Celebrate May Day - Workers' Day 2016

Unions are the voice of Britain at work. More than 6 million people have joined a union – from nurses to checkout assistants to lorry drivers to airline pilots.

Unions help workers get together, stop people being treated unfairly and get a better deal from their employers.

They’re there when times are tough – providing free legal advice if you need it. There are lots of discounts and offers for union members too. And every year they help more than 200,000 people get the training and learning opportunities they need to move on in their career.

Isn’t it time you joined a union?

CELEBRATE MAY DAY!

The original May Day celebrations date back to 1886 when workers in Chicago held a general strike for an eight-hour workday that was then brutally suppressed.

Following this it was decided at an International Workers’ Congress held in Paris in 1889 that the
workers of all lands would demonstrate together for the eighthour day on Mayday. An international protest took place on Sunday 4th May 1890, and in London alone attracted 300,000 protesters to Hyde Park. Across the globe, labour activists sought to make May Day an official holiday to honour labour.

People fought for the rights and dignities we enjoy today, but we can’t take them for granted. We now face the Tory government’s austerity policies, cuts to public services, a crisis in housing and attacks on our trade union rights.

That’s why May Day is still important. That’s why Southend Trades Union Council campaigns for workers rights, for strong trade unions and for social justice .

Support for the Junior Doctors

Strike by Junior Doctors – Tuesday 12^th January 2016

The Southend TUC has pledged our full support for the industrial action being taken by Junior Doctors, to oppose the government’s attempt to impose an unsafe new contract on the medical profession. 

We attended their picket line at Southend Hospital on this morning.

Southend TUC President Rachel Heemskerk said 

This government is wilfully putting patients' safety at risk, the tolerability of the working lives of NHS workers and the very viability of the NHS as a publicly-funded, publicly-provided service.

Ian Pope, Southend TUC Secretary added

The proposed doctor’s contract is clearly a tool for achieving the destruction of safe terms and conditions throughout the NHS and throughout the public sector.

Secretary’s Report for year ended 31st December 2015

Introduction
We convened 11 general meetings of the Southend TUC with an average attendance of 8 delegates. It pleasing to note that we had better attendance figures than in 2014

In 2015, we received affiliation fees from 10 branches of the following Unions:

ASLEF, CWU, NUT, PCS, RMT, UNISON, UNITE

We have maintained our affiliations to the Essex Association of Trades Councils (CATC) and the National Pensioners Convention (NPC). We also affiliated, for the first time, to the Campaign for Trade Union Freedom.

I would express my thanks to the Ambleside Social Club for the use of their meeting room throughout the year.

Work of the Year

Protecting workers’ rights to organise together

At our February meeting, Dave Smith from the Blacklist Support Group spoke on the injustice towards workers perpetrated by the big construction industry companies.

Also in February, we supported the Voice & Vision folk music event at the Squeeze Café in Leigh on Sea organised by Squeezebox Folk and the General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU). One of our major events was to be involved in the running of the Voice & Vision Concert, part of the Leigh Folk Festival and held at St Clements Church, at which the singer Dick Gaughan was the headlining act.

With the support of a TUC development grant, we were able to organise a celebration of May Day (International Workers Day) on Saturday 2^nd May. In the morning, we held a street stall in Southend town centre to publicise the history and significance of May Day to working people. We also gave support to the campaign by Southend UNISON against cuts in mental health services within the Borough. Whilst in the afternoon, we held a musical event in the O’Neills public house, which also included poetry, interactive art and children’s entertainment. Overall our events were well received and successful. It is our intention to organise similar May Day events in 2016.
As part of our ongoing commitment to trade union involvement in the Leigh Folk Festival, we ran a financial appeal to our affiliated branches. The organisers gave us a prominent position for our gazebo on both the Saturday and Sunday. Through the sponsorship of unions, both nationally and regionally, we have become an integral part of the Festival and we gain an important level of recognition from our involvement.

Some of our members supported and attended the Lobby of Parliament on 2^nd November as part of the campaign to oppose the Conservative Government’s Trade Union Bill. Unfortunately, we were unable to run an effective campaign event locally.

As in previous years, we ran a minibus to the Burston Rally and carried our banner on the traditional march around the village.

An end to austerity economics
Southend TUC supported, and a number of our members participated in, the People’s Assembly national March Against Austerity in London on 20^th June.

Fighting racism

In light of the refugee crisis, we made a donation to the humanitarian needs of the refugees in Calais.


Summary
2015 has seen some successful campaigning by the Southend TUC. We have increased our profile through the cultural and campaigning events that we have been involved in. We stand ready to face the challenges and threats to the trade union movement in 2016.