Reporting back on the pensions strike
Mar 27 2006
In fact i don't know whos about, but could we not get together a few people to pledge go to the rallies with a pad of paper and camera (i you've got a digi that'd be good, tho i haven't) and write up an up to date report with some pictures for the evening. If you work in the public sector anyway this should be easy and i only work mornings and eveningsso i have enough time off during the middle of day to do this and i'm sure some of us do aswell for various reasons even obviously most of us can't coz we're at work but it only needs one person per location.
It'd be nice to see if we could get 'reporting as it happens' done on the forum to see if its possible. We could just do it as a thread and transfer it to some archive later or something.
Since we don't have a feature on the thing this seems like a pretty good stop gap measure to me.
Mar 27 2006
#2
WeTheYouth wrote:
Ill take some pics and do a report from brum.
Cool
Surely there must be a couple of other people on here up for this, just a 500 word article about mood, feeling location, to get the ''up and down the country' feel.
Seems reasonable to me anyways, can't see how it'd be a bad idea to spend an hour or so each on it.
Mar 27 2006
#3
I will see if any wma members will do one in their towns.
Mar 28 2006
#4
Manchester
On my way to work saw dozens of picket lines across the university part of the town. MMU seems to have more people out than in the AUT strike, and half of the University of Manchester seems solid as well (only half of the unison members are in the disputed pension scheme, so the old Victoria Uni of Manc members who are in another pension scheme are not striking 
)
Mar 28 2006
#5
BRIGHTON
Just a quickie.
The traffic in Brighton is dead at the moment, with our shit one way system, and the amount of traffic we're normally verging on gridlock. There's a lot of Unison members in brighton.
Back to the strike, there's a unison picket outside the Uni art building, about 4 of them.
My lady got a call from the Brighton Uni last night to say her class is cancelled this afternoon, due to the strike.
I've just been past the Bin Depot, didn't see much in the way of Unison banners (clerical staff), but the binmen/GMB are out (not a surprise, they're pretty solid, i think there's a piece on their previous strike and occupation on here somewhere), at least 30 of them, the gates are locked, and they stopped a car from going in as we went past.
Update.
At least 15 schools shut.
Main library in town shut, my neighbour was whingeing about going down to find it locked, tough, keep abreast of current affairs!
Mar 28 2006
#6
Brief Guido report on IMC:
Mar 28 2006
#7
University of Manchester:
out of the 300 affected Unison members pretty much everyone is striking with 80 of them on picket lines. Very good turn out.
Manchester generally:
Just returned from the rally in the centre of town. It was well attended, perhaps about 300+ people, could have been more, but the pickets were still going. Good rants from different union reps and participants + couple obligatory SWP/respect hacks talking about setting up a new party and rants about weapons of mass destruction.
Anarchists were there as well, AF comrade passing our Resistance and Solidarity federation with a banner, and folks from basement social centre distyributing leaflets about events around may day.
At the town hall I saw the best and most uplifting picket so far. About 20+ strong they shouted and abused any scab going in "SCUM!", "SCAB!", "YOU ARE A DISGRACE!" 
While the levels of participation may be small, the spirit of those taking part seems strong.
Mar 28 2006
#8
NORTHAMPTON
Pickets at a few different workplaces, not exactly sure how many but the main library was open so that's not good. Rally of a few hundred in town centre, a few dodgy speakers and a ceremonial coffin to mark the death of Northamptonshire's youth and disability services following recent cuts carried to town hall. Rally seemed fairly well attended and people seemed keen to carry on campaign. Unison gave me a pretty little flag. A fairly encouraging turnout, considering it's in Northampton.
Mar 28 2006
#9
Manchester (again)
This morning, the picket was all burly binmen, drivers and carpark blokes, not another housing officer in sight which i thought was pretty disgusting and it was odd to start with because I didn't know anyone but they were all friendly and gave me tea and a pair of gloves 
We turned away a lot of delivery vans from Turnpike house which was good and got lots of solidarity from passing drivers. The 'best' scab was the director of housing who drove though in his posh car and i asked him not to go in but he said "I support the strike but I can't afford to lose a days pay!! 
like I can? but i keyed the end of his car as he drove past. not my fault, he shouldn't have driven so close.
anyway, it was a good spirit but i'd have liked to see more of my colleagues making it to the picket line. the rally afterwards was alright but not that many people there given the expected size of the strike in manchester.
Mar 28 2006
#10
lucy82 wrote:
i keyed the end of his car as he drove past. not my fault, he shouldn't have driven so close.
8) 
That'll learn him. 8)
Mar 28 2006
#11
Low picket turn out at two of three sites at my work.
About 100 people at the local rally and about 600ish at the Edinburgh march and rally. It rained for almost the entire time but I'd say spirits were high, though the final rally was as dire as would be expected. IWW distributed leaflet 'We won't let them steal our pensions!'. Good response generally.
Edinburgh paper said there were 10,000 strikers...hmmm. There were few buses as the drivers are LGPS.
Feeling mostly knackered, interested to see the evening news.
Mar 28 2006
#12
christ round here it's completely dead. i walked around mile end for about half an hour and didn't see a single striker.
i thought the east end was pretty hardcore 
Mar 28 2006
#13
ftony wrote:
christ round here it's completely dead. i walked around mile end for about half an hour and didn't see a single striker.i thought the east end was pretty hardcore
I agree, complete shite a 2-3 miles north of you as well.
Mar 28 2006
#14
When did you walk around? Surely there would have been more people about in the morning than the afternoon anyway?
Mar 28 2006
#15
i guess it was about 4, but still, not a single picket line
but thank you for making me not despair completely
Mar 28 2006
#16
yeah i reckon people will have gone home by four, not many people likely to turn up for work that late in the afternoon I guess.
Mar 28 2006
#17
odd some people are talking about a strike on the 29th. I thought that was odd and people are getting mixed up with the dates etc...
Mar 28 2006
#18
Hereford
Was quite a disappointment really. No picket lines to speak of* before and after the rally, which was held in the town centre. Out of 3000 members in Unison alone in the county, only around 100 people from all unions turned out to the event. UNISON really got on my tits, calling for lobbying MPs and sending postcards to Prescott and having the nerve to suggest that it was Labour's fault that UNISON called off the previous pensions strike that was planned to happen the week of the general elections last year. Not as fucking disgraceful as a Labour councillor who spoke addressing the crowd as 'comrades, brothers and sisters'. He's got a fucking nerve; should've got a bottling.
Services seem to carry on as usual in the county aside from a few schools, which closed.
I'd heard rumours of anarchists busking in the town centre signing revolutionary songs. Not sure though.
*Only picket line of mention was from the binmen and women (my heros of the day) who'd been out there since 5am and took quite a bit of stick from management, but still seemed to be pretty solid.
Mar 28 2006
#19
I'm certain there will be more strike days, but not the 29th - govt need a few days to get together the usual propaganda so they'll dither around 'negotiating' for a bit. I love the way the news this morning had govt lackies saying that if we win Council taxes will have to be put up to pay for it...pour quoi? We do actually pay money into these pensions ourselves and so do the employers, and no-one suggested putting up taxes to pay for the higher paid local govt workers who have managed to retain their 60yr old retirement age, and whose pension payouts will be far higher than us lowly lower than lows. Who are the hopeless fund managers who are supposed to invest these premiums we pay?
Mar 28 2006
#20
we had an email saying 3rd and 4th of April were next two planned strike days. i'm hoping not cause thats next week and losing more pay is a bit rubbish in the one pay month but if thats what it takes...
but as noone else seems to have had that, maybe its a red herring
Mar 28 2006
#21
These links all from IMC:
Cambridge, Birmingham, West Yorkshire, Derby, Hackney & Wembley, Liverpool, Nottingham.
Mar 28 2006
#22
After getting a flyer at Euston Station I was surprised not to see a fucking picket, although it was raining and I do work evenings.
No picket at my other job, I'd be more confident about refusing to cross a picket there as they're less likely to sack me than my other job.
Nice to hear that strikers are solid, Brighton binmen are fucking solid, same with bus drivers.
Lucy82, I'm surprised you didn't piss yourself laughing, glad you got some revenge though
I reckon a grass roots anti MP pensions thing would work IMO.
It'd unite the country:) one thing everyone can agree on, although being on the same side as anti-speed camera tossers would hurt.
Mar 28 2006
#23
Colchester
Couple of pickets, main ones at town hall and NAPO, mood was jubilant and we even had a mascot of sorts. Far too many didn't walk out though and there was a lot of confusion as to who was ballotted.
Round lunch time there was a rally at friends meeting house with a turn out of 30-40. Speakers from NAPO, Amicus and local trades council, NAPO coming out in force in colchester. The focus of the meetng was on where to turn next and how not just to build for the next strike but also to fight the pensions dispute on every level. The mood was pretty high although lots of questions were flyng about over last years retreat and the like and some commitments were made.
Pickets continued for an hour after the meeting
Not ''red tuesday'' (lol) then, but definitely a reasonable turn out and a much higher level of confidence and confrontation (especially in terms of confrontation with the labour party) than usual.
Mar 29 2006
#24
Wrote the following crap in the wrong thread. Should also mention that all the schools were closed, at least one of the universities, all the GHA staff and the bus station was closed. Don't know about other places. Didn't see any pickets, but there's not much point if everyone's behind the strike and the place is shut.:-
Nick Durie
Platformist Libertarian Municipalism
Piotr Kropotkin
Joined: 12 Sep 2004
Posts: 511
Location: Maryhill Town
PostPosted: Wed 29 Mar, 2006 2:34 am Post subject: Reply with quote Edit/Delete this post
Caught the rally part of the Glasgow event. Can do a short report if you'd like but it'd be quite boring. Union apologists for inaction and a failure to lauch an all-out strike last year when the pension was actually under attack regaled an audience of workers who couldn't really hear them most of the time for the high winds and rain on Glasgow Green by shouting 'brothers and sisters' and 'comrades' loudly. The SSP were highly visible and had the good sense to hold a follow-up public meeting with Sheridan speaking at it in a pub in town. SWs seemed to have the area along the route of the march blanketted with flyposters with some class slogan like "the bosses make billions in profits and they can't pay our pensions?" which was well organised.
Speaker said cops and media counted the march as at about 10,000.
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Nick Durie
Platformist Libertarian Municipalism
Piotr Kropotkin
Joined: 12 Sep 2004
Posts: 511
Location: Maryhill Town
PostPosted: Wed 29 Mar, 2006 2:38 am Post subject: Reply with quote Edit/Delete this post Delete this post
One of the speakers talked about some branches of Unison doing an all out strike at some point next week if they've not done a cosy deal with the government by then.
All of them talked about it rhetorically but no substance.
Mar 29 2006
#25
right, ignore me talking about 3rd/4th April, i'm old and easily confused evidently. Heres the email with the planned dates for next strike action.
"The Service Group Liaison Committee met last Thursday, 10 March, to discuss industrial action over proposed changes to the LGPS. Chairs of Sector Committees were present, as well as Service Group Chairs.
The following action was agreed:
1-day all-out action on 28 March
A rolling programme of Region-wide action in late April
Selective action planned at national level, with relevant members identified by Regions, to include traffic and transport, meat hygiene, revenue collection, school caretakers and refuse collection.
A joint trade union strike committee has also been established, called JUST – Joint Union Strike Team. This includes GMB, TGWU, Amicus, UCATT, Napo, NUT, AEP, Aspect and CYWU. JUST will take the final decisions on any joint action in the LGPS campaign.
JUST met on Friday, 11 March, to discuss joint action and campaigning. It was agreed at that meeting to endorse the UNISON proposals, but in addition it was also agreed that a further two days of all-out action be called for 3 and 4 May. This decision was unanimous and I am therefore writing to let you know of it and to get your views.
A further Tripartite Committee meeting was held today. Although we have established through our work with independent actuaries AON that there are sufficient savings to provide full protection and scheme improvements, the LGA made it clear that they would not allow the savings to be used for this purpose. They believe that the savings should be used to keep employer costs and the Council Tax down or for what they predict will be further increases in longevity! Although we will keep the door open for further talks, the ballot results of several unions will be announced in a joint press conference tomorrow and we will proceed with plans for industrial action.
Best wishes
Mar 29 2006
#26
ftony wrote:
i guess it was about 4, but still, not a single picket linebut thank you for making me not despair completely
yes mate, don't worry, most of the manchester picket lines were folded around noon. No use holding the lines longer on one day symbolic strikes.
Mar 29 2006
#27
Mar 30 2006
#28
Halifax
From what I read in The Guardian yesterday: schools took the decision not to close. Instead, kept them open and used the day to teach pupils the importance of strikes and protest! How fucking cool is that?!
So, the revolution starts in Halifax in about 10 years time. 
Mar 30 2006
#29
enelpozo wrote:
HalifaxFrom what I read in The Guardian yesterday: schools took the decision not to close. Instead, kept them open and used the day to teach pupils the importance of strikes and protest! How fucking cool is that?!
So, the revolution starts in Halifax in about 10 years time.
Wow! You got a link? Will add that into our strike news story.
Okay
London
My council office, I'm a temp but in Unison, I told by manager I wasn't going to go in, she told me that was okay, then she decided she wouldn't go in either. Didn't visit picket cos I wanted a job to go back to! But small pickets on each entrance, a few people crossed, some temps, some of the temps resented being asked not to work cos they haven't got any pensions/contracts or anything. Seems like out of 2-300 people at least like 50-60% were out, maybe more I only found out about a couple of departments. Had a quick look in in the afternoon, office was pretty quiet, the pickets had gone by then.
My university all was normal, we were talking about the strike, there was a bit of confusion cos we heard some uni Unison workers were out but we weren't balloted, and we aren't part of LGPS, though one guy had heard that Unison members were asked not to cross any picket lines, something slightly different from the AUT strike. A bit confusing all round really.
Mar 30 2006
#30
Also just to say our pensions section is now pretty much complete, and will be kept up-to-date. Tell your friends!
Ill take some pics and do a report from brum.