News updates - from the web

Our regular round up of relevant news items, by Steve Ion of ARMS Mersey. 

Ros Altmann's resignation letter in full - here.

Altmann: "I felt like I was in detention" - here.

Annuity rates on pension investment drop by 37% - here.

A new vaccine could reverse dementia - here.

Perception of downgrading importance of pensions by government - here.

MPA motion & Jeremy Corbyn rally in Liverpool

Motion on MP reselection to the Merseyside Pensioners Association

Proposed by ARMS committee member Tony Mulhearn and passed by the MPA. 

The Merseyside Pensioners' Association declares its continued support for Jeremy Corbyn and deplores the charges of bullying and intimidation falsely aimed at his supporters.

We applaud the conference decision of Unite the Union which recognises the right of party members to select candidates that reflect their views and supports the need for mandatory re-selection of Labour MPs with a view to selecting candidates who support a programme of opposition to the continuing savage cuts of the Tories.

We believe that in spite of assurances given that the triple lock will be protected we believe that pensioners' entitlements will be threatened by austerity supporters on both sides of the House and we need genuine anti-austerity MPs who will fight to defend the interests of the old and younger generations. 

Jeremy Corbyn Rally In Liverpool

• Date: Monday 1 August 
• Time: 7.00 pm 
• Place: St George's Plateau, Liverpool 1 

Jeremy Corbyn MP will be speaking in Liverpool next Monday at 7.00 pm on St George's Plateau in front of St George's Hall in Liverpool city centre

Speakers include:

• Jeremy Corbyn MP.
• Cllr Alice Bennet.
• Cllr Peter Mitchell.
• Mel Walker.
• Cllr Joann Kushner.

Come and join us to support Jeremy Corbyn in his campaign to be re-elected Labour Party Leader.

All welcome!

HMRC cleaners strike 25 & 26 July

A message from Phil Dickens, HMRC PCS Union Representative

Next Monday and Tuesday (25 & 26 July) PCS members working for ISS as cleaners in HMRC buildings in Liverpool and Bootle are taking part in a 48 hour strike, following a unilateral decision by management to cut the hours of cleaning staff.

PCS has called for the actual Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation (LWF), currently £8.25 per hour outside London, to be paid to the cleaners. ISS is accredited by the LWF and claims to be a Living Wage employer. Yet to pay for the government's much lower 'national living wage' (NLW) of £7.20, it is imposing the cuts to HMRC cleaners' hours.

We believe that ISS, having turned a £250 million profit in 2015, can more than afford the real Living Wage. We also believe that HMRC, as the department responsible for implementing the government's NLW, ought to save itself embarrassment by ensuring that it is properly applied without shortcuts on its own estate.

Cleaners are clear that they want a wage they can live on without cuts and are willing to fight in order to get that. If this initial strike doesn't move ISS, they are willing to escalate their action. Please support them in every way you can:

• Sign the on-line petition.
• Donate to the cleaners' strike fund on-line here.
• Send messages of support to NWRC@pcs.org.uk

Please attend picket lines (see below) if you can, and show your support for the lowest paid and most precarious section of the union's membership in HMRC.

More details about the campaign (including how you can support us through social media) can be found on-line here.

Support the pickets:

Bootle

• Litherland House, Litherland Road, Bootle (map) – 7am to 9.30am
• The Triad, Stanley Road, Bootle (map) – 7am to 12pm

Liverpool

• Graeme House and Regian House, Derby Square, Liverpool (map) – 3pm to 5pm
• Imperial Court, Exchange Street East, Liverpool (map) – 12.30pm to 2pm

News updates - from the web

ARMS Mersey Group secretary Steve Ion's regular round-up of relevant news items.

• Adult social care faces 1billion shortfall - here.
• Joined-up health and social care - here.
• Funding concerns of defined benefit pensions schemes - here.
• Theresa May's husband works for investment firm whose major clients include Amazon and Starbucks - here.

Business Writer In Aspic

Tony McDonough writes what appears to be a 1980s composite editorial straight from the pages of the Murdoch Press, the Daily Mail, the Express and the then Liverpool Echo. He asserts Eagle can take Labour back to the fabled 'middle ground'; he doesn’t mention she and her allies lost Labour the last two elections and during the Blair years attracted the lowest ever turnout in a general election and bequeathed in Iraq the most toxic legacy since Ramsey MacDonald joined the Tories in 1931.

Aping the worst features of political analysis he dismisses Corbyn as being 'grumpy' and more of a comedian than a leader.

He then regurgitates the old false calumnies that Labour in the 1980s destroyed Liverpool's economic credibility. Is he not aware that under a Liberal/Tory coalition locally and Thatcher nationally 65% of Liverpool's economy had collapsed? These were the dark days the socialist council inherited. We refused to impose further suffering on the city. We cancelled redundancies, built houses, created jobs, opened nursery classes, etc.

Tony claims he mistakenly supported the left in the 80s. Is he suggesting that we should have implemented the draconic cuts demanded by Thatcher and worsened the plight of thousands of Liverpool’s citizens.

I look forward to his reply.

Tony Mulhearn.

Call a conference now to mobilise support for Jeremy Corbyn

A media release from the Liverpool & District Socialist Party:

The Liverpool & District Socialist Party is calling on Jeremy Corbyn to call for mass conferences of his supporters in all major locations of the country, including Merseyside, involving all those who support Corbyn inside and outside the Labour Party. We also call for a national conference to co-ordinate the activities nationally.We are launching a petition to support this call now.

Tony Mulhearn for Liverpool & District Socialist Party said:

"The anti-Tory, anti-austerity movement stands aghast at the grotesque spectacle of right wing MPs who, instead of attacking a Tory government which is split from top to bottom, are turning their fire on the democratically elected Labour Party leader.

"Expressing the popular support for Jeremy Corbyn 4000 people marched through Liverpool last Saturday to defend him. We need to bring together the thousands in every city and town who support his anti-austerity message and oppose his would-be assassins in the Parliamentary Labour Party who have led Labour to its worst defeats in the post-war period. That is why we have launched a petition for an urgent conference to be convened now involving all those who support Corbyn: the trade unions, Labour Party branches and including all left and socialist organisations inside and outside the Labour Party.

"Jeremy Corbyn was elected to leadership by a popular uprising against austerity. The right wing action reveals their contempt for the will of rank and file. We support Jeremy’s firm stance in rejecting the hysterical demands of the PLP and their allies in the rabid media to quit. Now the labour movement, together with all those who are opposed to austerity, needs to mobilise to support Jeremy against the Blairite onslaught.

"We are urging all supporters of Jeremy Corbyn including the unions, Momentum and Labour party organisations to endorse this petition."

• Find the petition here.  
• Local progress with the petition will be reported on Facebook - here. 
• The Socialist Party on-line is here. 

For further information contact Hugh Caffrey 07769611320 or Tony Mulhearn on 07939098455.

Witch hunting by our 'free' press

The spectacle of a media pack in full blood-thirsty pursuit of Jeremy Corbyn has provoked the question, particularly from younger observers of the current events, why does the media behave in this crazed, irrational, fashion?

Against Corbyn are Rupert Murdoch (The Scum), Paul Dacre (Daily Mail), Daily Express, The Telegraph, The Times, The Observer, even the so-called Labour paper the Mirror, with Kevin Maguire the ‘radical’ journalist joining the chorus against JC. All of these papers, like Corbyn’s would be assassins, have belched out the lying narrative since day one of the crisis that 'austerity is necessary'. That is austerity for the poor, and increasing wealth for the financial spivs who created the crisis. ITV, Sky news and BBC’s 'Flagship' programmes like Newsnight, and their number one Torquemada Laura Kuenssberg attempt to give some 'intellectual' heft to the hysteria. The component parts of this congealed instrument of hatred far from being irrational are bent on destroying JC politically and socially because he represents a challenge to their wealth and privilege. Jeremy must trust the massive support he enjoys, make no more concessions to the closet Tories and stand firm for a socialist future.

Tony Mulhearn

ARMS Mersey 

committee member

News updates - from the web

ARMS Mersey Group secretary Steve Ion's regular round-up of relevant news items.

Pensions timebomb faced by UK firms is frightening - here.

Media turns Nazi after EU vote: "stop older people voting" - here.

WASPI update - here.

9 things you might not know about older people in the UK - here.

Why it’s lazy, misleading and wrong to blame older people for Brexit - here.

Sign of the times: people have to work longer - here.