We meet on the first Tuesday of every month at 6 pm in the upstairs room at the Working Men's Club, 6-10 Orchard Street, Weston super Mare, BS23 1RQ.

2015 meeting dates: 3rd March, 7th April, 5th May, 2nd June, 7th July, 4th August, 1st September, 6th October, 3rd November, and 1st December.

Tuesday 20 November 2012

Justice not for Sale - Stop the Privatisation of Criminal Court Enforcement

Demonstration at North Somerset Courthouse Queensway, Worle WSM BS22 7BB

30th November from 1 to 2 pm

  • Stop the privatisation of the Ministry of Justice Post and Stationary Services
  • Defend the civil service status, terms and conditions of staff
  • Keep private companies out of the justice system
 
Follow this link to the PCS MoJ group website to email your MP asking they support Early Day Motion 73 opposing privatisation in the justice sector.
 

Thursday 15 November 2012

WE ARE ONE NHS - Oppose the South West Pay Cartel - 1st December, Bristol

Join the protest on Saturday 1st December from 11am.

Assemble College Green for March through Bristol starting at 11.30am.

20 bosses from 20 Trusts (including Weston General Hospital, University Hospitals Bristol and North Bristol Trust) seem to think that NHS healthworkers in the South West are worth less than health workers in the rest of England – they’ve forked out £10,000 each in public funds to look at ways of driving down their pay and terms and conditions by ditching the national pay agreement.

Local pay will splinter the NHS, hit the quality of patient care and ease the way for privatisation

KEEP THE ‘N’ IN THE NHS!

Sign and share the national petition to stop the South West Pay Cartel: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/36063

Joint NHS union protest for all who support a National Health Service.

For more information: 079 89 105 449

Download and distribute the flyer

Saturday 22 September 2012

The Alternative to Cuts - Public Meeting 19th September

About 50 people attended our Public Meeting at the Winter Gardens in Weston super Mare on 19th September. Guest speakers included:

Lisa Youlton, UNISON South West Regional Manager, who spoke about the joint union campaign against the South West Pay Cartel, which aims to reduce the wages of NHS staff by about 15%. She asked the audience to sign the petition against  regional pay - here's the link: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/36063

Michael Wright from Youth Fight for Jobs told the audience about their manifesto's 5 key aims: to scrap workfare schemes, to bring back the EMA, to scrap tuition fees, to re-open youth serviecs and to invest in socially useful jobs and training. More information at this link: http://www.youthfightforjobs.com

Gwyneth Powell-Davies from UNITE spoke about the dangers of NHS privatisation, with massive global health care companies circling like vultures, since the Health and Social Care Act, which despite what David Cameron has said is the biggest top down re-organisation of the NHS ever.

North Somerset councillor Donald Davies spoke about the disproportionate impact of the cuts on benefit claimants, young people, women and immigrants. He also expressed concerns that the media in general (with a few exceptions like Owen Jones) seem to think there is nothing wrong with what the Tories are doing. Councillor Davies proposed that Council Tax could become a fairer tax if more bands were created at the top, and the ratio between the lowest band and the highest band was closer to current pay ratios.

Members of the audience spoke about the impact of the cuts on older people, and also expressed the view that we all need to stand together against the cuts, and that trade unions must further build their strength and also work with other groups and individuals.

Thursday 9 August 2012

The Coalition isn't Working - Public Meeting - Weston super Mare

THE COALITION ISN'T WORKING


 

 

 

 

THE ALTERNATIVE TO THE CUTS

Public Meeting on 19th September at 7 pm

Winter Gardens, Royal Parade, Weston super Mare, BS23 1AJ

Speakers on the NHS, South West Pay Cartel, Transport and Youth Services

Brendan Kelly, RMT
Gwyneth Powell-Davies, UNITE
Michael Wright, Youth Fight for Jobs
Lisa Youlton, UNISON

Monday 21 May 2012

'A Future That Works' - mass TUC demonstration in London on 20 October

The TUC is to organise a mass demonstration in London under the banner of 'A Future That Works' on Saturday 20 October 2012. A march through central London will culminate in a rally in Hyde Park.

On March 26 2011 the TUC's March for the Alternative attracted 500,000 people to a march and rally in London.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: 'The tide is turning against austerity. We were told that spending cuts were needed to get the economy growing, yet they have driven the UK back into recession. We were told that we were all in it together, yet Mr Cameron's main purpose at the G8 summit seemed to be protecting the banks against the growing international support for a Robin Hood tax - and the last Budget's centrepiece was cutting the 50p tax rate.

'It is becoming ever clearer that this government does not have the policies - or even much of a commitment - to build a prosperous economy that can generate the jobs and industries we need for the future.

'Rather than bold policies for investment and growth, the best that ministers can do is half-baked proposals to make it easier to sack people.

'That is why we expect a huge turnout from the growing numbers that want a future that works. With the USA and France now setting out the alternative, it's time the UK also changed course.'

Monday 7 May 2012

10th May Strike over Cuts to Public Sector Pensions

On May 10th, trades unions representing tens of thousands of workers in the public sector joined the latest strike over cuts to public sector pensions. PCS, Unite & UCU members took industrial action.

The following article by James Franklin appeared in the Weston Mercury:






















PUBLIC sector workers in Weston joined thousands of their colleagues from across the country in taking strike action last week.

Members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) from the town Job Centre formed picket lines on High Street on May 10 as part of a nationwide 24-hour strike.

The strike was called after a dispute between the Government and unions over pension changes.

Monday 30 April 2012

Secretary of Weston & North Somerset TUC elected Chair of South West TUC

Our Secretary Richard Capps was elected as Chair of South West TUC at its annual conference in Croyde Bay at the weekend. Dave Chapple from Bridgwater TUC was elected Vice Chair. Congratulations to the both of them.

Wednesday 22 February 2012

Demonstration at Council Meeting where Youth Services are cut



Members of Weston and North Somerset Trades Union Council and young people from youth clubs across North Somerset demonstrated at tonight's council meeting against massive cuts to services, including the complete removal of the youth service.

There were 6 public speakers, 4 of whom spoke for Youth Services including Richard Capps, Secretary of Weston and North Somerset Trades Union Council, Monica Stanley from UNITE, and Helen Thornton from UNISON.

The council had one of the longest debates ever in a budget meeting, but despite an amendment put forward by Green, Labour, and Liberal Democrat councillors to save Youth Services, the massive Conservative majority voted against the amendment and by doing so have completely removed the professional youth service from North Somerset as of 1st April 2012.

Opposition councillors accused the Tories of not caring about young people. They also accused them of not listening to young people, especially as this was the 3rd protest by young people at a council meeting, and Mike Bell presented UNITE's petition with 3261 signatures against the closure of youth services.

Our Secretary spoke on the BBC local news coverage (12 minutes, 31 seconds in) - here's the link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01cbms7/BBC_Points_West_21_02_2012/

Here's the link to the ITV local news coverage: http://www.itv.com/westcountry-east/