Keep UEL Catering In House

Why This Is Important

Save UEL Catering Staff

The Staff of UEL Catering Services are in grave danger. Rumours have been circulating for a while that UEL catering were about to be outsourced. A Draft report published in December recommends this approach.

However, the report does have some good points –it commends the dedication and performance of the staff and complains about the lack of strategic direction of the UEL Management

The University are playing their cards close to their chest, probably to avoid the sort of outcry that might spoil the Olympic party. The outsourcing threat is clearly their way of making savings at a time when they are spending money on big projects like the Sports Dock; the Stratford library and the University Square. Sometime soon they will realize that they will require staff to make these buildings work.

Please support the staff by joining this campaign

Sean Taylor - Stand Up

The song is called 'Stand Up' and the video was put together by Colm McCarthy. It is from my forthcoming album 'Love Against Death'. This song is dedicated to the anti-cuts and Occupy Movements all over the world. The 99%.

Venezuela 2012 – how social progress and democracy are transforming a nation

EVENT: Venezuela 2012: How Social Progress & Democracy are Transforming a Nation Monday March 5, 7-9pm, at Portcullis House, Parliament, SW1A 2LW (Westminster Tube.) RSVP to info@venezuelasolidarity.co.uk essential for room details and to confirm your place. With special guests from Venezuela and other leading speakers including: • Sandra Angeleri, writer, 'Women Weaving the Dream of the Revolution in the American Continent' & Professor, Universidad Central de Venezuela • Samuel Moncada, Venezuelan Ambassador, former Minister of Higher Education in President Chávez's government • Jeremy Corbyn MP, Vice-Chair, APPG on Latin America • Colin Burgon, Labour Friends of Venezuela • Dr Francisco Dominguez, Centre for Latin American Studies, Middlesex University Following decades of US backed dictatorships and then failed IMF economic policies, recent years have seen much of Latin America transformed into a beacon for social progress. Progressive governments have matched economic growth with social inclusion and a widening of democratic participation. Venezuela has been at the forefront of this progressive change. The government of Hugo Chavez has won more elections than nearly any other government in the world as a result of social policies to drastically reduce poverty and inequality, eradicate illiteracy and provide free healthcare by sharing the nation's oil wealth. Venezuelans will once again go to the polls this October in a Presidential election that will see a clear choice between the continuation of this social progress and a right-wing opposition which will undermine many of these progressive social changes. Remember to RSVP to info@venezuelasolidarity.co.uk for room details and to confirm your place at this event Organised by the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign – www.venezuelasolidarity.co.uk

N30 and after: was that it? A debate on the public sector strikes Gregor Gall analyses the 30 November strikes. With a response by Heather Wakefield 30 November in Lancashire. Photo: Andy O'Donnell Was that it? Well, maybe. While France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain have been rocked by numerous general and public sector-wide strikes over the past few years, in Britain we have had just the two one-day strikes over pensions reform, on 30 June and 30 November last year. Apart from these, large-scale resistance to job losses, pay freezes and cuts in services has been notable by its absence. Slogans such as 'We won't pay for their crisis' ring hollow; the reality is that 'we' are paying for their crisis and 'they' are getting away with it. Punching above its weight All of this may be true, but it is also the case that N30 packed a punch well in excess of its weight as a one-day strike. In this sense, it was far more of a protest than an orthodox strike – and not just because it was only a day long. Any strike in the public sector is necessarily more of a political action because the government is the ultimate employer and it responds to political pressure, as opposed to the pressure of a strike as an economic action against a profit-seeking organisation in the private sector. ... To read the rest and think about subscribing to Red Pepper - they now do a trade union subscription rate - go here: http://www.redpepper.org.uk/n30-and-after-was-that-it/

UNISON at the University of Sheffield Condemn final pension decision and vote to campaign for membership of SAUL

University of Sheffield UNISON Branch  UNISON at the University of Sheffield Condemn final pension decision and vote to campaign for membership of SAUL. The executive committee University of Sheffield branch of UNISON voted unanimously to continue opposition to the university's cash balance pension scheme and ask that the option of moving the pensions of workers from grades 1-5 into the Superannuation Arrangement of the University of London (SAUL) be looked again again. This stance was endorsed by a joint meeting with both UNISON and Unite members.  The feeling was that the university's executives are using the currently economic climate to make an attack on low paid workers.  While pay and benefits for the higher paid continue to increase, symptomatic of this is the Vice Chancellors 6% pay rise.   Stuart Anderson UNISON branch Secretary said: "For the Vice Chancellor of Sheffield University to get a pay rise of 6% taking his total remuneration to over £311k, more than 20 times the pay of the lowest university worker, in the same year that the university effectively tore up many people's retirement plans is obscene and a slap in the face for ordinary workers. By closing the University of Sheffield Pension scheme and allowing workers to join SAUL, the university would live up to the promises made to staff when they came to work at the university, of a decent pension." Stuart added "This 6% rise in these times will go down like a bucket of cold sick with our members, it is morally irresponsible and more becoming of the obscene bankers bonuses and greedy CEO's than the actions of a leader of a civic institution like the University of Sheffield." Notes for Editors SAUL would give us benefits similar to the ones taken away from the University of Sheffield Pension Scheme and would accept University of Sheffield staff into it.  SAUL started by the University of London in 1976 now has members from over 50 universities.  Contact Information: Stuart Anderson Steve Torrance  UNISON branch Secretary UNISON Regional Organiser  Stuartsevisanderson@gmail.com S.Torrance@unison.co.uk 07889 337081 07866 115729

Unemployed & retired members - support welcome

Rule 2.4.2:

"Unemployed members shall be entitled to attend branch meetings and to vote on issues not relating to pay and conditions of members in employment. They are not entitled to hold office in the union unless otherwise decided by the National Executive Council."

Similarly, on retired members, the UNISON rule book is clear:

Rule 2.6.2:

Retired members shall be entitled to attend branch meetings and to vote on issues not relating to the pay and conditions of members in employment. They will be entitled to stand for office and vote only for positions in the Retired Members’ Organisation unless otherwise determined by the National Executive Council or as otherwise provided for in these Rules.

At the D&O last week we discussed some proposed amendments to the retired members issues. It was agreed that retired members' input - (eg as Pensions contacts or as activists who can help the union but not hold office) - was very welcome.

Some trade union activists, when they retire, cling on to power and won't move on. That's why UNISON's rules are there - to stop them doing this.

As a member on the NEC I am elected by my peers who also work in Higher Ed as support staff and are full members of the same union. If I was unemployed or retired - if I took a redundancy package for example - then I would no longer have the same interests as my constituents, as my material conditions no longer bare any relation to those workers I'd supposed to be representing.

Regardless of my gut instincts about what the members might want or feel about one issue or another, I would no longer be in a position to know, as my own position would be fundamentally different to them. So I'm glad that the D&O disagreed with some proposed rule amendments which could have eroded that principle.

I'm all for supporters helping out, and am always thankful that retired members should wish to lend a hand in some way, but they should accept our rules and bow out gracefully, as the vast majority of them do. For those that don't - it's embarrassing to have to ask, isn't it?

Save Downhills School Song - 11/01/12

Inspired.