Justice Week 8-12 December 2008

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November 28, 2008

Justice Week Regional Rallies

Regional Meetings, highlighting the workloads and resources crisis have now been arranged in the Liverpool, Sheffield and Southampton. A rally is also planned in Bristol.

All the rallies are taking place on Thursday 11th December.

Liverpool

Start 6.15pm
Blackburn House, Blackburn Place,
off Hope St, Liverpool
Speakers so far include:
- Pete Middleman, PCS;
- Declan Roscoe, Unison;
- Barry O'Doherty, Napo

Sheffield

6.00 -7.30pm
The Quaker Meeting House,
James Street, Sheffield
Speakers to be announced

Southampton

6.00pm - 7.30pm
Southampton Guildhall Lecture Theatre,
West Marlands Rd, Southampton
Speakers include:
- Mike Hancock MP (tbc),
- Dino Peros, Napo
- and speakers from PCS, POA and the Police Federation

The meetings will discuss the surge in workloads, resource cuts which are about to hit the whole of the justice system and tactics and campaigns for combating them.

All union member will be most welcome to attend the meetings in their region.

Download Justice Week Bulletin No 8 below

Download file

Posted by kfalcon at 02:52 PM

November 19, 2008

More Rally Details

You can find a full list of speakers at the rally on 10th of December in Justice Week Bulletin 7.

Download below

Download file

Posted by kfalcon at 05:14 PM

10th December Lobby Details

Members attending the Rally are asked to congregate in Victoria Tower Gardens from noon and then join the lobby queue at the St Stephens Entrance from 12.30pm to 1.00pm.

Find a map

Stewards will be on hand to advise members at the queue and when you get inside.

Those members who are lobbying their MPs via the Green Card system will be given priority. Additional priority will be given to those living furthest from London and they should join the queue at 12.00, if possible, rather than later. If any lobbyist has made an appointment with their MP they should let the stewards know so they can get them in on time.

Those wishing to lobby their MP should proceed to Central Lobby and ask at the desk there for a Green Card which they will fill in, giving their MPs name, their name and the matter on which they are lobbying – which will be ‘Crisis in the Criminal Justice System’. The lobbyist then has to wait in Central Lobby while their MP is called.

The Rallies are in Committee Rooms 10 and 14 - Committee Room 10 will be available to members from 1.00pm

There will be two Rally meetings taking place from 2.00pm in Committee Rooms 10 and 14 (moving to 15 at 4.00pm). Stewards or House of Commons staff will direct you. Both meetings finish at 5.00pm but members are asked not to stay in the room for the whole 3 hours, but to leave after a hour or so to allow others to hear some of the meeting, as space is limited.

A briefing paper outlining the pressures on workloads, details of cuts to resources and the deterioration in services caused by privatisatio is being produced.

If you are intending to lobby your MP using the Green Card system, it is suggested you write to them in advance - using the following words.

Dear

Lobby – 10th December

I will be coming to Westminster on Wednesday 10th December to talk to you about the crisis that is currently enveloping the Criminal Justice System. I will fill in a Green Card in Central Lobby some time after 12.30pm. I do hope we are able to meet.

The Ministry of Justice will be cutting 10,000 jobs across the justice sector over the next two to three years. This will make it virtually impossible for staff to carry out their statutory duties and such a catastrophe will inevitably lead to a rise in crime.

I would be grateful if you could indicate whether you will be available to meet on the day. You can contact me (email details if you have them).

Best wishes, etc.

Posted by kfalcon at 05:04 PM

Financial Crisis gives new urgency to Justice Week lobby

The massive, draconian, cuts to the criminal justice system were confirmed again in correspondence to Probation Chiefs sent out at the end of October.

The financial crisis, along with workloads, will now be the key theme for Napo during Justice Week, which begins on 8 December.

The cuts talk about a 24% cut in real terms to the Probation budget by 2011/12. The Ministry of Justice has already said that 6,000 jobs will go in Prisons and Court Services over the next two and a half years. Clearly this will make the job of the criminal justice system impossible. Programmes will be curtailed, offenders will not be supervised, there will be extreme delays before cases are heard in court, and there will be further reductions in staffing time for rehabilitation in the prison system.

It is critical that these facts are made know to MPs of all Parties. Attendance at the 10 December Rally at Parliament, and local constituency meetings over the weekend of 12/13 December, is therefore crucial.

If you have not already done so please contact your branch officers about coming to London, if you can, on Wednesday the 10th and try to ensure that the model letter to MPs for the weekend local meetings is sent without delay.

Find and email your MP in one easy step, by clicking here then simply typing in your postcode and clicking go.

Download Justice Week Bulletin 6 below

Download file

Posted by kfalcon at 04:50 PM