EAT overturns Registrars right to discriminate

Read Andrew's post on Jon's union blog.

United Nations - LGBT Victory for Inclusion

The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) have granted consultative status to two groups that work on sexual orientation and gender identity which is a victory in the ongoing struggle for inclusion at the UN.

The two groups approved on July 21 and 22, 2008 are COC Netherlands and the State Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Transexuals and Bisexuals of Spain (FELGTB), national organizations representing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the Netherlands and Spain.

"COC Netherlands is delighted about obtaining consultative status with the UN," said Björn van Roozendaal, COC international advocacy officer. "It means we can join the efforts at the UN to address human rights violations against people with an alternative sexual orientation or gender identity."

"Spanish-speaking LGBT voices will be heard in UN meetings where human rights questions are debated," said David Montero, FELGTB Spain's officer for international issues and human rights. "We thank all who have contributed to this exciting outcome, and especially Spain's UN mission for their support."

Consultative status is a key means for civil society to access the UN system. It allows non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to deliver oral and written reports at UN meetings, and to organize events on UN premises. With it, these groups can share their information and analysis of the abuses and discrimination LGBT people confront around the world.

Only a handful of LGBT groups have received the status. In recent years, some states have treated LGBT groups' applications with intense hostility, and ECOSOC has only granted such groups consultative status after first overturning negative recommendations from its NGO Committee. ECOSOC approved the Danish National Association for Gay and Lesbians, the European Region of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA-Europe), and the Lesbian and Gay Federation in Germany in December 2006. The Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Québec and the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights gained consultative status in July 2007. The US-based International Wages Due Lesbians and Australian-based Coalition of Activist Lesbians have had consultative status at the UN for more than a decade.

At its January session, the committee tied 7-7 on consultative status for FELGTB Spain, meaning the motion to recommend it failed, but at the following session in June it voted 7-6 to grant the status for COC Netherlands.

At the July session in New York, ECOSOC adopted by consensus the recommendation on COC Netherlands and voted to overturn the recommendation not to grant status to FELGTB Spain. "ECOSOC has recognized the place of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people in the work of the United Nations," said John Fisher from ARC International, which supported the groups' advocacy efforts.

"States from all five regions voted to overturn the negative recommendation from the NGO Committee in regards to FELGTB Spain," said Philipp Braun, co-secretary general of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA). "We would like the committee to acknowledge the repeated message sent by ECOSOC that it should recommend LGBT groups. We also congratulate our members COC and FELGTB on their victory."

"Many states claim that ECOSOC's votes need to follow the recommendations of its NGO Committee; the view of those who voted in favor of the LGBT groups, however, is that this cannot be done at the price of discriminating against anyone, including LGBT voices," noted Adrian Coman from the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), who participated in monitoring the ECOSOC and NGO Committee meetings.

The NGO Committee is due to review a number of additional applications from LGBT groups at its next two sessions in January and May 2009.

A full list of states' voting patterns during the current ECOSOC session can be found here.

Pople of Lesbos have been Lesbians for thousands of years!

An Athens court has dismissed the lawsuit accusing an LGBT rights group of demeaning the people of the Aegean island of Lesbos by purloining the word Lesbian, a term islanders have used to name themselves for centuries.

The lawsuit was brought by three islanders from Lesbos, home of the ancient poet Sappho, who praised love between women. The island is a popular holiday destination for lesbians.

The suit said that the name of the LGBT group - Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece - “insults the identity” of the people of Lesbos.

In dismissing the case, the court said that islanders did not have sole claim to the name. Attorneys for the three islanders said they may appeal to the European Court.

Dimitris Lambrou one of the litigants in the case said Sappho was not gay. “But even if we assume she was, how can 250,000 people of Lesbian descent - including women - be considered homosexual?” Lambrou also denied the suit was homophobic. “The word lesbian has been associated with gay women for the past few decades but we have been Lesbians for thousands of years,” he said.

Evagelia Vlami from the Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece said: "that the name is not only used by her association but is used across Europe and the United States - from Great Britain to Russia."

Happy 90th Birthday Nelson Mandela

Celebrate Mandela the man and the movement he represents. Sign the birthday card pledge for democracy, justice and rights for southern Africa. Visit ACTSA's website.

And remember the 11th Fenbruary 1990 and what you were doing when this great man at the age of 71 walked to freedom after so many years wrongfully imprisoned by an aparthied regime.

Union Futures - Next Steps

Union Futures has posted on the next steps saying that with the loss in pay local government employers now have to make an offer of 3.25%. But inflation is 3.8%. Our claim is 6% or 50p whichever is the greater.

Day 2 of the Strike - Blackpool

I attended the rally in Blackpool today which was a really good turn out despite the pouring rain. It also seemed that less people turned up for work. Yesterday though there was an incident with a picket when she was clipped by a car and the police had to be called. Today a contractor going into the council told us to get a proper job and then when we shouted back at him that we have, he rang the union to complain! You can imagine what was said to him. We got his number as he effed and jeffed at us. The local NUT, UNISON Health Branch came out to support us and as the buses went by, they tooted their support. All in all, the general public were in support but some of the comments in the local paper just show that some people do not have any understanding of the structures of local government.

Views from Blackpool Picket Line

Blackpool Strike Rally

Blackpool Strike Rally

11am Thursday 17th July 2008

Outside Blackpool Town Hall Talbot Square

Strike On!

As we enter the second day of strike action, the first day seems to have gone well with massive disruption if media coverage and local reports from our members is anything to go by. My local council was completely closed to the public. I work in Blackpool as a homelessness prevention officer and we had a fair share of members and non-members not coming into work. We are holding a rally outside the town hall tomorrow at 11am and hopefully this will attract members from other local councils.

One of the real salient reasons for me as well as my own financial situation is that of my members and the fact that I am aware of members having to access my service as a service user because of the risk of homelessness as they cannot afford to keep up with their rising mortgage payments, heating costs, food bills and inflation. How can we be positively public when we are worried about how we are surviving on a day to day basis.

And the other thing, most local government employees also pay council tax so already contribute at least £1000 towards their own salaries a year. I know obviously some of it goes on services they receive in the district they live, but they are contibuting to the service they and their colleagues deliver!

With the reserves that the employers have got and the average councillors allowances increasing by 15%, 2.45% is not enough. We need to sustain this action for as long as possible.

Photo Gallery

What the Papers Say

Union Salutes Strikers

UNISON Members Strike for Fair Pay

Rolling News of the Strike Action

BBC News

Watch here

Comment is Free: Everybody Out - Cath Elliott

Union Futures

Local Government All Out for Fair Pay

As co-chairs of UNISON's LGBT committee, myself and Craig Nelson, expressed the committee's support and solidarity to all members in local government taking part in the industrial action. We said 'Our members cannot be expected to continue to accept pay cuts with rising inflation and living costs. We urge our LGBT members within local government to be "all out" on the 16th and 17th July and to demonstrate our collective determination to act to improve our pay and conditions - Stronger Together!'.For information on why UNISON members are on strike and rolling news of the action, go to http://www.unison.org.uk/paymatters/whystrike.asp

Registrars in glass houses......

Lillian Ladele, the Islington registrar refused to register same sex civil registered partnerships because she believes that Gods Law says that a union should be between a man and a woman for a life. I wonder how many heterosexual divorcees she registered. In the evidence given to the tribunal, one of her duties included renewal of vows. I know many heterosexual couples who renew their vows because one of them has strayed. I doubt Ladele took the trouble to ask them why and if the answer had been adultery, it is unlikely that she would have refused to renew their vows.

And now it is reported that Ladele herself has had a child out of wedlock. I am sure that I read somewhere that orthodox Christian views are against sex outside marriage.

UNISON advises that no legal precedent has been established by the tribunal ruling. Other cases have had different outcomes. A Christian magistrate sought the right to opt out of family cases that could result in children being placed with same sex couples. He lost his claim. A local government worker who claimed religious discrimination when he was sacked for distributing homophobic leaflets of bible quotes in the workplace also lost his case

Thank God that Islington are appealing! Diane Abbott MP has tabled an Early Day Motion calling on the Government to clarify or amend the law, if the appeal fails. You can call on your MP to add their name to the Early Day Motion, number 2039.

More on the Registrar

Just had a thought. The HFEB being debated at the moment with it's third reading on the 14th July in the Commons seeks to amend the Births and Deaths Registrations legislation to permit female same sex partners to be registered as the parents on birth certificates where the child has been born via IVF procedures. Will the Islington ruling therefore allow registrars from opting out of registering the births of such children on the grounds that this is against their religious beliefs? Will they permitted to only being allowed to register the births of children born of woman and man? The implications of this ruling are ridiculous?

God is above Employment Law

I am still reeling over the findings of the Employment Tribunal in Ladele v London Borough of Islington. Ladele was a registrar who found that her religious beliefs as an othodox Christian were not comptible with performing civil registrations. She complained to the Tribunal which unanimously founf that she had been directly discriminated against on the grounds of religion and belief, that she had been indirectly discriminated against on the grounds of religion and belief and that she had suffereed harassment on the grounds of religion and belief. The fact that there were two gay employees who had to listen to her justification for refusal to perform civil registrations as being "marriage is the union of one man and one woman for life to the exclusion of all others and that marriage is the God ordained place for sexual relations." just shows that religion and belief can interfere above the state even in a secular society. The whole pint of civil marriages and that civil registrations is that they are not ordained before God. One of the main arguments from some of LGBT people is that they want to have marriage and want the chance to have their unions recognised by God. The very fact they can only have civil registered partnerships denies them that. Ladele told the tribunal that she could not reconcile her faith with taking an active part in enabling same sex unions to be formed and that she believed this to be contrary to God's instructions that sexual relations belong exclusively between a man and a woman within marriage. Therefore even if the law introduced same sex marriage, her God's law woould be above the state law and this tribunal ruling would allow her to act outside the law.

This opens the gateway for refusal of services and conscience decisions being made for example, on the provision of abortion and I hope that Islington will appeal. I am stillreading the transcript of the tribunal decision and will be blogging more about this case, the more I read and when I hve looked at the other caselaw that the tribuunal relied on. It makees for depressing reading and no doubt UNISON's National LGBT Committee will be discussing this further at their meeting on the 19th July 2008.

Also see Craig's Blog - Beyond belief

Back to Blogging

I have been quiet over the last week. Work and UNISON has been busy what with the strike coming up. There are so many things I want to blog about so you might see trickles over the coming days (or not) on such topics like these:

• Ladele v Islington Employment Tribunal ruling
• LGBT Asylum
• Boris and Pride
• Ray Lewis
• Tatchell and Harman
• TUC LGBT Conference, UNISON Labour Link, Prides
• Reggae music

Labour Funds and the Unions

Anne Alexander looks at whether Labour can dig itself out of its funding hole. Lord Levy calls for reform of party funding.

Watch here.

2012: Will Sugar say You're Fired to Boris?

Alan Sugar has not ruled out standing for Mayor of London in 2012. The Amstrad chairman and star of The Apprentice speaks to Vanessa Feltz on BBC London 94.9. A Labour Party supporter, he has been called into the office by Gordon Brown on a number of occasions to advise on business issues. Labour’s biggest individual cash donation in 2001 was £200,000 from Sir Alan Sugar.

We know though that he is no advocate for equality with some of the questions that he asks of candidates. Katie Hopkins, was questioned whether she would be able to cope with a job at Amstrad when she had two young children at home in Devon. Hopkins left the show and the TUC said that the Apprentice was sending the wrong signals to employers over the hiring of female staff.

Regardless of what I think about his ethics or his ability to run London, he does have a knack for running a successful business although it is dwindling a bit at the moment. He does have a good team with Margaret and Nick the voices of reason. Boris won not for his politics but the celebrity status and perhaps Alan Sugar would be able to do the same. He is perhaps one of the only suspects who could actually point the finger at Boris and get to say 'You're Fired'.

The fact is that people might say that Alan Sugar is not a serious contender but he has been a life long Labour Party supporter and member and we may start to see another side to him when he gets to discuss real politics. However, with his draconian views on working Mothers and women in the workplace which are bound to be transferred over into the political sphere, I very much doubt he will have my backing.

The Londonist comments. See The Independant 22 March 2008, The Evening Shamstard reports 'Sir Alan Sugar lined up to keep out Ken Livingstone'

Equal before the law

Today the Equalities Minister is due to announce the provisions of the long awaited Single Equalities Bill. The BBC reports that age discrimination and equal pay will feature and there will be a ban on secrecy clauses allowing employees to discuss their salaries. I particularly am also interested in what is proposed about positive duties and whether they are to be extended across all equality grounds.

Heinz 57 Varieties Unless You're Gay

Watch the ad here that they pulled after receiving 200 complaints that it was offensive and inappropriate. The ads shows two gay men one of whom is preparing the packed lunch and 'their childen' call mum. The other is going out to work. Well that's the Yanks for you. Then the men share a goodbye kiss as one goes off to the work and the other stays at home to do the housewifey bit. The Heinz Deli Mayo ad has been pulled after less than a week on air after viewers complained to the Advertising Standards Authority that it was "offensive" and "inappropriate to see two men kissing". Other complaints include that the ad was "unsuitable to be seen by children" and that it raised the difficult problem of parents having to discuss the issue of same-sex relationships with younger viewers. See the Guardian for the full story.

Now I think it is offensive and inappropriate to pull it for the reasons given. But if I had seen the ad, I might have been moved to compain myself about the caricatures of gay men that the ad portrayed. Gay men who rear children call themselves Dads. The message being given out that same sex couples somehow mirror gender sterotypes and that 'Mum' stays at home whilst Dad goes at work takes us back decades.

Well, I'm sticking with my HP Baked Beans and they taste particularly good with onions and black pepper!

UNISON pledges "Key Role for Equality Reps"

Today there was a joint TUC / Government conference on Workplace Equality Representatives. Theses are the ones for which UNISON has secured funding from the union modernisation fund to run a pilot scheme. Part of this is to try and convince the Government that equlity reps need statutory time off. Reported on UNISON's website, "UNISON has pledged to work with the government to further expand the role of workplace equality reps.". yet in the NEC's support of the Branch Disabled Member Officer, you would have thought they had never heard of the scheme despite referring to it in their motion on Organising and in the Annual Report.


The Cabinet Office press release today stated "Workplace equality reps can assist employees who are facing discrimination and provide support to people on a wide range of matters, such as flexible working for parents and those caring for older relatives, disability, age, equal pay, and harassment. They also negotiate with employers to help individuals get a fair deal at work or stop them falling out of the workplace, for example by supporting disabled people (or those who become disabled)."

UNISON Local Government Members Agree to Strike

Well 55% of UNISON members working in Local Government who voted in the ballot, voted for sustained industrial action. I was one of the 55% and I know many of my colleagues who have not been keen on losing a chunk of their salary before also voted YES because they are fed up with below inflation pay rises. One of my colleagues said that her gas bills had increased so much that she was paying £1000 a year and both she and her partner are out all day and unlike to me go to bed at a decent time. I commute to Blackpool using the trains and I have seen increasing costs every few months but no improved service. My gas and electricty has risen so much I try and avoid the meters being read. And as for food I try and avoid buying it.

At Blackpool, we still have not completed our pay reviews because the employers will not agree the pay spine on the basis that they do not want to increase the council tax. So we are still in limbo with that not knowing whether our salaries are going to decrease or increase. They reckon it will not be agreed in this financial year.

Union Futures has blogged that the NJC have agreed to strijke action and confirmed that the 16th and 17th will be the dates for industrial action. (Dependant on the ballot results, it will be the 18th in Scotland). However, we still have to see what the Industrial Action Committee says on Friday.

Also see Jon's union blog, UNISON reports here and here, BBC News, More BBC News

Tory leader David Cameron warned the government it was going to have to be "extremely tough" on unions to avert a wave of strikes. He said Labour was "so reliant" on unions for funding they felt they had a "stranglehold" over the party and could "dictate terms". And he backed tough action on strikes as they "rarely achieve their goal", he said.

If that was the case, we wouldn't be going on stike would we, duh! A taster of the anti-trde union laws that will put back in place should Shameron get in power.

Paul Ince becomes first Black Manager of a Premier League Foortball Club

We ask has racism really been given the red card when we see that Paul Ince has been appointed as manager of premier league footbal club, Blackburn Rovers? But the fact that he is the first Black English manager in the Premier League shows that we have a long way to go to kick racism out of football.

Jean Tigana born in Mali but played extensively in France managed Fulham and Ruud Gullit from the Netherlands managed Chelsea and Newcastle are the only other two black managers to have managed in the Premier League. Last week the Premier League gave Rovers dispensation over Ince's failure to hold a Uefa Pro Licence. The former West Ham, Manchester United, Inter Milan, Liverpool and England midfielder will be allowed two years to earn his licence. The licence requires 240 hours of study and usually takes a year to gain.

Black footballers have been playing association football since the 1880s. Did you know that Arthur Wharton, the world’s first black professional footballer was playing way back then for my beloved home team of Preston North End? And yet we still racist chants and abuse thrown at players. Only one Black English manager in the Premier League speaks for itself too.

At UNISON's National Delegate Conference last week, it was therefore great to see that the President's nominated charity 'Show Racism the Red Card' being given such a high profile.

Good luck to Paul on his new management post and on gaining his Uefa pro licence.

Also see Football Unites Racism Divides (FURD), Kick Racism Out of Football, FA.Com

NW Media Coverage on EU directive

BBC NW Politics Show feature on the EU directive on anti-discrimination including specific reference to sexual orientation and interview with ILGA-Europe. Arlene McCarthy Labour MEP speaks in support.

Serves You Right in Political Life

Stonewall have just produced a report Serves Your Right – Lesbian and Gay Peoples expectations of Discrimination. In December 2007 they commissioned YouGov to survey a sample of 1,658 lesbian, gay and bisexual people across Britain. They open the report with a quote from Alan Johnson Secretary of State for Health;

“Genuine equality will not be achieved by providing the same service for everyone; equality of opportunity is not enough. It means delivering the same outcome for everyone, recognising the diverse needs of different communities and individuals and responding appropriately to those needs.” (19 February 2008)

In 2008 there are no openly gay or lesbian people in the British cabinet, the Scottish cabinet or the Welsh cabinet. There are only two openly gay peers in the House of Lords out of more than 700 members and only one openly lesbian MP in the House of Commons and no Lesbian peers in the Lords. There are no out Trans politicians or anyone who is open about being bisexual.

The report states that despite modest efforts by some political parties, the majority of lesbian and gay people expect to experience discrimination if they seek selection by a political party to run for parliament. Nearly nine in ten lesbian and gay people think they would face barriers from the Conservative Party; six in ten think they would face barriers from the Labour Party and nearly half expect to face barriers if they sought selection from the Liberal Democrats. Women are more likely to think this: two thirds of lesbians expect to be discriminated against if they wanted to be selected by the Labour Party.

The report also claims that political parties have even failed to convince their own lesbian and gay supporters that they can play a full role in political life with significant numbers expecting to face discrimination should they seek selection as a parliamentary candidate. The Conservative Party is regarded least favourably out of the main parties with seven out often lesbian and gay party supporters expecting barriers to selection. Stonewall though claim that, nearly half of Labour supporters say they would also expect problems from their party getting selected along with three in ten Liberal Democrats.

Living Together, a YouGov survey of more than 2000 adults commissioned by Stonewall in October 2006, found that nearly nine in ten voters would be ‘comfortable’ if their MP was lesbian or gay, yet more than half felt that lesbian and gay people were likely to conceal their sexual orientation in politics.

Local politics is little better. Lesbian and gay people expect to face similar barriers if they want to be selected to run as local councillors. Nearly two thirds would expect to face barriers from the Labour Party, nearly nine in ten would expect to face barriers from the Conservative Party, and half would expect to encounter barriers from the Liberal Democrats.

The report also gives examples of homophobia endemic in politics citing the incident during the 2005 General Election campaign, when Sayeeda Warsi, the Conservative candidate for Dewsbury, published campaign materials saying that the equalisation of the age of consent had allowed “school children to be propositioned for homosexual relationships”. They also use the example of Miranda Grell, a Labour candidate for the Leyton Ward in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, who as we know was convicted under the Representation of the People Act (1989) on two counts of making false statements about another candidate to gain electoral advantage. Grell was accused of telling one prospective voter that her opponent, Cllr Barry Smith, a gay man in a civil partnership, was a paedophile who had a 16 year old boyfriend. Mr Smith’s partner is 39. Mr Smith was subsequently abused in the street for being a paedophile.

Stonewall have made various recommendations as a result of their report:

• Political parties should actively encourage lesbianand gay people to become MPs, MSPs, AMs and local councillors. Similar initiatives should be put in place for lesbian and gay people to those already in place for women and ethnic minorities.
• The Electoral Commission should encourage registered political parties to abide by a code of conduct prohibiting campaigning based on discriminatory attitudes to sexual orientation, race, disability, gender or gender identity, belief or age.
• Political parties should state that they will deselect any candidates who engage in homophobic campaigning.
• Local political parties should engage with their gay constituents to encourage lesbian and gay people to participate in the political process.
• Political parties should take measures consistent with their own rules and political philosophies to encourage lesbian and gay members to stand as candidates and to help them win selection.
• Government, with the support of all political parties, should appoint more lesbian and gay people, on merit, to public office and the House of Lords and so enable gay people to become more visible in public life.

National Delegates Conference - Disabled Members Officer

What I said about rule amendment 5 - Disabled Members Officer :

"Louise Ashworth National LGBT Delegate and a disabled member opposing this rule amendment.

The LGBT group have not taken the decision to oppose another self-organised group lightly.
But this rule amendment is not about disabled members self-organisation – it is about branch organisation, about equalities in general and about member representation. This rule amendment has an impact on members of all of the self-organised groups and could create a precedent of how we may be represented in the future.

A motion at Disabled Members Conference proposed a Disability Officer to work specifically on behalf of disabled members because disabled people encounter particular disadvantage in the workforce.

We are not denying that disabled members do face particular disadvantage but so do our Black members, our women members and our lgbt members. Will this just be the start of a barrage of rule amendments being submitted in the future?

Various reasons have been mooted why the post is required - employers not taking the DED seriously and more recently we were told that it is intended to be a caseworker taking on cases such as health and safety, sickness absence and capability hearings.

This rule amendment introduces a quagmire of equality and member representation at branch level and should be opposed. The amendment undermines the role of the equality officer, self organisation and workplace representatives. It introduces a hierarchy of equality epresentation and discrimination at branch level that we as a union have strived to overcome.

The rule book, code of good branch practice and guidance on self organisation already provide opportunity for branches to elect a disabled members officer and for members of self organised groups to be represented on the branch committee. But only 60% of branches have equalities officers whereas a fifth of all branches already have Disabled Members Officers in place.
This rule change proposes a Disabled Members Officer who may not be disabled and will not be elected by disabled members and may not have any connections with the branch disabled members self organised group.

The union has secured funding from the union modernisation fund for the workplace equality representatives project. This rule amendment confuses the aims of the project and should be opposed.

The key representatives for members in workplace issues are stewards – and equality is a workplace issue.

If a steward needs specialist advice on my disability, they can talk to me. If they need specialist advice on disability equality then can turn to the structures UNISON already has in place. It is every activist’s duty to take equality seriously. We should be all for one. Not one for all who are disabled or lgbt for that matter. Please oppose."

The result was For 538,903. Against 559,604. Amendment Lost. Majority Against 21,511.

For the truth behind the right of reply, read here.

A briefing paper has been produced to the reasons why the LGBT Group were opposed. I have read a few comments on blogs that the reasons we were opposed was the method in which the rule change had been approached i.e., without consultation. With or without consultation, the poposal is ill thought out and it is likely that our position would have remained the same. the arguments supporting the position were weak. It was suggested that it would help disabled people achieve in public life if they were elected into such positions. However, the very fact that the position does not have to be a disabled member means that is not necessarily the case. The mover stated that 881 branches already have Disabled Members Officers thereby proving that there is already provision for the position to exist. The argument that a DMO would deal with health and safety cases undermines workplaces and health and safety representatives and also detracts from the specialist area of disability equality. There is also an underlying current of medicalisation of disability and a movement away from self organisation to facilitation of disabled members. I even heard a comment that allowing should means that it would be easier for disabled people who have not disclosed their disability to take up the position. However, how could you then distinguish or share preference between the disable person who has not disclosed their disability and the non-disabled erson who run in a contested election? Nonsense.

UNISON National Delegate Conference - Women into Public Life

The motion on Women into Public Lfe at UNISON's National Delegate Conference although high up on the last day of business was sadly not reached. The SOGs had asked for this to be the theme of a fringe meeting and were told that ther might be a guest speaker instead. But we did not get a guest speaker on the topic, nor did we get a fringe and in fact all the guest speakers at conference were men.

The LGBT group believed this motion shows that as a society we still have a long way to go to achieving gender equality particularly when it comes to politics and public life.

Therefore we particularly welcomed the launch of the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Women Councillors Taskforce this May by Harriet Harman. The cross party taskforce which will take practical action is intended to help more black, Asian and minority ethnic women to become councillors and will be done through a series of activities such as outreach into communities and mentoring. Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic women account for less than 1% of England’s 20,000 councillors. Only 2 of the 19.5% of the women MPs come from Minority Ethnic communities. There has never been an Asian woman MP.

We also welcome the Government’s announcement that the Equality Bill will include provision for political parties to allow the adoption of all-women shortlists until 2030.

As far as LGBT women, in 2008, there is only one ‘out’ lesbian politician in the House of Commons and none in the House of Lords. There are no out Trans MPs or Lords. And no-one who has said that they are bi-sexual.

Stonewall have just produced a report ‘Serves You Right’ - lesbian and gay people’s expectations of discrimination. A you.gov survey was carried out and found that the majority of lesbians and gay people expect to experience discrimination if they seek election by a political party or run for parliament. And Women are more likely to think this as two thirds of lesbians thought they would be discriminated against. Local politics was not much different.

Stonewall have recommended that political parties actively encourage their LGB members to run for positions and agree to deselect any candidate who engages in homophobic campaigning. Stonewall is a LGB campaigning group and obviously UNISON’s lgbt group would extend this to Trans people as well.

This year UNISON submitted a motion to LGBT Labour on increasing the effective participation of women. LGBT Labour has launched Dorothys List, a campaigning fund to support LGBT candidates particularly women running for election.

It's not just going to be a clicking of the heels for us to get into public life. We have a long journey ahead of us even down the red brick road.

UNISON Organising for Equality

At National Delegate Conference, a motion on Organising was debated which referred to the new Equality Reps Pilot Scheme. UNISON secured funding from the union modernisation fund to enable the development of the workplace equality representatives project. UNISON has always argued for statutory recognition for equality representatives and it is hoped that the success of this project and similar projects in other unions will achieve this.

The pilot project will assess how the role of "Equality Rep" can help branches negotiate around equalities particularly in relation to the public sector duties on disability, race and gender. It is proposed that the work of the Rep will include:

• working with the Branch Equality Officer to advocate for good equality practices in the workplace


• raising awareness within the workplace of the work the union and the branch does around equality


• encouraging the branch to prioritise equality issues


• signposting members with potential equality related cases to branch stewards.

Equality is a workplace issue and equality is the responsibility of everyone in UNISON. Our members are best represented in workplace issues by our accredited workplace representatives and stewards.

UNISON has produced guidance on self organisation which states that

When members need union representation in a workplace matter, this is usually provided by their elected workplace representative or steward. All union reps should be competent and confident in carrying out their role and be able to deal with all issues of equality and discrimination, while knowing how to access specialist advice when needed.

The equality reps supported by the Branch Equality Officer is intended to be able to provide that specialist advice and if needed they can also seek support from the branch self organised group if there is one in existence.

This is a new and exciting way of organising for equality and comes at a time when UNISON has also introduced the unison equality scheme.

National Delegate Conference - Motion 63 - New Labour: What do we get for our Money? - My view

As a LGBT person I can tell you exactly what I have got for my money from New Labour:

• an equal age of consent
• an end to discrimination against my partner for immigration purposes
• the right to adopt children
• the scrapping of Section 28 (Clause 2a in Scotland)
• the banning of discrimination in the workplace and in vocational training with the introduction of the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations
• the creation of the Equality and Human Rights Commission giving LGBT people statutory body protection
• the widening of the definition of hate crimes, and increased sentencing for homophobic hate crimes
• the removal of outdated offences such as gross indecency and buggery
• the Gender Recognition Act, allowing Trans people to have their true gender recognised in law
• the Civil Partnerships Act, allowing me to have my relationships recognised in law and have the same benefits as a married couple
• discrimination in good and services outlawed
  
• And we await a draft single equality act which will be lost if the Tories get in power

Much of what has been achieved is because of the voices and opinions of trade unionists and (LGBT Labour activists) within the party and in my view the weakening of that link will silence our voice even more.

At a time when we are in real danger of facing the prospect of a Tory government, we should be rallying together not dividing because that is what the Tories want. A party that is divided. Trade Unions turning their back on the party that we built. Spending time reviewing the link when we have more urgent things to get on with like defeating the BNP and the Tories.

I am not saying that New Labour has not made some drastic mistakes and that we have had a battle on our hands and still do. I am not saying that our public services have been put under pressure, that our pay does not matter, that our pensions don’t and that our rights as trade unionists should be eroded. We still have a battle. But with the Tories it would be a war. It would not be positively public. It would be positively private. UNISON – the private service union.

There is all this talk about New labour and Old labour – we are talking about the labour party here – our party - not the Government. The party is different to the govenment. Who else is a viable alternative? Respect? Socialist Workers Party? Lib dems? Dare I say it - the Tories?

I choose to pay into the affiliated political fund and it is financed solely by members who pay the levy not by the general membership.

Arguments for Keeping the 'Blood Ban'?

A survey carried out by the Medical Reasearch Council has found that 40% of Gay Men with undiagnosed HIV infection presume that they were HIV negative. The study also found that risky sexual behaviour was more common among men who were aware of their HIV-positive status than among men who were undiagnosed or HIV negative; even more so in those who had been HIV positive longest.

About 2,700 gay men in the UK were diagnosed with HIV in 2006 - double the number a decade earlier. Theses represent about a third of all new cases that year. The Terence Higgins Trust says funding for prevention work among gay men is under threat and that there is not enough discussion of the issue within the gay community. Will Nutland from THT comments here.

Craig has blogged previously about gay men and blood donation.

Also see BBC News and Pink News

European Disability Forum Opposed to Horizontal Directive

After months of campaigning the European Commission announced that it will be proposing a horizontal directive on anti-discrimination covering all the grounds. This confirmed by Commissioner Barroso himself during a meeting with a Social Platform delegation. Barroso had also called two MEPs, Kathalijne Buiteweg and Michael Cashman to tell them about the decision. The text of the directive itself will be presented on 2nd July along with the new EU Social Package. Although it is important to celebrate this great achievement now, it may be likely that there is quite a battle ahead at the Council level. It was only three months ago that Commissioner Spidla told ILGA-Europe that he had limited hopes of including age and sexual orientation in a new directive, and that he had more or less given up on including the ground of religion and belief. This has been welcomed by many civil society organisations and trade unions.
After adoption by the Commissioners, the proposal will go to European Council. At this stage, the proposed text will be up for negotiations by Member States. This process is likely to be long since a directive related to non-discrimination (i.e. based on Article 13 of the EU Treaty) needs to be adopted unanimously, i.e. by ALL Member States.

But now there is news that that the European Disability Forum is opposing the horizontal directive on the basis that a single directive "may not respond to the needs of a group as diverse as persons with disabilities. We face not only attitudinal, but also structural discrimination, and it is only by addressing barriers in the society that such discrimination can be removed. We fear that these specificities of disability-based discrimination may be diluted by the broad scope of the proposed legislation." The oncerns have been raised in an open letter to Commissioner Barroso. Obviously these are genuine concerns but can be dealt with in the scope of a strong, single directive. This has been a similar concern raised over the Single Equality Bill in the UK but we have campaigned long and hard for levelling up not watering down. The danger is that other groups will be left out in the cold with limited rights.

The case for a single directive:

ILGA-Europe (The European Region of the International Lesbian and Gay Association) and the
European Network Against Racism (ENAR) have been arguing for the need to propose a single horizontal anti-discrimination Directive, covering the grounds of age, disability, religion/belief and sexual orientation. Here is a summary of arguments in favour of a single equality legislation. A single comprehensive legislation is the most effective way to ensure legal clarity and coherence in relation to levels of protection against discrimination. Experience has shown that a harmonized and coherent single legislation is easier to implement than a legislative framework fragmented by grounds. A single piece of legislation considerably increases the ability to adopt a consistent approach and to deal effectively with any inconsistencies and/or tensions that may rise between grounds of discrimination. It is for similar reasons that countries like the United Kingdom which had ground-specific legislation have been moving towards single equality legislation.

• A single legislation provides individuals with a clear means to know their rights across the
  EU. Having separate laws leads to fragmented legislation which has been shown to be confusing to the public in many countries.



• A single directive offers maximum legal clarity for businesses and other providers of goods
  and services. A harmonized legislation would mean that employers and service providers can rely on a coherent, transparent, accessible and easily understood body of law to be informed about their obligations. A single comprehensive legislation is the most effective way to ensure that all grounds of discrimination are treated equally and to address multiple discrimination:



• Creating separate rules for different grounds of discrimination often creates significant barriers to dealing with multiple discrimination. For instance, different definitions of direct discrimination and indirect discrimination, or the different material scope of legislation from one ground to another would make it difficult, if not impossible, to address multiple discrimination.



• A single directive underlines the human rights nature of the issue of discrimination regardless of the discrimination ground and enables potential conflicts of rights to be addressed within the human rights framework, avoiding any actual or perceived hierarchy of human rights. A single initiative CAN address the specificities of the different types of discrimination:



• It is the opinion of several well-respected European legal experts that the specific needs of the grounds of sexual orientation, religion or belief, disability and age can be equally met within single equality legislation. The different range of provisions that may be necessary to respond to the characteristics of each ground of discrimination (such as reasonable accommodation for disability or preferential treatments related to age) can be integrated in a horizontal directive, for instance under different chapters.



• The Employment Framework Directive 2000/78 already demonstrates how European legislation can combine general provisions applying to all grounds with specific provisions addressing the different context of certain grounds (e.g. the reasonable accommodation duty). Proposing a horizontal directive is the most effective way to ensure the strong
  endorsement of a wide-ranging coalition of supporters



• A single directive that fully addresses the specificities of each ground would be supported by a wide coalition of NGOs working on human rights, equality and non-discrimination and social issues at European and national level. It would support and strengthen social cohesion as well as solidarity between the grounds.



• Representatives from some States have clearly expressed to ILGA-Europe and ENAR that they will be more willing to agree to EU legislation on some grounds of discrimination as part of a “package”, which they consider to be easier to introduce in their country. Fragmenting the grounds of discrimination in different pieces of discrimination will open up the door to “trading” in negotiations and allow for States to have an “a la carte” approach to legislation whereby they can choose the grounds of discrimination they wish to see protected and those grounds they wish to reject. Due to the need for unanimity, this could result in no protection for any ground.



• A single legislation would also receive the support of several political parties, of trade unions, as well as of European and national human rights institutions and equality bodies.
  

UNISON Rules Debate - Putting the Record Straight

I am going to blog more later about why the the LGBT group decided to oppose the NDMC rule amendment to introduce a branch disabled members officer. But I just wanted to put therecord straight to something that was raised in the right of reply. The NDMC delegate said that there had been full consultation with the other self organised groups. This is untrue. Prior to the rule amendment being submitted to the NDC preliminary agenda there had been no discussions between the groups. At an equality liaison meeting in January 2008, the decisions from Disabled Members Conference and LGBT Conference were on the agenda for noting. The motion from Disabled Members Conference which urged the NDMC to submit a rule change was not pointed out whereas the LGBT reps pointed out any motions that may have an implication for wider equality structures, may involve a rule change or may effect other self organised groups.

The NDMC decided to submit the rule amendment and the first the NLGBTC became aware of this would have been on the publication of the preliminary agenda, but for the NLGBTC rep on NDMC being aware this was a possibility. However, the NLGBTC only become formally aware on publication of NDC preliminary agenda. At no time did the NDMC chairs contact any of the other National SOG Committee chairs. The NLGBTC Co-chairs were concerned about the implications of the creation of the post and wrote to the Co-chairs of the NDMC expressing these concerns prior to the next Equality Liaison meeting in April 2008. At that meeting, no useful discussion took place between the SOGs about the rule amendment and there was definately no consultation but the NLGBTC did put the NDMC and the NEC on notice that they were considering opposing the rule amendment.

Following this, a formal ballot took place of all members of the NLGBTC who overwhelmingly voted in favour of opposing both the NDMC and Suffolk County rule amendments. Motions have been passed at previous LGBT conferences on self organisation and equality representation.

The National Womens Committee met at a later date and discussed the rule amendment with opposition being voiced. National Black Members Committee also met and discussed the rule amendment and as their delegate said that although they decided to speak in support the issue of whether or not to support went to a vote so was not achieved by consensus.

There was a meeting of the National Disabled Members Committee at the end of May 2008 and the NLGBTC reps on the committee once again were open and transparant about the opposition to the rule amendment and were even prepared to put some of the arguments forward. However, again there was limited discussion as to the reasons why the NLGBTC is opposed to the creation of such a post but more to the fact that it was disgraceful that another self organised group is opposing the NDMC!

A further equality liaison meeting was held at the start of June 2008 and once again the NLGBTC co-chairs raised their opposition including some of the reasons (and quite strongly) in the meeting to both the NEC and NDMC in the presence of the other self organised groups and Young Members Officer. Again, the NDMC would not enter into a discussion and the only discussion was between the NLGBTC and the NEC on this matter.

Finally, on the day of the debate, we even published some of our reasons why we were opposed in our conference newssheet.

The national LGBT group has been honest and transparant and tried to enter into dialogue with the NDMC from the moment that the preliminary agenda was published but without any response. We still have not received a response to the e-mail we sent to the NDMC co-chairs in April.

Trevor Phillips addresses NDC - The conscience of our Nation

The UK faces two great challenges, Equality and Human Rights Commission chair Trevor Phillips told conference: "How we live with our planet, and how we live with each other."It is this second that concerns the commission, he said, pointing out that the new super watchdog was charged with being "the conscience of our nation".It was a duty it would not shirk from, Mr Phillips said. Like UNISON and its members, the commission had "a passionate commitment to the basic values of decency and fairness for all, and to building a society where human rights were sacrosanct."Our commission, like your union, even if we know our position is not popular with the public, will stick with it," he said, speaking of his support for "an idealism that has fallen out of favour". Of both UNISON and the commission, he said: "We are not simply here for ourselves, but to protect the fundamental principles of equality and justice... to create a community that is better, more equal and more humane."We will be here to remind people that this is what decent, civilised societies strive to do."

UNISON elects new President

Sue Highton, a nurse from Sheffield, has become the leading lay officer of public service union UNISON after being elected president for 2008-9 at the first national executive council meeting following the union’s national delegate conference in Brighton.She succeeds Norma Stephenson a mental helth worker from Teesside.Born and brought up in Sheffield, Sue's first job was in a local Woolworth's; she became a nurse with the NHS in the Sheffield Care Trust in 1975.Sue became an active union member in 1979, during the infamous "winter of discontent", when a male colleague assigned her to early morning shifts while giving himself comfortable afternoon slots. Sue had three young children at the time, and so took action against him.Today’s NEC meeting also elected two vice presidents to work with Sue as the union’s new presidential team: Gerry Gallagher is a police staff member working for Durham Constabulary; Angela Lynes is a local government worker in Glasgow.

Tory MP states that gender reassignment surgery is a choice

Pink News have reported that Mark Pritchard Tory MP or Telford and Wrekin has claimed that gender reassignment is a matter of choice.

Aceessing gender reassignment surgery is already difficult and as one of UNISON's Trans members recently said " until we can get full and equal access across the uK from the NHS it is a post code lottery. Trans people will continue to have to relocate to access treatment leaving potentially vulnerable people unemployed and totally isolated and at greater risk of mental ill health including suicide and self harm".

This is echoed in Krissie's comments on the Pink News article.

Visit Press for Change website to read more about the difficulties that Trans people face in accssing treatment and the discrimination they face.

UNISON withdraws support from RISE festival

Angry delegates today agreed to withdraw UNISON's financial support from the GLA-organised RISE festival, in protest at Boris Johnson's decision to drop the festival's anti-racist message. RISE was originally established by the TUC, as a dedication to the memory of Stephen Lawrence and other black citizens who have suffered from racism. It has since become the largest anti-racist festival in Europe. Regardless of this, the London mayor has declared that the festival would no longer have an anti-racist political purpose, and was instead "a celebration of music and culture."He has also banned the National Assembly Against Racism and the Cuba Solidarity Campaign from taking part. The BNP's newly-elected GLA member Richard Barnbrook has congratulated Mrt Johnson on the move. Annette Mansell-Green of the NEC told conference that the festival, which was supported in its original purpose by former mayor Ken Livingstone, "has become an important response to the rise of the right, especially the BNP. "The whole point of the festival is to support an anti-racist message and bring together thousands of people in the fight to keep the BNP out of London. This is political censorship, and UNISON will not stand for it." Ms Mansell-Green, joint chair of the general political fund which pays for the union's anti-racism campaigning, added: "No GPF money will go to RISE this year or any other year as long as it's not an anti-racist festival". Gloria Hanson of Greater London region, which has also decided to withhold financial support of the festival, called Mr Johnson "a disgrace", and his decision "an insult to London, an insult to trade unions and most importantly an insult to the memory of Stephen Lawrence." Delegates backed the move by the GPF and the region, urging the NEC to widely publicise their condemnation.

UNITE has also pulled funeding because Johnson refused a platform for the Cuba Solidarity Campaign saying that it was a political campaign group and therefore unacceptable.

Read more: Guardian News. NAAR's Reaction. BNP support Johnson's decision.

Also see Johnson aide quits over race row

UNISON 2007 / 2008

Watch here

James Clancy addresses Conference

Watch here

Dave Prentis addresses Conference

Prentis issues battle warning. Read here.

Watch here.

For views see Jon's union blog and Union Futures.

Show Racism the Red Card

Watch here

Union Futures Reporting from Conference

Union Futures

UNISON National Delegate Conference - Official Reporting

Opening of Conference

The annual report

Gun and Knife Crime

Defending the minimum wage

Shared services

Diversity is not the problem

General Secretary's Address

Violence and aggression against staff

Support for Vulnerable Workers

Celebrate and Defending the NHS

Defending In-house services

Equal Pay funding

Widening Wealth Gap

Marketisation Threat

Teaching Assistants

Solidarity with Southern Africa

Gaza Siege Condemned

Colombia. Also read here.

Burma

Flexicurity

Ending the two-tier workforce

Zimbabwean Unions Discuss Support

Responsible contractor policy for pensions

In pictures

Video

Tanker drivers offered 14% over 2 years

BBC News.

Chancellor Alistair Darling also said the above-inflation pay deal was due to "particular problems" confined to the tanker dispute. "Settlements overall over the last 12 months are around 3.5% which is consistent with our inflation target," Mr Darling told the BBC. His comments come a day after the latest UK inflation data showed the annual rate rose to 3.3% in May, up from 3% in April and well above the target of 2%. Bank of England governor Mervyn King has warned that rising food and energy prices could push UK consumer inflation above 4% this year.

Just shows that public service workers have been forced to settle for below inflation targets and no account has been taken of the particular problems that we face.

Local Government Conference

Carry on Campaigning

Apprentices welcome but...

Warning Over Shared Services

Get Involved

We'll fight tooth and nail for services

Live blogging from Local Government Conference

Union Futures

Don't forget to keep up to date with what Jon Rogers is saying.

UNISON National Delegate Conference

UNISON Conference Season has finally arrived. At the moment service groups conference are being held and no doubt there will be lots of debate at Local Government Conference on pensions and the pay offer. Equalities features highly with motions on the single equality act, public duties, local area agreements and the race equality duty, lgbt rights at work and women in local government.

National Delegate Conference looks interesting with a closed debate on equal pay, a debate on New Labour - what do we get for our money and what is likely to be be a controversial debate around the National Disabled Members Committee's rule amendment to introduce a Branch Disabled Members Officer which is to be opposed by the National LGBT Committee.

Other motions of interest for the National LGBT Committee include our own Making LGBT Equality a Reality and Human Rights are Fundamental. Also Women into Public Life, Organising, Human Rights in Sauda Arabia, Fighting the Far Right and Abortion Rights.

UNISON on You Tube

Watch here

Craig's LGBT Blog: Pastoral letter from Bishop Andrus regarding same sex marriage in California

Craig's LGBT Blog: Pastoral letter from Bishop Andrus regarding same sex marriage in California

The Big Anglican Gay Wedding

Traditionalists in the Anglican Church have been angered by reports that two gay clergymen have exchanged vows in a version of a marriage ceremony. The service, at St Bartholomew the Great Church in the City of London last month, used formal rites and was said to be the first in the Anglican Church. The event has no legal status but critics say it flouted guidelines.
The Reverend Peter Cowell and the Reverend Dr David Lord were already civil partners.
The couple are said to have exchanged vows and rings in front of hundreds of guests.

Read more. See what Thinking Anglicans say.

Hamish Howitt to stand gainst David Davis

Pro-smoking v pro-terrorist that is Hamish Guy Fawkes Howitt's message. Blackpool's smoking ban rebel landlord has revealed he is to take on resigning Tory MP David Davis and stand for parliament. Hamish Howitt, who owns two pubs on Rigby Road, Blackpool, has consistently campaigned against the smoking ban and allowed customers to smoke in one of his bars since the ban came in last July. And he now plans to catapult the issue into the national spotlight by taking on the former shadow home secretary. Davis shocked the world of politics by stepping down from his post on Thursday to fight a by-election in his Haltemprice and Howden constituency, near Hull, on the issue of 42-day detention limit for terror suspects. And Howitt, standing under the party name Freedom to Choose, intends to challenge him, saying Mr Davis is standing up for terrorists while failing to stand up for: "ordinary working class smokers." "The man is a hypocrite and what he's doing is a publicity stunt," he said."Why, if he is campaigning about the erosion of civil liberties, is he standing up for the rights of suspected terrorists but not smokers?" My priority is to expose David Davis' hypocrisy and I actually think the majority of the public back plans for 42 days detention anyway. I'm hoping to arrange a big meeting and drum up some support. My wife is from near the constituency, so I have got some experience of the area." Mr Howitt, 55, who owns non-smoking Delboy's Sports Bar and the pro-smoking Happy Scots Bar, has also secured funding for his campaign from millionaire businessman David West, who himself defied the smoking ban at his nightclub in London. As well as Davis, he will likely be challenging Kelvin MacKenzie, the former Sun newspaper editor, who, backed by his former boss Rupert Murdoch, revealed he was likely to stand in favour of the 42-day detention limit. And another person set to be challenged by Howitt is Blackpool South MP Gordon Marsden. The landlord has revealed that if he is unsuccessful against Mr Davis, he plans to oppose Mr Marsden at the next General Election."It's hard to take on the party machines," he said."I've got no money, no secretary or anything like that but someone needs to stand up for the ordinary working class people."Britain is crying out for someone to challenge the monopoly and lies of the big parties and that's what I've tried to do in standing up for smokers."The Labour Party and Liberal Democrats will not field candidates in the by-election, which takes place next month. Both Howitt and his wife Jo, from Park Road, Blackpool, face outstanding charges of breaking the smoking ban, and are due to appear at Blackpool Magistrates Court facing four charges each on Wednesday.Last November, Howitt became the first landlord in the country to be convicted of breaking the smoking ban, but efforts by Blackpool Council to close his bars down have so far been unsuccessful.

(Repreoduced from Blackpool Gazette 14th June 2008)

It will be interesting to see if Howitt and Mackenzie lock horns given the latters slurs on Scots despite his name.

Shell shocked

Unite the union which still which boasts 2 million voices reports that talks have broken down between Shell tanker drivers and Haver and Suckling. "Shell's failure to intervene in this dispute means that Shell's drivers have no alternative other than to go ahead with strike action, beginning on Friday June 13th, 2008. This dispute could have been resolved if Shell had advanced a fraction of the billions of pounds in profit they make every month. One of the world's richest companies is prepared to play Pontius Pilate and see the British public inconvenienced rather than settle this dispute for a sum smaller than the chairman's pay increase last year."

Unite says that Shell tanker drivers today earn a basic wage of just under £32,000 per year for a 48-hour working week. In 1992, a typical tanker driver directly employed by Shell earned approximately £32,000 per year for a 37-hour week. Well what have the unions been doing to allow this to happen?

Industrial action has now begun which has sparked panic buying. The companies say unions rejected a pay offer which would have taken the drivers' average salary to £41,500 by January 2009. But the Unite union says the offer would have increased salaries from just under £32,000 to £36,000.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has urged both sides of the dispute to resume negotiations, adding that contingency plans were in place to minimise the effects of the walkout. This has gained criticism particularly from the Left who see Brown as attacking the very right of trade unionists to strike:

LRC stated in a press release that the 'Labour movement unites against Government attack on right to strike'
"In a further erosion of our civil liberties, the Government has briefed the press that it is threatening to invoke emergency powers, contained within the Civil Contingencies Act, in the oil tanker drivers' dispute to draft in soldiers to drive the tankers. The drivers are members of UNITE. There is widespread concern within Parliament about these proposals as MPs have tabled EDM 1761 (full text at end) on this issue. John McDonnell MP, LRC Chair, said
"Just after the vote on 42 days detention you thought the assault on people's civil liberties couldn't get worse. When the Government introduced the Civil Contingencies Act many of us warned that it would be used against trade unionists and this latest threat from Downing Street confirms our concerns that emergency powers could be used to undermine trade union rights.
Just at a time when there are attempts to achieve a negotiated settlement to the tanker drivers' dispute this inflammatory threat will exacerbate the situation and undermine the potential for resolving the dispute." Matt Wrack, FBU General Secretary, said: "The FBU is extremely concerned about the potential of the Civil Contingencies Act to be used to organise strike-breaking. There is no evidence that the UK fire service has ever failed to respond adequately to the seriousness of terrorist events. We believe that some employers, with the encouragement of the Government, are using this legislation to organise strike-breaking activities that can only undermine good industrial relations. We would urge the Government to avoid inflammatory actions against trade unions in the event of industrial action".
-Ends-

EDM 1761 Tanker Drivers' Dispute
That this House regrets that Government sources this week have threatened the use of emergency powers against striking tanker drivers, who are members of Unite, including through the drafting-in of soldiers to drive tankers for oil companies; and believes this inflammatory threat sets back the process of achieving a negotiated settlement in this dispute.
John McDonnell Jeremy Corbyn Peter Bottomley Kelvin Hopkins Linda Riordan

Its hardly that the emergency powers are being considered to strike break and not as an immediate measure but are being considered to avert a civil crisis should one arise. Shell cannot legitimately think that the armed forces can continue tto drive their tankers for ever. We have already seen panic buying just one day in to the action and today there was a blockade on the M6 which caused tailbacks and delays and could have resulted in an emergency.

I believe in every workers right to stike but I also believe in being fully aware of the facts. And far be it for me to believe the employers but they are saying that a pay offer which would have brought the average wage to £41,000 has been rejected. UNITE say the increase would bring the increase to £36, 000. I know it is a dangerous job and long hours, often unsociable. But so is working in the public sector and we get offered 2.45% with many of us on much less than £32, 000 in the first place for a 37 hour working week with many of us working outside those hours unpaid.

A step nearer towards a horizontal directive

The European Commission has announced it will bring forward an all inclusive anti-discrimination Directive. The European Commission had made a significant decision to bring forward a horizontal Directive combating discrimination in access to services and goods on grounds of disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief and age. The European Parliament's Intergroup on Gay and Lesbian Rights congratulated the Commission on the right decision, which will end the hierarchy of discrimination in Europe and protect all European citizens equally. "We thank all those who have been involved in the campaign for an all inclusive non-discrimination Directive", said Michael Cashman, President of the Intergroup. "We congratulate the Commission and in particular Commissioner Spidla and President Barroso on doing the right thing. As ever the details of the proposal will be keenly awaited and scrutinised. And we will work with the Council and Commission to achieve our goal of making Europe a brighter, fairer, equal place to work and to live."

Hilary Clinton endorses Barack Obama

Hilary Clinton endorses Barack Obama and says the democrats need to put all their strength behind him to get him elected as the next President of the US.

After saying that her supporters need to help Barack Obama get elected as the President, she then talks about the barriers that women still face implying that this may have affected her success. She says that this time the highest glass ceiling could not be broken but it has been cracked.

Lou's Blog: Putting her Straight!

Lou's Blog: Putting her Straight!

Police to investigate Iris Robinson over comments

British Embassy in Warsaw to fly Rainbow flag

Today is Warsaw Pride and the British Embassy is to fly a rainbow flag. Last week the Britsh Embassy in Riga flew a rainbow flag for the Equality March. Read more at Pink News. The Equality March in Riga had been threatened with disruption from the far right and at some stage there was also the possibility that it may have been banned. See here for a letter that has been sent to the authorites in Riga about restrictions on the march. Also in May, Around 200 gay activists marched through Bucharest, Romania in a heavily policed pride parade that defied efforts by religious and far-right groups to have the annual event banned.

This mark of solidarity is very much a result of the FCO's LGBT toolkit and is a symbol of the good work that has been carried out between LGBT stakeholders and the FCO over the past two years.

Warsaw will be host to 2010 Europride.