Campaigners to protest at city council budget meeting

On Monday March 5th, campaigners from Nottinghamshire Save Our Services (Notts SOS) will join UNISON members at Nottingham City Council in a protest outside the Council House when Nottingham City Council meets to vote on its budget for 2012-13.

There will be protests at lunch time, from 12.30pm - 1.30pm and then again from 5.00pm - 7.00pm

Protesters hope to present a petition against the council's cuts during the lunchtime demonstration.

The budget being discussed at the meeting includes a 3.49% council tax increase alongside 195 job cuts.  The council are looking at selling-off Portland Leisure Centre; closing two centres for older people, Marlstones Elderly Person’s Home in Bulwell and the Willows Centre in Beechdale; closing the Museum of Nottingham Life at Brewhouse Yard; cutting food waste collections and closing nine recycling centres; and reducing funding to Connexions, a support service for young people.

The council had also propsed reducing redundancy payments for laid-off staff to the legal minimum, but has since withdrawn this proposal.

In total the council hope to save £20m to cover a shortfall arising from reduced government funding as a result of the coalition government's austerity drive.

The council has also said that this will not be the end to the cuts, with an additional £24m of cutbacks required by the end of the spring 2015.

Notts SOS believe that the cuts agenda is ideologically driven and are urging councillors to stand-up to central government.

Claire Taylor from Notts SOS said, "Council Leader Jon Collins and Deputy Leader Graham Chapman have been vocally critical of central government and often with good reason. Now it's time for them to put their money where their mouth is and refuse to pass the cuts onto the people of Nottingham. Even a single council refusing to implement a cuts budget would shake the coalition government."

You can get more information about the protest from Notts SOS:
Email: nottssos@gmail.com
Website: nottssos.org.uk
Twitter: twitter.com/nottssos
OStatus: indy.im/nottssos
Facebook: tinyurl.com/nottssosfb
Email list: goo.gl/uT89q

Stop Workfare! Saturday 3 March, 12 noon Nottm protest

After the public outcry and campaigning against the Government's Workfare programme many companies have pulled out. Tonight Tory minister Grayling announced that the practice of stopping claimants' benefits if they refuse to take part in this unpaid labour has been scrapped.

But they hae also announced new entrants to the scheme including Airbus, Center Parcs and HP Enterprise Services and clearly intend to continue with this scheme.

Join Notts Uncut and Notts Trades Council on Saturday at 12 noon outside Wilkinsons to protest against Workfare and demand a fair days' work for a fair days' pay!

Click here for Facebook event

Disabled people say - No to all cuts! Save the ILF!

Disabled people, their families and supporters demonstrated outside Caxton House - the head office for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in London - on Monday 13 February.

The protest - organised by Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) - called upon the ConDem Government and Maria Miller in particular - to reverse the decision to close the Independent Living Fund (ILF) to new applications and continue to support independence for disabled people through the ILF.

DPAC activists hoped to personally deliver an open letter to Minister for Disabled People, Maria Miller MP. The letter included signatures of ILF Users, family members, supporters and labour movement leaders like John McDonnell MP and PCS General Secretary, Mark Serwotka. Unfortunately, the Minister was unavailable to receive the letter in person.

Click here to see a short video of the DPAC protest.


The ILF is seen by many as vital to the realisation of independence, choice and control for thousands of disabled people and for thousands more who can now no longer access it. Working in partnership with disabled people themselves, the ILF provides funding to enable disabled people to buy social and domestic support over and above what they can get from their Local Authority.
Disabled people are under no illusion that Local Authorities will be able or willing to provide the same level of support that is funded by the ILF. Many disabled people have already seen savage cuts to the services that Local Authorities provide. For many, the fear that they will have to move into residential care is a very real one.

What you can do?

• Sign the Government e-petition calling for the reopening of the ILF. Circulate it around your own networks as widely as possible.
• Write to your MP – the closure of the ILF is just another in a long line of attacks on disabled people, their income, living standards and independence. Show your MP how disgusted you are.
• Join DPAC – You can affiliate to DPAC via their website for a small charge. Larger donations are always welcome.
• If you are a trade union member, put a motion to your branch AGM to make a donation.

40th Anniversary of Saltley Gate dispute!

Birmingham Trades Union Council invite you to Join them in a Saltley Gate 40th Anniversary Rally11am Friday 10th February at the site near Saltley Gate Roundabout.

Speakers from the strike and current struggles will address the rally.  There will be a performance by Banner Theatre.

The event commemorates the day that 30,000 Birmingham Trade Unionists went on strike in support of the National Union of Mineworkers in their bid for fair pay.

15,000 engineering workers picketed to close the gates of the last remaining open fuel depot at Saltley Gate.  The blockade forced police to close the gates.

Come and bring your banners, placards and voices!

See the Story of the Day at https://sites.google.com/site/saltleygate/articles/fortyyearsafterwhat’sinaname 

When Workers Unite WE CAN WIN !  Anyone directly involved at the time, please contact Mary Pearson – BTUC Vice President marypearson123@btinternet.com. Tel: 0121 773 8683 Mob: 079701741677

Friday 10th Feb from 7.30 pm -  Banner Theatre perform part of their Saltley Gate Show and Fighting the Cuts at the Library Theatre, Chamberlain Square

Industrial Action at Remploy

GMB and Unite members working at Remploy factories in Chesterfield and at Springburn in Glasgow have voted overwhelmingly to take industrial action over the semi privatising of their factories.
A new company, R Healthcare, has been formed which is a partnership between Remploy and a firm called Websters - a large private orthotics firm.

Remploy - whose mission is to "transform the lives of disabled people and those who experience complex barriers to work by providing sustainable employment opportunities".
Non disabled apprentices and shop floor workers have been taken on by the new company in what is seemingly direct contradiction of its mission statement. These appointments have been made on terms and conditions that are considerably inferior to those of other Remploy workers.

Support the strikes
Local activists and trade unionists are invited to show their support on the picket lines and by sending messages of support.  The first strike day will take place on the 26th of January starting at 6-00 am in Chesterfield. The site addresses are as follows:

Remploy Ltd
Sheffield Road
Chesterfield
S41 8NJ

Please bring your banners and placards to show support for disabled workers fighting for their factories.

Messages of Support should be sent to:

• Kevin Shand GMB Rep in Chesterfield kevin.shand@remploy.co.uk
• Phil Brannan GMB Rep in Springburn Philip.brannan@remploy.co.uk 07500975379
• James Stribley Regional Consortium member Yorkshire jamesstribleygmbyorkshire@hotmail.co.uk 07525136396

For further Information Contact:

Les Woodward National Convener and Trades Council Coordinator at Les.woodward@ntlworld.com or on 07977 436251

Nottinghamshire Save Our Services (Notts SOS) have condemned EducationSecretary Michael Gove's suggestion that a new royal yacht be gifted to the Queen to mark the diamond jubilee.

Gove made the suggestion in a confidential letter sent to Jeremy Hunt, the culture secretary and minister overseeing the celebrations, and to the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg.

In 2007, when the Royal Yacht Britannia was decommissioned, the cost of a new yacht was estimated at £60m.

Downing Street has been quick to insist there will be no government money for the project, despite the suggestion in Gove's original letter that this might be a possibility. It appears that the key source offunding will be millionaires and corporate sponsors.

The government apparently feels it cannot tax these organisations and individuals to fund public services, but is happy to ask for sizeable donations for a new royal yacht. Whether public money or not,campaigners believe that this is a kick in the teeth to those affected by the vicious cuts imposed by the coalition government.

Rather than directing money to help those afflicted by their policies, the coalition would rather fritter it away on an oversized bath toy for one of the richest people in the country.

Brian Hocknull from Notts SOS said, "We keep being told that there's no money, which is why services have to be cut. But apparently there's money enough for the Royal Wedding; money for tax breaks for PhilipGreen, Vodafone and Goldman Sachs; money for wars in Libya and Afghanistan; money to turn London into a police state during the Olympics; and money for a new royal yacht. It seems the only thing there isn't money for is ordinary people."

"So much for all being in it together. My local Authority has had its central government funding cut by at least 28% over 4 years which will lead to decimation of services and privatisation of many remaining ones - both resulting in many redundancies" said Richard Buckwell, Ashfield UNISON's branch secretary.

"My members also face pay cuts over 4 years, and the government is in the process of stealing £900 million from our pension funds - will this be going to fund a new royal yacht? We should be told"

Claire Taylor from Notts SOS added, "The reality of the government's so-called austerity drive is that it those at the top are shielded from it. Public sector workers see their pensions under attack and their jobs at risk; disabled people fear being forced off benefits by welfare privateers such as Atos; and unemployed people are expected to work without pay under the Work Programme.

"Meanwhile the rich keep getting richer. Despite a stagnating economy, the number of millionaires in the UK rose by 17% from 2008-11. Bankers continue to rake in massive bonuses. FTSE 100 directors have seen their total earning rise almost 75% since the 2009 recession. We are very definitely not all in this together. This is a government defending the interests of "the haves and have yachts."

For more information, contact Rosemary on nottssos@gmail.com

Public Sector Pensions – We must fight on!

At a packed meeting of Notts trades council in Mansfield on Tuesday night - the first of the fighting New Year – delegates voted unanimously to step-up the fight for Fair Pensions for All!

An emergency motion – moved by Notts TUC president and NUT senior lay rep, Liam Conway – urges unions to intensify the campaign and push hard for further co-ordinated strike action in January and February. Additionally, the motion calls upon unions to develop plans for rolling sustained action and to plan to levy strike funds at a national level to support sustained action.

Speaking after the meeting, Notts trades council secretary, Paul Martin said: “The so called ‘Heads of Agreement’ frameworks do not change the fundamental issues for public sector workers – working longer and paying more to get less in retirement. It will need a sustained and determined campaign of action to win this dispute and win it we must”.


Notts trades council have convened a special public meeting on Tuesday 17 January from 7.30 pm at the Nottingham Mechanics Institute 3 North Sherwood Street, Nottingham, NG1 4EZ. All are invited to come along and share your views and ideas on how this dispute can be won.
For information, to request flyers or for a full text of the trades council motion, please contact Notts trades council at nottstc@gmail.com