All the latest news for trade unionists in Brighton and Hove

Around 200 people attended Trades Council’s demonstration on Wednesday evening, calling for our elected representatives to support a ceasefire in Gaza.  Below are further activities around the war on Gaza which you and your members might interested in.  Plus, a load of other local trade union news and events of interest to trade unionists.

The next meeting of Trades Council is on Wednesday 13th December - watch this space for full details!

Public Meeting - WHY WE CALL FOR  A CEASEFIRE IN GAZA - HOW CAN PALESTINE BE  FREE?

Next National Demonstration for Gaza - 25th November

More strike action at Pensions Regulator
PCS members are taking a further 12 days of strike action on
22,23, 24, 28, 29, 30th November, and 6, 7, 8, 12,13, 14th December.
Pickets from 8.30 to 10am daily at Telecom House, 125-=6§135 Preston Road (junction with Stanford Avenue).
They are striking against employer attempts to impose a totally inadequate 3% pay offer.

More strikes planned by Brighton and Hove Social Workers
After a successful first day of action on 7th November, further strikes are planned for 14th and 15th December.  Look out for more details.

Marathon Strike at Brighton University comes to an end
Striking UCU members at University of Brighton returned to work on Friday 10th November after 129 days on strike.
Staff voted overwhelmingly to stage an indefinite strike in response to a plan to cut over 100 jobs – about 10% of the academic staff base. In May, 400 staff were declared at risk of redundancy, and after 80 took voluntary redundancy, the strike began on 3rd July to stop an additional 22 lecturers and researchers being made compulsorily redundant.
At this time, the University was already withholding 100% of the pay of staff participating in UCU’s national marking and assessment boycott (MAB) and continued to do so until the MAB ended on 6th September.
Despite the strike causing serious disruption to the beginning of the academic year, the University pressed ahead with the redundancies, with employment ending for the last of the targeted staff on 27th October. Some of the dismissed staff are still waiting for their appeals against redundancy and employment tribunals may follow.
Brighton UCU remained on strike to press for the dropping of disciplinary action against four branch reps targeted for picketing, to seek protection against victimisation on a return to work, and for a rebate on the punitive MAB deductions.
Members’ determination to continue the fight means that they return to work with an improved offer on MAB deductions without UCU having to end its campaign against the University’s disastrous management or sign up to their punitive conditions.
The dispute remains live with the focus now on defending the branch reps threatened with victimisation.

Everything Must Change - film showing 23rd November

Unite to Survive - 25th November

Book Launch - Capital Condensed 23rd November

Local activist Colin Chalmers is launching his book - Capital Condensed, a short guide to Marx’s Capital for our age of global crises - this Thursday.

Pitiful pay provokes a month long strike at homeless charity St Mungo’s

 

News from Unite the Union - workers striking at St Mungo’s homelessness charity in Brighton and elsewhere……..

Workers will embark on a month long strike between Tuesday 30 May and Monday 26 June.

Workers at the homeless charity St Mungo’s will embark on a month long strike beginning on Tuesday 30 May. The dedicated charity workers are fed up with greed at the top of their homeless charity while they struggle to make ends meet.

There will be pickets in London, Brighton, Bristol and Oxford 

The charity’s latest pay offer of a pitiful 2.25% spectacularly backfired resulting in the announcement of a month long strike. Fury amongst the workforce is growing and now new members are joining Unite in droves. 

Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham said: “Charity workers who should be on the streets helping the homeless have reached breaking point. The workers are now taking a stand.

“Instead of seizing the initiative to end the dispute, management’s decision to offer a pitiful 2.25% has spectacularly backfired. Now St Mungo’s faces a month long strike and the workers have Unite’s total support. The pitiful pay offer has just made everyone in the union angrier. 

“St Mungo’s have the answer in their own hands. Make Unite members a decent pay offer. Their indifference to the financial pressures facing their own staff is quite frankly astonishing.”

The homeless charity still hasn’t resolved a pay dispute going back to 2021 in the midst of falling pay and a cost of living crisis. 

Unite regional officer Steve O’Donnell said: “The workers at St Mungo’s are ready for this strike.  Although they recognise taking action has an impact on their clients the fault of the strike lies firmly with the management.  

“Our members will not accept the crumbs from the table. Especially while the number of senior managers increases and the CEO earns a huge salary.  

“All their divisive and spiteful tricks of changing payroll deadlines to impoverish strikers and cancelling shifts before the strike will backfire because our members are ready to take action for improved pay.”

Since 2013, St Mungo’s chief executives have seen their average pay at the charity spiral by 77 per cent – up from £107,000 to more than £189,000 (according to the latest published accounts). St Mungo’s won’t reveal the salary of the newly appointed CEO, Emma Haddad. 

In the last ten years, the pay of senior management at St Mungo’s has increased by 350 per cent. In stark contrast, over a similar time frame, the real value of the wages of St Mungo’s workers, many of whom work on the streets helping the homeless, has plummeted by 25 per cent. A frontline worker earns around £26,000. 

Brighton University staff vow to strike in defence of jobs

The University of Brighton has announced plans to make 100 academic staff and 30 professional services staff redundant.

The University claims it is cutting staff because it needs to make £17.9m in savings. Yet the University has spent over £50m on building projects in the last two years. It is unclear who these buildings are for, if staff numbers are to be reduced by 130.

The University and College Union (UCU), which represents staff on academic grades, has vowed to fight these redundancies with every means at its disposal. Dr Mark Abel, UCU Chair and Senior Lecturer said, “This is a threat to the livelihoods of individual members of staff and a threat to the quality of education at our University. At an Emergency branch meeting this morning, our members voted unanimously to move to an industrial action ballot. Staff should not be made to pay for the failures of management”.

Staff are asking how the University has ended up in such a poor financial state. When joining the University as Vice Chancellor in 2015, Debra Humphris described the University as “a successful institution with a very exciting future”[1]. What has the VC done in her eight years at the helm to squander that future, in the process putting 130 jobs at risk?

Many examples of poor management can be cited. There is the £2.4m stolen from the University through internal fraud[2], and the buying back of a long lease from Virgin Active which cost the University £17m[3].

In fact, squandering money on expensive building projects seems to have been a priority for this Vice Chancellor. The most recent financial statements[4] boast about the high levels of capital expenditure, with £24m on the balance sheet in 2021-22 and £28m the year before, most of which has been spent on the ‘Big Build’, a development of high-rise buildings at the Moulsecoomb campus.

This is a terrible blow for our city where the University is a major employer and has the potential, if properly managed, to make an enriching contribution to the cultural, social and economic life of Brighton and beyond.

The huge spend on new buildings is part of a plan apparently intended to allow the University to “grow student numbers”[5]. But the student-staff ratio is already one of the very worst in the UK: 97th according to one source[6]. If anything, staff numbers need to be increased. To cut staff and also plan to increase student numbers is a recipe for disaster.

UCU Chair Mark Abel added: “The Vice Chancellor has consistently mismanaged this institution and is now attempting to make ordinary staff pay for her mistakes. UCU calls on the Vice Chancellor and the Senior Management Team to resign. If they have mismanaged the University to such an extent that these cuts are truly necessary, then they should take responsibility. If the Vice Chancellor insists on staying in post, the Board of Governors will be forced to consider dismissing her.

“Staff morale was already low before this announcement, with little evidence of faith in the senior leadership. A staff survey in 2018 found that 78% of staff disagreed with the statement ‘I see evidence of effective leadership from the University’s leaders’. Things have not improved since then. As staff, we have had enough. We have already voted to take strike action in two national industrial action ballots this year. We have shown consistently that we will fight to defend jobs and conditions and to protect the quality of education at this University. We will do everything in our power as a union to defend our members and this University from this attack from above”.

Notes for Editors

The University and College Union (UCU) is the main trade union in post-16 education in the UK. It represents over 130,000 academics, lecturers, trainers, instructors, researchers, managers, administrators, computer staff, librarians and postgraduates in universities, colleges, prisons, adult education and training organisations across the UK.

[1] https://www.brighton.ac.uk/about-us/news-and-events/news/2015/12-01-new-vice-chancellor-takes-office.aspx

[2] https://www.sussex.police.uk/news/sussex/news/court-results/jail-sentence-for-man-after-2.4million-university-fraud/

[3] https://unibrightonac.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/public/Ebn3ByOukz5EgD0-U2bpdAcBWhqoj_vNTdZxAeRjswP2fQ?e=WrIXQy

[4] https://unibrightonac.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/public/Ebn3ByOukz5EgD0-U2bpdAcBWhqoj_vNTdZxAeRjswP2fQ?e=WrIXQy

[5] https://unibrightonac.sharepoint.com/:b:/s/public/Ebn3ByOukz5EgD0-U2bpdAcBWhqoj_vNTdZxAeRjswP2fQ?e=WrIXQy

[6]  https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/universities/university-of-brighton

"Climate Justice and The Role of Trade Unions "

 

On Saturday 6th November a Global Day of Action For Climate Justice was held in Brighton. Crowds assembled at The Level for midday where a few speeches were made before the march to the Peace Stautue in Hove.

Brighton Hove & District Trades council were contacted by the organisers and asked to send a speaker. The General Secretary of the Trades Council, Matt Webb gave the following speech on 

"Climate Justice and The Role of Trade Unions "

What place do trade unions have in averting climate breakdown and what can trade unions do?

Good question. On a base level, Trade union members are you and me. They are not part of the elite that are already practising their escape route into space. 

They are you and me and they are comrades and working people in parts of the world that are already being devastated by flooding, drought, famine poisoned water, salinated farmland and the other hallmarks of the early on-set climate catastrophe.

We have a saying in the trade union movement – the motto of our trades council - “An Injury To One Is An Injury To All”. There are few greater injuries than famine, drought, losing your livelihood and being displaced from your home. 

But what can trade unions do in your workplace? On a local level where workers are organised we can hold our employers, colleges, universities to account for the part they might be playing in failing to act. Recycling and green energy yes, but investments, contracts and pensions are often held with and in some of the world's worst polluters, climate change deniers and green-washers – oil companies, chemical companies, mining companies, arms companies and so forth...

But of course climate catastrophe will not be averted alone by recycling plastic bottles or like the recent government advice, convincing the elderly to “wear and extra layer of clothing and turn down their thermostats”. It is not the elderly trying to keep

warm that is destroying this planet. This is a nasty, vindictive and disingenous distortion of truth designed to outsource blame to the vulnerable.

What is destroying this planet is not old people trying to keep warm, it is greed. It is the desire for infinite profit in a finite world. The destruction of our planet is not an unfortunate side effect of capitalism - capitalism demands it!

Whether you like it or not – climate change is political. Distrust anyone who tells you otherwise!

We need an extremely radical change to avert widespread environmental and climate collapse (in some places it is already happening right now as I speak). We need a radical new transport infrastructure which does not rely upon burning fossil fuels directly or indirectly. We need radical new infrastructure to power our national grid based upon renewable energy sources such as the sun, the sea and the wind. We need radical new means to package things such as food. We need to reuse and repurpose the resources we already have to build electronics! We need to build again from the ground up.

I say “radical” but the truth is that all of the technology to achieve all of this already exists. Some of it has existed for decades! We ask why are we not using it now? And I would say it is because the narrow interests of a few consider that it would inhibit their growth of capital/wealth.

So what is radical is not the tech, it is replacing a system that is built solely around profit that relies upon maintaining the status quo.

The one thing we have learnt from COP26 is that the political establishment (including our own blustering, misogynistic and imbecilic man-child of Prime Minister) has no intention of acting in good faith. Fake promises simply for headlines to get them through the next day's newspapers.

If we are waiting for them to act against their own interests we might as well start digging graves this afternoon here in The Level.

This radical change we need will mean the end of some industry and the emergence of new industry. That means whilst some jobs will be no more, new and arguably more highly skilled, environmentally responsible jobs will be created.

We need to migrate workers from the old into the new.

As trade unions we fight to keep people in secure jobs and retraining is an important part of that – we will need colleges and adult education centres to reskill these workers to move from old industries into the new.

One hurdle we have is that the last 15 years of Tory attacks on the working class have reduced Further Education, which would deliver such training, to barely a shadow of what it was. Even (and especially in) our own city of Brighton.

It will be adult education and skills training that will allow that change from the old to the new without creating the sort of mass unemployment that Thatcher orchestrated across mining towns and industrial cities.

Trade unions need to be part of that – in colleges, universities and all workplaces.

Are trade unions now talking about and campaigning on averting climate change? Yes to be fair.

Do I think that trade unions are doing enough right now? No, I do not. And one reason is perhaps the rising age of the average trade union member.

More younger workers are unionising and I think that is why climate change is now becoming more and more a trade union matter.

Would you like trade unions to be doing more?

Would you like to see trade unions campaigning to rebuild adult education and delivering these vital skills training for a better tomorrow?

Would you like to see trade unions holding employers to account for putting profit before responsibility, pension providers for funding oil companies and creating meaningful networks across workplaces and industries with common goals?

Well join a union and use the power that gives you. It is that simple. There are enough of you here!

Don't forget this – it is trade unions that have the power to walk out of workplaces where disagreements are not resolved

and it is trade unions that have the power to bring entire industries to a grinding halt where disagreements are not resolved.

If trade unions didn't have the power to be such an existential threat to the political and industrial establishment, they wouldn't do so much to try to legislate us out of existence over the last 40 years.

Organisation is everything; and if your not organising at work you are like a carpenter without a hammer and a hammer without a nail.

After the march today – go online, go to the TUC website – and join a trade union today.

Make the changes you want to see and use your Trade Union to achieve that. 

 

Matt Webb

General Secretary

Brighton Hove & District Trades Council

The Truth Behind What is Happening at Moulsecoomb Primary

The Truth Behind What is Happening at 

Moulsecoomb Primary

Moulsecoomb Primary is a small close-knit school in East Brighton that having recieved an "Inadequate" OFSTED report earlier in the year was issued a Forced Academy Notice by the  Regional Schools Commissioner.

The OFSTED Report.

The outcome of the OFSTED report which brought all this about is a hotly contested matter in itself. OFSTED rulings are a blunt "one size fits all" instrument that takes no account of challenges that certain schools face. Moulsecoomb itself is an area with above average social deprivation and the school has a far higher number of pupils elegible for school meals, special educational needs and with English as a second langauge.

The school has had a difficult time and has been working hard to improve standards over the last couple of years despite facing savage government cuts to their funding. The current head has worked hard with staff and the local authority and demonstrable improvements continue to be made.

Sadly, the OFSTED ruling of "Inadequate" has meant that under the Academies Act 2010 the government has bound itself to handing over any such schools from the local authority to a Mult-Academy Trust (MAT).

Forced Academy Notice

Academisation has been hugely contraversial for many reasons. Financial mismanagement, unaccountability to local communities, nepotism, dodgy tendering processes and frequent attacks on the terms and conditions of staff have not won the general public over.

Furthermore, academy chains do not recieve any more funding than local authority schools. The Education Funding Agency, the Commons Public Accounts Committee and Department for Education's own figures have all pointed to an educational experiment that has consistently failed to drive up standards or provide any sort of financial stability -  the very purposes under which the act was sold.

To Be Handed Over To Who?

A MAT attached to the University of Brighton were the first on the scene but perhaps arguably due to local opposition backed out. Next in line to run the school was Step Academies who were met at the school gates by protesting parents and decided too that the gig was not for them.

 

New Horizon Academy Trust & The Laurels, Worthing

The third bite of the apple has been had by New Horizon Academy Trust (NHAT). NAHT recently had a school taken off of them in Worthing (The Laurels) for the fine mess they made there which resulted in another MAT being instructed to go in and sort it out. This was evidently not possible under it's current leadership so NAHT were given their marching orders.

The MAT that took the Laurels off of NHAT reported the state of the school as they took it over; financial reports were absent, the budget was "out of control" and staff were leaving quicker than they could be replaced. Anecdotally we understand that during that time the school boiler broke down and instead of fixing it instructed pupils to wear their coats in the classroom.

A post-academisation OFSTED report relegated the school from "Good" to "Requires Improvement". An abject failure on every level.

NHAT's recent annual report made it clear that they need to "expand" into another primary school to help pay for the one school they have been left with (that has yet to recieve an OFSTED visit). Throwing Moulsecoomb Primary into their failed trust knowing their history and current state is indefendable.

It is possible however that NHAT might be getting cold feet too as community protests have continued. A chummy letter sent to staff by NAHT was met with anger and a planned visit to the school by the trust this week to sweet-talk staff was cancelled with only a few days' notice. A different recent letter to parents explained cautiously that due diligence checks have yet to be completed... perhaps leaving the back-door ajar for a dignified retreat?

Local Communuties' Response

The community has been right behind the Hands Off Moulsecoomb Primary School from the offset. Upon the academy order being issued an open meeting drew hundreds of members of the community, as did a march through Brighton, an online petition and other protests.

Parents of pupils at the school were balloted by Brighton & Hove Council as to whether or not they wanted their school handed over to a MAT who returned a solid 97% vote for not handing the school over to a MAT.

Brighton & Hove City Council who have been providing extra support and financial help to the school are similarly worried and against the forced academy notice.

Statistics show that academies do not perform better than local authority schools. Local councillors, MPs, school staff, pupils, ex-pupils, parents, community leaders, unions and this trades council are all opposed to handing the school over to an undemocratic beaurocracy.

Yet the Department For Education still insist on carrying it out regardless - so much for democracy or local people having their say!

What next? 

The three unions representing staff at Moulsecoomb Primary are united in their opposition to handing the school over to a MAT. The National Education Union (NEU) representing teaching staff as well as UNISON and GMB habe all pledged to stand and fight alongside the school and parents - as have this Trades Council.

The NEU and GMB will be taking strike action on Thursday 21st November as all other means of challenging this process have fallen on deaf ears. An invite has been extended to the community to join them at the school gates from 7am for a huge show of local strength.

UNISON are awaiting the result of their ballot and are expecting a similarly overwhelming mandate. Further strike dates involving all three unions are currently being planned howevr all unions have agreed to suspend strike action if the NAHT do the decent thing and walk away.

Each day that passes without a MAT being prepared to take the school brings the possibility of a further OFSTED visit closer. A second visit that acknowledges the ongoing improvements (such as this years much improved SAT results) will put further pressure on bigwig Gavin Williamson MP to revoke the order.

The other possibility is a new government being formed in the next few weeks that has declared to end the rotten academisation project for good.

"Everybody knows that the academy idea has failed and is dead in the water. To hand over a popular, working class local community school, with the challenges it has, to a deomonstrably incapable MAT is simply an act of war on that community. Parents won't stand for it, councillors won't stand for it, staff won't stand for, pupils won't stand for it - and neither will we. It's a disgraceful affair."

Matt Webb - UNISON Education Convenor and General Secretary of Brighton Hove & District Trades Council.

"Staff and parents know what is best for their children and do not believe that the school is inadequate. After almost a decade, there is no evidence that shows that forcing schools to become academies improves results. On the contrary, evidence shows that struggling schools improve faster if they remain in the local authority.”

Craig Arden - NEU Regional Officer

If you would like to keep up to date with the campaign please click here:

https://www.facebook.com/HandsOffMoulsecoomb/

Update: Coach to Manchester Tory Conference 2019 and more...

The Conservative Party who are already guilty of the horrors of austerity, wage stagnation, universal credit and anti-trade union legislation have (as you must have noticed) voted to shut down parliament. In fact, in the time it takes to write this email there will probably be another half dozen crisises and scandals.

The closure of parliament is in order to facilitate their dangerous No Deal Brexit without further scrutiny, which will decimate jobs and living conditions and turn the UK into an international tax haven.

There are expected to be huge protests outside their conference in Manchester this month.

Therefore the Trades Council have decided to run a coach up to the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester on 29th September so that we can join the many voices calling them out for what they are – millionaire crooks that have to go.

The coach will depart on 29th September from St Peters Church, Brighton at 5am sharp and will return later that evening.

The Trades Council will be considerably subsidising the cost of travel which for many people would otherwise be unaffordable. The subsidised return tickets will be £10.00 or £5.00 for the unwaged, pensioners and students.

We are asking all affiliated branches to consider donating to the cost of running the coach.

(click to enlarge)

September Open Meeting

Just a reminder that we are also hosting a free open public meeting on Wednesday 11th September at Friends Meeting House from 7.30pm. The guest speakers will be Jane Loftus (CWU President) and Amber Millwood from Youth 4 Climate Change.

Love Music Hate Racism

Stand Up To Racism along with the CWU and others are putting on a Love Music Hate Racism event this Sunday at The Arches (Brighton seafront). Lots of live music from Steven Bamidele, Bobbie Johnson and several great speakers. Donations on the door for entry.

Request from BFAWU

The BFAWU who have done so much great work organising workers in places such as MacDonald's are asking all trade unionists for help. The BFAWU are looking for people with cars to offer some of their time to help bring workers together. Fuel costs will be covered and food/drink will be provided. If you are able to help or would like to find out more please visit https://fastfoodrights.wordpress.com/drivers


I hope to see as many of you as possible at our open meeting on Wednesday 11th as well as on the coach up to Manchester on 29th.

Kind regards

Matt

Matt Webb
Gen. Secretary
Brighton Hove & District Trades Council

Trades Council Update

Dear friends


Our next Full Council Meeting will be on Wednesday 11^th September 2019 at Friends Meeting House from 7.30pm.

It was decided by the EC that our next Full Council Meeting will have a large section of the meeting open to the public and non-affiliated unions.

We will have Jane Loftus, the national president of CWU to talk of the anticipated second national ballot of postal workers, why the ballot is taking place and what it will mean.

We also have a Annapurna Morley from the Youth Strike 4 Climate campaign who are holding a day of national action and strikes on 20^th September. It was felt that as well as their message being a crucial one, their campaigning has been remarkably effective and that trade unions should be standing shoulder to shoulder with them.

There will also be an opportunity for delegates to raise ongoing and new disputes.

Current Disputes

The Trades Council have been made aware by UNITE Housing branch that workers at St Mungo’s are balloting for industrial action over plans to deskill the workforce and leave experienced and committed workers high and dry in favour of replacing them with lower paid staff. The Trades Council will share more information on this as we get it however UNITE Housing have our full support.

The Hands Off Moulsecoomb Campaign to save Moulsecoomb Primary School from forced academisation continues to build momentum. As instructed by the Full Council I wrote to Gavin Williamson, Secretary of State for Education outlining our deep concerns and unflinching opposition to the forced academisation order. On the plus side, the school scored excellently in results which supports the call for a second OFSTED report. After a series of unanimous indicative “straw” ballots”, members of the GMB, UNISON and NEU are all poised ready for a school year of industrial action ahead unless the order is revoked.

The community of Peacehaven’s attempt through the High Court to stop East Sussex County Council handing over Peacehaven Community School to Swake Academy Trust came to a sad conclusion last week when Mr Justice Nicklin essentially ruled that it was not up to communities who run their schools. In the face of outrage from everyone concerned East Sussex County Council then went so far as to attempt to recoup their own legal costs from the community group challenging them!  As the Trades Council’s very own (and Secretary of East Sussex NEU) Phil Clarke told The Argus “East Sussex County Council have lost the moral ground” and even for Mr Justice Nicklin this was evidently a bridge too far as ESCC were told to pay for their own damn legal costs!

Up at Brighton University both UCU and UNISON are going to ballot members over their pay (or rather, lack of it). The 1.5% offer is dwarfed by the rising cost of living in the city and is against a backdrop of similar paltry below inflation pay increases over several years. This trades council understand that ballot papers will be going out to members any day now and will support both unions in any action they take.

Brighton & Hove City Council recently announced plans to close Knole House which provides temporary assisted living for vulnerable people. This is as a result of the NHS Trust withdrawing their half of the funding from the important service. This closure will involve the loss of dozens of jobs as well as a cut in hours for those who are lucky enough to find any redeployment in a BHCC run sister service. The Local Authority have stated that they do not envisage any compulsory redundancies (which they know will mean the balloting of the entire UNISON local government branch!) but even the Voluntary Severance requests were added up not everyone shares their shares their optism. Similarly, users of the services at Knole House will not come out better for it either although they are unlikely to be able to march, protest or strike over the closure themselves. BHCC say that they cannot afford to run the service without the NHS Trust bankrolling some of it however whether either the NHS Trust or the council can afford the long term costs of “bed-blocking” in NHS hospitals and the already beyond crisis point of Social Services remains to be seen…

If your branch are involved in a dispute that you would like including in the next newsletter please email brightontradescouncil@gmail.com

TWT at Labour Conference

The World Transformed are holding a huge 4 day festival (21^st – 24^th September) of art, music and politics during the Labour Conference in Brighton.

The line-up of speakers include Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell, Dianne Abbott, Yanis Varoufakis, Ash Sarkar, Faiza Shaheen, Ken Loach, Francesca Martinez, Kali Akuno and many more. There will also be interactive activities, talks by Wetherspoon strikers, Acorn Tennant’s Union and many more. Please ensure that you branches are aware of this gargantuan event and come along to get involved.

The Trades Council have been invited to have a stall at some point during the festival so we will need a volunteer or two!

Boris Johnson Shuts Down Parliament!

Well that's a sentence I hoped that I would never have to write.

Anyhow, after the last minute mobilisation of hundreds of people in Brighton on Wednesday night protesting against the far-right power grab - a second large protest has been organised on Saturday 31st August at The Level at midday. Please do head down and add your voice and that of the Trades Council.