>> Printable fliers in a pdf <<

Microsoft Word – issue14.doc

Sally Wainman Says [in comment]:

The Scottish Parliament is currently conducting a Pathways into Sport inquiry and anyone may submit evidence for the committee to consider.

The deadline for submissions is November 21st 2008

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/s3/committees/hs/inquiries/pathwaysintosport/call.htm

See also: Govanhill Baths Community Trust and Govanhill Baths Variant Article

–

Save Broomhill Pool! – www.savebroomhillpool.org

Local Glasgow public sector disputes intensify…The Glasgow Evening Times reports:-

SOCIAL workers could join an indefinite strike affecting some of Glasgow’s most vulnerable children and adults.

Unison has begun the process of balloting 1000 social workers about a mid-August stoppage which would hit frontline services hard.

The move comes as an indefinite strike by 600 social care workers over new pay and gradings enters its second week.

Social workers are being asked to absorb some of the workload but many are thought to back their colleagues’ plight.

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Unqualified social care workers manage cases for children at risk, prisoners, methadone users and the homeless.

Services have been plunged into chaos and the situation is only likely to worsen. Brian Smith, Unison social work secretary said: “The ballot process is under way and it will close in about ten days’ time.

“A strike by social workers would be planned for the middle of August.”

Speaking at an unofficial rally in George Square yesterday Mr Smith added: “This would have the effect of closing down all the services which are being hit by the strike at the moment.”

Social care worker Tricia Billsland, from Baillieston, said: “I have worked in social work for 30 years. I’m disgusted by what’s happening.

“I’m losing about £1000 a year. It’s a breach of promise.”

Crisis talks between Unison and Glasgow City Council took place yesterday but so far there is no sign of a breakthough.

A Glasgow City Council spokesman said today: “A meeting took place yesterday between the chief executive and depute director of social work and representatives of the union. A further meeting is scheduled for tomorrow and both sides are committed to finding a solution.”

Publication date 31/07/07

The Creativity Fix is most insidious when it assumes that every city can win in the battle for talent and growth. Creativity scripts, however, are better understood as “zero-sum” urban strategies constituted within the context of uneven urban growth patterns in an increasingly polarized framework of inter-city competition.

[...]

Glasgow’s adherence to the creativity script is merely another soft policy option for compliant forms of corporate welfare, regressive social redistribution and ‘trickle-up’ economics. In fact, precisely the same forms of compliance that has allowed neoliberal forms of capitalism to lead us into the deepest global recession since the 1930s.

More at: http://variant.org.uk/34texts/mechantcity34.html

PDF (from magazine): http://variant.org.uk/pdfs/issue34/merchant34.pdf

Burgh Angel – Issue 17 – November Edition

From the Greenock Telegraph: http://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/article.php?sec=1&id=16826

Hospital Workers Back IRH Strike

by Lorraine Tinney

HOSPITAL workers at Inverclyde Royal have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action over car parking charges.

A staggering 87 per cent of staff across Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board said they would walk out if tolls aren’t scrapped. Unison held a postal ballot to crank up pressure on health secretary Nicola Sturgeon to reverse her decision to charge staff up to £7 a day for using hospital car parks.

The strike vote means that up to 1,000 union members at Inverclyde Royal including nurses, porters and lab technicians could bring the hospital to a standstill.

Raymond O’Donoghue, unison divisional convener in Inverclyde, said: “This shows the strength of opinion over charges that so many workers would go on strike.

“Staff do not want this and the public certainly don’t want it.

“It is very hard to get people to vote in postal ballots and there was a 40 per cent turnout which means around 6,000 voted which is phenomenal.”

But he stressed that patients wouldn’t suffer if staff did walk out.

He said: “We would take sensible action – we are not in the business of hurting patients. Strike action is always a last resort.”

Unison bosses also collected 1,000 printed letters signed by staff and the public in Inverclyde objecting to proposals and took them through to Edinburgh yesterday to hand over in person to the health secretary.

A spokesperson for Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said: “It is disappointing that Unison would threaten patient care by balloting for strike action.

“Unison nationally is already part of a Government and NHS led review of hospital car parking across Scotland and it therefore seems inappropriate timing to ballot for local strike action. This however, is a matter for the local branch of Unison.

“It would be interesting to find out exactly who has been balloted in this case as it appears that many staff, based on sites where parking charges are already in effect, have not been balloted.

“Our primary objective is to ensure that patients, visitors and staff who need a car to carry out vital NHS duties can park at our hospitals when they need to. As an employer we have no obligation to offer all staff free parking without any constriction.

“NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is fully complying with national Scottish guidance to NHS Boards on car parking charges and we are doing nothing different from other NHS organisations faced with the same problems on their busy hospital sites.”

Microsoft Word – issue15.1.doc

Please send money to The Burgh Angel bank account to contribute funds to keep the Burgh Angel going:

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Account Number: 23046974

A regular monthly standing order would be best if possible.

You can set that up by internet banking, telephone banking, in person at any branch of your bank, or by printing and posting off this form.

Also you can donate instantly using any debit card or credit card by clicking on this button

cheers

The IWW is backing the public meeting on the financial crisis in Maryhill (North West Glasgow):-

Maryhill Burgh Meeting: The financial crisis – how’s it going to affect us in Maryhill

A public meeting for Maryhill and beyond: Woodside Halls, 7:30PM, Wednesday the 26th of November

Tenants, Homeowners, Ratespayers, Claimants, Refugees, Migrants: ALL WELCOME
PUBLIC MEETING: for the whole community

The financial crisis is likely to lead a loss of a number of jobs across the whole of the financial sector, across the retail industry lots of people risk losing their jobs, throughout the public sector the government will be looking to slash jobs to pay for the bailout of the banks, as well as to attack and privatise public services all the quicker as the government tries to subsidise failing investment firms through ever growing marketisation and privatisation of health, local government and education services. We need to begin to look at ways working people can stand up and challenge these attacks on our living and working standards. In the past working people fought back against an economic depression and won the national health service.

Today if we stand together we can resist further attacks and begin to better our lot. But we need to make changes to how we have fought back against the Thatcherite consensus through our trade union fights and in our communities if we are to hope to achieve all the good things in life, and the world we want our children to inhabit.

This meeting is going to be looking at these problems and this discussion, so we in the IWW support and encourage you to come along.

 V – I – C – T – O – R – Y- ! – ! – !

Posted [on Herald forum] by: Jim McFarlane, Glasgow on 12:21pm today…

The Scottish Exec may take the credit but it was the grassroots campaign of students & workers at Crichton backed up by the UCU and IWW (industrial Workers of the World) which kept the issue alive and refused to accept Muir Russell’s plans, which created the possibility of this decision being reversed

The Scottish Exec may take the credit but it was the grassroots campaign of students & workers at Crichton backed up by the UCU and IWW (industrial Workers of the World) which kept the issue alive and refused to accept Muir Russell’s plans, which created the possibility of this decision being reversed

Having publicised their situation throughout and beyond Glasgow, Hamiltonhill Action Group have now gained the support of the Scottish Tenants Organisation as well as neighbouring estates giving further signs of solidarity and support. The Action Group are holding a weekly stall immediately outside GHA headquarters and have made contact with several other resident’s groups in Glasgow. There have also been a large number of unaffiliated social housing residents coming up to the stall to share stories and generally showing GHA that Glasgow is supporting the campaign for better social housing, whether it is in Possil, Parkhead or Pollokshields.

Since putting in a formal request to GHA for a timetable of works to install Secured By Design steel security doors in Hamiltonhill, the Hamiltonhill Action Group have now escalated the campaign, since GHA have chosen to completely ignore both the request and complaint logged by the residents via the Action Group.

Over a month has passed since the Action Group registered their official request but GHA has been deathly silent despite follow up correspondence from the Group and residents. Even according to their own agenda and targets of responding to resident’s requests and correspondence the GHA have failed. Considering a colossal 50% of the budget is spent on administration, surely it can’t be an issue of not having enough people to answer the phones?!

GHA have shown themselves to be unconcerned for their tenants health and safety, consistently ignoring demands for investment to be made to improve the quality of social housing in the area. However, Hamiltonhill has been subject to a systematic programme of neglect by GHA and Glasgow City Council, prior to it being earmarked for demolition in 2008 and as a local resident said:-

“We have stayed here 9 years, and our door always opens when you press the service button, at any time. They don’t think there is anything wrong with that.”

Having publicised their situation throughout and beyond Glasgow, Hamiltonhill Action Group have now gained the support of the Scottish Tenants Organisation as well as neighbouring estates giving further signs of solidarity and support. The Action Group are holding a weekly stall immediately outside GHA headquarters and have made contact with several other resident’s groups in Glasgow. There have also been a large number of unaffiliated social housing residents coming up to the stall to share stories and generally showing GHA that Glasgow is supporting the campaign for better social housing, whether it is in Possil, Parkhead or Pollokshields.

The two groups have called a national demonstration on the 24^th of September in Glasgow to show that the people of Scotland want and are in need of safe, secure, dry and affordable social housing and demand respect for their communities and themselves from the people who are meant to be working for them.

St Joan of Arc School in Balmore Road, Lambhill, was partially burned down over the night of Saturday 5th/Sunday 6th September. As well as fire damage, the building suffered water damage when the water storage tank in its roof collapsed during the fire.

The Lambhill Stables building at the junction of Balmore Road with the Forth and Clyde Canal also went on fire the same night.

St Joan of Arc School is an additional support needs school of around 60 students aged 11-18.

The Lambhill Stables building is owned by British Waterways but rented to the Lambhill Stables charitable trust who hope to open it as a community cafe and garden.

“For the right to live without fear”

Hamiltonhill demands secure entry steel doors for its closes.

“i am very frightened as a single female living with my dog [...] i’m
frightened of what will happen next. my car was deemed economically
unsalvageable [...] I do not have the freedom i used to have and the
self-knowing that i have my car, my time machine!! i am stuck in the
house all the time with a dog that needs to release her built up
energy, and its not fair on either of us as i’ve been told if i ever
have my car back in the street or ANY car, the junkies will destroy
it. I was told this to my face and recently was put in hospital by
this person” (from an email to the Action Group)

In a recent survey conducted by the Hamiltonhill Action Group 25 of
the areas 50 or so close doors were found to have been broken into and
in need of repair.

When the issue was raised with the landlord, prompt action ensued.
The landlord tried to co-opt the action group immediately.

“We do have community representatives on our management committee who
worked hard for the local residents in the area. We are always
looking for local champions to join, so you would be more than welcome
to come along.”

The GHA raised a repair line item for 17 close doors to be repaired,
after it checked out the survey’s findings.

Previously, before the Action Group demonstrated this dereliction of
duty from the landlord, GHA’s only interaction had been to remove our
literature from the many boarded up buildings in the neighbourhood.

Hamiltonhill, it was revealed in 2006 and 2007, has been the subject
of very large underspends of GHA cash allocated to the scheme for
routine repairs and maintenance. It has not seen the investment seen
in other areas of the city, and tenants are routinely patronised with
the latest schemes being adopted to gradually demolish the homes in
the community. Most recently (since the present plan of ‘phased
demolition’, over 5 years, was announced last autumn, before the
financial crash) tenants were informed the council suspected there may
be toxic waste beneath local’s houses. A contemptuous map accompanied
the announcement of ‘investigations’ (which may of course have led to
the houses ‘needing to be demolished’), which had a large rectangle
surrounding newly-built private flats and terraced housing in the
centre of the scheme; apparently these homes had not been exposed to
the contamination. (Before 1929, locals, many of whose families moved
to the area when the houses were built, confirm that the area had been
a rural farm. It was never industrialised)

The present ‘phased demolition’ appears to have entered ‘phase
mothball’ since the recession ensured the lucrative private housing
this neighbourhood’s ‘land without a people’ is coveted for was
effectively ruled out for the foreseeable future.

For the past few months local residents, fed up of putting their lives
on hold, have been meeting to discuss how to make the area a better
place.

After a survey was conducted to determine what the neighbourhood’s
priorities were, a draft programme was drawn up. At a meeting open to
all local residents the programme was endorsed unanimously.

—

Hamiltonhill Action Group Programme

* No to forcing people out of their homes. Yes to investment.

* A dry warm home for all.

* A safe, secure community.

* Facilities for children and families must be kept and improved.

* Our homes and our surroundings should be a pleasant place to be.

* Our rents must be affordable, for all of us.

* This is our community. We demand respect!

—

The Hamiltonhill of today can remember the Hamiltonhill that used to
be. That Hamiltonhill would have no need of such a programme.
Because people would have taken it for granted. Now today, after
decades of neglect, residents are envisioning a better community.

Starting with new close doors.

As the Action Group noted to the GHA’s Chief Executive, Tahroub Zahran:-

“An essential part of making people feel safe in their homes and
community is to know that the entrance to their home is secure, that
there will be no people loitering in the close at night, and that fear
of opportunist housebreaking will not be a constant concern.

As GHA’s own studies have concluded
(http://www.glasgowhomes.org/content/default.asp?page=s25_1&newsid=1663&newsType=)
such doors have been shown to cut housebreaking by up to 75%.

We note that in recent years, Hamiltonhill has been the subject of
persistent underspends of the budget (two reports released from the
LHO, before the recent LHO reorganisation, demonstrate this); we are
therefore seeking to see some much needed investment deliver some much
needed safety to tenants in our neighbourhood.

We trust that GHA will be keen to action this, as it has now become
the settled will of tenants in the area. We therefore are looking for
a timetable for this commitment to be published to tenants in the
area, before the end of August.”

HOW YOU CAN HELP

The GHA has in the past proven very reluctant to spend money when
tenants have asked for it. We will need to exert pressure to win our
demands. You can help by volunteering to write letters and phone the
GHA to express your disquiet at the way they are ignoring tenants in
Hamiltonill, when the time comes to do so.

We are asking for you now to get in touch with us TODAY, if you are
able to help out in this way.

If you are able to help in other ways, please also get in touch with us.

hamiltonhillaction@googlemail.com | 07526113198

Together all our neighbourhoods are stronger. Together, we can
finally win respect for working people.

Clydeside GMB has began distributing the following posters to raise attention to the ongoing struggles of hospital staff who are being charged extortionate fees as a result of a swingeing decision by Greater Glasgow Healthboard to charge hospital staff and patients alike for parking at hospitals. The money being earned from the parking charges is not going into funding better public transport to hospitals or supporting staff to get to and from work, and is not specially earmarked for a specific purpose or for investment. The Healthboard has been open about the fact that it sees this as just another source of revenue. Despite a government review being ordered into the decision and a consultative ballot on the issue the Healthboard has stated it has no intention of dropping the charges. This is a tax on hospital workers, and the IWW aims to support workers fighting the charges by highlighting the issue and trying to bring others to register their support and get involved. We all benefit from the NHS. Attacks on hard working healthcare workers are attacks on the NHS itself. They must be stopped, for all of our benefit. An injury to one is an injury to all.

Healthcare Workers (IU 610 workers), Clydeside GMB.

car-bank2.pdf

parking-tax2.pdf

Friends of Glasgow Parks? [Citystrolls Update]

“City parks to invite private companies to join in shake-up” "625 car parking spaces on football grounds in Victoria Park" "Nightclub in Botanical Gardens" "Expensive adventure playground in Pollok Park & more car parks" "Park toilets turned into chic cafe Kelvingrove" "Building school in park" "Save our schools" "Community Bandstand ignored Kelvingrove" "Park creeping" "Consulted Remember?" Read... http://commongoodwatch.wordpress.com/ "Mr Booth admitted that during the review, the possibility of the parks
being run by an external organisation was considered. However, the option
was dismissed amid fears that private contractors may charge for some of
the facilities which are currently free"... --------------------------- -- www.citystrolls.com While we all watch television business gets organised. To subscribe
sub@citystrolls.com
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please send a BLANK e-mail
with 'UNSUBSCRIBE' in the header to:
unsub@citystrolls.com

WHY WE NEED STEEL SECURITY DOORS IN HAMILTONHILL (by Hamiltonhill Action Group)

Having publicised their situation throughout and beyond Glasgow, Hamiltonhill Action Group have now gained the support of the Scottish Tenants Organisation as well as neighbouring estates giving further signs of solidarity and support. The Action Group are holding a weekly stall immediately outside GHA headquarters and have made contact with several other resident’s groups in Glasgow. There have also been a large number of unaffiliated social housing residents coming up to the stall to share stories and generally showing GHA that Glasgow is supporting the campaign for better social housing, whether it is in Possil, Parkhead or Pollokshields.

Since putting in a formal request to GHA for a timetable of works to install Secured By Design steel security doors in Hamiltonhill, the Hamiltonhill Action Group have now escalated the campaign, since GHA have chosen to completely ignore both the request and complaint logged by the residents via the Action Group.

Over a month has passed since the Action Group registered their official request but GHA has been deathly silent despite follow up correspondence from the Group and residents. Even according to their own agenda and targets of responding to resident’s requests and correspondence the GHA have failed. Considering a colossal 50% of the budget is spent on administration, surely it can’t be an issue of not having enough people to answer the phones?!

GHA have shown themselves to be unconcerned for their tenants health and safety, consistently ignoring demands for investment to be made to improve the quality of social housing in the area. However, Hamiltonhill has been subject to a systematic programme of neglect by GHA and Glasgow City Council, prior to it being earmarked for demolition in 2008 and as a local resident said:-

“We have stayed here 9 years, and our door always opens when you press the service button, at any time. They don’t think there is anything wrong with that.”

Having publicised their situation throughout and beyond Glasgow, Hamiltonhill Action Group have now gained the support of the Scottish Tenants Organisation as well as neighbouring estates giving further signs of solidarity and support. The Action Group are holding a weekly stall immediately outside GHA headquarters and have made contact with several other resident’s groups in Glasgow. There have also been a large number of unaffiliated social housing residents coming up to the stall to share stories and generally showing GHA that Glasgow is supporting the campaign for better social housing, whether it is in Possil, Parkhead or Pollokshields.

The two groups have called a national demonstration on the 24^th of September in Glasgow to show that the people of Scotland want and are in need of safe, secure, dry and affordable social housing and demand respect for their communities and themselves from the people who are meant to be working for them.

hamiltonhill.wordpress.com

Hamiltonhill Action Group Programme

* No to forcing people out of their homes. Yes to investment.

* A dry warm home for all.

* A safe, secure community.

* Facilities for children and families must be kept and improved.

* Our homes and our surroundings should be a pleasant place to be.

* Our rents must be affordable, for all of us.

* This is our community. We demand respect!

Clydeside GMB

The Clydeside General Membership Branch will be holding their next monthly meeting on Wednesday 17th September, 7pm in the Electron Club Room at the CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow G2 3JD. If you need help finding the Electron Club room please ask at the front desk or at the bar.

Edinburgh GMB

The Edinburgh General Membership Branch will be holding their next monthly meeting on Monday 8th September, 7.30pm (7pm to pay dues) at the Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh 17 West Mongomery Place, Edinburgh EH7 5HA.

Dumfries GMB

The Dumfries General Membership Branch will be holding their next monthly meeting on Monday 15th September, 7.30pm at The Tam O’Shanter, 113-117 Queensbury Street, Dumfries DG1 1BH (opposite a car park). Arrive early to get a seat.

All are welcome to come along to branch meetings to find out more about the union, sign up and/or pay dues. Branches will also be discussing important industrial activity in the area of which all are welcome to contribute.

To get occasional emails about upcoming IWW activity please join our announcement list :

https://lists.riseup.net/www/info/iwwscotlandannounce

or email iwwscotlandannounce-subscribe@lists.riseup.net

THOUSANDS of Glasgow postal workers walked out of delivery offices today in a dramatic escalation of industrial action.

Strike-hit Royal Mail was plunged into deeper chaos after 13 workers who had refused to cross a picket line were sent home and union officials claim up to 5000 colleagues walked out in support of them.

Around 1100 staff at the Glasgow Mail Centre in Springburn were already on official strike today and the wildcat action added to the disruption.

The Communications Workers Union claims a deal was offered to bosses which would have averted the unofficial action but it was rejected.

The next Scottish Assembly is on Sunday, March 23rd from 1:15pm to 6:30 at the Friend’s Meeting House in Glasgow.

The Summer Assembly is an all-scotland IWW dayschool and organising event, open to both IWW members and non-members. This year we have workshops on:

* Organsing your workplace
* Getting the message out
* Problems and solutions at work
* The National Blood Service and what you can do to save it

There will also be an introductory session on what the IWW is, and a discussion session on what our tactics should be for IWW growth within Scotland. A late lunch will be provided, and a social is planned for afterwards.

If you have any questions either leave them as a comment here, or email iwwscotland@gmail.com

issue16

Scotland’s For Council Housing Demonstration

(syndicated from Scottish Tenants Organisation)

By scottishtenant

Houses await demolition: a neighbourhood in limbo.

Backed by the Scottish Tenants Organisation.

In support of tenants in Hamiltonhill fighting for investment in their community.

National Demonstration. Thurs, 24th Sept.

–

The story was broken to the public at large by the Burgh Angel community newspaper in Glasgow this week, that tenants in Hamiltonhill have been fighting for investment to improve security and safety in the scheme. The Hamiltonhill Action Group is demanding that the GHA fit steel doors to closes in the scheme, as a means of improving the safety and security on the scheme.

Burgh Angel Story: Drawing Steel From Granite; Hamiltonhill Hits Back

[Pdf file]

Tenants in the area have published a manifesto. The seven point programme published by the Action Group, lists the following objectives of the group:-

Hamiltonhill Action Group Programme

* No to forcing people out of their homes. Yes to investment.
* A dry warm home for all.
* A safe, secure community.
* Facilities for children and families must be kept and improved.
* Our homes and our surroundings should be a pleasant place to be.
* Our rents must be affordable, for all of us.
* This is our community. We demand respect!

Have we became such an unequal society that demands such as these are not to be met?

The STO has endorsed requests from local tenants in the area to act on this issue. We are therefore calling for a national demonstration. In the past few months the GHA – the huge and unaccountable stock transfer landlord, whose actions in pursuing rapacious demolitions (more than 20,000 in 7 years; one quarter of its initial stock) in recent years has led in part to the shock news published by Shelter Scotland, that the availability of social housing was at an all time low. Hamiltonhill is another area set aside for demolition. That means it has seen massive underinvestment, as all non-essential investment works have been halted. Hamiltonhill has been in this position of limbo for years.

Isn’t it time that something changed?

Tenants and the STO are now calling a national demonstration, on the 24th of September, to demand investment in public sector housing.

• We demand steel doors for Hamiltonhill. We demand real investment.
• We demand an end to unnecessary demolitions.
• We demand an end to the failed policy of stock transfer.
• We demand an end to write to buy. We demand debt write-off for local authorities, to give council a level playing field.
• We demand that public sector housing is an option of choice. We demand respect, in Hamiltonhill, across Scotland.

Let’s say it loud and clear, “Scotland’s for Council Housing!”

See you on Thursday the 24th of September, in Glasgow.

[Details to follow soon. Please get in touch if you hope to attend: agahst2003[AT]hotmail.com, hamiltonhillaction[AT]googlemail.com]