Reading Trades Union Council Affiliate Trade Unions, 2017

We are pleased to report that, in 2017, the following trade unions are affiliates of the Reading Trades Union Council:

Amalgamated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen

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General, Municipal and Boilermakers' Union

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National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers

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National Union of Teachers

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Transport Salaried Staffs' Association

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Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers

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Unite the Union

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University and College Union

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Unison

Reading Trades Union Council: Supporting Trade Unions in Dispute

Comrades!

Reading Trades Union Council is committed to supporting comrades in the trade union movement during times of dispute as well as during their campaigns in the workplace or the local community.

Please let us know about your activities and how we can support you. In the first instance, please post information to our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ReadingTUC/. 

And - crucially - email information and requests for support to the Reading Trades Union Council Secretary at readingtradesunioncouncil@gmail.com. The Secretary will then forward your communications to our mailing list - reaching those not using (or regularly using) social media and circulating information about your campaign in easy-to-print formats among local comrades.

Unity is Strength! Together We're Strong!

RTUC's Activities Roundup for November 2017

On 2 November 2017, Reading Trades Union Council Vice-President, Nada Al-Sanjari, joined RTUC delegates from UNITE, Jan Bastable and Sarah Hacker, on strike against Capita's proposed pension reforms. Neil Adams and John Gillman of RTUC/UNITE Bracknell, also showed solidarity with the Reading picketing.

Jan Bastable (UNITE), Nada Al-Sanjari (NEU) and Sarah Hacker (UNITE)

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On 8 November 2017, RTUC delegates were pleased to support USDAW's 'Freedom from Fear' campaign, represented on RTUC by Steve Geary. The photo below shows Neil Adams (UNITE), John Partington (TSSA), Jim Parker (UNITE), Nada Al-Sanjari (NEU), John Gillman (UNITE), Steve Geary (USDAW) and Ray Parkes (UNITE) sporting leaflets and a banner for the campaign.

RTUC Delegates support USDAW's 'Freedom from Fear' campaign

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On 19 November 2017, John Partington (TSSA) and Sarah Hacker (UNITE) of RTUC joined members of the Labour Party, Reading-Düsseldorf Association and Reading Civic Society, as well as peace campaigners, to unveil a plaque to the late Phoebe Cusden on her former home in Castle Street, Reading. Phoebe had been a postal workers’ trade unionist, Labour council and mayor, and pacifist.

The unveiling party, headed by Reading's Mayor, Cllr Rose Williams (in red)

John Partington (TSSA), RTUC attendee at the unveiling

Reading Trades Union Council at Reading Pride

RTUC Vice-President, Nada Al-Sanjari (NEU), at the Reading Pride March

Reading Trades Union Council had a stall at this year's Reading Pride and delegates, including Nada Al-Sanjari (RTUC Vice-President/NEU), Ruth McEwan (RTUC/Unison) and James Parker (RTUC/Unite) played an active part.

The following text is from Nada's speech from the stage:

"The motto for this year’s reading Pride is ‘Love Unites’. The motto of the trade union movement is ‘Unity is Strength’. Unity not just with the LGBT+ cause but solidarity with any group or individual facing persecution or injustice. An injury to one is an injury to all.

"I speak as a trade unionist and a committed activist for equality. Trade unions have been fighting for LGBT+ people for decades. I want to remember the solidarity shown by the LGSM – ‘Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners’ – during the Miners’ Strike in the mid-1980s. This act of unlikely solidarity contributed to the changes in the law that support LGBT+ rights. We owe them a few cheers.

"While we enjoy the rewards of resistance against oppression, we have to ask what we are doing about the oppression of people of colour, people with disabilities, both physical and mental, within the LGBT+ community and beyond. When the party is over, when the facepaint and glitter are washed away, we have to return to campaigning and continue the work.

"Join a trade union and have a voice. Belong to something that will fight for your rights to equal opportunities and equal pay, for your rights to participate in public life without fear of bullying or harassment. This is your basic right as humans.

"Trade unions are joining the ‘Schools Out’ campaigns to bring LGBT+ education to schools. Join us. Be heard all the time – not just at the party. Be seen as you want to be seen, whenever you want to be seen. This matters. You matter.

"The Reading Trades Union Council is committed to this cause. Not just here but internationally, we recognize the struggles of our comrades and organise with them to offer our support to be free from persecution for identifying as LGBT+.

"Governments change, Pride organisers change. But the trade unions have and will always be here to champion workers’ rights and equality for all. Let them wear their prejudice with shame as we wear our solidarity with Pride. I will leave you with this quote from the inspiring Audre Lorde: ‘I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own’. Solidarity Reading!"

Nada addresses Reading Pride

Reading Trades Union Council at the Tolpuddle Martyrs' Festival



Jeremy Corbyn MP, leader of the
Labour Party,  leads the Tolpuddle march





On 16 July 2017, five members of the Reading Trades Union Council attended the Tolpuddle Martyrs' Festival and took part in the annual march through the village: Nikki Dancey and Kevin Brandstatter of GMB, Steve Geary of USDAW, John Partington of TSSA and Keith Jerrome of UNITE. They joined the Leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn MP, who laid a wreath on the grave of the only martyr who returned to Tolpuddle, James Hammett, and who ended the event with a rousing speech to the thousands of gathered trade unionists.

 

Steve Geary with the USDAW delegation

 

From the Tolpuddle Martyrs' Museum (http://www.tolpuddlemartyrs.org.uk/story):

 

"As the sun rose on 24th February 1834, Dorset farm labourer George Loveless set off to work, saying goodbye to his wife Betsy and their three children. They were not to meet alone again for three years, for as he left his cottage in the rural village of Tolpuddle, the 37-year-old was served with a warrant for his arrest.

 

"Loveless and five fellow workers – his brother James, James Hammett, James Brine, Thomas Standfield and Thomas's son John – were charged with having taken an illegal oath. But their real crime in the eyes of the establishment was to have formed a trade union to protest about their meagre pay of six shillings a week.

 

"Landowners were determined to stamp out any form of organised protests. So when the local squire and landowner, James Frampton, caught wind of a group of his workers forming a union, he sought to stamp it out.

 

"Workers met either under the sycamore tree in the village or in the upper room of Thomas Standfield's cottage. Members swore of an oath of secrecy – and it was this act that led to the men's arrest and subsequent sentence of seven years' transportation.

 

John Partington with the new TSSA banner

"In prison, George Loveless scribbled some words: 'We raise the watchword, liberty. We will, we will, we will be free!' This rallying call underlined the Martyrs’ determination and has since served to inspire generations of people to fight against injustice and oppression.

 

"Transportation to Australia was brutal. Few ever returned from such a sentence as the harsh voyage and rigours of slavery took their toll.

 

"After the sentence was pronounced, the working class rose up in support of the Martyrs. A massive demonstration marched through London and an 800,000-strong petition was delivered to Parliament protesting about their sentence.

 

"After three years, during which the trade union movement sustained the Martyrs' families by collecting voluntary donations, the government relented and the men returned home with free pardons and as heroes."



Keith Jerrome, UNITE

 

 

 



RTUC celebrates the Workers’ International Festival!

Reading Trades Union Council Delegates with Emily Thornberry MP

The First of May is Labour Day, international workers’ day. Reading Trades Union Council revived the tradition of May Day solidarity in Reading by organising the town’s march and rally.

The event commenced with words of international welcome in the Forbury Gardens in front of the monument to Reading’s veterans of the Spanish Civil War from Ray Parkes and Keith Jerrome, representative of the Reading International Brigades Memorial Committee. Music was led by the Reading Red Choir.



Keith Jerrome (RIBMC/Unite/RTUC)

Ray Parkes (RIBMC/Unite/RTUC)

The march then commenced, proceeding down Friar Street, along West Street, through Broad Street and back to the Forbury Gardens. As it proceeded, the march, led by the RTUC banner and trade unionists in RTUC t-shirts, chanted a call-and-response: ‘What do we want? Workers’ rights! When do we want it? Now!’ In addition to the RTUC banner, ‘Vote Labour’ placards were in abundance, a European Union flag was flown as were several from the Communist Party of Britain. As the march re-entered the Forbury Gardens it was met by Reading’s crème de la crème of labour movement iconography – the Reading banner of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers. The marchers assembled around the Forbury bandstand and awaited the fine roster of local, regional and national speakers.

A real coup for the event was the presence of the Labour Party Shadow Foreign Secretary, Emily Thornberry MP. Just as the country entered the general election campaign, a voice of solidarity from a national Labour figure, promising to repeal anti-trade union laws, was a real shot in the arm.

Emily Thornberry MP, Labour Party
Shadow Foreign Secretary

From the RMT, Steve Hedley, the union’s Assistant General Secretary, overcame an injured foot to attend and – in his usual inspiring manner – roused the crowd to fight the Tory oppression and support the trade union movement. He also raised the banner of international solidarity, speaking of the workers’ struggles in Palestine, Turkey and Ireland as well as at home.

Steve Hedley (RMT Assistant
General Secretary)

Speaking from the heart, Unite member and Labour Cllr Sarah Hacker asked people to consider the International Workers’ Day of the future where tomorrow's workers are today's children under immense exam pressure and following a limited curriculum. She expressed her outrage at the level of debt students are graduating with and then entering a job market threatened with digitisation. She asked ‘What does the future hold for our children?’

Cllr Sarah Hacker (Labour Party/
Unite/RTUC)

Nada Al-Sanjari, a member of the NUT and the Vice-President of the RTUC, spoke with passion about the importance of solidarity through trade unions and the need to fight Conservative attacks on working people. She asserted that ‘We stand in solidarity with our comrades all over the world, who are using this day to fight for their rights as workers’. Reflecting on recent industrial disputes and government cuts she declared: ‘Teachers, nurses, doctors, train drivers and conductors, firefighters, an attack against one is an attack against us all’. And referring to the recent Trades Union Act limiting the right to strike, she noted the following:

Now for some irony, the government that won with a pitiful 24% of popular support has made it illegal for us to withhold the only power we have as workers, our labour and strike, unless we secure 40% of the vote. That means 274 out of 330 Conservative MPs who failed to receive 40% of the votes are trying to stop us fighting against our exploitation.

Winding up her speech on a local issue, Nada pointed out that ‘Our committed TUC in Reading recognizes the fact that women make up the majority of trade union membership and has pushed for campaigns on women’s issues, fighting sexual harassment and violence against women by supporting Berkshire Women’s Aid in providing support and refuge for women fleeing domestic abuse’.

Janine Booth (RMT)

Janine Booth of the RMT rounded the event off with poetry castigating Tory cuts, promoting the power of women as a political force, urging support for the RMT’s battles around the country to retain guards on trains – and reminding us all not to cross picket lines. Her performance can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RhBBccD6Kw&feature=youtu.be.

Chris Reilly (RMT/RTUC President)

The other speakers on the day were Merry Cross (DPAC), highlighting the effects of Conservative policies on disabled people; Paul Britt (Reading Pride) speaking of the disturbing statistics of attacks against LGBT+ people at work and the discrimination they face and the importance of the trade union movement in campaigning for LGBT+ workers’ rights; and Kevin Jackson (Unison & RTUC) speaking about the devastating effects of government policy on the NHS and social care locally and throughout the country. Chris Reilly (RMT), as RTUC President, wound up the event, quoting the Reading RMT banner urging attendees to ‘Educate... Agitate... Organise...’. Referencing the forthcoming general election, he declared: ‘Let’s vote, let’s get it out there on the 8^th May and get rid of the Tories from Reading’.

Merry Cross (DPAC)

Paul Britt (Reading Pride)

Kevin Jackson (Unison/RTUC)



In addition to online publicity, the RTUC May Day March and Rally received television coverage in Urdu on channel UK44 (including a slot for Chris Reilly) and in Pakistan on Dunya News as well as a report in the Reading Chronicle (below).

Reading Chronicle, 4 May 2017

Many thanks for the time and enthusiasm of the speakers – but especially for the 200 or so attendees who joined the march, listened to the speeches and joined in with the Reading Red Choir’s renditions of ‘The Red Flag’, ‘The Internationale’ and ‘Jarama Valley’.

 

From Reading to Leipzig

While the Reading trade union movement was on the march at home, John Partington (TSSA & RTUC Secretary) attended the Leipzig May Day Rally, taking RTUC solidarity to the DGB (the German Trade Union Confederation) and offering Labour Party greetings to the SPD.

The German Trades Union Confederation at May Day in
Leipzig: 'Pensions must be sufficient'

The  Leipzig German Social Democrats

International Women's Day in Reading, 8 March 2017

The RTUC banner heads the
Women's Day march through Buttermarket

 

Reading Trades Union Council played a leading role in organising and partaking in International Women's Day - 2017's event being possibly the most popular ever staged in the town.

 

The length of the march as it passed through Broad Street

The leading light in the arrangements was RTUC's vice president, Nada Al Sanjari, who organised a strong field of speakers, a band and plotted the route.

 

Starting at the Spanish Civil War Monument in Forbury Gardens, a procession of around 200 people - women, children and men - paraded down Broad Street, up Friar Street, and assembled outside the Town Hall on the edge of Market Place. Following music by The Retreat Singers - a Reading band founded many years ago on Women's Day - Nada introduced the speakers.

 

Jan Bastable (Unite/RTUC)
addresses the rally

From the RTUC, Jan Bastable spoke, also representing Unite the Union in her role as regional vice secretary and women's committee vice secretary. Jan noted that women make up more than half the members of trade union and urged as many people as possible to join trade unions to help defend rights at work and social services and the NHS in the local community. She promoted the activities of the Reading Trades Union Council and welcomed trade unionists to attend its meetings and to affiliate their branches to the RTUC.

 

Ray Parkes addresses the rally

Another RTUC speaker was Ray Parkes, a member of Unite Community and an activist in Reading's labour movement for 50 years. Ray commended the organisation of and attendance at the 2017 International Women's Day march, calling it the largest such event in Reading's history. Ray spoke of the strong women who have influenced his political development, from his family to such historical figures as Rosa Luxemburg and Clara Zetkin - the founder of International Women's Day. He thanked Nada for her enthusiasm and successful organising abilities and hoped the event would become an annual fixture in Reading's calendar.

 

Nada Al Sanjani
addresses the rally

To wind up the event, Nada spoke, giving a very personal account of her move from Iraq to the United Kingdom and the impact which British foregn policy in the Middle East has had on the local populations, especially women - splitting families, creating refugees and exiles, and of course killing vast numbers of people. Nada thanked all the speakers and the attendees and looked forward to an even larger scale gathering in a years time.

Nada winds up Reading's 2017
International Women's Day march

Reading Trades Union Council defending the NHS, London, 4 March 2017

Jeremy Corbyn MP, Leader of the Labour Party

On 4 March 2017, Reading Trades Union Council joined 250,000 other protesters in London, marching to defend the NHS. Nada Al-Sanjari, Vice-President of the RTUC, had organised the production of a banner and several trades council delegates took a hand in parading it from Tavistock Square to Parliament Square. Jan Bastable and Cllr Sarah Hacker, Unite delegates to the RTUC, marched with their trade union while John Partington, Correspondence Secretary, flew a flag for the TSSA.

John McDonnell MP
Labour Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer

Len McCluskey, General Secretary of unite the Union

On the conclusion of the march, a host of speakers rewarded the gathered crowd with words of solidarity and inspirational calls for continued pressure on the Government to properly fund the NHS and halt the creeping privatisation of our health service. Among the speakers were Len McCluskey, General Secretary of the Unite union, John McDonnell MP, the Labour Party’s shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Jeremy Corbyn MP, Leader of the Labour Party. All three speakers, leaders of the industrial and political wings of the labour movement, pledged support to NHS workers in their struggle for an improved health service, including backing strike action if the Government again placed unfair restraint on heath workers’ pay.

 





Nada Al-Sanjari, Vice-President of the RTUC

Cllr Sarah Hacker and Jan Bastable of Unite and RTUC



John Partington, TSSA and RTUC Correspondence Secretary



Len McCluskey, General Secretary of Unite, visits Reading, 6 March 2017

Reading trade unionists with Len McCluskey,
General Secretary of Unite the Union



The Reading Trades Union Council was out in force to greet Len McCluskey during his visit to Novotel Reading to address trade unionists during his campaign for re-election as General Secretary of the Unite union. Len spoke for half an hour before fielding questions from the audience, members of Unite and non-members alike.

Sue Stevens, Unite branch chair from Reading Buses,
introduces Len McCluskey, General Secretary of Unite

Jan Bastable, Cllr Sarah Hacker, Keith Jerrome, Ray Parkes and John Partington were among RTUC delegates at the event.

Ray Parkes (left) and John Partington (right) of RTUC
with Len McCluskey, General Secretary of Unite the Union

RTUC opposing President Trump’s Islamophobia with like-minded progressives



Event Flyer

On Thursday, 2 February 2017, members of the Reading Trades Union Council (including its Vice-President and Communications & Correspondence Secretary) joined Labour Party members, peace activists, students and those of a tolerant disposition young and old at the ‘Reading anti-Trump’s #MuslimBan solidarity gathering‘ outside Reading Town Hall. Beginning at 5.30pm, a crowd of around 200 people assembled – including a large number of children – holding homemade banners of protest against the American President, Donald J. Trump’s Executive Order, signed on 28 January, which banned travel to the USA from seven majority-Muslim countries (Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia).

Nada addresses the diverse gathering of anti-racists

The organisers of the event, Nada and Wendy, were incensed by Trump’s action and felt the need to respond to his bigotry with a peaceful show of protest open to all like-minded people. As Nada explains, ‘It was organised in two days. I addressed the crowd and spoke about the need to be vigilant about who is to blame for the underfunding of the NHS and local schools. We need to protect each other and to demonstrate that we won’t allow people to be scapegoated or demonised for problems that they did not cause. We came out in solidarity with those who were made refugees through destructive wars.

‘We committed to defend anyone who feels under threat from the prejudice that is dominating the headlines. We are united as a community in valuing every person in our community. I was inspired by the turnout and people’s commitment to stand up for those targeted for their difference. I learnt many things but the key message was clearly that there’s a strong will to get involved and be active, and continue the resistance against racism and prejudice and invasions’.

Among the banners on display were ones reading ‘Stop Racist Wars Now’, ‘More in Common + United’ and ‘I am Malala’.

Reading Trades Union Council's Vice President and Secretary

Speeches at the event can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/andy.croy/videos/10154147442756218/ and here: https://www.facebook.com/hattonn/videos/10101143138300717/.

***Stop Press*** Following Reading’s successful anti-Trump rally, US District Judge James Robart in Seattle stayed the Executive Order on 3 February pending a Federal Review. For the time being, Trump’s racist Order has been reversed – but pressure needs to continue to prevent its reinstatement as well as the further enactment of his illiberal and anti-democratic policies.

Fraternal Observer at Oxford & District Trades Union Council’s AGM

Also on 2 February, John Partington, RTUC Secretary, hurried from the anti-Trump demonstration to attend the Oxford & District Trades Union Council’s AGM as an invited guest, returning the tribute paid when Pól Ó Ceallaigh, Chair of the O&DTUC, attended RTUC’s AGM in December.

Key issues discussed were Oxfordshire County Council’s proposal to create a unified county authority, absorbing Oxford City Council and the other district councils in the county. Debate over the political consequences of such a move was had, with the proposal being contrasted with the alternative of a series of unitary authorities being established. There is currently no proposal for the status quo to be maintained – though that seemed favoured by the majority of attendees. Anything else would erode Labour’s strength in Oxford City, which is surrounded by a sea of Tory Blue throughout much the rest of the county. The delegates also looked forward to key events in the diary, including ‘Labour’s Industrial Strategy’ conference, Oxford (11 February), ‘Stand up to racism’ rally, Oxford (16 February), ‘Hands off our NHS!’, London (4 March), Levellers’ Day, Burford (20 May) and the Trades Councils’ Conference, Sunderland (10-11 June).

The election of officers was completed in an orderly manner, with Pól Ó Ceallaigh as President, Sue Tibbles as Secretary and Richard Kelsall as Treasurer, among others; these officers were also elected as a slate to the corresponding roles in the Oxfordshire County Association of Trades Union Councils.