MORE RIPPING UP OF CONTRACTS.

          Like I keep saying, your problems are not national, they are international. Just as governments across the globe are ripping up contracts, pension agreements, benefit policies, health care, and education, just to mention a few, so the private sector is following suit. Here in the UK the Electricians have been in a long running battle with Balfour Beattie who have torn up the negotiated contract it had with electricians and handed them another, with a take it or leave the site, message. The new contract apart from hitting the electricians with a 30% wage cut also introduces cheap casual labour to do skilled jobs. Sound familiar, if not it soon will, it's coming to an employer near you.

From the IUF:

          In an attempt to drive workers back to the dark ages of casualization and destroy their union strength Auckland Ports has made a “take it or leave it” proposal to the Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) that would do just that and threatened to replace them with contractors if they refuse.

          The IUF is standing with the MUNZ, the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions and with the International Transport Workers Federation (our sister Global Union Federation) in refusing to be bullied into accepting this ultimatum. You can read more here or you can simply help by taking a few moments to sign on to the union’s petition by clicking here

Thank you in advance for your support.

Ron Oswald,
IUF General Secretary

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RIPPING UP THE CONTRACT.

           We seem to be in an era of those, who believe they are strong, ripping up contracts, no negotiation, just a take it or leave it attitude. We all entered a contract when we started work and paid national insurance and taxes. In our case that was to guarantee that we would have health care free at the point of need, social benefits when unable to work, for what ever reason, a decent pension when age told us it was time to quit working. Now "our" government is ripping up that contract, our health service is being privatised, our social benefits are being slashed, more so for the disabled, and our pensions are crap. It is not just the public sector contracts that are being ripped up, the private sector is  taking its lead from "our" government. Large firms like Balfour Beattie have torn up the contract it has with the electricians that it employs. Handed them a new un-negotiated contract with a sign it or get off the site demand. The new contract of course does not improve the conditions of the electricians, in some case it leads to a 30% wage cut. What do you do when you enter into a contract with some and they then without negotiations, decide to change the terms? I believe you have the right to break your contract with them and defend what is yours.

        On the same theme, more forcibly put from a post by Ten Bears on Polizeros.

When you break the Social Contract

Ten Bears Feb 9, 2012, 8:22 am

Forty-three years ago I got a Social Security Card and went to work on a cattle ranch a hundred miles the other side of Burns (Oregon). When I first cashed that first paycheck, I entered into a social contract with The United States Government – specifically that if I pay into the system for the next forty-five or fifty years, then after forty-five or fifty years of paying into the system the system will pay me back. I faithfully met my part of the contract, I faithfully paid into the system.

Now the government wants to take away what I’ve paid for the past forty-three years, just seven years short of honoring its end of the social contract… to steal it from me and give to the bankers, the trustfunders, and the drug/media/oil/military/industrial complex. Violate the social contract we entered into forty-three years ago. Rip me off, and give it away.

Be forewarned, take from me what I have in good faith paid into the system, and I will no longer consider myself a part of this country, nor bound to its laws, its standards or its mores. Rip me off, and I will collectively rip you a new asshole.

Who better to fight the revolution, than a dishonored Vietnam Veteran?

 ann arky's home.

LIVE SPARKS.

        The electricians are holding firm in their resolve not to be treated like serfs, with a "take it or leave it" attitude from the employers. If Balfour Beattie get away with cutting the electrician's wage by up to 35%, then you can rest assured that you will probably be next in line for the same treatment. That is taking it that you have a job at all. These guys are at the forefront of the attack on your living conditions. the bosses will not pick a fight with all the workers at the one time. First one group, then the next, once you have slashed the wages of the first couple of groups the rest is easier. This is your fight, whether you are in the public sector or the private sector or unemployed, you never know, you or your kids, might want to a spark in the future. Show solidarity with your class, that's what the millionaire class do to defeat you. 

From Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/groups/264935423529258/

Sparks Against de-skilling and 35% Pay Cuts

Public Event for Sparks Against de-skilling and 35% Pay Cuts
Friday 10:00 until 13:00 Baflour Beatty Office, Lumina Building,

40 Ainslie Road, Hillington Park, Glasgow G52 4RU
FRIDAY 6TH JANUARY - 10AM

SCOTTISH BASED BALFOUR BEATTY M&E WORKERS ARE RETURNING THEIR BESNA CONTRACTS UNSIGNED STRAIGHT TO THE OFFICE

       Pass this on and let's give them as much support as possible! ALL M&E workers in the area should attend to show their support and to pass on the message to BBES that we will not stand for this attack

          The same firms who are de-skilling our industry and cutting our wages are also blacklisting innocent people. If you have heard sparks complaining about the blacklist on demo's and didn't know what they were talking about - watch this youtube video and all will be revealed - if you've never seen it before, it is truly shocking. As it stands I am not blacklisted but I do personally know a couple of people who are. It is a shocking practise and needs to be eradicated.

ann arky's home.

THE SPARKS ARE FLYING!!!

        The bullying tactics of the employers goes on, with the full backing of the millionaire cabal in the Westminster Houses of Hypocrisy and Corruption. The construction industry is leading the charge to decimate the wages and conditions of workers, starting with the electricians, they have thrown them a new un-negotiated contract with the message, sign it or leave the site. This contract can mean up to 30% cut in wages and a host of attacks on conditions and entitlements won over many years. However, the electricians are not taking it lying down, the fight is on, and with the solidarity of all those in the private and public sector, plus the support of the ordinary people from all walks of life, they can force the employers back to the negotiating table and tear this blackmail document up and throw it in the bin where it belongs. This is not just an attack on electricians, this is an attack on all workers conditions in the private sector. If Balfour Beattie get away with this the others will quickly implement similar contracts across the board. The government is attacking the conditions of those in the public sector and now the private sector are following their lead, with the blessing of the Cameron/Clegg public school thugs. This is the biggest attack on the working class since the 30's and the results, if they win, could be much worse than the 30's for us. It is not a case of one nasty employer, it is a case of a policy of constructing a cheap labour force to help the corporate world swell their coffers.

ann arky's home.