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Newham council's constitution says a standards committee investigation into the conduct of an elected member should take no longer than three months.\u0026nbsp;However, six months has passed since a complaint was made against Mayor Sir Robin Wales, and only now has the committee published its groundbreaking decision - that the Mayor \"breached the members' Code of Conduct by failing to treat a member of the public with respect\".\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ESome background: in July 2014, a video [above] emerged on YouTube showing the Mayor losing control of his temper at the presence of Focus E15 Mothers campaigners at an event in Central Park in East Ham. He was so angry that the footage shows a member of council staff physically restraining him. In the week that followed, a formal complaint was made about the Mayor's behaviour, alleging that Wales had breached the Members' Code of Conduct by failing to observe the statutory principle of “always treating people with respect, including the organisations and public engaged with and those worked alongside”. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EI'd met the young activists from the Focus E15 campaign for the first time only the previous weekend, when volunteering as a legal observer for a march they had organised though the borough. Appalled by the Mayor's behaviour, I gave them some advice soon after the video began to circulate about how to make a official complaint. Eventually I decided to submit a complaint myself and so, ever since, I've had a ring-side seat as the formal 'complainant' to the glacial process that has followed.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe complaint was about the conduct shown in the video, which was essentially the only evidence. However, after a meeting of Newham's Standards Advisory Committee on 31 July recommended a formal inquiry, an independent investigator was appointed. In August she interviewed me and some of of the campaigners who appear in the  footage. The committee did not meet again until early October and then decided set up a Hearing Sub-Committee to consider the investigator's findings and determine whether a breach of the code of conduct had taken place. It met on 21 October and asked the investigator to rewrite her report with new recommendations. A meeting planned for December was cancelled and the Hearing Sub-Committee did not make its final decision until 15 January – but was unable to announce it because the council's constitution insists it was first checked off by its appointed 'Independent Person' (a requirement under the Localism Act 2011).\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe procedure for investigating a complaint is clearly convoluted, slow and in need of reform. I have no idea either how an investigation within three months is even imaginable if evidence is more complex than a short video. I must stress, however, that the independent chair of the Standards Advisory Committee seemed just as frustrated by it as everyone else and was always as helpful as circumstances allowed. What probably hasn't helped was Wales' refusal to cooperate with the formal investigation – to this day, he has not even bothered to deny the accusation against him. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIt is, nevertheless, hard to understand why there was a delay in early October to excise references to “the Mayor’s failure to deny the allegation upon which he chose not to comment at all”, when this rather embarrassing detail appears in minutes released this month. This decision was in all likelihood the work of some of the Mayor's slavishly loyal lieutenants on the committee, but as the discussions were held in secret, it is impossible to know for certain. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EEven before the committee's decision was made, the question of what sanction it might recommend was always, of course, largely irrelevant. It was never likely they would adopt my tongue-in-cheek suggestion of 'anger management classes' and anyway, apart from a letter to Wales with advice on his conduct, which the\u0026nbsp;Hearing Sub-Committee has asked the council's Monitor Officer to write,\u0026nbsp;there are always few options available when a complaint involves an elected Mayor.\u0026nbsp;His unwillingness to engage with or even acknowledge the investigation suggests any advice will disappear straight into the waste basket.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ENevertheless, what is significant is the decision itself: one of London's most powerful and imperious Labour politicians has received his first slap on the wrist in recent memory. For years, Wales has cultivated the idea that he is completely unassailable and therefore someone whose displeasure people should fear. It has worked too, I've seen it for myself both internally and amongst those who have to deal with the council. Even recently, I've been told by sympathetic insiders of threats that are a variant on “you'll never work in this town again”.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe trouble is, the notion of Sir Robin Wales' impregnability has been successfully undermined: amongst the many impressive achievements of the wonderful Focus E15 Mothers, this is perhaps the most unlikely, but it's true. It may only represent a first step, but I hope it encourages others in future who believe they have been poorly treated by the Mayor or those surrounding him to feel that it is finally worthwhile making a complaint that someone will listen to.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EMaybe, too, if the Mayor ever decides to bang the table, shout down local people, issue threats or browbeat members of staff, he'll start to wonder whether his words have been secretly recorded, as evidence for a Standards Advisory Committee that has actually displayed some backbone. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cb\u003EThe Investigation Report remains a (local) state secret, but you can see the Decision Notice \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/0B5fYrDXduCuRUzkzZWRjOEZMdFk\/view\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blowe.org.uk\/feeds\/1462739077598366683\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/comment.g?blogID=1786438112933136892\u0026postID=1462739077598366683","title":"6 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/1786438112933136892\/posts\/default\/1462739077598366683"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/1786438112933136892\/posts\/default\/1462739077598366683"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/www.blowe.org.uk\/2015\/01\/newham-mayor-guilty-of-breaching.html","title":"Newham Mayor Guilty of Breaching Members Code of Conduct  "}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Kevin"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/00003057501738525190"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"29","src":"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_QI1gRwFYn-k\/SU-lkDcQ99I\/AAAAAAAABHE\/miuQVEB5xqE\/S220\/rioter.jpg"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http:\/\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/gsPxancNiqk\/default.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"6"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-1621799567279167850"},"published":{"$t":"2014-04-23T22:59:00.001+01:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2014-04-24T19:01:31.862+01:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Newham"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Politics"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Whatever Happened to the 'Newham Revolution'?"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\" trbidi=\"on\"\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-fxWwyJouZA8\/U1g3azGvRYI\/AAAAAAAAEzg\/x9tW1LlLp3I\/s1600\/democracythumb.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-fxWwyJouZA8\/U1g3azGvRYI\/AAAAAAAAEzg\/x9tW1LlLp3I\/s1600\/democracythumb.jpg\" height=\"300\" width=\"305\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003EAt a local event last week, I found myself making small talk with one of Newham Labour's candidates for councillor positions at this May's elections. I've never been very good at small talk, especially with someone I know only vaguely, which is why the conversation started with the inevitable:“so how are things?” The candidate, who I shan't name, explained how busy everyone was canvassing their wards. As this is Newham, where 60 out of 60 councillors are Labour,  I jokingly said, “surely you don't have to worry? I mean, you guaranteed to win, right?”\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E“Well as Sir Robin says,” came the reply. “We're really fighting the election after next. The cuts that are coming are that bad.” Incredible.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ELabour candidates in this borough effectively become councillors-elect as soon as they are selected: the lack of any credible opposition makes victory a certainty. They also know that between their election and May 2018, they are expected to provide unquestioning support to cuts of £41million in 2015\/16 and another £53million in 2016\/17 – and evidently Mayor Sir Robin Wales isn't terribly confident his own party nationally will reverse the cuts if it wins the General Election next year. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ESo is Newham Labour really worried that the devastating impact of cuts could trigger a change in local politics? Casting an eye over Labour's current opponents, it would represent less a shift and more a major seismic event. What's really noticeable is just how barren and marginal municipal activism has become in the borough, after years of control by a single party dominated by a powerful Mayor. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAt one time Newham had the Respect Party, which \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.newhamrecorder.co.uk\/news\/george_galloway_re_launches_respect_party_in_newham_after_rejection_of_mega_mosque_1_1755669\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Ewas relaunched\u003C\/a\u003E at the end of December 2012 by its divisive, opportunist leader, the MP George Galloway. It has since vanished without trace: Galloway's pledge to field a Mayoral and councillor candidates in 2014 has failed to emerge. He \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.newhamrecorder.co.uk\/news\/hundreds_turn_out_to_hear_respect_mp_george_galloway_in_newham_1_1933602\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Ewas back in February 2013\u003C\/a\u003E in support of the woefully misnamed Newham People's Alliance (NPA), essentially an attempt to organise a distinct Muslim voting block. “This is the beginning of the Newham revolution,” blustered Galloway. The following month, the NPA announced its intention to\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.blowe.org.uk\/2013\/04\/how-credible-is-call-for-referendum-on.html\" target=\"_blank\"\u003E trigger a referendum\u003C\/a\u003E on Newham's mayoral system. That failed to emerge too. It hasn't updated its website since August 2013.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EMeanwhile, the \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/newhamtusc.wordpress.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003ETrade Unionist and Socialist Coalition\u003C\/a\u003E (essentially the Socialist Party) became the latest in a long line of far-left groups to parachute in, launch themselves on the electorate six weeks before the election and hope for the best. Around the country, the TUSC has barely attracted more than 5% of the vote (you can look \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.tusc.org.uk\/candidate\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E for their own analysis if you're so minded). Even though I personally quite like their Mayoral candidate Lois Austin, who I'm working with on a campaign concerned with police surveillance of activists, the stubborn perseverance involved in repeating the same failed tactic over and over again frankly amazes me. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAs for the Greens, Newham is one of the few London boroughs that has no local party. Its Mayoral candidate Jane Lithgow, who \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/janesprobablyknitting.blogspot.co.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Eseems like a nice person\u003C\/a\u003E and encouragingly describes herself as a Green Socialist, stood in the General Elections of 2005 and 2010 in West Ham but \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/politics\/person\/9447\/jane-lithgow\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Esaw her vote drop\u003C\/a\u003E to just 1.4% - coming in \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/politics\/constituency\/1424\/west-ham\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Eeighth place\u003C\/a\u003E behind both UKIP and the National Front (quite an achievement in multicultural Newham). This May, she will count herself lucky not to lose her deposit.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EWhat does this tell us? Perhaps that the opposition to cuts in Newham, if it emerges at all, will not happen through the ballot box but through dozens of small acts of resistance. I hope so. But it also suggests that Sir Robin's rhetoric about “fighting the election after next” is really about scaring some discipline into future councillors for when the cuts start to bite hard, as well as encouraging some of the more complacent candidates to turn up for door-knocking now there's an election approaching.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAnd given the calibre of most of them, it will probably work too. No wonder local politics is so depleted and dysfunctional.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blowe.org.uk\/feeds\/1621799567279167850\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/comment.g?blogID=1786438112933136892\u0026postID=1621799567279167850","title":"3 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/1786438112933136892\/posts\/default\/1621799567279167850"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/1786438112933136892\/posts\/default\/1621799567279167850"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/www.blowe.org.uk\/2014\/04\/whatever-happened-to-newham-revolution.html","title":"Whatever Happened to the 'Newham Revolution'?"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Kevin"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/00003057501738525190"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"29","src":"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_QI1gRwFYn-k\/SU-lkDcQ99I\/AAAAAAAABHE\/miuQVEB5xqE\/S220\/rioter.jpg"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-fxWwyJouZA8\/U1g3azGvRYI\/AAAAAAAAEzg\/x9tW1LlLp3I\/s72-c\/democracythumb.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"3"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-6921061300489650294"},"published":{"$t":"2013-11-24T09:38:00.000+00:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2013-11-24T09:38:02.614+00:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Politics"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"United States"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"The Problem is Civil Obedience"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\" trbidi=\"on\"\u003EThis is terrific - Matt Damon, a lifelong friend of the American historian and activist Howard Zinn, who died in January 2010, reads excerpts from a \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.informationclearinghouse.info\/article36950.htm\"\u003Espeech Zinn gave in 1970\u003C\/a\u003E as part of a debate on civil disobedience.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\"\u003EAnd our topic is topsy-turvy: civil disobedience. As soon as you say the topic is civil disobedience, you are saying our problem is civil disobedience. That is not our problem.... Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is the numbers of people all over the world who have obeyed the dictates of the leaders of their government and have gone to war, and millions have been killed because of this obedience.\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cdiv style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003E\u003Ciframe allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"293\" mozallowfullscreen=\"\" src=\"\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/48834336\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"\" width=\"520\"\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E \u003C\/div\u003E\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/vimeo.com\/48834336\"\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blowe.org.uk\/feeds\/6921061300489650294\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/comment.g?blogID=1786438112933136892\u0026postID=6921061300489650294","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/1786438112933136892\/posts\/default\/6921061300489650294"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/1786438112933136892\/posts\/default\/6921061300489650294"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/www.blowe.org.uk\/2013\/11\/the-problem-is-civil-obedience.html","title":"The Problem is Civil Obedience"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Kevin"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/00003057501738525190"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"29","src":"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_QI1gRwFYn-k\/SU-lkDcQ99I\/AAAAAAAABHE\/miuQVEB5xqE\/S220\/rioter.jpg"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-5249449711128322163"},"published":{"$t":"2013-08-07T20:58:00.000+01:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2013-08-07T20:58:01.182+01:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Newham"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Politics"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Welcome To Zero-Hours-Tolerant Newham"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\" trbidi=\"on\"\u003EIn the wake of the\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.cipd.co.uk\/pm\/peoplemanagement\/b\/weblog\/archive\/2013\/08\/05\/one-million-workers-on-zero-hours-contracts-finds-cipd-study.aspx\" target=\"_blank\"\u003E CIPD report\u003C\/a\u003E this week suggesting that up to one million workers in the UK are on zero hours contracts – where an employee is expected to be on-call and is paid only for hours worked – the discovery that Newham council uses them has been highlighted on \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/newhamnettles.blogspot.co.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EMike Law's blog\u003C\/a\u003E but hasn't yet made it into the \u003Ci\u003ENewham Recorder\u003C\/i\u003E. The paper should probably pay more attention. This is a story that has the potential to deeply embarrass not only Newham Labour's council leadership but the national Labour Party too.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe Freedom of Information (FoI) request that reveals the number of staff on zero-hour contracts is buried deep within the \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.newham.gov.uk\/Pages\/ServiceChild\/Freedom-of-Information-disclosure-log.aspx\" target=\"_blank\"\u003EFoI Disclosure logs on the council's website\u003C\/a\u003E. So that others don't have to search for it, enquiry number 15701 on page 48 of the 228-page log for May 2013 says the following:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003ESubject: Zero Hour Contracts\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EI would like to know \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E(a) How many workers employed by the council are employed through zero hours contracts.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E- I’d like figures in the financial year ending 2012-13 and \u003Cbr \/\u003E- for the financial year ending 2009-10\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E(b) For both years, I’d like a breakdown of workers employed in this way:\u003Cbr \/\u003Ei – Directly through the council\u003Cbr \/\u003Eii – By private companies operating on council contracts\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003Ec) What percentage the figure is for each year of total council employees \u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThe council's response was as follows:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\"tr_bq\"\u003E1. A total of 1060 workers were employed by Newham Council through zero hour contracts during 2012\/2013. This represented 7.6% of all of our employees as of the 31st March 2013. These are sessional workers, or casual staff who work on an as-and-when basis. They work largely in schools and community centres delivering advice sessions, tuition and sports coaching. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EThese sessional workers are not subject to a ‘mutuality of obligation’. That means they do not have to work when asked, nor are we obliged to ask them to work. All other employees are required to work to contract and we are obliged to provide them with their contracted hours.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EA total of 1044 workers were employed in the same way through zero hour contracts during 2009\/2010. This represented 7.6% of all employees as of 31st March 2010.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E2. All of the employees holding zero hour contracts were employed directly through the Council. It is not possible for us to determine whether or not any of the private companies operating on council contracts during the periods given employed any staff on zero hours contracts.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E3. As of 31st March 2013, 7.6% of all employees were on zero hour contracts.\u003Cbr \/\u003EAs of 31st March 2010, 7.6% of all employees were on zero hour contracts.\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EZero-hour contracts are the classic example of McJobs – it's no shock that \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/business\/2013\/aug\/05\/mcdonalds-workers-zero-hour-contracts\" target=\"_blank\"\u003E90% of McDonalds staff\u003C\/a\u003E are on them. Not everyone thinks they are a bad thing – the almost comically blue-blooded Etonian Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, a man who married an heiress, took his nanny with him when out canvassing and will never, ever experience what Jarvis Cocker called a life “with no meaning or control”, thinks zero-hour contracts are \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/politics\/10225661\/Zero-hours-contracts-why-do-Lefties-always-think-they-know-best.html\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Egreat for business\u003C\/a\u003E. However, people I know who have been on them describe this type of contract making their lives more precarious – slashing their previously regular wages when introduced (by as much as 50%) and often leading to dismissal when their period of employment might lead to some actual rights (usually close the two-year mark). Equally, Newham council may talk about ‘mutuality of obligation’ and that workers are not forced to work when asked, but the experience of people I've spoken to (who mainly work in home care) is that refusing to accept on-call hours when asked means an employer stops ringing: you card is marked as 'unreliable'. This places enormous pressure to accept any hours, no matter how inconvenient, which makes the idea of having anything like 'quality time' equally precarious.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EWhat makes the discovery that a significant number of Newham council staff – around one in every thirteen workers – are on zero-hour contracts so politically damaging for Labour is not just the decision of its leader Ed Miliband to highlight how “for too many people in Britain, the workplace is nasty, brutish and unfair” and to specifically condemn “the exploitation of zero hours contracts to keep people insecure” and .”using agency workers to unfairly avoid giving people the pay and conditions offered to permanent staff”. It's that this \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/labourlist.org\/2013\/06\/full-text-ed-miliband-speech-a-one-nation-plan-for-social-security-reform\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Ekeynote 'One Nation' speech\u003C\/a\u003E was made at Newham Dockside, the home of the zero-hours-tolerant Newham council. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIt's damaging too because a statement that I wholeheartedly agree with by Dave Prentis, General Secretary of local government union UNISON, said:“the vast majority of workers are only on these contracts because they have no choice. They may give flexibility to a few, but the balance of power favours the employers and makes it hard for workers to complain”. Yet one Unison National Executive Committee member, John Gray. cannot possibly support his General Secretary without facing accusations of hypocrisy, because he is a Labour councillor in zero-hours-tolerant Newham council. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAnd it's damaging for precisely the reasons  Mike Law has highlighted – that not one of the prospective Labour candidates standing for zero-hours-tolerant Newham council has had a single word to say on this issue.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EOpposition to zero-hours contracts is apparently Labour Party policy. So will the party's 100% majority of local councillors - and the candidates who face inevitable election in 2014 - make a start on their leader's concerns about \"our responsibilities to each other\" by taking a stand in their own borough?\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blowe.org.uk\/feeds\/5249449711128322163\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/comment.g?blogID=1786438112933136892\u0026postID=5249449711128322163","title":"1 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/1786438112933136892\/posts\/default\/5249449711128322163"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/1786438112933136892\/posts\/default\/5249449711128322163"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/www.blowe.org.uk\/2013\/08\/welcome-to-zero-hours-tolerant-newham.html","title":"Welcome To Zero-Hours-Tolerant Newham"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Kevin"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/00003057501738525190"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"29","src":"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_QI1gRwFYn-k\/SU-lkDcQ99I\/AAAAAAAABHE\/miuQVEB5xqE\/S220\/rioter.jpg"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"1"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1786438112933136892.post-3923760445338352484"},"published":{"$t":"2013-06-17T09:34:00.000+01:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2013-06-17T09:34:04.953+01:00"},"category":[{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Campaigns"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Photography"},{"scheme":"http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#","term":"Politics"}],"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Photos from 'They Owe Us' Protest at Canary Wharf"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left;\" trbidi=\"on\"\u003EIn response to the combined crises of cuts and climate chaos and the \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/network23.org\/stopg8\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Ecall for a week of action against the G8\u003C\/a\u003E, a number of campaigners including UKUncut, Fuel Poverty Action and Disabled People Against the Cuts came  together on Friday to protest in Canary Wharf - what they called \"the penthouse suite of global capitalism\".\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ETechnically the protest was illegal -in 2011, its owners Canary Wharf Group \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2011\/11\/02\/court-bans-new-canary-wharf-camp-after-st-pauls-protest-206151\/\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Eobtained an indefinite injunction \u003C\/a\u003Ethat prohibits \"any persons unknown remaining on the Canary Wharf estate in connection to protest action\" (all 14 million square feet is private land). The police presence on Friday was pretty heavy for a small protest of 150 people and as usual, Forward Intelligence Team photographers from the Metropolitan Police were busy gathering information for the police 'domestic extremist' database, but the event was entirely peaceful. Here are a few photos I took - the set is on Flickr \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/flic.kr\/s\/aHsjG8ifjt\" target=\"_blank\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cobject height=\"390\" width=\"520\"\u003E \u003Cparam name=\"flashvars\" value=\"offsite=true\u0026lang=en-us\u0026page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2Fcopwatcher%2Fsets%2F72157634168916415%2Fshow%2Fwith%2F9066188024%2F\u0026page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2Fcopwatcher%2Fsets%2F72157634168916415%2Fwith%2F9066188024%2F\u0026set_id=72157634168916415\u0026jump_to=9066188024\"\u003E\u003C\/param\u003E\u003Cparam name=\"movie\" value=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/apps\/slideshow\/show.swf?v=124984\"\u003E\u003C\/param\u003E\u003Cparam name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\"\u003E\u003C\/param\u003E\u003Cembed type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" src=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/apps\/slideshow\/show.swf?v=124984\" allowFullScreen=\"true\" flashvars=\"offsite=true\u0026lang=en-us\u0026page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2Fcopwatcher%2Fsets%2F72157634168916415%2Fshow%2Fwith%2F9066188024%2F\u0026page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2Fcopwatcher%2Fsets%2F72157634168916415%2Fwith%2F9066188024%2F\u0026set_id=72157634168916415\u0026jump_to=9066188024\" width=\"520\" height=\"390\"\u003E\u003C\/embed\u003E\u003C\/object\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blowe.org.uk\/feeds\/3923760445338352484\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/comment.g?blogID=1786438112933136892\u0026postID=3923760445338352484","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/1786438112933136892\/posts\/default\/3923760445338352484"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/1786438112933136892\/posts\/default\/3923760445338352484"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/www.blowe.org.uk\/2013\/06\/photos-from-they-owe-us-protest-at.html","title":"Photos from 'They Owe Us' Protest at Canary Wharf"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Kevin"},"uri":{"$t":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/profile\/00003057501738525190"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"32","height":"29","src":"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_QI1gRwFYn-k\/SU-lkDcQ99I\/AAAAAAAABHE\/miuQVEB5xqE\/S220\/rioter.jpg"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}}]}});