All-out Leeds bin strike

Unions have announced a benefit concert for workers – Refuse to be Beat with Keith Allen and very special guests at the O2 Academy, Leeds, Sunday 18 October.

Send messages of support.

http://www.leedsunisonlg.org.uk/



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Taking 6 grand off people's wages is a joke and a disgrace. i support the bin men !

Forwarded by National Shop Stewards Network:
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GMB AND UNISON TO ADD £50,000 TO HARDSHIP FUND AS STRIKE BY 600 CLEANING STAFF IN LEEDS HEADS INTO ITS SIXTH WEEK

GMB and Unison announce line up for 'Refuse to be Beat' benefit gig and rally in Leeds on Sunday 18th October 2009

Paul Kenny GMB General Secretary, while on the picket lines in Leeds this morning, announced that GMB and Unison were between them adding £50,000 to the strike hardship fund as the line up for the benefit gig in Leeds was made public.


The details of the line up are as follows:
With very Special guests playing on the night:
Keith Allen and his 12 piece band
Matt Skint: Skint & Demoralised
Middleman
And compere for the evening: The Reverend Funky Butt Chunky!

600 Leeds city Refuge collectors and street cleaners have been on strike since September 7th. The Lib Dem/Tory council intend to introduce pay cuts of £6000 per annum to bring their pay in line with female workers. The rally is to state that in 2009 it's time female workers pay was raised to meet that of male workers and that massive pay cuts of invaluable council employers ended here and now!

The 18th of October is the night to raise the roof on these issues! Musicians and comedians from far and wide (and not so far and wide) are gathering at Leeds O2 Academy to cause a stir and let the powers that be know these new terms offered to the men and women that keep are city clean are not OK

Keith Allen (never a man to keep schtum over issues close to his heart) will be making his Leeds debut. After hitting numerous sunny fields this summer with performances at Glastonbury and Latitude, Keith's 12 piece (yes that's right 12!!) will be hitting the stage of the O2 Academy performing a raucous, toe-tappingly infectious selection of tunes you'll know and ones you won't. Along with renowned music producer Pablo Cook, Keith will be showcasing their forthcoming album '2 Pikeys On A Mini Cruise'.

Their live show is set to cause a stir! An awesome plethora of genres through reggae, funk, disco, and rock n roll! This is a shout-out-loud show not to be missed.

Supporting them on the night will be local lads Middleman whose jump in the air blend of pop, funk, hip-hop and punk will be sure to get the party going. After winning this years Future sound competition the boys have been on the road, in the studio and are now ready to get back on stage on home turf and make some noise in the name of 'leveling up not leveling down'.

Matt Skint, also known as Skint & Demoralised, is a 20-year-old performance pub poet from Wakefield. He began performing poetry in small back-rooms of Wakefield pubs Roughly-recorded spoken word tracks then became songs and a project known as Skint & Demoralised gradually grew over the next two years. National exposure came with help from the likes of Steve Lamacq and a record deal was signed with Mercury Records (Universal Music Group) in Spring 2008. Matt is composing new work in aid of the national strike on equal pay for the Benefit gig on the 18th October

The nights proceeding will be shouted about by compare and preacher extraordinaire The Reverend Chunky but Funky.

Paul Kenny, GMB General Secretary and Dave Prentis Unison General Secretary will attend the event and both will speak at the rally and will attend the picket line on Monday 19th October.

Paul Kenny GMB General Secretary speaking in Leeds this morning said 'The two unions between them are adding £50,000 to the hardship fund and planning for a long dispute.
'The event on Sunday 18th will raise much needed support for our members on strike in Leeds who face crippling pay cuts. Supporting the event is a way for people in Leeds to tell the Lib Dem/Tory administration that the proper way to introduce equal pay is to increase the wage of the women worker up to that of the men. When the equal pay legislation was passed it was always the intention to level up not level down.

'We plan to produce a special Christmas card for sale to support the strikers and are making arrangements for further benefit events in the City nearer Christmas. Meanwhile we appeal for support for the hardship fund See Note 2 below.'

Contact: for strike detail - Desiree Risebury 07958 156848; for gig details - Nic Greenan on 07513 001502 or GMB Press office Steve Pryle on 07921 289880 or Rose Conroy on 07974 251823

Refuse to be Beat, O2 Academy Leeds, £10 per ticket -Doors 7 - 11pm

Tickets available from www.o2academyleeds.co.uk or www.ticketweb.co.uk Tel: 08444 77 2000 Tickets also available from Venue Box office Mon–Sat 12pm-5pm No booking fee on cash transfers

The address to send the cheques made payable to 'GMB strike fund' is GMB strike fund, GMB Yorkshire & North Derbyshire Region, Grove Hall, 60 College Grove Road, Wakefield, WF1 3RN.

Forwarded from Leeds No 6 Branch GMBATU by National Shop Stewards Network

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Support our comrades in their struggle for justice. This could be you tomorrow!

This is Leeds City Council's method of solving the equal pay conundrum, "cut the wages of refuse collectors".

Striking cleansing workers are facing pay cuts of £6,000 and have been out since early September. Please send messages of support and cheques to GMB strike fund.

The address to send the cheques made payable to ‘GMB strike fund’ is to GMB strike fund, GMB Yorkshire & North Derbyshire Region, Grove Hall, 60 College Grove Road, Wakefield, WF1 3RN.

600 members of GMB and Unison have been on strike since the 7th September over Leeds Council’s proposals to level down pay for workers in the refuse and street cleaning department to achieve equal pay. These workers face pay cuts of up to £6,000 down from an average of £18,000. The City Council is run by a Lib Dem/Tory administration.

GMB and Unison are organising a benefit gig and rally in the city on 18th October. Go to www.gmb.org.uk/press for details or contact Desiree Risebury, GMB Organiser on 07958 156848 for more details.

Follow their plight on Facebook - Gmb Leedsnumbersixbranch

Went to this. Excellent turnout from the people of Leeds, black and white, unions united (Unison/GMB), workers feeling strong and enjoying themselves.

Workers who spoke from the stage talk of the strike being solid.

The slogan of the workforce is:

"Equal pay now, cuts in pay never."

I saw that displayed on the many t-shirts that people were wearing.

from last issue of Freedom newspaper:

A perfect example of the quietly growing militancy and anger of workers is the much under reported bin men's strike in Leeds which, as Freedom goes to press, is entering its fifth week.

The strike by 600 refuse collection, street cleaning and waste management workers employed by Leeds council began on September 7 after council leaders decided to cut wages by up to £6,000 a year as part of “equality” re-grading scheme. Under the single status agreement councils have taken to downgrading male workers pay rather than upgrade female workers. The strike remains solid with strikers refusing to be intimidated by the actions of council leaders; hiring in private contractors and scab labour (along with police escorts) to shift the backlog and employing a negative PR campaign against its own workers. What makes this interesting though is the attitude and activity outside of formal negotiations.

Already a degree of autonomy is being expressed; supporters have dumped bin bags full of rubbish outside the house of council leader Richard Brett who according to strike officials is "acting like the biggest Thatcherite in West Yorkshire since Eric Pickles", showbiz actor Keith Allen has offered to perform with his band at a benefit to raise money for the strike fund. The dispute has taken on a socialised aspect, perhaps understandable given that rubbish collection affects every person in the city, and it's this socialised aspect that gives us our potential.

The knock on effect is that refuse collectors in other Yorkshire cities are planning to walk out over the same threats to their pay. Bradford bin workers are facing exactly the same situation and over in Sheffield workers at the already privatised refuse collection service are threatening a walk out after it was discovered the contractor Veolia employs workers on different rates of pay for carrying out the same duties.

Striking refuse workers in Leeds enter their 11th week of all-out, indefinite action.

They are getting ready for a possible escalation in their dispute, as under current law, the council may be able to sack them if they strike for more than 12 weeks.

Please send messages of support and any cheques to GMB strike fund.

http://www.gmb.org.uk/

It's over - 79% voted to accept the latest offer (which looks rather like an earlier offer on first skim).

butchersapron said:

It's over - 79% voted to accept the latest offer (which looks rather like an earlier offer on first skim).

Click to expand...

Bloody good innings