North West E-Bulletin
Issue 9 - February 2006
Derek Simpson
to visit the Isle of Man
Derek Simpson to visit the
Isle of Man
Derek Simpson is visiting the Isle of Man
next month to gain better union representation across all
industries and workplaces.
Amicus’ General Secretary and officials will
be visiting various workplaces during the visit including Barclays
and Manx Electricity Board to encourage further membership amongst
staff and build a union structure within workplaces as part of a
major organising and recruitment drive on the island.
Amicus members working in the Isle of Man are
invited to attend an evening meeting “State of the
Union” on Wednesday 29th March
from 6.30 p.m. at the Empress Hotel, Douglas Seafront. Mr.
Simpson will cover many of the issues facing the union today,
including the planned merger with the TGWU and GMB unions.
Carol Devereux, North West Regional Official,
says:
“Our members and
representatives on the Isle of Man play such a vital role in the
development and activities of Amicus in the North West.
I'm delighted that Derek is visiting the island as part of his
ongoing tour of the country, but more importantly, it's a great
opportunity to bring together all sections of Amicus on the island
in an informal setting.”
For further details please contact Carol
Devereux on 0161 745 7300 or email
Carol.Devereux@amicustheunion.org.
Amicus builds on
Construction membership
North West officials and representatives will
be leafleting construction sites across Manchester next month as
part of its campaign to recruit new members as major investment
grows in the North West and new building projects come on
line.
Amicus want to encourage more people working
in construction to join Amicus to ensure that our members have the
full backing of the union and are working under the National
Agreements offering the highest rates of pay in the UK
industry.
Construction workers are invited to attend an
evening meeting in Manchester on Tuesday 14th
March at the Mechanics Institute, 103 Princess Street,
Manchester M1 6DD from 6.30 p.m. until 7.30 p.m. to encourage
further membership and hear issues facing our members working in
construction.
For further information please contact
Construction Officer, Steve Benson on 01704 546 500 or email
Steve.Benson@amicustheunion.org.
Negotiations ward
off compulsory redundancy threat
After successful negotiations with ALPLA
Plastics Golborne site management, the threats of eight compulsory
redundancies were warded off by alterations to shift patterns,
redeployment of staff within the site, reduction in temporary
agency staff and the voluntary redundancy of one employee.
Regional Officer Steve Benson said:
“Our reps have worked well together
to identify substantial savings to the operation to avoid any
compulsory redundancies.”
Amicus has begun a campaign to recruit
employees in Chester’s growing financial services, including
supporting Chester City FC through advertising in its match
programme.
Amicus’ Chester based official, Denise
Barber, says:
“Our aim is to get Chester’s
financial services employees to understand the benefits of having a
constructive and modern union like Amicus working for them.
Chester’s financial services is a thriving and hugely important
sector to the local economy. Amicus can play a positive role
in supporting staff working in Chester’s financial
services.”
Scottish Power pensions
reversal
Scottish Power has agreed not to close the
Final Salary Pension Scheme for new entrants after all five trade
unions involved re-iterated their collective opposition to the
unilateral proposals.
From 1st April 2006 new employees
will go into a defined contribution scheme and following 10 years
service will be able to transfer into the Final Salary Pension
Scheme.
Amicus Regional Officer, Mike Barr
said:
“This is a victory for final salary
pension schemes. Scottish Power’s pension reversal shows what joint
union pressure and the threat of industrial action can
achieve.
“These things together enabled us to
reach a constructive way forward with the company through
negotiation and sends a clear message to other companies in the
energy industry that they must keep their final salary pension
schemes open.”
Discussions are on-going at Scottish Power
over the proposed restructuring and cost savings across each of
their Business Units.
Amicus saddened at the
end of manufacturing at a Preston print firm
Amicus has been deeply saddened by Goss
Graphic System’s announcement that it will end manufacturing at its
main plant in Preston.
Workers at the Flyde Road company have been
told that the manufacturing of printing presses at the plant is to
end with the loss of over 230 jobs.
Production is likely to be shipped overseas
to the firm’s other sites in France, America, Japan and China. It
brings to an end more than 100 years of production at Goss’ base on
Flyde Road, which employed 1,300 people in the mid-1980’s.
North West supports
May Day 2006 rally
The North West is supporting May Day 2006
march in London to celebrate International Workers Day.
May Day has been celebrated in London since
the 1880’s and brings together trade unionists, workers from the
many international communities, anti-capitalist globalisation
campaigners, political organisations and campaigning bodies.
The theme of the day is unity and solidarity across the city,
across the country, across the world.
The march will assemble at Clerkenwell Green
(near Farrington tube) at 12 noon following a route along main
roads to Trafalgar Square where a rally will be held.
We are hoping that as many people as possible
will attend the rally. For further details please
contact Dianne Kennedy on 0161 7988976.
Communication no problem
for Amicus Learning Reps
As part of the ongoing campaign to recruit
Polish workers in the North West, Amicus Union Learning Reps
(ULR’s) are tackling major language barriers between English and
Polish workers in the Region.
ULR’s are organising ESOL (English for
Speaker of Other Languages) lessons for Polish workers in local
colleges in the North West, free of charge.
Amicus Learning Organiser, Helen Osgood
said:
"Union Learning Reps are playing a
crucial part in finding a solution to the communication problems
experienced in today’s workplaces due to
Globalisation."
For further information please contact your
Amicus Learning Organisers Helen Osgood on 0161 7988976 or Nancy
Green on 01704 546500. For recruitment material in Polish,
contact researcher Alison Collins at
Alison.Collins@amicustheunion.org.
Calling all budding
musicians in the North West
The union is staging a competition for young
and talented musical hopefuls across the North West to send in demo
tapes for its annual Band of Britain Award.
There will be regional heats held all over
the country including Manchester with the finale in London.
The lucky finalists will battle it out for the chance to play at
the London Scoop Festival outside the Mayor of London’s office on
the South Bank, as well as the opportunity to spend a day in a
studio with a top producer and session musicians.
The closing date for bands to submit demo
tapes if
17th March 2006. For
Band of Britain Award posters please contact Karen Viquerat on
01704 546 500. For more information and an address on where to send
demo tapes log on to
www.amicustheunion.org/bandofbritain.
Win tickets to see Billy
Bragg live in his Amicus sponsored ‘Hope Not Hate’
tour
Amicus has sponsored political
singer/songwriter Billy Bragg in his Hope Not Hate tour of the
UK.
The tour which kicks off in April is in support of three of the
UK’s leading anti-Fascist organizations – Unite, Love Music Hate
Racism and Searchlight, in the lead up to the local elections in
May.
North West tour dates are Wednesday
26th April in Liverpool Carling Academy
and Friday
28th April, Manchester
Bridgewater Hall. Full details on how to win tickets can be
found on the Amicus web site or using the following link
http://www.amicustheunion.org/Default.aspx?page=3449.
Chorley links up with
ethnic community
Recruitment meetings held in January with
both young and old people from the ethnic community of Chorley were
a great success.
The first meeting took place in a venue in
Manchester called Nawaab at Levenshulme with representatives from
the younger grouping. An opportunity to recruit within a
local factory employing 450 employee’s was presented. Over 30 older
people from different towns in Lancashire, Chorley, Blackburn,
Accrington and Wigan travelled to the second meeting held at the
international restaurant in Manchester (Nawaab).
Steve Turner, Branch Secretary said:
“As the meetings progressed it became
clear that the most important issue was trust and forming links
between both parties.”
North West
Regional Equality Forums
Please note details of the following:
Young Members Regional Equality
Forum
Disable Members Regional Equality
Forum
To be held on Tuesday 11th
April 2006 at the Best Western Leyland Hotel, Leyland,
Preston at 6.30 p.m. – 9.30 p.m. Contact Prestwich Office Tel:
0161 798 8976 for further details.
Black and Ethnic Minority Members
Regional Equality Forum
To be held on Tuesday 25th
April 2006 at Britannia Hotel, Portland Street, Manchester
at 6.00 p.m. – 8.30 p.m. Contact Southport Office Tel: 01704 546
500 for further details.
Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual & Trans
Members Regional Equality Forum
To be held on Tuesday 25th
April 2006 at the Mechanics Institute, Princess Street, Manchester
at 6.30 p.m. – 9.00 p.m. Contact Prestwich Office Tel: 0161 798
8976 for further details.
North West Region
Women’s Conference
All Amicus women representatives (workplace,
health & safety and learning reps and branch delegates) are
invited to attend a North West Region Women’s Conference.
The conference is to be held on Tuesday
11th April at the Best Western Leyland
Hotel from 12.30 – 4.00 p.m.
For further information please contact Nancy
Greene Tel: 01704 546 400 or email:
nancy.green@amicustheunion.org.
Defend Our Pensions
Public Meeting
Colleagues are invited to attend a public
meeting “Defend our Pensions” in Manchester.
The event is being held on Thursday
2nd March from 6.00 p.m. at the
Mechanics Institute, 103 Princess Street, entrance in Major
Street. Guest speakers from Amicus, GMB, FBU, TGWU and
Unison. For further information please contact the secretary,
Geoff Brown Tel: 07905 327 690.
Mesothelioma Action Day
27th February 2006
Colleagues are invited to attend a public
meeting to support Mesothelioma Action Day in
Liverpool.
The event is being held at Liverpool Town
Hall on 27th February from 1.00 p.m. –
3.00 p.m. Guest speakers include Bereaved Families, Dr. Chris
Warburton, Consultant Chest Physician, Nurse Maria Guerin, Lung
Cancer Nurse, The Right Worshipful, Lord Mayor of Liverpool,
Councillor Alan Dean, The Worshipful The Mayor of Wirral Councillor
Chris Meaden. Greater Manchester Asbestos Victims Support
Group can be contacted on 0161 636 7555.
Legal support and assistance enables members
to bring claims for compensation for their injuries and any
financial loss. Over the last few weeks, a number of such
cases have settled successfully in the North West.
An Amicus member, employed by Parflow, has
received £4,000 compensation after he was injured when scaffold
boards slipped from under him.
The company not only denied liability but also alleged that the
member had in fact altered the scene of the accident to take
photographs, which he relied on during the course of his
claim.
- An Amicus member has received £13,000 in
compensation after injuring his shoulder whilst using a core-cutter
machine to cut into a brick wall.
The member was standing on a step ladder and leaning his body
weight against the cutter machine when the machine suddenly spun
around and injured his shoulder. The employer’s system of
work was wholly unsafe.
Kevin Coyne
North West Regional
Secretary
Please remember to keep us informed of any
changes to your email addresses so that you keep receiving future
copies of the North West Bulletin. If you know of other colleagues
who may be interested in receiving the bulletin, ask them to
contact us at
northwestbulletin@amicustheunion.org.
Don’t forget if you have any North West
events or pieces of news you would like to include in the next
Regional Bulletin please forward drafts to
mailto:northwestbulletin@amicustheunion.org
This bulletin has been produced by Karen
Viquerat, if you have any comments please email
Karen.Viquerat@amicustheunion.org
or telephone on 01704 546 500.
