King George Hospital - celebrating one victory, preparing some more!

5 December 2017, King George hospital, Ilford; Trades unionists, local councillors and other campaigners celebrate the announcement that there will be a review into the decision to close Accident and Emergency department at the hospital.

East London trades unionists' call to organise:

To all Trades Union Councils covered by the North East London Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) that is: Barking & Dagenham; City of London Corporation; Hackney; Havering; Newham; Redbridge; Tower Hamlets; Waltham Forest  

Earlier this year we saw a step change in the co-operation between boroughs and the trade unions within them to protect our NHS. The campaign by some councillors and NHS campaigners in the borough of Redbridge, who had long fought for the retention of Accident and Emergency services at King George’s Hospital, became a wider movement. It was the actions of activists in the Trade Union Councils of Barking & Dagenham and Havering, Newham, Redbridge and Waltham Forest and others that stung the other councils into action. These councils have now woken up to the fact that the closure of a hospital outside their borough would have a detrimental effect on the performance of the hospitals within their borough and that their constituents actually crossed borough boundaries for their health support.

   The Greater London Association of Trades Union Councils had a supporting role in this and wants to continue to do so. To this end GLATUC has organised a meeting at Barking Town Hall IG11 7LU, Committee Room 1 on THURSDAY 18^th January 2018 from 5pm to 7pm to which you are all welcome. That is representatives from all your affiliate Branches not just the officers of the trades council. We hope to discuss in an open forum ways in which we can work together in the future not only in supporting our NHS but in all areas where our members have a common interest.

   If there are any particular topics of interest that you would want to discuss, maybe the effects of Crossrail, how to get affiliations from local branches, closer links with the labour Party or Momentum let us know and if appropriate we may be able to organise guest speakers. We will be providing light refreshments so please RSVP so that we can get the catering right, please indicate if you are vegetarian, vegan or have any allergies or dietary requirements we should know about.

 

Regards

 

Mick Houghton Secretary

07427 151 411

Susan Aitouaziz President

s.aitouaziz@hotmail.co.uk

Support PCS members at Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency

Strike action disrupts new driving tests   

Members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) in the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) will take 48 hour strike action on Monday 4th December ending at Midnight on the 5th December. This adds to the action short of a strike which began last week (23rd) in a dispute over the new driving test and also working patterns.

This action has already led to hundreds of tests being cancelled in the first week of the action.

In a perverse move DVSA has withdrawn overtime from striking workers and also imposed leave schedules meaning that an even greater backlog of thousands of tests is inevitable due to the imposed reductions in service. 

A ballot in October saw an 84% vote for strike action on a 70% turnout.

The strike action across the DVSA which begins on the 4th December will see up to 14,000 driving tests cancelled on the day the new driving test is launched.  

Other effects of the action include reduced roadside checks on vehicles, reduced enforcement checks on lorries and other vehicles coming into the U.K and a significant reduction of tachograph testing. 

PCS General Secretary Mark Serwotka commented

“PCS members in the DVSA have tried to negotiate around their concerns but the door has been slammed shut in their face. They now feel they have no alternative but to take industrial action to bring home to the public how damaging the DVSA proposals are. No one takes strike action lightly and we acknowledge the disruption to the driving tests for learner drivers keen to pass their test but the Government could avoid this strike even now at the 11th hour by agreeing to serious talks and withdrawing their most damaging proposals. I have today written to the Transport Minister Chris Grayling urging him to intervene.”

Other picket lines in the SERTUC region can be found here https://www.pcs.org.uk/campaigns/pcs-fighting-attacks-on-staff-in-dvsa/support-pcs-dvsa-picket-lines

The PCS letter to Chris Grayling is available here https://www.pcs.org.uk/sites/default/files/site_assets/campaigns/2017/Letter%20to%20Chris%20Grayling%20MP%2030%20november.pdf

Follow PCS on Twitter @pcs_union

Many thanks

Sharon Leslie

PCS London & SE Regional Secretary

Campaigns & Equality Department

160 Falcon Road

London SW11 2LN

Tel: 020 7924 2727 ext. 2138

Redbridge vs War / CND public meeting 22 November 2017

Young Teachers Event 2017