Whose policy is it...

...that allows the richest people in Britain to have seen a record boom in wealth over the past year.

Their fortunes have soared by 30% even though much of the UK is struggling to recover from recession and the near-collapse of the banking system.

It is the largest rise in wealth since the rich list was first published 21 years ago. The 2010 Sunday Times Rich List, published today, reveals that the 1,000 richest people in the country increased their wealth by £77 billion last year, bringing their total wealth to £335.5 billion — it is startling that as a nation we are struggling with a £170 billion deficit... or just over double the amount that the richest have profited from... in one short year!

And be in no doubt that it is from us and us alone that this profit has come. We have directly injected cash into banks, finance and property... and it is in these areas that the rich have benefited most, profiting from our pay, our pensions and our jobs. The economy has not grown at all (well 0.2%) so where else can the ruling elite have made such gains if not from the money we have injected ostensibly to fend off a double dip recession. All the while they have been taking a multiple dip into the cash we have provided to support the economy.

In short we have been robbed and spectacularly so by the greediest and most venal bunch of wastrels in the history of the world.

All of this begs the question why is it all we have heard from the politicians has been an asinine debate about a mere £6 billion in national insurance increase that again the richest object to most. It can only be that all the main parties are mere puppets of the vested interests that mean to go on getting richer whatever the cost to the majority.

PCS Elections

The following slates were agreed by members at the AGM:

PCS NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE (NEC) ELECTIONS
President:
GODRICH, Janice DWP - Glasgow South
Vice President:
BEAN, Dave – HMRC Leicester
BOND, Sue – PSG EHRC
McINALLY, John DWP - Avon
MORRIS, Glenys – MoJ, London Courts
NEC
ALBERT, Ian – DWP HQ London
FERGUSON, Mary – DWP Tyneview Park
McFADDEN, Dominic – HMRC Intelligence & Investigation
BAKER, Mark – DfT/DCLG/GO ETR Bristol & South West
GEDLING, Cheryl – Scot Exec Central
MCHUGH, Kevin – HMRC Benton Park View
BROWN, Alan – DWP, Glasgow North
GREENWAY, Kevin - MOJ
MERRY, Lorna – HMRC Bucks & Oxon
BROWN, Paula – HSE HALL, Sam – DWP Highlands & Islands
MORRISON, Chris – Com Sec, Telford Aspire
CHILDS, Eddie - MOJ HOLBOURNE, Zita - DTI ACAS National
REID, Andy – HMRC Westminster Valuation
COMER, Steve – HMRC South West JAMIESON, John – PSG Registers of Scotland RICHARDS, Dave – DWP West London
CONWAY, Tony – Gov Off West Midlands KELLY, Emily – Land Registry Lytham and Lancashire
STEEPLES, Victoria - OFT
DENNIS, Alan – MOD Central London
KHALIF, Adam – DWP DWP HQ (London)
WESLEY, Hector – HMRC London West Revenue
DERBYSHIRE, Mike – MoJ Hampshire & Isle of Wight
LICENSE, Neil – HMRC Yorkshire & North Lincs
WILLIAMS, Paul – DfT/DCLG/GO ETR Nottingham Branch
DUNN. Joy – Scot Exec Leith
LLOYD, Marion – DfES Sheffield
WILLIAMS, Rob – DWP Bradford

MoD Group Elections

President :
Chris DANDO (Foxhill)
Vice President:
KC JONES (Leconfield)
Treasurer :
John WILSON (West Midlands)
Organiser
Jim WILLIAMSON (High Wycombe)
Assistant Secretaries
Dougie BROWNLIE (Scotland West)
Ian CRAVEN (Yorkshire) Kerstine
HILLARY (Scotland East)
KC JONES (Leconfield)
Steve ROBINSON (Abbey Wood Filton)
John RUSSELL (Yorkshire)

GEC
Dougie BROWNLIE (Scotland West)
Ian CRAVEN (Yorkshire)
Sandra CRAVEN (Yorkshire)
Colin CUNNINGHAM (Mildenhall/Lakenheath)
Kerstine HILLARY (Scotland East)
Robert Jacks (Scotland West)
John LYONS (Scotland West)
Angy McKENZIE (Central London)
James RATCLIFF (Central London)
Steve ROBINSON (Abbey Wood Filton)
Eric ROTHERY (Gloucester)
John RUSSELL (Yorkshire)
Kevin TOLMIE (Scotland East)
Jim WILLIAMSON (High Wycombe)
John WILSON (West Midlands)

Group Auditors
John DIXON (Leconfield)
Paul WHITELEY (Leconfield)
Standing orders committee
Stephen SHIPMAN (Mildenhall/Lakenheath)

Its the economy, Stupid!

In a surprise move today 77 of the worlds leading economists have written to The Times newspaper supporting Gordon Brown over the elections key economic argument. The economists argue that Tory plans to axe £6 billion of government spending this year would cost jobs, risk tipping the economy back into recession and imperil efforts to cut the deficit.

Tories argue that leading businesses are on their side which is true. But unfortunately for them, it is also revealled today that these very same businesses are killing smaller businesses by failing to pay their bills timeously. It is understood that as much as £15 Billion is owed by the big to the small for over 120 days! In total it is understood that at any given time the biggest businesses owe the smallest over £45 Billion!

Effectively these Tory supporting captains of industry use the smallest as de facto interest free lending banks. And they baulk at paying tax? Now there's a surprise!

Branch election update

Members will be aware that prior to the Annual General Meeting of 2010 the branch conducted an electoral ballot for the office of Branch Treasurer.

There were two candidates, Christopher Senior and Gavin Fox.

As announced at the AGM, I confirm that Christopher Senior was re-elected to the position of Veterans Agency National Branch Treasurer.

Congratulations to Chris and commiserations to Gavin.

Kenneth Riley - I fought the Nazis. Will you?

The following was from a Hope Not Hate mailing:

When I enlisted in the army 66 years ago, I did it for Britain.

Now I need you to do something for me.

The BNP is trying to strangle our great nation with the same extremist and fascist agenda that Hitler's Nazis threatened us with decades ago. Today, the war isn't being fought on the battlefield - but in the ballot box.

Hope Not Hate is on the front lines of our fight. They're organising to make sure modern-day Nazis aren't elected on 6 May and to preserve the Britain for which I fought so hard. If I had my health I would be out there with them. But I can't - so I'm writing to ask you to volunteer for me.

Please join Hope Not Hate's Day of Action this weekend - the campaign has laid on transport to help you get to the areas in which you are needed the most:

http://action.hopenothate.org.uk/fightthenazis

I was barely in my twenties when I went to fight for Britain. I left home with friends - all young lads like myself - and many never returned.

Today, the BNP salute and say "Heil Hitler" - and they support the same all-white Britain. They're proud of what the Nazis did to my friends, and what they did to millions of innocent people throughout Europe.

We didn't fight with our lives on the line years ago just to be right back here today.

We need to do everything we can to stop the BNP from being elected to local councils and to Parliament. Those boys lost to the war would proudly go door-to-door with Hope Not Hate to fight against the fascist BNP today.

There are no tanks and no guns in this fight - but we still need your courage to speak out.

Attend a Hope Not Hate event this weekend and join the fight against fascism:

http://action.hopenothate.org.uk/fightthenazis

The elections on 6 May are personal to me - and I hope they will be to you. I'd like to thank you in advance for your service.

Yours,

Kenneth Riley
Normandy Veteran - Tank Division

Policies? Manifestos? Facts?

It is very hard for us to make a serious choice in this election without talking about one factor above all others – class. This isn't about David Cameron's background; it's about his policies. It is a provable fact that he will redistribute wealth – substantially – but in a strange direction: from everyone in the big wide middle and bottom of British society, to the very top.

Here are some facts.

Dave will hand a £1.2bn inheritance tax cut to the richest 2 per cent in Britain – with most going to the 3,000 wealthiest estates (including his wife's).

Then Dave promises to end the 50p top rate of tax, giving another £2.4bn to the richest 1 per cent.

Then he has pledged to cut taxes on the pensions of the richest, handing another £3.2bn to the same 1 per cent.

Then his marriage tax relief policies will give 13 times more to the rich than the poor. To pay for this, he will slash programmes for the middle and the skint, like the Child Trust Fund, SureStart and state schools.

We also know that tens of thousands of public sector jobs and the very services they maintain are under serious threat of cuts and sell off to the private sector. We also know that this branch is comitted to Public Services, Before Private Profit.

Fact!

(courtesy of Johann Hari at the Independent)

Tories' public sector jobs savings 'cost 40,000 jobs'

The Conservatives would cut up to £2 billion from the public sector payroll, according to their key efficiency adviser, in a move which could lead to the loss of 40,000 jobs.

Sir Peter Gershon, who defected from Labour to join a Tory advisory panel in December, laid out for the first time how the Tories plan to make a total of £12 billion of savings.

The Tories have consistently said that more needs to be done to tackle the deficit, but to date they have been reluctant to give a breakdown of how they would achieve the extra £12bn of cuts, which would come on top of £15bn of savings that Labour has said it would make.

The £12bn of savings would be twice the cost of the Conservatives' plan to limit Labour's proposed National Insurance rises, which has dominated the first few days of the election campaign.

Speaking on Friday morning, David Cameron said: "We are saying that you need to go further and faster in public spending [cuts] than Labour."

Corporate Greed Before Public Services

30 more British corporations have unsurprisingly come out in favour of Tory plans to give them tax breaks at the expense of what they euphemistically term "government waste" and we know to be our jobs, our pay and our pensions.

To counter this, we suggest that we could all do our personal bit towards protecting our jobs, our pay and our pensions. The immediate and most effective way would be for us all to boycott goods and services of all of those companies with immediate effect. Companies such as easyJet and Travelodge, as well as the more usual suspects such as Virgin and B&Q. Even better would be to write or email such companies and let them know how you feel.

The full list of greedy corporations sucking up today to gain the patronage of the percieved victors of the next election are:

Kirby Adams, Chief Executive, Corus; Surinder Arora, Chairman, Arora International Hotels; Stefan Barden, Chief Executive, Northern Foods; Robert Bensoussan, Executive Chairman, LK Bennett; Simon Blagden, Chairman, Fujitsu Telecommunications (Europe); Tony Brown, Chief Executive, Beales; Chris Dawson, Founder and Managing Director, The Range; Sir John Egan; Ralph Findlay, Chief Executive, Marston’s plc; Stephen Goodyear, Chief Executive, Young & Co’s Brewery PLC; Anthony Habgood, Chairman, Reed Elsevier; Andy Harrison, Chief Executive, easyJet; Peter Harrison, Chief Executive, Furniture Village; Grant Hearn, Chief Executive, Travelodge; Peter Hindle, Chief Executive, Jewson; Neil Hornby, Chairman, Hornby plc and Umeco plc; Luke Johnson, Founder of Risk Capital Partners and Chairman of Royal Society of Arts; John King, Chief Executive, House of Fraser; Richard Kirk, Chief Executive, The Peacock Group; Simon Lockett, Chief Executive, Premier Oil Plc; Rick Medlock, CFO, Inmarsat Plc; Mike Norris, Chief Executive, Computacenter; Tony Pidgeley, Group Chairman, Berkeley Group Holdings Plc; Jamie Ritblat, Chief Executive, Delancey; Nick Robertson, Chief Executive, ASOS; Tim Steiner, Chief Executive, Ocado; Michael Turner, Chief Executive, Fuller, Smith & Turner Plc; Tom Wells, Chairman, Charles Wells Ltd and Muntons plc; Nick Wheeler, Founder, Charles Tyrwhitt; Bob Wigley, Chairman of Sovereign Reversions plc.

Redundancy Payouts Cut To Statutory Minimum

QinetiQ's new chief executive wants to cut redundancy payouts to the statutory minimum – a maximum of 30 weeks' pay for older workers – later this year, as the company plans to make 1000 of its 6500 workers redundant. He also wants to cut the notice period of six months for compulsory redundancy, along with other staff terms and conditions.

These are the same minimum terms that are being forced upon us under the new terms of Civil Service Compensation Scheme.

Read more here.

Teachers join civil servants fight

Following a rousing speech by Mark Serwotka to the National Union of Teachers yesterday, they voted to combine forces with PCS, the biggest civil service union, to hold simultaneous strike ballots if pay is frozen or pensions and working conditions are cut.

Delegates at the NUT conference chanted “the workers, united, will never be defeated”, fists raised, during a standing ovation for the call by Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, for co-ordinated action across the public sector.

“Our message to the politicians should be simple,” Mr Serwotka told the NUT. “If you’re coming for our jobs, our pensions, our services and our education, we are going to stand together and we are going to defend them. And we are going to take united industrial action as a last resort, if we have to, because we know it’s the best way of defending ourselves.”

Cartoon of the day...

Civil servants to pay for Tory tax cut

The 'Boy' George Osborne said today that thousands of public sector posts would be left unfilled and major IT projects would be axed under Tory plans to give tax cuts following a general election.

This will be the thin end of a very large wedge.

If they are successful in the next election, you can bet two things... attacks on our right to take industrial action... followed by huge cuts in public sector jobs, pay and pensions.

Read more here.

I bet that subsidies to wealthy landowners go untouched though!

Read here how Samantha Camerons father-exploits Labours green subsidy for wind farm and nets himself £3.5m a year

NO EXEMPTIONS IN THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

In the days leading up to the industrial action on 8 and 9 March, the department wrote to our union asking for exemptions to the industrial action in certain areas of the Ministry of Defence. Whilst our union has this list, we will not be publishing it, as we firmly believe every single PCS member in the Ministry of Defence is of value to the department.

The list is extremely useful, however and we will be using it in future, but for different reasons to those intended by MoD management!

It is extremely significant that by sending us the list and asking for exemptions, the department is admitting that certain functions and certain personnel within the MoD are absolutely vital. There are undoubtedly some jobs that support the front line more directly than others, but whether you are a guard at Walker House in Liverpool, a PPPA case advisor in Bath or the permanent under secretary in Main Building, London, every civilian worker in our department contributes to the support to the front line.

However, every single civilian worker in our department is also affected by the proposed changes to the civil service compensation scheme (CSCS). The MoD have not written to the Cabinet Office with the list of what they deem to be essential personnel asking for exemption to the changes proposed to the CSCS. The MoD is quite happy to ask for exemptions and goodwill from our union, but is unwilling to safeguard the very members it wants exempted!!

Therefore, our union will be granting no exemptions in the industrial action on 24 March. Loyal, hardworking MoD employees are having their loyalty and dedication firmly thrown back in their faces by an uncaring, yet deceitful employer.
Every PCS member will now be aware of the privatisation and job cuts agenda being put forward as manifesto pledges by all of the mainstream political parties. If and when any of these proposals reach fruition, we will be cross-referencing the threatened areas with the list of exemptions requested by MoD management to this industrial action.

If we find a single job that is threatened, we will ask a simple question – if these members of staff are so important to the Ministry of Defence that they need exempted from industrial action, why are you now selling them off or pushing them out the door?

Finally, please make non-members aware of the threat to their compensation scheme entitlements and ask them to join our union. We appeal to every branch and member to consider what they can do to help our union become stronger. We have proven that when we stand together we can resist attacks from the employer and defend our jobs. Make sure everyone where you are is in our union and is prepared to stand up and defend our entitlements and our jobs.

THE CAMPAIGN CONTINUES; ALL OUT ON 24 MARCH - NO JOB CUTS ON THE CHEAP.

Feedback from Picket Lines for 8 & 9 March Action

PCS members in the MoD group have delivered massive support for action in defence of the civil service compensation scheme on 8 and 9 March.


The action was also well supported across our union as a whole, which has undoubtedly had a massive impact on the delivery of the services that PCS members provide across the civil and public service. This will send a clear message to the government that our union will not allow them to tear up our contracted accrued rights without a fight.


The report backs from picket lines have been fantastic for the MoD group with all but one indicating that this is the best-supported action in recent memory. We believe that up to 80% of MoD members observed the action. This is a clear indication of members’ anger and resolve to make a stance to defend our accrued rights.


Attached is a leaflet that gives you a feel of the support we delivered on the 8 & 9 March. Click here to access it. We should be proud of what we achieved.


There are still report backs missing from 25 of our branches, which we know in most cases they had picket lines. We have however 9 branches that did not have picket lines on either of the days.


I hope you find this useful when going out to members to show the impact and support that we delivered.


You have already contributed to put intense pressure on the Government to re-open negotiations. The media coverage was unprecedented both at a national and a local level and we were able to get our message out to a wider audience. More MP’s have now signed Early Day Motion (EDM) 252 up to 162 which represents 1/3 of all MP’s eligible to sign an EDM.


It is now necessary to increase the pressure further before the 1st April when the Government are attempting to force through these proposals. Therefore the National Executive Committee has called a further day of strike action on the 19 March. We still believe that there is the opportunity for a negotiated settlement if there is the will on the part of our employer. But they still need to see our strength of feeling against their actions so far.


We are asking you to dig deep to keep the pressure up and take this next step on 24 March.

Further Industrial Action 24th March 2010

After the successful industrial action combating the Governments reprehensible attack on the CSCS – a term and condition of service that the Government intend to unilaterally alter to all staff’s detriment, a move that heralds a fresh round of job loses and privatisations – the Civil Service are all out on Budget Day Wednesday 24th March.

Some members have wondered why communication has been low on this, it is because our management would discipline the local reps if we used facility to communicate industrial action. The flyers we put round Tomlinson House today were printed privately and distributed in reps own time. This is also why we cannot email such things as voting figures round the membership, a question we have been asked, except on a one on one basis when directly requested. However the figures are there for all to see on the PCS homepage.

Many thanks to all those who took part in the 8th and 9th action. We hope you’ll join us in unity again to send a message to Tessa Jowell that she cannot tear our contracts up like this. Lets face it, the answer to why are the very bankers who led us to financial ruin were not having their obscene bonuses removed was… They have contracts. Tessa, so do we. Lord Ashcroft may be a very naughty boy but the Government won’t tackle his obscene disregard of UK tax law as it is “retrospective”. But the attack on the CSCS is retrospective.

The idea that all civil service unions bar PCS have agreed the changes is actually a misrepresentation of the truth. There are other unions opposing these changes also but, remember this. We represent 80% of the civil service.

One Out – All Out.

What Financial Crisis?

The number of billionaires has soared in the past year, and dozens of people who lost that elite status in the credit crisis have won it back as stock markets and commodities prices have rebounded.

If you want to know what a billion looks like: its this £1,000,000,000. That is one thousand millions.


The March edition of Forbes magazine, out today, has become essential reading for the world's super-rich. While many studiously try to protect their privacy and stay below the radar, others have hired public relations advisers to make sure they get on the list. The US still dominates the list of billionaires, which is 1,011 long this year. That is up from 793 of 2009, largely thanks to the rebound in commodities prices which has brought many Russians back into the elite club.

If you wonder how much money they have between them the number looks something like this:

£1,011,000,000,000 at the bare minimum. That number is over a trillion.

Get a load of this: The world's richest people:

1 Carlos Slim Helu (last year: 3) $53.5bn (last year: $35.0bn)
The cigar-puffing 70-year-old took control of Mexico's telecoms monopoly and now owns the largest mobile operator in Latin America.

Bill Gates (1) $53.0bn ($40.0bn)
Gates's wealth is still largely tied up in Microsoft, though he spends his time now on philanthropy.

3 Warren Buffett (2) $47.0bn ($37.0bn)
Close to his 80th birthday, the investment guru has begun giving his fortune away to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

4 Mukesh Ambani (7) $29.0bn ($19.5bn)
Won the lion's share of his father's Indian conglomerate, Reliance Industries, in a carve-up with his brother, Anil.
5 Lakshmi Mittal (8) $28.7bn ($19.3bn)
The Indian-born, London-based steel tycoon lost more than half his fortune in 2008, but since then commodities prices have bounced back.

6 Larry Ellison (4) $28.0bn ($22.5bn)
He founded and still runs the database software firm Oracle, but he is happiest these days sailing and won the America's Cup in February.

7 Bernard Arnault (15) $27.5bn ($16.5bn)
Europe's richest man built LVMH, which owns Louis Vuitton, Moët et Chandon and Hennessey.

8 Eike Batista (61) $27.0bn ($7.5bn)
Born to a German mother and Brazilian father, he floated his oil and gas firm just when the oil price peaked.

Our PCS strike was no mistake

Critics of the recent PCS strike have their numbers wrong – cuts pose a real threat to vulnerable, low-paid civil servants, says Mark Serwotka in todays Guardian

I read with dismay the two articles on Comment is Free written during our 48-hour strike on 8 and 9 March. The first, by the pseudonymous "Kurt Chapman", is a frightening combination of mathematical inaccuracy and personal attack. PCS members are not the dupes of my ego, as he insultingly suggests, but well-informed and dedicated public servants who know precisely what an attack on their terms looks like, and overwhelmingly supported the strike. If the ethereal Kurt wishes to join the debate he should discard the cloak of anonymity.

Phillip Inman, like the cabinet office minister Tessa Jowell, talks about bringing the civil service into line with the rest of the public sector, but there is no attempt to do this on pay. That renowned friend of the workers Margaret Thatcher agreed our redundancy terms, which recognised that our pay rates are lower than elsewhere. Civil servants earned an average salary of just £22,850 last year, lower than the averages in both the rest of the public sector and in the private sector.

It seems only a levelling-down of workers' entitlements is OK. Yes, some workers have worse conditions, but as our rep Andy Thomas pointed out in a media interview yesterday, "that's an argument for everyone in the country to be paid the minimum wage, it's an argument for everyone in this country to sleep under Waterloo Bridge".

People join unions to defend their interests against employers' attempts to attack their terms and their job, and to stop an employer-driven race to the bottom on pay, pensions and other terms and conditions. PCS members have contractual rights, and they are determined to defend them. The action on 8 and 9 March was tremendously well supported, showing the depth of feeling on this, with rallies in every region and widespread media coverage.

To compare civil servants with fat-cat bankers getting bonuses of millions on top of six- or seven-figure salaries, as Philip Inman does, is like comparing common assault with genocide. Few of my members will recognise the picture painted of "generous pay, homes and sundry benefits". Bailed-out banks, which caused this whole economic crisis, are giving away billions in taxpayers' cash to already ludicrously wealthy individuals.

Like his anonymous companion, Inman also gets his maths wrong, and my union would love to meet the actuary who came up with his pension figures of a civil servant paid £30,000 enjoying a £20,000 pension. The average civil service pension is just £4,200.

Any civil servant earning more than £20,000 will be worse off under the government's proposals. Anyone leaving on voluntary terms will also see a potential cut, and for most people the entitlement to an early pension is lost. And because of these savings, everyone's job is more vulnerable because entire workforces will be cheaper to sack or to privatise – and all three parties are telling our members that's what's in store.

Nearly 100,000 posts have been lost in the civil service in the last five years, and this attack on redundancy terms makes every single member more vulnerable. The reality of those working in the civil service is one of lower pay than in the rest of the public sector and the private sector, and considerable job vulnerability.
The government's motivation is crude cost-cutting, not justice for the low-paid or equity for the young. None of the proposed savings are being recycled into better pay or better pensions for the young. They are part of the grand redistribution from taxpayers and all workers to prop up the bank-led casino economy, which the government was lauding right up until it collapsed causing this crisis, and seems determined to excuse from any reparations now.

The message from PCS members, echoing around Europe, is that we will not pay for the failure of the bankers and the politicians who deregulated and let it happen. Attempts to create false divides between young and old or public and private will not wash. The people of the UK know they are being fleeced not by low-paid civil servants, but by fat-cat bankers and their compliant politicians.

Striking civil servants' defiant message

By Joe Robinson Blackpool Gazette

PUBLIC sector workers – in the middle of a two-day strike – insist they are fighting for the economic future of the Fylde coast.

Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) members took to the picket lines at Norcross, Warbreck and St Annes yesterday at the start of the 48-hour walkout.Workers taking part in industrial action include court staff, job centre employees, those working at benefit offices, tax centres and the Coastguard, which is still answering emergency call outs. No vital services were affected by the walkout.Public sector services remained open, although the Coastguard, members of the PCS, did not respond to routine calls.Fylde coast union chiefs say they are furious about plans by the Government to reduce redundancy compensation, which they believe is a pre-cursor to widespread cuts.

Ian Melvin, branch secretary of the PCS at Norcross, warned the Government's plans could lead to huge job losses.He said: "The Government is really taking the axe to the compensation prior to making people redundant or transferring people to contractors in the private sector."This could have a huge impact on the Fylde coast and around a third of staff could be made redundant in the near future."We really are fighting for the economic future of the region because the Government is one of the biggest employers."

Rally

Please see below the details for Monday's rally. Start time no later than 12.30.

Preston

55th Division Club
119 Church Street Preston Lancashire PR1 3BT
Refreshments available from 12.00pm

CHAIR: Dave Wilson, Vice-Chair PCS NW Regional Committee
Emily Kelly, PCS National Executive Committee
Avis Gilmore, NUT Regional Secretary

ALL OUT ON 8TH AND 9TH MARCH – NO JOB CUTS ON THE CHEAP

As we build towards the industrial action on 8 and 9 March, it has been reported that the defence select committee have major questions over a £21 billion funding gap in our department stating responses from the department have been, “at best confused and unhelpful, at worst deliberately obstructive".

In recent months in the Ministry of Defence, we have seen:

· PR10 options being drafted that plan to cut thousands of jobs
· The Grimstone review looking for a minimum of £180 million of savings through cutting yet more civil service posts
· Announcements made to the media to close MoD sites before staff have been informed, far less consulted
· All mainstream political parties promising pay freezes or pay curbs (as MP's vote themselves a £1,000 rise!!)
· Continuous attacks on MoD civilian staff by discredited politicians
· Attacks on overtime
· Attacks on travel and subsistence

If we do have a £21 billion black hole, the strategic defence review that will be undertaken after the general election will undoubtedly make all of the above look like small fry in comparison.

It will not be thousands of jobs that will be under threat, or millions of pounds to be saved. It will be tens of thousands of jobs and billions of pounds required.

If the changes to the compensation scheme are forced through, it will mean your job is under threat, and if this happens then the department will get rid of you cheaply. Forget the many years loyal, dedicated service you have put in, forget that wee bit extra you have put in on countless occasions – you are just a number who will be discarded without a second thought.

The Ministry of Defence like every other governmental department is now only interested in numbers – financial numbers to make the balance sheet meet at the end of the year. Anything, or anybody else is incidental.

In the PCS MoD group, we have held over 130 CSCS meetings since last Autumn, speaking to approximately 8,000 members. Almost universally, MoD members have supported our union’s campaign and campaigning objectives. Next Monday and Tuesday we know that already we will have over 50 picket lines at MoD sites, and this number is growing by the hour.

It is now time for every PCS member in the Ministry of Defence to stand together and get fully behind our union. We have proven that when we stand together we can resist attacks from the employer and defend our jobs. Make sure everyone where you are is in our union and is prepared to stand up and defend our entitlements and our jobs.

ALL OUT ON 8TH AND 9TH MARCH – NO JOB CUTS ON THE CHEAP

Bob Rollings Chris Dando KC Jones

PCS response to Bill Jeffrey

To: All Members (1:10) MoD/MB/18/10

Dear Colleagues,

It is regrettable that our Permanent under Secretary, Bill Jeffrey, has chosen to intervene in the ongoing Civil Service Compensation Scheme dispute and sought to undermine our union’s campaign to defend members’ terms and conditions.

At a time when confidence and belief in the leadership of the department is at an all time low, as demonstrated by the recent Your Say survey results, it is even more unfortunate that he chooses to do so using spin and propaganda rather than a genuine attempt to debate the issues and negotiate a settlement to the dispute.

Our union must respond to this blatant attempt to undermine our industrial action, properly called after a democratic ballot, but also firmly rebut the myths and half-truths he uses to defend the indefensible.

Myth 1 - “Someone aged 46, on a salary of £25,000 a year and with 25 years service, being made redundant would have entitlement to a statutory redundancy payment of £8,550 in many private sector organisations. In the Civil Service, under the new terms, it would be £60,000.”

Fact 1 – Leaving aside the fact that MOD’s Permanent under Secretary seems happy that his department should now aspire to treat his staff like the worst private sector employers (which may go some way to explain the Your Say survey results!) the fact remains that at the moment, that same individual would receive a payment of £75,000, therefore they stand to lose £15,000 under the new proposals. Also, all staff currently aged under 50 will lose the entitlement to enhanced pension under FER/CER terms once they reach the age of 50. So under this scheme, future long-serving civil servants will be worse off than now.

Myth 2 – “For nearly 50% of civil servants earning £20,000 or less there will be little difference between the current and the new terms; indeed some people will be better off under the new terms.”

Fact 2 - Almost every member will be potentially worse off in the event of voluntary redundancy because management will have almost complete discretion. PCS campaigning so far has forced the Cabinet Office to improve their offer six times, but there is still further room for improvement so that all civil servants, even Permanent under Secretaries, suffer no detriment.

Myth 3 – “Anyone being made compulsorily redundant under the new terms with more than 14½ years of service will get, as a minimum, compensation of two years’ pay.”

Fact 3 – But only if your compensation payment for two year’s salary is less than £60,000. If it is more than £60,000, you will be capped at this figure. Members with pre-1987 reserved rights, the majority of whom this will affect stand to lose tens if not hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Myth 4 – “There is special protection for those close to retirement; specifically anyone over 50 (and with at least 5 years’ service) on 31 March 2010 who is made compulsorily redundant in the future will continue to benefit from the current terms by reference to their service as at March 2010.”

Fact 4 – Any service that is accrued from April 2010 will be on the new, much weaker terms. With all mainstream political parties promising pay freezes or pay curbs, the likelihood is that the majority of civil servants will now have to work till late in their 60’s to make ends meet, therefore on many occasions, members will have to work ten, fifteen, sometimes more years on the much inferior terms. It is also worth noting that under the current proposals, the entitlement to enhance pension will be abolished for staff who become 50 in the future (approx 70% of PCS members).

Myth 5 – “It is also very important to say that all of the other unions involved in the CSCS negotiations – the FDA, Prospect, Prison Officers’ Association, the GMB and Unite – have agreed the new terms as being fair and balanced.”

Fact 5 – PCS is the largest civil service union, with three times as many civil service members as the others unions combined. It is PCS members who would be most at risk from cuts in the future. In their latest bulletin, Prospect have grudgingly had to admit this – “On a straightforward count of members this is true.” What other basis is there?

However, what other unions may have agreed to is between their leadership and their members, many of whom seem distinctly underwhelmed by the ‘deal’ struck on their behalf without consultation.

Myth 6 – “Such action will be neither understood nor supported by people employed elsewhere in the economy where redundancy terms remain much less generous than those in the Civil Service.”

Fact 6 – Most people employed elsewhere will understand that having detrimental changes to their terms and conditions imposed on them is the act of a bad employer and would seek to oppose them. Until now, any changes to the civil service compensation scheme have always been in agreement with the trade unions. The last changes were made during the Thatcher Conservative government in the late 80’s; a government that can hardly be viewed historically as worker friendly! Our compensation entitlements are on a par with those across the public sector, but the civil service has been targeted as the pilot area to get rid of these entitlements.

We know that further attacks on our terms and conditions are likely whoever wins the general election, with ill health benefits, travel and subsistence and pay all in the firing line. Standing up for our rights now is the right thing to do, as if we give way without a fight we can ensure further attacks will swiftly follow and our ability to resist will be weakened.

Summary

Bill Jeffrey finishes his letter by stating our action will be “against a package which is fundamentally fair and reasonable.” Well, that may be his opinion but it is hardly shared by anyone else.

Over 150 MPs have publicly stated their opposition by signing early day motion 251 ‘Civil Service Compensation Scheme’ that describes changes to the scheme as “disappointing and unfair proposals”.

63.4% of PCS members voted for strike action over the proposals with 81.4% voted in favour of industrial action short of a strike. This is a clear mandate from a democratic ballot of the union’s members.

The Cabinet Office has described these changes as bringing the civil service into line with the rest of the public sector. Yet according to the government’s own figures, civil servants earn nearly £5,000 less per year than the public sector average. If the government were serious about bringing the civil service into line with the rest of the public sector then it would address the issue of chronic low pay in the civil service.

In reality these cuts are an attack on low paid civil servants to make it easier for the next government to make job cuts on the cheap. It has nothing to do with fairness or parity, and instead is a crude cost-cutting exercise.

If these proposals go through, it will leave all PCS members in the Ministry of Defence in a much weaker position. After a democratic ballot, our union has now called national industrial action to save your entitlements. It has never been more important to support our union and to fight for our entitlements.

If the above information does not convince you that this is probably the most important dispute that PCS members will ever face, ask yourselves what term or condition of employment any future Government will need to arbitrarily cut before you join together with colleagues to protect what you currently have.

ALL OUT ON 8^TH AND 9^TH MARCH – NO JOB CUTS ON THE CHEAP

Bob Rollings Chris Dando KC Jones

No pay freeze for MPs... no surprise there then!

Despite millions of public workers facing pay freezes, redundancy and outsourcing as a result of the economic crisis, a new deal will see the earnings of members of the Commons rise from £64,766 to £65,737 from 1 April.

Read more here.

Cartoon for the day

Lord Ashcroft may have avoided more than £2 million in tax on his donations to the Conservative Party, official documents have indicated. Read more.


The worst thing about the Ashcroft saga is that his behaviour is legal






Copyright The Times

This from a Tory party whose slogan is 'We're all in it together'

Mark Steel gives his personal take on the Lord Ashcroft - Tory party debacle in the following article re-printed from The Independent.

"I'm not an expert on electoral law, but as Lord Ashcroft has been avoiding tax and funding the Tories instead, that means the Tory electoral campaign is being paid for with our money. So surely we should have the right to decide what's in the campaign.

We could put up posters of Ashcroft in the House of Lords with a target over him, while a menacing voice said "Non-domicile tax cheats – it's time to close in." Or get Douglas Hogg to look forlornly by his castle, muttering "Since I've had to stop claiming expenses my moat's got absolutely filthy – We can't go on like this."

Or we could just entertain the kids with a party political broadcast in which Michael Howard gets chased through the woods by a puma.

Leading Tories dismiss Ashcroft's tax dodge as a minor issue. But in the year 2000, when this first came up, William Hague, then leader of the party, said unequivocally that Ashcroft had made assurances that would be worth, "Tens of millions to the Treasury". To be fair, Hague was telling the truth, he just forgot to mention he meant the Treasury of Belize.

So despite a letter from Ashcroft promising to move his finances to Britain, in return for a seat in the House of Lords, he kept them where they were. Now he's had to admit this, as it was about to revealed anyway as a result of the Freedom of Information Act, but Tory leader David Cameron's response to the revelation on Monday was "I'm glad it's now cleared up."

And this is the party of Law and Order. So presumably under the Tories, if you're in court and the trial's going badly, you'll be able to say: "To tell you the truth your honour, the reason my alibi appears to be falling apart is I did actually do the murder." And the judge will say: "Ah well, thank goodness that's cleared up, hee hee. Now then, let's all retire to my club for some light refreshments."

But for the leading Tories it can't have even needed clearing up. It's nine years since Ashcroft made this promise. Seeing as he's a major donor and the deputy chairman, someone during that time must have asked him whether he'd got round to keeping it.

It's as if a party had been funded by Pete Doherty for the last nine years, and the leader said: "I've not really thought to ask him whether he's been involved with drugs in any way. It's not a subject that ever cropped up."

According to Cameron, a person's tax status, "Is between him and the Inland Revenue". As if it's some sort of civil liberty issue. Maybe he'll make an iconic, inspiring speech that goes "Brothers and sisters, PAYE, self-employed and exiles, I have a dream. It is a dream of a day when a man may compile a billion pounds and hoist it out of the country to avoid paying tax while sitting in an unelected position in parliament, then promise to bring it back but not do so while funding a party that supports tax cuts, and NOT be faced with having to explain themselves, which is a violation of their basic human rights. Brothers and sisters, are you with me in this struggle?"

How does Ashcroft explain his decision to set up an off-shore account in the first place as anything other than act of naked greed? Maybe he'd say it was nothing to do with tax and he put it in Belize because it was nearer the shops. And how do the Tories, a party that's obsessively patriotic, justify having a deputy chairman who goes to such vast lengths to keep so much of his earnings away from our taxman? I bet that even if he does put his account here, he'll say that as his money's had to move to Britain it's got to claim on expenses for a second home.

The only consolation for the Tories is that Labour can't gain as much as they'd like from this, partly because they've appointed Peter Mandelson to attack them on it. How typically Labour, to use as their spokesman the one person in the world you'd trust even less with a billion pounds than Ashcroft himself.

And all of this comes from the party that rallies behind the slogan "We're all in it together." Because who amongst us, in these belt-tightening times, hasn't been forced to slip a billion quid across to Central America to avoid tax?

Just this morning my neighbour, a retired cleaner depending on her pension, said, "Dear oh dear, I've got to go all the way up to the Post Office again to transfer ten million quid to Belize, otherwise I'll have to pay tax on it. Honestly, at my age you'd think they'd get a home help to do it for me. Still, we've all got to pull together."

Spin Cycle

We are seeing attempts to undermine support for industrial action by the senior civil service. Please be careful with what they are putting out. It is meant to mislead you.

The facts are clear. We are facing massive cuts and the changes to the CSCS are designed to make the cutting cheaper. This branch is aware that SPVA management are right now actively considering how to make 30% cuts! Cuts that could see over 300 job losses.

Key Messages

· The government is looking to save £500 million through cutting redundancy pay, based on the number of civil and public servants it has axed over the last three years. The union fears that the cuts to the scheme could lead to the government cutting up to 100,000 jobs on the cheap which will damage public services we all rely on.

· The changes are politically motivated, with the Prime Minister announcing the arbitrary figure of £500 million worth of savings out of the blue. The government want to appear to be penalising loyal civil and public servants and have refused to accept our suggestions which would allow the savings to be made whilst protecting the rights of existing members.

· The changes will see some staff robbed of up to a third of their entitlements if they are forced out of their jobs. Almost half of our members would not be protected by the proposals.

· The government have presented the changes as a ‘reform’ to end fat cat pay-offs for senior managers. In reality, the proposals threaten to strip many lower paid civil servants of their current entitlements to compensation in the event of redundancy.

· The government is guilty of double standards. They say they can do nothing about the multi-million payouts to fat cats in the city because contracts have to be honoured. Yet when it comes to their own workforce they are willing to tear up the rights of civil and public servants and change the law to do so.

· Civil and public servants work across the UK delivering services we all rely on, from the cradle to the grave. This includes Jobcentre staff, tax workers, coastguards, border agency officials, passport workers, court staff, driving test examiners, and museum and gallery staff working in national galleries.

· We believe MoD is now awaiting changes to the CSCS rather than working with us to manage the people consequences of its programme of arbitrary cuts. Incredibly, MoD is presently adopting a position of denying what is obvious to all staff in the department. It continues to pretend it is not in a pre redundancy situation – and it continues to refuse to sit down with PCS to plan how to manage surplus staff and to avoid redundancies.

· We have the ‘independent’ review of civil servants being carried out by Thatcher’s privatisation guru – the Grimstone reaper - who is looking for 10,000 immediate job cuts along with further opportunities to transfer MoD work and staff to the private sector and we have the forthcoming strategic defence review after the next election which promises even further reductions.

Read more here.

Don't believe the hype.

PCS hits back at Cabinet Office

1 March 2010

PCS hit back today over Cabinet Office claims that changes to the Civil Service Compensation Scheme (CSCS) are fair for staff and will bring the civil service into line with the rest of the public sector.

Far from being fair, the union argued that loyal public servants faced cuts of up to a third in redundancy pay as the government sought to tear up their contractual rights in front of their eyes.

Countering claims that the low paid won’t be affected, the union warned that they faced being stripped of their enhanced pension rights when they reach 50 and that the cuts were about making it easier for the next government to sack people on the cheap.

On turnout, the union pointed to the fact the government had denied MPs a vote on the changes and instead relied on an arcane parliamentary procedure to avoid any debate, discussion or vote. The union also pointed out that the government was elected in 2005 by just 22% of the electorate.

Commenting, Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: "The Cabinet Office has described these changes as bringing the civil service into line with the rest of the public sector. Yet according to the government’s own figures, civil servants earn nearly £5,000 less per year than the public sector average.

"If the government were serious about bringing the civil service into line with the rest of the public sector then it would address the issue of chronic low pay in the civil service.
In reality these cuts are an attack on low paid civil servants to make it easier for the next government to make job cuts on the cheap. It has nothing to do with fairness or parity, and instead is a crude cost-cutting exercise.

"In reality these cuts are an attack on low paid civil servants to make it easier for the next government to make job cuts on the cheap. It has nothing to do with fairness or parity, and instead is a crude cost-cutting exercise.

"The government and the Cabinet Office will be able to see the real strength of feeling among PCS members on 8 and 9 March, when we expect strong support for strike action. Over 35,000 members attended meetings on this issue and 18,000 lobbied the Cabinet Office during the consultation.

"The government and the Cabinet Office can avoid the disruption of industrial action by negotiating an agreement that protects existing members’ rights.”

Read the letter from PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka to Cabinet Office minister Tessa Jowell

View our rebuttal to recent Cabinet office myths

FOI Request Reveals Ten Years of Tory Lies

For the last 10 years, despite his promise after being made a Tory peer to "take up permanent residence in the UK again", toff after tory toff has dissembled, obfuscated, veiled, hidden, evaded and downright lied about the tax status of their major donor, Lord Ashcroft.

Only revealed today is the truth about his status, and only then because a Freedom Of Information request was due to reveal his true tax status.

The FOI reveals that his promise was made to William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, raising questions about his responsibility to confirm in the past decade details of Ashcroft's tax status.

He has consistently refused to answer questions about Ashcroft. Christopher Graham, the information commissioner, accused the Conservative party of being "evasive and obfuscatory" on the issue when he ruled that the Cabinet Office should reveal the details of the promise Ashcroft was known to have made at the time of his ennoblement.

Ashcroft has funded and masterminded a £5m campaign in marginal seats, which is widely expected to strongly influence the outcome of the election.

Gordon Prentice, who put the FOI request into the Cabinet Office, said: "This is absolutely explosive. He says that he has been declaring all his UK income to HM revenue, he's not declaring his worldwide income, he's worth £850m. He should resign from House of Lords immediately."

It will be remembered that the 'Boy' George Osborne recently was questioned on this very matter... and his answers were at best evasive, obfuscatory and dissembling and at worst, probably downright lies.

Read more here.

Local News for local people

Blackpool Gazette carry the story that PCS plan a two day strike on the 8th and 9th of March following the recent ballot over the changes to the Civil Service Compensation Scheme.

AGM Guest Speakers Notes

For those unable to attend the AGM you can find Robert Jack's speakers notes here.

Lloyds Banking Group posts heavy pre-tax losses...

...yet their CEO is entitled to a £2.3 million bonus on top of his salary. The bank's boss had been entitled to a maximum 225% of his £1.04 million salary due to his "significant individual contribution", but waived a bonus for the second year in a row to stave off another row over bank pay.

One wonders what "significant individual contribution" was required to write down £24 billion in bad debts (more of our money vanishes down the rabbit hole of the Alice like Wonderland that is Bankerworld), and then posting more than £6.3 billion in pre-tax losses? If failure like that is rewarded so generously imagine what success might bring.

Read more here.

CSCS Ballot Result

CSCS Ballot Result

· Members vote 'yes' for action
· All out on 8 & 9 March

The ballot result sends a clear message to the employer that PCS members will not accept cuts in their accrued rights to fair redundancy compensation at a time when all the main political parties are planning deep public spending cuts.

The national executive (NEC) would like to thank all reps and members for their work in delivering a successful ballot result.

It was agreed to write to the minister for the civil service, making clear our aim of reaching a negotiated settlement and calling on the government to return to talks.

The NEC agreed that notice will be given of a two day national strike – on Monday 8 and Tuesday 9 March – and a national overtime ban. Please check the PCS website – www.pcs.org.uk – for further information.

AGM Chairs Address

For those who could not make the meeting at the Briar Dene, here is a copy of the Chairs address to the AGM.

I wonder if the crew of the Titanic felt time stretch out before them, if so then the approach into the iceberg and the subsequent wrecking of the ship probably felt a little like it feels to work in SPVA at the moment.

That slow, mad approach towards something that spells inevitable doom. The sound of metal tearing, like the sound of a once proud Agency being ripped apart. The main difference being that they didn’t have some maverick ship owner removing all the lifeboats, unlike our own maverick Government (present and, one can safely predict, future) ripping away public spending whilst keeping the greedy few afloat.

A time of doom and gloom and one feels as though the AMG want the Union to smooth the way to that iceberg by distracting the navigator, keeping everyone calm as they steer their insane course. Well, no. We shall be the warning horn, we shall be the hand that will try and turn the wheel. Will we succeed… I don’t honestly know.

Often the Chairs Address looks backwards over the last 12 months, but they only seem like a precursor for what is to come. Public Spending Cuts, pay caps, lack of staff, the compensation scheme attack continuing, attacks on our pensions and, for our own little corner of the devastation, an attempt to sell out the staff and pensioners to the lowest bidder. One Agency One Team is a Vichy term to try and soften the blow that they see as inevitable. We must come together, fight together and say with one voice, “No!”

Let us be clear Colleagues, for the third year running JPA has been viciously attacked by MPs of all parties and the National Audit Office have failed to sign our accounts off because of errors running to £268 million amongst other things. Yet our management claim we cannot look at taking JPA back in house because we do not have expertise. Lets face it, how much expertise would we need to make such a hash of things? Or do our senior managers have such a low view of us.

This is the same management who actually vocalised that they might consider giving the War Pension Scheme and AFCS under the interim contract to HP. That means they considered, against what I understand to be their own legal advice, handing your jobs over to that company without even bidding.

I would talk of the successes of the last year but more often than not they have been fire fighting victories, stopping attacks. The Branch has been inundated by personal cases from those personally caught in the downward spiral that is SPVA.

Is it all doom and gloom? Is there no glimmer of hope? Of course there is, we defeated the mad plans of the Agency in respect of Innsworth and we can defeat the new mad plans. By standing together in solidarity.

Branch AGM today 25th February

Members are reminded that the AGM takes place today at the Briar Dene Hotel, Cleveleys at 1:00 pm. The bar will be open from 12:00 noon and food available from 12:30. Facility time of two hours plus reasonable travelling time has been allowed by management for you to attend.

Hope to see you there.

Norcross Main Gate - Staff Arrivals

Staff who arrive at Norcross Main Gate by taxi or are dropped-off by vehicle are being asked to request their driver to drop them off in the lay-by area on Norcross Lane rather than outside the Security Hut. This is because vehicles turning at the Main Gate approach area present a danger of collision with incoming/exiting vehicles and pedestrians.

However, this branch believes that by doing so, staff will be put at much greater risk in crossing the very busy entranceway as 'soft' pedestrians against 'hard' vehicles. Therefore we have written to the ExO and asked that this notice is withdrawn with immediate effect until a full and proper risk assessment is conducted and that if remedial action is identified, then the landlord should affect such with immediate effect.

Due to the increased risk of crossing the entranceway as pedestrians the branch advises members to continue safely using the drop off point at the main gate until this matter is resolved.

MoD failings 'threaten security'

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been criticised by MPs for administrative failings which resulted in hundreds of millions of pounds being wrongly paid out and led to officials losing track of sensitive equipment.

The Commons Defence Committee said it was "unacceptable" that the National Audit Office (NAO) had "qualified" the MoD's accounts for the third year in succession because of the continuing problems.

The NAO disclosed in its report last year that the MoD could not account for the whereabouts of secure Bowman radio systems worth £155 million.

It also highlighted problems with the computerised Joint Personnel Administration system (JPA) responsible for handling service pay, which wrongly paid out £268 million in specialist pay and allowances. This an HP (EDS) system that famously cost us £245 million, and is meant to save us £100 million... and was described by MPs last March as having made 'truly reprehensible' mistakes. It seems that the theme continues.

The MoD was also unable to produce evidence that errors which led to £83 million being wrongly deducted from service personnel in food and accommodation charges had been rectified.

One dreads to think how 'truly reprehensible' mistakes will impact be if AFCS, WPS and/or MoDMO are outsourced to the same supplier, famously described in Private Eye last year as "p*** poor"!

"Failing to maintain accurate and full information on personnel and to keep track of assets such as Bowman has the potential to threaten the long-term capability of the department, including operational capability," the committee said.

"The MoD therefore needs to take urgent action to rectify the outstanding problems."
Committee chairman James Arbuthnot added: "That the MoD could not, at a given time, account for the whereabouts of radios worth £155 million is unacceptable.

"The security implications associated with losing equipment such as this are significant.
"Having an effective audit trail is the only way to ensure that all equipment is accounted for."

The branch suggests that bringing those items back in house will improve the quality of service Furthermore, we believe MoD should cease any and all plans to outsource any further. All evidence shows that privatisations have been more costly, delivered few if any savings and have resulted in reduced and in most cases, "p*** poor" performance!

Europe's winter of discontent

Strikes threaten to cause paralysis as workers reject government attempts to cut spending and wages reports The Independent.

A wave of industrial and social unrest is building across Europe as workers resist attempts by governments and private companies to impose austerity policies, drive down wages and rescue some nations from near-bankruptcy.

Huge protest rallies took place in cities across Spain last night; today a general strike could paralyse Greece while industrial action at French airports and oil plants as well as the narrowly averted stoppage at Germany's Lufthansa promise to be just the start of the greatest demonstration of public unrest seen on the continent since the revolutionary fervour of 1968. Europe's industrial economy is not clear of recession yet either and with unemployment rising and demands for austerity growing, Europe's workers are becoming increasingly restive.

The true cost of bullying

As rumours of bullying at No 10 emerge, a Times writer looks at abusive behaviour in the workplace — and experts offer advice on how to cope with it.

"Cary Cooper, Professor of Organisational Psychology and Health in Lancaster University Management School, defines bullying as the persistent, demeaning and devaluing treatment of an individual. It does not have to involve physical or verbal abuse, he says, and there is a fine line between an assertive or abrasive style of management and bullying.

“Ultimately, bullying is in the eye of the beholder,” he says.

“But if at the end of the day every time I interact with you I am putting you down, or withholding resources from you, or setting unmanagable deadlines, then I am bullying you.

“It’s not just shouting and yelling at you in a Malcolm Tucker sort of way.”

Don't risk the recovery

In the Financial Times, over 50 senior economists have written a letter demanding that Alistair Darling, Chancellor of the Exchequer and George Osborne, Shadow Chancellor, do not make premature cuts to public spending. The world-class economists believe that the deficit should be financed until the economy is more stable and that if spending cuts are made at this point, the UK could spiral into a disastrous 'double-dip' recession.

The financial crisis has already terrible consequences for people all over the UK. Jobs have been lost, businesses closed and homes respossessed. Unemployment has risen to around 2.5 million and, as the letter-writers point out, the UK economy 'is not yet on a secure recovery path'.

It's vital that our leaders don't play politics with our recovery in an election year. 'Consolidation', or cuts in our public services, are too dangerous to be used as an election bargaining chip. Darling and Osborne should both publicly commit themselves to not making damanging cuts before its clear that the economy really has turned the corner towards recovery. Sign the petition to the Chancellor and Shadow Chancellor.

'Boy' George Osborne Promotes Snake Oil

"CUT-PRICE shares in state-owned banks will be offered to the public under a “people’s bonus” plan outlined by Tory Shadow Chancellor George Osborne.

Mr Osborne said the measure would be a reward for the £850billion of money used to bail out crisis-hit financial institutions. Young people, those on low incomes and parents saving for their children would be offered extra discounts, he said. " Reports The Daily Express .

So, let us get this straight. The prospective Chancellor of the Exchequer, the 'Boy' George Osborne, thinks that it would be a good idea to sell to 'US' shares in banks that 'WE' already effectively own having paid for this with 'OUR' future earnings to the value of some £45,000+ each? And some say the Tories are out of touch! On the contrary, I think this thinking demostrates conclusively that these people are very much IN touch with bankers, hedge fund managers and snake oil salesmen the world over.

A joke for the day.

One day a blind rabbit and a blind snake bump into each other in the forest.

The blind rabbit instantly apologises "I'm sorry but please forgive me as I've been blind all my life, I don't even know what I am."

The snake replies "I too am blind. how about I feel all over you and perhaps I can discern what you are?"

"Alright", says the rabbit.

The blind snake slithers all over the rabbit and says, "Well, you have long fur covered ears and a short little tail. You must be a rabbit."

The rabbit was happy to know what he was.
He tells the blind snake, "Come here and I will try to determine what you are."

The blind rabbit feels the snake with his paw and finally says, "You're cold and slimy, and you have a forked tongue. Are you someone from Senior Management by any chance?"

The rich 'live seven years longer than poor people'

Well-off people live an average of seven years longer than those in poorer groups, a new report has warned.

The gap between the lifestyles of the rich and poor is having a major impact on the chances of living a healthy life, it suggested.

And the stark figures mean that plans to raise the retirement age to 68 will cause hardship for millions because three-quarters of people will be too ill to work.

Although life expectancy for the worst off has improved in the last decade - by an extra 2.9 years - more needs to be done, the report said.

The review, commissioned by the Department of Health, calls on ministers to act to reduce the gulf between rich and poor.

You can access the full report, Fair Society, Healthy Lives, known as the Marmot Report, here.

Greek workers pay first...

... and the rich keep getting richer!

Read more here.

Bankers get their bonuses, billionaires up the price of artworks and all the while the rest of us get punished... with attacks on jobs, pay and pensions, and of course on vital services such as hospitals and social services..

The Greek workers are first in the firing line. Unfortunately it is a line that will be extended to include us within a very short space of time. However, together we can and will win the fight. This branch calls for solidarity with our Greek brothers and sisters.