The Cityclean workers have suspended their action after appearing to win most of their demands. If that is the case it is a welcome victory. However the action is only suspended and it looks like there is weeks of negotiation ahead. Given the way the council's negotiating position constantly shifts over this issue, nothing should be taken for granted. We also don't know what the employer's expectations are around the issue of productivity.
But for now, it looks like the Council has backed down in the face of solid and determined action which had clear popular support.
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
Monday, 9 November 2009
Stop Cissbury Sell Off
Stop Cissbury Sell Off
Our website has a map of the for-sale Downland: http://www.scso.co.uk/
PROTEST EVENT
against the proposed selling of Worthing Council-owned Downland around Cissbury Ring
MEET AT COOMBE RISE CAR PARK, FINDON VALLEY
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14th, 11.00am
Speakers include: Kate Ashbrook, redoubtable Director of the Open Spaces Society, & Marion Shoard, countryside author & national campaigner.
Press and TV will be there, so we need maximum turn-out to demonstrate our opposition to the loss of this public landscape.
We will walk up onto the for-sale land and hold a short meeting.
Bring the family and all your friends, and anything to make a show – banners, placards, balloons…..
For those who have time we will then take a walk across Mount Carvey, Cissbury Ring and back down Tenants Hill to view the for-sale Downland and talk through how we wish to see it improved under Worthing’s ownership.
The walk will be around 4.5 miles, but folk who do not wish to walk the whole way can easily return at several points.
The walk will cross a Council-owned field that has a statutory right of public access but has been closed to the public, contrary to the law, for the last 4 years.
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Contact: Chris Hare, Tel. 01903 200 648, chrisharex@yahoo.co.uk; Barry Winter, Tel: 01903 263 038, bam@cisfort.fsnet.co.uk; Dave Bangs, Tel. 01273 620 815, dave.bangs@virgin.net.
From: David Bangs, 78 Ewhurst Road, Brighton, BN2 4AJ, Tel: 01273 620 815 dave.bangs@virgin.net
Our website has a map of the for-sale Downland: http://www.scso.co.uk/
PROTEST EVENT
against the proposed selling of Worthing Council-owned Downland around Cissbury Ring
MEET AT COOMBE RISE CAR PARK, FINDON VALLEY
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14th, 11.00am
Speakers include: Kate Ashbrook, redoubtable Director of the Open Spaces Society, & Marion Shoard, countryside author & national campaigner.
Press and TV will be there, so we need maximum turn-out to demonstrate our opposition to the loss of this public landscape.
We will walk up onto the for-sale land and hold a short meeting.
Bring the family and all your friends, and anything to make a show – banners, placards, balloons…..
For those who have time we will then take a walk across Mount Carvey, Cissbury Ring and back down Tenants Hill to view the for-sale Downland and talk through how we wish to see it improved under Worthing’s ownership.
The walk will be around 4.5 miles, but folk who do not wish to walk the whole way can easily return at several points.
The walk will cross a Council-owned field that has a statutory right of public access but has been closed to the public, contrary to the law, for the last 4 years.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Contact: Chris Hare, Tel. 01903 200 648, chrisharex@yahoo.co.uk; Barry Winter, Tel: 01903 263 038, bam@cisfort.fsnet.co.uk; Dave Bangs, Tel. 01273 620 815, dave.bangs@virgin.net.
From: David Bangs, 78 Ewhurst Road, Brighton, BN2 4AJ, Tel: 01273 620 815 dave.bangs@virgin.net
02 / 11 / 2009
Stop Worthing selling off its Downs !!
Worthing Council must stop the sale of its Cissbury Downland forthwith. The decision to sell was made without public consultation, or, indeed, public knowledge.
Worthing folk will not to take kindly to the loss of their present informal right to roam over the fields and little woods which Worthing has just put up for sale.
This is a potentially disastrous repeat of the mistake which was made 15 years ago by Brighton Council, when it covertly decided to flog off its Downland. Thankfully, a sharp local campaign reversed that decision, and Brighton is at last making real public improvements to its Downland.
Worthing Council Leader Paul Yallop is plain wrong to imply that the Council has a ‘duty to the taxpayer’ to sell its landholding around Cissbury Ring.
To the contrary, they have a public duty to enhance this landscape as one of the core green spaces available to their residents, in a town which is relatively poorly endowed with urban green space.
The Cissbury Ring landscape is, to Worthing, what council-owned Beachy Head is to Eastbourne, and what Stanmer Park is to Brighton. It is Worthing’s own ‘green lung’.
The solution is ready and waiting for Worthing to take up. There is ample money available for future Downland management via ‘Higher Level Stewardship’ funding, which is now available to local councils as well as private farmers and landowners. Furthermore, there are other targetted funding sources to tackle a project of Downland enhancement.
If Worthing Council does not feel it any longer has the in-house expertise to plan such a project they need not worry. There will be ample expertise available from the forthcoming National Park Authority (underway in less than a year) and, in the meantime, staff of the South Downs Joint Committee, of which Cllr Yallop is a new member, are available for support. Furthermore, the National Trust, who own Cissbury Ring itself, have a direct interest in partnership working with the Council to undertake enhancement of this landscape.
There is a real doubt over whether much of the special old Down pasture wildlife of Cissbury Ring can survive in the long term unless its ancient chalk grassland can be restored in this wider landscape. The Ring is, at present, just a ‘precious fragment’ surrounded by a sea of farmland which has been stripped of its ancient flowery pastures. This Downscape urgently needs a project of enhancement on behalf of local people.
Come on Worthing, no unnecessary fights, please ! Don’t sell this Downland. Improve it, instead !!
Dave Bangs
Stop Worthing selling off its Downs !!
Worthing Council must stop the sale of its Cissbury Downland forthwith. The decision to sell was made without public consultation, or, indeed, public knowledge.
Worthing folk will not to take kindly to the loss of their present informal right to roam over the fields and little woods which Worthing has just put up for sale.
This is a potentially disastrous repeat of the mistake which was made 15 years ago by Brighton Council, when it covertly decided to flog off its Downland. Thankfully, a sharp local campaign reversed that decision, and Brighton is at last making real public improvements to its Downland.
Worthing Council Leader Paul Yallop is plain wrong to imply that the Council has a ‘duty to the taxpayer’ to sell its landholding around Cissbury Ring.
To the contrary, they have a public duty to enhance this landscape as one of the core green spaces available to their residents, in a town which is relatively poorly endowed with urban green space.
The Cissbury Ring landscape is, to Worthing, what council-owned Beachy Head is to Eastbourne, and what Stanmer Park is to Brighton. It is Worthing’s own ‘green lung’.
The solution is ready and waiting for Worthing to take up. There is ample money available for future Downland management via ‘Higher Level Stewardship’ funding, which is now available to local councils as well as private farmers and landowners. Furthermore, there are other targetted funding sources to tackle a project of Downland enhancement.
If Worthing Council does not feel it any longer has the in-house expertise to plan such a project they need not worry. There will be ample expertise available from the forthcoming National Park Authority (underway in less than a year) and, in the meantime, staff of the South Downs Joint Committee, of which Cllr Yallop is a new member, are available for support. Furthermore, the National Trust, who own Cissbury Ring itself, have a direct interest in partnership working with the Council to undertake enhancement of this landscape.
There is a real doubt over whether much of the special old Down pasture wildlife of Cissbury Ring can survive in the long term unless its ancient chalk grassland can be restored in this wider landscape. The Ring is, at present, just a ‘precious fragment’ surrounded by a sea of farmland which has been stripped of its ancient flowery pastures. This Downscape urgently needs a project of enhancement on behalf of local people.
Come on Worthing, no unnecessary fights, please ! Don’t sell this Downland. Improve it, instead !!
Dave Bangs
Unite to stop the pay cuts!
Unison in Brighton and Hove is fully in support of our GMB comrades who start a week's strike action tomorrow at Cityclean. Unison members face the same attacks themselves. In fact when the full impact of the council's proposals is known, we will have more members affected.
But there is a danger that workers will end up squabbling with each other about who does the most difficult and worthwhile jobs. There have been signs of this on the Argus online discussions.
We need to be saying that a the work of the (mainly but not exclusively male) Cityclean workers is just as important as the work of (mainly but not exclusively female) teaching assistants. The people of the city rely on both of these groups of workers We also need to reject the employers' constant depiction of certain jobs as "unskilled".
Equal pay legislation was meant to lift low-paid women workers up to a decent level of pay, but instead the employers are using it to level downwards - a complete perversion of the law's intent.
This the fight we need to be having.
UPDATE Monday - the strike is solid and the depot was heavily picketed today. We will see whether the Council will start to negotiate sensibly.
But there is a danger that workers will end up squabbling with each other about who does the most difficult and worthwhile jobs. There have been signs of this on the Argus online discussions.
We need to be saying that a the work of the (mainly but not exclusively male) Cityclean workers is just as important as the work of (mainly but not exclusively female) teaching assistants. The people of the city rely on both of these groups of workers We also need to reject the employers' constant depiction of certain jobs as "unskilled".
Equal pay legislation was meant to lift low-paid women workers up to a decent level of pay, but instead the employers are using it to level downwards - a complete perversion of the law's intent.
This the fight we need to be having.
UPDATE Monday - the strike is solid and the depot was heavily picketed today. We will see whether the Council will start to negotiate sensibly.
Thursday, 5 November 2009
Vietnamistan
A country is occupying another country, supposedly because of some imagined threat.
Unsurprisingly inhabitants of occupied country have no inclination to accept foreign occupation and fight against it by any means they can.
As part of it's "strategy" the occupying force shores up a corrupt government which is brought to power in rigged elections. Said government's own abuses of human rights are just as bad as those which they claim to be against.
The occupying force is hopelessly bogged down, less and less wanted by the local population, and ends being stuck there for years.
The parallels are quite strong aren't they?
There's one more parallel - after years (and nearly 60,000 deaths of their own and untold millions of Vietnamese and Cambodians), the Americans negotiated a settlement and a withdrawal with people they previously called "terrorists".
Do we have wait that long and shed that much blood before we start that process in Afghanistan?
Unsurprisingly inhabitants of occupied country have no inclination to accept foreign occupation and fight against it by any means they can.
As part of it's "strategy" the occupying force shores up a corrupt government which is brought to power in rigged elections. Said government's own abuses of human rights are just as bad as those which they claim to be against.
The occupying force is hopelessly bogged down, less and less wanted by the local population, and ends being stuck there for years.
The parallels are quite strong aren't they?
There's one more parallel - after years (and nearly 60,000 deaths of their own and untold millions of Vietnamese and Cambodians), the Americans negotiated a settlement and a withdrawal with people they previously called "terrorists".
Do we have wait that long and shed that much blood before we start that process in Afghanistan?
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
The crisis in working class political representation
The RMT is hosting a conference in London on the urgent question of how the interests of working people can be represented politically. It is significant that a trade union is offically organising and sponsoring the event.
11am to 3pm
Camden Centre
Bidborough Street
London WC1
download flyer (pdf file 4mb)
The working class is being asked to pay for a crisis created by capitalism with more attacks on jobs, pay and conditions, cuts to services and a new round of privatisation.
This RMT-convened conference will be non-binding and non-resolution based, to discuss with like-minded socialists and trade unionists how best we can defend and promote working class interests.
The conference will seek to analyse the current crisis in working class political representation and then discuss the options for fighting back.
Open to all but please register in advance. To register please email: info@rmt.org.uk, or write to: RMT, Unity House, 39 Chalton Street, London, NW1 1JD. Free Creche provided but please also book using the above contact details.
Speakers
Susan Press, Vice Chair Labour Representation Committee
Brian Caton, POA General Secretary
Jeremy Corbyn, Labour MP
Bob Crow, RMT General Secretary
John Foster, No2EU: Yes to Democracy
Joe Higgins, Socialist Party MEP
Dave Ward, CWU Deputy General Secretary
Matt Wrack, FBU General Secretary
11am to 3pm
Camden Centre
Bidborough Street
London WC1
download flyer (pdf file 4mb)
The working class is being asked to pay for a crisis created by capitalism with more attacks on jobs, pay and conditions, cuts to services and a new round of privatisation.
This RMT-convened conference will be non-binding and non-resolution based, to discuss with like-minded socialists and trade unionists how best we can defend and promote working class interests.
The conference will seek to analyse the current crisis in working class political representation and then discuss the options for fighting back.
Open to all but please register in advance. To register please email: info@rmt.org.uk, or write to: RMT, Unity House, 39 Chalton Street, London, NW1 1JD. Free Creche provided but please also book using the above contact details.
Speakers
Susan Press, Vice Chair Labour Representation Committee
Brian Caton, POA General Secretary
Jeremy Corbyn, Labour MP
Bob Crow, RMT General Secretary
John Foster, No2EU: Yes to Democracy
Joe Higgins, Socialist Party MEP
Dave Ward, CWU Deputy General Secretary
Matt Wrack, FBU General Secretary
On strike against the cuts - local workers speak out
After last years banking crisis,Britain's politicians warned us that we would all have to pay for the bail out of the banks.The forthcoming election seems to be a competition between the main parties about who will cut jobs,services and pensions the most.
Three groups of workers in Brighton and Hove have already been told that they must help pay for the mess the government and banks have got the country into. But they have also said that they are not prepared to pay with their jobs,pay and working conditions.
They are all taking or planning strike action to defend themselves and public services
Come along to hear their story,be inspired,and find out what you can do to help.
PUBLIC MEETING 7.30pm TUES 17th NOVEMBER
BRIGHTHELM CENTRE
(Queens Rd,5 mins South Brighton station)
SPEAKERS Union representatives from 3 disputes
* Brighton Royal Mail Delivery Office (CWU)
* Hollingbury Bin Depot (GMB)
* Brighton Housing Trust (Unison)
Each striker will talk for about 10 minutes,leaving plenty of time to ask questions and discuss what we can all do to give help and solidarity
NO PAY CUTS !
DEFEND ALL JOBS !
DEFEND PUBLIC SERVICES !
MEETING ORGANISED BY BRIGHTON AND HOVE UNISON
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