the Activist

Issue 59
January 2016

Bulletin of Socialist Party members in

Mobilise Usdaw members to resist
deregulation of Sunday Trading
One battle down and the rest
of the war still to be fought.
Thats how Usdaw members
should view the ongoing battle against the Governments
plans to de-regulate Sunday
trading.
Plans to insert legislation to
allow handing control over
Sunday trading powers to local government into the Localism Bill have not materialised, partially after the announcement of SNP MPs that
they would vote down such a
measure.
Yet this does not mean that
the legislation is defeated.
The Liberal Democrats have
now come out in support of
the governments plans and
the pushing through of
English votes on English laws
will mean SNP voting cannot
again upset the governments
plans.

Councils Must Say No

Hence the importance of the
major local government authorities saying no to these
plans. The legislation is virtually pointless if the bulk of
councils pledged not to implement it.
All of the most populous authoritiessuch as Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool and others are controlled by the Labour Party. If

Usdaw members in Leeds recently took a deputation to the council over the
Sunday trading proposals - other Usdaw branches should do the same!

Corbyns Labour in parliament

can say no to the proposals,
why cant Labour groups in
local authorities up and down
the country?
Usdaw has produced a model
motion and a briefing for
councillors, which union members will undoubtedly be distributing to the local councillors. But it has generally only
been the smaller local authorities where Usdaw members are councillors who have
so far passed a model motion.
Unfortunately, some of the
large councils like Manchester
(a 100% Labour council) has
even commissioned research
into the economic benefits of
extending Sunday trading! No

wonder the Economist magazine thought that local government would be the best
place for a resurgence of the
Labour right to defeat Corbyn.
Usdaw members should follow the lead of those in Leeds
who organised a lobby and
deputation to their council.
Pressure must be maximised
to force Labour councils to
come out in opposition to
these plans.

Inside:
p2 - Stop the Eroision of Premium
Payment - the Morrisons Pay Deal
p3 - Broad Left Resurgence after
Corbyn Victory
p4 - Mailbag / Usdaw & Young
Labour

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Bulletin of Socialist Party members in USDAW

Stop the Erosion of Premium Payments

Below a Morrisons USDAW rep
gives their personal take on the
current pay offer which USDAW is
recommended last year, which the
Activist recommended rejection of.
Given that companies are due to
be forced by the governments new
living wage to pay 7.20 an
hour to over 25s (rising to 9) it is
entirely possible that over the next
few years pay could again be restrained like over the past period
with the pay rate hovering slightly
above the minimum wage once
more. This is why the Activist believes that USDAW should actively
support and campaign for the
TUCs demand of a minimum wage
for all of 10 an hour.

The Sunday premium isnt where it

ends. Overtime, late and early premiums are being scrapped. Forklift
drivers and caf cooks will see
there supplements disappear. People who started with the company
after December 2013 will only receive service rewards at 5 year intervals, although people who have
worked for the company since before that date wont be effected
and still receive it every year (for
people who started work prior to
December 2013, they have to work
5 years before they can claim their
first service reward). Finally but my
no means the smallest in this wage
offer, paid breaks will disappear
taking the working week down to
36.5 hours (39 hours minus paid
Retail has historically been low breaks).
paid. So on the surface USDAW
negotiating Morrisons staff a wage The concerns of many rank and file
increase from the basic rate of USDAW reps within Morrisons
6.83 to the dizzying heights of (who dont negotiate pay, apart
8.20 taking them over the so from a select committee who sit
called living wage, seems like a with the National Officer) is that
more than fair deal. The company Terms and Conditions are being
are paying a good wage, the staff traded away for a higher rate of
are happier, USDAW has negoti- pay, and given this governments
ated a good deal for its members appalling attacks on working tax
credits and cuts to peoples benefits
That is about as much coverage if are the members realistically going
any that you will hear about in to be any better off? Many USDAW
mainstream media. The reality is a members in Morrisons are part
stark double edged sword. The time student workers, some of
new wage deal sees the end of the whom only work a Sunday and its
companys Sunday premium cur- difficult to see how they wont be
rently paid at time and a half, quite impacted financially. Further irony
ironic when USDAW The Cam- again since USDAW has always
paigning Union who organise pre- proudly informed its members how
dominately in the retail sector, are it campaigned to abolish youth
fighting the governments proposi- rates in Tesco many years ago.
tions to deregulate Sunday Trading, yet are trading away Morri- Of course for some people who
sons Sunday premium. Are they dont work late, early, or Sundays
not in fact preparing for it becom- its understandable why they might
ing a normal working day? Or in be excited about the offer. But how
fact accepting it already is one?
long before they are expected to
work late, early and on Sundays?

Without premiums and with no real

right to refuse. What you essentially have or are going to get is a
divided workforce. With a natural
high turnover of staff, and a general lack of understanding regarding trade unionism and solidarity
anyway, retail is difficult to organise in. Now it will be even more
difficult for reps to organise and
very unlikely to attract non members within Morrisons.
So what exactly are USDAW doing
about all this? Well they recommend the members accept the
companys offer when casting there
vote in the pay ballot.
But why? Many members are
asking. Surely a trade union
fights to strengthen their members terms and conditions? And
doesnt trade them away for the
sake of a pay rise? It is not difficult to understand members or
even non members apathy towards the union when you look
deeply into what is being offered,
and a perceived lack of any sort
of a challenge from USDAW officials, all they seem to be doing is
reminding reps to recruit new
members. Perhaps USDAW needs
to remind itself that recruitment
is only part of organising, and
they are unlikely to recruit new
members or organise the ones
they have if they keep trading
away terms and conditions without so much as a fight, Whos
next Tesco? Sainsburys? Wheres
your next new member coming
from? Because you will more
than likely hear the old question,
what is the Union going to do for
me? And with deals like this even
the most dedicated reps and
trade unionists are struggling to
answer that one.

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Bulletin of Socialist Party members in USDAW

Broad Left Resurgence after Corbyn Victory

Following the huge 45% vote for
Broad Left Presidential candidate
Amy Murphy in the elections and
the stunning victory of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader have provided an excellent opportunity to
rebuild the left in the union.
Socialist Party members & Activist
supporters have been involved in
organising a number of Broad Left
fringe meetings at recent divisional
conferences which have brought
many more people into involvement with the Broad Left. This urgently needs translating into a
more firm base for the Broad Left
to push through the sort of policies
that Corbyn promoted throughout
his election campaign into official
Usdaw policy. We would urge Usdaw members in every division to
make sure a Broad Left fringe
meeting happens at their next divisional conference. Below we carry
a report of some of the discussions
at the most recent Eastern Division
Conference.
Eastern Division Conference

shop stewards and some officials

who attended, the guest Labour
speaker was Enfield North MP,
Joan Ryan, who backed rightwinger Liz Kendall in the leadership
election.
Despite being a member of Labouraffiliated Usdaw, she reflected
none of the mood backing Corbyn.
Questions
Ryan didn't mention Corbyn once
in her opening remarks; it wasn't
until questions were asked by reps
at the end that she was forced to
comment on her new leader.

Southern Division EC & Socialist Party

When asked if she believed Corbyn member Amy Murphy, who won 45%
of the vote in the Presidential election

would still be leader in 2020 she

claimed that this was "up to Jeremy, he has to prove himself in the
elections to come, so I don't know if
he will be leader in 2020." Hardly a
vote of confidence.

She is a perfect example of why

Jeremy Corbyn was wrong to say
he opposed re-selection of rightwing MPs who don't represent his
policies or the thousands of new
members who have joined during
and after the leadership election.
These are also the same MPs who
will look to move against him when
the opportunity is presented.

This was retorted later in the day

by John Dunn, from the Orgreave
Truth and Justice campaign who
said "It's not up to Corbyn, it's up to
us to support him", which received
the biggest round of applause of
Sunday Trading
the weekend.

The shop workers' union Usdaw's

Eastern divisional conference on
14 and 15 November took place
against the backdrop of Jeremy
Corbyn's election as Labour leader
and the changed situation since.
Ryan gave equally unsatisfactory
answers to questions on local govHowever, despite an enthused, pro ernment cuts, Syria and nationali-Corbyn mood among the workers, sation of the steel industry.

Industrial issues covered at the

conference include discussions on
Sunday Trading and the trade union bill which both received complete opposition from the 100 in
attendance.
'Black Friday' takes place on 20
November and could see a repeat
of last year when there were frenzied scenes at supermarkets to
grab cheap bargains. This was also
discussed and there was agreement that Usdaw should demand
measures are put in place to prevent a repeat.

Corbyns rallies drew hundreds - the left must harness this support for socialist policies

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Bulletin of Socialist Party members in USDAW

Usdaw Backs Young Blairites

Elections to the committee of the
Young Labour are perhaps not
something at the top of the mind
of most Usdaw members. However, members will undoubtedly
be suprised that Usdaws leadership has ignored views of its own
Young Workers Committee and
nominated two Progress supporting candidates for the chair &
NEC of Labour Youth.
At a recent Usdaw Young Workers Committee meeting, those
attending were told that it would
be inappropriate for them to discuss the issue. But this isnt the
only time their views on specific
youth events have been bypassed. Motions to the TUC
Young Workers conference
which Usdaw delegates are expected to move are not written by
them with consultation only on
the broad subject topic. It begs
the question, what is the point of
having such a body if you almost
totally ignore that bodys wishes?
Of course, it could be argued that
the young workers committees
arent elected. Divisional young
workers committees are appointed by divisional councillors
from those who put their names
forward, with a national young
workers committee elected from
those bodies having one
representative each.
But the leadership arent
proposing any sort of
change to those structures
its as if they want the kudos
for involving young workers,
but without allowing those
young workers any responsibility at all.
The Activist would like to see
the enhancement of democracy in the unions youth
structures. We would like to

see elected young workers committees, a young workers rep on

the EC (where despite the huge
number of young workers in retail
there isnt a single EC member
under 27) and the creation of a
youth conference where policies
can be discussed, including what
motions are put by the union to
external youth bodies (with the
proviso that is doesnt contravene
ADM policy).
But the selection of two Progress
supporting candidates by Usdaws leadership, as opposed to
the left candidates favoured by
the Young Workers Committee,
also shows that they are part of
the campaign to undermine Jeremy Corbyns leadership of the
Labour Party by placing those
hostile to him in positions of
power.
The best way that Usdaw members can fight to stop this, is by
campaigning for the passage of
policy backing the platform that
Corbyn was elected on at Labour
Party conference and advancing
the case for the democratic control and accountability we need to
see to ensure Usdaw has a union
leadership that fully represents its
members.

Mailbag:
News Flash: Usdaw General
Secretary takes a wage
cut!!
Well I never, the General Secretarys
takes wage cut. Can this be true?
In the Autumn 2014 Arena, it was reported that Hannett was paid 94,514
in respect of salary. One year later,
Arena reported, The General Secretary of the union was paid 89,896 in
respect of salary.This represented a
decrease of 4,618. Good on you
John!
It is hard to believe that our General
Secretary would willingly take a wage
cut. So was it the EC who imposed
the cut or could there possibly be another explanation. Maybe if we look
closer at the figures.
Arena 2014 stated that Hannett was
also paid 42,408 in other benefits
and, would you believe it, by 2015 the
benefits had increased to 49,818.
This represents an increase of 7,410
So Hannetts total package has gone
up from 136,922 to 139,714. So,
maybe our John has not taken a wage
cut after all. Can someone tell us what
is going on?
Still asking questions
Jack (London)

Hannett & Knighthood

Poor John Hannett - according to
Kevin Maguire in the New Statesman
retiring GMB General Secretary
knighthood would have been intended
for John Hannett had he not accepted. Clearly holding down wages
as part of the Low Pay Commission
and backing the Labour right isnt
enough services to our ruling class!
Getting impatient
Paddy (Manchester)

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