Monthly Archives: July 2016

REJECT the Council accommodation review – STOP the move to Colindale, NO to the £50million squander

PROTEST AT THE COUNCIL MEETING: TUESDAY 26 JULY, 6pm
Hendon Town Hall, The Burroughs, NW4 4AX

Tory Barnet councillors and Capita are planning to move council services from the North London Business Park and Barnet House into a new purpose built accommodation in Colindale.

This will cost Barnet residents  £50 million and no savings are expected for 50 years while Capita, it is believed, will receive a 14% fee!

The council has not fully secured or identified the resources needed to make this work. At time of massive cuts, including making 46% of library staff redundant, this will make cuts to front line services even worse.

This decision for new accommodation will be as dangerous and costly as that to sell off Mill Hill depot when no alternative had been secured. Now vehicles servicing Barnet are to be stationed further away in Harrow and at Abbots Road, creating more traffic and more pollution. The location in Colindale is remote, and the access to it will be as difficult and frustrating as are the Barnet’s call centre and website.

PROTEST AT THIS WASTE OF £50million

REJECT THE ACCOMODATION REVIEW

Protest called by Barnet Trades Council, Barnet UNISON, Barnet Alliance for Public Services, Barnet Momentum.

Statement on Labour Party Leadership Election

Barnet Trades Union Council fully supports Jeremy Corbyn’s candidature in the upcoming Labour Party Leadership Election.

Furthermore

We deplore and condemn the lack of democratic process being exhibited by the Labour NEC in relation to the impending Labour Leadership Election.

Namely:

  1. Disenfranchisement of full Labour party members who have joined the Party since the end of January – even though it was clearly stated upon them joining as new members they would have a vote in any future party elections taking place.

 

This also call into question the legitimacy of any Branch Meetings, CLP All Members Meetings, Annual General Meetings and Local Campaign Forum Meetings which have been convened if new members who joined since the beginning of February had an active role and participated in voting.

 

 

  1. The assertion by the NEC that Supporters of the Labour Party who pay £25 by the 15th of July WILL have a vote in the Leadership Election even though full members of the Party who joined after the end of January will not.

 

This will also disproportionately effect people who will struggle to pay £25 at short notice – the very people who the Labour Party are meant to represent.

 

  1. NEC’s instruction that CLP, Branch and Local Campaign Forum meetings do not take place until after the Leadership Election is completed.

 

‘All normal Party meetings at CLP and Branch level shall be suspended until the completion of the Leadership Election. The only meetings which will be organised while this timetable is in place are:

# Meetings solely for the purpose of making a supporting nomination.

# Campaign planning meetings for by- elections or devolved mayors.

# Any meeting agreed with the explicit permission of the Regional Director [General Secretary]’

This is unacceptable and goes against the Labour tradition of inclusive Democracy.

 

We call upon the NEC and Local Labour Parties to reinstate Democracy in the Labour Party and to overturn these unconstitutional, anti-democratic, usurping of Labour Party rules.

NUT strike on the 5th of July – Rally information

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Location March Assembly Point March Rally Speakers include
London 11.00 BBC,
Portland Place,
London,
W1A 1AA
(map)		 12.00
to Westminster through Central London		 13.30
Parliament Square,
London,
SW1P 3AD
(map)		 Kevin Courtney, Acting General Secretary, NUT, Madeleine Holt, Rescue Our Schools, Aislinn Macklin-Doherty, BMA, John McLoughlin, UNISON LG executive member, Mark Campbell , UCU London Region.

UCU Joint strike action with NUT Tuesday 5th July

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We will be taking our next day of strike action on Tuesday 5th July as part of the ongoing campaign in pursuit of our pay claim to address the 14.5% fall in our wages in real terms since 2009.

The 5th July date has been chosen for maximum impact across London with many HE institutions also on strike that day.

Those of you with school-age children may be aware that the National Union of Teachers will also be taking strike action on the 5th in their separate dispute with their employers.

A more detailed email will follow but the plan for the 5th is that Middlesex University UCU will conduct a “Teach Out” on the Burroughs on the morning of the 5th (the day of the Annual Teaching and Learning Conference at Middlesex). Our “Teach Out” will address the government plans in the White Paper for HE and we will discuss the alternative vision for HE as seen by UCU, the Council to Defend British Universities and other organisations.

We hope to have a speaker from Middlesex Student Union to give us the view of the student body and to tell us about the growing national concerns about the retrospective rise in the interest rate on student loans etc.

There will be other opportunities for creative learning during the morning with interesting options for those of you who might need to bring your children to the “Teach Out”. In the afternoon there is likely to be a pan-London event involving a range of education unions. More detail on this in a later email. You are the UCU.

Do be part of the 5th July – this will be the liveliest picket ever.

Sent on behalf of Middlesex UCU Branch Exec Follow us via social media:

Twitter –  @UCU_MDX

Facebook – UCU Middlesex University

 

Picket Lines 8-12pm on 5th July at the front of the university.