Democracy demonstration, Liverpool

Facebook page for this event here.

Peterloo: 200 years ago today

It is 200 years ago today since the Peterloo Massacre in St Peters Fields in Manchester when cavalry charged into a crowd of 60,000 to 80,000 who were demanding political reform. 18 died, including 4 women, and hundreds were injured. 

As this was only four years after the Battle of Waterloo, the event was sarcastically referred to as Peterloo. John Lees, a cloth worker from Oldham who died from his wounds on 9 September, had been present at the Battle of Waterloo. Shortly before his death he told a friend that he had never been in such danger as at Peterloo: "At Waterloo there was man to man, but there it was downright murder."

How far have we progressed since then? While the Peterloo Massacre has been called one of the defining moments of its age, the Miners' Strike of 1984-1985 showed that official attitudes to ordinary people standing up for themselves haven't changed significantly, demonstrated by the prime minister in the 1980s describing trade unions as "the enemy within".

2nd A-bomb dropped - but not the last.

At 3:49 am on the morning of August 9, 1945, the crew of the Bockscar, a United States Army Air Forces plane set off. It carried the 'Fat Man' atomic bomb towards its primary target, the city of Kokura in Japan. Clouds and smoke obscured Kokura so the Bockscar headed for its second target, the city of Nagasaki. At 11.01 am the target was sighted and the Fat Man bomb was dropped.

The bomb was devastating. 22% of Nagasaki’s buildings were consumed by flames. The death toll and destruction was less than in Hiroshima because of Nagasaki's hilly geography, but as many as 50,000 to 100,000 died instantly and others died slowly and agonisingly as a result of burns and radiation. A staggering 340,000 were killed by the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The bomb on Nagasaki won't be the last unless nuclear bombs are eradicated. That's why CND campaigns tirelessly to see them abolished, so the world can be free from the fear of nuclear annihilation.

There is hope. The international momentum behind the UN's nuclear ban treaty is enormous. We must do all we can to support these efforts and to strengthen the consensus against Trident here in Britain.

Find out more about how CND has marked the 74th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Liverpool WASPI rally - 3 August

Hungry For Justice

PCS members and reps are encouraged to support the Liverpool WASPI group in their activity this weekend to maintain and highlight their important campaign over state pension changes. Details of their Hungry for Justice picnic in the park activity are as follows:

• Saturday 3 August 2019.
• 1.00 pm to 3.00 pm.
• Chavasse Park, Liverpool.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki Day

Speeches, poems and music to mark the 74th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

• Tuesday 6th August 2019.
• 10.45am.
• St John’s Gardens, Liverpool.

All welcome. The commemoration will last around 30 minutes.

John Moloney, new AGS - ARMS Mersey guest speaker

The guest speaker at the next ARMS Mersey meeting is John Moloney, newly elected PCS Assistant General Secretary. John was the only rank-and-file candidate to stand in the AGS election.

Although this is a committee meeting, all members are entitled to attend and speak if they wish, although only committee members may take part in any votes.

• Thursday 8 August.
• 11.30 am - room booked from 11.00 am, so please arrive to ensure a prompt start.
• NW PCS office, Jack Jones House, Liverpool.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Advance notice: at our next all-members meeting on Thursday 10 October, the guest speaker will be barrister and former union activist in the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), Roland Zollner, to talk about how austerity is damaging the criminal justice system. Click here for more information.

The British Trump prepares for office

So the results are in. We've endured TV hustings for a vote in which the vast majority of us had no role to play. The contest for the Tory Party leadership has been treated like a general election, but it was no more democratic than an internal leadership battle in the old USSR.

Johnson beat Hunt by 92,153 votes to 46,656. As the total number of registered UK voters in December 2018 was 45,775,800 (source: ONS), this means Johnson will become PM with the support of 0.2% of the electorate. To put it another way, 99.8% of the electorate did not vote for him, and 99.65% had no vote at all.

The Daily Mirror has an article "37 lies, gaffes and scandals that make Boris Johnson unfit to be Prime Minister" which you can read here.

I have a comparison which will ring particular bells with former reps in the civil service.

A long time ago when I was a union rep in the DSS/DWP, I represented a member who was facing dismissal having been accused of deliberately misspending public money, a sum of around £200. I managed to save his job only at the second and final level of appeal when it was eventually accepted that it was a genuine error. The first two decision makers had rejected that argument and had recommended dismissal.

Johnson, on the other hand, misspent £53 million of public money for a bridge that was never even begun. He also misspent more than £300,000 on illegal water cannons which were eventually scrapped at a huge loss. Now he stands to be rewarded with the keys to Number 10. I cannot understand why he has not faced prosecution for massive misuse of public funds. If not prosecuted, than at least barred from holding public office.

His 'election' was little more than a coup d'état and his misspending of huge amounts of public money has been shrugged off. He has a privileged immunity that has exempted his incompetence and arrogant profligacy from any kind of scrutiny or disciplinary investigation, and has denied the people any say in who leads the country. This last point is especially galling because Johnson denounced Gordon Brown for succeeding Tony Blair as PM without immediately calling a general election.

He is our next prime minister - finger crossed, not for too long.

Neville Grundy
ARMS Mersey

HMRC cleaners strike 15 July

On Monday 15 July, striking HMRC cleaners employed by ISS were joined by PCS ARMS Mersey members, local councillors, local MPs, Liverpool Labour Party members, Liverpool BAME members and supportive members of the public at picket lines and rallies in Bootle and Liverpool.

And the sun also shone on the righteous!

ARMS Mersey members show solidarity with HMRC cleaners at their meeting on 11 July

The rally in Queens Square in Liverpool

Attentively listening to the speeches

The full line-up of strikers (centre front) and supporters

ARMS Mersey members (L-R): Keith Hebron, Neville Grundy, Steve Ion and Ray Beeton

Three resolute strikers

ARMS' Steve Ion chats with two of the strikers

ARMS Mersey's Jim Stanway (left) and Neville Grundy with the ARMS banner

Strikers, PCS HMRC branch officers, Steve Ion of ARMS (left) - and the ARMS banner!

HMRC cleaners strike - pickets and rallies

We've now received details of the HMRC cleaners dispute picket lines and rallies:

• Bootle Triad - 7am-11am both days, including rally to close Monday picket 10.30-11am before we head to town.
• Liverpool - 10am-12pm at Imperial Court (Exchange Street East) and Regian House (Derby Square and Strand Street) on Monday. Rally at Derby Square 12-12.30pm when joined by Bootle. Pickets 10am-12.30pm Tuesday.

Full background to the dispute here.

Fundraising page for strike fund here. Please consider a donation.

Please support some of the lowest-paid PCS members in this important dispute.

HMRC cleaners strike - support by ARMS

Steve Ion and I have discussed what support we can give to striking PCS members in HMRC on Mon 15 & Tue 16 July. We have decided the following:

• We will ask for a speaker to our own meeting next week (Thu 11.7.19).
• We aim to have the ARMS banner out on both days.

We are therefore asking ARMS members to tell us which days they can make and, if we get enough volunteers, set up a rota for the two days. To that end, please would you tell me which days you are able to attend. If you are available for both, please let me know and I'll select one of the two, although if you want to attend both days anyway, that would be great.

As the strike begins in 11 days' time, please would you reply by e-mail (or in 'comments' below if you prefer) by Wed 10.7.19, the day before our meeting? E-mail: Nevillegrundy@aol.com.

Read more about the dispute here. I'll publish details of times, etc, when I receive them.

Thanks,

Neville Grundy
Chair

Another economy is possible with a new Lucas Plan

An idea whose time has come?

• Wednesday 17 July.
• 1.00 pm.
• Jack Jones House, Liverpool L3 8EF.
• Guest speaker: John Routley.

John is a former Lucas Aerospace shop steward who helped form the Alternative Corporate Plan in 1976 after the company announced redundancies. The plan advocated the diversification of workers' skills and expertise to make 'socially useful products' that meet people's needs and benefit society.

Joint organisers, Merseyside CND and the Merseyside Pensioners' Association, say:
"All are welcome to join us as we call for a new Lucas Plan, where the knowledge of those manufacturing nuclear weapons and other military technology is used to tackle climate change and to improve the standard of living for everyone."

More information on the New Lucas Plan website here.

UC protests in Liverpool

We have just learned from the MPA that there is a protest against Universal Credit every week in Liverpool.
The details are:

• Every Wednesday.
• 11.00am.
• Jobcentreplus, 416 Eaton Road, Liverpool L12 3HT.

At present, that is all the info we have. If we find out more, we'll publicise it here.

Top civil servants: stay out of politics!

Letter sent to the Times, the Liverpool Echo and the Southport Visiter:

Dear Editor,

It is a disturbing development that senior civil servants are briefing the press with their opinions of the Labour Party leader. All civil servants are required to be politically neutral, as it is their job to implement parliamentary decisions and government policy, not to try to influence the political process. However, like all other citizens they have the right to express their views through the ballot box.

As a former union rep for much more junior staff in the civil service than the mandarins concerned, I know that if any of my members had taken similar actions against elected politicians from any party, they would have at the very least been put on final warnings for gross misconduct, if not actually sacked outright.

Top civil servants should not be be given more favourable treatment than that which the vast majority of their colleagues in the lower grades would have received.

For the record, I am not a Labour Party member and so have no partisan axe to grind here.

Yours sincerely,

Neville Grundy
Chair

Merseyside Associate & Retired Members

Colloids Dispute, Kirkby Industrial Estate

From the Knowsley Trades Council website:

At last week’s mass demonstration/picket at the Colloids site, strikers spoke of their gratitude for the support and large turnout on the Wednesday morning. They also said it would be a great moral boost if once a week we could arrange a day whereby all who could would gather together for a few hours.

So, this Friday 28 June, several Knowsley-based community groups are asking all those available to show your solidarity with the strikers, by demonstrating outside the Colloids site from 7.00am to 9.00am. We know it will not be possible for everyone to attend, but if you can or are able to inform others who can, it would be most appreciated.

Thanking you all in advance for your continued support with this matter.

In Solidarity

Steve Murphy

Details:

• Friday 28 June 2019 
• 7.00am - 9.00am
• 10 Kirkby Bank Road, Liverpool L33 7SY
• Unite press release - here

Liverpool TV licence demo - report and pictures

PCS Merseyside ARMs members supported a well-attended march through Liverpool to a rally outside BBC Radio Merseyside on Friday 21 June. The protest was against the BBC's decision to charge for TV licences for the over 75s who currently pay nothing. The march went down Bold Street, Church Street, Whitechapel and Manestys Lane to the Radio Merseyside office - with numerous bits of musical accompaniment thrown in! The BBC closed down their reception while the protest was on.

Many speakers addressed the rally from Unite, Unison and PCS ARMs Merseyside in the person of Steve Ion, plus Labour MP Bill Esterson. All spoke of the need to oppose these attacks now as they will clearly try and go for bus passes and winter fuel allowance next. They also spoke of the divide and rule tactics of playing off the young against the old and of the need for maximum unity across generations. This message was reinforced by a youth speaker who gave full support to the campaign.

The Merseyside Pensioners Association who organised the event closed the rally by stating that this was only the start of the campaign. The National Pensioners Convention had called for these protests and similar events were held across the country.

The ARMS NW banner on the move

The MPA banner

A musical protest - Mike Hinstridge of ARMS Mersey is on the right

Leading the chants, plus a Unite flag

Bill Esterson MP with the banner of the Liverpool Labour Councillors

                Keith Hebron                                Steve Ion (L) and Ray Beeton (R)

(L-R) Jim Stanway, Ray Beeton and Keith Hebron

(L-R) Jim Stanway, Steve Ion and Ray Beeton

Outside BBC Radio Merseyside

Bill Esterson MP addresses the rally

An unambiguous message

Marchers listening to the speeches

MPA condemns charging over-75s for TV licence + details of demo

Attendees at the ARMS National Forum in Liverpool on 19 June protest against the
scrapping of the over-75 free TV licence. The posters read: "Don't switch us off".

The Merseyside Pensioners Association condemns the decision by the BBC to charge over 75s the TV licence fee. During the last ten years in excess of £50 billion has been transferred from the working class into the pockets of the Tories' already very rich friends. The neediest in society have suffered while the top 10% have seen their wealth grow year on year as shown by the Times Rich List. They should pay, not the pensioners.

This government has cynically turned over responsibility to the BBC for their own funding knowing that that organisation would claw back any expenditure they could, even it meant attacking the most vulnerable to satisfy their political masters. Of course, the BBC’s ‘star’ performers would still receive their mega-salaries.

The same generation that has survived the invasion of Normandy will be amongst those attacked. We will call for all pensioners to refuse to pay this further imposition and join us in a campaign similar to the great Militant-inspired campaign against the Poll Tax when 18 million refused to pay. That campaign ultimately led to the removal of Margaret Thatcher as prime minister.

We aim to seek the same fate for the present government, to be replaced by a Corbyn-led socialist government committed to ending all austerity.

Tony Mulhearn

MPA Media Officer

(letter to the Liverpool Echo)

Additional comment by Marie of the MPA:

Here are the final arrangements for our demo/protest tomorrow (Friday 21 June):

• Meet 11.00 am at the bombed out church (St Luke's) at the top of Bold Street.
• March down to Radio Merseyside in Hanover Street to assemble there at 12.00 pm.

Bring rattles, whistles anything you can make a racket with. Leaflets will be available for distribution, petitions, clipboards, pens, etc will be available. We will have placards as well and chants. We need a full turnout of members for this event so I am appealing to all MPA members to support this .

Cheers, Marie.

Save over-75 TV licence demo - Liverpool

Grenfell Vigil in Liverpool: 14 June

14 June 2019 marks 2 years since the Grenfell tragedy in which 72 people lost their lives and hundreds of others were injured and lost their homes. A vigil is held on 14th of the month every month at the bombed out church in Liverpool at 6.00 pm in solidarity with a vigil held at the site in London.

PCS members and activists are encouraged to support the vigils, particularly on this poignant anniversary. We remember the victims and stand in solidarity with the survivors and families in their fight for justice.

• Date: Friday 14 June.
• Time: 6.00 pm.
• Place: St Luke's Bombed Out Church, Leece Sreet, Liverpool L1 2TR.

Petition - save our NHS from Trump

Sign the petition - here.

Time to confront the vultures

Tom Watson (left) and Alastair Campbell

As we anticipated, in the wake of the Euro disaster, the vultures are moving with renewed vigour to crush Corbyn and the socialism he espouses. Jeremy must know he will never mollify the Blairite wing nor the capitalist media. He’s got to go on the offensive. The rest of the anti-socialist brigade should join arch-Blairite Campbell. Watson, and now Campbell, are blatantly working to implement 'Operation Anaconda', their instrument designed to Crush Corbyn.

There should be no more retreats or apologies. Implement trigger ballots now to rid the movement of the fifth column, or they will destroy the Corbyn project. It's time for Jeremy to organise up and down the country to mobilise the massive support that exists for his anti-austerity alternative. Those who organise JC's activities should be bombarded with demands for a mass campaign which can change the whole landscape of British politics. Secret demos should be replaced by a confident call for JC's millions of supporters to get on the streets to demand a general election now.

Tony Mulhearn
ARMS Mersey