Solidarity with university lecturers and students

31 October will be a day of coordinated strike action by UCU, Unison and Unite members working in universities. This is the first UK-wide joint action between these Higher Education unions, demonstrating the anger that their members feel about the employers' insulting 1% pay increase. The real wages of academics have fallen by 13% since 2008, one of the largest sustained wage cuts any profession has suffered since the Second World War." This is despite the scandalously high fees charged to students, which have subsidised lavish pay at the upper echelons of university management while ordinary teaching, research, and support staff struggle. We want a publicly funded system of Higher Education, free at the point of use and paying a fair wage to its workers. In addition to real-terms pay cuts, casualisation of all jobs is rife in the sector, including use of fixed-term, hourly-paid and even the now-infamous zero-hour contracts. This job insecurity together with management bullying and excessive workloads will also motivate UCU members to undertake a 'work to contract' following the strike day. Many student organisations, including official student unions, have offered support. It will be vital to build on these links and make clear to students that this industrial action strengthens their fight for free education, particularly if exam marking ends up being affected. Already propaganda about the USS pension scheme has tried to pit students against staff - in fact this scheme is healthy by any reasonable measure, and a bizarre accounting practice is being used to claim students will end up 'bailing out' their lecturers' pensions. Nothing could be further from the truth, but this and similar falsehoods will be peddled by the Con-Dem government and their media chums if the dispute continues. A serious fighting strategy could see a victory in the form of a significantly improved pay offer. But ultimately the dispute has arisen from the politics and experience of austerity. We need to make links with other unions - HE workers already look to the dispute involving the teachers' unions NUT and NASUWT Who have unfortunately called off their action for this year which is a huge crime in my opinion A last mention has to go to Sussex University and Sheffield University who have gone into occupation tonight in solidarity with the staff in the universities tomorrow and beyond. This could be a restart of the student movement and crucially without the support of the NUS and the NCAFC who are not present in either of these occupations at all. A statement below is carried by occupy Sussex. Once again students at Sussex University have come out in solidarity with staff struggles on their campus. Over the past year they have been waging a struggle with a united front of teaching staff, support/catering staff and students to object to on-campus privatisation. In this time they have innovated the pop-up union as a way to forge cross-union cross-trade solidarity, and have held some of the largest student demonstrations outside of London in recent years. You can follow them on twitter @occupy Sussex A great short You tube video from novara fm weekly show co host James butler can be watched here about the strike https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37n5zeyd83Q&feature=youtube_gdata_player Remember don’t cross a picket line. If unsure contact your local union or student union.

Let’s strike together

There are a growing number of reasons for workers to take strike action in the UK. Be it in the Royal Mail with the serious threat of privatisation or teachers facing performance related pay or even council staff facing cuts to jobs and pay and let’s not forget the 1% public sector pay freeze too. There are many reasons why a 24 hour general strike could be right for many. It is time to start to rebuild the coalition of the willing much like in November of 2011 where we had nearly 3 millin workers taking strike action we need to co ordinate ballots again and build for a national day of action in the autumn I feel. 'Cut, cut, cut' go the Con-Dems as they attack pay, welfare, jobs, services and pensions. No wonder the mood for action against the government's austerity agenda is growing. Teachers in the NUT and NASUWT unions have called a rolling programme of strikes, culminating in a national strike in the autumn. Lecturers in the UCU are consulting about strike action over pay. CWU members are preparing to fight the privatisation of Royal Mail. PCS civil service union members are discussing further action to defend pay, jobs and working conditions. FBU members are balloting over pensions. Unison members in Scottish local authorities are balloting on pay. All workers have a reason to strike - let's do it together. Come to the lobby of the TUC to demand a 24-hour general strike. The Con-Dem government has announced a stock market floatation of the majority of Royal Mail within nine months, with the rest to follow at a later date. This is the biggest potential privatisation since the dark days of Thatcher. It threatens a national service which has been in public ownership for 479 years. It puts the universal service under threat, almost certainly means higher postage rates, and is a major threat to postal workers' jobs and working conditions. In its recent consultative ballot CWU members voted by 96% in opposition to privatisation on a 74% turnout. The union must now capture this mood. The CWU has announced that it will have no choice but to proceed with an industrial action ballot if it can't get a watertight agreement on protection of its existing national agreements. This is a fight which will decide what type of postal service we will have. One to serve the needs of the people or one to serve the needs of greedy investors only looking for a profit. Time for united action now! The CWU should call for all the unions under attack to build united action. There is no time to waste. A 24-hour general strike would be a serious blow to all the government's cuts and privatisation plans. Gary Clark, assistant branch secretary, Scotland No.2 branch CWU Teachers will build on the success of recent strike action in the North West, with 90% of schools closed or partly closed. Further action has been called by the NUT and NASUWT. In the week commencing 30 September there will be strikes in the Eastern, East Midlands, West Midlands, Yorkshire and Humberside regions and in some of Wales. In the week commencing 14 October there will be strikes in the North East, London, South East, South West regions and in the rest of Wales. And there will be a one-day national strike before the end of the autumn term. "NUT and NASUWT members have every reason to build the strongest possible action to defend our pay, conditions and education. However, we are not the only unions looking to oppose attacks on our livelihoods and our services. Instead of striking separately, wouldn't it be better for unions to strike together and have the biggest possible impact?" Martin Powell-Davies, member of the NUT executive Lobby the TUC conference - For a 24-hour general strike! Bournemouth, 8 September 2013 12.30-3pm, Hardy Suite, Hermitage Hotel, Exeter Road (opposite Bournemouth International Centre) National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) rally followed by a lobby of Congress. Speakers include: RMT general secretary Bob Crow, PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka and POA general secretary Steve Gillan. Transport details email info@shopstewards.net For more information and a model resolution on the lobby see: www.shopstewards.net

The hidden political agenda behind the fall in GCSE results

Yesterday saw the first fall in GCSE results for England in a very long time. Analyst after Analyst have tried to work out why this is. The latest GCSE results show a fall in the pass rate in the top grades across England, Wales and Northern Ireland for the first time since the exams replaced O-levels and CSEs 24 years ago. Teachers have claimed examination boards have marked pupils too harshly, especially in GCSE English. Mr Gove has denied that pressure had been put on exam boards to change grade boundaries amid criticism that exams were becoming easier every year. But its clear to me GCSE’s are not getting any easier contrary to what people tell young people every year. For me there is a clear political agenda behind the drive to force results down. If results are lowered and this in turn reflects badly on a school the government use’s official bodies such as OFSTEd to publish negative results for a school and to deem it a failing school this add’s to the pressure on the teachers, staff and head teachers alike. This is very convenient as the government is pushing the whole idea of academies and by lowering standards in many schools it can force many more schools to go down this route bringing private money into our state schools allowing schools to employ teachers who are not qualified and standards are not the same. This for me is the real reason behind the drive by Michael Gove to make exams harder and force down the amount of students getting top grades. To in affect create two tier systems in education once again. Mr Gove has spoken of his desire to restore O-levels in England in place of GCSEs, with less academic pupils taking exams similar to the old CSE. This again would divide students from those who are moor academic than others and push those who may not be but can in my view still contribute hugely to society to end up feeling like failures. Its all part of a capitalist system designed to create winners and losers in society. Where those who win win big and those who loose out loose out big time. This furthers the gap in society in my view and should be opposed.

Povety minimum wage

On tonights BBC panarama it was shown that many companies avoid and use ways of getting around paying the national minimum wage to workers. The lowest paid workers in society and already feeling the strain who are constantly under attack from their boss's have very little room to breath with living standards falling and the cost of living rising sharply.

Many companies will try and get round having to pay minimum wage which for adults which now sits at £6.08 p which is scandelous in itself in my view. They will try to do this by putting misleading clauses in the small print of workers contracts that's if they get a contract which again by law they must have. They may claim that the worker is self employed for example many trainee hairdressers in this country now are classed as "self employed" getting their employers out of paying any holiday pay and can pay under the minimum wage. This is also the case notably in the care sector which it is estimated up to 200,00 care workers could be being paid less than the national legal minimum wage.

Another area which companies use to exploit workers are graduates who straight out of university with a degree desperatly wishing to find work to start paying some of their huge debt they have mounted up via tuitian fees are finding they are having to take internships and jobs below the minimum wage.


This is a disgrace again and is total exploitation of young people and workers. Due to the shortage of jobs at the moment with nearly 1 million young people unemployed its no wonder young people will take anything they can get to get money and avoid being labeled unemployed as it would seem the media have turned it into something of a stigma .

I will blog about this in another blog but unpaid internships should be abolished in my view. They are deeply unfair to those who cannot afford to work for nothing to gain experience and often you end up doing the same job as if you were employed properly only difference being you get paid nothing at all maybe only expenses for travel if your lucky.

This is quite common amongst our very own MP;s the shining light of democracy and upholding of morals and the law note the sarcasm there unpaid internships with MP's and their offices is rife right across the political spectrum in Westminster from tories to Labour and Liberals.

So when a MP starts banging on about internships and how unfair they are do remember to think they are probably employing unpaid interns for work that should be paid for legally.


A Labour Research Department publication has stated that the TUC welcomed the government's confirmation that the National Minimum Wage (NMW) for workers aged 21 and over will go up by 2.5%. This really is the TUC clutching at straws because this percentage increase amounts to a 15p increase in the hourly rate from October taking the NMW to £6.08.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said that the increases showed that the government "understands the NMW must remain an important part of working life". He apparently went on to point out that there was evidence that workers on the NMW spent all their pay rises where they work and live.

Someone should point out to Brendan Barber that on the current level of the national minimum wage and the pay rise workers could not afford to travel far to spend it. The closest Brendan Barber comes to criticising what amounts to a drop in the living standards for those on the national minimum wage, given price rises, is when he called the proposed rises "modest".

Barber of course does not criticise the current level of the national minimum wage because it was his New Labour friends in government that maintained it at a poverty level. I don't recall generous increases when they were in power during a so-called boom.

If this so-called increase for 21 year-olds and over is not a disgrace enough, the rate for young workers, - 18 to 20 year olds and 16 to 17 year olds will only rise by 1.2% and 1.1% respectively. For many all capitalism can offer is legalised poverty, where young workers are valued less and exploited more than older workers.

If Barber and most of the other trade union leaders won't lead the fightback against the Con-Dems or any other government that seeks to place the burden of the crisis of capitalism on our shoulders, then they should stand aside for those who will.

The Socialist Party fights for a minimum wage of £8 per hour for all.
We feel a fair days work should be equalled with a fair days pay no if's and no buts. Employees should think more of their workers rights than their profits. Onlya change in society will bring this fully into line i believe.

The money is certainly available in society, but it's by only working people getting organised and fighting for a socialist society, that we will be able to meet our needs and redistribute the wealth of society in a planned and democratic way.

NOT ONLY do Britain's employers and government want us to work for longer years for smaller pensions. They also want us to work more hours a week - and they'd rather we toiled unpaid too!

Employees in Britain work the longest hours in western Europe but a TUC survey shows that millions of workers do £23 billion worth of unpaid overtime a year. They regularly put in extra hours - averaging about two months a year - without getting paid a penny for it.

The worker pressed into unpaid overtime would receive an extra £4,650 if he or she got paid at the proper rate. The total shortfall adds up to £23 billion.

Teachers and lecturers get the worst deal, doing on average 11 hours and 36 minutes unpaid overtime a week - and that could be a huge under-estimate. Lecturers' union NATFHE calculates that their members are underpaid by £215 a week for their overtime.