October 2013

 

 

Black Country People’s Assembly next planning and organising meeting

7:15pm, Monday 21st October @ The Pegasus, Jackson Street, Wolverhampton WV6 0QQ

 

 Defending our right to represent members organised by Midlands TUC

Thursday 24th October 5.30pm – 7.30pm @ 24 Livery Street, Birmingham, B3 2PA

 How can unions respond to the attack on facility time? And defend the ability of reps to represent members individually and collectively? These facility time sessions are for all reps working in both the public and private sectors. To guarantee your place please email mkesterton@tuc.org.uk

 

PSC lobby parliament on Wednesday 27th November  –If you are interested in coming to London to lobby your Wolverhampton MP on Palestine please contact wolvespsc@yahoo.co.uk

 

www.wolvestuc.org.uk

Our website was read for a total of 80hours last month. 2,500 page views by 1700 people.

A quarter of visits are via mobile devices, the website has been altered to suit reading on mobiles

Most popular pages:

National minimum wage increase; Volunteering at festivals; Homepage; Socialist songbook; Save NHS demo at Tory conference; Cradley Women Chainmakers’ Festival; Local Govt. Pay Claim latest; Teachers’ Strike; Wolverhampton MPs` surgery details; Wolverhampton unemployment

 

After two years of action short of strike action, in the dispute over pay, pensions, working conditions and jobs, since no meaningful negotiations are taking place, the NUT and NASUWT took strike action on 1st October 

 

3 coaches went from Wolverhampton and joined over 50,000 demonstrating through the centre of Manchester at the Tory conference. Our coach as with other coaches was half full but we gained contact with 10 new local activists.

 

Fire Brigades Union fire-fighters in Wolverhampton and Bilston staged picket lines for 4 hours in a national strike over pensions on Wednesday 25 September

 

Bedroom tax has pushed two of every five Wolverhampton council tenants into arrears.  Wolverhampton is the worst area in the Midlands  

According to a Freedom of Information Request:

Number of Wolverhampton tenants affected by bedroom tax  2,790

Number of Wolverhampton tenants pushed into arrears since 1 April 2013 1,153

Proportion of tenants pushed into arrears since 1 April 2013 is 41%

 

Hovis  – 357 Bakers, Food & Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) organised workers, after several weeks of industrial action saw victory in Wigan:

• review of staffing levels
• end zero-hours contracts for 24 staff who now become full-time
• agency staff only for work peaks and after permanent staff have been offered extra hours
• same conditions for agency staff