He Kept on the Road

AMONG the crop of deaths at this time of the year, we have to report that of Peter Gibson, in Croydon, who passed away in his sleep in the early hours of December 16, only a couple of weeks after Norman Harding in Leeds. They knew each other well, having been for many years comrades-in-arms in the Socialist Labour League and its successor organisation the Workers Revolutionary Party, and were both among the principled working class core of the comrades who ousted long-time leader Gerry Healy in 1985.

Peter was a life-long trades unionist and political activist, who started in the Labour League of Youth in  the late 1940's/early 1950's, and in the shopworkers' union USDAW, which if I am not mistaken was Ted Knight's union also in the same area.  Peter was a Labour Councillor in Streatham in the 1950's but expelled from the Labour  Party in Croydon more than 50 years ago for being critical of Labour Councillors who failed to attend a meeting  to vote for "Christmas extras" for residents in Croydon's old people's homes. (info from fellow trade unionist and ex-Croydon mayor Peter Spalding).

It was as an active member of USDAW that Peter Gibson became Secretary of Croydon Trades Council in the  late 1950's and throughout most of the 1960's. (ibid). It may have been in 1962 when I came up to London to support Lambeth Trades Council members campaigning against racism and fascism that I met Peter for the first time, among some Croydon brothers taking part.

Having gone to work on the 'buses, Peter was based at Thornton Heath Bus Garage and very  soon became a TGWU shop steward. He went on to become an elected TGWU representative at local, regional and  national level - serving for some years on the TGWU National Executive. He undertook many other responsibilities  within the Trades Union movement but always refused offers of becoming a full-time official because he preferred to  be a lay member.

When Croydon TUC was reconstituted in 1978 Peter Gibson became its Treasurer and remained so for 15 years. Not long after I'd rejoined the sans Healy WRP in 1986 Croydon trades council held a Palestine evening, with Yusuf Alani from the PLO office, acting as labour attache, and Peter and Dot Gibson made a point of bringing me to join the get together at Ruskin House.

Peter  became Secretary of Croydon TUC (for a second time) in 1994 and remained Secretary until he retired. During the 1980's he helped to organise speakers for meetings in Croydon including national Trades Union and political leaders and also  host delegations from across Europe. He participated in delegations to Paris and Berlin and in the late 1980's helped to  form links between bus workers in London and transport workers in Paris (Isle de France Region of the CGT).

In the closing years of the WRP me and Peter did not always agree, and as hitherto comrades seemed to turn into different groups of friends, we drifted somewhat apart. Some of our differences would have been difficult to explain to an outsider, and I'm not sure I could remember them accurately now. But one thing I do remember is that for the brief time I was asked to produce an International Trade Union Solidarity Campaign newsletter, Peter Gibson always took a genuine, positive interest in the content, and always made sure he had a batch for his union contacts, of which there were quite a lot.

Whatever criticisms other comrades might have had of his leadership on the buses and in the TGWU in this difficult period of anti-union laws,  privatised companies, and a divided and weakened workforce with fewer rights, Peter soldiered on, and cannot have been a careerist judging from his refusal to accept a full-time union post.

After he retired, Peter served for eight years as a much respected Governor of Croydon College (14, 000 full-time and part-time  students and nearly a 1000 staff). He also founded and chaired the Croydon Retired Peoples' Association and went on to to  act as Secretary and then Chair of the Croydon Branch of the TGWU/UNITE retired members group.  He continued to campaign on issues from pensions to post office closures particularly affecting older people.

Having only this year joined a Unite Retired members branch myself, and with nothing like Peter's years of distinguished service in the TGWU/Unite, I can only regret I will not have the chance to talk to him again and learn from his experience of who's who and what's what.

Among friends and comrades who did know Peter well, one is Keith Scotcher, who grew up in Croydon:

'I am writing here to express my regret at the passing of Peter Gibson, a tireless veteran internationalist and socialist, trade unionist and campaigner for workers rights. Peter was a former delegate to the trades council and bus workers representative. I first met Peter in 1965 when I joined the Young Socialists and learned much from his good and wise advice, which served me well when I later became shop steward at Fords car plant in Dagenham. I am sure there very many trade unionists and people in general who knew and respected Peter and will remember him well'

Peter Spalding, vice president of Croydon Trades Union Council, writes:

 " He was a life-long dedicated TU activist. He was a man of great integrity and highly regarded by everyone who knew and worked  with him - even those who sometimes disagreed with him.

 He was a much loved father, grandfather and great grandfather and was, of course, the husband of Dot Gibson the General  Secretary of the National Pensioners' Convention ".

Peter Gibson's funeral takes place Tuesday 7th January 2014 - 11:45 a.m. at Croydon Crematorium followed by a Commemorative Meeting/Reception at Ruskin House, Croydon, at 1:00 p.m.

The Nine Days That Killed Gloria Foster

IT might take a 21st. century J.B.Priestley to make up a story like that of Gloria Foster's last days and depict the issues of social responsibility. In Priestley's play "An Inspector Calls", a well-to-do Northern bourgeois family are at home, when an Inspector Goole calls to ask them about a young woman called Eva Smith who has died in hospital after drinking disinfectant. Which of them could be responsible in any way?

As we learn, one way or another they all are.

Momentarily relieved to be told there is no Inspector Goole, they then realise that the young woman has died, as their mysterious visitor said, and that they are facing real questions.

I first heard this play on the wireless, when I was still a kid, of maybe 12, and the title had led me to expect a crime thriller. It was sometime towards the end before I realised I had been listening to something else, and feeling very grown-up thinking about it.  .

Gloia Foster was not a young woman in a northern town, she was in her 80s, and this wasn't in a play but for real. She died on Monday in Epsom Hospital where she was admitted two weeks ago, having been found  at her home in Banstead, Surrey where she had been left without medication, food, or water for nine days.

Gloria was being taken care of  by staff from a private home care provider, Carefirst24 in Sutton, south London. But on January 15, the UK Border Agency (UKBA) raided the firm's headquarters in Upper Mulgrave Road, Sutton, as part of an investigation into suspected illegal workers and fraud.
Six people were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to assist foreign nationals. They have been bailed until April.

So it seems the agency was closed for business. Well if they were committing fraud, then fair enough, except ...not for the first time, British authorities seem in far more of a hurry to nab people whose only "crime" is to be here, and working at a socially necessary job, than to pursue really nasty criminals. And nobody stopped to think what might happen to the people dependent on the carers. .

 If it was not for public services and local authorities being pressed to outsource services there would not be so many opportunities for profiteering and fraud. Carefirst24 provided care to elderly people across Surrey and the London Borough of Sutton on behalf of the two local authorities. But it seems Gloria Foster was not on the council's books because she was a private customer.
.
 Her MP, Conservative Crispin Blunt, has described her ordeal as "horrific"."I am very sorry to hear that Mrs Foster has now, sadly, passed away," he said."Clearly there are questions to answer and I would expect a comprehensive investigation between all of the agencies involved."I said last week that I would certainly not like to pre-judge any more of the narrative before it is formally established."

Surrey Police said it investigated the case after hospital staff caring for Mrs Foster raised concerns.
A spokeswoman for the county council said  "We are very sad to hear about Mrs Foster's death and our thoughts are with her family and friends at this difficult time.The safety of vulnerable adults is our top priority, which is why this tragic event is already being urgently looked at by the Surrey Safeguarding Adults Board."

She did not know how long the investigation by the safeguarding board, set up to protect vulnerable adults, would take. As well as the county council, its members include Surrey Police, NHS Surrey, the 11 district and borough councils in Surrey and voluntary sector organisations such as Mencap, the Surrey Coalition of Service Users and Action for Carers.

Surrey Police said in a statement: "Officers from the Public Protection Investigation Unit carried out enquiries and it was deemed that the Surrey Safeguarding Adults Board would be the appropriate agency to investigate further."

 If only a real-lfe Inspector Goole could lead the investigation, and the responsibilities for Gloria Foster's suffering and death could be brought out from the institutions as surely as it was from the characters in J.B. Priestley's play, and dramatised on national television. As Priestley's spectral inspector tells the family, in a play set two years before the First World War and five years before the Russian Revolution, actions have consequances. "If men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish."
.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-21340238

Lord Rich arse wants to rob old people

 READY and willing, not to be ripped off and exploited, but to fight 
for future generation's 
rights as well as our own.
Pensioners and disabled 
waiting to join TUC 
October 20 demonstration.  

 IT was bound to come, I suppose.

WE have seen young people, even with qualifications, forced to do dead-end, boring jobs without even a wage just so they can receive their dole money.

We have seen sick and disabled people, sometimes terminally ill,  passed as supposedly fit for work just so they can be deprived of their benefits. If the government was interested in getting people into work why would it be closing Remploy? Getting people off benefit is a profitable business. What happens to them next is of no interest, to those in power.

So who is next?

Why obviously the elderly. We have already heard the threats to travel passes and fuel allowance, and been told that we are living too long, so the pension age must be raised, That way fewer of us will live to see what we have worked for, and those that do will have fewer years to enjoy it.

But that is not enough for Lord Bichard. He thinks you should work for your pensions. Lord Bichard is not a Tory. A former senior civil sevant, he sits as a crossbencher in the Lords, and apparently he is a big mate of Lord Blunkett, whom you may remember as a New Labour minsiter though us old fogies can still remember when he was a socialist.

Michael Bichard is a former head of the Benefits Agency (1990-95) and later the head of the Employment Agency (1995-2001). His great idea, bashing pensiners for Cameron's Big Society is that the retired should be forced to work for their state pensions and stop being a "burden on the state". He is kind enough to suggest pensioners could work for charities, or as carers, ignorant perhaps of the fact that many already do just that.

"Are we using all of the incentives at our disposal to encourage older people not just to be a negative burden on the state but actually be a positive part of society?" he says. "We are now prepared to say to people who are not looking for work, if you don't look for work you don't get benefits, so if you are old and you are not contributing in some way or another maybe there is some penalty attached to that."

Now, I am old fashioned enough to think that we worked for our pensions all our life. That like unemployment or sickness benefit it comes under national insurance, or in this case, assurance. When the time grew near for my state pension I was told it would be a reduced amount, because back in the 1970s an unscrupulous employer had failed to pay my stamp , and I'd been too busy to notice. Some would say your pension, whether state or occupational, is simply backpay. Or money which was borrowed from you and is due to be repaid, though as we have seen, some bosses regard it as their own to play with, and make disappear. Nowadays they have not even got the decency to go over the side of their yachts off Tenerife.

As for the state pension, in this country it  works out at just 17% of average earnings, whilst the value  of state pensions across the rest of Western Europe are above 40%, If you are getting an additional pension from your old job or are still doing a bit of work you are liable for income tax. Any additional benefits you receive such as for housing costs or council tax are means tested.. The trick of those who put labels on things it seems to me is to call things like pensions "benefits" and imply they are some kind of hand-out which ought at least to be means tested. Those in receipt can then be at best patronised if we are deemed "deserving", or denounced as scroungers, Lord Bichard says we are a "burden" - that is something  to be resented if not got rid of.

Were his ideas accepted and became policy then presumably somebody would have to assess whether pensioners were fit for work. Having seen the way this is done with other people taken off benefit it would be a great opportunity for Atos or another company to expand its business interviewing pensioners and declaring them fit, so that instead of paying out money to pensioners the taxpayers (which by the way includes pensioners one way or another) would be paying billions to the company. Further costs would be incurred when these decisions were overturned in court, as happens with many disability decisions, though I suppose some might be saved by the number of old people who get ill from stress, commit suicide or simply pop their clogs before their case comes up. That's one way the "burden on the state" can be reduced.

But even if the assessment was fair, and not outsourced to profiteering companies, why should people have to work for money they have already earned? Your pension is your money, so anyone withholding it would be robbing you.

If someone wants to do some paid work on top of their pension and is fit then good luck to them. They may be passing on their experience and skills to younger people. Unfortunately some people are having to carry on working or take cleaning jobs etc because they need the money, and the government raising the pension age is not helping

As it is a large number of pensioners are at present doing low paid or unpaid work in the charitable or "voluntary" sector. You only have to look in the window of those charity shops that have filled empty high streets and see who is working, or remember those two ladies who served tea for your Hospital Friends till the big chains were let in. Millions more pensioners work as carers and child minders. But is Cameron's 'Big Society' interested in voluntary work that is really voluntary, and will government or its business partners recognise that someone caring for a family member or neighbour, or looking after kids is contributing to society?

We have already seen the young woman who thought she might put her education to use and gain relevant work experience working in a local museum, taken out of that and sent to sweep aisles in a supermarket for her unemployment benefit. And the young 'volunteers' left to sleep under the bridge before working all day for the Jubilee. Is this now to be inflicted on pensioners? And what does it do to encourage companies getting free labour to think of retaining paid staff let alone creating real jobs?
paid jobs?

Incidentally, Bichard himself was a top "Sir Humphrey" in the civil service till he retired at the age of 54 on an index linked pension estimated to be worth £120,000 a year. He collects a taxpayer funded pension of over £2,300 a week. But he thinks people on state pensions of little more that £100 a week should be compelled to work for their pittance.

Talking of voluntary service, some old people round my way have not only been campaigning to keep their local library, which they share with local kids as the main users, but tried to keep it running after  the council made its cuts.  A mate of mine retired from the civil service on somewhat less than the pension paid to Lord Bichard has been keeping busy giving advice to unemployed people and tenants.  And then there are the numerous pensions campaigners and retired union activists who are nowadays fighting not just for their own welfare, but even more for the kind of society and conditions we bequeath to future generations.

But I would guess that is not the sort of unpaid  work for the community that the government or Lord Bichard have in mind - except in wanting to stop us from doing it. They probably think that most old people are conservative and anyway, won't put up much of a fight. It is time to disabuse them of such complacency.

See also:
http://anotherangryvoice.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/lord-bichard-force-pensioners-work.html

• Old Age Pensioners and others concerned at soaring fuel prices and the cost of keeping warm this Winter are going to gather in the Westfield shopping centre at Stratford 12 noon tomorrow.

http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2012/10/22/fuel-poverty-demo-october-27th-westfield-shopping-centre/

• Greater London Pensioners Association has its conference on Saturday 3rd November 2012 from 10a.m. to 3.30p.m.

AT SOMERSTOWN COMMUNITY CENTRE,
150 OSSULSTON STREET, KINGS CROSS NW1 1EE 
Entrance £3 including Buffet Lunch

PENSIONS TODAY AND TOMORROW

HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE

HOW ARE PENSIONERS COPING WITH CON-DEM CUTS AND POLICIES?
Speakers: Dr. John Lister - Health Emergency
Prof. Steve Iliffe - Social Care for the Elderly
Karen Jennings - Asst. Gen. Sec. UNISON
Caroline Pigeon - GLA Assembly Member - Transport

ALL WELCOME

http://grey-glpa.blogspot.co.uk/

Call this a Party?

Labour abstainers' cold water on pensions will raise steam

THIS CRI DE COUER CAME OUT AS A TWEET YESTERDAY FROM LABOUR MP JOHN MCDONNELL:
"Labour party whipping Labour MPs to abstain on my pensions motion to restore link with RPI and prevent pensions cuts. Disappointing".

It brought the usual range of comments on Facebook, including some wise guys surprised that John was disappointed or surprised, and a few amiably inviting him to join them in the Green Party, unaware perhaps that since the Greens took over in Brighton they have showed themselves just as capable of making cuts as Labour, and started losing members accordingly.

But I don't think the issue was about party point scoring or if John McDonnell has any illusions left, which I doubt, in the parliamentary Labour Party. He was elected as a Labour MP (with an increased majority) having shown his independence and dedication to the working class, and will doubtless continue fighting as a socialist and leave it to the Labour bigwigs whether they want to do something about it.

This was not about his views or fight as one MP.

A man called Jim Singer had set out for London from Aberdeen, travelling 500 miles to watch MPs debate pensions because of a petition he started on the internet. His petition, the fifth most popular on the government's e-petition site, with just under 110,000 signatures, says Chancellor George Osborne's move to link pensions to the consumer price index CPI) rather than the retail price index (RPI) is unfair.

The CPI takes no account for instance of housing costs. Jim's petition says the change will "mean a steady reduction in spending power for pensioners as they progress into their retirement".

Osborne had no prior consultation or negotiations before announcing the switch in the 2010 budget, and the government has refused to talk with unions since. This is one of the reasons why public sector unions took strike action on November 30, and are planning further action. It is estimated the change will cost public sector workers an average £15,000 and will also effect many private pensions, wiping an estimated £75 billion off their value.

http://prsd-vefpf.posterous.com/jims-pension-quest-leads-to-commons-debate

It is quite likely that a lot of these people who will be effected, and of the thousands who signed Jim's petition, did have the idea that Labour was on their side, and they will be disappointed.

Jim Singer is a member of the PCS union and here is what they have to say about it:

Workers need representation as Labour ducks out

1 March 2012

PCS has criticised the "democratic deficit" in representation for working people after Labour MPs were told to abstain this afternoon (1 March) in a vote on the way pensions are calculated.

The motion being debated was in support of a petition tabled by PCS member Jim Singer, a civil servant from Aberdeen.

More than 110,000 people have supported Jim’s call for the Retail Price Index (RPI) to be restored as the measure for upgrading pensions instead of the usually lower Consumer Price Index (CPI).

John McDonnell, Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington and chair of the PCS parliamentary group, secured the debate and moved the motion.

He praised Jim Singer for his efforts, pointed out that CPI was an unsuitable measure because it ignored housing costs, and accused the government of making pensioners pay for a financial deficit they didn’t cause.

Labour pensions spokesman Gregg McClymont said his party was opposed to the use of CPI to upgrade pensions for the long term – but not as a short term measure to reduce the deficit.

John, was joined by other Labour rebels and representatives of smaller parties, to make the vote 33 in favour of restoring RPI, with 232 against.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “I would like to praise Jim Singer for bringing this important debate to Westminster and thank John McDonnell and the 32 MPs who supported him for standing up for working people who have had their futures pulled from under them.

“Jim and thousands of others signed up to their jobs with a written ‘guarantee’ that they would have pensions improved every year by RPI.

“While we are told that for contractual reasons bankers must have their bonuses, the written promises to loyal public servants are treated with contempt.

“Jim has worked for the government for 35 years. Now he and his wife Sheena will lose tens of thousands of pounds from their pensions because of this change.

“If only 33 MPs can see that this is unfair we have reached a point where something must be done to address the democratic deficit and lack of representation in parliament for ordinary working people.”

PCS – which is not affiliated to any political party – will be balloting members in June on whether the union should support candidates who agree with the organisation’s policies at future elections.

PCS and political campaigning

You can still sign the petition

Use our pay and pensions calculator to see how much you will lose

Read our ‘Fair pensions for all’ booklet

Meanwhile my own union, which unlike PCS is affilaited to Labour, has come under fire after our general secretary Len McCluskey had the temerity to suggest that the coming Olympics, when property developers and other profiteers look to make millions in profits, for instance from expensively sold knickknacks produced cheaply in foreign sweatshops, might also be a good opportunity for working people to raise their concerns over pensions and cuts.

David Cameron, whose funders have moved so much of British industry abroad and who pay so little tax in this country, has condemned us as "unpatriotic".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/feb/28/len-mccluskey-unions-london-olympics

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/116045

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ed-miliband/9113787/London-Olympics-2012-Ed-Miliband-condemns-Unite-over-strike-calls.html

Incidentally, though Ed Milliband jumped to condemn the union and Len McCluskey at Cameron's command, I did hear that Ken Livingstone, Labour's hopeful to make a mayoral comeback, had also joined Mayor Boris Johnson in denouncing the idea of strikes and civil disobediance disrupting the Olympic show. I've tried to check this but without finding a quote, and it is not mentioned in the Morning Star report.

But then the Morning Star and its supporters have been keen that we get behind Ken's bid for mayor. And only the other day someone from Unite was mobilising union members in west London to go out canvassing for Livingstone. Life is full of ironies.

I've not heard whether Labour has gone along with Cameron's further demand that it return Unite's cheque. Come to think of it we heard this sort of crap from Bullingdon Boy during the BA cabin crews' strike. The Tories even sent a propaganda lorry which parked near where strikers and their supporters were meeting (with Len McCluskey among the speakers), I don't know if they were daft enough to think it would get support or hoping it would get vandalised.

The Condem government is putting out contradictory signals right now, like saying they are making a u-turn on compulsory workfare, which if you believed their supporters was voluntary anyway, while insisting the only opposition to the scheme originated from a handful of "Trotskyites".

They are also relying on the Labour "opposition" to quash anyone actually opposing them.
Not that Labour, with its recent record in mind, enjoys much respect or authority in the unions or the working class. We are just taking our time getting around to an alternative. These are interesting and somewhat confusing times for the relationship between Labour and the unions.

For further discussion see:

http://momentsofc.wordpress.com/2012/03/01/unite-and-labour-choppy-waters-ahead/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jan/16/ed-miliband-leading-labour-destruction

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/owen-jones-if-trade-unions-dont-fight-the-workers-corner--others-will-7468921.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsYJyVEUaC4

Sh! You're Waking the Giant!

SLOW TO ROUSE, and good-natured to a fault, but stirring and starting to move.

EDUCATION minister Michael Gove blubbed about "militants itching for a fight".
Danny Alexander, chief Secretary to the Treasury, assured us it was a "diversion".
Then after it went ahead and was a success, the head boy David Cameron put on a brave face to jeer that it had just been a "damp squib".

Though its organisations have been weakened over past decades, its defences and resistance lowered and consciousness confused, the British working class is a sleeping giant. Slow to rouse, not easy to wake, and good-natured to a fault. Even that over-paid pillock Jeremy Clarkson, saying on the BBC that we should all be shot, drew lots of protest messages to the BBC and yet, far less anger than contempt.

But the giant is awakening, and we must at least partly thank our enemies for that. An article in the current issue of Labour Research says that unions are reporting an upsurge in membership since the November 30 strike to defend public sector pensions, and are thanking government ministers like those quoted for being the best recruitment sergeants!

Some two million public service workers, from head teachers to dinner ladies, paramedics to probation officers, took part in the November 30 day of action called by the TUC, and of the 30 unions whose members participated, seven were not even TUC affiliated. Members of the National Association of Head Teachers took national strike action for the first time in their union's 114 years of history.

If Cameron thinks such steps are insignificant he is out of touch with reality. Of course, whether the prime minister really believes anything he says is open to question.

All the same, unions have reason to be grateful to the government.

"The applications to join spike every time Danny Alexander is on his feet in the House, talking about his plans for public sector pensions," says Unison's general secretary Dave Prentis. A comparison of monthly figures showed that applications rose a massive 126 per cent since the reults were announced of the union's ballot for strike action.

The University and College lecturers' union UCU reported that around 2,500 new members swelled its ranks in November. In particular, Monday, November 28, the day education Minister Michael Gove madehis speech about "militants, itching for a fight", was a "bumper recruitment day" for the union.

Great play was made by ministers and the media with the supposed privilege of public sector workers enjoying generous pensions compared to most private sector workers. Besides exagerrating what most public sector workers earn or can expect to receive in pensions, they trusted in people not asking what they had done for, or rather to, private sector pensions. But in any case the divide and rule tactic did not succeed. They forget that working people do not live in pigeon holes, and increasingly do not believe everything they read in the press. Everyone has a relative, friend or neighbour who is a public sector worker, or can talk to their kids' teacher or mum's nurse.

It is unfortunate for this government but in view of recent scandals and court cases involving, rather than reported by, the newspapers, people may be more inclined to believe someone they know rather than the Tory press. And what with cuts and attacks affecting everybody except the super rich there's a widespread mood, when ministers say "we're in this together" to answer "we are -against you!"

So there was widespread sympathy for the public sector workers on stike or demonstrating against the government on November 30.

What's more, the GMB union which organises across both sectors reports that not only did large numbers of local government, NHS and schools staff join the union in November, concerned at threats to their jobs and pay. The union also saw a spike in recruitment from large private companies where pensions are under threat, as Martin Smith told Labour Research:

"Despite the government's efforts to divide public and private sector workers, we are finding that the pensions battle is having an impact on recruitment in the private sector, particularly in large companies where final salary schemes still exist and are defendable."

Among the less familiar banners I remarked on the November 30 demonstration in London was that of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists. If there was an "I-Spy Union Banners" book for spotting on marches I'm sure that one would be worth quite a few points.

The 36,000 member CSP is not noted for militancy, having only had one previous strike -in 1980 - in its 117 year history, Labour Research says. But CSP assistant director for union services Claire Sullivan says that in the campaign for November 30 "we had lots of enquiries from people who had never felt the need or urge to join a trade union before but who wanted to participate in the industrial action." The Society has had a 15 per cent increase in membership among qualified physiotherapists, despite job losses and unemployment among graduates.
Associate membership, open to support workers and asistants, tripled in October and November.

Away from the hustle and bustle of the streets, schools and hospitals, in the quiet of Kew Gardens, something else is growing besides the plants. I've only previously encountered Prospect, the union representing civil service professionals, scientists, managers etc, at the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). But its branch at the Royal Botanical Gardens increased its membership from 151 on October 1 to 169 on December 1.

Most had little previous experience of strike action, or knowledge of what it entailed, but the branch produced a briefing explaining their rights and assuring them of union support. It seems to have worked, not just on the day, but in encouraging people who had taken part in action on Novemeber 30 to come forward as union reps.

Pensions strike boosts trade union recruitment, Labour Research February 2012.
http://www.lrdpublications.org.uk/publications.php?pub=LR&iss=1596

So, messrs Cameron and co, better shift because something is stirring under your feet!

Has government got its sums wrong? Or is it fiddling pension figures for a reason?

THOUSANDS of teachers and civil servants took strike action and marched in the streets of many British towns and cities on Thursday, in a powerful protest action against Con Dem plans to cut public service pensions. In Birmingham, Southampton, the London borough of Camden and some other places they were joined by local authority workers who are also in struggle and want unions to unite in action.

At least 20,000 people took part in a lively march through central London, and there were more demonstrations around the country.

Mention of Labour leader Ed Milliband, who said the strike was a "mistake", brought booing at a huge union rally in Central Hall, Westminster, only slightly less than the contempt and anger directed at Con Dem ministers. (By contrast there was a standing ovation later for veteran Tony Benn making an appearance, as well as enthusiastic applause for left-winger John McDonnell MP).

Young and old teachers were among those who denounced a policy which proposes to double their pension contribution, and make them work on till they are 68, in an already stressful environment, before receiving a reduced pension. Young teachers pointed out that the increased contribution would be on top of repaying student loans which they had needed so as to gain their qualifications for the profession, and asked how they would be able to afford to remain in teaching.

There were cheers for the speakers who made the commonly heard points that it was not teachers or other public sector workers who engendered the banking crisis, nor had they been paid the giant City bonuses for which the taxpayer had picked up the tab. Nor had these workers taken the decision that Britain - still incidentally the world's fifth richest power -can afford to renew its Trident missile programme, or take part in so many foreign wars.

But there was another important point raised in Thursday's meeting, that directly concerns the reasons for cutting pensions, and relates it to the government's overall strategic aim.

Here we might take a look at an article published the day before the the demonstrations, and entitled Pension scare tactics don't add up, by Martin Cloake ( Jun 29th 2011)

'Ahead of what are expected to be massive strikes tomorrow against changes to public sector pensions, much of the media has been running with the line that those pensions cost every family in Britain £1,000 a year. But this does not stack up – and nor do the government's other arguments.
The fact is that public sector pensions are more efficient than private sector pensions. A group of leading economists said in a letter to The Guardian on 10 March that: "The net cost of paying public sector pensions in 2009/10 was a little under £4 billion. The cost of providing tax relief to the one per cent of those earning more than £150,000 is more than twice as much."

'The letter also pointed out that: "The total cost of providing tax relief to all higher rate taxpayers, on their private pensions, is more than five times as much." Richard Murphy of Tax Research UK says that in 2007/08 alone, private pension funds received subsidy of £37.6bn and paid out just £35bn.'

Making two other points that trade union speakers also referred to on Thursday, Martin Cloake writes that:
'... changes already agreed by public sector unions have already reduced the value of public sector pensions by 10%. The National Audit Office says this will "stabilise costs in the long-term around their current level of GDP".

'The Government asked Lord Hutton to look into the pensions issue, and in his report he went further. He said that public sector pension contributions would go down from 1.9% of GDP to 1.4% by 2060. And that's before any of the changes he proposed would kick in'.

He continues:
'It's here that the Government's assertion that public sector pensions are "unaffordable" begins to unravel. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said it expects the costs of pension payments to stabilise over the next 50 years, saving taxpayers an estimated £67bn...

. The Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) observed that: "Affordability is not a very good argument for making these schemes less generous."

The other big buzz phrase accusation is that these schemes are "gold plated". Here's what the Government-commissioned Hutton report said on the subject. "The Commission firmly rejected the claim that current public service pensions are 'gold plated'."

The TUC's Nigel Stanley points out that: "In the big four national schemes the majority of pensions paid are less than £5,600 a year. In the Local Government Scheme half get less than £3,000." And what is happening to those pensions is not a reform, he says, but a cut.

'The Government's decision to change the basis upon which pensions are uprated from the Retail Prices Index to the Consumer Prices Index means that the value of the schemes workers have been paying into has been reduced by 15p in the pound. Combine this with the negotiated changes and it's 25p in the pound. That's why there is so much anger.

'The IFS's Carl Emmerson made this point in the debate over public sector pensions, saying "if we want to afford them, we can". That's the key issue. The economic justifications don't stack up because the truth is that this is a politically motivated attack on public service designed to further the small-state agenda.'

This was the third point made by someone at the Central Hall rally (along with the point that it is not public sector pensions that are too high, but private sector provisions for workers, as distinct from directors, that are too low). The Con Dem government is intent on pursuing further privatisation of everything it can, and getting rid of as many workers (and their union rights). But the CBI and other employers' spokespersons, the risk-taking, wealth-creating private sector about which the Tories keep telling us, say they cannot afford to take on these commitments. They want everything on the cheap.

As Martin Cloake says:

'In March, Peter Wilby pointed out in the New Statesman that public sector pensions are "the biggest barrier to further privatisation and outsourcing of public services". The private sector that is so keen to move in does not like pensions – two in every three private sector workers get no help at all.

'Bizzarely, that is itself being used as a justification for attacking the pensions of public sector workers – a levelling down argument if ever there was one. For public sector workers, the pension changes come on top of a pay freeze, rising inflation and the prospect of heavy job losses.

The deal public sector workers enter into is that they do often difficult jobs for less money than they might, in return for a decent pension. These changes will put people off public service – which is what the Coalition wants, despite all the Big Society blarney. Although that phrase seems to have been dropped.

'In spite of the attempts to present the union position as unpopular, many people recognise the value public sector workers provide. And they also question what the cost of not providing pensions will be – because retired people with limited financial resources draw on state resources too.

'Polls bear this out. A Populus poll earlier this week found 48% agreed that public sector workers were right to strike on this issue, with 16% undecided. And 43% agreed they were suffering an unfair decline in living standards. That poll and another by YouGov revealed strong support for the right to strike.

'That's why the Government and its supporters in the media are trying to spin stories such as this morning's '£1,000 cost to every household' one. You could use a similarly vague formula to make any area of expenditure look as bad or good as you like. It's entirely meaningless. Encouragingly, this nonsense is proving to be unconvincing.

Instead, it's opening up debate on what we really mean by value, and raising the question of what kind of a society we want to live in and where the priorities of a Government should be. Tomorrow's strike, which will include some unions taking action for the first time, will send a powerful message.

http://www.dailyfinance.co.uk/2011/06/29/pension-scare-tactics-don-t-add-up/

As someone recalled at the Central Hall rally, it was a press baron called Robert Maxwell who earned opprobrium years ago for having raided pension funds to shore up his business empire. That was before the time of many at the rally, and since then we have learned that more than one employer found ways to get away with it. Maxwell ended his life in disgrace, disappearing over the side of his boat, the Ghislaine surrounded by all sorts of revelations and rumours.

Now we evidently have a ruling class and a government setting up a smokescreen of falsified figures to confuse the public and slander socially useful workers, so it can rip off their pensions and boost profit. Who will push this lot over the side?

Old age pensioners battling on

TODAY is an important anniversary. One hundred years ago, on August 1, 1908, the Old Age Pensions Act became law.

On 31 March 1909 some 647,494 people were to receive the "Lloyd George", as they called it, after the prime minister responsible. To qualify you had to be over 70, of "good character" - if you'd done time in prison or were a habitual drunk you were out -and to have less than twelve shillings and one penny a week from other means. Not everyone received the full pension of five shillings a week, though the majority could.

Britain was not the first country in the Empire to have a pension. In that as other things, New Zealand was ahead, by nearly ten years in this case.

Before the Old Age Pensions Act, if you were fortunate enough to live beyond your working life you had to turn to charity for subsistence, or join the paupers in the workhouse -that wonderful Victorian Christian institution where husband and wife were separated, deprived of their own clothes and dignity, and treated as prisoners whose sin was to be poor. In 1891of England's 29 million population, 1.3 million were paupers, and over 60s comprised 31 per cent of these.

Very few people qualified for private pensions, and not many people earned enough to be able to save for their old age.

Some people did start campaigning for some kind of pension for the old. The borough of Deptford started a pension scheme for deserving residents, dependent on donations, in 1893. Some trade unions established contributory superannuation schemes. But these only covered a small number of workers. Then in December 1898, Reverend Francis Stead and Charles Booth addressed a meeting at Browning Hall, Southwark, where some 14 trade unions - representing engineers, carpenters, gas workers and shop assistants, cab drivers and clerks, etc, together with the National Union of Women Workers, agreed to launch a campaign for an old age pension. A year later this gave rise to the National Pensions Committee, and ten years later the pension was law.

Along the way the Boer war gave MPs an excuse to delay doing anything, but calls from the national pensions committee, the TUC, and the Labour Representation Committee, bearing a 799,750 signature petition, gave them an extra push.

I have gathered all this information from an excellent large-format 16 page book called "The Battle for the Old Age Pension", published by the National Pensioners Convention, to mark the 100th anniversary but also to help their campaign for a decent state pension today. Researched and written by Joe Harris, with editing, design and additional text by Neil Duncan-Jordan, it is well-illustrated and a good educational read.

I bought my copy from my old comrade and friend Dot Gibson, who has become a leading figure in the National Pensioners Convention, and last night I was pleased and very pleasantly surprised to see Dot, who has worked hard in so many campaigns with little publicity, over the years, finally getting a well-desrved few minutes on TV. It would be nice to see and hear more of her and other campaigners like her, instead of the smarmy careerist politicians and vacuous "celebrities" of whom we get so much on TV.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00csgxt/

As Dot pointed out, that five shillings given by Lloyd George's government was 25 per cent of the average earnings , whereas today's 93 quid is but 17 per cent of average pay. With food and fuel prices zooming, many old people could once again be faced with the choice of whether to heat or eat.

Pensioners aren't necessary the poorest people in Britain. But whereas some, like me, have benefited from occupational pensions on top of the state money, others have seen their pensions and savings go down the pan, through trusting in dodgy "respectable" companies and listening to government advice. Often old people are unaware of their entitlements or reluctant to apply for means-tested benefits. They don't want to burden their children who, with student loans and mortgages are themselves well into debt. And too often the old are patronised as charity cases, or seen as a "problem" for society, rather than enitled to enjoy some of the wealth which their past labours helped to create.

On the other hand, now that we are living longer, and before the government finds ways to make us work on longer till we drop, having time on our hands, and in many cases organising experience, without the worries of childcare, or fear of being blacklisted and unable to find a job, retirement can provide some of us with a golden opportunity for activism - and not just campaigning for our pensions alone. Meanwhile, with an estimated one in three pensioners facing future poverty, younger people will need to take up the fight for their old age pensions now, rather than wait till they're retired.

http://www.npcuk.org/