Jerry’s London rally is this evening in the Indian YMCA, 41 Fitzroy Square at 7.30 pm

The speakers include Ken Loach, Steve Hedley (RMT), Ray Morell, (Unite Convenor Lucas Aerospace Luton), Judith Atkinson, (NHS, Unite), Alberto Durango, (Unite Justice for Cleaners branch and Latin American Workers Association) and Steve Kelly, (Unite Construction Branch).

Jerry Hicks, grassroots candidate for the position of Unite General Secretary, says Unite must reject the Con Dem Government’s plans to slash Civil Servant redundancy payments.

He argues that Unite must work with the other Civil Service unions to build mass resistance and joint industrial action; this will be vital if the Unions are to protect the terms and conditions of tens of thousands of their members.

The previous Labour government’s proposed changes to the Civil Service Compensation Scheme (CSCS) – this details redundancy terms for civil servants – were successfully challenged in the courts by the PCS union.

The Cabinet Office is now threatening to change the law to prevent future legal challenges and is asking Civil Service unions to sign-up to a scheme even worse than proposed by Labour. The cuts include slashing compulsory redundancy terms by up to two thirds.

Jerry Hicks says, "The reason redundancy payments are being attacked now is obvious; the government wants to cut thousands of Civil Service jobs on the cheap". However, the ConDems are also trying to head off any fight back against job losses with changes that result in voluntary terms being better than those for compulsory redundancy.

Jerry Hicks said "The government hopes that when workers are faced with the threat of losing half of their redundancy pay they will not risk fighting. The CSCS changes will be used as big stick to frighten our members with. There is no way Unite should be signing-up to them."

The recent protest by MoD workers in Telford demonstrates the depth of feeling amongst workers, who are angry about the CSCS cuts. There needs to be a gear change throughout the union; Unite, together with the other Civil Service unions, has to take the argument for co-ordinated industrial action into every workplace. To build for strike action our union should follow the example of workers in Telford and organise mass rallies in every town.

Jerry Hicks believes that Unite must fight to defend every job and must put every effort into opposing these changes. He argues that the Unite leadership and the 3 other candidates standing for General Secretary should make it known that they will fight these changes. He also calls on them to build mass meetings and rallies in support of an industrial action ballot to protect the original CSCS conditions.

Jerry Hicks says "This is the type of action that will stop these cuts, it’s the type of action any candidates who consider themselves in any way fit to lead our union must be prepared to throw themselves into. My opponents in this contest are all Assistant General Secretaries of Unite, well placed to organise and lead such a campaign; I challenge them to act now".