The rally in Stoke on Wednesday was a great success with an impressive turn out and inspirational speakers, including Jason Hill, the Secretary of the North Staffordshire Trades Union Council (NSTUC). He proudly proclaimed that the National Day of Action was the “biggest display of Trade Union solidarity I have seen in my 30 years as a Trade Unionist” and encouraged unions in the crowd to affliliate to the NSTUC.
Below is a selection of photos from the day. More will be added as they come in.
Speakers have now been confirmed for tomorrow’s rally in Stoke. This is such an important issue, so please come along with banners and placards to demonstrate against the injustice of these attacks on pensions and call for proper negotiations.
This week’s meeting of the North Staffs Trades Union Council is an open meeting in order to plan for the 30th November, when many public sector workers will strike against the current attacks on pensions unless the government reconsiders its approach.
The meeting will be held on WEDNESDAY 12th October at 7pm at the Midland No 7 Branch, CWU Union, Lindsay Street, Hanley, ST1 4EP.
With the Chainmaker’s Festival on Saturday and the TUC March for the Alternative at the Lib Dem conference on Sunday, it’s set to be a busy weekend for trade unionists in the Midlands.
For Sunday’s March, assemble at 11 am on Granville Street B1 1JW
Speakers include: Frances O’Grady, Deputy General Secrtary of the TUC, Billy Hayes CWU, Mark Serwotka PCS, Christine Blower NUT, Paul Kenny GMB
Look out for the NSTUC banner!
Last Saturday, NSTUC members travelled down to the London rally against the English Defence League with colleagues from the North Staffs Campaign Against Racism and Fascism (NorSCARF) and North Staffs Against Cuts (NSAC). You can read all about it on the NorSCARF blog and the UAF website. It is crucial that there is a good North Staffs trades union presence at these important rallies and there are many key events before Christmas that you can get involved in.
First up and close to home is the next public meeting of NSAC. This will take place on Monday (12th) at the CND Peace Centre which is in the Burslem School of Art on Queen Street in Burslem. Areas for discussion are detailed on the NSAC blog, namely organising the March for Stoke and demostrating at the upcoming Lib Dem (18th September) and Tory (2nd October) Party conferences. Remember, if you are interested in transport to these party conferences, please email Simon Halstead on simonhalstead@btinternet.com.
There will be a March for the Alternative in Birmingham on Sunday 18th to welcome the Lib Dems to town and you can download a leaflet here. The North West TUC will also be holding a March for the Alternative in Manchester on Sunday 2nd October to protest outside the Tory Party Conference - see http://www.tuc.org.uk/economy/tuc-19921-f0.cfm?regional=5
Another regional event of interest is the Women Chainmakers’ Festival. The day has been moved this year to Cradley Heath, which is where the workers went on strike in 1910 for their right to a minimum wage. Tickets are available from Midlands TUC (£5 for adults/ 16 and under free) – contact 0121 262 6383 or midlands@tuc.org.uk
And finally, please show solidarity with your trades council by following us on twitter at http://twitter.com/nstuc
After a rather lengthy hiatus, the North Staffs Trades Union Council blog is back in action.
Firstly, just a quick recap on who we are. The NSTUC is the collective organisation for trades unions in North Staffordshire, and is made up of local TU branches who nominate delegates to represent them at our meetings. We have a website and Facebook page and we have joined twitter today, so follow us @nstuc and tweet anything interesting that you’d like us to send out to the twitterverse!
The main focus of NSTUC work right now centres on the cuts to jobs and public services, and fighting fascism. So this blog post will set out some of the upcoming local and national 
opportunities to show solidarity.
First up, we will be arranging transport to the Lib Dem (Sun 18th September) and Tory (Sun 2nd October) Party conferences, so please email Simon Halstead on simonhalstead@btinternet.com to reserve your space on the coach. It is vital that we send a strong contingent from the region and demonstrate our resistance to the ConDem cuts at these important conferences. For more details, have a look at Right to Work‘s site.
NSTUC members will also be going down to Tower Hamlets to demonstrate against the English Defence League on Saturday 3 September. This protest has been organised by United Against Facism. We’ll update this post with a local contact for transport a bit later, but tickets are £6 concessions/ £12 standard, with the coach setting off at 8am from Stoke.
NSTUC is working with its colleagues in North Staffs Against Cuts (NSAC) to organise the March for Stoke. Provisionally this has been set for Sat 26th November, but will be confirmed in due course. NSAC are in the process of inviting speakers and bands, so if you have any good ideas for this, do get in touch through leaving a reply on this blog or theirs.
Something else to do is to sign the petition against Remploy closures. Remploy transform the lives of disabled people and those experiencing complex barriers to work by providing sustainable employment opportunities. All 54 Remploy factories are under threat of closure when current public funding ends in April 2013. You can find out more on the GMB‘s site and sign the petition at www.saveremployfactories.co.uk NSAC and NSTUC are looking at how we can support this cause further and will post here when we have more details.
Tonight’s meeting of North Staffs TUC decided to back this initiative of the National Shop Stewards’ Network. With a national campaign against the cuts launched and trades councils making the running in many localities, it’s time the TUC nationally took more responsibility for organising the resistance too. To this end, the NSSN is distributing a leaflet (text below) calling for a lobby of the TUC General Council on Sunday 12th September at 12 noon outside the Manchester Central Convention Complex. North Staffs TUC will be organising transport – if you’re local and interested please get in touch via the website. If you’re from outside the region but would like to know what the transport facilities are from your area, get in touch with the NSSN here.
TUC Must Call Demo
The Coalition government dominated by millionaires is driving a juggernaut over workers’ lives. They announce one lot of cuts after another. 25% becomes 40% cuts. Some schools could be privatised by September. The NHS is made ready for greedy private profiteers. Meanwhile profits keep rolling in for the banks and the rich. With each vicious attack on living standards workers ask what our trade unions are going to do about these threats. Unfortunately so far the TUC general council has been ominously quiet.
It’s time to break the silence. We cannot wait any longer – otherwise the government will draw the conclusion that we are buying into their idea of long-term poverty wages, unemployment and reduced pensions – and start piling on more cuts. We need a national demonstration to kick-start a mass campaign to stop this government in its tracks.
A national demonstration would serve two purposes. It would signal to the government that the organised unions will put up resistance; and it would act as a beacon to all workers that a fightback has begun.
• Demand that the TUC calls a national demonstration against the ConDem government’s vicious cuts!
• Join the lobby of the TUC General Council: 12:00noon, Sunday 12th September, Manchester Central Convention Complex
• Come to the NSSN Fringe Meeting at the TUC: 5:30pm, Wednesday 15th September, Friends Meeting House, Mount Street, Manchester (5 mins walk from conference venue).
Speakers include Bob Crow, RMT general secretary
Fight ConDem Cuts!
Hundreds of trade unionists, along with unemployed and retired workers, community campaigners and young people, attended the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) Conference in June just a few days after the Coalition budget was announced; the following statement was put as a guide to action:
“800,000 public sector jobs to go; child benefits frozen and housing benefit cut; pay frozen for three years; VAT increased to 20%.
No matter how they try to dress it up as “fair” and “progressive” this is a massive attack on the working class by the rich. These cuts will axe jobs and reduce services. Cuts will impact upon the lives of millions of ordinary people in every community and workplace up and down the country.
We say the working class should not accept these cuts, and we the NSSN will organise to assist in the fightback.
The working class should not and will not pay for a crisis caused by the bankers and the capitalist system.”
We appeal for maximum unity in defence of the public sector and support the PCS call for a national demonstration on October 23rd, supported by CWU and NUT, and further endorsed by general secretaries of FBU. BFAWU, NAPO, NUJ, POA, RMT, and URTU.
However, the General Council has so far not gone for this initiative. Instead it has proposed a week of activities around the Comprehensive Spending Review including a lobby of parliament on 20th October. Whilst the NSSN will do everything to help make these events successful and lively, they are just not enough!
We need a national demo in London on a Saturday with all TUC affiliates giving it top priority.
A national demo could set the tone for a one-day public sector strike, marking the beginning of a serious fightback against these vicious cuts.
We urge trades unionists and campaigners everywhere to lobby the General Council with us at the start of TUC in Manchester Convention Centre on Sunday 12th September at 12 noon.
Say no to the cuts!
The next public meeting of North Staffs Trades Union Council will be held at the Hope Centre, in Garth Street, Hanley at 7pm on August 18th
Speakers include:
Jason Hill (N Staffs TUC President)
Neil Singh (Communication Workers’ Union)
Tony Conway (Public and Commercial Services union)
Liat Norris (Youth Fight for Jobs)
Andy Bentley (UCU)
Chris Bambery (Right to Work)
All welcome.
NORTH STAFFS TUC PUBLIC MEETING
WEDNESDAY 18 AUGUST – 7pm
HOPE CENTRE, GARTH STREET, HANLEY
STOKE-ON-TRENT ST1 2DA
ALL WELCOME
There will be speakers and plenty of time for discussion.
