Support Visteon workers

200 Visteon car plant workers in Belfast are occupying their factory after the Company went into administration today. It was announced that 565 staff would go at Visteon car components plants across the UK. Most of the jobs have been lost with immediate effect.

Davy MacMurray, Unite Regional Organiser, said the way the job cuts were announced was "brutal". He said, "The administrator came in, held a meeting and told the workforce their employment was terminated. These people were going to be put out on the street tonight."

Unite Convenor John Maguire said the workers at the plant had "been treated disgracefully".

"We have been left with no choice but to occupy the factory to save our jobs and to defend jobs for the people of Belfast," he said.

"Ford and Visteon have manipulated this situation together," he said.

"We have been treated disgracefully. We are occupying the factory to save our jobs and to defend jobs for the people of Belfast. There was no consultation whatsoever – they simply announced the closure.

"They have put the pension scheme into administration. To make it clear – we are in for the long haul and are committed to get proper redundancy packages and pensions.

"We are determined to continue our occupation and we appeal on workers throughout Ireland, Britain and internationally to support our fight to defend jobs."

Visteon was spun-off by Ford in 2000 as a device to slash costs at the expense of the workforce. Two and then three-tier contracts then followed as well as outsourcing of 'indirect' jobs. However, for Visteon bosses this wasn't enough. They've spent the last 3 1/2 years demanding that Visteon workers break their Ford 'mirrored' contracts.

The workers want to put pressure on Ford to intervene to stop the sackings. They are appealing to the unions in Ford to support them by not using parts shipped in to replace those from Belfast.

One occupying worker said "Ford have a commitment and agreement with the unions that there would never be compulsory redundancies. At the very least we should get the same redundancy package as Ford workers."

By early evening the 200-strong workforce was holding protests both inside and outside the plant. Supporters were bringing supplies and sleeping bags. They are planning protests Wednesday at Ford dealerships across the city.

If the closure is not stopped, the workers in the ex-Ford factories in Belfast, Enfield and Basildon will be left to claim statutory redundancy payments. Even workers with over 30 years service will only get about £9,000 and most workers a lot less. Also, their pensions plus those of ex-Visteon workers in Swansea and retirees will go into the Pension Protection Fund, which will result in reduced payments.

The occupation comes on the day Unite announced a massive March for Jobs to be held in Birmingham on Saturday, May 16^th.

Announcing the March, Tony Woodley, joint general secretary of Unite said: “Workers did not cause this recession but they are paying for it hand over fist with their jobs.

“Twenty thousand jobs have disappeared from manufacturing since this recession took hold, and thousands more in finance and other core sectors. Unemployment blights lives and leaves communities in despair so we will not stand by while our jobs and the very skills that will help pull us out of this downturn are swept away by the recession tide.

“People desperately need some assurance that they will remain in work and can keep a roof over their families' heads, and companies cannot keep the lights on in factories with promises alone. No more delay - we need action now or we will see our skills base and vital manufacturing sector shattered for a generation.”

Marching for justice

Tens of thousands of trade unionists demonstrated in London on February 28 to demand that the G20 leaders act on jobs, justice and the climate.

The Put People First demonstration was much larger than the TUC had expected and showed just how angry trade unionists are with the limited measures taken so far by Governments to resolve the economic crisis.

There was a large Unite contingent on the demonstration with members from every Region. Health workers and construction workers were marching side by side demanding chnges in Government policies. 

There were also several international delegations of trade unionists on the protests, including workers from France’s CGT, Italy’s CGIL and the Dutch FNV union federation. This international flavour was also represented at the rally, with speeches from US and Australian union leaders.

The march was also marked by large numbers of young people and students who had come to London to make their voices heard over issues ranging from climate change to the “war on terror”.

Derek Simpson speaking at the Rally at the end of the march expressed the anger felt by many: "It is not just about business. It is not just about commerce and bankers, it is about people. Putting people first, that is the message. We need to do more about jobs in this country, more to protect people's homes in this country and this demonstration is a means of bringing it to the government's attention."

Put People First

This Saturday, March 28, thousands of trade unionists will be demonstrating to tell the G20 leaders we want change.

The demonstration will be calling for governments to change their policies to protect jobs, a fair distribution of wealth and action on climate change.

The demonstration is assembling at 11 am on the Victoria Embankment, London to march to Hyde Park for a Rallly. Speakers include Tony Woodley and Derek Simpson.

Unite is fully supporting the demonstration and organising free transport from every region. Details are on the union website. The Unite contingents will be assembling near Temple tube station on the District and Circle lines.

Let's make this a massive show of our opposition to Government policies that don't protect jobs and continue to put their faith in the market and privatisation.

Budget Day demonstration

www.theircrisisnotours.org.uk

Their Crisis Not Ours is a campaign on the economic crisis launched by the Labour Representation Committee.

It is organising a Day of Action to take place on Budget Day, Wednesday 22nd April. Focusing on the Budget itself, the theme of the day will be 'Where's Our Bailout?'

Among the demands of the campaign are a tax on the profits of big business and a crackdown on tax avoidance, an increase in pensions and unemployment benefit, an emergency council housing programme and an end to repossessions, a cap on energy prices, rail fares and rents, and free education for all.

The campaign will bring together trade unions and progressive organisations and supports the demands of the recently launched People's Charter: http://www.thepeoplescharter.com/

The Day of Action will consist of the following:

11.30am: Protestors will line the route on Whitehall which the Chancellor will take from No. 11 Downing Street to address Parliament.

5pm: We will protest outside the Treasury near Whitehall on 1 Horse Guards Road, London SW1A 2HQ

7.30pm: We will hold a Budget Question Time event at the House of Commons. The panel will include John McDonnell MP, economist Graham Turner, Clara Osagiede (RMT Cleaners' Grade Secretary) and Janice Godrich (President, PCS)

The campaign is calling for the involvement of all progressive organisations and trade unions.

Redundancy Pay Bill clears first hurdle

The Bill introduced into Parliament by Lindsay Hoyle MP, with the support of the trade union movement, to increase redundancy pay has cleared its first hurdle in the House of Commons. MPs voted 85 to 17 to give it a Second Reading. The Bill seeks to tie maximum redundancy payments to average earnings.

However it was not all plain sailing. Lindsay accused the Government of using "shameful" tactics to try to block the Bill. A report is available on the BBC website.

With the Government opposing the Bill, it will be necessary for union activists to continue to put pressure on their MPs to actively support the law as moves through its Parliamentary process.

Better redundancy pay

A message from Tony Woodley:

This Friday, Members of Parliament will have the chance to vote to make redundancy pay fairer, as Lindsay Hoyle MP's Bill is due to receive its second reading in the Commons.

Labour's trade unions have worked together on this campaign, to get a better deal for workers - a better deal that is more important than ever in these tough economic times.

Unions work hard to look after their members' jobs - but when redundancies do happen, unions also want to make sure that those affected get a fair deal. But for most workers, if they are made redundant, the payment they would get for each year of service is not based on how much they earn a week - it is capped at £350 - about half of average earnings.

This is an issue that matters to millions of ordinary working people up and down the country - thousands of people have got in touch with their MPs to ask them to support the Bill. Earlier this week, we asked our supporters to get in touch with us to let us know why fair redundancy pay matters to them.

Being made redundant has a huge impact on individuals, families and communities. It's only fair that we make sure people get the fairest deal possible.

We have had great support for this campaign from Labour Members of Parliament, and we urge them to turn out this Friday to vote the Bill through. And we also hope the government listens - to their own MPs, to the trade unions, and to all the ordinary people who deserve a better deal - and acts to right this wrong.

Tony Woodley
Chair, TULO - Labour's unions together
Joint General Secretary, Unite the Union

PS. Email your MP now if you haven't yet done so.

Remembering the Miners Strike - 25 years ago

United Left, the socialist rank and file movement in Unite the Union, pays tribute to the members of the NUM who held out on strike for a full year, 25 years ago, in defence of their pits, their jobs and their communities.

Never before or since had the country experienced such a brutal and deliberate attempt by a British Government to smash a trade union on strike, using all the powers of the state at its disposal. Margaret Thatcher’s Government, by now 5 years into its term of office, had already passed its first tranche of anti-union legislation. Now it sought to target and defeat Britain’s strongest trade union, the National Union of Mineworkers.

The Government instructed the National coal Board to draw up a secret plan to close 95 pits with the loss of 100,00 jobs, consciously abrogating the successful tripartite agreement known as the Plan For Coal signed by the Labour Government in 1974. The Plan For Coal had seen investment and modernisation in Britain’s coalfields, creating the most efficient and productive coal industry in the world. Many of the 95 pits earmarked for closure by Thatcher’s Government had recently benefited from millions of pounds of investment - and were profitable.

To divide the miners, the Government instigated secret talks with Nottinghamshire miners leaders who were promised their pits would be safe if they refused to join the strike. Tragically, the Nottinghamshire area leadership not only agreed to break the unity of the NUM strike, but also led a breakaway split to create the so-called Union of Democratic Mineworkers (UDM). This outfit has never been recognised as a bona fide independent trade union, then or since. Some of the fiercest conflicts happened in the Nottinghamshire coalfield where many miners remained loyal to the NUM.

But it was the surveillance and heavy-handed policing strategy which broke new grounds for a British Government, in its determination to beat a strike. For the first time, Britain’s decentralised area police forces were co-ordinated and directed on a national basis to confront the NUM strikers. Specially trained forces including army personnel were drafted in, in police uniform but frequently without displaying PC identity numbers. Road blocks were set up to intercept “flying pickets” and send them back, displaying the state’s “Big Brother” capacity to interfere in the public right to free movement. Massive police resources were provided to accompany and protect any scabs prepared to defy the picket line, no matter how few in number.

Meanwhile the nation’s right wing press railed against the violence of the picket lines - as if it was entirely the fault of the NUM pickets. In fact there were many examples of police provocation - and unprovoked violence against the pickets. Never before had a trade union on strike experienced such heavy handed police tactics. The true scale of the Government, police and media co-ordination in the battle for the hearts and minds of the British public, was demonstrated by the BBC News coverage of the infamous battle for Orgreave. The news bulletin turned the sequence around to show miners throwing missiles at the police followed by the police charge on horseback to clear the field. As was proved much later the truth was the police charged the pickets on horseback in the most brutal fashion ever witnessed in this country, causing many injuries and leading to pitched battles between police and pickets.
In fact opinion polls of the day consistently showed the miners had tremendous support. In spite of the welter of almost universally hostile media coverage, polls indicated roughly 50/50 support for an against the miners throughout the strike. Cash collections around the country brought in huge amounts of solidarity support, and international donations flowed in from unions abroad. Food convoys were organised by local trades councils in a massive solidarity exercise. Christmas 1984 saw tons of toys delivered to the impoverished pit villages.

The miners’ struggle was damaged not only by the Nottinghamshire split, but also the call for a “national ballot”, which the NUM delegate conference had rejected in favour of a strategy of local area stoppages, backed up by picketing. Even many who supported the miners’ struggle doubted the wisdom of not holding a national ballot, and the media exploited it to the full to claim the strike was undemocratic. But their real target was miner’s leader Arthur Scargill himself. He was subject to one of the most hateful press campaigns of personal vilification ever seen outside of a fascist state. In fact he came to personify Thatcher’s disgraceful claim that the strikers were “the enemy within”. Seamus Milne’s book of the same name later exposed in graphic detail the scale of the Government’s pernicious dealings behind the scene including illegal means to destroy the NUM and Arthur Scargill in particular.

The strike was also weakened by the disunity in the wider trade union movement towards the NUM. Neil Kinnock, then Labour Leader, refused to back the strike and join the howls of protest about the violence of the pickets. So too did many trade union General Secretaries, many of whom were wrongly misleading the trade union movement down the road of no-strike agreements and social partnerships in response to the 1979 “winter of discontent” which had seen off the last Labour Government. Nevertheless there was brilliant trade union solidarity too, most notably from the rail unions like ASLEF who refused to move the coal and very nearly brought the power stations to a standstill.

Of course the Tories’ wider strategy of privatising the energy market was little appreciated at the time. Closing down the pits and then selling off the remains of the National Coal Board, not only ended the NUM’s role as the vanguard of the British trade union movement, it also opened up the privatisation and deregulation of our then nationalised and balanced energy industry. Strategic planning of our future energy security was then lost completely as short term market forces led to overdependence on gas, a scarce premium fuel, for mass power station consumption. And when that ran out, the current dependence on foreign gas supplies at hugely inflated prices.

Meanwhile 400 years of coal reserves, which could be the backbone of a secure and clean British energy industry, using clean-coal technology, now lays trapped underground, along with millions of pounds of recently invested modernisation prior to the strike.

As for Britain’s trade union and labour movement, the defeat of the 1984-185 miners’ strike was a severe blow. Further anti-union legislation followed, severely limiting trade unions’ ability to defend their members, and union membership went into severe decline as a result. 25 years on, it is easy to see what a victory for the politics of the right and for big business the defeat of the miners really was.

Joint General Secretary Election

The official results of the election for General Secretary of the Amicus section of Unite are:

Derek Simpson 60,048 (37.95%)
Jerry Hicks 39,307 (24.84%)
Kevin Coyne 30,603 (19.34%)
Paul Reuter 28,283 (17.87%)

Total Eligible Voters 1,096,511

Votes cast 159,272

Turnout 14.5%

Invalid votes 1,031

The result has to be confirmed by the Unite Executive Council at its March meeting.

International Women's Day - March 8

International Women's Day (IWD) connects women around the world and aims to inspire them to achieve their full potential. It is an opportunity to highlight the abuse of women’s rights across the world, while celebrating the central role that women play in creating a fairer and more just world.

The first International Women’s Day was in 1911. It followed unanimous agreement at an International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen the previous year.

Clara Zetkin, the German socialist and campaigner for Women’s rights, proposed at the conference that every year in every country there should be a day when women came together in solidarity to campaign for equality. In 1911, one of the key issues was votes for women.

Plans for the first International Women's Day demonstration were spread by word of mouth and in the press. In the UK, various articles were devoted to International Women's Day: 'Women and Parliament', 'The Working Women and Municipal Affairs', 'What Has the Housewife got to do with Politics?' etc analyzed the question of the equality of women in the government and in society. All articles emphasized the point that it was absolutely necessary to make parliament more democratic by extending the franchise to women.

Success of the first International Women's Day in 1911 exceeded all expectation. Meetings were organized in small towns and even the villages halls were packed so full that male workers were asked to give up their places for women.

In 1913 International Women's Day was transferred to 8 March and this day has remained the global date for International Women's Day ever since. During International Women's Year in 1975, IWD was given official recognition by the United Nations and was taken up by many governments. International Women's Day is marked by a national holiday in over 30 countries, including China, Russia, Macedonia, Vietnam and Zambia. Whether officially recognised in this way or not, IWD has great significance for women in their struggles for social and political equality , and decent work.

From the outset, IWD has been closely associated with the political and industrial struggles of women. As well as the campaigns for voting rights, working women in the US used it to campaign over pay and conditions in the garment industry, particularly in 1911 when over 140 workers in New York were killed in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. In 1913, with war looming, women across Europe held peace rallies on 8 March. In Russia in 1917, Women’s day demonstrations against the war were part of the first phase of the revolution.

The day also serves often as a focus for peace campaigns. The specific costs to women in war situations around the globe every year are devastating, and tend to be ignored by policy makers and war makers.


For information on TUC events for IWD, go to http://www.tuc.org.uk/international/index.cfma

The official IWD website can be found at: http://www.internationalwomensday.com/

Launch of "People's Charter"

On Wednesday 11th March 2009 10.30 am a new political initiative will be launched in the Jubilee Room at the House of Commons. The Peoples Charter for Change is a major campaign whose growing number of prominent supporters include the leaders of 11 trade unions including Tony Woodley (Joint General Secretary, Unite).

At the launch meeting of the United Left, John McDonnell MP spoke about the contents of the Charter. The meeting agreed, in principle, to support it.

The aim of the Charter is to create a movement with over one million people in Britain signing up to 6 key principles:

• A fairer economy for a fairer Britain
• More and better jobs
• Decent homes for all
• Save and improve public services
• For a fair and just Britain
• For a future without war

Other key elements of the People's Charter include a commitment to justice and fairness, a demand to the end of the wars that have seen billions of pounds wasted and hundreds of thousands of lives lost. The People's Charter is also clear that public sector services should remain in the public sector and that public services that have in the past been hived off to the highest bidder should be brought back into public ownership.

The full Charter, and an online form to add the support of individual's and organisations, can be found at http://www.thepeoplescharter.com/

Meetings are being organised in many areas to build support for the Charter. Details can be found on the Charter's website. United Left supporters will be working to help achieve the target of a million signatures and to ensure its policies are taken up by the union.

Put People First

The “Put People First! Jobs, Justice, Climate” demonstration in London on 28 March should be a major focus for every trade union activist. The march is backed by the TUC and most unions, including Unite, as well as major NGO's such as War on Want and Oxfam.

The Joint General Secretaries have issued a call to all officers and staff to build for the demo:

On 28th March thousands of people will march through London as part of a global campaign to challenge the G20 leaders to tackle the recession and the global financial crisis. Unite is participating in this demonstration, organised by the TUC, ahead of the G20 meeting in London on the 2nd April.

We are taking a lead in sending a message to the global leaders that there can be no going back to business as usual. We need Unite members and activists from around the country to come to London and show that our union will fight for a just, fair and sustainable world in order to get through the current recession.

The union has set out specific demands for the world leaders in the G20 around jobs, justice and climate. Details of our key priorities are below.

As a matter of urgency, please can you ensure that you circulate the details of the Unite involvement in this march as extensively as possible. It is vital that every sector and region of the union is well represented amongst the coalition on the 28th March.

Details on transport information and regional coordinators can be viewed on the campaign pages of the unite website – www.unitetheunion.com/g20demo

Unite has produced specific materials to help you to publicise this event. This can also be downloaded from the website.

Governments, business and international institutions have followed a model of financial deregulation that has encouraged short-term profits, instability and an economy fuelled by ever-increasing debt, both financial and environmental – Unite members need to make their voice heard on the 28th March and demand: “Put People First! March for jobs, justice and climate.”

Full details of the demonstration are available at www.putpeoplefirst.org.uk

The march can become a major focus for all the anger over the economic crisis and to be a place for workers facing job losses, privatisation, people angry over the bailout of the banks protecting the rich.

Because the demonstration is backed by every major trade union, it gives us the possibility to pull together every struggle, every fight for jobs, every campaign and target the anger that exists in a unified way against the real enemy...the bosses and their representatives at the G20.

Welfare Reform Lobby of Parliament, 3rd March 2009

Is Purnell’s Welfare Reform Bill the greatest dilution of welfare rights since the inception of the Welfare State? There are many in our movement who feel the measures contained within this Bill, which is currently making its way through Parliament, are an attack on some of the most vulnerable in our society, disabled people, single parents, and drug addicts.

Tomorrow, a number of trade unions (sadly, not Unite) and welfare campaigning groups are to lobby parliament against this punitive Bill. If this Bill passes into law it will introduce such schemes as the notorious US ‘Workfare’, whereby benefits’ claimants are forced to work for benefits. Even though workfare has proved a failure where piloted; it hasn’t stopped the government including it in the Bill.

This ‘work-for-your-benefit’ plan could have people working full-time for a third of the minimum wage! As the recession deepens, we will see more and more companies using it as an excuse to diminish our members terms and conditions; only last week Argos gave its employees a ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ ultimatum, tied up with the threat of a 90-day notice.

In 2010 compulsory unpaid work pilots will begin. Many of us remember how Thatcher’s YOPs schemes allowed ruthless employers to sack better paid workers in order to take on heavily subsidised youngsters. This could create a whole new class of worker, the compulsory unwaged class.

But, not satisfied with exploiting people unlucky enough to be hit by a situation not of their making, this recession; our government decides to introduce these draconian measures whilst paying JSA at the paltry level of £60.50 per week, or £47.95 for the under 25s. As though people are becoming unemployed in order to take advantage of such princely payouts.

Running in tandem with the above schemes will a cunning plan to get a million disabled people off benefits in the next ten years. So, we’re in the teeth of a recession. Companies and businesses from across the manufacturing, commercial and servicing spectrum of industry are shedding jobs by the thousand. Yet, the government insist that now is the time to get 100,000 disabled people per annum into work – not to mention the scores of thousands of lone parents and thousands of drug addicts who are also on the hit list.

Fair enough, a number of the factors presenting themselves today were unknowns when David Freud dreamed up this Bill. When in doubt as to solving the problem of long-term workless people (shorthand for people with severe disabilities), one should always reach for the nearest City investment banker. Who else can empathise with the poor, the socially excluded? Who but someone as divorced from the real world as an investment banker can make objective decisions on behalf of disabled people; those he can only dream about in his worst nightmares.

Now unemployed disabled people will also have to undergo ‘work-related-activities’; as though disabled people don’t daily struggle with pain, discrimination, Social Services for care packages, etc; such things that are not viewed as productive, even though they’re physically and mentally demanding.

To ensure nobody slips under the radar, the government intends to scrap Incapacity Benefit and Income Support for unemployed disabled people, replacing them with an Employment Support Allowance. The government are also introducing stringent work capability assessments that will mean a lot of disabled people unable to work will be forced to take on some work related activities. Experts believe that certain groups, such as those with mental health and severe learning difficulties may well fall through the safety net.

Then, as though to add insult to injury, the government plans to privatise much of the DwP; as can be evidenced in the 30,000 job cuts made over the past years.

At a time when disabled job seekers are looking to the expertise of Jobcentre Plus DEAs, the government slashes jobs. In their place companies like Remploy step in to operate a merry-go-round employment policy, in which they place a disabled person in three or four jobs a year, and then claim they’ve found work for 6,500, when in reality their figures represent double and triple counting.

If more of the Jobcentre Plus work is farmed out to the private sector, we’ll end up with a service more interested with presenting the government with the kind of targets it wants; not a service that will strive to place disabled people into jobs that are sustainable or suit their abilities.

We must not allow this pernicious piece of legislation to pass onto the statute books; so, please attempt to attend tomorrow and to call on your MP to:

• Support amendments to remove these provisions from the Bill
• Support EDM ‘Contracting-out of Welfare provision’
• Support EDM 632 ‘Contracting-out of Social Fund’
• Write to the Secretary of State asking for a guarantee that he will not allow interest to be charged on Social Fund loans