RECLAIM THE UNION

CALLING ALL UNISON

LOCAL GOVERNMENT
ACTIVISTS
NATIONAL MEETING OF
RECLAIM THE UNION
TO DISCUSS:
2-4 PM
SATURDAY 08
NOVEMBER
BIRKBECK UNIVERSITY
ROOM B04
43 GORDON SQUARE
WC1H 0PD
ORGANISING
FOR A REAL
PAYRISE &
A
FIGHTING
LEADERSHIP
RECLAIM THE UNION
At the end of October we saw the willingness of public sector
workers to fght TO break the government stranglehold over
our ever falling living standards. This week alone nearly 1m
public sector worker in NHS and the civil service have taken
strike action including 400,0000 of our own members
However many unison members are asking, why arent we
all striking together? What happened to the 750,000 union
members in local government who were supposed to be on
strike this Tuesday and many are asking why was the strike
called off just days before it was to take place?
The reality is the strike was called off NOT because we have
won a major new offer above the miserly 1% we were previ-
ously offered, in fact we havent even been given a new offer
at all, its only a proposal that the employers side havent
even agreed to yet.
Its a proposal that the employers are boasting to their side
that it will cost them less than the original 1% offer for 2014.
If the proposal was so good that we they call off the strike,
why then cant the union leadership bring themselves to
recommend voting for it?
If the deal is not good enough to recommend a yes vote for
then it was not good enough to call the strike off for.
The events over the last week or so are extremely worrying
for democracy in our union. Our members rejected the 1%
offer lost pay to take strike action in July to win a decent pay
rise. For weeks now activists have been working to build for
the strike on October 14
th
and when this new so called offer
was made to our democratically elected leadership (NJC)
they rightly threw it out and said the strike was still on.
However within days of that decision it appears that the full
time machine in the union went into over drive to get the
vote over turned to call the strike off.
Many will ask why did the General Secretary Dave Prentis
who is not a member of the NJC turn up to the meeting and
put pressure on them to call off the action and to persuade
them not to call for a reject vote.
Was it because Dave Prentis got a letter from the Labour
Party Leader of the Local Government Association demand-
ing that the strike to be called off and for the leadership to
tell its members that the proposal was a signifcant im-
provement and demand that there is no recommendation
to reject the pay offer from the union.
When our general secretary went into the meeting of the
union national committee whose bidding was he doing ours
or the Labour parties?
ITS TIME OUR LEADERSHIP DEFENDED THE MEMBER FIRST
AND NOT THE LABOUR PARTY
ITS CLEAR OUR LEADERS ARE NOT WILLING TO FIGHT SO
ITS TIME FOR THEM TO GO
1. Get your branch to recommend rejection of the offer
to members and produce material calling for this
and to reinstate the strike action.
2. Call for your Regional Local Government Committee
to meet urgently and recommend rejection of the
offer.
3. If the union refuses to call a meeting, organise a
meeting of activists to campaign for a rejection of
the offer. Contact us if you need assistance in this.
4. Support Manchester LG branch demand for a
special Local Government Service Group
conference.
REJECT THE EMPLOYERS INDECENT PROPOSALS
WE WANT A 1HR MORE NOT PENNIES
STRIKE TOGETHER TO WIN A FAIR DEAL