RMT workers will be marching from Waverley Station in Edinburgh to Bute House.

 RYAN MORRISON RMORRISON@FOE.SCOT

Hello,

This Monday (31st January), RMT workers will be marching from Waverley Station in Edinburgh to Bute House. The march and protest is timed at the three-month anniversary of the beginning of COP26 in Glasgow to demand a Just Transition.

Join workers from the rail, ferries and energy sector by assembling from 11am on the Waverley station concourse next to WH Smith - show your solidarity! Let’s keep up the pressure by showing the same support for a Just Transition seen during protests at COP26.

The charge sheet from the RMT against the Scottish Government includes:

• Instead of cutting climate change, the SNP/ Green Government is cutting rail services including rail ticket office hours, timetables and infrastructure while the cost of rail travel is increasing at four times the rate of using a car.

• Instead of securing our vital lifeline ferry services in the public sector, ministers appear to be paving the way for privatisation where profits will be put before people and climate.

• Instead of helping guarantee the livelihoods of energy workers, ministers have sold Scotland’s renewable energy resources on the cheap to the likes of BP and Shell without securing supply chain jobs.

Check the attached leaflet you’ll find more of RMT’s demands across rail, ferries and energy in this campaign - join these workers!

Cheers,

Ryan Morrison
Just Transition Campaigner
Friends of the Earth Scotland
Mob: 07729547872
Email: rmorrison@foe.scot

Our vision is of a world where everyone can enjoy a healthy environment and a fair share of the earth's resources.

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Bart’s Strikers reject SERCO's derisory offer

 Bart’s Strikers reject SERCO's derisory offer

Date: 29 January 2022 at 21:31:29

Dear all,

Hundreds of key NHS workers, employed by the giant outsourcing company, Serco, will stage a two week strike across Barts Health NHS Trust in "a battle against low pay and exploitation".Unite members who are cleaners, porters, security, catering and reception staff across St Barts, Royal London Hospital, and Whipps Cross will take strike action beginning on Monday 31 January and ending on Sunday 13 February. Unite has warned that further strike action will follow if the demands of the workers are not met.The workers roundly rejected Serco’s latest derisory pay offer of just 3 per cent. Especially when inflation (RPI) leapt to 7.5 per cent this week. Serco Group PLC had a turnover of £3.9 billion according to the latest figures available. The mainly Black, Asian and ethnic minority (BAEM) staff are paid up to 15 per cent less than directly employed NHS staff. Serco’s offer does nothing to close the pay gap between the outsourced workers and directly employed NHS workers.Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: "These workers face the same risks as NHS-employed staff but they are paid significantly worse and treated disgracefully. Barts Health NHS Trust have a golden opportunity to bring these workers, employed by Serco not the NHS, back into NHS employment“It's time to end the injustice of a two-tier workforce. Unite is 100 per cent behind our members' battle against low pay and exploitation.”

MONDAY JANUARY 31stThe STRIKE will be 24/7 from 12:01am (midnight) on Monday January 31th. If you are working on Sunday night stop work at midnight. The Strike will be at least 2 weeks covering ALL shifts, days, twilights, the night shift, and the weekend. Unite Strike pay is £70 per day. Strike pay paperwork will be done at the picket lines each day.

PICKET LINES INFORMATIONThe picket lines to support the strike will be at the Royal London (Whitechapel Road), Whipps Cross (Whipps Cross Road), and St Bart’s(Little Britain) Hospitals from 5:30am to 11am, Monday to Saturday. Meet at the main entrances of the hospitals 30 minutes before your shifts is due to begin. Nights and Twilights shifts attend from 7am.

RALLY/DEMOSImportant to attend ALL of the rallies! Monday will be the main rally. Leave your picket line early (or go directly to rally if not at picket line).Monday, January 31st at the Royal London HospitalSpeakers Including John McDonnell and other big names.(Dental Hospital on Turner Street, E1 1FR, at 11am)

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COP NEWS DIGEST

 COP NEWS DIGEST

Mick Holder

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2022/jan/28/uk-pupils-failed-by-schools-teaching-of-climate-crisis-experts-say

UK pupils failed by schools’ teaching of climate crisis, experts say

https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/nuclear-energy-climate-crisis-experts-b2001076.html

Nuclear energy not feasible way to tackle climate crisis, former regulators say

https://bylinetimes.com/2022/01/27/carbon-captured-the-fossil-fuel-industry-and-the-uk-governments-net-zero-advisory-panel/

Carbon Captured - The Fossil Fuel Industry & the UK Government's ‘Net Zero’ Advisory panel

https://www.sas.org.uk/news/grassroots-action-turning-the-tide-on-plastic-pollution/

Grassroots action turning the tide on plastic pollution

https://riveractionuk.com/news/river-action-crowdfunder-for-citizen-science/

River Action launches call for public help to save iconic river by funding citizen science pollution monitoring

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/jan/28/west-accused-of-climate-hypocrisy-as-emissions-dwarf-those-of-poor-countries

West accused of ‘climate hypocrisy’ as emissions dwarf those of poor countries

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/28/green-energy-measures-saving-households-money-analysis-shows

Green energy measures saving households £1,000 a year – analysis

https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/earths-limits-pushed-by-chemical-pollution-as-un-environment-meeting-nears/4015137.article

Earth’s limits pushed by chemical pollution as UN environment meeting nears

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-60180226

Peru oil spill after Tonga eruption bigger than previously thought

https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/greater-manchester-clean-air-zone-caz-b2001893.html

Toxic air and toxic debate as controversy grows over Greater Manchester’s clean air zone

https://walthamforestecho.co.uk/demand-for-new-law-to-boost-boroughs-low-recycling-rate#article

Demand for new law to boost borough's low recycling rate

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jan/29/it-is-desperate-how-environment-agency-staff-were-silenced-as-pollution-worsened

‘It is desperate’: how Environment Agency staff were silenced as pollution worsened

The Great Ormond Street Hospital security guards' strike is on!

 

Tracey Scholes

 

I've got some great news! Manchester bus driver Tracey Scholes has been reinstated in her job, after her employer threatened to dismiss her because she was too short to operate buses after they adjusted the wing mirrors. You and nearly 30,000 others joined a petition and wrote emails to her employer's CEO. The online support raised the pressure nationally on Go North West, and helped Tracey and her colleagues at Queens Road depot to stay strong in challenging the decision. Sharon Graham, General Secretary of Unite said: "It's appalling that Tracey was put through this ordeal when a negotiated outcome was always available. Employers must understand that Unite will defend members' jobs, pay and conditions." You can read more about this story here. This decision shows the power of working people standing together against wrong decisions by our bosses. On our own, we're easier for an employer to ignore. But joining together in a union helps us reset the balance, as well as gaining important rights when there are problems at work. If you're a bus driver too and aren't yet in a union, you can join Unite here. And unions aren't just for drivers - you can find one that matches your own sector here. On behalf of Tracey and her colleagues, thanks again for your support, Lee Lomas, Unite the Union

Not a union member yet? Join today.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jan/17/manchester-bus-driver-dismissed-for-being-too-short-given-job-back-after-appeal

THE POLICE CRIME SENTENCING AND COURTS BILL 2021

 

THE POLICE CRIME SENTENCING AND COURTS BILL 2021 View this email in your browser

THE POLICE CRIME SENTENCING AND COURTS BILL 2021  The Police Crime Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Bill gives the police increased powers to stop and search which will impact disproportionately on Black youth. The sections of the Bill restricting the rights of travellers include provisions that would criminalise the way of life of Gypsy and Traveller communities. The specific provisions relating to protest propose increasing the powers of the police to place conditions on the right to public processions and assemblies but without detailing what those conditions might be. They introduce a new consideration for the police to take into account, the level of noise. This requires the police to determine whether the level of noise is such that it could cause “serious disruption to the activities of an organisation which are carried on in the vicinity of the procession” or such that there may be a relevant or significant “impact” on persons in the vicinity. The very nature of peaceful protest is that it is noisy – whether through chanting, shouting, or Samba / drumming /musical support. Having put into place their own conditions on the protest assembly or procession, the police may immediately arrest protestors. While legal challenges to the lawfulness of the arrests and prosecutions may result in acquittals, this is no consolation to the protestor whose rights are abruptly curtailed by arrest.  The current provisions of the Public Order Act allow for defendants to argue lack of knowledge when prosecuted for violating any conditions imposed by the police on the protest.  The PCSC Bill disallows this defence by making it an offence where the person “ought to have known” of the conditions, effectively criminalising protestors who inadvertently commit a breach by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  The Home Secretary would have an extensive power to declare the kind of protest and causes it deems inconvenient or unacceptable and provide the police with a licence to limit them. The Bill gives the Home Secretary the power to make regulations defining what would amount to “serious disruption to the activities of an organisation” or “serious disruption to the life of the community. Union activity such as pickets and protests outside places of work may be impacted by these proposed changes. By relying on the “serious disruption to the activities of organisations”, these powers could be used to clamp down on commonplace union activity. Now the Government has put forward a raft of amendments granting the police new and oppressive powers to stifle dissenting voices further. Liberty has warned that the Bill is one part of a larger campaign by the Government to remove itself from accountability and undermine everyone’s ability to stand up to power. They say: These additions to the Policing Bill must be seen for what they are: a power grab. The right to protest must be defended.

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