SEPTEMBER 2024

WB&D TUC Secretary’s Report

Fran Heathcote, PCS General Secretary will be our speaker New Deal for Working People, what next?

8pm Thurs 19 September on zoom, all welcome Meeting ID: 862 9678 1827 Passcode: TUC

TUC Chainmakers’ festival is Sunday 15 September from 11am; we will have a stall; Mary MacArthur Gardens, Cradley Heath B64 5BA

Support Cuba Solidarity and win – Wolves TUC won first prize this summer in the Cuba Solidarity 267 Club draw. Our £5 monthly direct debit to assist Cuba Solidarity’s work netted us £267. If you or your branch would like to take part see https://cuba-solidarity.org.uk/get-involved/267-club/

Unions opposed Cutting of winter fuel payments for pensioners at Congress whilst all three Wolverhampton Labour MPs voted to cut it. End Fuel Poverty Coalition estimated that 4,950 excess winter deaths in the UK were caused by living in cold homes during winter 2022/23.

August 2024 – The new Labour government has committed to formally repeal the Minimum Service Levels Act. This is an important milestone in the campaign to protect the right to strike that wouldn’t have been possible without you. The trade union movement fought a hard campaign against the Tories’ anti-union legislation, which threatened our right to strike for decent pay, terms and conditions. See more https://wolvestuc.org.uk/protect-the-right-to-strike/

Following 18 days of strikes in the last two years and negotiations with the Department for Transport, which took over negotiations from the Rail Delivery Group when the new Labour government assumed power, ASLEF has secured a three-phase pay offer of 5% for 2022-2023, 4.75% for 2023-2024, and 4.5% for 2024-2025 with the deal backdated and pensionable.https://wolvestuc.org.uk/national-rail-strike/

18/19/20 November 2024 – STOP TELFORD’S ARMS FAIR A movement of resistance against the SDSC-UK arms fair https://sites.google.com/view/stop-sdsc-uk/home

Please sign this open letter for publicly owned buses to become the default: https://weownit.org.uk/act-now/transport-secretary-better-buses-bill-letter

also TUC Petition on the £2 fare cap: Make the £2 bus fare cap permanent | Megaphone UK

Branch 2024 affiliations to Wolverhampton TUC: ASLEF, CWU, FBU, Musicians Union, NEU, RMT, UCU University, UNISON City of Wolverhampton, UNISON Staffordshire, UNISON Sandwell, UNITE WM/6150, UNITE WM/5115 Community, UNITE WM/5203, UNITE LE/372, UNITE WM/7132 (Buses)

These affiliations represent 17,500 affiliated local trade unionists