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Irish HMV Workers Occupy Stores

Find out more: usdawactivist.wordpress.com / [email protected] / Facebook: Usdaw Activist

the ActivistIssue 40

February 2013

Bulletin of Socialist Party members in

Another year, another set ofworkers fired without getting theirredundancy pay. After theexperience of La Senza and Gamelast year, now comes HMV. Butjust like those workers, HMVworkers didnt take it laying downand organised store occupationsdemanding their back pay andredundancy money.

The workers had been last paid on21st December, obviously missingpay from the busy Christmasperiod, with almost a months paydue when closures wereannounced on the closures on16th January.

The workers in two stores inLimerick, one in Cork and theTallaght store in Dublin won quitea swift victory with administratorsDeloitte just a few days later onthe 19th January guaranteeingthat staff would be paid all wagesowed. However further job lossesare taking place in the UK andNorthern Ireland.

This just shows how militantaction by workers can bringresults. It follows on, not just from

other store occupations in Ireland,but also from the wave of protestsand strikes in Walmart and theactions of workers and Occupysupporters in New York in tryingto organise fast food and retailworkplaces in that city.

Socialist MP Backsthe Occupiers

In the Dail (Irish Parliament) IrishSocialist Party MP, Joe Higgins,declared his and the SocialistPartys support for the stand takenby workers in HMV in two stores inLimerick who are occupying the

outlets in response to HMVsdecision to close all its stores inthe Republic of Ireland.

The hundreds of workers acrossthe state have been left with fiveweeks wages owed as well asovertime payments, payment inlieu of notice, holiday pay andredundancy.

This is in spite of the fact that thestores in Limerick and elsewherewere viable but obviously notmaking enough profits for theowners. Scandalously thecompany permitted the sale of giftvouchers right up until the lastdays before the closure whichsenior management where awarethey would have no intention ofhonouring.

We call for support for theworkers in defending their jobsand obtaining their rights. As wasthe case in La Senza last year wereiterate our call for legalimmunity for workers occupyingtheir places of work in situations

like this.

A video interview with theoccupiers is available athttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAOprczr6h0

UK HMV Workers take to Twitter

On hearing that they were losingtheir jobs because the company

had gone into administration, HMVworkers took over the company'sofficial twitter account:

There are over 60 of us being fired atonce! Mass execution, of loyal em-ployees who love the brand.#hmvXFactorFiring

Sorry we've been quiet for so long.Under contract, we've been unableto say a word, or - more importantly -

tell the truth #hmvXFactorFiring

Under usual circumstances we'dnever dare do such a thing as this.However, when the company youdearly love is being ruined...

...and those hard working individualswho wanted to make hmv greatagain, have mostly been fired, thereseemed no other choice.

Just heard our marketing director(he's staying folks) ask 'how do Ishut down Twitter?'#hmvXFactorFiring

7th annual conference takes place onSaturday 29th June, Camden Centre,near Kings Cross, London - 11am-4pm

See www.shopstewards.net for info

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Bulletin of Socialist Party members in USDAW


When I joined Usdaw and becamea shop steward not much over ayear ago my branch existed more

or less on paper. Now we haveregular meetings, importantdiscussions and I am now vicechair and going to the AnnualDelegate Meeting (ADM, Usdawsannual conference) this year as adelegate.

A branch is an immenselyimportant thing in trade union, it'swhere the democracy in a union

flows from as it gives rank and filereps and members the opportunityto elect officers, attendconferences and meetings and ofcourse put resolutions through thenational conference which if votedon favourably can become officialunion policy. My fear is that manybranches in Usdaw operate likemine used to only on paper andthis is not only unfair to new

activists who want to attend eventsand participate in the union'sdemocratic processes but isactually extremely damaging to thefuture of the union.

There are many reasons why abranch may not function or meet.One reason being a dwindlingattendance at branch meetings orbecause members are not

engaged. These were reasonsgiven by the previous branchsecretary of my branch and whymy branch didn't meet for around15 months.

But for my branch secretary tothink that the solution to adwindling attendance is to not calla branch meeting at all for over ayear is unbelievable and quitefrankly unforgivable so it was morethan right that he was removedfrom his post when we re-launchedthe branch at the end of last year.

I helped re-launch the branchthrough a combination of notgiving the issue up and finding a

others who shared my view thatwe need a proper branch and weneed it now! I was able to gain thesupport of area organiser who alsowanted to see the branch up andrunning again and shared my viewthat the current leadership weren'tgoing to fulfil that.

I also made an ally with a veryactive and capable local shop

steward who was on Usdawacademy and was able to build aconsensus amongst reps at storesshe was visiting that branchmeetings and an active branchwere needed. That rep is now thenew branch secretary and is theperfect person for the job.

Obviously every activist looking tore-launch their branch or 'capture'

it for rank and file will not be ableto do this is in the same way I wasable to but one of the main thingsto do is find other reps andmembers who feel the same so youcan bring this collective power tobear on either your area organiseror the branch leadership.

If your branch doesmeet regularly then this

is a great start andadvantage however evenmany branches or domeet regularly aren't runproperly. For instancethere are many placeswhere the same peopleattend ADM every yearand in a lot of casesthese people treat it assome sort of jolly whichdamages not only thedemocracy of the unionbut the reputation of theunion amongst members

and colleagues.

Where this shameful and

undemocratic scenario takes place,challenge it. The culprits will nothave a leg to stand on as this is incomplete violation with Usdaw'sown rule book.

Going forward I aim to ensure mybranch remains active anddemocratic, that we send differentdelegates to the conferences everyyear where possible and that we

build the branch in workplacesensuring greater participationthrough the use of newsletters,meetings and social networking.

I am looking forward torepresenting my branch and it'smembers at ADM this year andexpress my solidarity with all otherrank and file reps and activiststrying to re-launch branches and

reclaim our union. We must fight todemocratise Usdaw and return it toits members, Usdaw has hugepotential with millions of especiallyyoung shop workers looking for afighting campaigning union.

Fighting for Democracy in our Union

Usdaws ADM in Blackpool is supposed to be the

key democratic body in Usdaw. But that can onlybe the case if members can fully participate in ac-tive branches who elect delegates and submitpropositions to be debated

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Comet owners walkaway with millions

Over Christmas and New Year2008/2009, Woolworths, the long-established high street retail chain,folded - a victim of the capitalisteconomic recession. Some 27,000shop workers lost their jobs as aresult.

Now, four years on, another retailer- Comet - has hit the rocks. Onceagain, like Woolies, hundreds of

stores have shut and thousands ofComet workers face Christmas onthe dole.

But some it seems will still beenjoying seasonal cheer; namely,the owners of Comet's parentcompany, the private equity firmOpCapita.

This vulture company has walkedaway from Comet's collapse, quidsin, after leaving the public to footthe statutory redundancy paymentsand a hefty 26.1 million unpaid taxbill.

Outrageously, OpCapita, havingpaid a nominal 2 less than 12months ago to acquire Comet, willpocket 49.7 million because underthe terms of Comet's administrationthese assets belong to OpCapita!

Meanwhile, customers who holdunused Comet gift cards andvouchers who didn't purchase themby credit card, will go to the back ofthe queue for a refund asuninsured creditors.

The Con-Dem government, despitetaking tough about pressuring taxavoiding corporations to pay up, islikely to sit on its hands and notpursue OpCapita or indeedlegislate for tougher tax compliancelaws to prevent a repetition of thisdebacle.

Instead of ineffective governmenttinkering, the obvious worker-

friendly solution is to nationalisethe profits and assets of thesevulture companies and use theseresources to fund long-termemployment.

What's in our food?

Tesco showed us just how muchevery penny counts to them whenhorsemeat was found in its beef

burgers, as well as in those ofother supermarkets includingIceland, Aldi and Lidl. Of 27 burgerproducts 23 contained pork and tencontained horse, and out of 31 beefmeal products, 21 tested positivefor pig DNA. Horsemeat accountedfor 29% of one of Tesco's burgerproducts that had been tested.

It's like the 19th century when food

adulteration was prolific withsawdust being added to flour, andlead being used to colour cheeseas retailers sought to bulk out theirprofits. We need the nationalisationof the major food production,

distribution and retail companiesunder democratic workers' control.

Food Waste

A new report 'Global Food: WasteNot, Want Not' produced by theInstitution of Mechanical Engineershas found that between 30-50% ofall food produced each year iswasted - between 1.2 and twobillion tonnes.

The authors cite a number ofreasons including inadequateinvestment in third world anddeveloping nations in harvesting,transport and storage, but by farthe largest identified issupermarkets rejecting crops offruit and vegetables because theydo not meet purely cosmeticstandards for size and appearance.

30% of the UK's vegetable crop isnot harvested for this reason.

This is at the same time that justshy of one billion people aroundthe world are going hungry and thereport expects the world populationto grow by a further three billion by2075. Time for a socialist plan ofproduction and distribution.

Bitesize News

Doncaster Tesco Drivers Give Tesco a Bloody NoseThis report is taken from website of the

National Shop Stewards Network

(www.shopstewards.net).

Doncaster ex-Tesco drivers,outsourced to and then sacked byEddie Stobarts, today voted by 150-19to accept an improved redundancyoffer and end their strike.

This package, whilst still only 650 foreach years service, was 50% better

than that drivers had been notified ofonly a day earlier in their redundancyletters.

This climbdown by Stobarts/Tescoswas forced on them by the mosteffective picketing that I have seen foryears, which for 50 hours, round theclock, had lorries parked up unable to

move, as many as 120 wagons at onepoint. Drivers at Tescos Doncaster depot

stopped lorries to ask them not to crosspicket line causing a huge tailback
http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Retailhttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Comethttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Private_equityhttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Taxhttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Foodhttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Foodhttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Taxhttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Private_equityhttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Comethttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Retail

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Such was the strikers sense ofempowerment that yesterday onepicket said I dont want this settling, Iwant to be doing this next week,Christmas week, and see how they(the bosses) like that.

Unite national officer Adrian Jonessaid in the strike meeting that thedrivers action had been aninspiration. He said that in the talks,Stobarts, an anti-union firm, hadadmitted that this was the first timethey had ever been hurt by industrialaction.

The union branch committeereluctantly recommended acceptanceof the deal. They thought it was thebest that could be got under the

circumstances. Even those that votedagainst did so more as a gesture ofdefiance than challenging the shopstewards who have shown realleadership.

This is because whilst the talks were

going on yesterday, the pendulumswung away from the strikers on thepicket line. Up to then, the police hadbeen unusually accomodating,allowing pickets to stop lorries and talkto drivers for 5, 10, sometimes even 20minutes or more, causing even moretail-backs. But around midday, moresenior officers demanded a morerobust attitude to limiting the picketnumbers and together with Stobart andTesco managers, more or less forceddrivers through. This meant that by

mid-afternoon the back-log of waggonshad more or less been cleared.

So, you cant call 183 redundanciesand the redundancy package a victory,but the mood of the drivers at themass meeting was one of pride that

they had stood up to the biggestprivate sector employer in the country(Tesco) and the most notorious anti-union haulier (Stobarts), and giventhem both a bloody nose.

None of the drivers involved will everforget the experience of the last threedays and their action leaves aninspiring example that other driversand workers will follow in the nearfuture.

...Whilst Sherburn Wincanton Drivers Ditch USDAWOver the last four weeks 150 Usdawmembers in the transport departmentat the Sainsbury depot, operated byWincanton, in Sherburn-in-Elmet, nearLeeds, have joined Unite en masse.This was preceeded by 80 unionmembers signing a petition of no-confidence in Usdaw as well as theremoval of 2 reps, kicking another rep

of Academy, allegations of ballotrigging and imposition of a rep withoutelection. Two union reps also resignedas shop stewards in protest at thisbehaviour by Usdaw.

Usdaw has been the recognised unionat the depot since it opened 5 yearsago, signing away terms andconditions in the process as well asagreeing a no strike agreement. Angerover this was particularly visible atUsdaws ADM in April this year, wheredelegates from the depot branch werevery critical of the unions leadership.They moved motions criticising thecollective agreement signed byUsdaw, opting drivers out of 10-hournight work limits as well as the unions

lack of media presence. The result ofthis shows just what a shamrecruitment gains from partnershipapproaches are likely to be, whilst thenumbers may increase in someinstances, the ability of the union tofight for their members is hampereddramatically causing those selfsamenew members to leave.

As we commented in issue 38 of theActivist, Usdaw members will havebeen watching this dispute closely,with similar crimes taking place withindistribution fordecades. In herelection material (reproduced in therecent Activist pamphlet) the lateRobbie Segal detailed the erosion ofterms and conditions, particularly indistribution, and predicted that at somepoint Usdaw membership would revoltagainst this, with massive discontentover this visible at this years ADM. Itappears the drivers at the depot havebeen watching this dispute and havedecided that Unite may be moreproactive in fighting for their interestsand supporting them in doing so.

Whilst the Activist sympathises withthe drivers decision, we have to strikesome notes of caution. Despite Uniteplaying a fighting role in a wholenumber of recent disputes including

Doncaster Tesco, London bus workersand especially the sparks disputewhich have seen victories, that doesnot mean it will always represent

members in such fashion. Despitemany positive signs since the electionof Len McCluskey as GeneralSecretary two years ago, theleadership still needs on occasions tobe pushed into action, this was thecase during the sparks dispute, butalso in the Unilever dispute last year itwas Unites acceptance of a sub-par

improved offer which then led toUsdaw accepting the offer.

Now that the drivers have joined Unite,the Usdaw leadership is attempting toobfuscate the issue, alleging poachingby Unite and demanding the driversare transferred back to them, referringthe issue to the TUC disputescommittee. Yet Usdaw has beenhauled before the TUC disputescommittee earlier this year by Unite forsigning an agreement with DHL inDartford where Usdaw had nomembers but Unite had beenorganising on the site.

It is a travesty that the action of Usdawofficials has forced reps out of theunion. But despite some promisesmade at a union branch meeting forevidence relating to the alleged ballotrigging to be made available, Usdawhave addressed none of the concernsof the drivers. Indeed they have been

punished for raising such concerns

Indeed in their letter to ex-Usdawmembers at the workplace one of the

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few reasons they state for workers toremain in Usdaw is loss ofmembership benefits. By leavingUsdaw you have also broken yourservice with the union. You may beaware that after twelve months Usdawmembership you are eligble to claim

sickness benefit, paternity grant, deathgrant and dispute benefit. Eligibility tostand for elected positions will also belost. But by signing no-strikeagreements and removing reps Usdawwas already denying their membersthese very rights. This was followed upby a joint letter from the company andUsdaw to members encouraging them

Usdaw members should demand a fullaccounting of what has transpired andhow Usdaw have officials have dealt

with the complaints raised by the nowex-Usdaw members. Our union shouldbe fully transparent with its members.

Usdaw and other unions should notplay into the hands of employers andhelp them divide workforces, either bysigning agreements over the heads ofworkers or trying to force them tobelong to a union that because of theirexperiences they no longer want to be

a member of. In the interests ofaccountability, all the complaintsagainst Usdaw should be included inthe Annual report, thus allowing themembers to discuss the tactics beingadopted by our top officials. It is in theinterests of trade unionists that theseissues are resolved quickly, andinstead of infighting we see joint unionaction on a fighting strategy to improvethe working conditions of drivers andall retail and distribution workers.

The best way to make the issues clearis to make sure there is an urgentcampaign over demands that the

drivers have raised. If no action istaken to improve conditions at thedepot then this will reinforce theposition of the Usdaw leadership, aswell as demoralising drivers at thedepot further. It is to their huge creditthat rather than giving up on the trade

union movement they have decided totry and start afresh.

A campaign around clear demands forimproved conditions at the depotshould be mounted, particularly on theissue of the 10 hour night-work limit.

Additionally a formal statement shouldbe issued by the drivers to explain toother members in Usdaw why theytook the action they did, including acall for a joint campaign of all unions indistribution to fight for decent terms

and conditions for all drivers in theindustry.

Mailbag

In same week as the governmentdisgracefully voted to make the poorpoorer by voting for a cap on benefitsMPs voted to raise their salary by, not to,by 20,000.

The survey showed that Membersof Parliament said they deserved an86,250 salary in an anonymous pollconducted by the IndependentParliamentary Standards Authority(Ipsa). Predictably, Conservative MPswere the most likely to believe they wereunderpaid, according to the results but Iwas disgusted by the overall votepointing to a 20,000 (32%) increase. Itis my understanding that the currentsalary for an MP is 65,738 and it is alsomy understanding that Labour MPs

on average said their salary shouldbe 77,322, an increase of around12,000. They were right to take on theaforementioned benefit cap though,quite frankly, what is Labour for if it is notto defend the working poor andunemployed from Tory muggers?

This shows, that our entire political eliteis out of touch and plagued by arrogantself-interest, regardless of which of thethree mainstream parties they ownmembership cards for.

I myself am a shopworker and Usdawshop steward who, along with my

members and colleagues, received a 2%pay rise last year so would find itunforgivable if MPs were to awardthemselves a 32% pay rise, especiallyconsidering other public sector workers,who like MPs are paid by the taxpayer,have suffered pay freezes, pay cuts, joblosses and attacks on their pensions.

I have written to my local MP, LaboursNia Griffith asking how she voted andwhat her thoughts are on the issue. Idont expect much of a reply but felt theneed to challenge and ask the questionas Nia is also part of the Usdaw groupof MPs, although what their role is andwhat they actually do for Usdawmembers is to me a mystery.

This is another nail in the coffin for anyarguments for our trade unions to

continue funding Labour. Our unionsexist and take members money to fightfor every possible improvement forworking class people and this isimpossible when tied so slavishly to NewLabour, a party who doesnt supportstriking workers and doesnt pose anyreal opposition to the most viciousgovernment since before the SecondWorld War. The Labour Party is now apolitical and intellectual concentrationcamp that only marks itself out asdifferent from the other two of the bigthree by its name and logo.

Trade union members hard earned andever dwindling wages should not go to a

party of big business but to a partyaccountable to and fighting in theinterests of them and their families.Trade unions should disaffiliate from theLabour Party now and aid the building ofa new workers party! Support the TradeUnionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC)as an important step towards this.

Anon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nia_Griffithhttp://www.tusc.org.uk/http://www.tusc.org.uk/http://www.tusc.org.uk/http://www.tusc.org.uk/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nia_Griffith

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