Free bus to Tory Party Conference Demo 3rd October

Preston and South Ribble Trades Council is providing a free bus to the 'Right To Work Demo' at the Tory Party Conference on Sunday 3rd October.

Pick up places and times

8.15 AM Burnley Bus Station(Clock on Croft street)

8.45AM Blackburn Bus Station (Shelter opposite railway station)
9.15 AM Preston Adelphi Roundabout (University foster Building car park).

Arrive Birmingham approx midday return from Birmigham 5.00pm.

If you want to book a place on the coach please contact Mick Mulcahy on 01772 783992 OR 07748083254

Donations welcome to the Preston and South Ribble Trades Council

PCS DWP/CMEC News Catch-up

More than 4,000 trade unionists, including many PCS members, lobbied the Lib Dem conference in Liverpool on Sunday. Public and private sector unions came together to protest at the coalition government’s threatened cuts to public services. PCS reps and members gave out leaflets calling for an end to planned job cuts and instead for savings to be made by going after the tax dodgers who evade £123 billion of tax each year. PCS was therefore pleased when the government announced an intention to close more tax loopholes and when Nick Clegg condemned tax evaders. Next week PCS will have a stall and a fringe meeting at Labour Party conference to promote our alternative to the cuts. On October 3rd we will join the TUC demonstration outside the Conservative party conference in Birmingham. Events this week show that piling on the pressure works. PCS will keep the pressure up.

DWP and CMEC pay talks continuing
The DWP GEC met this week to discuss progress so far in the pay talks. The GEC agreed that because of the pay freeze it was important that the negotiators sought to maximise the payment made to every member and to make the payments as fair as possible.

If there's no money - what's the delay?
Under the Governments pay freeze, all staff who earn under £21k are only guaranteed a payment of £250. All other staff are entitled to nothing. PCS has been arguing for more than the minimum £250 and that every penny of the bonus money must be used to ensure that everybody gets something this year. This is why the talks are continuing. PCS will continue talks next week to try to get a bigger pay rise for everybody.

Fairest possible use of the bonus money
PCS is arguing that every penny of the bonus money must be used on pay, that we all did a tremendous job last year and therefore we all deserve a fair share of the bonus money.

Better personal rewards needed
The personal reward statements they have received have irritated many members. PCS is arguing with management that because of the pay freeze management should enhance the rewards on offer. Full access to flexi working for all would be a start as would restoring the Christmas flexi credit. We urge management to consider ways of improving the total reward package to boost morale during such difficult times.

Together we will win

Fighting for every FTA job in DWP
Last week it was announced that 5,900 FTA contracts in Jobcentre Plus would be extended. Local PCS reps have been trying to get as many FTA members contracts as possible extended. Many unfair situations have been uncovered - if you feel you have been treated unfairly then contact your local PCS rep for help.

More job opportunities
PCS is arguing that any FTA whose contract is not extended, should be considered for vacancies elsewhere in the department. Vacancies are occurring as many more FTA staff are leaving to get other jobs. If you have not yet written to your MP please do - over 100 MPs have signed our Early Day Motion on staffing.

NHS is under threat

The NHS Support Federation has supplied the following:

“Our treasured NHS is under threat. We believe that proposals in the new White Paper will break-up NHS services. At the heart of the NHS should be patients, but business motives are cutting deeply into the fairness, quality and value that we have come to expect. It is crucial for the public and NHS staff to join in opposing these proposals. Please give us your support.

All of us will be affected, as the plans reach right across the country and into nearly every area of NHS services.

Patients will see their local GP services taken over by profit-led companies and lose the personal contact with a GP who knows you and your family. Access to treatment will differ depending on where you live. You could end up having to change GP or even move to get the care you need. All hospitals are being turned into independent businesses and will be free to offer priority care to patients who can afford to pay – a return to wealth-based healthcare.

The NHS is already making £20bn of tough savings. So when jobs and services are under threat and waiting lists likely to rise, why waste further precious funds on the NHS market. It already drains 14% of the health budget from patient services according to a Parliamentary committee.

NHS staff will suffer too. Hospitals will soon be outside of NHS agreements on terms and conditions. Pressure on pay, falling training standards and rising workloads are all likely. Staff shortages and falling morale will surely follow.

The NHS has public trust because it puts the public first. Its commitment to giving all of us access to safe and effective services, to treating us fairly and providing good value are some of the reasons why the NHS is the country’s most popular asset. So, in the face of the threat of the White Paper proposals, we are asking all NHS supporters to come together to protect the NHS and safeguard its future.”

The National Pensioner's Convention are supporting the petition and using their networks to promote it. We're also talking to a range of other trade unions and community organisations to get this message out as widely as we can and enlist support.

The consultation period for the White Paper ends on October 11, and it is important for those of us who are already aware and concerned to communicate our opposition to the proposals before then.

IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY DONE SO...PLEASE SEND THE LINK TO OUR E-PETITION TO PEOPLE IN YOUR CONTACTS LIST

http://www.nhscampaign.org/current-issues-2/e-petition.html

HELP OUR CAMPAIGN GET PUBLICITY

Write to your local paper telling them about the implications of the White Paper and how it will mean cuts in jobs and services for your local NHS. Promote the online petition; extracts from our short article on the petition or extracts from our commentary.

EXPRESS YOUR CONCERNS BEFORE THE CONSULTATION ENDS ON OCTOBER 11

There is a downloadable consultation response form on the DoH website. Fill one in and return it by email or post to the addresses given at the end of the form. You could also let your MP know what you think: http://www.writetothem.com/

We are still working with journalists on ways to raise public debate about the White Paper in the media. By starting to lobby MPs as they return from their Summer break we aim to make the future of the NHS a major issue during the party conference season.

Further campaign resources and articles are being added to our website and we will continue to provide you with regular updates on the White Paper and our campaign to protect the NHS.

Finally, it's worth noting the recent comments of pro-market commentator Roy Lilley, which also help to see the White Paper in its true light:

"Commissioning is going to be done by self-employed GPs with private sector help. All the NHS supply-side services will be in social enterprises [businesses that retain profit] that are outside the NHS and their balance sheet is outside the reach of the Treasury. Does this look like privatisation to you? Well, it should, because it is. Andrew Lansley has done, by stealth, what Mrs T and Tony Blair never dared to do."

But together we can stop this process - we can protect our NHS.

Once again, thank you for your help so far. It really is appreciated.

Government Told to Think of the Victims

Details supplied by the TUC:

The government should consider the victims of lax workplace safety standards when it fashions its policy on safety regulation, campaigners and bereaved families have warned.

The groups, speaking ahead of Lord Young's report to the government on health and safety regulation, safety tragedies will only be prevented if strong regulation is backed up by strong enforcement. The conclusions of the Young report, expected to be published next week and commissioned by David Cameron, have been heavily trailed and are expected to include measures to reduce legal safety 'burdens' on business.

Hazards Campaign chair, Hilda Palmer, commented: 'No-one voted to die at work in the last election, but the coalition government policies so far, through the Lord Young review, other deregulatory policies, plus the planned cuts in public services, threaten the regulation and enforcement of workplace safety and health. They risk condemning more workers to death, injury and ill-health.'

Bereaved relatives campaign Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK) has sent a copy of its new DVD, 'Face the FACKs: the human cost of workplace killing', to Lord Young. FACK member Linzi Herbertson, whose husband Andy fell from an incorrectly assembled scaffold, said she hoped telephone assurances to FACK from Lord Young that his report would 'pleasantly surprise us' would be realised. 'If he fails to do this we will hold him to account and want to know why he can disregard the facts, the evidence and all the deaths caused by employers' negligence at work,' she said.

The NHS Matters.

“Our treasured NHS is under threat. We believe that proposals in the new White Paper will break-up NHS services. At the heart of the NHS should be patients, but business motives are cutting deeply into the fairness, quality and value that we have come to expect. It is crucial for the public and NHS staff to join in opposing these proposals. Please give us your support.

All of us will be affected, as the plans reach right across the country and into nearly every area of NHS services.

Patients will see their local GP services taken over by profit-led companies and lose the personal contact with a GP who knows you and your family. Access to treatment will differ depending on where you live. You could end up having to change GP or even move to get the care you need. All hospitals are being turned into independent businesses and will be free to offer priority care to patients who can afford to pay – a return to wealth-based healthcare.

The NHS is already making £20bn of tough savings. So when jobs and services are under threat and waiting lists likely to rise, why waste further precious funds on the NHS market. It already drains 14% of the health budget from patient services according to a Parliamentary committee.

NHS staff will suffer too. Hospitals will soon be outside of NHS agreements on terms and conditions. Pressure on pay, falling training standards and rising workloads are all likely. Staff shortages and falling morale will surely follow.

The NHS has public trust because it puts the public first. Its commitment to giving all of us access to safe and effective services, to treating us fairly and providing good value are some of the reasons why the NHS is the country’s most popular asset. So, in the face of the threat of the White Paper proposals, we are asking all NHS supporters to come together to protect the NHS and safeguard its future.”

UNISON, UNITE and the National Pensioner's Convention are supporting the petition and using their networks to promote it. We're also talking to a range of other trade unions and community organisations to get this message out as widely as we can and enlist support.

The consultation period for the White Paper ends on October 11, and it is important for those of us who are already aware and concerned to communicate our opposition to the proposals before then.

If you haven’t already done so, please fill in our E-Petition and encourage others to do so:

http://www.nhscampaign.org/current-issues-2/e-petition.html

Help Our Campaign Get Publicity
Write to your local paper telling them about the implications of the White Paper and how it will mean cuts in jobs and services for your local NHS. Promote the online petition; extracts from our short article on the petition or extracts from our commentary.

Express Your Concerns Before The Consultation Ends On October 11
There is a downloadable consultation response form on the DoH website. Fill one in and return it by email or post to the addresses given at the end of the form. You could also let your MP know what you think:

www.writetothem.com

We are still working with journalists on ways to raise public debate about the White Paper in the media. By starting to lobby MPs as they return from their Summer break we aim to make the future of the NHS a major issue during the party conference season.

Further campaign resources and articles are being added to our website and we will continue to provide you with regular updates on the White Paper and our campaign to protect the NHS.

Finally, it's worth noting the recent comments of pro-market commentator Roy Lilley, which also help to see the White Paper in its true light:

"Commissioning is going to be done by self-employed GPs with private sector help. All the NHS supply-side services will be in social enterprises [businesses that retain profit] that are outside the NHS and their balance sheet is outside the reach of the Treasury. Does this look like privatisation to you? Well, it should, because it is. Andrew Lansley has done, by stealth, what Mrs T and Tony Blair never dared to do."

But together we can stop this process - we can protect our NHS.

Once again, thank you for your help so far. It really is appreciated.

With thanks, Paul Evans Director, NHS Support Federation

Equal Pay

The following details have been supplied by the PCS HQ:

In civil service and government employment the pay gap between men and women is even higher than average.

In the Department for Transport for example, women executive officers in the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) are paid 16% less than male equivalents working for the Driving Standards Agency (DSA).

PCS is challenging this pay inequality but there are many more examples from other areas of the civil service and the public sector.

We are tackling the problem in a number of ways, through:

• Collective bargaining and negotiations
• Taking forward hundreds of legal cases on equal pay issues, and
• Campaigning activity.

Read the latest from the pay unit in the PCS members’ area here.

Cuts Will Deepen Inequality

The following details have been supplied by PCS HQ:

The poorest and most vulnerable in society will be hardest hit by cuts to national and local services

The government’s brutal public spending cuts are not only unjust and unnecessary, they will deepen inequality on a scale we have not seen for generations.

The poorest and most vulnerable in society will be hardest hit, while tax breaks worth more than £24 million are given to business.

It is now clear that women, and black and disabled people will suffer disproportionately from the cuts, showing the government’s pompous pronouncement of a ‘fair’ budget to be a hollow lie.

Research by the House of Commons Library for shadow work and pensions secretary Yvette Cooper suggests 72% of cuts would be borne by women, who are more likely to be hit by reductions in benefits and tax credits as they form the majority of carers.

Cuts to national, regional and local services will have a devastating effect on minority ethnic communities which already suffer the highest rates of poverty and unemployment in the UK. Attacks on disability benefits will take away the essential support required by disabled people to live independently.

Government failed to assess impact of cuts
As public sector workers, we already have the evidence of unacceptable pay gaps between both women and men, and black and white workers. Women, who account for 68% of public sector workers, and black and disabled workers, who are often in the lowest paid jobs, now face a pay freeze and job losses, leading to increased poverty in old age. Ratcheting up harsh absence management regimes will also have a disproportionate impact on disabled workers.

By law, the government should have carried out and published an equality impact assessment to consider the likely effects on people in terms of disability, gender and race, and remove any negative or adverse impact which amounts to unlawful discrimination.

Not only has this not been done, but the government is slashing the budget of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the only body with statutory powers to take enforcement action when an EIA has not been carried out.

We are all affected by public spending cuts, both as workers and in the services we provide. In response to the government’s intention to make ordinary people pay the price for an economic crisis which we did not cause, PCS has launched the biggest campaign in the union’s history. For it to succeed, we need to use every means at our disposal – media and parliamentary lobbying, organising, our industrial strength and the law.

100 Days of Attacks

The following details have been supplied by the PCS HQ:

Slashing public services and vilifying public servants has been the hallmark of the first 100 days of the coalition government.

One of the government’s first acts was to announce that £6.25 billion in public spending would be cut immediately. This was trailed in the media as simply cutting back on the use of first-class travel, glossy advertising and IT contracts.

In reality, it meant the abolition of several government agencies, including the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency and Becta, employing more than 800 staff between them, and damaging cuts at others.

Support for the regions is being severely slashed with plans to abolish the Government Office Network and close or significantly reduce funding for Regional Development Agencies.

Up to 450 job cuts are under threat in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills as the department and its partner organisations make cuts of £836 million in this financial year.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport announced it would contribute £61 million to the cuts. All major museums and galleries were told that 3% had been taken out of their current budgets.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs announced it would contribute £162 million to the first wave of cuts.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission was told in June it had to cut 15% from its £60 million budget this year leaving it unable to properly fulfil its functions.

The Department for Work and Pensions’ share of this year’s cuts was £535 million, with £335 million claimed as a ‘saving’ from the abolition of the Future Jobs Fund and ending employer subsidies.

Rather than cutting jobs, the government should be creating them to stimulate growth.

Week of Events by Young Activists

The following details have been supplied by the PCS HQ:

Week of events by young activists

This government is intent on making workers, and particularly young people, pay for a crisis created by frivolous casino banking.

The government’s cuts affect all young people in society:

• Connexions funding has been cut by 50% in some areas
• One in five young people are currently unemployed
• Thousands of university places have been lost
• Future Jobs Fund has been scrapped, which guaranteed work or training for unemployed young people.

The PCS national young members’ committee (NYMC) is responding through its young workers’ week from 27 September to 3 October.

It is dedicated to campaigning on young members’ issues. The Branch will be looking at holding events.

Aims for the week:

• Increasing activity among PCS activists under 27 Developing skills to recruit young members
• Building long-term key links with other trade union youth sections and student campaigns
• Defending jobs, pay, pensions and civil and public services.

To fight the cuts successfully we need an active and vibrant youth movement to launch a broad campaign.

TUC Lib Dem Lobby - Liverpool

The Government’s cuts are already damaging jobs and services.

Much worse will come in October’s spending review.

Ministers tell us that there is no alternative. But the cuts won’t just hit vital services, they threaten economic recovery.

Coalition policies are not just about reducing the deficit, but undermining publicly accountable quality services.

Take education. The school buildings programme has been cut to pay for new academies and so-called free schools that threaten every other school.

Before polling day Conservatives told us that frontline services would be spared and the vulnerable protected. Liberal Democrats said that they would oppose early cuts that hit the economy.

Both pledges have been broken.

• Join unions, the TUC, teachers, pupils, parents and public sector workers in a lobby of delegates to the Lib Dem annual conference.
• Tell them just how unpopular and damaging the cuts will be.
• Explain the alternative of a fair tax system and giving the economy every help to grow.

Sunday 19 September 2010

The Lib Dem Conference is being held at the Liverpool Arena and Convention centre. Assemble from 12 noon to lobby delegates. Stewards will be available to direct you to the assembly point.

Event co-ordinated by the North West TUC. For more information contact: Alan Manning, TUC Regional Secretary, | amanning@tuc.org.uk | 0151 236 5432 www.tuc.org.uk/northwest

PCS LGBT Seminar

PCS LGBT Seminar

19, 20 & 21 November 2010

Jury’s Inn Birmingham

The PCS National LGBT Seminar is aimed at all LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Transgender) members. It is a residential seminar and travel and accommodation costs are met centrally by PCS HQ.

There will be engaging workshops and discussion groups as well as some interesting fringe events to ensure a lively and stimulating event.

The evenings provide an opportunity to meet and socialise with LGBT members from across the UK and from many different departments and agencies from within PCS.

The seminar helps encourage LGBT members to get active with PCS interests and campaigns.

Please circulate this briefing as widely and as sensitively amongst members and encourage them to apply.

Please Note: ALL seminar correspondence will now be issued via email.

Application Forms are available from the PCS website in Equality under Events (here), or you can also visit the PROUD website for an application form.

The closing date for application forms to be returned is Thursday 28 October to:

PCS, BEPS Department, 160 Falcon Road, London SW11 2LN.

Black History Month

Black history month (BHM) is held in UK every October and every February in United States of America and Canada.

The aims are to:

• Promote knowledge of the Black History, Cultural and heritage.
• Disseminate information of positive of Black contributions to British Society.
• Heighten confidence and awareness of Black people to their cultural heritage.

The origins of BHM go back to 1926 when Carter G. Woodson, editor for thirty years of the journal of Negro History, established African Caribbean celebrations in America. In UK the BHM has now grown to over 6,000 events.

Other people also wonder why we need a Black History Month, but the reality is that Black History is an often hidden history, and one that has been written out of mainstream British history.

Black people have always been at the forefront of the human development, but too often ignored. It is a time to reflect on the achievements and remember the black people who have challenged the norm and struggled to make the world a better place. If we want an inclusive society we need an inclusive history. Awareness of Black history breaks down barriers and leads to co-operation on all sides and progress for all.

We ensure the next generation of black people living in UK have respect and are valued by society and ourselves. It is important that we promote and develop positive images and structures and challenge racist ideology in mainstream institutions i.e. Public Services, politics, judiciary and including the armed forces.

The duty in The Equality Bill includes powers for Ministers to require public bodies to report on equality issues and anticipates that public bodies with over 150 employees will be required to publish annually details of their ethnic minority employment rate - If you are in an ethnic minority you are 13% less lightly to find work than a white person.

PCS members could think how Black History Month fits in with their Union's work and with the Union's priorities of fighting job cuts, for restoration of national pay bargaining and the equality agenda in general.

PCS is committed in the fight against any form of discrimination and challenge on all fronts also to celebrate diversity and multiculturism and reject far right groups.

The Branch will have information on Black History month in the coffee area of Warbreck House canteen, please contact the Warbreck office on x61186 for further details.

Civil Service Cuts Loom Large...

The Edinburgh Evening News recently published an article on exit packages and cuts for Civil Servants.

The artcile can be found here.

Civil Service Myths

The Government recenty published an article aimed to bust some Myths about Civil Servants and the Civil Service.

The article can be found here.

Government Threatens to Break pre-Election Promise Over Winter Fuel Allowance

This article supplied by the National Pensioners Convention:

Britain’s biggest older people's organisation, the National Pensioners Convention (NPC), has criticised the government for breaking pre-election promises by threatening to remove the winter fuel allowance from millions of pensioners.

Reports in the media have suggested that ministers are considering a number of options including:

• Raising the age of entitlement to the allowance from 60 to 66 earlier than has already been proposed in 2020
• Paying the allowance at 75, in line with the TV licence
• Means-testing the allowance and paying it only to those on benefits

Dot Gibson, NPC general secretary said: "The winter death rate amongst older people is a national scandal and getting worse. Last winter over 36,700 pensioners died of cold related illnesses – a staggering 13 pensioners every hour. Yet the government is now considering taking the winter fuel allowance away from millions of households which will only make matters worse.”

“This issue really goes to the heart of the debate as to whether the welfare state should be available to everyone. We have seen in pensions and care that a means-tested system is not as effective or efficient as a universal benefit in getting help to those who need it most. Of course wealthy pensioners get the winter fuel allowance as well as the very poorest – but the fairest way of dealing with the issue is to claw back that money using the taxation system.”

“Up to 3m pensioner households are already spending more than 10% of their income on fuel bills, and are living in fuel poverty. What older people need now is more money – not less. They need to be reassured that when the cold weather comes they will not be financially punished for keeping warm in winter. The government must give them confidence that they will be able to pay their bills by immediately ruling out any changes to the winter fuel allowance.”

Deregulation's Deadly Reality Gulf

The following has been supplied by the TUC:



A 'deregulatory blitzkrieg' by the coalition government could create the conditions linked to incidents like the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster engulfing BP.

'Abuse of power', an article in the new issue of the workers' health and safety magazine Hazards notes: 'Observers increasingly accept the disaster was a product of inadequate regulation, oversight and enforcement. It caused incalculable economic and environmental damage, has strained relations between the US and the UK and has led for calls for directors of BP to face criminal charges.' But it says while the Treasury faces a loss of billions in revenue from the cash-strapped multinational, 'the coalition has embarked on a deregulatory blitzkrieg.'

On 1 July, the business department (BIS) announced 'a tough new Cabinet committee with the job of reducing the heavy burden of red tape on business', chaired by business secretary Vince Cable. Last week Cable announced a 'fundamental shift' in policy, with plans to introduce a one-in, one-out system for any new regulations that impose costs on businesses. The BIS news release was headed: 'New rules to hand over powers to individuals and companies by cutting red tape and bureaucracy.' In a response to the proposal, the Forum of Private Business (FPB) included health and safety in its 'most costly' concerns. Coalition initiatives announced earlier include a review of health and safety regulation and a 'Your Freedom' online 'dialogue', where the public can nominate 'unnecessary' laws they would like axed, including a specific section on cutting business regulation.

Both business groups and the Conservative Party have said they consider health and safety regulation a 'burden' which should be reduced.

According to Hazards magazine: 'Hand-wringing by prime minister David Cameron over the 'sadness' of the Gulf disaster is a seriously unsatisfactory alternative to protecting lives, livelihoods and the environment. To do that the government must behave responsibly, and that means more than just demanding responsibility from business. It means less time spent appeasing regulation averse boardrooms and more time regulating them. What business calls 'red tape' is for many workers their lifeline.'