NSSN 45 - Nothing unaffordable about public sector pensions

‘There is nothing unaffordable about public sector Pensions”, wrote the
Torygraph earlier this week. Well yes they would know, given the huge and
obscene pensions and bonuses those who have caused the economic crisis in the
country have accepted, and continue to take, whilst expecting us to pay for the
mess. If this government gets away with it, millions of public sector workers
will pay in more to their pensions, to get less out and to wait longer to get
it - all to pay for a crisis caused by the bankers!

Also, the current pensions proposals plan to steal another £2.8 billion from
us pushing 3.5 million pensioners into fuel poverty. This is totally
unacceptable; we already have 2.5 million pensioners who cannot afford to
adequately heat their homes. Is that the kind of society we want to bring our
next generations into? Is that what we want for those who have contributed to
our lives, work and of building the very homes and hospitals we use and live
in? We don’t want or need further cut backs, but a better distribution of
our collective wealth, which a tiny, tiny minority sucks up. And they call us
irresponsible!

On Thursday 30th of June, there is an important opportunity to take a stand and
strike as just under a million workers who have been balloted so far, will be
taking action. This is the first National co-ordinated strike action against
this government.

Sadly the largest public sector union, Unison is not taking part nationally in
this but has agreed at this weeks conferences that they will prepare for
co-ordinated action, as many of its members asked why aren’t we on strike on
the 30th. This should lead to another national strike in the Autumn - in the
words of PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka "to turn 750,000 on strike on June
30th into 4 million." NSSN supporters will be giving out our leaflet on June
30th calling for a 24-hour public sector general strike. You can download it
from our website or email us to get copies.

If your union is on strike - what can you do?

Hopefully you will have discussed this with your reps & officials, to set up
picket lines, leaflet and recruit new members, get inactive members involved,
discuss with other local unions for support and solidarity. Join/set up local
and regional marches to show this government that we will not accept this and
more importantly show each other, and those not yet on strike, there is an
alternative to the ‘cuts’. If you need any assistance or some material let
us know.

If your union is not on strike - what could you do?

Attend picket lines of those on strike
Send messages of support
Donate to the respective hardship funds
Assist in organizing locally; get your workmates, family, and friends to attend
Arrange meetings for after the 30th – what next
Move a resolution in your next union branch meeting calling on your union to
ballot for strike action and urging them to co-ordinate the action with the
other unions. Also, support the NSSN lobby of the TUC on September 11th in
London calling for co-ordinated action across the unions

Not in a union or workplace?

You might want to take part in walkouts or local protests with others.
For those not in work link up with strikers through your anti cuts campaigns,
share information, consider what actions you could take. Join the picket lines
and the local rally’s and marches. Students will also be looking to walk out
and support picket lines.
Support and visits to picket lines is most welcome as the con-dems try to
divide us!

STRIKES & DISPUTES

Two bits of Good news for RMT, Arywn Thomas has won the ET against unfair
dismissal and has now been reinstated! Workers on the Heathrow express have
suspended strike action following a better offer. Congratulations to all those
who were involved and took action.

We would also like to congratulate UCU members will also be celebrating as UCU
Wales Vice President has had his disciplinary action withdrawn after members
took unofficial action furious at the actions.
http://www.shopstewards.net/news.98.htm

Earlier this week 34 cleaners took part in 2 days of strike action in protest
over unpaid wages from Ocean in the city of London.

SOUTHAMPTON City Council Unison & Unite workers strike against cuts in jobs,
conditions and services continues as talks failed at ACAS. Workers will be
striking on the 30th of June to link up their issues with those nationally.
http://www.soton-unison-office.org.uk/newsletters.htm
http://southamptonanticuts.wordpress.com/

Birmingham Unison announced it would also be on strike on the 30th of June
given the £300 million cuts budget with over 37% to be cut by 2015.
http://www.birminghamunison.co.uk/
http://birminghamagainstthecuts.wordpress.com/2011/06/22/mass-strikes-in-birmingham-on-30th-june/

NUJ Newsquest in south London will begin 4 day strike 27th – midnight 30th
June over redundancies.

Leeds Council UNISON will join GMB balloting over proposals for cutting up to
3,000 jobs over 4 years

NUT Forest Hill School took first day of strike action against compulsorily
redundancies.


DATES FOR THE DIARY
Sat 25th
Hampshire Stop the cuts & Hampshire Assoc of Trades Councils demo 11am
Oram’s Arbour, Clifton Road. Linking up the ongoing council strikes of Unite
& Unison members with Medirest .

Lewes March for the NHS 10.30
Nevill Green, BN7

Nuneaton Against the Cuts 10.30 meet outside specsavers for campaign activity.

Tues 28th - RMT demonstration outside Liverpool’s BT Conference Centre 08.30

Sir Roy McNulty the architect of the Governments “Rail Review” carve-up -
will be addressing a major railway industry conference.

THURS 30th JUNE – NATIONAL STRIKE Action against pension cuts!

Just a few rallies & marches on the strike day:

Aberystwyth Rally 12 Morian Centre, Queens Rd
Bangor 2 Meifod Hotel
Barnsley 9.45 March to Parkway Cinema
Birmingham at 12 Victoria Square
Bedford 10 Civic Centre
Bradford 10 Valley Parad Ground
Brighton 10.30 The level (opposite open market)
Bristol 11 College Green
Calerdale 10 Arden Rd, Social Club
Canterbury 10-2 Abbots Barton Hotel
Camberley 1pm Camberley station march. 2pm Rally@Theatre
Cambridge 12 Parkers pierce
Carlisle 12.30 Old Town Hall
Cardiff 11 Cathays Park & 12.15 Canton Bridge
Ceredigion 12 Morian Centre
Chatham 12.30 Command House, ME4
Chelmsford 11 High St
Chester 12.30 town hall
Chippenham 11 Town Hall
Colchester 12.30 Town Hall
Derbyshire 10.30 Market Hall Chesterfield
Doncaster 9.30 Council house, College rd
Dorchester 9.30 County hall
Dover 12 St Mary’s Church
Exeter 11 Corn Exchange
Glasgow 12 George Sq
Gloucester 10.30 Gloucester Park
Gravesham 9.30 Three Daws Pub DA11
Gwynedd Mefild 2 Hotel Bontnewydd
Halifax 10 Arden Social Club
Hastings 10.30 White rock hotel
Hertfordshire 10.30 Campus West, Uni
Huddersfield 10 St Pats Irish centre 12-12.30 rally Market X, HD1
Hull 10am Royal Hotel
Isle of Wight 10 St Georges Football PO30
Ipswich 10.45 Giles Circus, Princes Circus
Kirklees 10 St Patricks Centre
Lancaster 11 Market Sq
Llandrindod Wells 11am Pavilion, Spa Rd
Lincoln 1 Stags Head
Liverpool 11.30 William Brown St
Leicester 12 Victoria Park
Leeds 12 City Square
London 11 Lincoln Fields
Luton 12 Market Hill
Manchester 11 All Saints
Maidenhead 11-2 Walnut Tree & 4pm Outside County Hall
Maidstone 11 Village Hotel, ME14
Merthyr Tydfil 12.30 Civic Centre
Middleborough 4.30 Bottle sculpture
Milton Keynes 12 Campbell Park
Newcastle 12 Life Centre
Newbury 10 St Nicholas Church Hall
Newport 12 John Forest Sq
Norfolk 12 Outside Forum NR2
Norwich Noon Forum Amphitheatre
Northampton 12.30 Guildhall
Nottingham 11 Forest Recreation March to Albert Hall for rally
Oxford Noon Bonn Square 1.30 March
Peterborough 10am
Plymouth 10.30 Albion Rugby Club
Portsmouth 12 Guildhall, PO1
Preston 12 Flag Market
Powys 10.30 The Pavilion
Reading 11am RISC, London St, RG1
Rotherham 11am All saints Sq
Sheffield 12 Barker’s Pool to City Hall
Sheffield 11 Peace gardens to City Hall
Sittingbourne 11 Phoenix house, Central Av
Slough Queensmere Centre
Somerset 10 Taunton Rugby Club
Southampton 11 Guildhall
Southend 12.30 Victoria Circus
Staffordshire 11.30 Reardons, Adventure Place ST1
Swansea 11.30 Castle Sq
Swindon 10 Outside Swindon Library
Taunton 11 Rugby club
Telford 12 Southgate
Truro 1-1pm Lemon Quay
Wakefield 10 Outside Cathedral
Welwyn 10.30 Campus West, Roller City
Wembley 10 Torch Pub
Wigan 11-1 Market Place
Wolverhampton 10.45 Metro One
Worcester 11 St Peters Baptist Centre
Worthing 11 Steyne Gdns, BN11
Wrexham 11.30 Queens Sq
York 11.30 Parliament St & 4pm lobby Council

Tues 5th July East London NSSN – ‘All out together’ 7pm
Durning hall Community Centre, Earlham Grove E7

Join – Affiliate – Get involved!

info@shopstewards.net
http://www.shopstewards.net/

Cinematography @LSBU - People, place, space

Was always drawn by this session but scared, dam scared that I would want the detail, want what the real options offered me but they're not options are they?! I can't afford to get lost in detail... I can. I can and I can chose that too.

We had SONY XDCAM PMW-EX3 - shoots 60fps and has a lot of extras and lenses which give me film quality at 1/3 of the price. We tested out lenses to see and feel the differences in small groups. Much more fineky... and filters which could shift lift, adapt light and move light. One filter which would be good to use would be the polarising one, which is shooting from the outside in, from outside a car or bus and to take off the reflections. Got to touch a camera and lense or two.. was good, the quality, the control....

With the class who I did FCP with which is funny, they seem nice and I remember one or two.
Tutor is gentle and was interested in the project I was doing, her partner was the son of a miner and from Derbyshire and what that meant.. so much to say and do. The layers. She is open to share and interested, good to share the ideas and see how and what people think about them and what they might want to contribute. The energy the possibilities. Saw GK too, the man who runs all the technical things here and more. He had encouraged me to take more of the undergraduate modules which he could see from the footage I would have a better understanding of the work I was creating and how and why. To develop an ability to understand and articulate the astethic which is a key part of this piece, the form and content are important. Not just one. One without the other would not make sense and would deny the context and contexts within which we operate.

She showed us Ak - Seven Samouri -(just changed this link, wiki talk about it better than imbd which is commercial titles not why or who. it tells me/ us more not selling us the product but the process, context and how it made a difference to his career and where it is in relation to others). who used mainly long lenses, this gave the background and foreground equal balance, like in Japanese art. Makes the context more or more equal. Its not just this character, this but this is also part of that and that is moving too, together. A dialectical relationship, movement is important to me.

Suggested two key books:
Grammor of the shot - Thompson
Cinematography: Theory and practice - Brown 2002

On the eve of the budget cuts - Do we have a choice?

I popped into college today, partly to see about kit and also it was National day of Action to defend education. I didn't know what was going on at LSBU but through someone heard a little. It reminded me of the fact that everywhere I turn right now, the axe is falling or hovering overhead.

So what do you do? What do I do? Sit back comfortably and let it pass over me, or do I take part? And here, in this, do I weave in my world so completely? Or will I regret the opportunity to selfishly 'create'?! That suggests that responding or connecting to the real world context is not selfish, it is. It still is, for me too.

After looking at kit, and possibilities, I thought about the projects I might want to do... complete ways of seeing 40, yes and perhaps develop it. Upload the version of Last Picture of you onto youtube, there is a spelling mistake but what the hell?! I always wanted to come back to that and perhaps animate the piece and add workshops... maybe, sometime, maybe.

But on the eve of the budget, as I stood within the LSBU protest, I know we have a choice. I have a choice and I want to share some of what I am seeing, get closer.

I got a train to liverpool, 16 years old, and walked into the end of one of the most exciting and also challenging parts of recent British working class history. I get lucky sometimes.. The Liverpool 47 were councillors who decided not to set a budget within the boundaries the Tories had set out, they punished the city for voting labour with £500million less grants than previously. The 47, with many people behind them set a budget which let the city begin to breathe.

I spoke to a friend, and photographer, who I met then. We will interview a few people next week, its a massive project, but I don't want to walk away from this, however dodgy my production skills are. Your there, waiting to be opened up and shared. And I will learn, as I do more about you and I need to.

Funny, some months ago, I made a quick not overly planned short called INSIDE OUT. (I have re-edited part of this, the end closer to the begining and sound levels more sorted. Needs more work, though it may have served a purpose..) Towards the end of the film, two books are side by side, ' The artist way' & 'Liverpool a City that dared to fight'.

Day 2 - MA Symposium - walking

Widening Participation

I imagined as I walked into LSBU... two shots together, side by side.

The security turnstiles ?

and something that represented 15% cuts, bankers, property, gatekeepers often lowest paid, migrant labour,