Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Bulletin No.41 Tuesday 1 May 2012

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Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition

Bulletin No.41

Tuesday 1 May  2012

 

Good Luck to all Trade Unionist and Socialist candidates and election teams in the 3 May elections from TUSC Bulletin – resisting the cuts and building a mass socialist party of the working class -

 

Standing in the elections? – then tell us your vote as soon as you know it!

It is vital that the details of the actual results are relayed to TUSC nationally as soon as they are known, so that we can produce an accurate overall picture of the TUSC campaign as rapidly as possible. The information we need for each ward where there is a TUSC candidate is:

 

The ward name in which the TUSC candidate stood;

The votes for every party/candidate (including independents) in the ward;

The total number of votes cast in the ward (if it is possible to provide this as some councils do not publish this information, although the returning officer will have it).

 

Some wards that TUSC is contesting are in councils with ‘all-seat elections’, where two or three seats are up for election.  If that is the case we still need to know the votes of every candidate in the ward (and which party they represented) to be able to work out the TUSC percentage.  

 

Many councils are not beginning their counts until Friday, so the first national overview report we will produce is unlikely to be posted on the TUSC website until Saturday.  But it all depends on how soon the information comes in.  Although the campaign to win votes finishes as the polls close at 10pm on Thursday, the campaign to build a vehicle for working class representation continues afterwards, not least in the immediate task of reporting the election results – to my e-mail address below – as soon as possible!      

In solidarity, Clive Heemskerk: cliveheemskerk@socialistparty.org.uk   TUSC National Agent/Nominating Officer  

 

Campaign News

 

TUSC breaks through the national media silence on BBC Question Time here http://bit.ly/InKGXA

and in The Guardian here: http://bit.ly/InKRSL and on the BBC here: http://bbc.in/IKndwQ

 

TUSC challenge is Southampton is covered in the Guardian here: http://bit.ly/IHLMrG 

 

Support for TUSC from London Turks and Kurds

Nick Wrack spoke on behalf of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) at the 4th GIK-DER Culture and Art Festival in Edmonton on Friday 27 April: http://bit.ly/IjTiJL

 

Jimmy McGovern endorses Tony Mulhearn for Liverpool mayor
Multi-award winning Liverpool writer Jimmy McGovern has endorsed Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Liverpool mayor candidate Tony Mulhearn: http://bit.ly/IujNhc

 

Camden TUSC campaigners manned a picket line outside the Royal Free Hospital to protest about privatisation of the NHS, cuts in services and charging for essential healthcare and got in the local press: http://bit.ly/IHQ6tu

 

Carlisle TUSC election meeting gets good local press even though the attendance was poor as it did clash with the a football game that recently took place in Manchester: http://bit.ly/IpbGDo   

 

TUSC candidate is quoted in defence migrants: http://bit.ly/Jweyjh

 

Four-way battle to persuade electorate in estuary ward
TUSC covered in the welsh press here: http://bit.ly/Kt4nJe and here: http://bit.ly/Ihu2Zy

Local Newspaper in Rugby reports that "TUSC would fight all budget cuts"- http://bit.ly/HqaK3E

and Rugby TUSC ups its campaigning in last minute push http://bit.ly/HqaK3E

 

And TUSC even gets a mentions in Winchester: http://bit.ly/InMhww

 

Letter of complaint sent today by TUSC to the BBC News producer
Dear Sir/Madam,. I am writing as the national...: www.tusc.org.uk/press260412a.php

 

 

Upcoming TUSC Events

 

If you are holding a TUSC meeting to debate what the election results mean let us know and we will advertise it here in the next bulletin on 10 May the bulletin will also conatin a comprehensive round-up of the election results.

 

Building a new Left in the UK – public meeting in Milton Keynes

“Building a new Left in the UK” – TUSC (Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition) what it is and how it works. Tuesday 5 June 7pm at Madcap Arts Centre Wolverton: http://bit.ly/IiCyIZ  

 

Independent Socialist? Want to build a new mass socialist party? Come and discuss how at the TUSC Independent Socialist Network meeting in London on Saturday 19 May starting 12 noon. For more details see here: http://bit.ly/KG5l9z   

 

From the Unions

 

Defend public sector pensions  Take Action - 10 May 2012

Defend your pensions - join an action near you

Unite reports that over 94 per cent of the union's NHS members voted for a second time to reject the government's great pensions’ robbery. They will be joined by members from the MoD and government departments sector, along with fellow trade unionists from PCS and UCU, and they all say:  We won’t: Work longer; Pay more; Get less” http://bit.ly/pFrMdp

 

RMT Royal announces Royal Fleet Auxiliary pensions strike on 10th May. http://bit.ly/IFGwrg

 

Transport department workers vote to strike over cuts

Civil servants working for the Department for Transport (DfT) have voted for strike action to defend jobs, pay and services. http://bit.ly/Kqddrh

 

Remploy workers take the fight to Parliament and continue campaign to win http://bit.ly/HXLdfN

 

600m Gallons Reservoirs Closed

GMB claims that closing reservoirs in the south east while not diverting water from the Severn, as rainfall runs into the sea, is serious mismanagement http://bit.ly/K00MoG

 

RMT confirms that it is to begin balloting tube cleaners working for ISS and Initial for strike action in disputes over pay, pensions and benefits http://bit.ly/IC2I8t

 

INTERNATIONAL

 

Argentina - Kirchner nationalises YPF petrol: http://bit.ly/I9pCOR

 

Tamil Solidarity – Report from last weeks meeting: http://bit.ly/JO5g3E 

 

Information burst

 

Legal aid cuts threaten thousands of children  

Campaigners have warned thousands of children could be hit by restrictions on legal aid in housing cases: http://bit.ly/K2mw0n

 

The greater class divide
Teachers have warned that schools are facing an increase in segregation `along class lines' with the poorest children being the ones to suffer most: http://ind.pn/JLV7Re

 

Black graduates pay price in jobs crisis as majority fail to find work
Black graduates are 30 per cent less likely to be employed than their white counterparts after leaving university: http://ind.pn/IFnpyr      

 

After 13 years of New Labour and two years of the Coalition, nearly 4 million children are living in poverty
Guardian reporter Alexandra Topping reports, nearly 4 million children are living in poverty. The article explores what can be done to improve the life chances of young people who are poor: http://bit.ly/HfmLde 

 

Events

 

INTERNATIONAL WORKERS DAY CELEBRATIONS

 

Cardiff            5th May           12.00  Callaghan Square

Coventry         5th May           11am Speakers Corner, Council House

Dundee          5th May           12.00  Hilltown Park

Edinburgh      5th May           11.00  Johnston Terrace

Glasgow         5th May           11.00  George Square

Ipswich           1st May           11.00  Giles Circus

Irvine               5th May           10.30  Woodlands Centre

Redbridge      5thMay            16:00  Rally outside Ilford Town Hall

Manchester    7th May           11.00  Bexley Square, Salford

Newcastle      5th May           11.00  Times Square

Nottingham    5th May           10.00  Forest Recreation Ground

 

Documentary: August Riots, UK

The August 'Riots' 2011
Seminar and film screening of 'Rebellion in Tottenham 2011'
Speaker Roger Ball (Co-founder of the Bristol Radical History Group)
6:30 pm - 8:30pm  Wednesday 2nd May 2012 126 Mount Pleasant (opposite Catholic Cathedral), Liverpool, UK

 

North Somerset Unison Save Our NHS May Day Demonstration and Rally 

Saturday 5 May 2012, 11:00am

College Green, Bristol BS1 5TR http://bit.ly/gtSegv

 

March and rally against pension and public service attacks in London

Thursday, 10 May March: St Thomas’s Hospital, SE1 from 12 noon

Rally: Methodist Central Hall, SW1 from 1pm http://bit.ly/IkE0Wy

 

Forthcoming Conference: Netpol ‘Total Policing’

Following the success of the Standing Up To Surveillance conference last year, Netpol’s second conference will take place on the 20th May 2012, starting at 10.30am.  This time the focus of the conference is Total Policing – the new London-based policing initiative with an elusive definition. Are we seeing Total Policing? Or a Total Lockdown?: http://bit.ly/IpeAYK
 

 

TUSC information
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TUSC aims to bring trade unionists, socialists and anti-cuts campaigners together to stand candidates at elections who are committed to representing working-class interests. Resistance to the cuts is vital, but we also need a political alternative to the policies of cuts and privatisation. TUSC believes that a new working-class party is needed that campaigns for a democratic socialist society run in the interests of the milli