Come along to the Morning Star Our Class Our Culture event on 50th anniversary of the union movement defeat of anti-trade union laws

 Please come along to the Morning Star Our Class Our Culture event on Tuesday 1st June at 7pm to look at how the trade union movement defeated anti-trade union laws and an anti-working class government 50 years ago and the lessons we can learn for the present day.

The zoom link is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87526499610

The event will be chaired by UNISON national executive member and ATUC member Kate Ramsden, and speakers are:

Davie Cooper - on the UCS action, how unity was won and maintained, how broader support was won across Britain

George Kerr - on how broader unity was secured in workplaces across the Clyde and further afield and the role of the shop stewards movement and liaison committee

Brenda Carson - on current challenges, the fight back by women trade unions and how memories of the past can inspire the present

Jackson Cullinane - on lessons for the present

There has never been a more important time to be in a trade union and for collective action. Many of the challenges that face us have parallels from 50 years ago and hearing about those successes can only inspite us for the fights ahead. 

Please join us.

Weekend of solidarity action with Palestine - please join us

Despite the "ceasefire", Aberdeen Trades Union Council continues to call urgently for solidarity with Palestine. We therefore call on all our delegates, associates, their friends and families in Aberdeen and North East Scotland to come out once again, as they did last week, and stand with Palestine.

Please gather outside the Alhikmah Mosque (on Nelson Street) at 4pm where we will march peacefully together to Marischal Square (outside Marischal College), for a rally at approximately 4.30pm. Please bring signs, flags and banners, observe social distancing and wear a mask.

This will be part of a weekend of events in solidarity with the people of Palestine.

On Saturday May 22nd, from 12noon, SPSC will hold a solidarity stall near Union Square and Aberdeen train station. All are welcome to join and support our engagement with the public.

The Alhikmah Mosque will hold an all day event and exhibition on Sunday May 23rd, with speakers from 2pm - further details on the poster below. 

ATUC Statement in solidarity with Palestinian comrades

Aberdeen Trades Union Council (ATUC) strongly condemns illegal state-sanctioned attempts to forcibly expel Palestinian families from their homes in Sheik Jarrah, to allow them to be occupied by Israeli illegal settlers. 

The actions of the Israeli state demonstrate that the ‘Nakba’ (Catastrophe) of 1948, when 700 000 Palestinians were driven from their homes and became refugees, is still happening today.

The military provocations and violence taking place in Al Aqsa and now Gaza are not isolated events, but are instead just the latest examples of the oppression and aggression faced daily by the Palestinian population living either under a brutal military occupation in Gaza and West
Bank, or as second-class citizens within Israel.

The First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon MSP, the Leader of the Scottish Labour Party
Anas Sarwar MSP, and the Scottish Green Party have all strongly condemned Israel’s violence
and aggression and gross breaches of international law, and ATUC calls on elected officials
across Scotland to do the same.

The lack of action by the UK government in holding Israel to account in any meaningful way is
unacceptable and we call for an immediate halt to UK arms sales to Israel as a first step.

ATUC stands in solidarity with our Palestinian comrades, and we recognise and fully support the
role of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign in compelling Israel to adhere to
international law.

Please get along to the socially distanced demo in Aberdeen's Marischal Square on Sat 15 May and stand with Palestine

Aberdeen Trades Union Council is urging all our delegates, associates, families and friends to gather in Marischal Square at 2pm on Saturday 15th May to protest against Israel's escalating violence against the Palestinian people.

 

Palestinians are calling on us to protest, to demonstrate our solidarity and to take action.Please bring your signs, flags and banners. Please also observe social distancing and wear a mask. 

 

As Palestinians continue to resist Israel's ongoing programme of ethnic cleansing, on Saturday Palestinians will also commemorate 73 years since the Nakba - when almost 1 million Palestinians were expelled from their homes, hundreds of villages were destroyed and hundreds massacred by Zionist militias - the catastrophe that led to the founding of the apartheid state of Israel. 

Freeport proposal must benefit workers and communities

Following the last meeting of Aberdeen Trades Union Council, President Graeme Farquhar  has written to councillors seeking assurances on Freeports.

Dear Councillor,

Aberdeen Freeport

Aberdeen Trades Union Council (ATUC) is the collective voice of trade unions in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, and has affiliated branches representing tens of thousands of workers in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire.

We note that the Scottish Government issued an invitation for bids for ‘Greenports’ in early 2021, and at its meeting on 3 February 2021 Aberdeen City Council’s City Growth and Resources Committee instructed the relevant Chief Officer to work with the UK and Scottish Governments, the Harbour Board and all other stakeholders to conduct a feasibility study for a Freeport for the City Region and report back to the next meeting on 11 May 2021. 

This follows the positive response of Aberdeen City Council in May 2020 to the UK Government consultation on Freeports, and the 2020 report of the Council’s Economic Policy Panel (on which there is not trade union representation) which noted that Council Officers had already been working “on the feasibility of a free port/enterprise model for the city region”.

A Freeport, or any enterprise, cannot function without workers and the implications for workers are fundamentally important to the design and principles behind a Freeport. We are disappointed that the Committee has not yet seen fit to communicate with ATUC, with a view to examining the implications of different Freeport models for workers. We remain ready and willing to work with Aberdeen City Council to do this, and in the interim wish to make a number of comments.

Join Scottish Palestine Solidarity Aberdeen on Monday 17th May to mark Nakba Day

All delegates and associates of ATUC are invited to join Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC) Aberdeen’s event to mark Nakba Day, when Palestinians commemorate the destruction of their homeland which forcibly displaced over 700,000 Palestinian refugees.

Before the event, SPSC is encouraging everyone to watch the film 1948: Creation and Catastrophe, which will be screening online between May 11th and 15th.

Register here (£2 donation) to watch the film online between May 11th and 15th: https://www.peoplesfundraising.com/event/film-1948

You are then invited to join the event (via Zoom) on Monday, May 17^th, 7pm to discuss the themes of the film and what the Nakba means in the context of our Palestine solidarity movement.

Email aberdeen@scottishpsc.org.uk for Zoom details.

Fiona Napier of SPSC Aberdeen said, “We are also delighted to be joined by Manal Shqair, based in the Occupied West Bank, and working with Stop the Wall. She will speak on the topic of what the Nakba means for Palestinian youth today, as well as take questions and join the discussion.

“We also hope to be joined by local Palestinians, as well as friends and supporters keen to share perspectives and learn.

“Please join us on May 17^th.”

For more information go to the Facebook event

SPSC wishes to thank Highland Palestine Film Club and the Network of Photographers for Palestine, who have organised the online film screening.

ATUC statement on Victory in Europe Day 8th May 2021

 Aberdeen Trades Union Council (ATUC) sends friendly greetings to all workers on Victory in
Europe Day.

ATUC remembers the heroism of all peoples across the world who helped defeat fascism in the
Second World War.

Women, men, children of all ages and races stood together united against the evil fascist
ideology.

ATUC wishes to pay particular attention to the contribution of the resistance movements in the
occupied countries, the military and civil contribution of the Soviet Union, and the labour
movement at home, in particular women workers who played their part in destroying fascism
and bringing peace to Europe.

We honour and remember them forever by campaigning in favour of peace, and against racism
and fascism in all of its forms.

Hope not hate.

International Workers' Memorial Day - workers' health and safety rights must come before profit

Graeme Farquhar and Donna Clark

International Workers' Memorial Day was a moving event as the small, socially distanced crowd remembered all those who have died, been injured or made ill at their work, so many from Covid 19 but also those who suffered work related accidents and deaths.

The event was organised by Aberdeen Trades Union Council along with Aberdeen City Council. Vice-president, Donna Clark laid a wreath on behalf of the ATUC

Speaking at the event, ATUC President, Graeme Farquhartold those gathered that this year’s theme for International Workers Memorial Day is health and safety is a fundamental workers’ right and this year it is even more important with Covid 19 being with us. 

"This pandemic has exposed an occupational crisis in workplaces not only here but worldwide.  Workers have been denied basic health and safety protection in the  workplace," said Graeme.

He highlighted that in the UK there have been 130 000 breaches of Covid guidelines in the workplace but with the Health and Safety Executive already cut to the bare minimum with the Conservative government’s austerity measures in recent years and now being so poorly resourced, there have been no prosecutions to date and this has resulted in many Covid outbreaks in workplaces.