Greens respond to Labour on railway nationalisation

 
A letter from 30 Labour PPCs to the Observer has been prominently featured today and has earnt top billing on the BBC news and current affairs programmes this morning. The letter calls on Ed Miliband to make public ownership of the railways a key part of Labour policy going into the general election.

Rupert Read the Green Party spokesperson for Transport issued the following response:

After many years of being in government, sitting and watching the privatised rail monopolies rake in huge profits, are Labour about to do something? Or at least "consider" doing something?

The Labour Party might finally be starting to catch up with the Green Party, on this key issue

The truth is that the British public have been down this road before with the Labour party and they have been let down time and again. You simply can't trust Labour to do what they say they are going to do."

Caroline Lucas MP has a bill in the House of Commons right now calling for exactly this. Labour had more than a decade in government to do something about this and they didn't lift a finger to help.

This is a flagship Green Party policy; Caroline Lucas has made it central to her agenda; the media really ought to report that Labour is hardly engaging in original thinking: simply stumbling falteringly toward something that voters can already plump for in unadulterated form by voting Green.

The letter from the Labour PPCs come as another poll shows the Greens overtaking the Liberal Democrats in the European Elections. The Green Party is on course to return its highest ever number of MEPs on May 22^nd.

Hundreds urge Brent to exclude Veolia from Public Realm contract

Around 40 human rights demonstrators gathered outside Brent Civic Centre last night as a petition signed by hundred of Brent residents was presented to the Brent Executive calling for Veolia to be excluded from the Public Realm contract procurement process. The contract worth up to £250m over 16 years will be awarded by the Brent Executive at their October 14th meeting.

Exclusion is sought on the grounds that Veolia in its operations in the occupied territories of Palestine is colluding in the maintenance of illegal settlements and this infringing the human rights of Palestinians.

Veolia has been short-listed alongside Enterprise and Serco for the contract.

After hearing the speech from Liz Lindsay, Secretary of Brent and Harrow Palestine Solidarity and an activist in the Bin Veolia in Brent Campaign, the Executive referred the petition to FionaLedden, head of procurement for consideration.

Liz Lindsay's speech was warmly applauded from the crowded public gallery.

THE CASE AGAINST VEOLIA'S INCLUSION IN THE 

BRENT PUBLIC REALM PROCUREMENT

Just as pension funds are concerned about ethical investment we believe the council should be concerned about ethical procurement. 

The public would not want the council   to give contracts to companies involved in the exploitation of child labour or the arms trade.

Veolia who are bidding for the Public Realm contract are serving the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The UK Govt and UN do not recognise Israel’s annexation of the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Veolia helps support Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land by

• Supporting the Jerusalem Light Rail between West Jerusalem and an illegal settlement
• Running bus routes along the Apartheid road 443 that link illegal Israeli  settlements .
• Owning  the Tovlan landfill site that takes refuse from illegal settlements and Israel.

Veoila therefore profits by actively supporting Israel’s continued violation of international humanitarian law

 

Under Public Contracts Regulations, a public body may exclude a bidder or reject a bid where it is found the organisation has ‘committed grave misconduct in the course of their business’

In 2009, the UN General Assembly called on Israel to cease the dumping of waste  in occupied Palestinian land.

In 2010, UK was one of countries that voted in support of the UNHR Council resolution that stated JLR operated by Veolia is in clear violation of International Law and relevant UN resolutions.

In 2012, Richard Falk UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the OPT concludes that

– Veolia’s grave breaches of the UN Global Compact make it an inappropriate partner for any public institution, especially as a provider of public services.

Also, Veolia was forced to withdraw JLR recruitment advertisements because they discriminated against Palestinians.

Locally,  WLWA, Ealing, Harrow, Richmond did not select Veolia as the preferred bidder and all had been involved in discussions with anti-Veolia campaigners.

Veolia withdrew after 2 years from the final stages of the £4.5bn NLWA procurement when they were one of only two bidders left.

As Veolia has become the target of worldwide campaigns, Veolia  has tried to waive responsibility, claiming in 2011 for example that it had sold Tovlan. 

However,  on the 17^th Jan 2013, the Israeli Ministry of Environmental Protection –in response to FOI by a Women's Peace Group in Tel Aviv confirmed that Veolia is the sole owner and operator of Tovlan.

We informed Brent Council of this on the 14^th March but Veolia repeated its claim on 21^st May 2013.

The Council does not appear to have challenged this misrepresentation. 

In June 2013, an Israeli Court fined Veolia 1.5 million shekels for burying mixed waste to avoid higher fees and for keeping inconsistent records.

Brent Council should seriously question any information that Veolia provides in its defence in its bid to win the contract.

One argument used against exclusion has been that Veolia in Israel and in the UK are separate entities. There is ample evidence available that Veolia is one commercial entity. 

Also, Justin Brazier, Tory MP, facilitated a meeting between Veolia Executive, Robert Hunt and Canterbury Campaigners at which Robert Hunt confirmed that Veolia was one commercial entity. 

Francis Maude on the 23^rd May, 2012 stated explicitly,  regarding illegal settlements that companies that have committed ‘an act of grave professional misconduct in the course of their business may be excluded from a tender exercise’

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR BRENT COUNCIL?

Brent Council is particularly proud of representing a diverse population and is committed to equality and opposed to racism as demonstrated recently by their stand against the 'racist van' and the UKBA raids. 

Human rights issues are at the core of the Council's values.

Our campaign has been supported by members from many religions and non-religious residents, by members of the Labour, Lib Dem and Green parties, by Brent TUC, trade unions,  GCs of Brent Central,  and Hampstead and Kilburn Labour Parties and local members of Jews for Justice for Palestinians.

We call on the Executive to take a principled stand on the issue of Veolia's collusion in the abuse of the human rights of Palestinians in the occupied territories and to take action by excluding Veolia from the £260m Public Realm contract.

Bishop Tutu said what he saw in occupied Palestine could describe apartheid South Africa.. Nelson Mandela, now a Freeman of Brent, said he would not be truly free until the Palestinian people are free. Respect them -  BIN VEOLIA!.

Why staff are essential to a safe London Underground

From  the RMT

A London Underground cleaner pulled a child to safety from a railway line just moments after a driver hit their trains emergency brakes and prevented what could have been a fatal incident.

The eight year old boy was pulled to safety from the Jubilee Line tracks at Stanmore just moments after a train was brought to an emergency stop by the driver a few feet away.

This incident comes within days of a young girl being hit by a train on the Victoria Line. Previously a child on the Jubilee Line who had fallen between the train and the platform at Finchley Road could easily have lost his life, had the driver not spotted him on CCTV moments before he was about to depart the station.

All of these incidents come at a time when the London Mayor Boris Johnson and London Underground are planning for driverless trains, and the drastic reduction of station staff.

A leaked document on LU management plans for London Underground gives detail of these plans and ideas. London's Mayor Johnson has spoken openly of his wish for trains to operate on the underground without a drivers cab. These plans would most likely mean having no driver at the front of the train to see any dangers or risks ahead.

All of these incidents could easily have been much worse had it not been for professional train drivers reacting swiftly to stop their trains, and station staff and contractors speedily dealing with these situations.

The cleaner who reacted without thought for their own safety - and in doing so pulled a young child to safety - is a hero. The train driver who reacted swiftly to stop their train having spotted the child on the tracks ahead is a hero too.

The RMT has long called for more staff, not less on the underground. These incidents demonstrate a few of the reasons - in the most real of terms - of why staff are essential to a safe railway