After a disappointingly inquorate Regional Council I went with some colleagues from Haringey and other Branches to Newham for their strike rally. The event held in a Church in Stratford was very well attended both by strikers and comrades from other branch. Speaker after speaker expressed their support for Michael Gavan in his fight against victimisation. The final speaker was Michael himself who received a standing ovation before he even opened his mouth. He spoke very passionately about the principles that lie at the heart of his case that of the right of Trade Union Representatives to represent their members best interests and not those of the Employer.
My Branch Committee passed an emergency motion is support of Michael last month which although I was unable to speak at the rally I made sure to convey to Michael in person. Michael has a long and proud history of defending our members and campaigning against the New Labour attacks on services in Newham. Sadly it seem the case that his Employer are seeking to extract their revenge for his work by way if spurious charges against him.
Although Regional Council was once again inquorate I was pleased we were able to take speakers. This included an excellent collective speech by members of Barnet Branch on the freemantle dispute. Two the women workers spoke passionately about the attacks on their pay and conditions by the unscrupulous employer.
They made it abundantly clear they and their brothers and sisters were taking strike action reluctantly as they were conscious of the effect it could have on those who they care for.They however conveyed the determination of the strikers to right the injustice of attacks on already low paid staff dealing with some of the most vulnerable in society. Equally that residents and service users supported their action. This is a dispute that we must win: Not just for the workers at Freemantle but for all our members facing attacks in the aftermath of failed privatisations sell off and PFI schemes in Local Government, Health, and the other sectors in which we organise as a Union .
They are next going on strike on the 10th November and will be holding a major rally and demonstration in the Borough which I intend to attend to show my solidarity. Their slogan is "dismantle Freemantle "reflecting the fact that this is yet another failed experiment in privatisation best remedied by the homes being brought back into council ownership and control.
In my own Borough we experienced the damage done by the privatisation of six residential units both on service users and staff. The situation deteriorated so badly that Haringey had no alternative but to terminate the privatisation and bring the staff and units back into Council control. This was not before the mainly female workers had suffered attacks on their pay and conditions that four years on are only just being rectified through the Single Status process.
Across the country workers and residents in elderly care are being sold off to unscrupulous profiteers it is a scandal that we must continue to fight in conjunction with groups such as "RAGE"
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