Cruel summer, Summer Wagner
2 hours ago
Sunday, 23 May 2010
Do we still have a right to strike?
The union Unite has won its appeal against an injunction preventing members of British Airways cabin crew from going on strike.
But Unite is angry that BA won the injunction in the first place, after the High Court initially ruled that the union had not correctly followed rules about contacting its members with strike result details.
"It strikes at the heart of the democratic right to strike in a properly conducted ballot by bringing technical difficulties," Unite joint leader Derek Simpson said.
Unite says the decision was made because it had not told its members that 11 ballot papers had been spoilt in its latest vote on industrial action in February.
It calls it a "minor technicality" after 81% (7,482) of its members who had voted supported strike action.
Unite's other joint leader Tony Woodley said the case was about "stopping an effective trade union being effective in support of their members".
Mr Simpson added: "I don't blame British Airways - the law is wrong."
This is not the first time BA had won an injunction stopping Unite members from walking out.
In December, a judge ruled that the union had wrongly included staff taking redundancy in an earlier strike ballot, and that decision was not overturned.
In April, Network Rail was granted an injunction after it alleged discrepancies in the RMT's ballot for industrial action.
So is Mr Woodley right to question whether we still have the right to take industrial action?
"I don't think it does cut into our fundamental right to strike because the issues around these have been procedural issues, to do with the ballot, rather than the right to strike itself," says Andy Cook, chief executive of the specialist employee relations advisers Marshall-James.
While Roger Seifert, professor of industrial relations at Wolverhampton Business School, says: "It's not a challenge to the fundamental right to strike but he's right in the sense this is a challenge to the ability to carry out a lawful ballot."
Current legislation says unions do not have to get everything spot on but have to make a genuine effort to show that they have balloted properly, Prof Seifert explains.
A High Court injunction stopped RMT workers going on strike in April
"The recent cases have looked at what it reasonably means to get it right," he says.
"The judiciary is beginning to interpret the law much more strictly."
And why are judges getting more "pernickety" as he puts it?
"Judges tend to 'go with the flow' if you like. If the atmosphere is 'We're in recession, these are tough times', maybe they think companies can't allow strikes to happen."
But it seems that there is some disagreement among judges about how they interpret the law.
The panel that overturned the injunction was divided. The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, and Lady Justice Smith upheld Unite's appeal. The Master of the Rolls, Lord Neuberger, rejected it.
Even Mr Justice McCombe, the judge who granted the injunction, appeared to be in two minds.
He said in his ruling: "At present I am inclined to think that the union may well have failed to put in place an adequately analysed system calculated to ensure that all reasonable steps were taken to communicate with relevant members as soon as reasonably practicable the relevant items of statutory information.
"The point to my mind is an arguable one."
Andy Cook, who was head of human resources at Gate Gourmet when it was involved in airport strikes in 2005, says the recent spate of industrial disputes ending up in the courts is a sign of "employers growing increasingly frustrated with negotiations and looking at different ways to wield power in different situations".
He cites the Network Rail case as "an attempt by an employer to take the wind out of a union's sails" which, for the time being at least, has been successful.
"We haven't seen any notification of any new strike dates," he says. "The challenge has successfully managed to avert strike action."
But it's not just employers taking unions to court. There is a history of unions seeking legal action as well, Mr Andy Cook Chief executive, Marshall-James
In 2008, the pilots' union Balpa tried to take BA to court to stop the Open Skies agreement, he says, while Unite also tried to get an injunction to stop BA making changes in the first place.
And in November last year the Communication Workers Union had been due to go to the High Court seeking an injunction preventing the Royal Mail from using temporary workers while its members went on strike. The union later called off the legal action.
"Where strikes have been called and there really is no other way to resolve it both sides look to try and take legal action," Mr Cook says.
So what does all this mean for the future of industrial relations in the UK?
"I think employers will look at it and use the courts more. It's a sad reflection on industrial relations," according to Mr Cook.
Prof Seifert agrees: "It's irresponsible of employers to keep seeking injunctions and irresponsible of judges to keep granting them.
"Disputes should be resolved between the two parties involved."
Jamaica police in 'druglord' plea
Jamaican police have urged residents in parts of the capital Kingston to take down barricades set up to stop them from searching for an alleged druglord.
The government said last week it would extradite Christopher "Dudus" Coke to the US. According to the police, criminal gangs have begun stockpiling weapons to prevent his arrest.
And his supporters have apparently blockaded the part of Kingston where he lives to stop him being arrested.
But some residents claim that the barricades are intended to protect their neighbourhood from police violence.
Police officials say they have no desire to engage in armed conflict, and will exercise restraint when they serve the arrest warrant.
Most wanted
Mr Coke, 41, is accused of being the leader of the notorious Shower Posse, which US authorities say operates an international drugs and guns network.
 Some residents have protested in defence of Mr Coke |
Mr Coke is thought to be hiding in Tivoli Gardens, one of Kingston's poorest districts, which police say is controlled by his supporters.
The BBC's Nick Davis in Kingston says they are believed to be heavily armed and ready to defend the man they call "the president".
Thousands of residents have protested against the deicision to deport him.
Change of heart
Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding said earlier this week that he was prepared to send Mr Coke to the US to face charges of drug and gun trafficking.
The decision reversed nine months of opposition to his extradition.
Mr Golding had argued that the evidence against Mr Coke was obtained illegally by intercepting mobile telephone calls.
But he changed his mind in the face of growing public discontent, and questions about his possible ties to Mr Coke.
He apologised to the nation and admitted he had mishandled the case.
Tivoli Gardens is in Mr Golding's constituency.
The US and UK have warned travellers about possible violence and disorder in Kingston because of the situation.
Saturday, 22 May 2010
The Pop Group Reform. New album, live gigs...
British experimental post-punk band The Pop Group—inactive for roughly 30 years—is reuniting, frontman Mark Stewart tells The A.V. Club. The band, last heard on 1980's For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?, plans to release a new album called (The Alternate) and play some live dates. There's no word yet on which members are part of the reunion or where and when any live dates will happen, though the album is tentatively scheduled for September.
For a brief period in the late '70s, The Pop Band (SIC - Mona) honed a confrontational type of post-punk built on a dissonant mix of punk, dub, funk, and noise. It was a sound that poet Allen Ginsberg allegedly once described as "Armageddon"—and, unsurprisingly, it proved unsustainable. Not long after For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder?, The Pop Group disbanded. Stewart went on to have the most celebrated career of his bandmates, both as a solo artist and as frontman for Mark Stewart & The Maffia, releasing albums that influenced artists like Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, Sonic Youth, Massive Attack, Tricky, Chris Connelly, and others.
The press release Stewart sent to The A.V. Club says the reunion is "in honor of 'The New Banalists,'" which is apparently a new umbrella concept for The Pop Group. Its manifesto: "Deny the politics of envy. Taste is a form of personal censorship. Technique is the refuge of the insecure. We are The New Banalists." Maybe they could tour with Throbbing Gristle?
Kyle Ryan @'AV Club'
I think you will have to look to ATP for further tour info...
But this news was alluded to about 6 months ago here at 'Exile' when I heard this (almost from the horse's mouth) but I was sworn to secrecy at the time!
Bhangra flashmob taking 'save Asian Network' call to BBC Broadcasting House
A Bhangra flashmob in support of the BBC Radio Asian Network will descend on Broadcasting House in Portland Place, London. Photograph: Graeme Robertson
A campaign to save the UK's leading Asian music station will be stepped up tomorrow when hundreds of supporters are expected to descend on BBC headquarters for the UK's first Bhangra flashmob.
Organisers say the event, to be held outside Broadcasting House in Portland Place, London, is the start of a new wave of protests designed to persuade the BBC to drop plans to scrap the Asian Network.
It comes as the consultation period on the BBC's Strategy Review, which in February proposed axing digital radio stations BBC 6 Music and the Asian Network, is due to conclude on Tuesday.
"The Bhangra music flashmob is a fun way of making two serious points," said organiser Sunny Hundal. "First to show that a lot of people are angry about the BBC's decision to close down the Asian Network, and secondly, that it directly affects the vitality of fusion Asian music created in the UK."
More than 100 prominent British Asians – including writer Meera Syal, Olympic boxer Amir Khan and Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty – signed up to the campaign to save the station after the review by director general, Mark Thompson.
A letter to the BBC Trust chairman, Sir Michael Lyons, also signed by Bend It Like Beckham director Gurinder Chadha, England cricketer Vikram Solanki and singers Jay Sean and MIA , expressed profound shock at the closure decision.
Hundal, the editor of political blog Liberal Conspiracy, said the protest was the next stage in the campaign. "Asian Network reaches nearly a quarter of all British Asians every week and many of those listeners will be abandoned by this move," he added.
Protesters are asking the Equality and Human Rights Commission to investigate if closure could mean Asian licence fee payers will lose out.
"The BBC has to do an equality assessment as part of this process to see how this decision will affect Asian listeners," said Hundal. "We would like the EHRC to look at the BBC's proposals to ensure that Asian licence fee payers are not losing out."
The decision to close 6Music led to an outcry, with almost 180,000 people joining the campaign to save the station. 6Music's audience rose by 50% in the latest Rajar figures, following the announcement.
Announcing closure of the Asian Network in March, the BBC said the station's output was expensive in terms of cost per listener – it cost a total of £12.1m in 2008-09 – and its output was "inconsistent".
An interim report is expected within two months of consultations closing. If it decides to press ahead with closure, the BBC would carry out an equality assessment.
"In the summer, when we plan to publish our provisional conclusions, we are aiming to say publicly whether or not the specific 6Music/Asian Network proposals appear to be compatible with the overall strategy that we are setting for the BBC," said a BBC Trust spokeswoman.
There has been a high profile campaign in support of 6Music and Hundal said supporters of the Asian Network were keen to make their voices heard.
"We've been slightly disappointed that senior BBC executives have focused their concerns on 6Music listeners but largely ignored Asian Network listeners, who are affected much more," he said.
In one of the more unusual campaign events, musician Ranvir Singh Verma is planning to walk backwards from London to Birmingham.
He will set off on the 120-mile walk after the flashmob protest and says he came up with the idea after reading about Lotan Baba, the "rolling saint" who has rolled his body more than 18,000 miles across India for unity and peace.
"His belief in penance is what encouraged me to devise this challenge," said Verma. "There are also many Native American communities that have one member that does everything backwards, including riding a horse. This acts as a reminder of the stupidity of humanity and the need to address our actions from time to time."
Matthew Taylor @'The Guardian'
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