Star date: 21st September 2014

DELEGATES TO GET LOBBIED, SIEGED WITH FRINGE MEETINGS AND UNCUT

Delegates attending the Labour Party Conference in Manchester this week are to get lobbied by all kinds of campaign groups, from the Fast Food Rights group to action by UK UNCUT.

Meanwhile, Manchester and Salford NUJ have organised a `Making The Media an Election Issue' meeting and, as Salford Council is set for its hopelessly biased sell off of its houses to Salix Homes there's a Defend Council Housing fringe meeting too, starring Labour Party members opposed to the privatisation.

Full details here...

Labour Party delegates will be encouraged to discover the Party's roots this week as a cavalcade of campaign groups try to wake its leadership up to real issues affecting real people.

Today the Conference began with a massive anti-fracking march and rally, and a protest by anti-G4S groups (see here). Tomorrow it's the turn of the Fast Food Rights campaign, led by Manchester Trade Union Council (MTUC), which is urging delegates to show solidarity with some of the poorest workers in the city by refusing to eat in the city's fast food outlets.

The Fast Food Rights campaign is leading the charge against exploitative fast food companies, whose zero-hours contracts and breadline wages condemn thousands of workers to a life of economic insecurity and under-employment. The Campaign, which was set up by the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU), will be lobbying delegates at the Conference tomorrow, Monday September 22nd, at 1pm.

"The TUC agreed recently that all workers should receive a minimum of £10 per hour. This is the amount we all need just to pay the bills and exist in society" says MTUC President Annette Wright "Fast food workers are becoming unionised and are saying they have had enough of poverty pay and zero-hours contracts. MTUC welcomes the Fast Food Rights demo outside the Labour Party Conference in Manchester and we ask Labour to stand up for all workers' rights."

At 6:30pm, on Monday 22nd, at Friends Meeting House, 6 Mount Street, Manchester M2 5NS, the Manchester and Salford branch of the National Union of Journalists, and the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom (CPBF) are holding a public meeting `No More Murdochs - Making the media an election issue'.
 
Speakers will include John McDonnell MP; Rachel Broady, former News of the World journalist; Ann Field, CPBF chair and former Unite/GPMU official; and Granville Williams CPBF and editor of Big Media and Internet Titans.

Granville Williams will argue "that governments need to recognise that unless there are clear rules and limits on media ownership, democracy suffers", while Rachel Broady will be "talking about work conditions, culture and the - I will say unfair - reaction to journalism/journalists post NoW/hackgate".

On Tuesday 23rd September, 6pm at the Friends Meetings House (6 Mount Street, Manchester M2 5NS), Salford people as well as Labour Party MP Austin Mitchell will be speaking at a Defend Council Housing public meeting entitled `Stop The War On Tenants – Invest In Council Housing'.

Salford Labour Party Councillor Peter Wheeler will join Salford Anti Bedroom Tax Federation campaigner Maria Brabiner, Neil Andrews from UCATT and Eileen Short from Defend Council Housing in what should be a incredibly relevant meeting, as Salford City Council does everything in its power and ragged wallet to encourage tenants to give their houses away to Salix Homes (see previous Salford Star articles – click here and click here and click here and click here).

Meanwhile, for those who like their politics less organised, UK UNCUT is threatening to crash all three party conference, beginning with Labour's...

"The three biggest political parties are gathering their members for their annual conferences" reads a UK UNCUT statement "It's the big chance for Cameron, Clegg and Miliband to tell their parties and the country what they're standing for. But we don't want to hear more about austerity, about tightening our belts, about getting our house in order. Because we know that the house they want to order is one that works only for the super rich, for big corporations and for private companies.

"We're tired of hearing about cuts to our vital public services while the greedy super-rich get away with dodging tax" it explains "We're tired of the poor getting punished for the financial crisis caused by the banks. We're bored of politicians saying the same old things and not addressing real problems. We think it's time the politicians stop talking and start listening.

"Scotland made Westminster quake – they showed that when enough people speak up, politicians have to listen" it adds "But it's just the start. We have to keep fighting and keep our voices heard. It's time that people take back politics...We will crash their conferences. Labour's Conference is first up..."