Jeremy Corbyn's speech to Unite Policy Conference

Jeremy Corbyn's speech showed how much his own views align with Unite policies. He got particularly strong applause for his commitments to renationalise the railways and repeal the Trade Union Act. He also talked about the Workplace 2020 discussions about the future of work.

Those planning to stand against Corbyn for Labour leader should note - only a handful of delegates didn't stand and applaud him, and presumably some of those were people who had difficulty standing. This is markedly more enthusiastic than the response to any Labour leader I can remember.

Watch for yourself:

Tweet

Bombardier, Southampton and Fujitsu

Three important campaigns that deserve everyone's support.

UNITE members building trains at Bombardier in Derby are campaigning to save their jobs. There's a petition on the union web site.

UNITE and UNISON members at Southampton Council have been striking for weeks against brutal cuts which the council is seeking to impose by dismissing the workforce and re-engaging them on new contracts. I've posted the details on how to support them before.

Fujitsu, my employer, has escalated the dispute that led to members in Crewe striking on 30th June and taking ongoing action short of strike. Today they dismissed leading UNITE rep Alan Jenney as "redundant", even though this was readily avoidable and totally in breach of agreements and past practice. It is increasingly apparent that this is part of a wider attack on the union, with the company breaking a wide range of agreements. Manchester members are now being balloted too, with the ballot due to close on 4th August. Updates are posted on www.ourunion.org.uk/news and an appeal for support leaflet is regularly updated on www.ourunion.org.uk where you will also find a collection sheet.

Tweet

Green jobs, nationalisation, education and steel

Given all the government green-wash about climate change, you'd have thought "Green Jobs" ought to be on the increase, not under threat.

It's an absolute scandal that over 600 jobs at the Vestas wind-turbine factory in the Isle of Wight are under threat. If the government can step in to bale out the bankers, why not to save jobs like these?

When we do see government intervention, it always seems to be to nationalise debts and privatise profits. With the recent decision to take the East Coast Mainline back into public ownership, the government made clear it wants to re-privatise it as soon as possible. The way the retreat over Post Office privatisation was announced makes it clear that this is a retreat under pressure, not a change of heart. If we want government action (or inaction) we have to fight for it, not just stuff New Labour's pockets with members' subs.

You can send a message of support to the campaign to save Vestas at savevestas@gmail.com.

In similar vein, you'd have thought that FE education would be expanding in times of recession, but actually cuts are the order of the day. Near me, the UCU union is fighting job cuts at Manchester College and a few of us from work went down to support them when they were on strike on 1st July.



These job cuts have a particular importance for trade unionists, because the college is targeting the UCU branch secretary for compulsory redundancy. There's history here too - Manchester College was formed by the merger of MANCAT and City College and the college Principal, Peter Tavernor came from MANCAT. Under his "leadership" a few years ago, MANCAT decided to close the trade union education department to get rid of several key UCU officers, including the branch secretary. It is a disgrace that he is still in office and pursuing his anti-union agenda despite losing tribunal cases over the previous victimisations.

In manufacturing the job losses continue relentlessly. It's good to see a campaign starting to get underway over the threat to jobs at Corus. There's a demo on Saturday 18th July, assembling at 12:00 at Majuba Road car park in Redcar, with a march setting off at 2pm.

Tweet