Support trade unions and defend and improve public services
Barnet UNISON Statement
Following extensive consultation through our local reps, contacts, survey monkey and a branch meeting the overwhelming decision was that we take strike action alongside our GMB colleagues* on 1 & 2 June.
* GMB are currently balloting their members over the same dispute.
THIS MEANS WE ARE NOT TAKING STRIKE ACTION ON 21 & 22 MAY
Further information about the strike will go out shortly.
Barnet Trades Council commissioned Tim Sanders (cartoonist) & Hettie Griffiths (Film Editor) to produce this animation to show how Austerity is having an impact on our Public Services
THIS SATURDAY, 12 NOON (May 16): Volunteers needed for stall in Camden promoting No More Austerity demo // Weekly stalls until June 20 – Please help us to put on more!
With the Tories going it alone in government we know exactly what to expect. More nasty, destructive cuts to the things ordinary people care about- the NHS, the welfare state, education and public services. On June 20, the END AUSTERITY NOW demonstration will be assembling in the heart of the City of London right on the doorstep of the very people who created the crisis in the first place, the banks and their friends in Westminster. We demand that the bankers and elite should pay for the crisis and not the vast majority who had nothing to do with it.
Now is the time to get organizing, to mobilize our communities and spread the word. We need to do all that we can to make this demonstration bigger and bolder than ever we have done before. I am therefore writing to see if you can help us build the demo across North London in the coming weeks – our initial weekly stalls schedule is below & with your help we will be continually adding to it over the coming weeks:
THIS Saturday May 16, noon::
Saturday May 23:
Saturday May 30:
Saturday June 6:
Saturday June 13:
If you can help on any of these dates please reply to this email address and the contact below. Additionally, if you can set up additional leafleting sessions in your area please let us know and we will help you get materials and additional volunteers.
Best wishes,
Matt Willgress, North London People’s Assembly.
PS: Remember to invite your friends to the June 20 demo on Facebook here
Saturday the 9th of May was a wonderful uplifting celebration and coming together of diverse Community Groups in Barnet with one common goal, Save Barnet Libraries.
Special mention should go to:
London Metropolitan Brass for helping to provide the party atmosphere with terrific music.
Barnet Alliance for Public Services, stalwart community activists.
Keith Nason,Barnet NUT, for supplying a wonderful vintage double decker bus
And John Burgess, Barnet Unison LG, for inspiration, organization, energy and drive.
Barnet UNISON Press Release: 9 April 2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Barnet UNISON issue proposed timetable for strike action over a six week period
Yesterday 87% of UNISON members working for Barnet “easyCouncil” voted YES to strike action.
The Trades Dispute with London Borough of Barnet is over staff remaining in employment with Barnet Council.
The proposed strike timetable is as follows:
UNISON Branch Secretary John Burgess said: We had a meeting today with our reps and everyone agreed that one day strikes are a waste of time. The implications of no longer working for the Council are a serious concern for our members, who read almost on a daily basis news of outsourced staff facing redundancies and attacks to their Terms & Conditions. One of our members has written and produced a campaign music video called “The easyCouncil Loco-motion” which pretty sums up how our members feel at the moment take a look here https://youtu.be/Wi0bdgofsmM
Notes to Editors.
Contact details: John Burgess Barnet UNISON on 07738389569 or 0208 359 2088 or email: john.burgess@barnetunison.org.uk
Background:
“But there is an alternative to this failed economic model. Firstly, we need to address the chronic imbalance between capital and labour. Living wage week, which starts on Monday, should provide a stark reminder that in low-pay Britain one in five workers earns less than the living wage. We need a concerted effort to raise workers’ wages, from encouraging employers to pay the living wage to introducing new wage councils. And of course we need more of the most effective way of all to boost pay – collective bargaining.” (Frances O Grady November 4th, 2013)
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