Lambeth Labour Blasted Over Living Wage Lies

On Saturday afternoon in the centre of Brixton, an event to demand the Living Wage for Lambeth organised by the South London and Lambeth sections of London Citizens. A large crowd had gathered, representing churches and mosques in Lambeth.

The political glitterati had also appeared – Tessa Jowell, Chukka Umunna (Labour candidate for Streatham and sometimes called the ‘British Obama’) Chris Nicholson (Lib Dem candidate for Streatham) the Labour Council Leader, Steve Reed and the Lib Dem group leader, Ashley Lumsden – no sign of the Tories.

Green Party Councillor, Becca Thackeray, had put a motion to Lambeth over a year ago asking for the Living Wage for contracted staff etc but it had been blocked by Labour.

However, when London Citizens announced that Lambeth’s contracted staff were not receiving a Living Wage – they produced a cleaner from Brixton Market, who told how he was trying to live on £100 per week and had a child to support also.
The Council Leader’s face was a joy to behold. But better was to come. As each politician placed a symbolic ballot paper into a box indicating that they would support the LW in Lambeth, they were addressed by a young Muslim activist from LondonCitizens who read out a formal statement.

As Reed prepared to pledge to vote, the LC speaker addressed him saying: “Cllr Reed, you told us some months ago that all contracted staff in Lambeth were paid a Living Wage but we have found out that this is not the case. We met with the Head of Procurement and she told us that Veolia staff are not receiving it.” Once again he looked stunned and his Cabinet Member for Finances, who was standing nearby was panicking. He then addressed the crowd and said that the only reason Lambeth had not paid the LW was because the previous administration had not placed it in the contract and this meant that they had to wait for a new contract.

This is not at all the case and a clause could have been placed in the contract for a Living Wage. Clearly the Cllr Reed was trying to wriggle out of his past and he then signed up to the promise to introduce the LW for all contracted staff, as did the Lib Dems.

Tessa Jowell tried to rescue the situation by stating that the Labour Party’s manifesto was calling for a Living Wage for all staff (cleaners etc) employed at Whitehall. Why this was not done before now? Ken Livingstone introduced the policy years ago.

Anticapitalist Manifesto Online

The Anticapitalist Manifesto, Drinkall for Vauxhall: for the millions, not the millionaires is now online!


You can view it by going to Workers Power.


All feedback welcome!

Lambeth Labour manifesto threatens to sack ALMO

"We will give Lambeth Living 12 months tp improve quality of repairs , reduce the time taken to re-let empty homes , keep rent rises down and improve the service to leaseholders or we will sack them and put the service under new management."

This comes from an administration which told us that ALMOs bring a more efficient service than in directly managed authorities!

It is not clear whether this means bringing the housing managment back in-house under direct council control or whether it means continuing with the partially privatised arrangement under a new leadership.

Get your fellow tenants and election candidates to sign up to the Manifesto for Council Housing launched at the recent Defend Council Housing conference - go to www.defendcouncilhousing.org.uk for more details.

Lambeth UNISON Election Vote Vetoed

The Unison website states that "UNISON is a member led democratic organisation".

However, a motion passed at a recent Lambeth UNISON Branch Committee, calling for an indicative vote at a hustings of local general election candidates, has been vetoed by UNISON's largely unelected regional bureaucracy.

Lambeth Activists have long campaigned for the democratisation of political funding in order for workers to advance their collective interests, rather than blindly fund a Labour Party that has publically promised to "cut deeper and tougher than Margaret Thatcher".

A motion previously submitted to Lambeth UNISON's Branch Committee, calling for the formation of a local voluntary political fund had already been vetoed. An amended motion was then passed calling for a hustings after which an indicative vote would be held.

An (unelected) regional officer has since advised Lambeth UNISON that to even conduct a show of hands at a hustings to gauge support for political candidates, could be in breach of national rules. "Rule J" states that political support and resources may only be given to the Labour Party through the Labour Link. This is despite the fact that the majority of members in Lambeth and nationally in UNISON have opted not to support to the Labour Party!

What then for the right of these members to collectively advance their interests in the political arena? It seems that Unison is not as "member led" as it claims to be.

Local Trade Unionists Stand for Parliament

Voters in the Vauxhall constituency of London will get the chance to vote for socialist alternatives to New Labour in May, with two trade unionists running against Labour MP Kate Hoey.

Jeremy Drinkall from Workers Power will be standing on an anticapitalist manifesto, saying on the streets and doorsteps that ordinary people should not pay for an economic crisis caused by the rich.

Jeremy, who is a teaching assistant at a local school, plays an active role as a Unison shop steward in Lambeth. He has taken part in local efforts to protect council housing and is on the steering committee of the national Right to Work campaign which fights against unemployment. Jeremy has long contributed to the work of Lambeth Activists in the local community.

Joseph Healy has been elected by Lambeth Green Party to stand as the Parliamentary Candidate for the Vauxhall Constituency at the next general election.

He is currently Male Co-Convenor of Green Left, the ecosocialist, anti-capitalist platform within the Green Party. He is also the Green Party's delegate to the Stop the War Coalition and an active anti-war campaigner. Joseph has also supported the work of Lambeth Activists, and indeed joined Local Government workers on the picket lines at Brixton Town Hall in 2008. He is also an active member of Unison.

We hope that residents of Vauxhall consider voting for one of these candidates with the aim of building a strong and democratic socialist movement in Lambeth, independent of political and industrial elites.

Whilst trade union bureaucrats are still trying to trick workers into voting for yet more job, pay and service cuts under Labour, Vauxhall residents can now use their vote to protect public services, the environment and the rights of trade unions to organise.