fight now: end the great pay robbery

W
e all feel we need a pay rise. Now its official! Last week saw a growing outcry against zero hours contracts. Over 1 million people in Britain could now be working with no guaranteed hours, sick pay or holidays. These are Victorian conditions in anybodys book. The TUC say almost half the rise in employment since 2010 has been in temporary work. More people are now in temporary work because they cant get a permanent job rather than because they want to work part time. Four out of five jobs created since 2010 have been in industries where the average wage is less than 8 an hour. Now workers in Britain have suffered one of the biggest falls in wages anywhere in Europe. Since mid 2010 average hourly pay has fallen by 5.5 percent in real terms. Thats worse than in Spain (3 percent) and in Cyprus (3.3 percent). Both Spain and Cyprus have been hard hit by the recession. Only Greek, Portuguese and Dutch workers have done worse than workers in Britain.
RMT members on Sercos Barclays Boris BIkes strike back over pay and shift patterns

As Britains average hourly pay plummets...

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Firefighters and postal workers are set to ballot for national action and the civil service workers union PCS is consulting members about how to take its campaign of industrial action forward. There is the potential to bring these fights together. And weve been here before. In November 2011, 2.6 million workers struck to defend pensions. But some union leaders sold a rotten deal and the momentum was lost.

Every activist who can should come to the Organising to Win conference on 19 October. The Tories and bosses want us to pay for their crisis. We need to organise to make sure they dont get away with it.
CWU striking post workers in Bridgwater need urgent solidarity. Next strikes are 17 and 19 August, against bullying management. Theyve struck 7 days so far and may be out for a full week in September. Cheques: F.A.O. Dave Chapple, Bridgwater Trades Council, 1 Blake Place, TA6 5AU Messages of support to davechapple@ btinternet.com

Maximise

Urgently

With working people under the cosh youd think Labour would be directing its fire against the Tories. Instead they have been trying to look tough on immigration by raising the issue of Tesco and Next employing Eastern European workers. The problems workers face arent caused by immigration, they are caused by the Tories and employers, who are using the crisis to drive down wages and slash conditions. We urgently need a fightback. On 29 September Unite, GMB and Unison unions, backed by the TUC, have called for a mass protest at the Tory party conference in Manchester. A big demonstration in Manchester can give confidence to everyone who wants to see more resistance. There is a real desire for unity against the government. In June over 4,000 activists came together at the Peoples Assembly in London to discuss how to fight austerity. In the autumn hundreds of thousands of teachers are set to strike over pay.

We cant let that happen again. We need networks of activists in every area to maximise the turnout on the 29 September demonstration, to build solidarity for any workers striking in the autumn, and to fight for deeper resistance in the future. Unite the Resistance has a conference Organising to win on Saturday 19 October (see right). It aims to bring together everyone who wants to see better organisation in every workplace and a real fightback from our trade unions.

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