Banner Theatre In a Right State

Banner Theatre will be performing this show, which features the Save Lewisham Hospital campaign at the Wickham Arms, Upper Brockley Road Brockley SE4 on Saturday 29/11/14 starting at 7:30pm (to be confirmed)

The venue is open to the public so tickets will not be on sale on the door, but we ask trade unionists to make a £10 donation to the costs if they are able.   This will go to Banner Theatre (who have had all funding cut) so they can continue their work to promote trade union work around the country.

Please come along, enjoy a great evening and support Banner Theatre.

Next Trades council meeting

Tuesday  23rd September 7:00 to 8:45pm

Deptford Campus
LESOCO

Deptford Bridge DLR

Thousands strike across London on 10/07/14

Bob Crow and Tony Benn

Like the rest of the movement, we are saddened at the loss of our comrades. Our condolences to their families. Tony spoke in Lewisham several times during his long career and Bob had agreed to speak at a meeting in July that we are arranging to mark 30th anniversary of the Miner's Strike. This meeting will go ahead and will be dedicated to the memory of  Bob and Tony.

Solidarity with Unite, NUT and PCS

Lewisham trades council offers its full support for Unite members in the Homes and Community Agency set to strike over pay on 25th , 26th and 27th March.  We also support NUT members on strike on 26/03/14 and congratulate PCS members at the National Gallery for their successful protest in support of their demand for the London Living Wage on 18/03/14.

Come and address the Burning Issue

Greenwich and Bexley, Bromley and Lewisham trades councils are putting on the Miners show The Burning Issue to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the Miner's Strike. This  will be performed by the excellent Banner Theatre who performed a show for us last year. Local musicians will also be performing.

The show will be on Saturday 10/05/14 7pm to 11pm at Blackheath and Newbridge Working Mens' Club, Charlton Road, London SE7. Tickets £10 (£5 concessions) available from trades council contacts

Stand Up to Racism

Lewisham Trades Council members will be joining the demonstration in London on Saturday 22/03/14 to mark UN Anti Racism Day. We would like to thank all those who added their signature to our letter promoting this event that has been published in local press this week

Trades Council meeting 14/01/14

Key points and actions agreed at the meeting:

• We agreed to attend and support (including press releases) the Stand Up to Racism and Fascist Demonstration on Saturday 22/03/14. This has been called to mark UN Anti Racism Day.
  
• We agreed to affiliate and support Lewisham Keep Our NHS Public as well as continuing our support of the Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign.
  
• We noted that following our meeting with Lewisham Council that they will be writing to employers in the borough to promote the London Living Wage and fair employment contracts. We agreed to work to promote and extend this initiative.
  
• We noted the work done to help the Banner Theatre Group incorporate the Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign into their new show on the NHS. We agreed to arrange a showing in Lewisham for March or May at a venue in Lewisham. Bromley and Greenwich & Bexley trades councils will be joining us to support this event.
  
• We agreed to meet with the South East London Peoples' Assembly group to see how we can work together

Lewisham Trades Union Council Annual Report 2013

 Lewisham Trades Union Council is the local voice of the Trades Union Congress, the union ‘umbrella’ organisation. We have small resources, made up of affiliation fees and delegates from local union branches. Currently these are branches of CWU (3 branches), GMB, NUJ, NUT, PCS, RMT (2 branches), TSSA, UCATT, UCU, UNITE (5 branches), UNISON.   Support from the SE Region TUC tops this up, for which we are grateful.  We welcome any new affiliations which can be on the basis of union members working in, living in, or meeting in the Borough of Lewisham.

• January 2013 began with the continuing campaign in defence of Lewisham Hospital. A massive demonstration on 26^th Jan showed the strong support for the NHS against government attacks, which led to more success in the courts later in the year. Trade Unions were fully involved and the Lewisham TUC donated £400 to the costs.
  
• The announcement of the possible closure of two fire stations in Lewisham by the London Mayor triggered a campaign of support for the Fire Brigades Union and our local fire stations. We were able to organise a public meeting in defence of New Cross fire station along with local people and the turnout was well beyond our expectations on the cold evening of March 14th. Costs were £800. 
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• We went on to mobilise for Boris Johnson’s public consultation, and the Lewisham meeting on 22^nd May was one of the best attended. It was by now clear that the only issue was finance, and a tiny extra Council tax payment could stop all the cuts. The end result was that the London Mayor imposed the closure of Downham, but New Cross escaped closure, at least for now

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•  On June 8th we supported a joint event with other Trade Union Councils in South East London covering Greenwich, Bexley and Bromley. This was a great help in reinforcing links between us (and an enjoyable evening)
  
• In September the Lewisham Hospital campaign organised a coach from Lewisham to the NHS demonstration at the Conservative Party conference. We donated £450 to make sure everyone who wanted to go could get there.
  
•  We try to spread the word locally about disputes where union members need wider support. This year there has been strike action in Housing Associations, in schools, in Colleges, in the civil service, in Post Offices and in the Fire Service.
  
•  We oppose the anti union attitude taken by some companies who serve Lewisham, such as Virgin Media who withdrew recognition of CWU earlier in 2013.
  
• On Oct 15^th we met with Sir Steve Bullock, Lewisham Mayor, and agreed issues we could work together especially around welfare cuts. Lewisham pays the London Living Wage and we want the Borough Council to set good standards in employment, and persuade other organisations to do the same. This includes making sure unions can have access to workers to recruit and do our job of ‘policing’ workplace rights.