Press Release: Defend Council Jobs & Services!

Lobby City & County of Swansea Budget Meeting

Tuesday, 24 February, from 4pm, Civic Centre

Swansea Trades Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) supporters will join trades unionists, including the Council UNISON branch and Swansea Trades Council, in lobbying councillors to reconsider potentially devastating cuts to jobs and services on Tuesday. Swansea's Labour councillors will be voting on proposals to make £80 million + of cuts over the next 3 years at the Council budget-setting meeting.

The Cabinet made some minor concessions to public opinion and reduced cuts in a handful of areas but instead will propose ordinary people in Swansea pay for these changes with a 4.8% increase in Council Tax. So, for instance, the Council has retreated on charging for residents' parking (for now) but people will end up paying as much or more in increased Council Tax.

Ronnie Job, Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) prospective parliamentary candidate for Swansea West, like all TUSC candidates, is committed to fighting against and voting against, all cuts to jobs and services.

Also, like a lot of parents in Swansea, he has good reason to fear for his children's education, with the Council voting on a £24 million, 15% cut in funding over 3 years. The Cabinet will recommend this level of cuts to schools despite warnings from primary heads in Swansea, of the number of teaching and other jobs that will be lost and the likelihood that this will result in class sizes of 42+ in a number of schools.

Ronnie said..

"The Council want to sell off my son's school playing as 'surplus land' but the threat to school playing fields is only the tip of the iceberg as far as council cuts to education in Swansea are concerned. When primary heads were asked what budget cuts of this level would mean in Swansea schools, they predicted job losses of teachers and other school staff. This, they said, would lead to a failure to meet the statutory requirement for 5-7 year olds to be taught in classes with a maximum class size of 30 and older pupils being taught in classes of 42+ in a number of schools."

"The Council's only response seems to have been - other areas, like social services, face bigger cuts."

"A Labour Council is devastating education and taking risks with our children's futures. It's not acceptable!"

"Remember councillors are voting on cuts for the next 3 years, when they hope and expect to have a Labour Government in 3 months' time. They obviously expect no noticeable improvement from a government of their own party."

"If you care for the future of services like education then join TUSC, trade unionists and campaigners, on Tuesday, in demanding Labour councillors reconsider these devastating cuts."

Labour MP enlists Con-Dem Government to save school playing field from Labour Council

I received a letter from my MP, Geraint Davies, thanking me for signing a petition against the proposed sale of a school playing field at Parkland Primary.

There's no need Geraint, to thank me for signing a petition to save the space where my youngest son plays, learns, participates in sports and evacuates to in an emergency.

Whatever representations Geraint has made to Swansea cabinet members, who are all members of the same party as him, the Labour Party, have been unsuccessful. The Cabinet still insist on referring to the playing field as "surplus land" and will recommend the proposal to sell it as part of their cuts budget on Tuesday.

Geraint's letter promised that, as a result of him raising the issue in Parliament, the Government will write to the Council to urge them to rethink. What does it say about our Labour councillors that a Labour MP is asking a Con-Dem government to step in to protect our children's playing fields from a Council of his own party?

Perhaps Geraint should join me, trade unionists and campaigners in lobbying our Labour Council to reconsider, on Tuesday, when this proposal is part of a budget of £80 million + cuts that councillors will vote on?

Ronnie Job, Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), prospective parliamentary candidate for Swansea West.

Lobby Council, budget-setting meeting. Tuesday, 24 February, from 4pm (council meeting starts at 5pm), Civic Centre.

Swansea Labour Council's Bad News for School Pupils

I've been studying the papers for City & County of Swansea's Special Cabinet Meeting next Tuesday (February 10). As a parent of two school-age children, I have to say it's enough to keep you awake at night with worry.

This meeting will decide which proposals go through to the Council budget-setting meeting on February 24. The agenda, for a Labour-led Council remember, is all about parcelling out Con-Dem cuts.

For months parents, governors, pupils at my younger son's school have been opposing the proposed sell-off of school playing fields for house-building, along with residents from the local community.

We have serious concerns that the Council has barely paid lip-service to the democratic process. Reading the papers reveals that my son's school is one of 14, just in the first tranche of sell-offs of school land. Labour councillors claim this is "surplus land" but the beautifully maintained ground where my son plays, learns and evacuates to in an emergency, is a school playing field and not surplus land!

You can check this out for yourself  - follow @ParklandsField on Twitter or look up the Save Parklands Field Facebook group. Watch the wonderful video, starring pupils themselves, which demonstrates why a number of Welsh sports stars are now backing the campaign to save the playing field.

How many of the other parcels of school "surplus land" are also green spaces valuable to our children's education and development?

I knew about this proposal from studying the Council's budget papers last year. Some Labour councillors who voted for the proposals obviously hadn't checked what they were voting for because they told me, when I challenged them on it, that there were no plans to sell school playing fields. The only alternative, that they did know and lied to me, would be even worse!

School playing fields are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to schools and education cuts. Up to now, the Welsh Labour Government and our Council claim to have protected education. In fact, there have been cuts in areas like 'education other than at school' and transport for faith and other schools but education has seen far fewer cuts than many other services. Now however, education will face severe cuts from the Council - £24 million in the next 3 years, 15% of the current budget.

In the papers that Cabinet members have received there's a section where head teachers identify what cuts of this scale will mean for their schools. They all predict that it will be impossible to meet the statutory requirement to teach 5-7 year olds in maximum class sizes of 30. Many schools predict class sizes of 42+ for older pupils. All of them will see job losses, which will affect teachers, classroom assistant and support staff.

The only response of the Council leadership to these concerns seems to be that schools are 'relatively protected' and other services have it worse.

If you work in education or are a parent who's worried about their children's education, join TUSC representatives on the lobby of the Council Cabinet on February 10 and the full Council on February 24 (both from 4pm at Civic Centre).

Meet TUSC representatives this Saturday in Oxford Street, from 1.30pm, holding a ballot on whether Swansea people expect our representatives to fight Con-Dem cuts.

No to cuts to school playing fields!

 

Yesterday my son came home from school  with the news that I've been fearing since the Council budget at the start of the year - our Labour council plans to take away a large part of his school's playing fields.

Plans to make money from selling off/developing several schools' playing fields were outlined in the papers sent out for the budget-setting meeting. But Labour councillors going in to vote for cuts obviously hadn't studied the 200+ pages of papers because several I challenged on this issue denied there were any plans to take away school playing fields. So either they were ignorant of the cuts they later voted for or they were being dishonest. I think councillors paid to put up their hands for £45 million of cuts (a figure that's risen substantially in the months since) have a duty to know what they're voting for!

Having safe areas in schools for our children to play and take part in sports contribute significantly to their health and well-being. The Council will not get away with this without a fight. I will be writing to the school governors offering my support as a parent, to their resistance to the Council's plans.

School governors in the affected schools, school students and their families and education trade unions need to link up with the local community to fight for the health, well-being and safety of our children and the local environment.

I'm standing for election in the Uplands by-election on Thursday as a TUSC Against Cuts candidate to offer an alternative to the cuts agenda which puts saving money above even our children's health and well-being.