Cowley Result

Oxford Respect- Cowley Result

 

Paul won 6.5% of the vote in the Cowley in the context of a large swing back to Labour in the ward, against the national trend. Well done to Paul and everybody who helped with the campaign. It was noticeable that canvassing returns were at least as good at last time and there was widespread sympathy and agreement with our message (even from most of the Labour activists) but in this instance we could not compete with a tightly organised local Labour Party machine and a wider swing back to Labour in the city.

 

We will be discussing the results and the way forward in

Oxford at the next branch meeting 7.30pm Tuesday 20^th May at the Oxford Town Hall. Please come along and find out more.

Meet the candidate- Tues 7.30pm

Public Meeting- meet the candidate, Tuesday 22nd April. 7.30pm, Meeting room of the Original Swan Pub, corner of Oxford and Between Towns Road.

Come and meet our Cowley candidate Paul Garraway and find out more about Respect and the local campaign.

Campaign up and running

If you would like to help with the campaign (could be canvassing, leafleting or taking a window poster) then please e-mail votepaul4cowley@yahoo.co.uk or phone Dave Radford on 07985 056089.

Oxford Mail- Postman election bid

From the Oxford Mail

http://www.oxfordmail.net/display.var.2173624.0.postmans_election_bid.php

Postman's election bid Comment

Unrest over the future of Royal Mail's Cowley Mail Centre has promoted an Oxford postman to stand for election to Oxford City Council.

Trade union activist Paul Garraway is standing in Cowley ward in the city council elections, which take place on Thursday, May 1. Today he said he intended to make the proposed closure of the Cowley centre and its relocation to Swindon the central thrust of his campaign.

He said: "Modernisation means later deliveries and laying off 40,000 staff. A valuable public service is being run into the ground, it's time to turn things around.

"Imagine your mail stuck on a truck on the Swindon road - that's what they are proposing."

Half the council's 48 seats are up for grabs in the election, which will determine which political group seizes control of the council.

The authority has been run by a minority Liberal Democrat administration since May, 2006.
One of the most hard-fought battles is looming in Blackbird Leys, where Val Smith, the wife of Oxford East MP Andrew Smith, is standing against Lee Cole of the Independent Working Class Association.

The Tories are fielding candidates in every ward for the first time.
Elections are also being held in West Oxfordshire and Cherwell district.

Oxford post activist reinstated

Postal workers in Oxford have been celebrating victory as leading union activist Steve Gill was returned to work after months of suspension.

Steve, the CWU union’s sub-area processing rep for Oxford, faced a number of serious disciplinary charges following last year’s national strike. An appeals panel threw out all the serious charges and allowed Steve to return to work.

CWU branch secretary Paul Garraway commented, “This is a fantastic victory. Not only has Steve returned to work, but we have also won our case on John Doran, another union member who was suspended following the strike.”

Respect select Union activist to fight Cowley Ward

Paul Garraway, the newly elected branch secretary of the local post workers union branch has been selected as the Respect candidate for Cowley ward in the city council elections this May. Mr Garraway was unanimously selected by Respect branch members at a meeting in Florence Park Community centre on Thursday night. Respect intend to make the proposed closer of the Cowley Mail centre and its relocation to Swindon a key theme of their campaign.

Paul, who is 41 and works in the East Oxford delivery office commented that:

“As well as 400 plus families affected by the plans it will be a disaster for local small businesses, it will mean later deliveries and earlier collections, imagine your mail stuck on a truck in traffic on the Swindon Road, that’s what they are proposing. This is an attempt to break a union branch that is prepared to stand up to bullying and privatisation, there is no other explanation moving to Swindon, we are determined to overturn this decision”

Respect stood in Cowley ward in 2006 and obtained 13% of the vote. It will also be campaigning against the creeping privatisation of health and education by Labour, supporting the call for an oxford living wage of at least £7 an hour and keeping the pressure on pro war East Oxford Labour MP Andrew Smith over his support for the invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Respect point out that in the last election many people in Cowley voted Liberal Democrat to punish Labour over the war, only for the elected Lib Dem candidate to defect to the New Labour party.

Pippa Whittaker, a local teacher and Cowley Respect candidate for 2006, said

“Cowley is not being well served by New Labour, Council budgets are being squeezed at the same time Labour is pouring billions into the war and bailing out Northern Rock. I think it’s brilliant that Paul has agreed to stand, he is an excellent candidate”.