Newsletter of Cardiff communists

Distributed free to 6,000 homes No. 6 | Summer 2011

INSIDE: Cuts and redundancies p.2 | 100 years ago p.3 | Cardiff Blues p.4

Cardiff Against the IncineratorPUBLIC MEETING

STEPPING UP THE FIGHT!Monday, July 11 at 7 pm

Come and hear Vaughan Gething AM, Dr Linda Evans(Merthyr campaign) and reports on the latest situation.

The Old Illts RFC, Splott Rd. Bridge

>> Everyone welcome <<

THE CAMPAIGN againstViridor’s plans for a giantincinerator at Trident Park,between Splott and CardiffBay, is set to take a bigstep forward.

Across south Wales,public anger is mountingagainst plans to burnrubbish instead of usingsafer, cleaner technologiesincluding more recycling.

Merthyr Tydfil andCaerphilly councils havecome out against puttingcompany profits beforelocal people’s health. Theybelieve incinerator plantswill drive jobs away.

But in Cardiff, theLibDem-Plaid Cymrucouncil is sticking with apolicy that will spewdangerous dioxins into theair, in an area where low airquality already contributesto major health andpollution problems.

If the Viridor schemegoes ahead, it will alsomean up to 250 lorries aday driving rubbish and ashto and from the south ofthe city.

The all-party CardiffAgainst the Incineratorgroup has been waging avigorous battle. But itsefforts to enlighten CardiffCouncil, the EnvironmentAgency and the previousWelsh AssemblyGovernment have notstopped the scheme – yet.

Now the campaign ismoving up a gear. Newly-elected Assembly AMs

have pledged their activesupport, including Labour’sVaughan Gething in CardiffSouth & Penarth.

The new Welsh Ministerfor the Environment, JohnGriffiths, is already underpressure in his Newportconstituency, where hislocal Labour Party isopposing yet anotherincinerator scheme.

The Cardiff, Merthyr andNewport campaigns arenow in touch with eachother, raising the possibiltyof building a mass, unitedmovement.

The Cardiff petitionagainst Viridor is currentlybeing considered by theWelsh Assembly’s petitioncommittee. The LocalOmbudsman for Wales hasbeen asked to rule againstCardiff Council’snegligence when grantingplanning permission lastyear.

The council’sconsultation process was afarce, with none of theresidents in Splott and

Cardiff Bay tower blocksoverlooking Trident Parkconsulted about theharmful effects of smokeand other emissions. Norwere open-air cafes,restauarants and hotels innearby Cardiff Bay properlyinformed or consulted.

Next May, LibDem andPlaid Cymru councillorswho supported theincinerator will be seekingre-election. Who will wantto vote for councillors whoput big business profitbefore local people’s healthand safety?

YES WE CAN STOP THE INCINERATOR!

■ PROFITS: up 14 percent in 2010-11 to £63million. Shareholderdividends up 9 per cent.That’s what it’s all about– there’s no crisis for bigbusiness!■ HEALTH & SAFETY:Viridor has a long list ofconvictions and fines fordangerous practices,pollution, industrialinjuries and negligence.See some of them (up toJanuary 2010) athttp://tiny.cc/zstya■ FIRE: blazes havebroken out at nineViridor waste sites in thelast four years, includinglast year alone inManchester, Liskeard,Arundel, Edinburgh andBridgwater. Many wereserious and had to beattended by the fire andother emergency services.

VVIIRRIIDDOORR FFAACCTT FFIILLEE

2 ■ Summer 2011 ■ RED ALERT ■

ARE YOU a parent, a cardriver, an allotment holder,elderly or a carer?Are you likely to die sometimein the future? Or do you justcare about Cardiff?

Then you need to knowabout Cardiff Council’sbudget plans. To make‘savings’ of £22 million thisyear, the council is:

■ SHUTTING the city’s lasttwo residential care homes.■ CLOSING the Central YouthClub in Ocean Way.■ CHARGING more forallotments, car parking,school music lessons, burialsand cremation.■ CUTTING library hours.■ SHEDDING 350 jobs.

That’s just for twelvemonths. Another £48 million incuts and charges are plannedto 2015.

That’s a running total of£188 million slashed from thecouncil’s budget over fouryears. Around 1,500 jobs willbe lost in the public sector,along with 1,500 privatesector jobs that also rely oncouncil spending.

Our LibDem and PlaidCymru councillors can’t blame

the Welsh Assembly. Cardiffwas the only council in Waleswhose Assembly grant WENTUP this year!

Does Cardiff Council haveany other option? OFCOURSE!

Councillors could haveincreased council tax,especially in the higher bands.Instead, they are keeping itdown for next year’s localelections.

THEY HOPE YOU ARESELFISH AND SHORT-SIGHTED. That you don’t careabout children, the elderly, theunemployed, carers or thebereaved.

The Council could digdeeper into reserves. Afterdrawing on just £2 million,there is still £22 million left innon-housing and non-schoolreserve funds.

The main fault lies with theTory-LibDem government inLondon. It refuses to tax therich and big business, or toallow councils to increaselocal rates for largecompanies.

BUT THE TORIES MUSTBE PLEASED WITH THEIRLITTLE LIB-DEM AND PLAIDCYMRU HELPERS INCARDIFF.

ABOUT USThe Red Alert editorial team is:

Robert Griffiths (editor)Fran Rawlings

Agharad Khan-RajaSteve WilliamsRick Newnham

Dan ColeRed Alert was originally produced in

the 1980s by the Cardiff East branch ofthe Communist Party. Today, it is

published by the party’s Cardiff branchand distributed free to 6,000 homes in

Splott, Adamsdown, Tremorfa,Llanedeyrn and Grangetown.

To contact Red Alert with news orviews, phone Robert Griffiths on

07790 884137 or email toredalertcardiff@aol.co.uk

If you would like more informationabout the Communist Party and its

policies, contact Cardiff branchsecretary Rick Newnham on 07973

857048 or go to our websites below.

www.welshcommunists.orgwww.communist-party.org.uk

Cuts – what’s the alternative?The Con-Dems have added £73 billion to NewLabour’s £130 billion cuts for 2011-15. The £203billion total could be raised in ONE YEAR bytaxing the rich and big business:■ A 2 per cent Wealth Tax on the richest 10% of the

population = £78 billion in one year.■ A 20 per cent windfall tax on monopoly profits in

banking, energy, retail food, armaments andpharmaceuticals = £16 billion.

■ A ‘Robin Hood’ tax on City financial transactions = £20billion a year.

■ Clamp down on British-ruled tax havens and rich and bigbusiness tax dodgers = £70 billion a year.

■ Repayment of money owed by bailed-out banks = £131 billion.

CUTS – THE FACTSCouncil slashes services

– 3,000 jobs to go

Cardiff Morning Starpublic meeting

Thursday July 217.30 pm

The MiddleEast after the‘Arab Spring’

Speaker:NAVID SHOMALI

(InternationalSecretary,

Tudeh Party of Iran)

Everyone welcomeCroeso i bawb

Read the Morning Star- the daily paper

of the left

LIB-DEMS

Wanted – 49,703 apologiesIN LAST YEAR’S General Election, the Lib Dems won 49,703votes in Cardiff. They campaigned on the basis that they –and not Labour – were the real radical alternative to the Tories.

Then we woke up a few days after polling day to find ...the LibDems in bed with a Tory government! They formed acoalition to carry out policies TOTALLY OPPOSITE to theones in the LibDem manifesto. Just look at the record:■ LibDem promise: gradual, moderate public spending

cuts■ Tory-LibDem policy: immediate, deep cuts in jobs and

services■ LibDem promise: no increase in VAT■ Tory-LibDem policy: VAT increased to 20 per cent■ LibDem promise: no increase in National Insurance■ Tory-LibDem policy: increase for workers, but not for

employers■ LibDem promise: no increase in student tuition fees■ Tory-LibDem policy: student tutition fees trebled to

£9,000 a year■ LibDem promise: no NHS reorganisation and

privatisation■ Tory-LibDem policy: NHS reorganisation and

privatisation in England■ LibDem promise: no more reckless foreign wars■ Tory-LibDem policy: war in Libya, more war in

AfghanistanWill anyone be stupid enough to believe the LibDemsnext time?

★

■ RED ALERT ■ Summer 2011 ■ 3

ONE HUNDRED years ago,Cardiff exploded in asummer of strikes andwalkouts. Fighting betweenworkers and the police wasthe most ferocious in thecity’s history.It began when the seafarers

joined a national strike. Theywanted the shipping employersto discuss wages andconditions with their union.The Cardiff Shipowners

Association refused torecognise the National Sailorsand Firemen’s Union.So the seafarers held a

meeting in Neptune Park onNewport Rd. and took action.They picketed the docksgates opposite the unonoffice, on the corner of ButeSt. and James St.Their leader was the eccentric

Captain Tupper. He lied aboutbeing a sea captain andwinning the Victoria Cross. Buthe was telling the truth abouthelping the Secret Service toprotect the British Empire!Although the shipping bosses

were happy to collaborate withTupper in secret, they wouldn’trecognise the union officially.That hurt his pride, and hewhipped up the strikers withfiery speeches from his officebalcony.At the time, Cardiff was the

biggest coal port in the world.

All out at the docks!The seafarers strike soon wonsolidarity from the dockers,general labourers, the Fitters’Helpers Society, the RivetWorkers’ Union and theCooks and Stewards Society. They were up against W.T.

Lewis (later Baron Merthyr),managing director of the ButeDocks Company, Tory,coalowner and unofficial chiefconstable of the docks police. An all-union strike committee

was formed on July 19. At 10o’clock that morning, aroundsixty strikers marched fromTyndall St. to Roath Dock.They called on the coaltippers and trimmers, thedeal-carriers, timber men andthe boilermakers to join them.Hundreds did.They then seized charabancs

of luggage from strike-breakers aboard SS Farley, inQueen Alexandra Dock. Thescabs had been brought downfrom London by the Board of

Trade, on behalf of theshipowners. They wereChinese, which unfortunatelyled to attacks on Chineselaundries and lodgins inRoath, Cathays, Riverside,Grangetown and Canton.Women and children also

joined in the clashes with morethan 400 police brought intoCardiff from London andelsewhere. Troops were calledin as the strike was joined bycoal washers, foundry workers,wagon builders, Spillers &Bakers mill workers, Taff ValeRailway employees, Pure IceCompany builders, engineersand wire-rope workers.Women and girls on the

potato wharves walked out,demanding higher pay andtrade union rights. The SouthWales Daily News called it ‘thefeminine strike’. They marchedto Penarth Rd., bringing outtheir sisters at Claytons,Basker and Elliotts, HancocksBrewery, Frank’s Sweets andthe White Heather laundry.Reluctant strikers weredragged out of the factories –and some had their dinnerseaten by the marchers!

Singing and dancing The hundreds of women andgirls at J.R. Freeman & Soncigar factory in North Clive St.needed no persuading. In acrowd now 2,000 strong, theydanced and sang their waydown Cornwall St. before beingcharged by mounted police. The American roller-skating

rink in Westgate St. wasturned into a police barracks.It became the focus of fiercestreet fighting on Saturdaynight, July 22.Trade unions and the

Independent Labour Party heldmass rallies and marches atCathays Park and Roath Park.Police and soldiers guardedmajor business premises. Overthe following week, the strikecommittee and various

employers hammered outagreements to improve pay,shorten the working week (60hours was common in thosedays), reduce or abolishpunishment fines, and torecognise trade unions.But employers on the docks

and railways, and at Ely PaperMills and Freeman’s, preferreddictatorship to collectivebargaining. Not even a nationalrailway strike in August couldforce the railway magnates totalk to trade union officials. Thetemperature in the city soaredto a record 91 degrees (32centigrade). The Freeman’s dispute

lasted longest of all. It turnedviolent in Llanmaes St. andTanyard St. (now Sloper Rd.),where Evangeline Spittall,Kate Geary and William Priceattacked strike-breakers andwere later fined by Cardiffmagistrates.

Gallahar’s – a bastionThe 208 cigar workers (morethan half of them girls aged14-17 and only five men) werenot all back at work untilSeptember 25. But they wonbig advances in pay andconditions.The company later changed

its name to Gallahar’s andmoved to Penarth Rd. It was abastion of trade unionism untiltaken over and closed in 2009by Japan Tobacco.Cardiff’s angry summer of

1911 hit the headlines. Thenas now, big business and itsnewspapers hated workerstaking collective action toimprove their lot. But thosestrikers won lasting gains forfuture generations to defend.

■ The full version of thisarticle, 1911: Cardiff CigarWorkers and the ‘FeminineStrike’ by Robert Griffiths, isavailable as a pamphlet,price £2. Phone 07790884137 for copies.

Look out, there’sa Nazi about!A NOTORIOUS Cardiff neo-Nazi isabout to be released from prison.Trevor Hannington, 59, was

gaoled for two years at LiverpoolCrown Court last year. He wasconvicted of inciting racial hatredand possessing information usefulfor commiting acts of terrorism.Hannington had been found in

possession of manuals for bomb-making. But he was cleared on acharge of soliciting murder.The jury heard that Hannington

operated a website from his homein Leigh, Greater Manchester. Heused it to post messages like ‘Killthe Jew, Kill the Jew, Burn down asynagogue today’, and sent outinstructions on how to make aflame-thrower. A range ofweapons were also recoveredfrom his house.Hannington is a member of the

so-called Aryan Strike Force(ASF). The group idolises AdolfHitler and organises militaryexercises in Cumbria. Its slogan is‘For blood, faith and honour’.

Other ASF members arecurrently enjoying Her Majesty’sporridge for terrorist offences,including possession of thedeadly poison, ricin. Before going to prison,

Hannington was a keen supporterof the English Defence League. He must have forgotten where hecomes from.It is not known whether he

intends to return to Cardiff afterhis likely release towards the endof this year.

1911 – Cardiff’s angry summer

PALESTINE SOLIDARITYThe people of Palestine

have suffered illegal Israelioccupation of their land foralmost 45 years. If you are

interested in helping toform a Cardiff branch of the

Palestine SolidarityCampaign, contact

John Haylett onjohn@peoples-press.com.

www. palestinecampaign.org

PEOPLE’S HISTORY FASCISTS

Tipping tobacco at Freeman's

4 ■ Summer 2011 ■ RED ALERT ■ Printed & published by R.Griffiths, 58 Janet St., Splott, Cardiff CF24 2BE

THIS TIME last year there weregreat expectations from theCardiff Blues squad. Itsstrength lay in a good playerbase, with competition forplaces in almost every position.

But then the Blues failed torealise their massive potential.Performances in the CelticLeague and the EuropeanCup left much to be desired.

REASONS FOR FAILUREInjuries played a huge part inthese failures, with severaltop players out for the greaterpart of the season. Full-backBen Blair played virtually nopart and other notables suchas Leigh Halfpenny and SamWarburton had significantabsences.

Jamie Roberts’ absencelost the team a lot of ‘goforward’ on the gain-line. Thisleft much of the battle to

Xavier Rush, who oftenlooked isolated. When he isnegated, the Blues are worsefor wear.

Furthermore, GethinJenkins’ absence left theoption of a dominant scrum indisarray. This was highlightedin the two European poolmatches in which the Blueswere out-scrummaged byfinalists Northampton Saints.

Fly-half Dan Parks lackedthe spark of confidence that isneeded for every recruit to anew club and this affected theBlues’ back play generally.

BRIGHT SIDEWhat are the prospects for2011-12? On the bright side,there have been no significantlosses to the Blues’ squad.There are a host of good youngplayers at the Cardiff Academyand they will only gain

confidence by playing ratherthan sitting on the bench.

All the regions in Waleshave a duty to bring youngplayers through. Tighterbudgets will not stretch toextra foreign recruits butgood young players will notdevelop without game time.

Players to look out for thisyear include fluent scrum-halfLloyd Williams, recently aBarbarian against Wales, anda possible future captain ofthe region, South Africanforward Andries Pretorius.

The possible departure ofcoach Dai Young could turnout for the best. He hasserved Cardiff well, but clearlyfeels stale and wants newchallenges. A replacementwould bring fresh thinking.Either way, the matter mustbe settled before it disruptspreparations for the newseason.

European chancesThe Blues face three toughteams in Pool Two. Althoughthe Blues managed to beatEdinburgh four times lastseason, Racing Metro Paris‘92 finished second in theFrench Top 14. London Irish

started last season in fineform, but fell back afterChristmas to sixth place inthe English Premiership.

However, there is no reasonwhy the Blues cannot win thispool. The European Cup isextremely important for rugbyand financial reasons, andadds verve to an often lack-lustre fixture list.

After so many losses athome last year, the CardiffCity Stadium must become afortress again. The fans canmake this a better year for theBlues by turning up in biggernumbers.

■ Roger Jones is chiefrugby union correspondentfor the Morning Star dailynewspaper.

A better seasonfor the Blues?asks Roger Jones

SPORT

UNFAIR SELECTIONThe selection process forredundancy must be‘objective’ and ‘carried outfairly’. Employers have plentyof leeway to decide what thatmeans. They can take sickleave (although not disabilityas such) and absenteeismrecords into account.

In some cases, selectingonly or mainly part-time orfixed-term workers may beunfair.

The widely used ‘last in,first out’ rule (LIFO) is open tochallenge if it has a muchbigger impact on women,black or disabled employees.

AUTOMATICALLY UNFAIRIt is ‘automatically unfair’ foran employer to discriminatewith redundancy on groundsof gender (includingpregnancy), race, disability,sexual orientation, age,religion, belief or trade unionmembership; or because anemployee has claimed

employment rights set out inlaw (eg. parental leave, sickpay, the minimum wage,taking lawful industrial action)or taken time off for statutoryduties (eg. jury service).

LACK OF CONSULTATIONEmployers must consultworkers’ representativesabout plans to make 20 ormore employees in the sameunit redundant over a 90-dayperiod. (Differentarrangements apply to Crownemployees).

Where 100 or more jobsare at stake, consultationsmust begin at least 90 daysbeforehand. For more than20, the minimum period is30 days. Where fewer than20 job losses are planned,employees at risk areentitled to be consulted inperson.

Consultation must look atavoiding or reducing thenumber of redundancies andsoftening the impact.

ALTERNATIVE WORK?Employers should offer similarand suitable work if availableelsewhere in the organisation.Refusing such an offerunreasonably could mean noredundancy pay.

TIME OFF ANDREDUNDANCY PAYEmployees with at least twoyears’ service are entitled to(1) reasonable time off withpay, during working hours, tolook for work when facingredundancy; and (2) statutoryredundancy pay based onlevel of pay, age and length ofservice.

WHAT CAN BE DONE?Currently, an employee with atleast one year’s service cantake a case for unfairredundancy to an IndustrialTribunal (IT). Two years’service is needed for ‘time off’and redundancy pay cases.

There is no qualifyingperiod in cases of‘automatically unfair’redundancy, or where unions

claim lack of consultationover collective redundancies.

An IT can make financialawards against an employer toemployees, and orderreinstatement (whichemployers can defy and incurfurther costs). But it will notconsider whether aredundancy is unfair on generaleconomic or financial grounds.

JOIN A UNION!Going to an IT can becomplicated and costly. Thebest defence against thethreat of redundancy is to bein a trade union.

Unions can negotiate betteragreements withmanagement, take cases toan IT, or plan industrial actionwhere members are unitedand determined enough.

To join a union, contactyour workplace unionrepresentative, or CardiffTrades Union Councilsecretary Ramon Corria on07777 694151 or atcardiffctuc@gmail.com

YOUR RIGHTS AT WORK

JamieRoberts

Facing redundancy?A redundancy occurs when the employer nolonger needs or can afford to keep a job, orwants to contract out or transfer it elsewhere.

NEXT ISSUE:People’s history: Cardiff against the Blackshirts!Rights at work: Joining a unionSport: Up with the Bluebirds?