UPDATE

Recent protests over ‘Workfare’ have forced the Government to retreat - and shows that protests can win! The thousands protesting outside Parliament last Wednesday have also helped to maintain pressure on the Government to abandon its Health Service ‘reforms’.

In the weeks following Southwark Council’s £18 million-cuts budget and before the next phase of cuts to be announced in George Osborne’s Budget, many protests are taking place – over Workfare, the Health Service, support services for vulnerable children, libraries, public transport and pensions.

Please come along to one of these events, or to the planning meetings, listed below. Cuts are biting into every household and we need to increase the pressure on the Government, as well as Southwark Council who are implementing many of these cuts.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY:

Tuesday 13 March

11am. Lobby of Southwark Council by Pupil Support Assistants (staff supporting vulnerable children traveling to school) who are facing over 40% wage cuts. This service cut affects vulnerable children. Parents and supporters welcome to come along. Assemble 160 Tooley Street SE1 2TZ. Supported by UNISON, UNITE, GMB. For More information and to send messages of support, phone Southwark UNISON on 0207 525 6030.

Tuesday 13 March

11.30am onwards. Lobby of Parliament calling on politicians to protect vital library services. Called by various national campaigns for libraries. Details here. At Central Hall Westminster, SW1H 9NH. The lobby of Parliament will start at 2.30pm.

Wednesday March 14

All day. National student walk-out (called by NUS) Background information about Week of Action, 12-16 March, here. Facebook Event here.

Wednesday 14 March

9am. Demonstration: Help to form a mass dole queue outside the DWP in Westminster on the day unemployment figures are released. Assemble  outside DWP, Caxton House, Tothill Street, London SW1H. Called by Right to Work campaign. Facebook Event here.

Wednesday 14 March

7 pm. Meeting of Southwark Trades Union Council, to include planning for March 28th industrial action on pensions. Venue: 160 Tooley Street SE1 2TZ . Open to affiliated trade unions. To affiliate, or for more information: email here.

Thursday 15 March

7pm. London Unite the Resistance Rally, Conway Hall, Red Lion Square. (Nearest tube Holborn) Speakers: Mark Serwotka, General Secretary PCS (pc) , Magarita Papamina, Greek activist and primary school teacher, Sean Vernell, UCU NEC (pc), Steve Kelly, Unite, electricians dispute. Film of recent speech here . More information here.

Tuesday 20 March

2.30pm. Demonstration calling for the next mayor to upgrade London’s transport, so that older and disabled people can travel with the same freedom and independence as everyone else. Assemble at City Hall The Queen's Walk, London, SE1 2AA.  (Nearest station, London Bridge which is stepfree) Organised by Transport for All, disability and pensioner’s organisations, taking their demands for accessible transport direct to City Hall and launching their manifesto. All details here.

Wednesday 21 March - Budget Day

11am onwards. Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay. Not one more cut – protest outside Downing Street, to coincide with when George Osborne leaves Downing Street to present the budget to the Queen. Bring signs and dress up in costumes that show the public service cuts that you’re concerned about. Organised by Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Coalition of Resistance, Right to Work, PCS union and Stop the War Coalition.  More details on Facebook event here.

Wednesday 21 March

7pm. Southwark Save Our Services Campaign Organising Meeting: Main business – Stopping closures forced by Southwark Cuts; Supporting strikes over pensions on 28 March. Venue: LSBU London Road Building, SE1.  (Room tbc); For an agenda, contact southwarksos@gmail.com

Monday 26 March

9am -12noon. Solidarity demonstration outside Kingston Crown Court on the first day of Alfie Meadow's trial. Alfie demonstrated on the day of the tuition fee vote in December 2010, he received a life threatening injury but outrageously he has since been charged with violent disorder. Assemble at 6-8 Penrhyn Road, Kingston-upon-Thames, KT1 2BB. Initiated by Defend the Right to Protest Campaign. Facebook Event here.

Wednesday 28 March

All Day. National Strike of public sector unions (PCS, NUT, UCU and perhaps others).  Picket lines across the borough. Details of action, including assemblies and demonstrations will be posted on our website. Please contact Southwark SOS and Southwark TUC if you are organising  picket line or event on the day, or if you want a speaker to address your TU, student or campaign group  meeting.

F29 Anti-cuts protest at Southwark Town Hall

 Report by Peoples Republic of Southwark http://www.peoplesrepublicofsouthwark.co.uk/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=1863:f29-anticuts-southwark&Itemid=2

Southwark Save Our Services staged another anti-cuts protest at the Southwark Town Hall last night, before the Council Assembly about the budget.

A good turnout of some 50+ people who made enough noise and who also got plenty of support from passers-by as well as passing traffic. Elected representatives, the ones whose decisions continue to devastate the lives of growing number of local residents, were nowhere to be seen. The late-comers literally flew through the protesters without so much as a hello.

photo courtesy of Nicola Field
Speakers included members of Southwark Save Our Services and affiliated groups and unions, such as Southwark Pensioners Action Group, Unison, Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition and others.
In reality, compared to previous anti-cuts protests, we found this one rather subdued, as if there was a feeling of resignation, as all the decisions had been made a long time ago, the moment both the national and local labour party decided it was not going to challenge the cuts in any way but rather work on the 'good' cuts, as 'cuts are inevitable'. The irony is that the majority of the protesters were members of unions who are still financing the same 'good-cuts-labour party'.

photo courtesy of Nicola Field
Meanwhile, in the town hall, there seemed to be have been less of the 'my party is better than yours', which is a welcome change. A lot of the dicussion seemed to have been about the free school meals which the opposition councillors continue to argue is a waste of money. A question was raised about the justification for newly created 'Deputy Cabinet Members' posts, which Cllr Oyewole defended saying they made a difference although it was not clear who to. One of the comments implied that Cllr Althea Smith admitted the Labour was storing money for pre-election, and how 'all parties did it'. One good thing we understood happened was the commitment to London Living Wage for all staff or subcontractors.

Chris Haydon of Southwark TV caught up with some of the councillors after the meeting, and you can watch his report here.

photo courtesy of Nicola Field
While the local protests and discussions seem to have little impact on what the council does, the national and local battles are far from over. Tactics may have to be slightly different though, as majority of us, mad, bad, young, old, well and ill, continue to be pushed further and further into despair.

£18 million Cuts in Southwark! – demonstrate 6 pm on Wed 29 February at Peckham Town Hall

Next Wednesday, 29 February, Southwark Council meet to vote through £18million-worth of cuts to council services and jobs. These cuts will hit the poorest and the most vulnerable in our community.

We are calling for a mass demonstration from 6 pm onwards to demonstrate our opposition, assembling outside Peckham Town Hall, Peckham Road SE5 8UB. See the poster and leaflet attached. See the Facebook Event for ‘Southwark F29 against the Cuts’, or join Twitter @southwarkSOS for updates.

Come yourself and bring everyone you can with you!

Can you help distribute leaflets? We can provide them. Ring John on 07519 811657 or email us at southwarksos@gmail.com.

SOUTHWARK COUNCIL SET TO CUT £18 million FROM VITAL SERVICES

Cuts will affect the most vulnerable. These are just some:

Nearly  £1m  to  be  cut  from  Early  Years  Education  and  Children‘s  Centres.  Loss  of  childcare   from  the  Bishop’s  House  and  South  Bermondsey  Children’s  Centres.  24  Nursery  Officers  &   6 domestic staff CUT.

Total cut of most of the 10 open access youth clubs (20% of Southwark population are under 15). 60% reduction in staffing.

50%  cut  to  ‘Connexions’  careers  service  which  helps  single  parents,  young  offenders  and   other young people find jobs. 20 people chase every job vacancy in Southwark.

Closure of either Fred Francis Day Centre or Southwark Park Day Centre - which look after older people with mental health conditions.

45% funding cut to Maroons - a centre which caters for BME mental health patients

Councillors – you should stand with the people, not the government.

The  Council  dress  cuts  up  as  ‘targeting’,  ‘restructuring’,  or  ‘redesigning’  services.  But  they  will   cut deep into services needed by the vulnerable. Cuts mean job losses, increased workloads, and  pay  cuts.  Councillors  claim  they  don’t  like  cuts  but  they  are  making  them  anyway.  It’s  like   being mugged for £100 and the thief throws back £10, expecting you to be thankful!

Bad – yes, and even worse to come

We saw how cuts last year slashed council jobs and increased workloads to impossible levels. This will continue unless we stop the cuts going through. Service users and council employees must stand side by side to stop the government cutting our precious services to shreds. George Osborne has promised another 3 YEARS of cuts after this. His agenda is clear:

Increase privatisation profit-hungry companies taking over health, education and environ- mental services.

Cuts in pay year-on-year, in public and private sectors - unless you are a leader of one of the UK’s  top  100  companies,  whose  pay  increased  by  47%  last  year.

Attacking pensions (work longer, pay more, die younger). The Government could wipe out the deficit by preventing £120 billion in tax avoidance by companies like Vodafone.

THERE IS A FIGHTBACK

Last week, 8 Labour councillors resigned rather than make cuts in Glasgow. Councillors should act on principles, not party allegiances condemning us to years of austerity.

Over 2 million trade unionists went on strike in November for decent pensions and against a government  of  millionaires  who  are  making  us  pay  for  a  crisis  we  didn’t  create.

Demonstrate LOUDLY this Wed 29 Feb, 6 pm at Peckham Town Hall. Tell everyone.
Get your trade union branch, campaign group, residents association, service-user group etc.
to  back  the  demonstration;  (see  Facebook  event  ‘Southwark  F29  against  the  Cuts’)

Support Southwark strikers

PCS members have picket lines in Southwark and at four other locations this morning as they strike against cuts to the Equality and Human Rights commission that will roll the clock back 40 years.

 

Please rush messages of support to savetheehrc@gmail.com - they make a real difference to morale

 

For more info see:

http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/news_and_events/pcs_comment/index.cfm/id/6CB426D3-95DA-4319-B8D0CA63DA53F26B

Cuts – Local and national

CUTS TO COUNCIL SERVICES
We are receiving reports about cuts to local services, many of which will hurt the most vulnerable, and job losses that will add significantly to the numbers already out of work in Southwark. To stop this happening, we need a concerted campaign of action. Please let us know either by email or by coming to our meeting on 15th February (see below) what you can do to help stop these cuts.


PENSIONS DISPUTE - UPDATE
Unions which have refused to sign up to the government’s proposed pensions “deal” are planning further action in March. So far the executives of the UCU lecturers’ union and the NUT teachers’ union have agreed to set a date for further strike action in March and the civil service union PCS has also agreed to further action.
New events may be organised at short notice. Please check our website, Facebook page or follow us on Twitter @southwarkSOS for updates on this issue.

Follow us!
http://southwarksaveourservices.blogspot.com/
Twitter @southwarkSOS
Facebook: Southwark SSOS

Are you part of a community group or campaign? We’d like to hear from you. Tell us what you’re doing and we can advertise your anti-cuts campaign activities. Email us at southwarksos@gmail.com 

Pensions: On-going action for all

You will have seen on the news that some unions have signed an agreement with the government on pensions. This has been presented as a final agreement, a done deal, but it is not. Campaigners from three south London boroughs met on Tuesday and agreed to circulate this advice to trade unionists.  Please consider what you can do. We also welcome your feedback on these action points.

Deal or No deal?

Most unions have not signed up to any agreement in the public service sectors although Unison and GMB have both signed "heads of agreement" in local government and health. Although it is not a final agreement it does mean any final deal will mean workers in those two sectors

·       will work longer

·       pay more

·       receive less in pensions

The only concession from the government is that some workers will not have to pay more towards their pensions for two years. After that pension contributions will increase. The agreement also mean those unions have agreed not to call any more strikes while they are negotiating.

Even if there are further negotiations this agreement will leave us with a terrible deal on pensions.

Members of Unison and GMB should tell their national union leaders that the agreement is no good and they should tell the government – No deal!

Most unions have not signed up to any agreement in the other public service sectors. The PCS and most of the civil service unions have rejected the agreement. So far the NUT, NAS/UWT and UCU have said they will not sign the agreement on the Teacher’s Pension Scheme.

                                                                                                                                                                                    

If you a member of NUT, NAS/UWT and UCU:

Members of these unions should call on their leaders to call more strike action as soon as possible. If your union is still in dispute get your union branch to send in resolutions calling for more action now.

We should make it clear – there is no deal and we continue to fight against the government’s attack on our pensions.

If you a member of UNISON or the GMB:

Send individual messages and motions from branches/branch officers telling the union leaders to call off the agreement with the government. Please sign the petitions against the agreement (see links below) and support the lobbies of the Unison and GMB national executives.  Here are the details for the Unison lobby this coming Tuesday:

Lobby of the Unison Service Group Executives

Tuesday 10 January

12 noon until 2.00pm

Unison national HQ, 130 Euston Road, London, NW1

Called by Camden, Lambeth and London Met University Unison branches

For all trade unionists:

Lobby the TUC

Thursday 12 January, 2pm

Congress House, Great Russell Street

London WC1B 3LS

(Nearest underground station Tottenham Court Road)

Sign the petitions

For Unison members: Why we say ‘no deal’ on pensions

For all unions:  Don't give up the pensions fight

Unite the Resistance emergency national meeting

Saturday 14 January, 12 noon - 4pm

Friends Meeting House, Euston Road, London.

Go to http://uniteresist.org/