strike

Off to parliament for a good session on the fight for a Trade Union Freedom Bill:

It's 7pm on a nice autumn evening, and several hundred trade union activists are gathered at a lobby at the House of Commons, having a fabulous time taking the piss out of T&G general secretary Tony Woodley. As you do.

The lobby is part of an ambitious, united union campaign to interest our hopeless Labour government in the idea of repealing this nation's draconian anti-trade union laws and putting a slightly more humane Trade Union Freedom Act in their place (one that at least allows people to take solidarity strike action). The large audience (it spills over into several committee rooms in the House) is made of up of posties, firefighters, prison officers, union reps, nurses, local government people and tube and train-driving people.

They are all normal, everyday persons whose various attempts to fight for decent pay and conditions in the last ten years have largely been fragged by New Labour's refusal to get rid of the anti-union laws and restore some balance in favour of everyday punters who just want to make a living (as opposed to a killing, like New Labour's neocon and city-bonus mates). The truth is that low-paid people will have almost no means to fight attempts to drive their wages down further while laws preventing solidarity strike action stand.

Anyway... New Labour, whose ex-very own Tony Blair cheerfully bragged about overseeing the most oppressive anti-union laws in Europe and repeatedly ignored Labour conference's calls to get shot of those laws, ain't exactly the most popular gig on the grassroots union circuit. Nor is anyone who tries to argue that unions should keep financing the Labour party.

Background reading: JJB Sports employee and union organiser Chris Riley is sacked after organising strike action at the JJB Sports Wigan depot

All sorts protest outside JJB Sports stores against the sacking of JJB Sports employee and union organiser Chris Riley

The protest outside the Shepherd's Bush JJB Sports store is quiet until mall Security turns up to try and move the protestors on. Security is two weedy-looking, middle-aged guys who are wearing dark jackets, light trousers, plain shoes, and old and cloudy plastic badges.

The protest isn't huge at this point - maybe ten people altogether, at least three of whom are not protestors, but SWP worker-bees, who have clearly been pressed into putting an hour in at the protest, to try and shift leftover copies of this week's Socialist Worker - but the two security guys still look a bit worn on it. Being paid bugger-all to protect JJB Sports stores from people who are protesting about being paid bugger-all to work in JJB Sports stores probably does get on your wick towards the end of the week.

Life doesn't improve too much when they try to assert themselves, either.

This statement was released by the GMB on Thursday 16 November

In talks between GMB and JJB Sports Chief Executive Mr Tom Knight, during yesterday's and today's strike at the warehouse, the company has tabled a revised pay offer. The new offer now in writing deals with the issue of the basic rate and access to bonus for all workers in the depot. 

The revised offer will be put to 280 GMB members at a mass meeting in the warehouse at 11.00am Monday 20th November. It will then be put to members in a ballot vote after that meeting. GMB negotiators are recommending acceptance of the offer.

The first strike day next week on Tuesday 21 has been suspended. The strikes for Wednesday 22 and Thursday 23 November 2006 are still on pending the outcome of the ballot vote. The work to rule and overtime ban are still ongoing.

The Employment Agencies Standards Inspectorate are today interviewing 3 local Wigan agencies. See Note 1 for names. GMB has supplied  information to the Employment Agencies Standards Inspectorate regarding agency labour being used by JJB Sports during strike days and during the rest of the week to deal with the backlog as a result of the strike. The agencies are aware of the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Business Regulations 2003 which makes it illegal for agencies to supply labour to companies during a trade dispute. 

Graham Coxon, GMB regional officer who led the negotiations with Mr Knights said, 'GMB has today received a revised written pay offer from Mr Knight which the union can recommend to our members in JJB Sports. GMB will put the offer to the members on Monday next and they will make the decision as the whether they will accept it and call off the dispute. If accepted, the offer will be backdated to 1 August 2006.'

During this dispute GMB has carefully monitoring the illegal strikebreaking activities of the 3 local employment agencies. We want these activities stopped in this and future disputes. We want the agencies punished for breaking the law. We will not rest until EAS takes action. The agencies are being interviewed by EAS today.

When this dispute is over GMB will raise question about how EAS does it's job. GMB members are far from satisfied that we are in the third week of the dispute before EAS took action

Contact: Graham Coxon , GMB Lancashire Regional Officer on 07740 804064 or Steve Pryle, GMB Press Office on 07921 289880 or Rose Conroy on 07974 251823.

Employment Agencies Standards Inspectorate (EAS) 0845 9555105.

Bond Personnel 01942 743270, Heads Personnel 0161 746 8811, Lightyear 01942 511159.

The agencies supplying labour to JJB Sports are Heads Recruitment, Bond Personnel and Lightyear Recruitment Limited. (Contact details above). Light Year Recruitment is jointly owned by David Speedie ex. Liverpool, Chelsea, Blackburn and Coventry footballer. 

From the archive: Remember this?

Brighton and Hove special-needs teaching assistant Simon Parker, 30, spent part of the hour before Friday's strike and protest fighting with his partner about money. He will strike on the planned day of action in January, as well, if Brighton and Hove council doesn't accept assistants' concerns about a proposed new pay package.

Like the hundreds of assistants who took strike action on Friday, Simon Parker was furious at council plans to reduce the number of paid weeks in assistants' contracts by five. He also thought that assistants were desperately in need of better wages generally. 'I don't necessarily think we should get the same as teachers, but we need to get something that we can live on. You do spend a lot of time teaching, as well as the assistant's work. If I could have a pay increase, I could live with that.'