Members' newsletter - August 2022 The reconstituted Kent Retired Members Branch has spent a while getting our house in order; ensuring you have a working and effective Committee that can carry out your wishes. We have three campaigns that we would like to bring to your attention: Bus campaign: The cynical closure of over 40 bus routes throughout the County needs to be challenged to stop its adverse effect particularly on the poor and isolated. Your Branch has decided SE100R1 BRANCH KENT RETIRED STAGECOACHMEMBERSOURBUSESOURLIFELINEWEDON`TWANTTOBEPRISONERSINOURHOMES.LEAVEOURBUSESALONEPASSENGERSBEFOREPROFITS WE ARE ALL IN TOGETHER!!!THISFORTHEMANYNOTTHEFEWSE100R1BRANCHKENTRETIREDMEMBERS Next Branch meeting: Wednesday, 17th August. 19:00 via Zoom (see agenda and email for joining details) Please do join us
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that it is up to people in the localities effected to organise and that our role is to support and coordinate.
Don't Pay campaign against energy price rises: There is a certain impotence felt by retired trade unionists that their ability to effect change no longer exists as the withdrawl of their labour is no longer an option. Nothing could be further from the truth which has been demonstrated in the history of movements such as the opposition to the Poll Tax in 1990 when the campaign effectively stopped the introduction of the unfair tax. The opposition to the Council Tax increases in 2004 being another.
A campaign to oppose the grotesque energy profiteering called Don't Pay has been launched. It is asking people to pledge to stop their direct debits to their energy suppliers on 1st October. DO NOT refuse to pay your energy bill in October. This will mean that their supplier has to send you a bill which you can refuse to pay. At the same time write to your supplier and explain your actions. They cannot turn your energy off whilst the complaint is on-going. They must offer you a small reduction which you should refuse. Eventually they will send you a letter of Deadlock. That's when you send your The first of such actions will be at Thanet on Tuesday 16th August from 10 30am to 12 30pm. We will meet outside the bus deport at Westwood Cross. See you there.
Our five demands to tackle the crisis 1. A Real Pay Rise. 2. Slash Energy Bills. 3. End Food Poverty. 4. Decent Homes for All. 5. Tax the Rich. Enough is Enough is a campaign to fight the cost of living crisis. We were founded by trade unions and community organisations determined to push back against the misery forced on millions by rising bills, low wages, food poverty, shoddy housing – and a society run only for a wealthy elite. We can’t rely on the establishment to solve our problems. It’s up to us in every workplace and every community. complaint to the Ombudsman. For every complaint the Ombudsman receives they charge the energy supplier £375. 1000 x £375 = £375,000 10,000 x £375 = £3,750,000 Shell, BP, Ineos, Total and all the other enegy suppliers NEED domestic energy companies to sell their oil/gas and if they start failing due to non payment and massive fines...that means that the government isn't getting its tax either. We HAVE the power to change things for the better. Show your dissent. Forthcoming Branch meetings: Wednesday, 19th October. 19:00 via Zoom Wednesday, 21st December. 19:00 via CZoom ommunications: Page 3 https://wesayenough.co.uk
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These are the two social media postings carried out to attract new Members to the Branch. We feel that there as never been a more urgent time for Trade Unions to step up and effectively stop the exploitation by the 1%. The first posting went out in early July and reached 1129 people of which 228 engaged ie went to the Unite the Union web site
Special speaker at the August Branch meeting: We are delighted that Eric Segal has agreed to give a short talk at our Branch meeting on the subject of t h e h i s t o r y a n d r o l e o f T r a d e C o u n c i l s . Eric, who is Secretary of the South East Kent Trades Union Council, was sacked from his job as a metalworker in the late 1980s due to his involvement in the Anti-Poll Tax campaign. He was offered work with a criminal
Eric left the criminal practice after around 10 years to work for the R e f u g e e L e g a l C e n t r e (RLC) which was being set up as a Home Office project in Dover. He trained as an accredited immigration & asylum advisor. Eric was a senior union representative and helped lead the unsuccessful struggle against the closure of the RLC. Eric worked for S h e l t e r in Dover for a short period until that office was closed due to government cuts. Eric has been a socialist and trade-union activist throughout his life. He is an Accredited Support Companion (ASC) under ss.10-15 of the Employment Relations Act 1999 which entitles him to continue to represent union members. Over the past eight years he has served as the secretary of the South East Kent Trades Union Council, under whose auspices he compiled a book on the Anti Poll Tax campaign in Kent.
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Secretary/Treasurer: Ricky Hawes Communications Officer: David Cowell Branch Officers: John Fox Sue Fox 5
solicitor and became an accredited duty police-station advisor. He decided to take up an offer to enrol in a law degree course at the University of Kent at Canterbury (UKC) and passed in July 1998.
Your Branch Committee: Branch Chair: Tom King Equalities Officer: Robert Taylor
The Kent Retired Members Branch of Unite the Union has its own Facebook page. Do visit regularly to get up to date information about what's happening. www.facebook.com/groups/unitekentretiredbranch
Do say if you would like to become Committee member. We are looking for Members to join the Committee with specific responsibility for Women, LGBTQ+ and BAEM. Our Equalities Officer is looking for help in his role from Members who would bring insight and advice to the Committee
