Act Now! Stop child marraige in the Yemen

action alert! An 8-year-old girl in Yemen reportedly died from "vaginal tearing" after being raped by her 40-year-old husband. When will this beastly practice finally stop? This week, an 8-year-old Yemeni girl allegedly died from internal injuries and "vaginal tearing" after being raped by her 40-year-old husband. This is a horrific example of why child marriage must be stopped immediately. The girl, identified only as Rawan, was reportedly forced to marry a man more than five times her age and then bled to death on her wedding night. In February 2009, a law was passed to set the minimum marrying age at 17, but it was repealed after some lawmakers voiced opposition on religious grounds. Just a year later, a 13-year-old girl died from internal injuries three days after having sex with her new husband. After Rawan's story went viral, Yemeni authorities leapt to deny it. But the U.N. estimates that one in three women in Yemen is forced to marry an older man before they turn eighteen. Enough is enough. Tell Yemen to outlaw child marriage today. Thank you for taking action, Kathleen Care2 and ThePetitionSite Team

Musical interlude - Hold your head up (Argent)

I noticed that a couple of the websites I regularly visit , A Very Public Sociologist and Shiraz Socialist occasionally post music videos so I thought, why not.

My musical taste is a bit different to theirs, being a child of the seventies so to speak. This track is from the very first Album I ever bought called All together now by Argent. There are two versions of this song and I have always preferred the extended one of which a live performance is found on the video below.

And yes, we all did dress like that in the seventies. I even still had (long) hair!



I might check You Tube to see if they have a video of the first single I ever got and post here another day!

Israeli academic takes UNISON to court, alleging “racial discrimination”

Cross-posted from Trade Unions Linking Israel & Palestine

For the second time in less than a year, a British union has been taken to court, accused of discriminatory practices regarding Jews and Israelis.  This time it’s the turn of the giant public sector union, Unison.

Israeli academic Moty Cristal had been invited to help run a conflict resolution workshop for Britain’s National Health Service in Manchester, but later found himself disinvited with the explanation given that his presence — as an Israeli — conflicted with the policy of Unison, which represents workers in the NHS.

Unison nationally has denied having any such policy.  While it opposes the sale of goods produced the Jewish settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, it has never adopted a position calling for a blanket ban on all Israeli products, or for that matter, all Israelis.

The case is being heard this week in the Central London County Court.

There has been extensive coverage in the media:

• The Independent
• The Jewish Chronicle
• World Jewish Congress

The Socialist Party is like a stuck record!

For at least the second year running delegates to the Trade Union Congress Annual Conference were faced with the shrill calls by a phalanx of members from the Socialist Party hiding behind the banner of the National Shop Stewards Movement calling for a 24 hour general strike.

The comrades had started their day in a small room and heard the same old recycled speeches of Bob Crow, RMT General Secretary and Janice Godrich President of PCS droning on about the need for workers to break with the Labour Party, bring down the Tories with a general strike, blah, blah, blah.

The Socialist reports (in all seriousness) that:

The hundreds of trade union activists who attended the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) rally and lobby of the TUC on Sunday will have left certain that the boiling anger at the tsunami of austerity is pointing towards an autumn of important battles.

Along with this is an ever-growing call for the TUC to name the date for a 24-hour general strike.
"The NSSN rally", said PCS president Janice Godrich, "has become a regular event at the TUC, setting the tone and a fighting agenda to turn words into action this year".

Janice finished by saying: "If we are going to send a message to the government, we need action on a scale not seen before".

Talk about overstating their case. People are not happy about the austerity programme and everyone is struggling to make ends meet but I hear no "tsunami" of anger amongst ordinary trade union members, even in the PCS union that Janice claims to speak on behalf of.

PCS has already had to bring its' own dispute to a halt due to both declining support from members with ever decreasing turnouts and a failure to achieve any of its declared aims.

 Over the summer members of the PCS National Executive Committee have been going around the country speaking to local Branch Executives asking how the dispute can be continued. At no stage did occur to the comrades to ask if members actually wanted to continue or more to the point resurrect a dead dispute.

Its almost certain the Socialist Party and their lickspittles in the Left Unity alliance will be looking for more strikes in the autumn as Madame Godrich's speech indicates. In which case I have to ask why go to all the expense and trouble of an exercise of which the outcome is already decided?

PCS has hired a private company to collate the results of the questions that were put to us at these consultations. Can't wait for the outcome.

In the meantime the Socialist Party continues:

Those in the leadership of the TUC who have opposed the demand of many of last year's TUC delegates for a 24-hour general strike have offered the prospect of an elected Labour government as a way out. But who can wait in the face of these cuts and what will change if Labour is committed to austerity of its own?

This year the TUC has decided that "those unions who wish to may organise co-ordinated strike action. In other words PCS, the NUT and maybe a couple of others. Most unions will be sitting this one out as will the Government who can afford to at this juncture.

Yet with the winds clearly not blowing in their direction The Socialist concludes:

In every contribution the demand for the TUC to provide leadership and act boldly was raised. Opening the rally Linda Taaffe said: "A 24-hour coordinated strike is the clearest way to send a message to the government.

"It's no good waiting for Labour. The NSSN calls on the TUC and the trade unions to build a mighty force that can force Cameron to retreat.

Bob Crow received a standing ovation for his call " to start after leaving here to organise a general strike, let's put a date down and go out and do it!"

Sometimes I wonder what planet these people live on. Seriously I really do.

And their last words are:

Organised from below, growing pressure on the tops of the TUC, allied to those unions taking action, can lay the basis for an historic step forward in the months ahead.

Bloody hell they're invoking history now.

Does anyone remember their constant calls for the Nationalisation of the top 100 monopolies they constantly called for in their previous incarnation as the Militant Tendency.

This repetitious slogan is it's replacement.

Get real comrades. Take off your blinkers, put the outdated quasi-religious Marxist nonsense to one side, wake up and smell the coffee.

A 24 hour general strike isn't going to happen. Period.

So stop boring all and sundry with this nonsense and leave trade union work to the adults.

Trade unions and the Labour Link

One of the big issues dominating the Annual Conference of the Trade Union Congress is the question of the link between the trade unions and the Labour Party. Ed Miliband has been given a rough ride by the media, in particular the press and some trade union leaders over his proposals to reform the way unions "affiliate" their members to the party.

The reason for the current problems date back to more simpler times when British politics was very much a "two-party" system and Labour was seen as the workers party and the Tories were the party of business. The basis for this division is no longer valid as (a) the traditional working class and the trade unions have both declined drastically, and in particular since the Thatcher years and (b) the voting public is no longer wedded to just two political parties.

In fact it is questionable that Labour ever had the backing of the "working class" since if true there never could have been a Tory Government. At least a third of the "working class" has always voted for the Conservative party hence the phenomenon of the working class Tory as humorously portrayed by the fictional character Alf Garnett (I'm showing my age here!).

Of course today there a plethora of other parties represented in Parliament and in the country at elections. The SNP, Plaid Cymru and of course the Liberal Democrats all have MPs and UKIP has its' MEPs as does the smaller Green Party which also managed to get its' first MP at the last election.

Party loyalty is much more fickle these days. no longer do people always vote as they have traditionally done. Politics is changing as is the basis on which people both think and vote. It is no wonder that the links between the (declining) trade unions and Labour come under scrutiny.

I know as a Branch Secretary (albeit in an unaffiliated union, PCS) that not all my members vote Labour and until the last General Election I had generally voted Liberal/Liberal Democrat over the years. A lot of people are "pissed off" with the main political parties and politicians themselves are not held in high regard any more (if they were in particular in the past), certainly the younger generation is alienated.

However there was a survey carried out by Labour Uncut which makes interesting reading. The Independent published a summary of the results in an article by Rob Marchant:

An astonishing 60 per cent of members of affiliated unions think that the outline reform proposals are sensible, against only 20 per cent who think the unions should continue to wield more influence.

And a further 10 per cent dislike the proposals because they do not think they go far enough – that Labour should scrap links altogether.

A further 61 per cent also said that union voting power at conference should either be reduced or abolished completely, and 63 per cent of union members would abolish union-reserved places on the NEC.

These figures are compelling. Apart from anything else, they certainly call into question the extent to which some union leaders are actually in touch with the opinions of their own members.

The polling was carried out for a pamphlet for Labour Party conference, titledLabour’s manifesto uncut: How to win in 2015 and why, which aims to use hard numbers to “think the unthinkable” on a range of potential manifesto issues. In addition, it will include proposals on how a party reform agenda successfully executed, far from being the meltdown scenario being suggested by some, could not only revitalise a somewhat neglected party organisation but provide a springboard for a recovery in Miliband’s personal poll ratings.

Given the revelatory nature of the polling on just this one issue, we think the pamphlet will make for pretty interesting reading when the party faithful gather in Brighton in two weeks’ time.

Sounds about right to me, and food for thought for the Labour Party and trade Union grandees.

There are those within the trade union movement of course who seek to break these links for their own sectarian political purposes. The Socialist Party (which dominates the PCS union) write:

The Socialist Party believes that the Labour Party cannot be reclaimed. New Labour has closed all the democratic avenues that once existed.

We argue that a new mass workers' party is needed to give workers a collective political voice.
Unfortunately, despite all the abuse from Labour leaders towards the unions, the Unite leadership has not come out clearly against Miliband's attempts to destroy the remnants of a collective voice for the trade union movement.

However, Unite leader Len McCluskey was correct when he recently said: "The relationship that we have with the Labour Party is on a collective basis.

"That's what trade unions operate on - collectivism - and it's important that people don't try to [change] collectivism to individualism".

Len needs to draw the necessary conclusions from this and lead his union in opposition to Miliband. The members of affiliated unions should be allowed to debate the question of disaffiliation and all trade unionists should debate how the political funds are used. Non-political trade unionism is not the answer.

Len is not the only leader of an affiliated union to react to Miliband's attack. GMB general secretary Paul Kenny responded to the right-wing press, smashing the idea that it is somehow undemocratic for the unions to affiliate to Labour.

He correctly made the point that trade unions have many more members than all the main political parties put together!

The Socialist Party, along with Bob Crow of the RMT and what's left of the SWP have set up the so-called Trade Union & Socialist Coalition which continues to fail miserably at the polls. Indeed it was quite ironic that one RMT member interviewed after the Eastleigh by-election (where an RMT official stood as the TUSC candidate) admitted to having voted for UKIP!

Trade unions may have more members than the political parties, but they do not all vote the way their leaders try and tell them and never will. They also forget that the level of participation in internal elections is abysmal (in the PCS just 11%) as many members these days see their unions in a different way to their leaders. Members use their unions as an insurance policy and do not participate in the wilder grand schemes of the leftist minority that dominates the top tables of some so-called militant unions.

I'll be voting Labour at the next general election as will many, but far from all, members of my own branch. I don't want to join Labour and have withdrawn from the PCS's "political fund" as have many others due to what I see as abuse of its' use by the Socialist Party. I have no confidence in the PCS leadership but am a realist and like most members do believe unions are necessary, but the time has come for change.

That debate is starting within Labour and within the unions. What is needed is the participation of the millions of trade union members whose voices are drowned by the hotheads who grab the headlines and shout loudest in union meetings.

Time to reject the tired old thinking of the current left and move forward to new thinking for the twenty first century. It will be an uncomfortable debate, but one that needs to be had.

In defence of the 4themembers group in PCS

Guest Post by Andy Magee

Recently via Howie's Corner we have been presented with a number of pieces on 4themembers as a grouping. They have been an interesting read and I have agreed with some points but found some others a bit more difficult to embrace.

Firstly I do not believe that 4TM should come to halt nor is 4TM the whipping boy for other grouping. We are a loose grouping trying to change how our union is ran. For me that's a good starting point for any grouping. I do agree that all of us could do a little more I will cite the 4TM face book site as an example very little is ever put onto it and perhaps we need an open group to let others outside of our group put their comments and members of 4TM can respond, hopefully all in good nature.

At present there are a number of grouping within PCS. LU is dominant in most places. However that does not mean that other groupings should just give up and hope that the dominant group destroyed itself from within. This could happen but I believe that challenges from grouping such as 4TM is more likely to produce results and thus change the union for the better. Lets face it not everyone in other groupings is wrong all of the time. Sometimes we may not agree with them on other occasions we will because its the best result or outcome for the members.

Turning to members, they can be fickle and often don't understand the mechanics of the union. However one thing every rep. knows is that if you take a rep. role to them you are the union and they will place their faith in you. However after whatever the crisis is for them they often slip back into forgetting about the union. We do need to rouse them from their slumber and increase our voting share. But in my opinion we can only do that from within a grouping that is prepared to back individuals within the grouping who are prepared to "stick their neck out."  High or low turn outs and a concern but if each of us is prepared to help hopefully we can increase our share of those who vote. 

We have 4 NEC members certainly no where near as many as we need, but its a start. We could get wiped out again at the next election but it doesn't mean we should just given up. Our positions on issues may change as issues rumble on but we must always stick to the belief that we can do it another way. Talk is cheap division is dist ruction.

Howie does some magnificent work often not getting his reward for it. We might not always agree with some of the issues but we can't say we are not informed. 

However the questions to me really are;

1) Do each of us do enough to push 4TM?

2) Can we support each other a little more and open other lines of communication?

3) What can I do to revive the union?

As I said at the beginning the contributions so far have for me had good and bad points. We have a vehicle to try and move forward so lets use it.

Andy Magee is a member of the PCS National Executive Committee and writes in a personal capacity.

Go to the 4themembers website for further information

TUC Conference opens and wonders why the media concentrates on strikes and strained relations with the Labour Party

The annual conference of the TUC opened yesterday in less than sunny Bournemouth. The far-left started the ball rolling through a rally held by the so-called National Shop Stewards Movement which in reality is just the Socialist Party under another name. The purpose of the meeting addressed by regulars Bob Crow, RMT General Secretary and Janice Godrich was to call for a General Strike, albeit one of just 24 hours duration.

The rest of the TUC was probably more concerned with the fallout between Unite and the Labour Party in Falkirk which was dominating the media over the weekend. Miraculously this has seemingly been resolved on the eve of the TUC bash, but remains an open wound despite the public reconciliation that has apparently taken place.

So as more "coordinated strike" action is promised support by the assembled TUC worthies for "those unions that want it", the TUC General Secretary Frances O'Grady speaks of the need for the Labour link without actually naming the party:

..trade unions, once respected across the political spectrum for our role in fighting fascism and as a pillar of any free and democratic society, now treated with disdain.......

In many ways it is a testimony to the enduring strength our trade union values of care, compassion and fairness that the Right has chosen to put us in the firing line.

It explains why this week they are debating a Lobbying Bill that, far from dealing with the real dirt in politics, is designed to deny us a political voice.

Now, debating the internal arrangements of the Labour Party and the role of its affiliated unions is not the business of Westminster, nor, indeed, of this Congress. And in the hall today we also have unions who are just as proud of their party political independence.

But one thing is for sure. We are united in defending the basic democratic principle that ordinary people have the right to a political voice. That union money - the few pence freely given every week, by nurses, shop workers and truck drivers - is the cleanest cash in politics today. And that whether unions set up a political fund is a matter for members, not ministers.

Because for too long, politics has been controlled by those who already have far too much money and far too much power.

As a member of a trade union that is not and has never been affiliated to the Labour Party but will be encouraging people to vote Labour at the General election this is an issue I sometimes have to find balance over. The reason for this is the desire of the PCS leadership under Madame Godrich to orientate, if not directly affiliate the PCS to the Trade Union & Socialist Coalition run by the Socialist Party and the RMT.

As a civil servant and a trade unionist I believe  political independence of the union from all political parties, but am open to developing working relationships with all of them in the interests of members. However the PCS union is continuing in a direction that will undermine the necessary nonpartisan nature of the largest civil service union.

The continuing demand for a 24 hour General Strike also remains a concern. Political activists like Janice Godrich  and others at the top of PCS always puts the interests of the Socialist Party above that of ordinary members. There is little desire for continuing action in the PCS union but members probably can't wait for the next General Election to see the end of the coalition Government, though they are realistic enough to realise the world isn't going to right itself just because of a change of Prime Minister.

There will be much discussed over the coming week at the TUC Conference which will be overlooked by the media who will always look to the hotheads for newsworthy stories. Yet much of what the trade unions calls for is simply a better deal for the working man/woman.

Frankly the political activists who have come to dominate some sections of the trade union movement are themselves part of the problem. There will always be debate and disagreement in a democracy as to the solutions to the problems we as a society face, but the time has come to remove those that put their narrow sectarian interests before those of ordinary working people.