Refugees Welcome demo: Saturday 19 March in London

Our Branch is supporting the Refugees Welcome demo in London, Saturday 19 March.

Stand Up to Racism!

Brighton People’s Assembly is running a coach to London for the Stand Up To Racism demonstration on 19 March, in association with The Big Lemon.

The Coach will depart from Brighton’s Old Steine at 9am, and people from all over the country will be assembling at 12.00 noon at Portland Place, W1A 1AA.

At the end of the day the coach will pick up from The Mall, close to Trafalgar Square at 4.00 pm.

Brighton People’s Assembly is offering subsided transport to enable everyone to be able to come regardless of means. The minimum donation is £5, with a standard ticket being £10. If you are able to contribute more and would like to enable someone else to be able to come too, we are also offering Donation tickets at £20.

Thank you very much for your support and we hope to see you there!

To book a place go to http://thebiglemon.myshopify.com/products/refugees-welcome

Next meeting: Monday 7 March at 7pm, Craft Beer Company

Next meeting: 

Monday 7 March at 7pm, Craft Beer Company

http://thecraftbeerco.com/pubs/brighton/

Agenda

1. Welcome and apologies
2. Election of new members
3. Treasurer's report
4. Support for March 19 Stand Up to Racism demo
5. Support for Stop the War Brighton & Hove
6. Trades Council report, AGM, affiliation and delegates
7. DM - Late Notice Motion on NUJ subs during maternity leave
8. Disabled people in journalism training
9. Election of new branch secretary
10. AOB

Next meeting: Tuesday 2 February at 7.30, Craft Beer Company

Next meeting: Tuesday 2 February at 7.30, Craft Beer Company

Also this Saturday

Unprecedented cuts to local council funding by the government is meaning vital services are under severe threat. Across Brighton and East Sussex this is likely to mean, Libraries closing, day care centres for the disabled closing, special schools to close, special educational needs teachers cut, ending the housing support service, reductions in sexual health services, youth services cut, drug rehabilitation cut, children’s centres to close and much more.

The Trade Unions and local campaigning organisations are organising demonstrations this Saturday 30th January to raise awareness of the depth of the cuts and build opposition to them.

Brighton: Meet Midday at the Level, Union Road to march to the Town Hall

Eastbourne: Meet 11am Bankers Corner, Terminus Road

Don't let them destroy the BBC

Our BBC is under threat from massive cuts and the NUJ is joining with other BBC unions to make the public aware of what is happening and build a campaign to stop it. 

In Brighton this Saturday (November 21) we are gathering outside the Theatre Royal in New Road from 10.30 and till 2pm to leaflet passers-by and make a noise. Please come along if you can. The leaflet is attached.

And this Thursday NUJ member Mary Brodbin is speaking at a climate change event sponsored by Brighton & Hove Trades Council. It's upstairs at the Quadrant pub by the Clocktower in Brighton, starting 7.30pm. There's a leaflet attached for that, too.

TUC march 18 October 2014

Branch member Ollie Wilson has posted a blog containing lots of photos of the TUC's Britain Needs a Pay Rise March through central London on 18 October 2014 - and the train the Trades Council hired to get us up there:

http://oliverspoetrygarret.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/the-red-train.html

Britain needs a pay rise: TUC demo 18 October

There's a TUC march and rally in London on 18 October, which the branch is supporting:
http://britainneedsapayrise.org/

The Brighton Trades Council is organising a train to encourage people to attend the TUC 'Britain needs a pay rise' demonstration in central London on the 18 October.

We expect to leave Brighton station at 8:30am and return from Victoria at 5pm. The Journey will be longer than normal as the direct line is closed to all trains that weekend.

We have block-booked 10 seats on the trades council train that's going up, so ask anyone who wants to go to contact Phil at philmellows@btinternet.com and the first 10 NUJ members can have a free trip. Non-NUJ members can pay for a seat via this Eventbrite page (which includes details on times etc):

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/brighton-train-to-tuc-britain-needs-a-pay-rise-demo-tickets-13289634655

Strike Day - Thursday 10 July

This Thursday 10 July an estimated 1.5 million public sector workers across the country will be out on strike for a decent pay rise. Council workers in the Unison, GMB and Unite unions will be joined by the firefighters of the FBU, the teachers of the NUT and civil servants in the PCS.

You can show your support for workers taking on a government that's attacking us all by joining the marches and rally that will be taking place in Brighton on the day:

10.30am - Marches from Hove Town and Hollingdean Road bin depot

Midday - Rally on The Level

Look out for the NUJ banner!

There will be picket lines from about 7am at Brighton Town Hall (Black Lion St), Hove Town Hall, the bin depot in Hollingdean Road, the fire station at Preston Circus - take your pick!

Hands off Hove Park School march and picnic

Join the march & comedy picnic on Saturday 5 July

Hands off Hove Park School is calling on all supporters to join with a march and family picnic in Hove on 5 July. 

The plan is to meet at 10.30am on the lawns opposite the car-park of the King Alfred's Leisure Centre. Everyone is welcome to join the march including students, families, teachers and anyone who supports and values a fair, equal, excellent comprehensive education in local schools for all the children in our communities. We are marching to say NO to the academy proposal at Hove Park and NO to the continued and chaotic dismantling and deregulation of state schools. We are also marching to celebrate our local schools and help to protect the rights of hard-working, committed state-school teachers who put the education of children first.

Comedians Shappi Khorsandi and Mark Steel will join our family picnic from about 12.30pm for a Stand-Up For Hove Park School comedy show in Hove Park. Caroline Lucas MP will also be speaking.

Retune It will conduct an HOHPS marching band – bring your wheelie bins, metal buckets and pots & pans – and something to bash them with!

Let us know what you can bring to MAKE SOME NOISE. And arrive at 10.20am prompt for a rehearsal.

Don’t forget to bring bubbles, banners, badges and balloons too and add picnic food, friends and family for a great day out. The route for the march will go up Sackville Road and finish at Hove Park.

More info on www.handsoffhoveparkschool.wordpress.com.

NUJ Branch banner at the NHS rally

The Branch banner was in evidence again at the No to NHS Privatisation at Brighton Hospitals rally called by the GMB and Defend the NHS Sussex on Saturday 2 November. The NUJ's was the only non health union banner on the march of about 500-600 people. The photo above shows Branch Chair Adam Powley and the one below (taken by Nick Hider) shows Branch Secretary Phil Mellows.

Hardworking demonstrators

Report from Manchester by Natasha Steel

Approaching the conference centre

The award for irony of the day must go to the Conservative Party. As a trade union march of 50,000 people whistled and booed their way past the heavily policed and fortified Manchester Central Conference Centre on Sunday, the Tory banners proclaimed their allegiance with “hardworking people”.

Strangely, a care worker from Chester I met who works fourteen hour shifts “wiping arses” and was on the demonstration was unswayed by the signage and showed no inclination for joining the party. 

“Half of the month I sleep over,” she said. “I don’t like it, having to get into a bed that someone else sleeps in, but you have to do it if you want to pay the mortgage. If there’s overtime I always say yes.

“It’s the only way we can make ends meet. 

“But you don’t actually get much sleep, there’s always someone up and you have to be up with them. I’ve done this for 25 years, what I really want to do is be an NHS nurse, but there’s no way I can afford to retrain and pay the mortgage. I just can’t take the risk.”

She recounted how her boss in the privately run company had told her that pay was low because ‘anyone can do care work.’

“Can you?” she’d asked. “Can you wipe shitty arses when it’s all up their back and on the walls? Can you do that?”

Unsurprisingly, he retracted.

She also described how work was made harder because the hoists that got boxes ticked on the inspectors’ rounds weren’t actually used because there wasn’t the time. “We just have to lift them in the old way,” she said.

 
Similar stories of overwork, low pay and worsening conditions could probably be told by many of the hardworking demonstrators on the march – over three times as many as were attending the party conference. However, according to the BBC’s chief political correspondent, Norman Smith, the Tories weren’t actually very interested in hearing from them after all.

“I was stopped from filming 'Live' for @BBCNews Channel from conf centre overlooking #nhs299 demo” he tweeted. 

Doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, care workers, bakery workers, teachers, firefighters, journalists – the range of professions was vast, but the experiences were common. Not only do most people already work exceptionally hard, but pay is poor and housing expensive. Where regulation is weak, they are hit again. 

I think it’s safe to say – without irony - that on Sunday the hardworking people of Britain were on the streets of Manchester, not in the Conservative Party Conference.

Natasha Steel

Brighton People's Assembly Undercover University

This Saturday, 7 September, join in Brighton People's Assembly Undercover University, in Steine Gardens 12 - 6pm. It's an afternoon of talks, practical workshops and discussion to help us make sense of the economic crisis, the impact it’s having on us and to explore the alternatives.

Workshops & Talks
12pm – Welfare Reform: Hurting but not working
1pm – Film-making workshop: How to create and promote your own low-budget film
2.30pm – A million climate jobs: The shift to a low-carbon economy
3pm – Let’s talk about Tax: Tackling poverty through a fairer tax system
4.30pm – The plot against the NHS: The privatisation of our health care services
5.30pm – A life of debt: The marketisation of education

Plus live music from The Bandana Collective and POG.

More info at http://freeuniversitybrighton.org/events/the-peoples-assembly-undercover/

Also on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/157940194401182/

Demonstration against the cuts
A reminder too that the NUJ is backing a march and rally taking place in Manchester on Sunday 29 September to coincide with the Conservative Party conference. We shall be taking our banner and volunteers are needed to carry it.

Supported by the TUC and the People’s Assembly Against Austerity, tens of thousands of people are expected to travel from around the country to show their feelings about cuts to jobs, services and benefits and in support of the NHS.

A special train is being laid on from London, while Brighton Trades Council has organised a coach from Brighton - £10 waged £2 unwaged. For a place on the coach, book here http://brightonnhscoach-es2.eventbrite.co.uk/?rank=1#.

The march will assemble at Liverpool Road, near the Museum of Science and Industry, at 11.00 and at 12.30 the march will set off via Deansgate and John Dalton Street for the rally in Whitworth Park, opposite the Manchester Royal Infirmary, at around 14.00.
http://thepeoplesassembly.org.uk/march-and-rally-sunday-29-september-2013/

Demonstration against the cuts and Mass sleep out

Demonstration against the cuts
The NUJ is backing a march and rally taking place in Manchester on Sunday 29 September to coincide with the Conservative Party conference. Supported by the TUC and the People’s Assembly Against Austerity, tens of thousands of people are expected to travel from around the country to show their feelings about cuts to jobs, services and benefits and in support of the NHS.

A special train is being laid on from London, while Brighton Trades Council has organised a coach from Brighton - £10 waged £2 unwaged. For a place on the coach, email BrightonTradesCouncil@gmail.com.

 The march will assemble at Liverpool Road, near the Museum of Science and Industry, at 11.00 and at 12.30 the march will set off via Deansgate and John Dalton Street for the rally in Whitworth Park, opposite the Manchester Royal Infirmary, at around 14.00.
http://thepeoplesassembly.org.uk/march-and-rally-sunday-29-september-2013/

Mass sleep out in Brighton and Worthing
Campaigners in Brighton are joining a nationwide protest against the ‘Bedroom Tax’ and other benefit cuts by sleeping out overnight. The protest in Worthing takes place from 7pm on Friday 23 August, at Liverpool Terrace. The Brighton event is from 2pm on Saturday 24 August in Steine Gardens and is supported by Brighton Benefits Campaign. Information about both events can be found on Facebook.

Over 4,000 join People’s Assembly Against Austerity

Photo by Natasha Steel

The NUJ Brighton & Sussex banner made an appearance at a national meeting of over 4,000 people in London - and found its way onto News at Ten. The People’s Assembly Against Austerity, which took place at Westminster Central Hall on 22 June, was the largest gathering of individuals, unions and organisations fighting and resisting the Government’s austerity programme since the financial crash over five years ago.

Delegates, some of whom were taking their first action against the cuts, were buzzing after rousing speeches including plenaries from Frances O’Grady, Owen Jones, Mark Steel, Francesca Martinez and Tony Benn. Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said anti-union laws should not get in the way of strikes against austerity and Mark Serwotka, who leads the civil service PCS union, called for co-ordinated civil disobedience, protests and strikes.

Packed sessions exceeded the organisers’ expectations and a marquee and extra accommodation was found to accommodate everyone. Recognising the energy, potential and hopes of millions of people affected by austerity, the People’s Assembly called for concrete action to be undertaken across the country.

This includes:

• Local People’s Assemblies to be established in every area possible 
• A mass protest at the Tory Party conference in Manchester on 29 September 
• A day of civil disobedience nationally on 5 November 
• A national demonstration in London in the new year 

At a session to create and build on local People’s Assemblies, about 40 people from Brighton and Sussex shared contact details and agreed to further the aims of the movement. A Brighton People’s Assembly Against Austerity Facebook page has been set up and a meeting is taking place at the King & Queen pub on 11 July, 7.30pm.

The national People’s Assembly follows more than 10 regional meetings, including one that was held at the Brighthelm Centre in Brighton on 30 May.

To create an infrastructure that can support the local organisations and take forward the national initiatives that were launched at the assembly, the People’s Assembly has launched an urgent financial appeal to raise funds. This can be done on the website: http://thepeoplesassembly.org.uk/donate/

Natasha Steel

Cityclean workers demo, Saturday 15 June

Cityclean workers at Brighton bin depot, members of the GMB, are set to strike for seven days tomorrow against attempts by Brighton & Hove Council to cut their pay.

Some workers will lose up to £4,000 a year as a result of the proposed changes to allowances.

As part of their campaign the bin workers have called a demonstration on Saturday, which will march through the city from the Hollingdean depot to the council offices at Kings House in Hove for a rally with speeches. Trade unionists and service users are invited to join them.

Brighton & Mid-Sussex NUJ branch committee is aiming to be on the march with our banner. It'll be great if you can join us.

Assemble 11.30am, Saturday June 15, at Hollingdean depot in Upper Hollingdean Road.

Brighton Branch marches with the TUC against austerity

On Saturday 20 October, a Brighton and Mid-Sussex Branch contingent travelled up to London on the Trades Council chartered train to take part in the TUC's 'A future that works' anti-austerity march. Here is a photo of the NUJ group - including our General Secretary Michelle Stanistreet - which was near the back of the march, along with the 'entertainment unions'. It was a great show of solidarity and a big thank you to the Trades Council for organising the trip.

Join the TUC Demo October 20th

No to Austerity! March Together! Organise to Strike Together! 

The NUJ Branch will be reserving a block of seats on the train to the demo as described in the following Trades Council announcement:

The TUC have called a demonstration for ‘A Future That Works’ in central London on 20th October. This has the potential to see many hundreds of thousands on the streets - a huge show of anger against the government. The Brighton Trade Union Council with the support of most of our city’s union branches has booked a train so we can all travel up and back together. 

Book a seat today and join us! 

We have seen 350,000 public sector jobs lost, 4 years of pay freeze, NHS privatisation, 1 million youth unemployed, university fees tripled, benefits slashed, EMA cut... and only 15% of the cuts have been made so far. All this as the deficit and the coffers of the super-rich keep expanding! Our movement shook the government on 30th November when 2 million workers were on strike against the pensions robbery. In Brighton the strike was solid and 10,000 demonstrated.

Brighton Trades Council is against ALL cuts, ALL austerity, and believes that if strike action had continued and been escalated it could have forced the government to retreat. This demonstration needs to be as big as possible, not just to show the government we won’t put up with cuts, but also to be a chance to organise our workplaces, colleges, communities and towns to reject austerity.

Join the joint union train! Hundreds of subsidised seats available! If you are a union member your branch or region is probably already involved so contact them for a seat. If you do not belong to a union you can book seats direct with the Trades Council.

Email Phil at BrightonTradesCouncil@gmail.com

Train from Brighton approx 10am, return from Victoria approx 5pm.
Book a seat for full details.

Defending pensions and local news...

Our NUJ leaflet for Wednesday...

Defend pensions - come and join the day of action

On Wednesday, November 30, a national day of action will be held to defend public sector pensions. A number of sister unions will be striking on the day, while rallies, marches and protests will be held around the country.

This promises to be the largest co-ordinated action by trade unions for many years. As NUJ members, it is important we recognise the campaign and offer our support. Some of our fellow members will be on strike, while the attacks on public sector pensions affect everyone. Even if individual members do not take part, it is vital that journalists report the day’s events fairly and accurately

The NUJ will be represented at the march in Brighton, so please come along and look out for the banner. Those taking part will assemble at 11.30am at Victoria Gardens for a march to The Level. More details at: http://falseeconomy.org.uk/nov30/event/brighton-hove-march-and-rally

Look at the special website featuring news, videos and resources for the campaign on pensions: http://pensionsjustice.org.uk/

If you can't make the Brighton march there is also information on what’s happening, when and where around the region and the rest of country: http://falseeconomy.org.uk/nov30/uk/all

More details from the NUJ at http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj.html?docid=2296

See also the posting below about the Save our local news campaign.