The recent Pay Deal agreed in the Department of Work & Pensions was recommended to members by all three trade unions, Prospect, the FDA and PCS. It's an incredibly divisive deal that sets members against each other by hiking up the award for those lower down the pay scale with a mere 1% for those at the top.
Whilst this may seem fair to some outsiders, what the deal does is allow the Department to cover it's tracks over the time it takes to progress up the pay scale at the expense of those who reached "Max" and adding insult to insult have not received pay rises at all some years and even when they did only got 1%.
The real backlash that appears to be rising is not over money, but the changes to hours and days worked.
In order to be eligible for the award (even the paltry 1%) members have to agree to new contracts forcing them to work evenings and at least one Saturday a month as part of the move over to Universal Credit, the Department's controversial (and many say failing) new benefit.
It's quite obvious from reaction both on the ground and in social media that a large proportion of members object to these changes with some indication that in the PCS at least there will be a strong vote against when the ballot takes place.
The agreement includes "safeguards" to "protect" those with medical problems an disabilities but in essence all that DWP Management actually agree to do is to follow the Equality Act which happens to be the law anyway.
The addition of a committee with "Independent" Managers (don't laugh) and a TU rep to oversee disputes does not exactly inspire confidence.
The DWP has shrunk it's staff at precisely the time it needs more to ensure a smooth changeover in the way it meets its so-called "business needs", leaving those still in place overworked and stressed with moral at an all time low.
The in-fighting in the largest of the civil service unions PCS (whose membership has shrunk considerably to just 175,000) continues unabated. Many former activists have pointed out that if this deal had been recommended by anyone else other than Left Unity themselves it would have been called a "right-wing sellout".
The problem for LU is there is no right-wing (mainstream in normal parlance) despite their trying to make one up in their election literature.
The elections in the DWP remain to be announced and LU seem rattled by the advance of a rival hard left group in the NEC elections as the Independent Left take 3 NEC seats.
There is little likelihood that any kind of industrial dispute over the deal will take place or could be seriously considered due to the very nature of the divisive award itself. There are too many "winners" and many would see such action as futile.
However disquiet remains widespread at grassroots level which will not go away.
Sunday, 15 May 2016
Sunday Supplement: Not your parents cartoons.....
When this...
becomes this.
Hanna-Barbera produced a lot of memorable cartoons which we remember fondly from our childhood. Wacky Races, Scooby Doo and The Flintstones were amongst them.
And they are getting a makeover. As comics.
DC Comics (owned by Warner Brothers) is launching four comics based on Hanna-Barbera cartoons, the first of which is due in comic shops on May 25th. A re-imagined version of Scooby Doo with character redesigns by Jim Lee in which the Apocalypse arrives and the Scooby Gang face real monsters....
While in Wacky Races Armageddon has happened and the survivors are involved in a race where coming second results in death.
Not your parents cartoons indeed!
On a lighter note The Flintstones are back. Pebbles and Bam-Bam are a bit older.
And in this case it's not just a comic in the works. Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy) has the contract for a new TV show.
In the meantime DC have their version due to hit stores in July.
For more on comics old & new please try out my other blog:
Howie's World of Comics
becomes this.
Hanna-Barbera produced a lot of memorable cartoons which we remember fondly from our childhood. Wacky Races, Scooby Doo and The Flintstones were amongst them.
And they are getting a makeover. As comics.
DC Comics (owned by Warner Brothers) is launching four comics based on Hanna-Barbera cartoons, the first of which is due in comic shops on May 25th. A re-imagined version of Scooby Doo with character redesigns by Jim Lee in which the Apocalypse arrives and the Scooby Gang face real monsters....
While in Wacky Races Armageddon has happened and the survivors are involved in a race where coming second results in death.
Not your parents cartoons indeed!
On a lighter note The Flintstones are back. Pebbles and Bam-Bam are a bit older.
And in this case it's not just a comic in the works. Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy) has the contract for a new TV show.
In the meantime DC have their version due to hit stores in July.
For more on comics old & new please try out my other blog:
Howie's World of Comics
Friday, 13 May 2016
Eurovision Extra!
The Eurovision song contest takes place tomorrow night. The finalist are preparing their acts and the world will be watching in their millions, snacks and drinks in hand.
I have a fiver on Bulgaria (odds at time of placing bet were 40 -1) but have to say a couple of other entries have grown on me since first trawling through the Eurovision You Tube channel.
The first from Belgium from 19 year old Laura Tesoro is one to watch out for as is Dami Im of Australia.
Take it away ladies!
I have a fiver on Bulgaria (odds at time of placing bet were 40 -1) but have to say a couple of other entries have grown on me since first trawling through the Eurovision You Tube channel.
The first from Belgium from 19 year old Laura Tesoro is one to watch out for as is Dami Im of Australia.
Take it away ladies!
Thursday, 12 May 2016
Democracy? What does it mean?
Cross-post by Rick Johansen
It was last year when I heard Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell (I know, I know: it still sounds ridiculous) speaking about my old union, PCS. PCS was, he said, “one of the most democratic unions in the land”. In some ways, he was right. No union holds more elections that PCS, nor indeed sends more delegates to its conferences. But democratic? Not so sure about that.
PCS is run by a sect so far to the left that Jeremy Corbyn and the comrades on the left fringes of the Labour Party are almost right wing by comparison. The supreme leader, or general secretary as he is formally known, is one Mark Serwotka, who is described as a fully paid up member of the “awkward squad”. That’s probably true as well, but how awkward is he and in what way?
The union of lowly paid civil servants (and MOD staff) has just announced its annual National Executive Committee (NEC) results and to no one’s surprise the Trotskyist Socialist Party (Militant) ‘slate’, laughably known as the Democracy Alliance, has won a large majority. In second place was the other hard left organisation, known as the Independent Left. And that was it. Two hard left political factions and no one else. No conventional left grouping, no centre left grouping, not even a centrist grouping.
“Ah well,” you might say, “it’s the members’ fault. If they didn’t like what was going on, they could stand for election”, and so they can, but the odds are they won’t win.
PCS is controlled from top to bottom by the hard left. It controls the HQ where the full time paid officials are appointed on the basis of their far left politics. Almost all the branches are controlled by the hard left. Even if an ordinary member secured election to a local committee, the chances of her or him rising any further are almost zero. In order to even stand for election for the NEC, a candidate needs other branch nominations. It would be virtually impossible for an ordinary member to stand in a national election.
This is, in essence, “one of the most democratic unions in the land”, but one in which only candidates of one colour can stand for election. It is a union that is deep in financial trouble, not least because of the inept governance of the ruling hard left cabal and last year it was so broke, claimed the comrades, that they couldn’t even afford to hold the annual elections. (The annual conference at which the Trotskyist parties and organisations hold their main fundraising events naturally went ahead. Funny that.)
Serwotka was labelled a member of the “awkward squad” when he appeared on platforms with the late Bob Crow, the railway union boss, but he gained notoriety only by association. Whilst Crow could bring the country to a standstill, Serwotka postured and posed and then drowned in his own fiery, but ultimately vacuous, rhetoric. Year upon year, PCS failed in negotiations allowing a hostile government to trample over its members. It failed with a series of pointless one day strikes too, achieving nothing but losing members’ pay. The civil service began to shrink but the union shrank quicker. With each passing election, with each strike ballot, the numbers participating dwindled. The only people to whom Serwotka was “awkward” was his own members.
Even if you doubt what I have said about the nature of PCS, the trade union equivalent of a failed state, you surely cannot doubt that democratic disaster of today’s election results. Oh, not the re-election of a bunch of timeserving revolutionary socialists because we all expected it, but the turn out.
A decade ago, PCS claimed over 300,000 members but today’s results paint a worrying picture. The current membership figure is 175,038 of whom 16,479 bothered to vote, a 9.4% turn out. Put another way, 90.6% of PCS members did not vote at all. All right, it didn’t matter in terms of politics because, in the absence of candidates other than from the hard left, members had a choice of two hard left slates and no one else. (Actually, that’s not true. There were some ‘independent’ candidates who were not on the Trotskyite lists and they, of course, came last.)
I remain convinced that there is still a place for trade unions. In the main, they do good things. They protect workers’ rights and if things are done properly they can bring about progressive partnerships with employers. The problem is politics.
PCS is riven with politics and its leaders have aims that go way beyond serving union members. They lie in progressing revolutionary politics and ensuring the unions’ hierarchies represent a certain (hard left) viewpoint. That isn’t going to change, ever, because it can’t and it will eventually be the death of the union.
“One of the most democratic unions in the land” means nothing in a union where hardly anyone votes. There is no opposition to the comrades urging anyone to vote for anyone else, or to not vote at all. It is a democratic failure of their own device. They control the union HQ, the paid officers, the NEC and most of the branches and yet, with no opponents, nine out of ten members don’t vote.
The parallel with the Corbyn-led Labour Party could not be more obvious, a union that is run by a relatively small but powerful sect, a union that has not had a meaningful victory for as long as I can remember and a union that is happy to oppose, and indeed pose, because a certain political position matters more than securing improvements for it members.
You can’t have too much democracy provided it actually means something. In PCS, it means next to nothing. And if democracy means nothing, you’re in a lot of trouble.
It was last year when I heard Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell (I know, I know: it still sounds ridiculous) speaking about my old union, PCS. PCS was, he said, “one of the most democratic unions in the land”. In some ways, he was right. No union holds more elections that PCS, nor indeed sends more delegates to its conferences. But democratic? Not so sure about that.
PCS is run by a sect so far to the left that Jeremy Corbyn and the comrades on the left fringes of the Labour Party are almost right wing by comparison. The supreme leader, or general secretary as he is formally known, is one Mark Serwotka, who is described as a fully paid up member of the “awkward squad”. That’s probably true as well, but how awkward is he and in what way?
The union of lowly paid civil servants (and MOD staff) has just announced its annual National Executive Committee (NEC) results and to no one’s surprise the Trotskyist Socialist Party (Militant) ‘slate’, laughably known as the Democracy Alliance, has won a large majority. In second place was the other hard left organisation, known as the Independent Left. And that was it. Two hard left political factions and no one else. No conventional left grouping, no centre left grouping, not even a centrist grouping.
“Ah well,” you might say, “it’s the members’ fault. If they didn’t like what was going on, they could stand for election”, and so they can, but the odds are they won’t win.
PCS is controlled from top to bottom by the hard left. It controls the HQ where the full time paid officials are appointed on the basis of their far left politics. Almost all the branches are controlled by the hard left. Even if an ordinary member secured election to a local committee, the chances of her or him rising any further are almost zero. In order to even stand for election for the NEC, a candidate needs other branch nominations. It would be virtually impossible for an ordinary member to stand in a national election.
This is, in essence, “one of the most democratic unions in the land”, but one in which only candidates of one colour can stand for election. It is a union that is deep in financial trouble, not least because of the inept governance of the ruling hard left cabal and last year it was so broke, claimed the comrades, that they couldn’t even afford to hold the annual elections. (The annual conference at which the Trotskyist parties and organisations hold their main fundraising events naturally went ahead. Funny that.)
Serwotka was labelled a member of the “awkward squad” when he appeared on platforms with the late Bob Crow, the railway union boss, but he gained notoriety only by association. Whilst Crow could bring the country to a standstill, Serwotka postured and posed and then drowned in his own fiery, but ultimately vacuous, rhetoric. Year upon year, PCS failed in negotiations allowing a hostile government to trample over its members. It failed with a series of pointless one day strikes too, achieving nothing but losing members’ pay. The civil service began to shrink but the union shrank quicker. With each passing election, with each strike ballot, the numbers participating dwindled. The only people to whom Serwotka was “awkward” was his own members.
Even if you doubt what I have said about the nature of PCS, the trade union equivalent of a failed state, you surely cannot doubt that democratic disaster of today’s election results. Oh, not the re-election of a bunch of timeserving revolutionary socialists because we all expected it, but the turn out.
A decade ago, PCS claimed over 300,000 members but today’s results paint a worrying picture. The current membership figure is 175,038 of whom 16,479 bothered to vote, a 9.4% turn out. Put another way, 90.6% of PCS members did not vote at all. All right, it didn’t matter in terms of politics because, in the absence of candidates other than from the hard left, members had a choice of two hard left slates and no one else. (Actually, that’s not true. There were some ‘independent’ candidates who were not on the Trotskyite lists and they, of course, came last.)
I remain convinced that there is still a place for trade unions. In the main, they do good things. They protect workers’ rights and if things are done properly they can bring about progressive partnerships with employers. The problem is politics.
PCS is riven with politics and its leaders have aims that go way beyond serving union members. They lie in progressing revolutionary politics and ensuring the unions’ hierarchies represent a certain (hard left) viewpoint. That isn’t going to change, ever, because it can’t and it will eventually be the death of the union.
“One of the most democratic unions in the land” means nothing in a union where hardly anyone votes. There is no opposition to the comrades urging anyone to vote for anyone else, or to not vote at all. It is a democratic failure of their own device. They control the union HQ, the paid officers, the NEC and most of the branches and yet, with no opponents, nine out of ten members don’t vote.
The parallel with the Corbyn-led Labour Party could not be more obvious, a union that is run by a relatively small but powerful sect, a union that has not had a meaningful victory for as long as I can remember and a union that is happy to oppose, and indeed pose, because a certain political position matters more than securing improvements for it members.
You can’t have too much democracy provided it actually means something. In PCS, it means next to nothing. And if democracy means nothing, you’re in a lot of trouble.
Wednesday, 11 May 2016
Livingstones replacement on the left's NEC slate faces...guess what?
Ken Livingstone is currently suspended from the Labour Party for his offensive remarks about Jews and Hitler based on the non-scholarly work of some American Trotskyist. Even People like Jon Lansman guru of Corbyn's cheer leading movement Momentum have been forced to distance themselves from the politician formerly known as "Red Ken".
He's even been replaced on the lefts slate by one Rhea Wolfson who just happens to be a wee bit of a lefty and (shock, horror) Jewish.
There's plenty to criticise about Ms Wolfson's politics, but she has had to face the reality that other Jews come across on a daily basis.
It's called anti-Semitism.
And some of it is nasty as you would expect. Here's some examples of material posted to her Twitter feed:
The rise of anti-Semitism coincides with the rise of anti-Zionism.
The anti-Zionists have ignored so much racism within their movement that such old prejudices that are peddled around the Muslim world with abandon. The "Blood Libel", "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" are treated as truths and have not been challenged by the supposed anti-racist left (along with a whole host of other "shibboleths" as Lyndsey German leader of the mis-named Stop The War Coalition once referred to Women and Gay rights) that anti-Semitism is rampant amongst anti-imperialists.
Corbyn was a long term part of this reactionary movement along with thousands of his supporters who have now hi-jacked the Labour Party.
I will stand shoulder to shoulder with Rhea Wolfson against anti-Semitism, but will she learn the folly of the politics she is part of before it's too late?
I said there were legitimate concerns about her politics and here's why in an article written (but now taken down from the Internet) by Ms Wolfson which frankly shows the stupidity of today's lefties:
For me, the conversation keeps boiling down to one thing- one crucial disagreement that puts me on one clear side versus another. The crux of the great leadership debate for me is what are our goals? Is winning in 2020 the priority and if so, what are we willing to sacrifice to achieve it?
My belief is that winning 2020 should not be the priority of the Labour Party. This belief comes from a further belief that the Labour party is a movement above and beyond anything. It was founded to fight for workers, to fight for those oppressed by the ruling classes and it became a political party because that was seen as the most effective way to improve the lives of the people the movement was looking to represent. I think that is still true; that should still be the goal of the party and when we make compromises such as supporting the benefit cap or not properly reversing anti-trade union laws then we betray everything and everyone we stand for and we might as well not exist.
Ridiculous.
As a trade unionist I fight the government on a micro-scale every day. Defending members from bad government policies and am forced to deal with the reality of life. My members, let alone those at the poorer end of society on Zero Hours contracts, homes under threat from rising rents and lack of social housing, who need an NHS that is adequately run for those that need it want this bloody Tory government gone.
He's even been replaced on the lefts slate by one Rhea Wolfson who just happens to be a wee bit of a lefty and (shock, horror) Jewish.
There's plenty to criticise about Ms Wolfson's politics, but she has had to face the reality that other Jews come across on a daily basis.
It's called anti-Semitism.
Rhea Wolfson
Shocked at the anti-Semitic abuse being tweeted at not only me but my family today- using literal Nazi propaganda. Please help report
And some of it is nasty as you would expect. Here's some examples of material posted to her Twitter feed:
The rise of anti-Semitism coincides with the rise of anti-Zionism.
The anti-Zionists have ignored so much racism within their movement that such old prejudices that are peddled around the Muslim world with abandon. The "Blood Libel", "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" are treated as truths and have not been challenged by the supposed anti-racist left (along with a whole host of other "shibboleths" as Lyndsey German leader of the mis-named Stop The War Coalition once referred to Women and Gay rights) that anti-Semitism is rampant amongst anti-imperialists.
Corbyn was a long term part of this reactionary movement along with thousands of his supporters who have now hi-jacked the Labour Party.
I will stand shoulder to shoulder with Rhea Wolfson against anti-Semitism, but will she learn the folly of the politics she is part of before it's too late?
I said there were legitimate concerns about her politics and here's why in an article written (but now taken down from the Internet) by Ms Wolfson which frankly shows the stupidity of today's lefties:
For me, the conversation keeps boiling down to one thing- one crucial disagreement that puts me on one clear side versus another. The crux of the great leadership debate for me is what are our goals? Is winning in 2020 the priority and if so, what are we willing to sacrifice to achieve it?
My belief is that winning 2020 should not be the priority of the Labour Party. This belief comes from a further belief that the Labour party is a movement above and beyond anything. It was founded to fight for workers, to fight for those oppressed by the ruling classes and it became a political party because that was seen as the most effective way to improve the lives of the people the movement was looking to represent. I think that is still true; that should still be the goal of the party and when we make compromises such as supporting the benefit cap or not properly reversing anti-trade union laws then we betray everything and everyone we stand for and we might as well not exist.
Ridiculous.
As a trade unionist I fight the government on a micro-scale every day. Defending members from bad government policies and am forced to deal with the reality of life. My members, let alone those at the poorer end of society on Zero Hours contracts, homes under threat from rising rents and lack of social housing, who need an NHS that is adequately run for those that need it want this bloody Tory government gone.
Principled opposition is pointless.
Working people need a Labour Government, now let alone in 2020 to ensure their rights, livelihoods and homes are not stripped from them.
The reality of politics means compromise. Labour needs to be a broad church and attract voters from other parties.
Labour needs to be a party of Government.
Corbyn and his supporters will never achieve this. They remain the Tories best asset. It's time for a real Labour to be reclaimed from the idiot left that are taking over.
Our futures depend on it.
Learn the lesson from your experience with anti-Semitism Ms Wolfson. The left has helped recreate this monster. What else will they help resurrect?
Tuesday, 10 May 2016
Peace activists attack police
The police and emergency services have been out in Manchester practicing their reaction to a terrorist attack. After the attacks in Paris and Brussels there certainly does need to be such preparations.
However there have been ramifications from the politically correct brigade.
The BBC reports:
Police who staged a mock attack featuring a bomber shouting "Allahu Akbar" have been forced to apologise for racial stereotyping.
The exercise - criticised for using a fake "Muslim terrorist" - was to test the response of emergency services.
Eight hundred volunteers took part in the overnight drill to make it as realistic as possible.
Greater Manchester Police said the event at the Trafford Centre was not linked to any specific terror threat.
Manchester peace activist Dr Erinma Bell criticised the use of a "Muslim terrorist".
She said "a terrorist can be anyone" and "we need to move away from stereotypes".
Besides the fact Islam is a theology (and a very backward one at that) rather than a "race" the certainty is that the expected terrorist attacks are almost certain to be from "Muslim extremists", ISIS in particular.
Perhaps the "peace activist" missed the news about Paris and Brussels.
OK there is a tiny chance it might be "someone else", perhaps a recidivist from the "Real IRA" or whatever these types call themselves, but like most reasonable people are expecting an attack from err..
lets face it. Muslim terrorists.
The likelihood of an Irishman shouting "Mary Mother of God" before blowing himself up is too remote to even consider.
Of course this comes as an attack takes place in Germany with someone shouting..you guessed it "Allahu Akbar".
The German police indicate the man involved "may" be mentally ill.
Of course he is.....
However there have been ramifications from the politically correct brigade.
The BBC reports:
Police who staged a mock attack featuring a bomber shouting "Allahu Akbar" have been forced to apologise for racial stereotyping.
The exercise - criticised for using a fake "Muslim terrorist" - was to test the response of emergency services.
Eight hundred volunteers took part in the overnight drill to make it as realistic as possible.
Greater Manchester Police said the event at the Trafford Centre was not linked to any specific terror threat.
Manchester peace activist Dr Erinma Bell criticised the use of a "Muslim terrorist".
She said "a terrorist can be anyone" and "we need to move away from stereotypes".
Besides the fact Islam is a theology (and a very backward one at that) rather than a "race" the certainty is that the expected terrorist attacks are almost certain to be from "Muslim extremists", ISIS in particular.
Perhaps the "peace activist" missed the news about Paris and Brussels.
OK there is a tiny chance it might be "someone else", perhaps a recidivist from the "Real IRA" or whatever these types call themselves, but like most reasonable people are expecting an attack from err..
lets face it. Muslim terrorists.
The likelihood of an Irishman shouting "Mary Mother of God" before blowing himself up is too remote to even consider.
Of course this comes as an attack takes place in Germany with someone shouting..you guessed it "Allahu Akbar".
The German police indicate the man involved "may" be mentally ill.
Of course he is.....
Monday, 9 May 2016
Student Lawyers distressed, poor souls...
There are times when I despair about today's student activists and their effect on modern education. It is a privilege to go into Higher Education and learn.
And learn is actually the key word to consider with all the shenanigans going on these days.
I was appalled by the story that appeared into today's issue of The Times (no link£) which reported that:
Law students at the University of Oxford were allegedly warned that the content of a lecture on rape and sexual assault could be distressing and offered the chance to leave.
No shit Sherlock.
Of course the material will be unpleasant. That's the nature of the beast and erm.. isn't the whole point of going into Law as a barrister or solicitor and with luck a Judge in later life is to deal with not just these but other rather nasty aspects of human nature that we call crime?
If you can't learn about these issues as they are "distressing" (which they surely are) why would anyone seek to study law in the first place. Lawyers deal with all sorts both as defence and prosecution. If you can't cope, then choose a new career. The courts are not about disputed ownership of puppies all the time....
This demonstrates the absolutely untenable base of the pathetic "safe spaces" movement that plagues our centres of learning.
It's no wonder there is a movement to break with the National Union of Students, led by a woman who thinks it's "Islamophobic" to condemn the murderous rapists and slavers of ISIS, but "Zios" (Jews to you and me) are not entitled to any considerations as they in her words "dominate the worlds media".
Sigh. I must ring Jerusalem 666 to find out what I'm missing out on.
Students in Lincoln University have had enough and today are reported to have disaffiliated from the NUS. Exeter and Newcastle seem set to join them on Thursday.
I just hope these student unions set up a new national body to rally others to and leave the netters in their own little enclave in a rump NUS.
Oh and someone expel that little anti-Rhodes creep who made the waitress cry. Another Mugabe in the making methinks.....
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