Wolverhampton Bilston & District Trades Union Council est.1865 www.wolvestuc.org.uk

next WB&DTUC meeting

Wolverhampton, Bilston & District Trades Union Council - all trade union supporters welcome -

Thursday 21st June 2018

venue Unite Office, 6 Victoria Square, Wolverhampton WV1 1LD next to bus station, over bridge from train station

speaker @8pm

Council partners with Trade Unions to improve Health and Safety standards

City of Wolverhampton Council has signed an agreement to mark a new partnership with Trade Unions to encourage the importance of health and safety in the workplace.

In developing the agreement, the council recognises the benefits of having trained trade union safety representatives to promote good health and safety practice in the workplace, reduce injury and illness.

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) research shows that workplaces with Trade Union safety reps have up to 50% less injuries than those without.

Adrian Turner, Unison Branch Secretary of the Unison City of Wolverhampton Branch said:

TUC Women in Leadership Course

Completed applications must be received by 12 noon, Thursday 31 May.

To celebrate our 150th anniversary, the TUC Midlands is launching a Women in Leadership course that will run during 2018. From public speaking and leadership styles to communication skills and research projects looking at equality in the workplace, this course will involve five days of classroom learning, as well as project work in between classes. The group will also have the opportunity to meet and network with influential women trade union leaders and decision-makers, as well as get to know like-minded women from different unions and to play an active role in the TUC Women Chainmakers’ Festival. Women have always played a key role in the trade union movement. Some of our biggest advances to workers’ rights have been led by strong women trade unionists. Women also make up the majority of our membership. But while the fabric of our movement is certainly more diverse, only a third of our union leaders are women. There is still an shameful 18% gap in pay between men and women doing the exact same job, and more than half of women continue to experience sexual harassment and discrimination at work. This course will help empower more women trade unionists to step into leadership roles and continue to create positive changes in their workplaces, their union and in society.

An Evening with Dennis Skinner

Socialist, Trade Unionist & Labour Member of Parliament
Saturday 23rd June @Light House cinema tickets on sale now

TUC Women Chainmakers' Festival of Cradley Heath

The annual Midlands TUC Chainmakers Festival, is held in

chainmakers17 3

Cradley Heath High Street on Saturday 7th July 2018,

is the largest celebration in Britain of women's political history.

It re-enacts the struggle and celebrates the achievements and strugle of the trade union movement both then and now.

Tired of working day and night for starvation wages, the Women Chainmakers of Cradley Heath in the Black Country in 1910, downed their hammers and stood up for their right to earn a living wage.

Led by the founder of the National Federation of Women Workers, Mary Macarthur, their ten week strike successfully established the right to a minimum wage.

chainmakersposter

Understanding Size Diversity and Size Awareness free course

Understanding Size Diversity and Size Awareness, personal responsibility or a diversity Issue?

A free course designed for Trade Union representatives, branch officers, activists and people who aspire to be!

now Friday 22nd June and 29th June 2018 9am till 3 30pm

Tuesday 1st May 2018 Wolverhampton Workers' Day - May Day

Wolverhampton Workers' Memorial Day

The next Wolverhampton Workers' memorial Day will be Sunday 28th April 2019

12.30pm at the Workers' Memorial Day Tree, Cenotaph, St Peters Square, Wolverhampton WV1 1TS

DSC 1305

Wolverhampton Palestine Solidarity Campaign

PSC garden party is still to be decided, but please keep a note of the date and time - Sunday July 8th 2018, 2-5pm

WASPI

Wolverhampton WASPI poster

Don't lose your right to vote

Fancy free entry to music festivals - volunteer 2018?

2018 festivals - The deadline for submitting your name to volunteer for these festivals was 18th May

Trade union courses locally 2018

TUC courses sign up now....for Sept 2018 start

Trade Union Studies Representatives’ Programme

Union Reps Stage 1 10 x Mondays from Sept 2018 at Shrewsbury College & GMB Offices, Hanley, Stoke on Trent

Health & Safety Stage 1 ten weeks 9 am – 4 pm 10 x Tuesdays from Sept 2018 at Shrewsbury College & GMB Offices, Hanley, Stoke on Trent

Bus Pass - on tour

Celebrate the Bus - Help Keep the Bus Pass

April 2018 saw the tenth anniversary of the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme, a long-fought–for benefit that brings financial, health and social benefits to older people and disabled people, helps keep bus services viable and reduces congestion and pollution.

But a bus pass is no use unless there are some buses. England saw 500 bus routes withdrawn or reduced in 2016/17. English councils have cut funding for buses by a third since 2010.

National Minimum Wage rates increase

currently:

adult hourly rate of the national minimum wage 25 years+ is £7.83 from 1st April 2018
adult hourly rate of the national minimum wage 21-24 years is £7.38 from 1st April 2018
development rate (which covers workers aged 18-20 years) is £5.90 from 1st April 2018
rate for 16 to 17-year-olds is £4.20/hour from 1st April 2018
for apprentices under the age of 19 and those aged 19 and over in the first 12 months of their apprenticeship, the apprentice minimum wage rate is £3.70 per hour, from 1st April 2018

The real Living Wage is £8.75/hour outside London, updated November 2017. It is calculated according to the cost of living by the Living Wage Foundation, calculated by the Centre for Research in Social Policy and not to be confused with the Tory use of the term referring to the increase of minimum wage for 25 years+

NHS demo

2018 is the NHS 70th Anniversary

The People's Assembly has teamed up with a huge coalition of unions, campaigns and organisations which will be hosting a massive celebration and national demonstration to mark the 70th anniversary of our NHS this year. On Saturday 30 June in Central London tens of thousands will join a parade of music, protest, carnival and street party. Make sure this is one event you don't miss out on this year!