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Mobilise Usdaw members to resist

deregulation of Sunday Trading

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

theActivistIssue 59

January 2016

Bulletin of Socialist Party members in

Inside:p2 - Stop the Eroision of PremiumPayment - the Morrisons Pay Deal

p3 - Broad Left Resurgence afterCorbyn Victoryp4 - Mailbag / Usdaw & YoungLabour

One battle down and the restof the war still to be fought.Thats how Usdaw membersshould view the ongoing bat-tle against the Governmentsplans to de-regulate Sundaytrading.

Plans to insert legislation toallow handing control overSunday trading powers to lo-cal government into the Lo-calism Bill have not material-ised, partially after the an-nouncement of SNP MPs thatthey would vote down such ameasure.Yet this does not mean that

the legislation is defeated.The Liberal Democrats havenow come out in support ofthe governments plans andthe pushing through of

English votes on English lawswill mean SNP voting cannotagain upset the governmentsplans.

Councils Must Say No

Hence the importance of themajor local government au-thorities saying no to theseplans. The legislation is virtu-ally pointless if the bulk ofcouncils pledged not to imple-ment it.All of the most populous au-thoritiessuch as Birming-ham, Leeds, Manchester, Liv-erpool and others are con-trolled by the Labour Party. If

Corbyns Labour in parliamentcan say no to the proposals,why cant Labour groups inlocal authorities up and downthe country?Usdaw has produced a modelmotion and a briefing for

councillors, which union mem-bers will undoubtedly be dis-tributing to the local council-lors. But it has generally onlybeen the smaller local au-thorities where Usdaw mem-bers are councillors who haveso far passed a model motion.Unfortunately, some of thelarge councils like Manchester(a 100% Labour council) haseven commissioned researchinto the economic benefits ofextending Sunday trading! No

wonder the Economist maga-zine thought that local gov-ernment would be the bestplace for a resurgence of theLabour right to defeat Corbyn.Usdaw members should fol-low the lead of those in Leeds

who organised a lobby anddeputation to their council.Pressure must be maximisedto force Labour councils tocome out in opposition tothese plans.

Usdaw members in Leeds recently took a deputation to the council over theSunday trading proposals - other Usdaw branches should do the same!

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Bulletin of Socialist Party members in USDAW


Below a Morrisons USDAW repgives their personal take on thecurrent pay offer which USDAW is

recommended last year, which theActivist recommended rejection of.Given that companies are due tobe forced by the governments newliving wage to pay 7.20 anhour to over 25s (rising to 9) it isentirely possible that over the nextfew years pay could again be re-strained like over the past periodwith the pay rate hovering slightlyabove the minimum wage once

more. This is why the Activist be-lieves that USDAW should activelysupport and campaign for theTUCs demand of a minimum wagefor all of 10 an hour.

Retail has historically been lowpaid. So on the surface USDAWnegotiating Morrisons staff a wageincrease from the basic rate of6.83 to the dizzying heights of

8.20 taking them over the socalled living wage, seems like amore than fair deal. The companyare paying a good wage, the staffare happier, USDAW has negoti-ated a good deal for its members

That is about as much coverage ifany that you will hear about inmainstream media. The reality is astark double edged sword. The

new wage deal sees the end of thecompanys Sunday premium cur-rently paid at time and a half, quiteironic when USDAW The Cam-paigning Union who organise pre-dominately in the retail sector, arefighting the governments proposi-tions to deregulate Sunday Trad-ing, yet are trading away Morri-sons Sunday premium. Are theynot in fact preparing for it becom-

ing a normal working day? Or infact accepting it already is one?

The Sunday premium isnt where itends. Overtime, late and early pre-miums are being scrapped. Forklift

drivers and caf cooks will seethere supplements disappear. Peo-ple who started with the companyafter December 2013 will only re-ceive service rewards at 5 year in-tervals, although people who haveworked for the company since be-fore that date wont be effectedand still receive it every year (forpeople who started work prior toDecember 2013, they have to work

5 years before they can claim theirfirst service reward). Finally but myno means the smallest in this wageoffer, paid breaks will disappeartaking the working week down to36.5 hours (39 hours minus paidbreaks).

The concerns of many rank and fileUSDAW reps within Morrisons(who dont negotiate pay, apart

from a select committee who sitwith the National Officer) is thatTerms and Conditions are beingtraded away for a higher rate ofpay, and given this governmentsappalling attacks on working taxcredits and cuts to peoples benefitsare the members realistically goingto be any better off? Many USDAWmembers in Morrisons are parttime student workers, some of

whom only work a Sunday and itsdifficult to see how they wont beimpacted financially. Further ironyagain since USDAW has alwaysproudly informed its members howit campaigned to abolish youthrates in Tesco many years ago.

Of course for some people whodont work late, early, or Sundaysits understandable why they might

be excited about the offer. But howlong before they are expected towork late, early and on Sundays?

Without premiums and with no realright to refuse. What you essen-tially have or are going to get is a

divided workforce. With a naturalhigh turnover of staff, and a gen-eral lack of understanding regard-ing trade unionism and solidarityanyway, retail is difficult to organ-ise in. Now it will be even moredifficult for reps to organise andvery unlikely to attract non mem-bers within Morrisons.

So what exactly are USDAW doing

about all this? Well they recom-mend the members accept thecompanys offer when casting therevote in the pay ballot.

But why? Many members areasking. Surely a trade unionfights to strengthen their mem-bers terms and conditions? Anddoesnt trade them away for thesake of a pay rise? It is not diffi-

cult to understand members oreven non members apathy to-wards the union when you lookdeeply into what is being offered,and a perceived lack of any sortof a challenge from USDAW offi-cials, all they seem to be doing isreminding reps to recruit newmembers. Perhaps USDAW needsto remind itself that recruitmentis only part of organising, and

they are unlikely to recruit newmembers or organise the onesthey have if they keep tradingaway terms and conditions with-out so much as a fight, Whosnext Tesco? Sainsburys? Wheresyour next new member comingfrom? Because you will morethan likely hear the old question,what is the Union going to do forme? And with deals like this even

the most dedicated reps andtrade unionists are struggling toanswer that one.

Stop the Erosion of Premium Payments

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Following the huge 45% vote forBroad Left Presidential candidateAmy Murphy in the elections andthe stunning victory of Jeremy Cor-

byn as Labour leader have pro-vided an excellent opportunity torebuild the left in the union.Socialist Party members & Activistsupporters have been involved inorganising a number of Broad Leftfringe meetings at recent divisionalconferences which have broughtmany more people into involve-ment with the Broad Left. This ur-gently needs translating into amore firm base for the Broad Leftto push through the sort of policiesthat Corbyn promoted throughouthis election campaign into officialUsdaw policy. We would urge Us-daw members in every division tomake sure a Broad Left fringemeeting happens at their next divi-sional conference. Below we carrya report of some of the discussionsat the most recent Eastern DivisionConference.

Eastern Division Conference

The shop workers' union Usdaw'sEastern divisional conference on14 and 15 November took placeagainst the backdrop of JeremyCorbyn's election as Labour leaderand the changed situation since.

However, despite an enthused, pro-Corbyn mood among the workers,

shop stewards and some officialswho attended, the guest Labourspeaker was Enfield North MP,Joan Ryan, who backed right-

winger Liz Kendall in the leadershipelection.

Despite being a member of Labour-affiliated Usdaw, she reflectednone of the mood backing Corbyn.

Questions

Ryan didn't mention Corbyn oncein her opening remarks; it wasn't

until questions were asked by repsat the end that she was forced tocomment on her new leader.

When asked if she believed Corbynwould still be leader in 2020 sheclaimed that this was "up to Jer-emy, he has to prove himself in theelectionsto come, so I don't know ifhe will be leader in 2020." Hardly avote of confidence.

This was retorted later in the dayby John Dunn, from the OrgreaveTruth and Justice campaign whosaid "It's not up to Corbyn, it's up tous to support him", which receivedthe biggest round of applause ofthe weekend.

Ryan gave equally unsatisfactoryanswers to questions on local gov-ernment cuts, Syria and nationali-

sation of the steel industry.

She is a perfect example of whyJeremy Corbyn was wrong to sayhe opposed re-selection of right-wing MPs who don't represent hispolicies or the thousands of new

members who have joined duringand after the leadership election.These are also the same MPs whowill look to move against him whenthe opportunity is presented.

Sunday Trading

Industrial issues covered at theconference include discussions onSunday Trading and the trade un-ion bill which both received com-

plete opposition from the 100 inattendance.

'Black Friday' takes place on 20November and could see a repeatof last year when there were fren-zied scenes at supermarkets tograb cheap bargains. This was alsodiscussed and there was agree-ment that Usdaw should demandmeasures are put in place to pre-vent a repeat.

Broad Left Resurgence after Corbyn Victory

Southern Division EC & Socialist Partymember Amy Murphy, who won 45%of the vote in the Presidential election

Corbyns rallies drew hundreds - the left must harness this support for socialist policies
http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Usdawhttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Labourhttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Repshttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Electionhttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Jeremy_Corbynhttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Unionhttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Unionhttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Unionhttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Unionhttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Jeremy_Corbynhttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Electionhttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Repshttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Labourhttp://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Usdaw

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Elections to the committee of theYoung Labour are perhaps notsomething at the top of the mind

of most Usdaw members. How-ever, members will undoubtedlybe suprised that Usdaws leader-ship has ignored views of its ownYoung Workers Committee andnominated two Progress support-ing candidates for the chair &NEC of Labour Youth.

At a recent Usdaw Young Work-ers Committee meeting, thoseattending were told that it would

be inappropriate for them to dis-cuss the issue. But this isnt theonly time their views on specificyouth events have been by-passed. Motions to the TUCYoung Workers conferencewhich Usdaw delegates are ex-pected to move are not written bythem with consultation only onthe broad subject topic. It begsthe question, what is the point ofhaving such a body if you almost

totally ignore that bodys wishes?

Of course, it could be argued thatthe young workers committeesarent elected. Divisional youngworkers committees are ap-pointed by divisional councillorsfrom those who put their namesforward, with a national youngworkers committee elected fromthose bodies having one

representative each.

But the leadership arentproposing any sort ofchange to those structures its as if they want the kudosfor involving young workers,but without allowing thoseyoung workers any responsi-bility at all.

The Activist would like to see

the enhancement of democ-racy in the unions youthstructures. We would like to

see elected young workers com-mittees, a young workers rep onthe EC (where despite the huge

number of young workers in retailthere isnt a single EC memberunder 27) and the creation of ayouth conference where policiescan be discussed, including whatmotions are put by the union toexternal youth bodies (with theproviso that is doesnt contraveneADM policy).

But the selection of two Progresssupporting candidates by Us-

daws leadership, as opposed tothe left candidates favoured bythe Young Workers Committee,also shows that they are part ofthe campaign to undermine Jer-emy Corbyns leadership of theLabour Party by placing thosehostile to him in positions ofpower.

The best way that Usdaw mem-bers can fight to stop this, is bycampaigning for the passage ofpolicy backing the platform thatCorbyn was elected on at LabourParty conference and advancingthe case for the democratic con-trol and accountability we need tosee to ensure Usdaw has a unionleadership that fully represents itsmembers.

Usdaw Backs Young Blairites Mailbag:News Flash: Usdaw GeneralSecretary takes a wagecut!!

Well I never, the General Secretarystakes wage cut. Can this be true?

In the Autumn 2014 Arena, it was re-ported that Hannett was paid 94,514in respect of salary. One year later,Arena reported, The General Secre-tary of the union was paid 89,896 inrespect of salary.This represented adecrease of 4,618. Good on you

John!

It is hard to believe that our GeneralSecretary would willingly take a wagecut. So was it the EC who imposedthe cut or could there possibly be an-other explanation. Maybe if we lookcloser at the figures.

Arena 2014 stated that Hannett wasalso paid 42,408 in other benefitsand, would you believe it, by 2015 the

benefits had increased to 49,818.This represents an increase of 7,410

So Hannetts total package has goneup from 136,922 to 139,714. So,maybe our John has not taken a wagecut after all. Can someone tell us whatis going on?

Still asking questionsJack (London)

Hannett & Knighthood

Poor John Hannett - according toKevin Maguire in the New Statesmanretiring GMB General Secretaryknighthood would have been intendedfor John Hannett had he not ac-cepted. Clearly holding down wagesas part of the Low Pay Commissionand backing the Labour right isntenough services to our ruling class!

Getting impatientPaddy (Manchester)

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