The Tory party - it's like a lottery that rewards stupidity...

It must be a slow week for the Daily Mail. There's clearly not enough immigrants-gets-free-porsche stories to go round, so they printed this:

Britain’s biggest trade union has set up a new wing – which can only be joined by the unemployed. Tory MPs said it was ‘scandalous’ that Unite, led by the hard-Left former docker Len McCluskey, was trying to exploit benefit claimants for political and financial purposes.

Outrageous! It's for Poundland and Tesco to exploit unemployed people! 

In return for £26 a year in ‘subs’,  the jobless members of Unite Community receive perks including discount designer glasses, advice on ‘claiming the right benefits’ and a  pre-paid debit card offering cashback in high street stores.

Exploited, to the tune of 50 pence a week... and they're going to tell the unemployed what their rights are? For shame! Also, why the scare quotes around subs? Sub is short for subscription fee. Don't they have those at the Daily Heil? Perhaps direct debits are an underhand form of communism? I don't know. But here's where it gets really silly:

Last night Tory deputy chairman Sarah Newton said: ‘It is scandalous that Labour’s largest donor, Unite – which backed Ed Miliband for the leadership – is looking to politically mobilise the unemployed and plug its falling membership subs.  

‘The public expects trade unions to protect the rights of their members in the workplace – not try to fill gaps in their funding off the back of the unemployed. Is  Ed Miliband really comfortable taking money from a union that  is acting in such a cynical way?

Cynical? Well, of course, Tories are experts on British trade union history, and are only to happy to respect the terms of collective bargaining. It's a shame then that somebody who knows so much about trade unionism and only has it's best interests at heart (you shouldn't be filling any gaps in funding off the backs of h the unemployed, oh no) could have forgotten about The National Unemployed Workers Movement of the 1920s and 30s. What was Sarah Newton MP thinking, eh?

Bus strike

On the very same day bus drivers in London struck a mighty blow against their bosses, standing up to the high-and-mighty judiciary and the bloated austerity-pimps in government, the very same day men and women from every racial and religious background took to picket line to fight for their rights, Ed Milliband (son of a refugee) crept onto the news to justify the racist vilification of immigrants. Sure, people have 'legitimate concerns', well, actually, they're concerns that have been promoted and legitimised by over a decade of concentrated campaigning by the national press, often involving stories like the Swan Bake legend, which gets recycled every few years. But if you want the answer to how we get everyone in this society to live together, thrive and survive (community cohesion, the New Labour elision used to avoid talking about racism), this strike is the perfect example.

It's a wonder Unite, the bus drivers union, still pays the Labour Party so much money, when it undermines its members interests like this, lets them down, so badly... But that's another story. Meanwhile, well done the bus drivers. Don't let the courts get in your way. Don't stop until you win.

David Cameron says tanker drivers have no justification for striking

Yes, well, the corrupt pig would say that. Tanker drivers can't hold the country to ransom, only 'premier league' Tory party donors can do that. What justification does the drivers union claim? Let's do what no national newspaper or TV or radio outlet seems to want to do and find out. First of all:

Members of Unite working for five major fuel distribution firms delivering fuel for household names, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, BP, Shell and Esso backed a call for strike action by an average of 69 per cent. Turnouts across the five companies averaged 77.7 per cent.

Unite urged the employers to meet their responsibilities and talk meaningfully about establishing reasonable minimum standards that secure the stability of this vital national industry. Attempts by the union to progress a forum have been thwarted by employers’ unrelenting attacks on drivers’ terms and conditions.

The results for the seven companies involved in the ballot are:

Turners 94.4 per cent in favour on a turnout of 81.8 per cent.
Norbert Dentressangle 74.8 per cent in favour on a turnout of 71.3 per cent.
Wincanton 68.4 per cent in favour on a turnout of 71.9 per cent.
BP 60.2 per cent in favour on a turnout of 85.8 per cent.
Hoyer 59.7 per cent in favour on a turnout of 79.7 per cent.

In DHL drivers narrowly voted against strike action (44.6 per cent), but voted in favour of action short of a strike (53 per cent). Members in Suckling voted against strike action (85 per cent) and action short of strike (76 per cent).

Over 61.1 per cent of those voting across the seven companies voted for strike action.

I mean, come on, just because you vote, freely and fairly for something doesn't mean you're entitled to get it; give us £250k, THEN we'll see what we can do. But why have they voted like this?

Tanker drivers work in an increasingly fragmented and pressurised industry where corners are being cut on safety and training in a bid to squeeze profits and win contracts. Drivers face growing job insecurity as a result of the contract ‘merry-go-round’ and a ‘beat the clock’ culture has flourished with drivers forced to meet ever shorter delivery deadlines.

Final salary pension schemes have been swapped for inferior money purchase schemes, and some workers are now on their sixth pension in as many years, with 10 to 15 years left to go in the industry.

Saftey, wages, pensions, piffle! What's important is that striking is bad, and the tanker drivers shouldn't do it because it would be back to the bad old days of the winter of discontent, when even tanker drivers refused to bury the dead, oh woe! If the tanker drivers do go on strike we've got to all pull together, do our bit for UKPLC (4 years without a stock market crash) and panic hoard petrol, sorry, stock up on petrol and store it in our garages... Hang on a minute, isn't that a bit dangerous?