Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD), also says: that there are high levels of earning inequality in the UK; that young people have poor prospects in the labour market; that educational opportunities for children in this country, depend considerably on their social backgrounds.

Other studies into social mobility such as the one published by the Sutton Trust in November, also show that British children's achievement, is more closely linked to parental status than in most developed countries.

Though the language of 'classlessness' may be fashionable nowadays, the social class that one is borne into, seems to determine a persons destiny more today, than it did fifty years ago. Indeed, the front bench of the Con-Dem Government, is packed with multi-millionaires and old boys from the top public schools.

In terms of incomes, there has been a widening of income inequality in the UK over the last three decades. Although GDP has doubled since 1978, only the top 10% have seen their incomes grow at, or above that rate, which has been twice as fast as the median, and four times faster than the bottom 10% of income earners. While incomes for the majority have stagnated or fallen, pay for the rich has soared.

According to the independent "High Pay Commission", Britain's bosses have awarded themselves more than a 4000% pay increase over the past thirty years. Last year, the richest people in Britain, saw their combined fortunes rise by 30% to £333.5 billion.

While the Prime Minister, David Cameron, believes in a scorched earth policy for the poor, cutting benefits and public services and freezing tax credits, there has been a massive shift in wealth & power from the majority in this country to the top 10%. Britain has been dubbed 'Richistan' because it has become home to a global elite of foreign billionaires and multi-millionaires. For the rich living in Britain, there is no recession, no benefit cap, no obligation to work, and in many cases, no taxation, even though the Chancellor George Osborne, tells us "We're all in it together."

Offshore Trusts like Bernie Ecclestone's 'Bambino Holdings' held in his ex-wifes name, allow the rich to avoid paying billions in tax. Deregulation, government handouts and subsidies to the rich, PFI deals, have seen the rise of the corporate welfare state with resources transferred to the rich and the burden of paying off the deficit, shifted onto the shoulders of the most vulnerable, those on low incomes and benefits.

One of Britain's wealthiest men, with an estimated fortune of £500 million, is David Harding a Conservative Party donor who is the C.E.O. of 'Winton Capital', the world's largest hedge fund. Although Winton Capital have made billions of pounds out of the financial crisis through speculation, last month, Harding told the 'Financial Times':

"I am surprised to the degree to which the Treasury and the Financial Services Authority'(FSA), act as lobbying organisations for the financial services industry."

As one of London's biggest speculators, Harding has given qualified support for a European 'Tobin' tax on financial transactions which is supported by Angela Merkel the German chancellor and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams.

Though Cameron's coalition Government oppose this 'Robin Hood Tax' on financial transactions, he nevertheless tried unsuccessfully, to stop an EU directive from becoming law which improved employment rights for agency workers and he now wants to challenge the rules, on the National Minimum Wage(NMW), Statutory Sick Pay(SSP), and the 'Working Time Directive'.

Under a plan put forward by Adrian Beecroft, a Conservative Party donor, the Government also wants to allow some employers to fire workers 'at will', on a whim, with no right of appeal to an employment tribunal. Though some business leaders have been wildly enthusiatic about this return to Victorian values, Nick Clegg, the Con-Dem deputy leader, fears that it will make English workers feel even more insecure about their jobs and will depress consumer confidence even further.

As George Monbiot pointed out in a recent article in 'The Guardian', though Cameron opposes the 'Robin Hood Tax', he does not oppose the EU's 'Common Agricultural Policy'(CAP) which accounts for half of the EU's spending and costs the British taxpayer £3.6 billion a year. According to a Government database, the entire CAP budget of £47 billion a year, is shared between 16,000 people or businesses. Under the CAP, the biggest landowners receive the most support from the State. Earlier this year, a House of Commons committee demanded that the agricultural subsidies under the CAP be sustained. The Government have also demanded that the EEC drop a proposal that would limit the amount a landowner could receive on the grounds that it would impede the 'consolidation of landownings'. In Britain, 69% of the land is owned by 0.6% of the population and it is this group who are the major beneficiaries of the CAP payouts.

According to Monbiot, it is the aristocrats and utility companies who reap the benefits of the CAP. For example, the Vestey family received a subsidy of £1.2 million for their Thurlow estate. Seemingly, the previous owner Edmund Vestey, who died in 2008, was so adept at managing his business affairs that he paid in one year, just £10 in tax. When asked for a comment on his tax contribution, he remarked:

"We're all tax dodgers, aren`t we?"

Blue Plaque Tribute to Ashton hero who died fighting for freedom

2011-12-04T21:31:00.001Z

Friday, 25th, November 2011, saw over fifty turn up to a packed gathering in the atrium between what is now the Tameside Central Library & the Local Studies & Archives Centre in Old Street, Ashton-under-Lyne, close to where James Keogh spent many hours studying world affairs. The event was the result of Tameside Trades Union Council's decision to nominate James Keogh, a local hero who died in the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39, for a Blue Plaque. This plaque is the 80th Blue Plaque awarded in the Borough of Tameside and pays tribute to seven other volunteers who went to fight in Spain in the Spanish Civil War and was reported in the local media including the Manchester Evening News on Monday 28th, November 2011.

Councillor Jackie Lane, Tameside Council's Assistant Executive Member for Heritage & Tourism, declared: 'I am proud that Tameside is recognising their sacrifice, and specifically that of James from Ashton.' Mike Harrison, James Keogh's nephew, spoke about the contribution of James to the fight against Fascism in the 1930's and Brian Bamford, Tameside Trade Union Council's Secretary, addressed the issues contained in the commemorative booklet on James Keogh's correspondence, which was circulated at the event: see reports below. James died in March 1938 at the age of 22, when he was hit by tank fire after his battalion met Italian troops near Calaceite in the Spanish province of Aragón. James, an apprentice tailor, went to fight in Spain in May 1937, after telling his family that he was going for another job in Leeds.

The nomination of James Keogh for a Blue Plaque had been initiated by Tameside TUC, but had been particularly supported by Father Kenneth Leech of Mossley, Charles Jepson of the National Clarion Cycling Club (1895) North Lancs. Union and the International Brigade Memorial Trust in Greater Manchester. A large contingent from James Keogh's family were present as well as the Tameside Civic Mayor; affiliates from Tameside TUC and many local trade unionists attended including several local blacklisted electricians from the Unite union, and a number of libertarians from the Northern Anarchist Network in the North West.

James Keogh's nephew explains why James went to Spain

2011-12-04T21:30:00.000Z

MY name is Michael Harrison and James Keogh was my uncle but I never knew him personally for he was cut down in his prime trying to stem the tide of Fascism. I know him from the stories told by my family and I think to understand him better, we have to cast our minds back to the 1930's.

The Wall Street crash had taken place in October 1929 and in Europe the collapse of the Austrian Bank 'Creditanstalt' in 1931 had turned a recession into a depression. This also resulted in the strengthening of the anti-democratic Fascist and Nazi movement in Austria and Germany. Of course, Benito Mussolini had been in power in Italy since 1922, and then in 1936 fascism raised its ugly head in Spain and both Hitler and Mussolini had pledged support for Franco.

James was 21 year-old in 1936, a young man from a working class family who made a living from tailoring. He wasn't a member of a political party and yet, he and others from the borough set off for Spain a year later to fight Fascism with the International Brigades. It may have seemed like quite an adventure but it wasn't going to be a picnic. So, why would an inconspicuous young man like James join in somebody else's war? I believe that he hated Fascism, having witnessed an Italian Fascist State and then in 1933, Hitler was appointed as Chancellor of Germany. He must have felt it was now time to do his bit to stop the spread of Fascism and preserved democracy in Europe. He was a very confident young man, who wrote home from Spain:

'The Government troops along with the Internationals are going to very soon drive the Fascists out of Spain for good. We have up-to-date tanks, machine guns etc. and a huge airforce that can stand against the enemy.'

He armed himself with knowledge, much of which he obtained at this Library and he grew in confidence. It is, therefore, fitting that the Blue Plaque be placed here. Having taken a great interest in the events of his day, he saw the danger from another European country becoming a Fascist State. He felt that the time for action had arrived but he had to keep his decision quiet from his family, who only found out what he intended to do when they received a postcard from Marseille, where he was to board the ship known as the'Cuidad de Barcelona' (City of Barcelona) was torpedoed and sunk by the Nationalist submarine, 'General Sanjurjo' off the coast of Catalonia near Malgrat. More than a hundred volunteers perished in the attack and the survivors had to swim ashore at Malgrat, where they were offered assistance by local people.

James' war came to an end in March 1938 near the town called Calaceite in Aragón, when his column ran into Italian tanks and troops. I visited Calaceite in 2007 but could not find any graves for the fallen of the International Brigades. There were many British casualties in Spain and their valiant struggle could not prevent Franco from taking power. The rest, as they say, is history.

I see this Blue Plaque as a testimony to the courage of the brave volunteers from this borough and I would hope that it will also serve as a beacon to all, that there are brave men and women who will stand up to defend freedom and democracy, as did so many more when the World War II broke out in 1939. I don't think that we are finished with Fascism and we should be on our guard. Perhaps we should remember what Mussolini had to tell us:

'Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of State and Corporate power.'

James and the other volunteers understood that danger and I am pleased that their sacrifice is now being recognised. I would also like to thank all those who made today possible. Your hard work and your desire to see just recognition for the sacrifice made by others is a credit to you. Although, the Spanish Civil War took place more than 70 years ago, it isn't something that should be confined to the history books, but rather be a reminder of the many dangers that could threaten our way of life. Let this Blue Plaque be another testimony to the bravery of the people of Ashton and the wider borough.

The James Keogh Commemoration

2011-12-04T21:25:00.000Z

Adapted from the speech by Brian Bamford, Tameside TUC's Secretary's speech, given at Tameside Central Library Blue Plaque Event on the 25th, November 2011:

ON this day Ashton's Spanish Civil War hero, James Keogh, the humble son of a local binman, becomes 'A Giant among Pygmies'!

Tameside TUC believes that like Thomas Hardy's 'Drummer Hodge' in the Boer War that James Keogh of Ashton-under-Lyne in the Spanish Civil War was 'Thrown to rest' and lies 'Uncoffined in the ground'. He was left 'just as found' somewhere in the hard hills and mountains in the bitter landscape of Aragón.

As Thomas Hardy might well have said:

'James Keogh's homely Northern breast and brain
Grow to some Southern tree,
And strange eyed constellations reign
His stars eternally.'

I came across the poem of 'Drummer Hodge' on a wet weekend in the English Lakes on a DVD of Alan Bennett's 'The History Boys': in that film the tutor Hector tells his student that before the Boer War that we wouldn't have been aware of the name of 'Drummer Hodge'; he would like millions before him have disappeared off the historical radar as an unknown soldier.

Thus so, it would have been that 'Drummer Hodge' and Jimmy Keogh's names and identities would have been lost forever on some foreign field.

Two years ago in 2009 James Keogh's sister, Clare Jackson, who passionately supported this application, and who sadly died earlier this year, told me that: 'After all these years and now, at last, people are talking about James.'

James Keogh was unaffiliated,
Uncoffined in the ground,
And until this day uncommemorated.
And yet, in Spain he will be forever a part of the 'Memoria Historica': the historical memory.

This booklet, produced by Tameside Trade Union Council is simply a rendering of James Keogh's intervention in the Spanish Civil War. The artist's impression on the front is by The Guardian artist Clifford Harper and he told me that the hills in the background may be seen both as representations of the Pyrenees of the Iberian peninsular where James' died and as the Pennine chain round here where James' was brought up.

Now I'm not a historian, I'm an electrician with a background in sociology and anthropology, but this booklet produced by Tameside TUC that pays tribute to James Keogh on the unveiling of this Blue Plaque is simply a rendering or an impressionistic account of James's intervention in the Spanish Civil War. We should also remember that history itself is not an exact science: it is not an exact science and nor should it pretend to be so.

As one of the students in Alan Bennett's film 'The History Boys' said: 'If I may speak plainly; History is just one fucking thing after another!' So if I may speak honestly this here booklet from Tameside Trade Union Council is merely a narrative, a rendering by me and Mike Harrison of what we see as James Keogh's contribution in the Spanish Civil War. This has been done by basing it on the limited evidence we have in the letters to his Mum and brothers, and the odd newspaper clipping, the information gathered from the Kew Record's Office; the MI5 files and the material of James in the Moscow Archives. It is not going to be the whole truth and nothing but the truth and it is certainly not going to be the last word on James Keogh. Indeed, if owt this is going to be the Genesis; the kick-off; the starting-gun in what promises to be a fascinating piece of research.

Thus, in unveiling this Blue Plaque Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council is leading the way, setting the trend for other towns in Greater Manchester. What we have here in the story of James Keogh is both sublime and ridiculous in the display of the tension between a working-class mother and her son: that is so typical of our North of England culture. It this we can instantly recognise things in our own lives and our own family experiences. The letters herein from James to his mother show a thirst for news from home and a deep love for his family, especially his mother.

Nobody would understand these affections better than a Spaniard and we see something similar in the poems of the Spanish Civil War poet Miguel Hernandez. Miguel Hernandez, who was born in the region of Valencia, worked as a goat herder and was, like James Keogh, mostly self-taught. But unlike James, Hernandez survived the War only to be captured by the soldiers of General Franco. In 1942, Hernandez died in the prison hospital in Alicante, near to what is now the Costa Blanca not far from tourist Benidorm.

Carlos Figueroa of the Spanish trade union the Confederación General del Trabajo, CGT (General Confederation of Labour), sent me and Tameside TUC a few poems especially for this unveiling event. One of these poems was the 'Lullaby of the Onion', which is about the mother and son relationship; it describes the feelings of Miguel Hernandez on hearing that his wife Josephina is only surviving on onions and bread:

'My little boy
was in hunger's cradle.
He was nursed on onion blood.
But your blood is frosted with sugar,
Onion and hunger.'

'I woke up from childhood:
Don't you be, waking up.
For I have a frown:
Keep to your cradle, defending laughter
Feather by feather.'

'Fly away, son, on the double
moon of the breast:
It is saddened by onion,
You are satisfied.
Don't let go.
Don't find out what's happening,
Or what's going on.'

The tragedy of James Keogh and Miguel Hernández is our tragedy, it is the tragedy of growing up and of knowing too much about the world and ultimately dying as a consequence. The others who to our knowledge went to Spain, surviving the war, from this borough include:

Daniel Albert Boon of Taunton Road, Ashton-under-Lyne.
Patrick Brady of Droylsden.
William Aubrey Brown of 60, Victoria Street, Ashton-under-Lyne.
Albert Godwin of Albert Street, Dukinfield, Ashton-under-Lyne.
James Greenwood of Gerard Street, Ashton-under-Lyne.
William Matthews of Lenford Road, Denton.
J. Russell of 25, Oxford Street, Stalybridge.
Dr. Taylor of Hyde, Cheshire.