30th November Day of Action - pictures from North Somerset

North Somerset UNISON pickets at Somerset House in Weston super Mare.

Some star pickets here - sorry if I forget anyone but thanks to Eve, Becky, Nicky, Julie, Susannah, Angela, John, Jon, Kevin, Pete, Mark, Deborah, Josh (21 tomorrow) at Somerset House; Fran, Pat, Jean, Nick, Roxie, Toni, Becky, Jakob and everyone at Weston Court; Helen, Louise, Lucinda and everyone at Castlewood:; Christina, Ian, Sandy and everyone at Weston General Hospital. Not forgetting North Somerset Council Home Care members who were on our picket lines everywhere - without whom we wouldn't have had such a presence.

North Somerset UNISON members on the march and at the rally in Bristol

Cresten from the Green Party joined us.

Jean and Pat - our fabulous retired members - what would we do without them!

This is a great placard - sums it all up really.

Vicki and her daughter Tilly. Vicki was the sole picket at her workplace in Knowle West this morning and also a first time striker - Congratulations to her.

These last photos are from the Guardian (Photographs: Matt Cardy/Getty Images Europe)

How many more reasons do we need to strike?

George Osborne has today announced that public sector pay increases will be capped at 1 % for the 2 financial years beginning April 2012, once our current pay freeze has ended. He also announced even more public sector job losses.

Public sector workers have had their pay frozen for 2 years - because of the increasing rate of inflation this amounts to an estimated 6% pay cut. On top of that the proposals for public sector pensions amount to another 3% pay cut, so the news that our pay will increase by no more than 1% over the next 2 years is another massive kick in the teeth for our members. Many of our members are low paid women who do important work, such as caring for the elderly and disabled, children and young people. They are finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet and today's news will make that even worse. If we didn't already have enough reasons to take action on 30th November we've now got another one. Tomorrow's industrial action will be the biggest in a generation and will send a powerful message to the government that ordinary working people will no longer pay for the financial crisis with cuts to our pay, pensions, jobs and services, and we hope that members of the public will join our campaign.

As George Osborne has revealed in his Autumn statement there is no growth in the economy - quite simply his plan isn't working. Those in work are seeing their wages failing to keep up with inflation and are also worried about job security and so aren't spending. Thousands of both public and private sector workers are being made redundant, unemployment is increasing and as a result tax revenue is falling, while the cost of benefits is rising. The private sector are not creating new jobs and in fact George Osborne's announcement of a youth contract demonstrates that the only way the private sector will create jobs is if the government pays them to do so. Quite simply the government's massive public spending cuts are going too far and too fast, and they are damaging the economic recovery. They are also hitting some groups like young people and women particularly badly. He needs to come up with a plan B fast - either that or we need a new government.

The Public Service Pension Pinch

Key pension facts

 

If closed today the LGPS could still pay all its liabilities for 20 years.

The Treasury gets £2bn more in NHS pension contributions than it pays out in benefits every year.

The average Local Government pension is £4,000 pa - hardly gold plated!

The average NHS pension is £7,000 per annum - again hardly gold plated!

Half of NHS women pensioners receive less than £3,500 per annum.

The bosses of Britain's largest companies have an average pension 34 times bigger than the average public sector pension.

 

30th November - a taste of what life will be like without public services

It's exactly a year ago since I started writing this blog. Today public sector workers in Portugal are taking action against austerity. Next week we will be doing the same - our industrial dispute is about pensions, but our protest on 30th November will be all about the cuts.

If the public are worried about what's going to happen to public services when we take 1 day of action, then to put it bluntly they may want to consider what it will be like when there are no public services, because this will be the result if we allow the Tory led government to continue with their austerity measures.

There will be no welfare state - no safety net if you or a member of your family gets sick or loses their job. You will be poor in old age, and there will be no one to look after you. Your children's education will suffer, they won't be able to afford to go to university, and there will be no decent jobs for them. There will be no one to look after our most vulnerable children and young people, and people with physical and learning disabilities. Do we really want to live in a society like this - a society without public services?

Over 300 years ago the philosopher Thomas Hobbes described the life of human beings outside the state as "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short". This will be what life is like without public services.

Rise Up on 30th November

Here's the 1st of May band's contribution to the struggle against this lethal Con Dem government. Support the 3 million on strike on 30 November, support Banner Theatre and TURN ON, TUNE IN, AND DOWNLOAD 'RISE UP' at http://cdbaby.com/cd/1stofmayband

Let's hear it for all public sector staff

Headlined, 'Let's hear it for all public sector staff', the following letter by Gerrard Sables appeared in 15 November edition of the Western Morning News in response to a previous reader's letter criticising public servants who will be on strike. The letter was forwarded to me by our local Trades Union Council.

Mr Sables, who is a rep in PCS's retired members section, writes:

"I worked in the public sector for 25 years and have reason to be grateful to public sector workers.

I wish to thank the following:

My school teachers who taught me my letters and numbers, an appreciation of Shakespeare, how to conjugate French verbs and the co-efficient of linear expansion

The nurses who came round and inoculated us against small pox and tuberculosis

The air traffic controllers who saw to it that my flights took off and landed safely

The benefit officers who helped me out when I was skint

The registrar who married us

The midwives who helped in the safe delivery of my children and grandchildren

The court officers who officiated at my divorce

The radiographers who X-rayed me

Those at the blood transfusion service who helped me to help others

The firemen who put out my chimney fire

The gardeners who keep our parks looking nice

The refuse collectors, without whom we would be in a terrible state

The paramedics who looked after my parents on their way to hospital

The probate officers who sorted out my mum's estate

The nice lady who works for Barnstaple Town Council and books rooms for meetings for me

The physiotherapist who is helping me through a frozen shoulder

And even the police officers who arrested me when I was doing a non-violent action at RAF St Mawgan

These people are to have their nationally agreed pension rights cruelly slashed. [The previous letter writer] says: "They have to take the pain just like everyone else."

Just because the private employers offer such lousy pensions does not justify underpaying public service pensions.

Nobody joins the public sector to get rich. They do it to serve the public. They have a public service ethos. We should value that.”

Fight the Cuts in North Somerset

North Somerset UNISON will be continuing its campaign against the £50 million of cuts that North Somerset Council plan to make, which will impact on services for the most vulnerable people in North Somerset including children and young people, older people and people with disabilities. And we won't stop fighting until they set their budget on 21st February 2012, and even then we'll keep fighting.

30th November 2011 - Demonstration against the cuts and against the attack on public sector pensions - 11 am assembly at College Green in Bristol, and march to Castle Park.

Here's some dates of meetings coming up that residents of North Somerset can attend and request to speak at. All meetings take place at the Town Hall in Weston super Mare.

1st December at 10.30 am - Children & Young People's Scrutiny panel - councillors will examine cuts proposals.

13th December at 2.30 pm - North Somerset Executive meeting - the budget may or may not be on the agenda.

14th December at 11 am - Adult Services and Housing Policy and Scrutiny panel - councillors will examine cuts proposals.

2012

17th January at 6 pm - North Somerset Council meeting - the budget may or may not be on the agenda.

31st January at 2.30 pm - Community & Corporate Organisation Policy and Scrutiny panel - councillors will examine cuts proposals

2nd February at 10.30 am - Children & Young People's Scrutiny panel - councillors will examine cuts proposals.

7th February at 2.30 pm - North Somerset Executive meeting - the Executive will approve the budget for the council to vote on at 21st February meeting.

21st February at 6 pm - North Somerset Council meeting - this is where they'll set the budget and impose the cuts to services - UNISON will be lobbying the meeting from 5.30 pm.

28th February at 6 pm - possible North Somerset Council meeting, if no decision made on budget on 21st February.

Meetings for North Somerset UNISON members

15th December at 12.30 pm – Old Council Chamber, Town Hall

21st December at 12.30 pm – Badger House room 2

5th January at 12.30 pm - Castlewood rooms 8-9-10

17th January at 5.30 pm – UNISON lobby of Council meeting at the Town Hall – be there!

18th January at 12.30 pm - Old Council Chamber, Town Hall

24th January at 12.30 pm – Badger House room 2

8th February at 12.30 pm - Badger House room 2

14th February at 12.30 pm - Castlewood rooms 8.9.10

21st February at 12.30 pm - New Council Chamber, Town Hall

21st February at 5.30 pm - UNISON lobby of Council budget setting meeting at the Town Hall – all reps and members need to be there!