By a NALGO activist London local government workers are stepping up action in defence of jobs. NALGO branches in Islington and Newham are mobilising redundancies. threatened by the local Labour-fun councils.
Islington council, the fieldom of Margaret Hodge, has announced that a now redundancy and redeployment plan is to be imposed. Where posts are cuts there will be no guarantee of a job. But this is not the worst of t.
Targets for redundancy are to be solected on the basis of workers' sickness and discipinary records and so-called performance criteria. Quite what these criteria will be is a mystery - since Hodge's minions haven't managed to work them out yet.
Isington NALGO has started the fightback with a campaign of strike action by key workers' - sections of the workforce who can cripple key council functions. Both Pol tax and Housing Benefit staff are now on indefinde strike.
But the campaign is escalating. Now they are preparing to bring out the who cow stone branch sta do escalating campaign of industrial acIn Newham NALGO members have been on strike since January against redundancy. The council, fot lowing in the footsteps of Camden Council's treatment of its social orkers, has refused to re-emplo ive Poll Tax workers despite 15 vacancies in the section. Housing Benefit workers are also now on strike against redundancies.
It's not that the council are strapped for cash - higher managers had a £10,000 bonus last year, and S2 milion has been se aside for redundancy payments. But arguments to use the cash to keep people in work have fallen on deal ears. Instoad the council have threatened the Following the threats, Poll Tax workers redurned to work. But other members are still taking action, and Bashing the workers - (slington's Margaret Hodge the NALGO branch is balloting for all-out strike action in their support.