Sun shines on students and staff at Sussex Uni as we say no to privatisation

Sussex Uni staff and students on campus today protesting against privatisation of support staff. Good to see UNISON, UCU and UNITE stood shoulder to shoulder on this one. Management had scuttled off to a new location whilst the sun shone on the righteous ... These Tory neo liberals are relentless - but we can and must keep fighting them. From Barnet to Brighton, solidarity with all those facing and resisting privatisation in the public sector. Sign their petition here.

Protests against privatisation at Sussex University - Tuesday 22 and Thursday 24

- please spread the word! Staff and students announce protests against University of Sussex privatisation Staff and students at the University of Sussex will be protesting against plans to privatise university's support services next week.  Campus trade unions today (Friday) announced there will be protests on Tuesday (22 May) and Thursday (24 May) at 1pm at the university's library square (see notes for directions).  On both days potential bidders will visit the campus to assess ways they could take over the running of the affected departments. Yesterday (Thursday 17th May) staff and students packed a lunchtime lecture theatre to hear from union reps about management plans to privatise catering, estates and facilities management at Sussex University, transferring 235 workers, more than 10% of the workforce, from university employment to private contractors. Employees from caterers, to cleaners, to academic, administrative and maintenance staff, were furious to hear about proposals that threaten pensions, pay, conditions and job security, not to mention the quality and price of services, including in sensitive areas like security, and health and safety. Students attended and the Students Union joined the three trades unions, Unison, Unite and UCU. Union reps reported that alternatives to outsourcing appear not to have been openly considered and the idea that privatisation can improve quality and reduce costs seems to have been uncritically accepted despite abundant evidence to the contrary. Spokesperson for the three unions, Maureen Winder (Unison branch secretary), said "If staff become employees of a private company their future pension rights and working conditions will change significantly, and we will have a two-tier workforce, as new staff will be employed on different terms and conditions. The plans were sprung upon us with no discussion about finding solutions in-house. The university seems determined to outsource regardless of the impact on quality or future costs, and this is devastating for the whole University community." Sign the petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/save-our-services/ http://tinyurl.com/c7z38eo - directions to library square Statement by the trades unions: http://www.sussex-ucu.org.uk/?q=content/privatisation-estates-facilities-management-and-catering-services Letter from the Students Union to the Vice Chancellor: http://www.sussexstudent.com/news/index.php?page=article&news_id=270243

EXCLUSIVE: UNISON NEC member for Higher Ed reveals all the elected HE Service Group Exec members currently know about the ongoing LGPS negotiations...

Promoting the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC)

I went to an excellent Trade Union Conference for Palestine on Saturday just gone, representing the UNISON NEC. It was organized by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and as I have been invovled in solidarity with Palestine for ten years now, I was proud to go as a delegate for my union. 

We discussed a load of different ways to work together to strengthen what remais the major internaitonal issue of our day and shared a variety of experiences. I emphasised the need to make more prominent the PSC on our own union's websites and to vary our ways of reaching out to members, and not leaving this issue to the union tops - encouraging involvement of the grass roots - so the least I could do is practice what I preach... 

Is your branch affiliated, are you a member? If not, why not?
--
The PSC campaigns for peace & justice for Palestinians, in support of international law and human rights & against all racism. Help us to build a new mass anti Apartheid movement for Palestine.

PSC is an independent, non-governmental and non-party political organisation with members from many communities across Britain, and increasingly throughout the world. PSC represents people in Britain from all faiths and political parties, who have come together to work for peace and justice for the Palestinian people.  PSC is opposed to all forms of racism, including anti-Jewish prejudice and Islamophobia.

Who do we work with?
PSC works with students, faith groups, trade unions and many other campaigning, cultural and political organisations in Britain, Europe and worldwide.

If you are a member of a trade union then please join the campaign and affiliate your region and local branch. if you are a member of a union not on the list of national affiliates above then please encourage your union to affiliate to the Campaign and encourage individual union members to become members of PSC. Please download an invitation to affiliate and an affiliation form. If you would like more information about affiliating to PSC contact us.

Making the case for the Living Wage at national pay talks

Senate House cleaners - don't mess!

After last week's NEC started to get going I went eight flights of stairs to meet with UCEA.for pay talks alongside the UCU, the EIS, UNITE and the GMB.

A key part of our claim this year is a cost of living increase plus catch up for the recent years of pay freeze (effectively a 7% claim) but we are also pushing for a commitment to the Living Wage which I'll focus on here. The formal press release was out this week and is taken up in the Times Higher Ed (we immediately rejected their 0.8% offer).

As Chair of a branch that successfully won our campaign for the Living Wage at London Met, I'm familiar with the arguments so I put the case this time to national employers.

Employers tend to think of their bottom lines first so I referred them to a well documented business case for a Living Wage, developed at Queen Mary's University. Well worth a read.

I also referred to a very a compelling moral case for ending poverty pay on campus, based on a UNISON report into the effects of low pay on UNISON’s members families. Not having time to help children with education should make a VC think twice, surely:

I really regret not being there for my daughter, I was always on split shifts. I think I didn’t push her enough with her education. She never needed for anything but I think I should have helped her on that (p19).

I reminded the employers that just because they might have outsourced their cleaning or catering companies, it doesn't mean they're outside of the campus and they should commit to paying all contracted out staff the Living Wage as well as those few on the bottom of the spinal points.

The question of 'affordability' came up. The obvious answer to that is of course: "If London Met can afford it ...."

Good publicity case: I pointed to the infamous bad press that UCL's Malcolm (not our Malcolm at London Met, the other one) received for not implementing the Living Wage despite rewarding himself a hefty six figure sum himself. How unfortunate those headlines might appear when all those VCs (average salary of £216k) claim not to have enough spare cash to pay the Living Wage.

There is no formal response yet to our claim for The Living Wage. Their Board are meeting this week I believe to discuss it further, so now might be a good time to start a local campaign to pressure your local management to sign up to this commitment and make this real.

Go to the new UNISON / NUS Living Wage website with a campaign tool kit and get stuck in!



When we won the Living Wage at London Met part of our strategy wasn't for the usual negotiating team to argue it with the VC. Instead we arranged a delegation from the cleaners, caterers and security guards to tell the VC what it is like to struggle on the minimum wage in London. Maybe it'd be good for a reserved seat member to join us in future?

There is an argument about whether we can or even should try to get the Living Wage agreed through national negotiations rather than local agreements. Your thoughts on this would be appreciated as it's a subtle argument to be had, especially from an organising perspective.

Let me know how your campaign is going and what sort of response your employer has given you to - I heard a rumour about Sheffield and some movement from South Bank? Talks at Cambridge are ongoing are they? If you want advice or to share your experiences please do get in touch.

Any other ideas on making the employers' realize we need a fair pay rise this year?

#babyban update

Sandinista

Last Friday there was an NEC meeting which I couldn't attend all of due to having national pay talks the same day. I figured I'd be more productive having a go at the employers than having a go at the union leadership.

An official brief report is on line here, and Jon Rogers, NEC for London, has his started his reports here (it's always worth checking in on Jon for his detailed reports - he clearly has a long commute to and from work!). It's hard to keep up with the speed at which the motions are run through to be honest (a bit like hearing a week of debates condensed into half an hour). I cycle to work and since new responsibilities I've had to prioritize other things than updating this blog. 

So I focused on attempting to amend just one small policy - Motion 82 ('Members with parenting responsibilities') - so that nursing mothers aren't excluded from UNISON conferences. Careful readers of this blog will remember a visitor from our branch was recently at HE conference in Brighton last month and not even allowed to attend a fringe meeting, let alone the conference visitors area.

As Jon has accurately reported, one NEC member replied to my proposed amendment (to review arrangements with a view to making our policy more inclusive), that when she had recently been breastfeeding on the conference floor "no-one batted an eyelid"! So there is therefore no need to review our policy, she assured us.

Oh good, I thought, and as Vicki Perrin was backing my amendment I tried to come back in - but before I could the Chair swiftly moved on. Fair enough - not enough hours in the day after all.

I am told that after I had to leave, Jon asked for this to be reviewed before next NEC, so I sincerely hope this will be resolved before National Delegates Conference.

I rushed down the many stairs (from the giddy heights of the 9th floor to the 1st!) just in time for national pay talks ... more to come on that in a separate post.

The 2012 London Palestine Film Festival opens tonight...

The Palestine Film Festival is a fantastic annual event gone form strength to strength, now firmly established in the calender. I just wish I could go again this year - be there if you can. The 2012 London Palestine Film Festival opens tonight... palestinefilm.org LPFF12 opens tonight The 15th London Palestine Film Festival opens today at the Barbican Cinema. View the festival programme here, and read on for OPENING WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS: Saturday, 15:30: Man Without A Cell Phone + Yala to the Moon Man Without a Cell Phone, Sameh Zoabi, 2011 (click image for synopsis) Another chance to catch this year's Festival opener: Sameh Zoabi's debut feature is a quirky comedy that moves deftly between political satire and generational drama. Preceded by Suhel Nafar and Jacqueline Reem Salloum's short Yala to the Moon, in which young Aseel remakes the world around her using only her imagination... and some nifty recycling tricks! Followed by a Q&A with Sameh Zoabi in conversation with film critic Carmen Gray. Read more... Yala to the Moon, Suhel Nafar & Jacqueline Reem Salloum, 2011 (click image for synopsis) BOOK NOW ...............................Saturday, 20:00: Gaza Hospital + Panel: 30 Years Since the Siege of Beirut Gaza Hospital, Marco Pasquini (click image for synopsis) This UK Premiere and panel discussion is co-presented with MAP (Medical Aid for Palestinians) to mark the 30th anniversary of the siege of Beirut. Marco Pasquini's doc uses extraordinary archive footage and penetrating interviews to chronicle the rise and demise of the PLO's pioneering welfare programmes in Lebanon during the late 1970s. The director will be joined by veteran Gaza Hospital surgeon Dr Swee Ang, revolutionary filmmaker Monica Maurer, and MAP's James Denselow. Read more... BOOK NOW ............................... Sunday, 18:15: Five New Short Dramas from the West Bank Flower Seller +Haneen+The Well+First Lesson+Birth Flower Seller, Ihab Jadallah, 2011 (click image for synopsis) This collection of fiction shorts from the West Bank spans film genres, with new works of historic drama (The Well, Ahmad Habash), high-pace thriller (Flower Seller, Ihab Jadallah), comedy (First Lesson, Areen Omari), allegory (Haneen, Ossama Bawardi), and a coming-of-age family story (Birth, Dima Abu Ghoush). Read more... Haneen, Ossama Bawardi (click image for synopsis) The Well, Ahmad Habash (click image for synopsis) BOOK NOW ............................... Sunday, 20:00: British Colonial Film in Palestine, 1917 - 1947 + Panel discussion Script for 1947 British film Portrait of Palestine, detail. (click image for event details) Undoubtedly a highlight of this year's festival, this exclusive selection of official, amateur, and newsreel film from the period of British colonial rule has been especially curated by Francis Gooding of the Colonial Film: Moving Images of the British Empire project. Followed the screenings, several of which are silent and will be accompanied by live commentary, Gooding will deliver a presentation on the making of 1947 British Colonial Office film, Portrait of Palestine. This will be followed by a panel discussion on moving images of the British colonial period in Palestine, chaired by historian Mezna Qato and with the participation of curator and art historian Francis Gooding, filmmaker Kamal Aljafari, historian Ilan Pappe, and visual anthropologist Christopher Pinney. Read more... BOOK NOW PFF on Facebook @LondonPFF Forward to a Friend Lacan Palestine This Monday... Don't miss Monday's UK Premiere of Mike Hoolboom's psychoanalytic-celluloid voyage into an inner space called "Palestine". NOTE: Due to circumstances beyond our control, the director will no longer be in attendance. BOOK NOW / READ MORE Exhibition Navigations: Palestinian Video Art, 1988-2011 Last week to catch the 2012 exhibition, which comes to an end on Thursday April 26th.  Support the PFF Please support the work of the PFF by making a secure donation through our website or using the Paypal button below. Trailer View festival trailer here Ella Shohat Book Talk, Signing, & Reception Next Thursday, April 26th, at SOAS. Ella Habiba Shohat's seminal work, Israeli Cinema: East/West and the Politics of Representation was heralded by Edward Said as a "tour-de-force" on its initial publication in 1989. Now in a new, updated edition, Shohat will give a talk illustrated by excerpts and followed by a discussion with leading documentary filmmaker Eyal Sivan. This keynote event is free and unticketed, and will be followed by a drinks reception and book signing - read more.  Beyond Palestine The LPFF12 includes two screen events focused on key regional issues "beyond Palestine". This Monday, Syrian blogger and commentator Wassim Al-Adel introduces Hatem Ali's potent cinematic critique of Syria's Assad regime(s), The Long Night (pictured). BOOK NOW Then, on Tuesday, a screening of The Problem: Testimonies of the Saharawi People is followed by an expert panel on the struggle for self-determination in the Western Sahara - "Africa's last colony".  BOOK NOW Funding and programme partners of the 2012 London Palestine Film Festival Copyright © 2012 Palestine Film Foundation, All rights reserved.  unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences