Wednesday, 15 July 2015
Tuesday, 14 July 2015
Greece Solidarity Campaign demonstration outside the German Embassy in Belgrave Square at 6.30 on (this) Wednesday 15 July 2015.
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Monday, 13 July 2015
Socialist History Seminar and Epping Forest Walk
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Friday, 10 July 2015
Sotheby's London: Reinstate your Cleaners and Pay them the Living Wage
We (Marco, Barbara, Percy and Jorge) worked as cleaners at Sotheby's, the multinational auction house. We have just been suspended from our jobs, after calling for contractual sick pay and to keep the Living Wage when it goes up this November.
We have effectively been sacked for daring to ask for a decent wage and better benefits. We are asking Sotheby’s to reinstate us and treat us better. We currently only receive statutory sick pay which means that if we are sick or injured we only receive a small fraction of it. We cannot afford to live off that which means that we end up working when we are sick or injured in order to afford the rent for our homes.
They also promised that they would become a Living Wage employer, but in November the Living Wage will go up, and Sotheby’s have refused to raise our wage to match it.
We have families to support. It’s not reasonable to withdraw our full wages when we work hard throughout the year but cannot work because we’re sick.
On Wednesday 1st July we organised a protest with our trade union, United Voices of the World (UVW), because Sotheby's refused to pay us this basic compensation. The morning after Sotheby’s banned us all from the building. We were made to hand over our passes and escorted off the premises. They treated us like criminals. Sotheby’s have released a statement to say we have been suspended for “attempting to assault clients”. The protest was peaceful -- we feel they are using excuses to avoid an employee dispute over pay.
Today the Government said that Britain has a “low wage problem” and that a living wage is necessary for a basic standard of living.The Living Wage is the minimum amount needed to cover the cost of living in the UK.
According to Sotheby's bosses we were dismissed because, the protest may have “put the business at risk” and resulted in loss of revenue. But that same evening Sotheby’s held a record-breaking auction where it sold £130 million worth of paintings. Our protest was both peaceful and lawful and only held because Sotheby's refused to discuss our pay.
Please sign this petition and tell Sotheby's to reinstate us. We have worked there for many years and done nothing wrong. All we did was exercise our human right to protest for a real living wage and sick pay. Is this too much to ask from a multinational auction house that makes millions of pounds in profits per year and pays its CEO $7 million a year?
petition at https://www.change.org/p/sotheby-s-london-reinstate-your-cleaners-and-pay-them-the-living-wage?recruiter=9757788&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_page&utm_term=des-sm-no_src-custom_msg&fb_ref=Default
Peter Pinkney, RMT President and Natalie Bennett support for the rail and Tube strikes
London Underground tube network shut down.
RMT, UNITE, TSSA and ASLEF all won ballots for industrial action that has led to over 24 hours of industrial action on the tube and on the railway
Peter Pinkney, RMT President has been on the picket lines :
"Despite negotiating for three months TFL have not moved to understand the problems. This dispute is not just about money for the workers, it is also about working practices, and also about the safety of the public.
We must remember that these workers are the same people who were rightly called heroes ten years ago after the tube, and bus bombings. These same people are now looked on with scorn by the bosses, right wing press and the Mayor.
The public are on our side. On the picket line in Brixton, this morning, I lost count of the members of the public who wished us well.
The unions are united in our determination to protect our workforce and the public.
The policy of TFL, and this government is to force more austerity on us, not to provide a better service. If they wanted to provide a better service, they would not be shutting all the booking offices.
We don't like seeing the public suffer, but the truth is, we haven't caused this dispute, the Government and bosses have. The press should start looking at them instead of constantly attacking trade unions.
We want a just settlement, and the ball is firmly in their court to come up with something.
Today the tube workers have showed the way how to fight back against injustices by unscrupulous employers, and I hope other trade unions will take up the baton, and begin the fight back"
Peter Pinkney is a member of the Green Party Trade Union group
- See more at: https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2015/07/09/natalie-bennett-stands-%E2%80%9Cin-solidarity%E2%80%9D-with-striking-rail-and-tube-workers/#sthash.hVWrqLdJ.D84KoPl3.dpuf
RMT, UNITE, TSSA and ASLEF all won ballots for industrial action that has led to over 24 hours of industrial action on the tube and on the railway
Peter Pinkney, RMT President has been on the picket lines :
"Despite negotiating for three months TFL have not moved to understand the problems. This dispute is not just about money for the workers, it is also about working practices, and also about the safety of the public.
We must remember that these workers are the same people who were rightly called heroes ten years ago after the tube, and bus bombings. These same people are now looked on with scorn by the bosses, right wing press and the Mayor.
The public are on our side. On the picket line in Brixton, this morning, I lost count of the members of the public who wished us well.
The unions are united in our determination to protect our workforce and the public.
The policy of TFL, and this government is to force more austerity on us, not to provide a better service. If they wanted to provide a better service, they would not be shutting all the booking offices.
We don't like seeing the public suffer, but the truth is, we haven't caused this dispute, the Government and bosses have. The press should start looking at them instead of constantly attacking trade unions.
We want a just settlement, and the ball is firmly in their court to come up with something.
Today the tube workers have showed the way how to fight back against injustices by unscrupulous employers, and I hope other trade unions will take up the baton, and begin the fight back"
Peter Pinkney is a member of the Green Party Trade Union group
Natalie Bennett stands 'in solidarity' with striking rail and tube workers
9 July 2015
GREEN Party leader Natalie Bennett has expressed support for the rail and Tube strikes. The Rail and Maritime Transport union have begun a three-day walkout after a dispute with First Great Western over job cuts and safety, while around 2,000 London Underground workers are on strike today.
Bennett said:
“I stand in solidarity with the workers striking this week. These strikes are the last resort of workers seriously concerned over issues of safety, staffing and pay, and it is clear that employers in both cases have failed to provide the reasonable assurances that their employees have the right to ask for.
"In any significant change to services and the conditions of those who work on them - be it the night Tube or the new inner-city trains - the needs of those who will be staffing them must be a high priority, and workers forced to take industrial action to ensure that this is the case have my support.”
Tuesday, 7 July 2015
TUBE STRIKE ON AS LU FAIL TO MAKE ANY SERIOUS PROGRESS IN TALKS🚇
BREAKING...
TUBE STRIKE ON AS LU FAIL TO MAKE ANY SERIOUS PROGRESS IN TALKS🚇
TUBE STRIKE ON AS LU FAIL TO MAKE ANY SERIOUS PROGRESS IN TALKS🚇
🚇General Secretary Mick Cash said:
"Despite strenuous efforts by union negotiators to press London Underground to address the issues of fairness, safety, work\\life balance and equality at the heart of this dispute they have come up with nothing in the talks this afternoon.
"The action is on and RMT will be mobilising picket lines and effective action with our sister unions and there are no further talks planned at this stage. "
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