Activist 30

8/3/2019 Activist 30

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/activist-30 1/6

Activist: Number 30, January 2012

Paper of Socialist Party members in Usdaw

Unilever

On the evening of Friday 20th January and the morning and afternoon of

the following Saturday, workers at Unilever’s Leeds site in Seacroft took afurther 24hrs of strike action in opposition to the company’s attempts to



close the final salary pension scheme. This forms part of an eleven day

programme of rolling action across Unilever’s sites up and down the

country.

An USDAW member in Leeds

The mood amongst strikers is one of determination, with them facing

losing between 20-40% of their pension funds as the company wants to

move to a career average scheme. Just before this action took place theunion had heard that the companies trustees had voted to accept this plan.

The company, which was founded by philanthropist Lord Leverhume,

still claims to hold social responsibility amongst its values. Yet despite

making $4.6bn euros in profits last year, they now claim they can’t afford

to pay the workforce a decent pension and as a recent video produced by

Unite the Union points out the entire workforce of the Lipton’s tea factory in

Pakistan are temporary workers with no job security (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33Theeovq1c). Moreover, the company

spitefully cancelled christmas parties, presents and bonuses for its

workforce because of the industrial action.

But just as the company can show it has no good will, so can theworkforce. The Leeds site produces well over a million units a day, with

last year producing a record breaking 560m. But to do this the company is

heavily reliant on overtime to make up production shortfalls (not least due

to the effects of the strikes). But this weekend, no electricians are willing to

work meaning that production will stop during the sunday evening shift –

after the strike production will only be able to restart for a few hours in

between this causing a further impact on the company.

Whilst the industrial action will be having an impact on the company,

at present they are refusing to even enter ACAS mediated talks with the

unions.Reps from across Unilever sites will meet to discuss the next steps

in the campaign after the present round of industrial action is concluded. If the company are still refusing to come to the negotiating table then it is

likely to take an escalation of the action to do so.

In the meantime, Unilever workers and the unions should aim to

build links with all others fighting for decent pensions, not least workers inthe public sector who face similar attacks on their pensions. Unions and

trades councils should invite Unilever workers to speak at meetings to help

counter the governments attempts to divide public and private sector

workers, and instead fight for a decent pension for every worker.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33Theeovq1c





Unpaid overtime on the increase

The amount of unpaid overtime is on the increase. The Activist regularlyreceives reports, that because of the cut-backs in staffing levels, the

practice of finishing the work long pass your regular hours is evenincreasing in the large retailers.The TUC estimates that two billion unpaid hours were worked last

year and were worth £29.2 billion to the bosses. This was equivalent to anextra one million full-time jobs.

The TUC has named 24 February as Work Your Hour Proper HoursDay , we can only hope that Usdaw's leaders promotes this campaign andour members are encouraged to campaign on this issue.

Nike pays out $1m in unpaid overtime payments

At least the trade unions representing Nike workers in Indonesia have woncompensation over unpaid overtime. The sportswear group has beenforced to pay the 4,500 the $1m they were owed. Our members shouldshould keep details of all unworked overtime - what a great idea for thenext Usdaw campaign.

Tesco shares take a hammeringIts a strange world! While many of the population were struggling to makeends meet, Tesco announcement of lower sales over xmas resulted innearly £5bn being wiped of their share price in a few hours.

Jobs massacre at La SenzaIan Harris, Hillingdon Socialist Party

Administrators KPMG announced they were 'delighted' to have saved1,000 jobs with La Senza in the UK on Monday.

They didn't mention the remaining 1,600 workers thrown on the dolewith ten minutes' notice.

Stunned workers were given 30 minutes to collect their belongingsand a standard form to claim redundancy money and unpaid wages from

the Insolvency Service.At a mass meeting in the warehouse on Monday night, a

representative from KPMG unceremoniously informed 250 warehouse,mail order and office staff that despite the 'rescue' deal signed withAlshaya, our jobs, as well as those of the staff of 80 stores, were nolonger required.

Alshaya is one of the largest retail companies in the Middle East



and manages over 55 international brands.In my workplace, this blow falls particularly heavily on young

workers, most under the age of 30, and many with young families.The sense of shock and betrayal in the air was palpable, as former

La Senza employees queued to collect their forms.

Many workers have ten, 15 or 20 years service with the company, who arecurrently claiming that we are only entitled to statutory redundancy payfrom the government, which could take over three months to be paid.

The disgust was particularly strong because of the lies anddistortions fed to the workforce over the last few weeks.Following the announcement that La Senza was in trouble just beforeChristmas, we were repeatedly told that we shouldn't worry, that a dealwas being negotiated and we should carry on working as normal.

Mail order and warehouse staff were even made to do extraovertime (on top of what we normally do, meaning 12 hour shifts or more),

in order to catch up with orders. We now have to claim these wages fromthe government as well.

La Senza, KPMG and the other retail giants and consortiums claimthat restructuring and job losses are necessary due to the state of theeconomy, i.e. the collapse in consumer spending brought on by the creditcrisis, and exacerbated by government attacks on public sector workersand wage freezes, cuts to hours and job losses in the private sector.

These factors undoubtedly exist. However, in the case of La Senza,it is not so much that the company is losing money, it is just not makingenough money to satisfy the private equity parasites, Lion Capital, who

withdrew their investment.Alshaya have swooped in like vultures, to pick off the 60 beststores, and add them to their already massive high street portfolio.

La Senza workers in the UK are heartened by and 100% in supportof the occupation of the Liffey Valley store in Dublin, demanding their overtime payments for December and unpaid wages.

The speech made by Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins in the Dáilsupporting these workers, was particularly inspiring, and should stand as alesson to politicians in the UK who claim to represent ordinary people.(You can watch the video here: http://www.joehiggins.ie/2012/01/video-

joe-higgins-urges-minister-to-ensure-la-senza-workers-entitlements-are-met/ or see below for transcription)2012 will see further downturns in the retail sector, with further mass

redundancies likely. It is time for the general unions: Unite, GMB andUsdaw, to step up their recruitment campaigns in this sector massively.

It is also time for all workers and trade unionists to join the fight for new workers' party, that will stand up for the rights of ordinary workers,and fight back against the savage attacks by the bosses, big business



and the Con-Dem government.

Interview with Worker occupying La Senza,Liffey Valley

Can you explain how you’ve been treated by your former employer?We’ve been treated like dogs. The company hid behind the smokescreenof KPMG and said that we weren’t going into liquidation. We workedStephen’s Day, Christmas Eve, New Years Eve because we were told thatwe would get paid, losing out on time with our family at Christmas. Theylied to us, led us along, said we weren’t closing down. They said, “There’sa contingency” plan and not to worry. We were cheerful, nice to thecustomers and so on when all this was going on. But the reality is that allalong they must have known that we were closing down, and that we

wouldn’t get our wages!

What are you and the other workers demanding?We want our wages and our overtime for the last month and a half. Wewant our time in lieu and we want the holiday pay that we are owed. Theykept lying to us so that we wouldn’t leave. They withheld information fromus so we wouldn’t leave the shop at Christmas and now they’re justkicking us to the kerb.

Are you getting much support?

A man that none of us knows put 50 euro under the shutter. Everyone’sbeen cheering, giving us the thumbs up. The response has been great. It’slike with the guys down in Cork [Vita Cortex, workers' sit in], we’re all thein same boat and something has to be done. Hopefully this can also givethem more support and publicity.

What inspired you to occupy?We thought we could do a similar thing to what they’ve done in Cork. Andwhen it happened we just said that we’re not leaving, because we've beentreated with such injustice.

First published in the Socialist (Ireland)

All right for some

Did you know that the ratio of top executive pay to average employee payhas increased from 47:1 in 2000 to 102:1 in 2011? We need a party that'sgoing to fight for workers more than ever.



Please forward this copy of the Activistto your contacts in Usdaw

If you would like further details of the work of theSocialist Party please send your address email

to [email protected]

Activist 30

Documents

Transcript of Activist 30