GMB National Officer Sharon Holder responded to the establishment of the government’s Commission on the Funding of Care and Support. GMB published its GMB Care Charter for the Elderly (see notes below)

Referring to the terms of reference of the Commission, relating to how best to meet care and support costs as a partnership between individuals and the state, Sharon Holder said, ‘It has long been GMB policy that funding for social care should be paid for through general taxation. Throughout their working lives, individuals are contributing funds through their taxes to help pay for care when they need it. This need could arise through a disability during working age or during retirement at the end. This is their contribution to the partnership, through being taxed on their income.

By funding care and support through general taxation, it also addresses some of the existing inequalities in income. Those earning more should pay more tax, and contribute more towards an overall social care fund. It also protects individuals from having to use their assets to pay for the cost of care. This matches the principles of the National Health Service, by providing universal care according to need and free at the point of delivery.’

Some 200 members of the union packed into a Westminster meeting room to hear David Miliband, Ed Miliband, Ed Balls, Andy Burnham and Diane Abbott spell out their hopes and aspirations for the party and the country.

After introductory statements by the five, the audience were invited to quiz the quintet, putting our would-be leaders on the spot over the economy, revitalising Labour and preserving our links, universal broadband, trade union law and Royal Mail.

And the Royal Mail question produced complete unanimity, each candidate, in turn, unhesitatingly answering: "Yes" to CWU Southeast Wales Amal Branch secretary Amarjite Singh's challenge on whether voting against this measure would be mandatory - a "three-line whip" - for all Labour MPs. "Yes," said David Miliband, "It's a manifesto commitment and transformation is happening."

"Yes," replied Diane Abbott. "Privatisation only makes a profit by bearing down on wages and conditions."

"Yes certainly," was Ed Balls's response, "and we also need to support the modernisation work the union's leading on."

"Yes, you've shown with the modernisation agreement you can work with Royal Mail to bring in modernisation," Ed Miliband argued and Andy Burnham told Amarjite that "you're on a full house here" before adding his own "Yes."

After praising the modernisation agreement that the union and Royal Mail have entered into, the former health secretary recalled, from his own experiences at the NHS, that comprehensive new agreements of this type need time to settle in and that privatisation could only be a disruptive factor.

"You've got to give people some stability," Andy Burnham insisted.

Responding to Birmingham Branch secretary Brendan O'Brien's question on the need for universal broadband, David Miliband described public access to high-speed connection as "infrastructure that's as important as our rail network.

"It's universality that's going to drive the economy and jobs growth," he added, insisting that there was a key role here for public funding and a private-sector levy.

And the other panellists agreed, Ed Balls pointing out that the nation could not simply rely on the private sector to deliver this. "We need the public sector and regulation," he argued, while Mr Burnham said that today's call for universal high-speed broadband access was "absolutely in the same tradition as the postal and public telephone universal service" that governments of previous generations established.

There was just enough time left for a final question from CWU North East Region secretary Paul Clays on whether former government minister turned celebrity diarist Peter Mandelson should join the shadow cabinet. This sparked another outbreak of unanimity among the five, none of whom showed any enthusiasm for the so-called "Prince of Darkness." Andy Burnham perhaps summed up the mood of the candidates when he joked: "I'm not sure I'd even let him read to my children!"

And Ed Balls added: "You can either be a serious politician or you can write your memoirs and he's chosen to publish his memoirs."

Closing the event, CWU general secretary Billy Hayes thanked all of the candidates for attending and told them: "Given the comments today I think you should all be running the country! Today has been a great opportunity for CWU to hear your policies on the areas that matter to our members and we wish you all well in your campaigns."

Billy pointed out that, in the vote for the Labour Party deputy leadership in 2007, the CWU had returned the highest turnout among the trade union movement and he urged eligible CWU members to make sure they vote this time and raise the turnout even higher.

Called 'Your Freedom’ the new website allows people to suggest, comment and vote on laws and regulations they would like to see abolished.

Over 2,000 ideas have been suggested so far, generating over 7,000 comments and 18,000 votes on whether the suggestions are a good idea or not.

Usdaw members will be interested to know that there have already been several suggestions to abolish laws relating to workers rights, Sunday trading, age related sales and much more.

Although the government has said they will not be 'duty bound' to act on popular suggestions, they have said all ideas will be considered.

You will need to register on the 'Your Freedom’ website before contributing but this is quick and easy and you only need to give an email address and the first part of your postcode.

Once on the site you can also use the search facility to look for the suggestions you are interested in.

If you want to have your say then visit the 'Your Freedom’ website now.

A letter from local people attending the annual Durham Miners' Gala told the prime minister that there were alternatives, such as cutting bankers' bonuses and introducing a Robin Hood tax, scrapping private profiteers and keeping service in-house.

UNISON's northern regional convenor Clare Williams blew apart the casual assumptions of Mr Cameron and his coalition partner Nick Clegg about the regional economy.

"The north has lost its manufacturing and mines. There are higher public service needs and a higher rate of child poverty than the national average. Up-to-date estimates suggest that a third of private sector jobs here depend on the public sector."

And she pointed out that the recent cancellation of the North Tees-Hartlepool Hospital is not just a public sector cut back, but it will also have a major knock-on effect on the private sector employers.

The council have informed trade unions of there intention to remove allowances from pay which are part of a national agreement resulting in cuts of pay of up to 1/3 for some of the lowest paid employees of the council.

Roger Jenkins, GMB Regional Organiser said: “Birmingham CityCouncil has entered into 90 days consultation with unions even though the council cabinet has already made the decision to significantly cut the pay for the majority of its employees.

GMB members have already been told by the government that they must endure a pay freeze this year and now on top of this Birmingham City Council have informed them they will receive a pay cut of up to a 1/3 of their salary.

The proposed consultation with the council is a farce as the decisions have already been made. This affects all front line service staff and will have a devastating affects on services for the people of Birmingham. GMB will not stand by and allow our members to be treated in this disgraceful way.”

Brian Strutton GMB National Secretary for Public Services added "Birmingham City Council has the reputation of being the worst council employer in the land and here they go again bullying their staff to take pay cuts. GMB says 'Back off Birmingham”.

The union has warned that the Intercity Express Programme (IEP) is now in the balance as the Con-Dem government has deferred its decision on whether the programme will go ahead to October at the earliest.

The IEP was awarded to Agility Trains owned by Hitachi, to replace the HST fleet and would operate on the East Coast & Great Western lines. The first 70 units are to be built in Japan, the remaining will be assembled in the UK with an initial workforce of 200 rising to 500 in peak production. Hitachi has made it clear that should it establish a UK train building facility it would seek to use that as a base to export trains into Europe. Hitachi has considered many sites for the new UK train building facility and the Tyne Yard location is understood to be Hitachi's favoured site.

Should IEP be cancelled by the government, Hitachi will not build the UK train building factory. The north east region would lose out on significant construction and fabrication work including 20 years of maintenance work that is connected to the contract.

From 2002 to 2009 the UK's sole domestic volume train builder, Bombardier, has only manufactured half of the rolling stock ordered for the UK network. Unite believes a second train builder in the UK would mean the UK could capture much more of the UK’s rolling stock market than previously.

Davey Hall, Unite regional secretary, said: "Unite is calling upon employers, business groups and MPs to jointly campaign to ensure the government endorses the contract without delay to support regional investment, jobs and the UK’s manufacturing base.

"If the government gives the green light to the contract the investment would put the UK back on the map as a significant train manufacturer for the European market.

"This provides a prime opportunity to advance a combined and concerted effort from all concerned to ensure the contract comes to fruition and is placed in the north east."

Unite, the largest union in the country, said that the letter that prime minister, David Cameron, and his deputy, Nick Clegg, sent to public sectors workers borders on the ‘ludicrous.’

The letter exhorted staff to: ”Tell us your ideas about getting more for less. Don’t hold back. Be innovative, be radical, challenge the way things are done.“

But Unite said what its members wanted was an end to the expensive privatisation of public services, rather than the axeing of the local library, Sure Start centre or swimming pool, which is on the cards due to the government’s austerity package.

Unite’s assistant general secretary for public services, Gail Cartmail, said: ”What members are telling us is that they want an end to the expensive privatisation of public services.

”They don’t want the axeing of vital local services, such as nursery provision. The majority of the electorate in May didn’t vote for the massive cuts programme now on the agenda.

”The fact that this letter has been sent out smacks of seeking ‘boy scout’ solutions. It is ludicrous to ask people for their suggestions to make savings, when the government has already decided on the biggest round of public sector cuts since the 1930s.“

Unite will be mounting a multi-layered Valuing Public Services campaign in the coming months against the austerity measures that the coalition government announced in the emergency budget in June and which are expected in this autumn's comprehensive spending review.

Gail Cartmail said: ”Unite's campaign will be geared to engaging at the grassroots with community groups and activists to highlight and oppose the threats to the local services - as this is what George Osborne's measures mean in everyday reality.

”Unite will also be active nationally mobilising political, economic and media opinion against the whole thrust of the coalition's ideology, which is predicated more on the economics of Milton Friedman than John Maynard Keynes.”

A letter to the prime minister made our ideas quite clear. It said:

"Dear Dave,

"You asked us how we could cut the deficit. We believe you can do this without devastating public services. Here's how:

"Stop cutting vital public services.

"Stop cutting public service jobs.

"Cut bankers' bonuses and bring in a Robin Hood tax.

"Keep services in-house, instead of paying consultants.

"Cut out the privatisation profiteers.

"Thanks for listening,

"From 1.3 million public service workers in UNISON."

General secretary Dave Prentis said: "Our members didn't cause the recession. It wasn't a nurse or a social worker or a teaching assistant that gambled millions on the stock exchange and almost brought the economy down.

"So our members should not have to pay. It's time that those who created the crisis paid for it

"In our alternative budget and here, UNISON has shown how it can be done without making public services workers and our communities suffer."

The £20,594 increase was on the salary of £177,812 she was paid in 2008/09 when her total remuneration package was £202,883. This was an 11.54% increase on her salary.

These figures are included in a council report published by Wandsworth Council on 29June 2010. (See Note below for Source.)

Ted Purcell GMB Public Services officer said "It is outrageous that a Head Teacher in a local community school should earn more money than the Prime Minister. An increase of over £20,000 is a downright disgrace and a slap in the face for GMB members now facing a pay freeze.

There is a complete lack of accountability when schools such as this one are opted out of local authority control.

This demonstrates that opposition to academy status is well founded as these new schools will be a law unto themselves. GMB want to see all schools being excellent local schools accountable to parents, the community and locally elected politicians."

“By making these cuts the Government are making it impossible for the private sector in industries such as construction to create the jobs which will be needed to replace those which will be lost in the public sector.”

Mr Ritchie, added: “It is a black day when the Government won’t invest in the country’s future by improving the schools where our children are educated.”

This led ASLEF’s general secretary Keith Norman to the conclusion that, ‘Rail franchising becomes more complex, vague - and expensive – by the day. In the bizarre world of franchising, the tax payer even gets a bill for doing nothing,’ he says.

The explanation from Ms Villiers justifying the missing £24 million is a perfect example of ‘franchise speak’ – in that it is meandering, jargonistic and apparently meaningless. She ‘explained’ in an answer to Shadow rail minister Sadiq Khan, ‘The two franchise extensions will have a theoretical opportunity cost caused by foregoing the higher premium/lower subsidy expected if the franchises were re-competed instead of extended. This is difficult to quantify, because assumptions need to be made about the likely prices from new bidders versus the cost of extending with incumbents. The opportunity cost arising from the delay to replacing franchises was estimated to be £6 million for Essex Tameside and £18 million for Greater Anglia. However, we believe that including the two franchises in the reformed system, on which we will be consulting shortly, will yield benefits for passengers and facilitate investment in the railways which will outweigh these costs.’

And there’s another huge bill on the way because of delays in giving out the East Coast franchise. The actual amount of this, Ms Villiers says, will ‘depend on the final timescale for the competition, and reflect the extent to which the premium that would be paid by a private sector train operator might exceed that agreed with the current East Coast operator’.

‘This single exchange in Parliament conveys in a nut-shell what’s wrong with rail franchising,’ Keith says. ‘It is incomprehensible, shadowy, covert – and wastes a lot of breath and money. We have to dump this wasteful system and take rail back into public control – which means ownership.’

With the support of CWU project worker Maeve Kennedy, the Climate Solidarity "e-group" aims to become a key forum for discussion of ways to reduce waste, bring down energy use and cut carbon emissions.

Maeve explains: "It is estimated we waste as much as 25 per cent of the food we buy, burn fuel in vehicles unnecessarily and spend as much as 20 per cent more on home heating than we need to.

"Among likely topics to be debated will be cutting back on food waste, lowering electricity usage, getting more miles per gallon from vehicles, simple DIY techniques which can help with home heating bills and setting up local action groups to start to put all these ideas into practice."

Although the initiative for this has come from the union's Youth Advisory Committee (YAC) for members under 30, all members of the union are invited to join the Climate Solidarity e-group.

"The group is open to all, so please join and feel free to encourage others to take part too," Maeve continues, adding: "We're hoping that these e-discussions can help to kick-start the creation of climate solidarity action groups in the localities and that, together, we can all really start to make a difference."

*The CWU, along with three other trade unions - NUT, PCS and UCU - and a charity called Climate Outreach Information Network have secured funding from the Government Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to run the Climate Solidarity project.

Today, Business secretary Vince Cable has asked Mr Hooper to update the report on the maintenance of the universal postal service in the uk. Mr Hooper is scheduled to review his findings and present his initial views in the summer with publication of a full update by early autumn.

CWU has responded to the news by calling on Mr Hooper to acknowledge that the union and Royal Mail have made significant and successful progress on modernisation through the Business transformation agreement and to support the stability that this has brought to the company. Billy Hayes, CWU general secretary, has said that it is important for Mr Hooper to realise that "the company is in the process of successful transformation and the last thing the country needs is the stale idea of shareholders being concerned more about dividends than delivery".

The union has again called for the government to withdraw plans for privatisation and work with Royal Mail and the union on maintaining the transformation of the company in the public sector and resolve the pensions deficit.

Responding to Postal Affairs Minister Ed Davey's interview with the Daily Telegraph today, CWU says that this is a departure from Lib Dem policy and warns that privatisation is not in the interests of customers and is deeply unpopular with the public.

CWU general secretary Billy Hayes said: "This is clearly a major retreat from Liberal Democrat policy. Vince Cable and Ed Davey have given in to George Osbourne's Thatcherite economics.

"The proposals to split the post office network from Royal Mail as outlined by Mr Davey will threaten the viability of the network, will wreck the service and will wreck rural and deprived communities which rely on the Post Office. We all know that privatisation leads to higher prices as private companies maximise their own profit ahead of any sense of public service.

"We're saying to the government: don't privatise this successful public company."

Dave Ward, CWU deputy general secretary, said: "We welcome Ed Davey's comments about restricting executive pay, but that can only happen if Royal Mail remains public. Royal Mail is being successfully transformed in the public sector and this will continue to gather pace as new machinery and the Business Transformation plan is fully rolled out.

"In addition, industrial relations are transforming from confrontation to co-operation and we are looking forward to working with the newly appointed chief executive Moya Greene - someone with significant experience in the industry. Yes there are major challenges with dropping mail volumes, but far from being a drain on the public purse, Royal Mail is a profitable asset making over £400million last year, a jump of 26 per cent.

"We're very concerned by the Minister's comments about the pension scheme in which he said 'the pensions of past employees, current employees and their families would be at risk'. This is a grave cause for concern for our members and we will be seeking a resolution to the pension issues from both the company and the government."

Commenting on the news, supervisory official, Tom Bell, said:

“ITV says that the decision will not affect its overall drama output but, while BECTU welcomes the broadcaster’s intention to develop new short run shows, this should be in addition to, and not at the expense of, successful shows such as The Bill.”

The union fears that the actual outcome of the decision will be the erosion of good drama, with more emphasis on sport and reality shows.

“It appears that ITV has not considered the dire effect that the closure, or massive reduction of the Merton base where The Bill is made, will have on the wider television industry.”

Tom Bell continued. “Over many years the Merton Base and The Bill have provided wonderful opportunities for new talent to blossom, from writers, actors and directors through to camera crews, technicians and costume and make-up artists. An enormous asset to the industry, possibly unique outside of the BBC, will be lost as a result of ITV’s blinkered approach. BECTU is proud of its association with The Bill, and of its members who have worked so hard to make the programme.”

“This is a sad time for quality drama in independent broadcasting. BECTU will now work with TalkBack Thames to smooth the way as much as we possibly can for those who are now facing the loss of their jobs, on a programme that they love,” concluded BECTU.

"The announcement of a £200 million order for Corus in Hartlepool to supply gas pipes is excellent news, all new orders in the current economic climate are to be welcomed. It is great to see the 'Industrial Activism' of government bearing fruit and turning into orders for British manufacturing and jobs for local communities. We are not over the worst yet but if we continue to focus on job creation and orders for British companies we cannot go far wrong.

"Thankfully we have the Industrial Activism of a Labour Government not the cuts and isolationism of David Cameron's Tories." The order was signed by Corus and Tata at the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills earlier today.

The Robin Hood Tax should start 'right here, right now' in the Budget with a new stamp duty on sterling transactions.

The Chancellor should kick start international agreement on a financial transaction tax with this announcement. To make him aware how important this is the Robin Hood Tax campaign is asking supporters to send their views directly to the Chancellor.

Please take a couple of minutes to click through to the Robin Hood Tax site and send your own message to Alistair Darling and your local party candidates.

Ratan Tata has written to Redcar MP Vera Baird pledging to restart steelmaking in the right market conditions. Corus has also given assurances to the NTUSCC that progress is being made towards a sale. However the NTUSCC have declared that industrial action will remain an option until a solution emerges.

Community Union General Secretary Michael J. Leahy said:

‘We remain to be convinced that sufficient progress has been made, Community shall continue to require a demonstrable commitment to the future of Teesside before removing the threat of industrial action.

‘This is not just about Teesside but it is also about the future of the UK steel industry. There is a pattern of systemic failure to consult with the workforce, a breakdown in industrial relations and a senior management team in turmoil. Kirby Adams needs to show genuine leadership at this crucial time to ensure that the UK steel industry has a strong future.

‘In the coming weeks, all unions united together, will be getting out across the country to hear our members’ concerns about the future of UK steelmaking.

The last thing BA crew want to do is to go on strike.  In fact, the crew are preparing to take industrial  action as a last resort because they care so much about  BA and want the airline to have a future as a premier  carrier. 

In November 2009, BA imposed changes that cut over  1,000 crew members from flights, cuts that cabin crew  believe have been a disaster for the on-board service  quality. BA’s European flights have seen 25 per cent  reductions in crew numbers and on long-haul flights crew  compliments have seen reductions of between 1 and  3.  

Unite crew members realise that BA is operating in  tough financial conditions. That’s why they offered the  airline £62m in savings – the same amount BA has saved  by removing cabin crew from flights. Crew were prepared  to compromise on crew numbers, take a pay cut, and take  cuts in their terms and conditions. But no matter how  much the union offered, BA simply refused to accept.  Unite believes that all along BA was merely playing  lip-service to the negotiating process. We believe that  BA has another agenda entirely – smashing the collective  voice of cabin crew. 

BA’s management is becoming increasingly macho. Under  Willie Walsh’s leadership the company has undertaken a  range of union busting tactics. Most of the crew’s local  union leaders are either suspended or awaiting  disciplinaries. A further 30 union members have been  suspended on spurious grounds. Staff are living in fear  of who could be next. BA has also spent months  encouraging other BA staff to help break the strike by  training up as cabin crew. 

BA has threatened to remove the travel concessions  from any crew member who goes on strike – this is a  particularly vindictive move when around one third of  crew use it to commute to work. 

The way forward

Unite and its members did not want this strike.   But we have been left with no option because management  will not listen. 

We are, however, ready to resume talks at any time.  Crew are prepared to offer compromise and  flexibility. 

This dispute can only be avoided if BA is prepared to  make a serious attempt to finding a negotiated  settlement. It could start by putting the offer the  airline made last week back on the table so that Unite  could give members the right to accept or reject BA's  proposal. Unite is prepared to halt the strike while  members are consulted and will stand by crew's decision.  The ball is clearly in BA's court. 

You can help

As usual in industrial disputes, some media and  politicians are taking the side of the employer ignoring  the genuine concerns of workers. You can help get BA  crew’s message to a wider audience by sending this article to a friend.  Check on Unite’s website to  find out the real truth. www.unitetheunion.org/ba   

Joint General Secretaries 

Derek Simpson and Tony  Woodley 

BA’s cabin crew save lives

BA frequent flyer Karen Ward believes she owes her  life to the skills and professionalism of British  Airways cabin crew. Here she tells her story about how  she survived a life threatening illness thanks to the  intervention of highly experienced cabin crew. Click here. 

"The company is still trying to bully and bludgeon its way through this. We need a serious approach to addressing cabin crew’s concerns.

“Our representatives on the ground are confident the strike will have overwhelming support among cabin crew, despite the company’s bullying and harassment, which risks poisoning the atmosphere on BA flights for years to come.”

Commenting on today’s revelations by the Audit Commission that local authorities are paying off council chiefs by ‘mutual arrangement’ GMB which represents 250,000 council workers called this a disgrace.

GMB National Secretary Brian Strutton said “The conservative controlled local government association has been presiding over a secret snouts-in-the-trough policy of giving huge pay offs to the bosses including massive hikes to their pensions. Compare this to the way these same Tory council leaders treat their staff who actually deliver council services – no pay rise and attacks on their pensions. It’s absolutely disgraceful.”

Women in the World is a summit and festival from 12-14 March and will feature a special reading of the documentary play Seven, telling the story of female leaders from around the world – and one of those women is former UNISON Northern Ireland secretary Inez McCormack, who will be played by Oscar winning actor Meryl Streep.

Ms McCormack was the leader of UNISON in Northern Ireland from its formation in 1993 and was the first woman president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions from 1999-2001.

She was also an active community leader and played a role in securing the Good Friday peace agreement in Northern Ireland.

She will be attending the Women in the World summit and commented: "It is very humbling to have your life story represented in this way, and a privilege to have an Oscar-winning actor and strong female character like Meryl Streep involved in the dramatisation.

"I have had the privilege of spending a lifetime at the service of warm strong women, who challenged injustice – not just for themselves, but for the people and communities they cared for, and whose only affirmation has been that of their own conscience."

As well as Ms McCormack, other women portrayed in the play include Guatemalan congresswoman Annabella De Leon and the former minister for women's affairs in Cambodia, Mu Sochua.

The summit is the brainchild of former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown and the website she currently edits, The Daily Beast. More than 1,000 women pioneers in government, media, social activism, business and the arts, will be taking part.

The Conservatives this week confirmed that they intend to press ahead with plans to allow large construction companies to conduct private safety audits of their sites. Once a company obtains a private safety audit Health and Safety Executive inspectors will be barred from entering the site unless there was an emergency.

Alan Ritchie, General Secretary of UCATT, said: “This proves that the Tories cannot be trusted with workers’ safety. If implemented this will effectively end independent safety inspections and will lead to a greater number of workers being maimed and killed at work.”

Under the proposals which were first unveiled during last years Conservative conference in a document titled: Regulation in the Post Bureaucratic Age, companies judged to be “low risk” could commission a private safety audit which would bar all their sites from being visited by inspectors. This week in an interview in Construction News, Conservative business spokesperson John Penrose, indicated his party’s determination to press ahead with the plans.

Mr Ritchie, added: “The ignorance and the stupidity of the Conservatives is staggering. Safety on construction sites, where many different companies are working at any one time, can change rapidly. Under these plans if workers or members of the public had safety concerns, the HSE would be prevented from acting until an accident occurred. The HSE’s role should be primarily about preventing accidents before they occur.”

Mr Penrose has claimed that the plans would mean that large companies would be able to acquire safety audits so the HSE could focus its resources on small companies. However in recent weeks several fatal accidents have occurred on sites run by large companies.

Mr Ritchie, further added: “Construction deaths are all too frequent and they occur on sites run by both large and small companies. To ban inspections on sites run by some companies is not going to make the industry safer.”

The Conservatives proposals fly in the face of the Donaghy Report into construction safety. The report published in July 2009, specifically opposed so called “self-regulation”. Instead the report recommended an increase in inspector numbers, especially in London.

Construction is the most dangerous industry in Britain. Last year (2008/9) 54 workers were killed at work, this was a significant decrease on the previous year (2007/8) when 72 worker died, this was primarily due to lower levels of activity caused by the economic downturn.

GMB is in contact with ITUC affiliate CWU in Belize over the £6 million used by Lord Ashcroft to bankroll the Tory Party campaign in marginal seats in the UK. GMB is trying to establish with our trade union colleagues there a clear picture about Lord Aschroft’s business and political activity in Belize. The unions GMB in UK and CWU in Belize issued the following statements today 4th March 2010.

Mr. Antonio Gonzalez, General Secretary Christian Workers' Union, speaking from Belize City said ”We know that Lord Ashcroft has a lot of business interests in Belize and there is every likelihood that some of his personal fortune comes from these investments. We would be very surprised to hear that he is using money made in Belizefor political reasons in the UK.

We would like GMB to seek to establish if part of this money comes from Belize. Money made in Belize should be reinvested here. Belizeis a developing country and needs all the genuine investment it can get”.

Paul Kenny GMB General Secretary said “Lord Ashcroft has pumped £6 million into the Tory election campaign in the marginal seats. There is no evidence that this money was made from taxable income in the UK.

GMB has received a request from workers in Belize, a developing economy, to establish if any of this money has been sucked out of the Belizeeconomy and used for electioneering purposes in Britain.

GMB are asking Lord Ashcroft and Tory leader David Cameron to come clean and say how much of this £6 million has been sucked out of Belize. GMB agree with the Belize workers who say that money made in Belize should be reinvested there as the economy needs all the genuine investment it can get.”

GMB members working for Hammersmith & Fulham Council have condemned the Tory administration for freezing pay of staff while delivering deteriorating services to residents of the borough.

GMB have identifies 3 areas where services have got worse. First during the worst winter for 30 years many elderly and vulnerable residents of the Borough were cut off from society and unable to leave their homes because the Council had not carried out gritting of side roads and residential areas. Second parents report that the standards of school meals have significantly dropped following the privatization of school meals. Third GMB has learned of a decrease in the numbers of elderly and vulnerable people who previously received meals on wheels. The reduction on the level of service impacts for two of the most vulnerable groups in the borough.

The local people who work for the Council and deliver the services to residents are having a pay freeze imposed on them for 2010. The vast majority of council workers are paid less than £18,000 a year. Conversely, significant pay rises for senior Council officers give the lie to the lack of funds for services or pay.

Keith Williams, GMB Regional Organiser said, “The local people who work for Hammersmith & Fulham Council and deliver the vital services that keep the Borough running for its residents are having a pay freeze imposed on them for 2010. The council is also delivering deteriorating services to residents.

Last year George Osborne, Tory Shadow Chancellor, said that the Tories would not freeze pay for those earning in this lower pay bracket. This is sheer hypocrisy. Women make up the biggest percentage of employees within local government and therefore the pay freeze seriously questions the Tories commitment to equality and equal pay for female workers.

Many council employees for no additional remuneration are also covering posts left vacant by wide spread redundancies or posts that have not been filled. However it was OK for the Leader of the Council to award himself a 14% increase less than 18 months ago to top up his salary to £50,000.”

“Britain’s Supermarkets should hang their heads in shame”, Unite Deputy General Secretary, Jack Dromey today (Saturday 13th March) said welcoming the damning indictment by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, in a forensic report into exploitation, undercutting and discrimination in the 88,000-strong meat industry, supplying red and white meat products to the nation’s household name supermarkets.

Mr Dromey continued: . "Supermarkets have driven down costs along their supply chain with tens of thousands of workers paying the price, suffering discrimination and unfair treatment. A two-tier labour market has been created exploiting migrant agency workers on poorer conditions of employment and undercutting directly-employed workers on better conditions of employment. That divides workforces and damages social cohesion in local communities. Unite has fought for equal treatment of all workers and we welcome the call from the EHRC for workers doing the same job to be paid the same

Turning to the wider evidence of shocking abuse, Jack Dromey said “The EHRC report exposes labour practices in the supermarket supply chain that are an affront to human decency – physical and verbal abuse, a lack of health and safety protection, shameful treatment of pregnant women and a culture of fear. The report says, and rightly so, that there are reputable employers but they are undercut by the rogues.”

“The customers of Britain’s supermarkets demand high standards and fair trade. Some supermarkets have taken welcome initiatives to curb the worst excesses in their suppliers. Only ASDA has acted to end exploitation and undercutting in their supply chain, moving to a new ethical model of supply chain management – efficient, effective and with fair and equal treatment of workers. ASDA has led. The others have lagged behind. The message from the EHRC is unmistakable. The meat industry must change and all supermarkets should accept their responsibility. All workers doing the same job should enjoy equal treatment. All workers should be treated with respect. And there should be no second class citizen in 21st Century Britain.”

“The EHRC is right to challenge all those with responsibility to act” Mr Dromey concluded. “Supermarkets, suppliers, employment agencies, Government, enforcement agencies and trade unions, we must all work together. We will be at the table rising to the challenge posed by this landmark Inquiry.”

Cabin crew have been locked in a bitter dispute with BA over their refusal to negotiate on restoring crew numbers on arduous flights, intensified by the airline's plans to use total novices as crew during the upcoming strikes, set to begin on March 20th.

Unite says that this latest incident is another graphic illustration - the second in two days - of why BA must stop undermining its cabin crew. Earlier this week, Len McCluskey, assistant general secretary of Unite, warned that BA's plan to use untrained volunteers as crew during a strike was exceptionally high risk, underlined by the terrorism charges brought against a BA computer worker who had volunteered to act as strike breaking crew.

Yesterday BA, without warning, withdrew an offer of pay and working arrangements which Unite was set to put to the workforce and could have settled the year-long dispute.

Len McCluskey said that the heroic conduct of the crew in New York was no surprise to Unite: "Time and again we hear of how BA cabin crew pull out all the stops for those in their care.

"The lazy view that these men and women are "mindless militants" could not be further from the truth. Even in the face of vicious intimidation from their company, as today's example shows, they remain dedicated, caring and exceptionally skilled professionals who feel passionately about BA and about defending what it stands for - world class care for passengers. It is also a further reminder of the dangerous folly of using untrained strike-breakers to crew planes.

"BA's managers must pause and think hard about what they risk losing if they continue with this needless war against its own workforce. Once again, I urge Mr Walsh to put yesterday's offer back on the table. Allow your workers a voice. Trust them to make the correct decision on their futures and bring stability back to this airline."

The 11 crew members were working the third leg of a back-to-back i.e. three transatlantic flights in four days. Although the crew members working on the flight fear retribution by BA - which has already suspended 37 crew during the dispute, some on a very trivial basis - if they speak out, one has come forward to tell the story of the emergency:

"We landed in New York and most of the passengers had disembarked. I was standing in the first galley when I saw a crew member run off and I heard a shout for oxygen. I suspected it was a medical emergency so told my colleague to guard my bags I was going to help but could be a while.

"I ran on to the jetty and I saw a male lying on the floor and a passenger had started chest compressions. The crew had ran back on board to get the defibulator (defib), the medical kit resuscitation equipment and oxygen. I took his airway but could not start mouth to mouth straight away as his mouth was clamped shut. I could not open it so it would be ineffective until equipment arrived. I agreed the 30 to 2 ratio with the passenger and lifted the chin to keep the airway open.

"As soon as crew arrived with all the equipment they took over the chest compressions, applied the defib and we did full CPR with the ambu mask. The defib advised no shock but to continue with CPR. I continued mouth to mouth for the duration and the crew rotated with the chest compressions as it was exhausting as we worked for over half an hour doing CPR. At times we did manage to get a faint pulse and he breathed on his own but then stopped. and defib advised to continue CPR.

"It was 40 minutes before the paramedics arrived. The police and ground staff watched us and stated after wards how professional, calm and amazing we all were.

"All the crew were fantastic a real team effort. By the time the ambulance arrived he was breathing and had a good pulse although still unconscious.

"The New York police and paramedics who had seen us work said that we had done a brilliant job and said BA cabin crew are always the best. By the time we were walking through immigration one of our ground staff ran up to us with her phone as the company he worked for had heard what had happened and wanted to personally thank us which she did on the phone.

"When we got to the hotel the hotel staff had heard and said "You guys are simply the best". We were told last night from the hospital that he was stable and they made it clear we had saved his life.

"I have no doubt that every single BA cabin crew member could and would do exactly the same as we did last night. We are awaiting updates on his condition so we pray he is still OK."

The crew member said that when the crew turned up for the next leg of the trip:

"We were given a very warm welcome by the ground staff at airport. They stood in line and gave us a round of applause and took our photos. They said they were proud of BA because of us. The passenger, thank goodness, is doing much better - his family send their thanks. He is still in intensive care but stable."

The National Digital Participation Plan, unveiled by the Minister for Digital Britain Stephen Timms, is particularly targeted at the elderly and less well-off, and aims to achieve a 60 per cent reduction in the 12.5 million people who do not yet benefit from internet access in the UK.

The announcement coincided with the publication of a BBC World Service poll which suggests that almost four in five people around the world believe that access o the internet is a fundamental right.

Contributed to by more than 27,000 adults across 36 countries, the survey found strong support for net access on both sides of the digital divide. Countries including Finland and Estonia have already ruled that net access is a fundamental right for their citizens, while international bodies such as the UN are also pushing for universal net access - which in the UK has been a key demand of the CWU's long-running Digital Britain campaign.

Announcing the National Digital Participation Plan, Stephen Timms said: "Being online is crucial for participation in 21st Century society. The internet unlocks a wealth of information and services, giving people more choice in life and access to a range of education, health and financial opportunities.

"That's why we have set an ambitious target to get 60 per cent of those 12.5 million people who aren't online, online in four years."

The announcement came just days before the launch of a new Government body which will be responsible for rolling out next generation broadband across the UK. Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) will drive forward the Universal Service Commitment to deliver 2Mbps to every household by 2012 and will manage the spend of the £1 billion Next Generation Fund to deliver next generation broadband to 90 per cent of the country by 2017.

Championing the Next Generation Fund - which has been resolutely opposed by the Conservative Party which has pledged to scrap the proposed 50p per month levy on fixed line telephone connections that will raise the £1 billion required if elected to government - Stephen Timms said: "Without public intervention, some rural areas and less well-off communities will be left behind, unable to reap the economic, health and education benefits that superfast broadband offers.

"We do not want to risk the digital gap widening, which is why we have put a team of experts in place to ensure further investment is targeted at those people without adequate access."

BDUK was launched on the very same day that the Commission for Rural Communities published a report that warns that the long-term future of the countryside is in jeopardy - partly because of a lack of broadband and limited mobile phone coverage in many areas is limiting the possibilities of economic expansion, driving jobs and young people away.

Andy Kerr, CWU deputy general secretary, pointed out the irony that the Tory Party is resolutely opposing the broadband levy on fixed phone lines when increasingly the rural lobby itself is crying out for public investment to ensure universal access to high-speed broadband.

"The leadership of the Tory Party is quite clearly out of line with opinion in its own heartlands," Andy said.

"To get decent jobs in to rural areas you need to have a good communications infrastructure - yet if you leave it to the markets alone to provide that infrastructure there are going to be huge swathes of the country that are communications black spots. In remote and sparsely populated rural areas there will never be a true financial return on the investment required - however important that investment is for reasons of social cohesion and inclusion.

"Is Cameron listening to his own people in the countryside or to Tory backers like Sky and the Carphone Warehouse Group which have their own vested commercial interests to fry? The answer, at the moment, would appear to be the latter - and I'd predict this issue isn't going to play well for the Tories in the forthcoming General Election campaign."

Community Union General Secretary Michael J. Leahy OBE said:

‘Corus have been given a window to show leadership and a commitment to their loyal workforce. Yet Corus appear more intent on defending their decision and pushing ahead with redundancies.

‘Until Corus demonstrate their commitment to finding a solution and consulting effectively with their workforce, Community and the other trade unions will continue to explore the potential for industrial action.’

‘Ultimately, if we do have to go down this route, our members will decide what action we take but what we will not ask them to do is repeat the all-out strikes of 1980.’

The National Steel Co-ordinating Committee (NTUSCC), which represents all unions in Corus, will meet on March 15th to develop a response to Corus. Should Corus fail to provide satisfactory proof of on-going good faith negotiations over the Teesside plant, this response may include balloting for industrial action.

General Secretary Gerry Doherty said the 450 specific job cuts in ticket offices broke an election pledge by the Mayor to keep them fully staffed at all times.

"Boris Johnson has betrayed both staff and passengers with this announcement that he is to cut up to 800 jobs across the network.

"He gave a clear pre-election pledge that he would keep all booking offices fully open and fully staffed to protect the travelling public at all times.

"That promise was not worth the paper it was written on. We shall fight this all the way if any of our staff are threatened with compulsory redundancy over this planned cutback."

The union was now holding an urgent meeting with its London Ungerground reps to prepare its detailed response to the Mayor’s proposals.