April 2012 - Elected to the Branch Committee

Bearly in post and new to the branch but have been elected to the branch committee as a steward, LGBT Officer, Disabled members Officer and they also want me to be the welfare officer.  It is a little difficult being a national branch as we represent members in England, Cymru / Wales, Scotland and Nothern Ireland so it is good for national bargaining but not so good for representing workplaces as we can be called all over the place and in various sectors including retail.

And on top of that we are all members of the Greater London region which is not too bad if you live or work in London but I live and work in the North West of England!

March 2012 - Building trade union links in Slovenia

Working with SKUC-LL, myself and the national LGBT officer from UNISON held a seminar with the teachers trade union and the trade union confederation on organising vulnerable workers.  The seminar had a particular focus on lgbt workers and also included areas of diversity amongst lgbt workers.  SKUC-LL have gone on to produce a guide for trade unions.

This leads on from previous work we have carried out with SKUC-LL and has proven to be a successful partnership.

We wished them well in their general protest against austerity which was due to take place a few weeks later.

January 2012 - New job

I have managed to secure a new part time job working for Barnardos the children and young people's charity to prevent young people becoming homeless and providing advice and support to homeless young people and those in housing need.  And there is a lot of them and with current government policies, likely to be a lot more.

January 2012 - Lobbying the European Parliament

I attended an event with ILGA-Europe at the European Parliament to re-launch the LGBT pledge which saw a number of MEPs sign up to the pledge for LGBT equality and human rights.

Jan 2012 - Foreign Aid and Conditionality

I spoke at an event organised by LGBT Labour about the future of LGBT Rights Internationally and focused on Trans Rights including the need for work to be done in respect of human rights of Trans people including around depath and forced sterisation.  I also spoke about not making foreign aid conditional on lgbt human rights and the need to work with grass roots and human rights defenders in the Global South.

Louise in 2011

From August 2011
Re-elected to ILGA-Europe Board
Part-time Training Officer for University of Central Lancashire Student Union
Undertook teacher training at University of Bolton
Undertook employment law training with Darlington College
Attended UNISON National LGBT Conference
Attended ILGA-Europe Conference in Turin

Bloggers Block

I can't believe it's been over 12 months since I last blogged.  Just goes to show what austerity measures do when following redundancy, the majority of your time is taken up with part time work and looking again for full time employment.  But over a year later, after working in public services for over 15 years, I still have not managed to secure full time employment.  I do challenge the government that we are all in this together and with the Autumn budget statement, the future looks even more bleak.  Perhaps, this will give me the incentive to catch up on my blogging.

Refounding Labour

Ed Milliband has got some cheek with reducing the powers for trade unions in the Refounding Labour proposals.  I recall a sketch on 'This Week' where Ed was portrayed as Don Corleone after stabbing brother David in the back for the Leadership contest of the Labour Party.   Well Mister Ed, the talking horse, might well find his head cut off by the trade unions and find it in bed beside him! 

Refounding Labour.  Ed sed.  Well to him that's about weakening the trade union grip on the Labour Party.  If it had not been for the trade unions, he would not had been leader. 

Refounding Labour.  Ed sed.  Again about weakening the trade union grip and affiliates.  Did he study the history and founding of the Labour Party including on the party's own website.

And another recommendation is about supporters of labour and they may get a vote about the leadership.  Well they may support Labour but they may never vote labour.

Many trade union members who pay a levy, are individual party members and also members of socialist affiliates just like any member of the the Labour Party and MP is entitled to be.

Ed is just braying to the centre right media and politics and before too long will become donkey.

E-petty

The Tory Government's new craze e-petition is nothing new.  We previously had the right to place a petition on the Downing Street Website and if it raised sensible concerns about Government policies, these would be raised and a public response would be issued.  I have received many a response.  This new system which requires 100, 000 signatures is likely to phase out but is dangerous because it attracts dangerous, right wingers like those who support the death penalty.

There are many petitions related to driving such as age limits and even 22 people signing up to the eelimination of speed bumps.  Either these are boy racers or bankers with really fast cars.

What is really concerning is the number of petitions calling for the return of capital punishment - some for murder and some for serious offences. One calls for the return of capital punishment for crimes of murder and has elicited 75 signatures.  http://order-order.com/2011/08/04/the-petition-goes-live/

All I can say to the supporters of capital punishment have they never heard of Ruth Ellis, domestic abuse, rough justice etc.

A further petition calls for withdrawal from the European human rights act and has 132 supporters.  this just shows the ignorance of the people supporting the petition.  The whole point of the Human Rights act is that it is domestic law not European Law.

I was even more shocked at the petition on 'ban the introduction of sharia law in the UK' which has 42 signatories.  I did not even know that we had a bill going through Parliament (which we have not) on the introduction of Sharia Law.  And this is one of the petition that has been allowed through and one that is divisive and racist.

My only consolation the most sensible ppetition I saw was to retain the ban on capital punishment with 2088 signatures so far.  Keep signing this.

I do not know what the others are yet and what have been denied because when I got to page 8, I keep getting the message saying due to the high volume of traffic we cannot process your request.

But once again on a last note, this has all been done before.  The only difference time if they get so may signatures that it will go to parliamentary debate we need to make sure that we have our MPs on well briefed and on the side of sanity.

Civl Partnership Bill Goes to Polish Parliament

On 27 July 2011, the Polish Parliament heard the first reading of a civil partnership bill which would regulate matters for same- and different-sex couples. The bill was read in a joint session of the Justice and Human Rights Committee and the Social Politics and Family Committee. The members voted (29 to 10) to send the bill further to a special subcommittee. Right-wing Law and Justice Party (PiS) announced it would not take part in that committee.

The bill was drafted by the Initiative Group for Domestic Partnerships, which includes two members from the Campaign Against Homophobia (KPH), Tomasz Szypula and Mariusz Kurc. The bill was presented by MP Ryszard Kalisz of the Left Democratic Alliance (SLD).

Voices were split as MPs from right-wing parties claimed that this bill is immoral, unconstitutional, will destroy family values, and that it is unnecessary as these issues can be taken care of currently with the help of a lawyer. Marzena Wróbel of PiS claimed it is a "promotion of homosexuality or pseudo-families". Members of the ruling PO party claimed that introducing an alternative to marriage could "destroy the whole legal system".

Meanwhile, MPs from left-wing parties and some from the ruling PO party argued the necessity to regulate these families. Robert Biedron, board member of KPH, took the floor and vouched that he, as someone living with a partner for 9 years, does not have access to many rights. Furthermore, he drew attention to the fact that the debate is not about morals, but about the legal system which discriminates.

As of now, the Speaker of the Sejm, Grzegorz Schetyna, has not promised that Parliament will finish work on the bill before the end of this term. Elections are planned for in late October.

http://world.kph.org.pl/?lang=en