The Citizen

Letter from Phil McGarry

Dear Colleagues

VENEZUELAN SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE (SCOTLAND)

With reference to the above, many colleagues may recall that I, as the previous STUC President, mentioned in my Presidential Address at our Congress in April 2008 that I was going to contact like-minded colleagues to set up a Scottish Committee of the Venezuelan Information Centre.

After a period of illness I now wish to fulfill that commitment and to this end I have booked a room at the STUC, 333 Woodlands Road, Glasgow for Saturday, 13 December 2008 at 10:30am to see if there is enough interest in taking the matter to the next phase.

At this stage we will not have a structured agenda as such, but perhaps consideration should be given to set up a Steering Group to take some initiatives forward.   It is vital that we work with and liaise directly with the Venezuelan Information Centre and all Trade Unions who have clear policy over solidarity with the people of Venezuela.

I sincerely trust you will use whatever resources available to you to circularise this event and to encourage as many colleagues to come along to maximise attendance.

With very best wishes in your endeavours and I look forward to seeing as many comrades as possible.

Thanking you in anticipation.

Yours sincerely
Phil McGarry
Regional Organiser - Scotland & N Ireland
RMT
180 Hope Street
GLASGOW G2 2UE

Tel:  0141-332 1117
Fax: 0141-333 9583
p.mcgarry@rmt. org.uk

For the benefit of all who missed it, I have posted Simon Macfarlane’s excellent contribution at this weekend’s CfS/Morning Star conference … Simon’s speech

The results posted below show that Bill Butler and Cathy Jamieson did rather better with members and affiliates than the headline vote published in the media suggests.

In plain terms, the left candidates got just under half the popular vote.

Bill took 45.1% of ordinary members votes; and 48.4% of those in affiliates (unions and socialist societies). He only got 26% of the parliamentary section.

Cathy took 42.5% of members’ votes; and actually won the affiliates section with 51.5%. She got 32.4% in the parliamentary section. (Cathy figures are for second round run-off).

News from Scottish Labour 13 September 2008
Result of Leader and Deputy Leader of Labour in the Scottish Parliament

The sections of the electoral college are
Section 1 - MSPs, MPs and MEPs
Section 2 - Individual members of the Labour Party
Section 3 - Individual members of affiliated organisations

Deputy Leader
1st round 

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Total

Bill Butler

8.66%

15.02%

16.14%

39.82%

Johann Lamont

24.68%

18.31%

17.19%

60.18%

Johann Lamont elected 

Leader 1st round

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Total

lain Gray

17.89%

15.06%

13.05%

46.00%

Cathy Jamieson

8.94%

10.27%

14.09%

33.30%

Andy Kerr

6.50%

8.00%

6.19%

20.69%

Andy Kerr is therefore eliminated

Leader 2nd round

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Total

lain Gray

22.52%

19.10%

16.17%

57.79%

Cathy Jamieson

10.81%

14.23%

17.17%

42.21%

lain Gray elected 

SCOTTISH CAMPAIGN FOR  SOCIALISM
Press Release

Following the announcement today of the election  results for the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Scottish Group of Labour MSPs at  Holyrood, the Scottish Campaign for Socialism said that the vote of 47% for Bill  Butler in the individual party members and affiliates section in the Deputy Leader contest was a positive sign that the grassroots of the Labour Party recognised that the Party had to return to its traditional core values in order to win back voters in Scotland.

What was disappointing was the difference in  results in the parliamentary third of the electoral college which highlighted  that the Parliamentary part of the Party has not yet faced up to the problems  facing Scotland as well as the fact that in the election a parliamentarians vote  was worth 2000 times the value of an individual members vote. It was also  disappointing that some trade unions failed to support a candidate who was the  only one to campaign on the STULP workplace agenda.

The election campaign was positive in that all  leadership candidates moved to the left in support of a better pay offer for low  paid local government workers and a windfall tax on the profiteering energy  companies. It is time now for Scottish Labour to challenge the SNP on its agenda  of cosying up to big business. It is time for Labour to present progressive and  popular policies that will benefit all of the people of Scotland.

ENDS

September 13th 2008 16.50 hrs

Gordon McKay
Secretary, Scottish Campaign for  Socialism

Press Release from Elaine Smith MSP

Elaine Smith MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston is supporting local government workers in their call for a better pay deal.  She is also calling on the SNP Government to provide the necessary funds to allow COSLA to settle the dispute and to pay up for their own staff in the PCS union, also taking action on a derisory pay offer from Mr Salmond’s Government. 

The labour MSP joined council workers on picket lines in Coatbridge, attended the rally in Motherwell and participated in the gathering of striking workers in George Square. She also sent a message of support to the striking civil servants from PCS.

Speaking on the issue Elaine said “Our Public Sector workers provide invaluable services in our communities and play a major part in the economy of Scotland.  They should not be undervalued by a pay offer that amounts to a pay cut in the current climate of rapidly increasing prices.  Neither should they be asked to bear the brunt of the council tax freeze and the burden of inflation.

“The Scottish Government and the local authority employers should play fair and give these public servants a fair pay deal.  I have lodged motions to that effect in the Scottish Parliament and I look forward to receiving support from MSP colleagues who also value the work done by public sector workers and, in particular, consider themselves to be trade unionists.”

For further information please call Elaine on 07713 651 276

Text of Motions:

S3M-02420 Elaine Smith (Coatbridge and Chryston) (Scottish Labour): Fair Play, Fair Pay- That the Parliament expresses its solidarity with the public sector workers, members of the GMB, UNISON and Unite the Union, currently in dispute over pay and conditions; commends their loyal public service, which is vital not only to our economy but also to the quality of life of our citizens; understands that, while no one wants to strike, these workers feel that they have no other choice when faced with a derisory three-year pay deal, which effectively amounts to a pay cut in the current economic climate; feels, in particular, that the burden of inflation and the council tax freeze should not be placed on the lowest-paid workers; believes that the employers must take immediate steps to resolve this dispute by meeting with the trade unions to negotiate a better deal, and further believes that the Scottish Government has a duty to intervene to end this damaging dispute by making the necessary funds available.

S3M-02421 Elaine Smith (Coatbridge and Chryston) (Scottish Labour): Pay Up for PCS Members- That the Parliament expresses its solidarity with the members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) in the Scottish Government and Registers of Scotland who felt they had no option but to take strike action for a second day over a 2% pay cap; commends Scotland’s civil servants for the sterling work they do in providing vital services to the public; notes that while the Scottish Government calls on COSLA to return to the negotiating table to resolve the local government pay dispute, they are ignoring the plight of their own low-paid workers who are suffering an effective pay cut in the current economic climate; regrets that the Scottish Government’s failure to act in this matter means that the workers will be continuing an overtime ban and work-to-rule as the strike threatens to escalate with other groups of PCS members, particularly in the Scottish Court Service and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, now balloting to take part in future strikes this autumn, and believes that the Scottish Government should meet the union without delay to negotiate a just pay deal for these valued public servants.

According to http://www.iaingrayforscotland.net/home/biography, Iain Gray was “in Rwanda two months after the genocide and in the refuge camps of Eastern Zaire where the survivers fled in their hundreds of thousands. He has worked in the minefields of Cambodia and in Zimbabwean villages simply decimated by HIV/AIDs.”

In the first term he had a series of Ministerial posts. He lost his seat at the next election and went to work as a Special Adviser to Alisdair Darling. Doubtless that was helpful when it came to finding a path back into Holyrood in 2007, and there is of course a consensus that Iain Gray is Gordon Brown’s preferred candidate.

However noble and humanitarian the association may be in some cases, I’m still not sure that Iain is wise to highlight such a long association with disasters.

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