Dear brother and sister
I would like to thank all those who have helped the campaign to win democracy in Usdaw and who have seriously contributed to the debate on the future direction of our Union.
As a candidate in the Usdaw general secretary election, I have been shocked by the lack of fairness in the way this election has been conducted. This and this alone should be enough for the members to throw out the current general secretary.
I have received many suggestions and comments on rule changes to make Usdaw a more open Union for our members and I will be publishing this document shortly.
As important has been the debate about policy. There has been more discussion on the vital issues facing our Union over the past month than takes place at the ADM. As general secretary, I will ensure that the Union is given back to the members and there is a genuine debate about the direction of Usdaw.
I intend with your help to continue the debate on both democracy and policy in our Union. A conference has been organised to discuss these issues in London on Saturday 20th September. I hope to meet you then.
Whatever the result of this election the struggle for democracy and a fighting Usdaw will continue and together I believe we can win this battle.
Comradely
Robbie Segal
Tuesday, 12 August 2008
Vote Robbie Segal
You have probably received your ballot paper for Usdaw’s general secretary and you are looking at my website to find out what I stand for. My policies are explained in a series of statements. If you want to comment on any of the points please email me at robbie@robbiesegal.org
I believe the election and the campaign has been unfair and undemocratic. The only aspect were John Hannett and I have been equal is on the ballot paper. When I am elected general secretary, I will ensure that all future elections will be governed by rule; thus insuring a democratic debate and an equal opportunity for all candidates to have access to the members.
If you like what you read and would like to become part of the campaign for a democratic and fighting Usdaw then email me with your name, workplace and branch to robbie@robbiesegal.org.
Thanks you again for your support
Robbie Segal
I believe the election and the campaign has been unfair and undemocratic. The only aspect were John Hannett and I have been equal is on the ballot paper. When I am elected general secretary, I will ensure that all future elections will be governed by rule; thus insuring a democratic debate and an equal opportunity for all candidates to have access to the members.
If you like what you read and would like to become part of the campaign for a democratic and fighting Usdaw then email me with your name, workplace and branch to robbie@robbiesegal.org.
Thanks you again for your support
Robbie Segal
Saturday, 9 August 2008
Letter to Broad Left Supporters
Dear Comrade,
As Acting Broad Left Secretary I am calling a meeting on the 20th September 2008.
The meeting will be held at the Lucas Arms, 245a Gray’s Inn Road King Cross
London WC1X 8QZ following the Election Campaign for General Secretary of USDAW.
I believe that this would be the best time to call together all the supporters new and old to move forward from this campaign.
If there is a problem getting to the meeting or any other problem please let me know.
Looking forward to seeing you all at the meeting.
Yours truly,
Robbie
As Acting Broad Left Secretary I am calling a meeting on the 20th September 2008.
The meeting will be held at the Lucas Arms, 245a Gray’s Inn Road King Cross
London WC1X 8QZ following the Election Campaign for General Secretary of USDAW.
I believe that this would be the best time to call together all the supporters new and old to move forward from this campaign.
If there is a problem getting to the meeting or any other problem please let me know.
Looking forward to seeing you all at the meeting.
Yours truly,
Robbie
Monday, 28 July 2008
Morrisons Pay Insult
Last week staff at Morrisons were voting over whether to accept a pay deal negotiated by the union. That is if they knew about the ballot at all. Okay so we had a poster in store saying there was a pay ballot, but if you have only started at the company within the last year (like majority of the staff, at least 5% of the staff are replenished each month) and you don’t know that much about unions you probably won’t realise you are of the people who has a vote. Even for someone who is slightly more clued up like myself, I had to wait until the day after to vote as the personnel office where the ballot box is was closed.
A Morrisons worker
The terms of the deal are even harder to find out. A conversation with our union rep led to me finding out that the deal would probably mean an increase of £5 a week in our pay with our wage going up to £6 an hour in February next year. Considering that most workers at Morrisons earn 4p above minimum wage, there perhaps is a sense of at least this is going in the right direction a bit. Later I found out more about the offer, but not from the union website which I looked at first and found absolutely nothing about the offer. Rather it was from an unofficial staff forum that I finally found out that with the deal pay will go up to £5.86 in October (when the minimum wage goes up to £5.73) and then £6 in February.
Whilst this increase means that we will be an extra 20p an hour above the minimum wage in February next year it still means our pay will be very low, far below the European Decency threshold which stands at £8 an hour. Furthermore, with inflation soaring this increase is likely to be swept away very quickly. Given the £612 million pre-tax profits Morrisons made last year, the surely much more could have been fought for?
The lacklustre approach of the union leadership in relation to this is indicative of a great number of other problems Morrisons workers face and the union fails to take action over. One of the biggest problems is understaffing which means that workers effectively have to do the jobs of two or more people, unsurprisingly this leads to accidents and taking short-cuts with health and safety. My department alone has at least one accident a day if not more!
John Hannett (USDAW General Secretary) gets £100,000 a year salary plus a free Jaguar – I wonder how closely he feels the pains that the members he is supposed to represent have to endure. What we need is a leadership prepared to fight, if they took the pitifully low wage we have to accept then their might be a fight for a minimum wage of £8 for all retail workers. Such a demand is in Robbie Segal’s programme as she stands against Hannett in the General Secreatry elections, which is why I shall be building her campaign in my store.
A Morrisons worker
The terms of the deal are even harder to find out. A conversation with our union rep led to me finding out that the deal would probably mean an increase of £5 a week in our pay with our wage going up to £6 an hour in February next year. Considering that most workers at Morrisons earn 4p above minimum wage, there perhaps is a sense of at least this is going in the right direction a bit. Later I found out more about the offer, but not from the union website which I looked at first and found absolutely nothing about the offer. Rather it was from an unofficial staff forum that I finally found out that with the deal pay will go up to £5.86 in October (when the minimum wage goes up to £5.73) and then £6 in February.
Whilst this increase means that we will be an extra 20p an hour above the minimum wage in February next year it still means our pay will be very low, far below the European Decency threshold which stands at £8 an hour. Furthermore, with inflation soaring this increase is likely to be swept away very quickly. Given the £612 million pre-tax profits Morrisons made last year, the surely much more could have been fought for?
The lacklustre approach of the union leadership in relation to this is indicative of a great number of other problems Morrisons workers face and the union fails to take action over. One of the biggest problems is understaffing which means that workers effectively have to do the jobs of two or more people, unsurprisingly this leads to accidents and taking short-cuts with health and safety. My department alone has at least one accident a day if not more!
John Hannett (USDAW General Secretary) gets £100,000 a year salary plus a free Jaguar – I wonder how closely he feels the pains that the members he is supposed to represent have to endure. What we need is a leadership prepared to fight, if they took the pitifully low wage we have to accept then their might be a fight for a minimum wage of £8 for all retail workers. Such a demand is in Robbie Segal’s programme as she stands against Hannett in the General Secreatry elections, which is why I shall be building her campaign in my store.
Appeal to Warehouse and Distribution Workers
VOTE ROBBIE (ROBINA) SEGAL
What type of General Secretary do you want?
Have there been redundancies in your depot. Have you had your terms and conditions reduced? Are you working in a new depot where the terms and conditions are not the same as the established sites?
These attacks have been going on for years and the Usdaw leaders have done nothing to challenge them. Warehouse and distribution workers are among the most powerful in this country. We control the distribution of food in Britain. Why have we not used this power?
The problem rises from the acceptance of John Hannett of the Partnership strategy. To maintain the support of the Bosses, Usdaw’s leaders must deliver a passive workforce. Is this why there is no national coordinated resistance to the bosses’ attacks against us? As a union we must prepare to fight these attacks on our wages and conditions.
In his appeal for you to vote for him, John Hannett claims:
‘I’ve recently introduced a new Conference which was held for the first in June. This will now become an annual event and I will also work hard to ensure the Union meets the many challenges in the logistics sector.’
It was over 14 months after the proposition calling for a Conference was raised at the ADM. The Conference was at least three years too late. So why does he claim ‘I’ve recently introduced a new conference’. It was not his idea as he claims.
The proposition calling for the Distribution Conference stated:
This ADM calls upon the Executive Council to organise an Annual Distribution Conference.
This is in recognition of the need for a united defence of terms and conditions of employment in the distribution sector. These have already been seriously attacked in many areas. New distribution centres are being opened, for example with far worse terms and conditions than existing sites. Companies are even calling for us to accept new starters at existing depots on worse terms and conditions. Agreements which have been negotiated over many years are being torn up and redundancies are taking place. The list is endless.
Conference believes we need a National Distribution Conference so we can organise nationally and not be left to be picked off one by one by unscrupulous greedy employers in search of ever greater profits at the expense of our members’ living standards.
So we should ask John Hannett, ‘why did you take so long to organise the Conference?’ Could it be that it is being used as part of his general secretary election campaign.
We` also learn ‘it will now become an annual event’. Is an annual meeting enough to face the challenge in the logistics sector? What about the attacks and how do we organise a national fight back. These issues must be addressed urgently.
The above statement shows what type of general secretary you will get if you vote for John Hannett.
I believe that the Conference was a first step in organising the fight back. Usdaw needs to be a union based on the democratic participation of its membership. It is not just a question of listening but fighting on behalf of its members.
Distribution and Warehouse sites are now an important part of our Union. I believe that the present Area Organiser arrangements need changing. Over the last few years, there has been a reduction in the number of officials working in the Divisions. I will restore the numbers and in the Divisions with large numbers of warehouse and distribution members I will appoint a dedicated Area Organiser.
If you want to join the fight to change Usdaw then email me at:
robbie@robbiesegal.org , visit my website www.robbiesegal.com
What type of General Secretary do you want?
Have there been redundancies in your depot. Have you had your terms and conditions reduced? Are you working in a new depot where the terms and conditions are not the same as the established sites?
These attacks have been going on for years and the Usdaw leaders have done nothing to challenge them. Warehouse and distribution workers are among the most powerful in this country. We control the distribution of food in Britain. Why have we not used this power?
The problem rises from the acceptance of John Hannett of the Partnership strategy. To maintain the support of the Bosses, Usdaw’s leaders must deliver a passive workforce. Is this why there is no national coordinated resistance to the bosses’ attacks against us? As a union we must prepare to fight these attacks on our wages and conditions.
In his appeal for you to vote for him, John Hannett claims:
‘I’ve recently introduced a new Conference which was held for the first in June. This will now become an annual event and I will also work hard to ensure the Union meets the many challenges in the logistics sector.’
It was over 14 months after the proposition calling for a Conference was raised at the ADM. The Conference was at least three years too late. So why does he claim ‘I’ve recently introduced a new conference’. It was not his idea as he claims.
The proposition calling for the Distribution Conference stated:
This ADM calls upon the Executive Council to organise an Annual Distribution Conference.
This is in recognition of the need for a united defence of terms and conditions of employment in the distribution sector. These have already been seriously attacked in many areas. New distribution centres are being opened, for example with far worse terms and conditions than existing sites. Companies are even calling for us to accept new starters at existing depots on worse terms and conditions. Agreements which have been negotiated over many years are being torn up and redundancies are taking place. The list is endless.
Conference believes we need a National Distribution Conference so we can organise nationally and not be left to be picked off one by one by unscrupulous greedy employers in search of ever greater profits at the expense of our members’ living standards.
So we should ask John Hannett, ‘why did you take so long to organise the Conference?’ Could it be that it is being used as part of his general secretary election campaign.
We` also learn ‘it will now become an annual event’. Is an annual meeting enough to face the challenge in the logistics sector? What about the attacks and how do we organise a national fight back. These issues must be addressed urgently.
The above statement shows what type of general secretary you will get if you vote for John Hannett.
I believe that the Conference was a first step in organising the fight back. Usdaw needs to be a union based on the democratic participation of its membership. It is not just a question of listening but fighting on behalf of its members.
Distribution and Warehouse sites are now an important part of our Union. I believe that the present Area Organiser arrangements need changing. Over the last few years, there has been a reduction in the number of officials working in the Divisions. I will restore the numbers and in the Divisions with large numbers of warehouse and distribution members I will appoint a dedicated Area Organiser.
If you want to join the fight to change Usdaw then email me at:
robbie@robbiesegal.org , visit my website www.robbiesegal.com
Distribution and Warehouse workers join the Activist Network
One of the outcomes of this election already has been the call by many logistic workers to establish a rank and file network. If you want your name to be added to the list and receive updates on events in our sector then send your email address to robbie@robbiesegal.org
A Tesco distribution worker
A Tesco distribution worker
Monday, 21 July 2008
Good Luck Message From Australia
Dear Robbie
On behalf of UNITE in Australia, I would like to wish you all the best with your challenge to for the position of Usdaw General Secretary.
We stand by you as a fighting union who is also against unions cosying up to the big retail companies. We support your call for a decent living wage for retail workers, for union democracy and for union officials to be on workers' wages. As a union who has no relation to the Labor Party in Australia we also support your call for a new workers party.
Good luck in the election and we look forward to building stronger international links with Usdaw when you are the General Secretary of that union.
Yours in unity
Anthony Main
UNITE Secretary
http://www.unite.org.au/
On behalf of UNITE in Australia, I would like to wish you all the best with your challenge to for the position of Usdaw General Secretary.
We stand by you as a fighting union who is also against unions cosying up to the big retail companies. We support your call for a decent living wage for retail workers, for union democracy and for union officials to be on workers' wages. As a union who has no relation to the Labor Party in Australia we also support your call for a new workers party.
Good luck in the election and we look forward to building stronger international links with Usdaw when you are the General Secretary of that union.
Yours in unity
Anthony Main
UNITE Secretary
http://www.unite.org.au/
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)