Come to the NSSn annual conference 29th june 2013

National Shop Stewards Network conference 29 June: Unite to fight all the cuts The National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) has its seventh annual conference on 29 June. It will bring together trade unionists and anti-cuts campaigners in an important forum to discuss and plan for anti-cuts action over the coming months. Crucially, activists campaigning against the bedroom tax will be joining fighting trade unionists in the debates and discussions. Katrine Williams, president of Cardiff Trades Council and Wales chair for the PCS civil service union, and, Tommy Sheridan, Scottish Anti-Bedroom Tax Federation chair, explain why they will be at the NSSN conference. NSSN lobby of the TUC congress in Brighton 2012, photo Socialist Party (Click to enlarge) Katrine: "I have been involved in the NSSN since it was initiated by the RMT transport union seven years ago. It has proved an invaluable network over these years to get union reps together to discuss tactics on how to mobilise to defeat the cuts and attacks on our living standards. In the PCS we are struggling to make ends meet. It is our seventh year in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) without an inflation-proofed pay rise, yet big business thinks it is fine to avoid, evade and not pay £120 billion in tax every year. But this is provoking mass anger. When a lead is given, workers show they are willing to fight. PCS joint action across DWP and HMRC is getting widespread support with our demand to close the tax gap so that we can fund a fair welfare system to meet the needs of all. The NSSN is playing a key role in promoting the idea that those unions with strike mandates work together to coordinate our action. This would be the starting point for coordination - cuts in pay, pensions and jobs, as well as privatisation mean every union has a potential trade dispute. The NSSN campaigned and lobbied the TUC congress in 2012 to call a 24-hour general strike and the TUC voted overwhelmingly to consider the practicalities of such a strike. The NSSN conference this year is at a key time when we can discuss how we can build momentum for such action across the whole of the trade union movement in the public and private sectors. Our members in PCS are keen to campaign and strike with other trade unions to maximise the effectiveness of our action. The NSSN conference will be a great opportunity for union reps to discuss this and keep the pressure on to ensure that the trade union leadership moves on from just exploring the practicalities of organising a general strike and gets on with naming the day for a 24-hour general strike." Tommy: "The anti-bedroom tax campaign in Scotland is based in local communities. We are determined not only to oppose the tax but organise physical resistance to bedroom tax evictions. Our Scottish Anti-Bedroom Tax Federation seeks to bring all the grassroots campaigns together, organised under one umbrella. It makes grassroots action easier to organise and coordinate. Just like the NSSN, without local activists, groups and the promotion of grassroots activity we would be ineffective. That's what makes the NSSN so important." The 7th annual conference of the NSSN will take place on 29 June, 11am - 5pm in the Camden Centre, Judd Street, London WC1H 9JE The NSSN was initiated by the RMT transport union in 2006. Seven national unions - RMT, PCS, CWU, NUM, POA, NUJ, and BFAWU - are either affiliated to the NSSN or officially support it as well as many union branches, shop stewards' committees and trades councils. The conference will include main sessions on resisting the cuts but also workshops on defending the NHS, organising in the workplace, housing, organising the unorganised, fighting blacklisting etc. It's open to everyone in the trade unions and community campaigners. Speakers include union general secretaries: Mark Serwotka, PCS, Billy Hayes, CWU and Steve Gillan, POA and Tommy Sheridan, Scottish Anti-Bedroom Tax Federation chair For more information contact: info@shopstewards.net or send your fee of £6 per person to: PO Box 54498, London E10 9DE. www.shopstewards.net

The inspiration of Tommy Sheridan

I know as a Marxist I am not supposed to focus on the individual in history and see things in a class analysis but Tommy is a big inspiration to me coming into the movement. Tommy Sheridan a prominent Scottish Socialist has dedicated his life to fighting oppression and exploitation wherever it has emerged. A huge character on the left in British politics Tommy has inspired many to search inside themselves for that collective strength and bond that all humans feel but yet is beaten out of them by this rotten capitalist system. Tommy holds up the traditions of democratic socialism and despite what certain people may say about him about his exploits with the Scottish Socialist Party and his court cases with the Murdoch press I’ve looked past that and seen a genuine working class fighter prepared to sacrifice his own standing in society for the benefit of others. Just take the other weekend a demonstration in Glasgow against the bedroom tax which Tommy and other socialists have played a big part in building made a fantastic speech where Tommy stated quite clearly in everyday language that everyone could understand why we must oppose this rotten tax and the government at large. Tommy although not directly affected by this vicious attack on the working class and the poor offered his full and utmost solidarity with all those fighting the tax and even though not directly affected pledged to stand by any of those who wished to fight this brutal tax to the very end including fighting evictions. But Tommy a life long class fighter has fought battle after battle on behalf of the working class. He has bravely taken on the News of the World and Rupert Murdoch and is gradually trying to clear his name in the face of huge media lies and former comrades lies about him The News of the World attacked Tommy on the smallest of basis’s and looked to destroy his and the Scottish left for many years and in many ways they did but Tommy Sheridan is made of stronger stuff than that and is fighting back the only way he can and that is through class struggle and supporting working class struggles. Throughout his court case of purgery back in the later part of the last decade against news international was seen as payback for Tommy Sheridan’s leading role during the mass anti-poll tax movement in the late 80’s and early ‘90’s. A mass movement of ordinary working class men and women that cost the then prime minster, Margaret Thatcher, her job. Tommy Sheridan rubbed salt into the gaping wounds of the political and legal elite by being elected from his prison cell in Saughton Prison to Glasgow City Council in 1992. It’s also payback for being a thorn in the side of the establishment as a socialist MSP in the Scottish parliament for 10 years - when he lived as a workers’ MSP on a workers wage. But above the ruling class wanted to inflict a defeat on Tommy Sheridan in order to send out a warning to every worker, every trade unionist and every socialist - don’t stand up and fight. Accept the onslaught of cuts and attacks while the millionaires and billionaires walk away without a scratch from an economic crisis they created. Thankfully this has not been the case and Tommy is now out of jail and fighting fit and fighting the good fight once again. Tommy Sheridan was a leader of the anti-poll tax movement that was central to organising the mass non-payment campaign that defeated the Tory government in the early 1990s and in the process ended the career of Margaret Thatcher. He served a four-month jail sentence during that campaign as a result of his leadership of it, and he was elected from his prison cell to Glasgow city council in 1992. Tommy was elected as a socialist living on the average wage of a worker to the Scottish parliament in 1999. It was this that made him the target of the Murdoch media empire whose stable of papers include the Sun and News of the World, papers with a long record of attacking workers, trade unionists, asylum seekers and socialists. The vendetta against Tommy Sheridan is part of a campaign to destroy any opposition to the billionaires and the capitalist system. Tommy Sheridan continues to inspire many people to socialist ideas like myself and will continue to do so. We need figures like Tommy to bring ordinary people towards the ideas of socialism and eventually Marxism as a step towards changing society. I am a big supporter of Tommy and his speech’s inspire me hugely he and others like him give me confidence that we can struggle and even if we are in small numbers at times our ideas will catch a echo with the mass’s of workers at a given time in history and we as socialists are on the right side of history.

Kill the bedroom tax , defend all at risk, cant pay wont pay !

As we edge towards April when the much disputed bedroom tax will come into force protests are growing by the week with many protests happening in towns and cities up and down the land. I would like to add that many of these protests were hijacked by the labour party to sit itself as against this tax despite being for a similar tax in 2008 in fact. Could this be what tuition fees were to the lib dems for labour? Time will tell of course. David Cameron and his multi-millionaire family have four homes, mansions in reality. Tory welfare minister David Freud, who is bringing in this law, owns an eight-bedroom mansion and a £1.9 million London home. These well-housed millionaires want council house and housing association tenants to lose 14% of their housing benefit if they're deemed to have one spare room, 25% if they have two. There are things councils can do. There's a huge pot of money from the sale of council houses. Ring-fenced, because of legislation brought in by Margaret Thatcher and not repealed during three terms of a Labour government. And nationalising the banking system under democratic workers' control would free up more resources. This will hit 660,000 households including many disabled people and low-paid workers. Tenants are faced with an impossible choice of moving from their family homes or being left with a much smaller income. This situation will only get worse in October when benefit caps are introduced under 'universal credit'. In Scotland working class people are already getting organised On 13 March over 100 people packed into a Glasgow public meeting to build for the 30 March demonstration against the hated bedroom tax. The meeting, bringing together people from across the West of Scotland, agreed to launch a West Scotland Federation of Anti -Bedroom Tax campaigns. Well-known socialist campaigner Tommy Sheridan gave a rousing accounts of his experience of how millions of working class people "melted the iron lady", Margaret Thatcher, by defeating the poll tax through mass non-payment. The lessons of that struggle, Tommy said, can play a vital role in mobilising resistance, and winning the struggle against the bedroom tax today. Socialist Party member and Unison activist Nicola Crawford outlined her experience of building a campaign in Shawlands and Pollokshaws in Glasgow. After a successful public meeting, street meetings of tenants increased the spread of the campaign and gave confidence to more benefit claimants to get involved. Nicola called for a national campaign to build mass resistance to evictions and raised the demand for a council house-building programme. The meeting agreed a resolution calling for the scrapping of the bedroom tax and for a massive programme of council house-building to provide affordable homes for all. The campaign's demands include: • Scrap the bedroom tax • Support those who cannot and will not pay this austerity tax • No evictions for rent arrears. Build an army of anti-eviction campaigners to stop evictions • Councils should rule out eviction for bedroom tax and fight the cuts • Write off all debt due to the bedroom tax. Demand compensation to councils and housing associations as part of a mass campaign to win back the money stolen from public services by the Con-Dems • For a major programme of council house-building to provide affordable homes for all The pressure being put on the government and local councils is starting to tell we may have to prepare ourselves to defend those being evicted from their homes at this point labour party members and officials will leave the campaign and stick to empty rhetoric. They could pledge to reverse this tax if elected yet no such pledge looks likely. So it’s left to us the organised labour movement and the socialists to get organised and raise the ideas of mass resistance. It will be tricky as those affected are more in some areas than others no doubt quite deliberately thought out by the Tories but we must link up where a common issue arrises. This can be defeated and we must link it to the need to fight all cuts and raise the need for a working class political alternative which could mean supporting or standing for TUSC this may in the local county council elections TUSC is looking to contest.

The scandal of blacklisting Trade union response needed

Blacklisting has been going on for year’s workers have found them unable to gain work and haven’t been able to understand the reasons why. This has often happened to trade unionists who have highlighted health and safety concerns and became a thorn in the side of the boss’s but it has also happened to MP’s and MSP’s with Tommy Sheridan admitting that he felt he’d been blacklisted for fighting for workers rights in the past. This is a national disgrace and the TUC must take this up as a major campaign. National Shop Stewards Network chair, Rob Williams, recently interviewed Dave Smith, a blacklisted construction worker. At last there has been publicity about the disgraceful blacklisting of workers, largely because Ian Kerr of the Consulting Association (CA) had to go in front of the Scottish Affairs Select Committee which is investigating these anti-union practices. Dave explains the significance of these new revelations. What was the CA and how did the big companies use it to victimise union reps and activists? The CA ran the blacklist for the 44 largest construction firms in the UK. It held a database of over 3,200 union members. The senior HR managers supplied information on workers – including work history and union activity. What has been the effect on the lives of blacklisted workers? The firms paid for access to the database. They checked the names of workers applying for work. If a name came up the worker was refused a job or sacked. Union activists were out of work for years. Some lost their homes. Two blacklisted workers from the Jubilee Line project in London have committed suicide. After Kerr’s testimony, what should happen? GMB union general secretary Paul Kenny has written to every Labour councillor in the UK arguing that no blacklisting firm should be allowed to tender for publicly funded projects. In September, 28 workers on the Crossrail project were sacked. The shop steward, Frank Morris has been protesting daily. Crossrail and the contracting consortium Bam Ferrovial Kier deny wrongdoing. Does this show that blacklisting and victimisation is still going on? Blacklisting is definitely still going on. Ian Kerr admitted that there was an awful lot of discussion at blacklisting meetings about the Crossrail project. He also admitted there was lots of blacklisting on the Olympics. We have known it for years – Frank Morris is the latest. The Sparks’ defeat of the Besna contract showed how workers can fight back and win. Two union reps at Ratcliffe and Grangemouth were suspended but through action and pressure by their members, both were reinstated. What does this show? Blacklisting takes place across every sector of the economy; it is part of the struggle between capital and labour – and is not likely to go away. But we will fight for justice in every way – in the courts, in legislation, in the press – but most importantly industrially. The Besna and Crossrail dispute put blacklisting centre stage – thousands of flyers have gone into building sites. Thousands of building workers have responded by taking industrial action to defend our reps. It was interfering with production that won successes, not reliance on employment tribunals. This is not about one or two people but a collective struggle based initially among blacklisted workers. We try to draw in support from the unions, lawyers, academics, politicians, Occupy and human rights activists. Our small fight is part of a bigger struggle to change the world. The NSSN is playing an ongoing part of the campaign against blacklisting. More info on disputes and updates on fighting against blacklisting you can read at www.shopstewards.net Aswell as the baclisting support group which is on facebook too.

Andy Coulson arrested and charged, time for Tommy Sheridan’s conviction to be quashed

With the excellent news of Andy Coulson being arrested and charged on suspicion of purgery during the former Scottish socialist party leader Tommy Sheridan’s trial.
Prime Minister David Cameron's former director of communications Andy Coulson has been arrested by police and charged with perjury.
Mr Coulson, 44, has now been released, after being detained at his London home at 06:30 BST by Strathclyde Police.
He arrived at a police station in Glasgow shortly before 15:30 BST.
Mr Coulson was formally arrested on Wednesday evening as part of an investigation into evidence at the trial of former MSP Tommy Sheridan.
He left the police station at 21.30 BST on Wednesday evening.
A Crown Office spokesman said there was no legal obligation for Coulson to stay in Scotland, and he was free to return to his home in London.
The spokesman said no date had been set for any court appearance.
Earlier, a police spokeswoman said: "Officers from Strathclyde Police's Operation Rubicon team detained a 44-year-old man in London this morning under section 14 of the Criminal Procedure Scotland Act 1995 on suspicion of committing perjury before the High Court in Glasgow."
Mr Coulson gave evidence at the perjury trial of former Scottish Socialist MSP Tommy Sheridan in 2010.
Mr Coulson was called to give evidence at Sheridan's trial as he was editor of the News of the World between 2003 and 2007.

This was posted earlier from the defend Tommy Sheridan campaign
The Defend Tommy Sheridan Campaign is delighted at the arrest of Andy Coulson in London today, for committing perjury in the High Court in Glasgow during the trial of Tommy & Gail Sheridan in 2010.

This is a hugely significant development, given that it comes after an exhaustive investigation by Officers of Strathclyde Police’s ‘Operation Rubicon’.

Mr Sheridan has been regularly briefed by Strathclyde Police Officers over the past 10 months, as the primary complainant in Operation Rubicon, which was instigated after a dossier of evidence, was furnished to them in July 2011, by his then solicitor Aamer A war and Tom Watson MP.

Throughout his trial, Mr Sheridan consistently argued that he was being hacked by the News of the World and that senior executives at News International were conspiring against him. This was denied by Andy Coulson.

It now appears that Strathclyde Police have evidence that lead them to believe him to be lying.

Fiona MacDonald, Secretary of the Defend Tommy Sheridan Campaign said: “It now appears that Mr Coulson’s evidence was nothing but bare-faced lies. Tommy, his family, his friends and his supporters have consistently said that this was the case. Mr Coulson’s arrest has vindicated all of us. We look forward now to seeing justice prevail and for Tommy’s conviction to be overturned.

Ken Ross, Chair of the Defend Tommy Sheridan Campaign said: “The offence of perjury has a very high bar. To be charged with this offence means that the lies told under oath must be seen as being pertinent to the outcome of the case. Given that Strathclyde Police appear now to have taken this view, by the sheer fact that they have arrested Mr Coulson for Perjury, this must surely mean that Tommy now has substantial grounds to appeal his conviction.

“Mr Coulson and his colleagues have wrecked peoples’ lives for years. The net is now closing in on them. We await with relish his conviction and that of others at News International.

**ENDS**

Murdoch, the real capitalist media barron

As the Murdoch empire lurch's from one crisis to the next Rupert Murdoch and his cronies invlved at the top of news corp and news international have not learnt their lessons and continue to plague ordinary working people.


The fall-out from the Murdochgate scandal has continued following the arrests of ten top editors and journalists who currently work for or have worked for the Sun newspaper.

These arrests are part of the police investigation "Elveden" into suspected bribery and corruption of police officers. It will come as no surprise to anyone aware of the methods of News International that journalists routinely paid police officers for information. Bribing a public official is a criminal offence, but that never stopped the Sun or the News of the World in the past.

Trevor Kavanagh, the associate editor of the Sun has claimed there is a witch-hunt against the paper and News International. He blames elements of News Corp, who owns News International, for handing over a portion of the 300 million internal company emails to the police that led to the arrests.

There is growing evidence that some within News Corp, who are involved in a power battle with Rupert Murdoch, are looking to get rid of large parts, if not all of the toxic News International.

Kavanagh complained that Sun employees had been subject to dawn raids by up to 20 police officers who went through children's clothes drawers looking for evidence. No doubt the Met police, who lost a police commissioner and deputy commissioner already due to the scandal, are trying to prove their independence from the Murdoch Empire.

However, Kavanagh was not so forthcoming in his criticisms of police methods when socialist Tommy Sheridan was the subject of a widely condemned police and state vendetta. This included having his home raided and young child traumatised. He was arrested outside his place of work and faced years of persecution, not least by the Scottish Sun and the now defunct News of the World, who he defeated in a defamation case in 2006.


The Socialist party continues to call for a genuine democratic public inquiry, involving representatives of the trade union and labour movement, into the actions of the Murdoch empire. This must include the handing over of all documents, emails and other information to allow a full expose of the relationship between News International, the police and the political establishment.



There is no doubt the political elite, the metropolitan police and our cosy media barrons have got far to close in recent years. This is no surprise to me as as a socialsit it is clear to me that the capitalist currently own all of the media, control and influence the police and have a strangelhold over all 3 major political parties. This is no coincidence that Murdochgate flared up to me as there was always dodgy going's on in the media world and the political elite including Tony Blair who chased after Rupert Murdoch for years practically begging him to support his party in their rise to power in the late 90's.

The hypocrisy of Ed Milibanda nd the Labour party to now try to distance themselves from the Murdochs is frankly sickening considering the sucking up they did in their time in government and after. Even untill recently Ed Miliband met with senior representitives of News international. He only opposed and jumped on the phone hacking scandel bandwagon when there was public support for it. Not before. Confirming my thought that the political elite media and police are all in it together with eachother covering eachothers backs whenever there is the need.

It is simply the capitalist world playing its hand.