Standing up to devastating Welsh Government cuts to adult learning

Trade unionists from Welsh colleges took our ongoing fight against Welsh Government cuts to Further Education to the Assembly buildings today.

These cuts threaten jobs in colleges across Wales but more than that, they threaten the broad range of courses on offer in FE colleges. This is particularly the case for adult learners as adult training and learning faces a 50% cut to funding in the next year.

Only a handful of AMs bothered to come and talk to protestors but we were joined and supported by FE students and by TUSC supporters, including Jaime Davies, Parliamentary Candidate for Caerphilly.

Reverse all cuts! Fund Further Education so that we can do our jobs and continue to provide the quality education that people in our communities need.

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 council cuts make election pledges meaningless

The news this morning is full of Labour Education spokesman, Tristram 'aggressively pro-business' Hunt's pledge that Labour will cap infant class sizes at a maximum of 30.

In Wales there is already a statutory requirement for 5-7 year-olds to be taught in maximum class size of 30.

But this is made meaningless by the Labour Welsh Government and Labour councils passing on Con-Dem cuts.

Swansea primary heads were asked to respond to the draft budget proposals in education, agreed by our Labour Council Cabinet on Tuesday. To a woman and man they stated that the level of cuts proposed, £24 million or 15% of the current budget, over the next 3 years, would mean that they would be unable to meet this statutory obligation.

They went further, with several heads predicting, due to numbers of teaching and other jobs that would be lost if these cuts are made, those pupils not covered by this obligation, 8-11 year olds, would end up being taught in classes of 42+!

Words are one thing but as long as Labour remains committed to austerity that's all they'll remain, hollow, windy, meaningless words.

Swansea TUSC joined trade unionists and worried service users on a lobby of the Council  Cabinet meeting which agreed to recommend these cuts to the full Council.

We will be demanding that so-called 'left' Labour councillors vote against these devastating proposals on February 24. Come along and add your voice to those demanding elected representatives stop making Con-Dem cuts and fight instead. Help us to build TUSC as an alternative to the cuts-consensus.

£80million+ of cuts to be proposed by Cabinet to Swansea's Labour Council will be opposed

None of the Labour councillors in the City and County of Swansea Cabinet, which later voted on proposals to make £80 million of cuts to jobs and services, was prepared to come out and face us.

Trade unionists, school parents, workers whose jobs are at risk, joined others who value and want to fight to defend services. Swansea TUSC added our banner  to those from Swansea Trades Council and Unite the Union.

Seeing as the cabinet members weren't prepared to come to the lobby, representatives of the lobby went to them. including TUSC candidate for Aberavon, Owen Herbert.

Members of the public have an opportunity at the start of the meeting to question the Cabinet. Councillors faced questions on the cuts in education and schools, including plans to sell off school playing fields. Alec Thraves, TUSC election agent in Swansea West, simply lambasted them for their lack of backbone in cravenly carrying out Tory cuts.

In 2 weeks' time, the proposals Cabinet agreed tonight will be presented to the full Council. We'll be back as part of a much bigger demonstration, including the Council's UNISON branch who are mobilising against threats of jobs losses, outsourcing and cuts.

Labour councillors may decide to make Tory cuts but trade unionists and the Swansea public will resist and not allow these cuts go unchallenged. Come to the lobby, February 24, Civic Centre, from 4pm.

We think part of that challenge must be putting forward a political alternative to Labour representatives who make Tory cuts. If you've agree join with TUSC.

Listen to the people!

That’s the message Swansea TUSC will be taking to the lobby of the Special Cabinet Meeting of the Council, Tuesday (10 February) from 4pm at the Civic Centre.

For any Labour councillors willing to listen, the Swansea Trades Unionist & Socialist Coalition (TUSC) street ballot today (7-2-2015) sent a clear message: The people of Swansea want their representatives to stop voting for Tory cuts and start fighting them.

 

188 people participated in our ballot. Not one of them wanted their Labour councillors to make Tory cuts; 100% of them voted that they want “representatives who will fight the cuts”.

Unfortunately it appears that they won’t get that from their elected Labour representatives. Just like in the run-up to last year’s cuts budget, not one Labour councillor has spoken out against, let alone indicated a willingness to vote against, projected cuts of £80 million+ over the next 3 years.

The only defence they can offer for their failure to fight Con-Dem cuts is to claim that it is better that they make the cuts than somebody else does. People we spoke to today were furious that all Labour councillors are getting paid to vote for £millions of cuts to our jobs and services.

We asked people we balloted which of the proposed cuts that will be considered by Swansea’s Special Cabinet Meeting next week, most concerned them and invited them to write down a message to send to Swansea councillors.

There are a whole range of proposals that are worrying people we spoke to and making them angry, including the outsourcing and cuts in leisure and social services, threats to close youth centres and Plantasia, increases in charges for a number of council services and cuts in funding for supported organisations like West Glamorgan Youth Theatre.

Time and again though, the issue that seemed to most anger people is the proposed cuts to education. That’s no surprise; many had read the report in the local paper predicting that primary-age pupils could end up being taught in classes of 40 if these cuts to funding go ahead. In fact a number of heads of primary schools, including the one my youngest son attends, have predicted to the Council that 15% reduction in funding being proposed over the next 3 years could lead to classes of 42+ for some primary school pupils.

The people of Swansea have spoken today and told their councillors that they expect them to vote against Con-Dem cuts at the Special Budget Meeting on Tuesday and the full council meeting on February 24. It was summed up in a message one woman wrote to councillors: “No more cuts! We’ve had too many already!”

That’s what Swansea TUSC supporters will be demanding when we join the lobby of the Council Special Cabinet Meeting on Tuesday, from 4pm, Civic Centre.

Ronnie Job

TUSC Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Swansea West

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.

Give us a real choice! TUSC to ballot Swansea people on whether they want councillors who fight cuts

Trades Unionist & Socialist Coalition (TUSC) to ballot the people of Swansea on whether they want representatives who implement or who fight Con-Dem cuts

TUSC will be holding a ballot on austerity and cuts in Oxford Street, Swansea on Saturday, February 7^th from 1.30pm.
Ronnie Job, TUSC prospective parliamentary candidate for Swansea West, said:

“Swansea’s Labour council are currently planning cuts of £80 million from its budget. These cuts are going to devastate council jobs and services. The council have held yet another sham public ‘consultation’ where the only option on offer is ‘What do you want us to cut?’ That’s like asking people ‘what do you want cut off, your hands or your feet?’!

“We will be asking the people of Swansea whether they want their Labour councillors to carry out Con-Dem cuts or whether they want representatives who will vote and fight against austerity.”

Come along, send a message to your elected councillors and let’s plan how to ensure in future we get representatives who will stand up for jobs and services.

The Sequel: Unsustainable Cuts II. Swansea's Labour Council comes back for more!

Today I received an e-mail from the Council. It invited me to take part in helping Swansea's Labour councillors decide whose jobs and services to axe next.

Anybody who hoped that after Labour’s cabinet coup there would be an end to doublespeak about improving services through cuts will be disappointed because we are being invited to,

“have your say about the council's plans to create smarter, leaner and more efficient services in the years ahead”

The Council presumably had my e-mail address because I responded online to their ‘Sustainable Swansea’ consultation last year, demanding that the Labour Council refuse to implement Con-Dem cuts. Ignoring what I wrote, the e-mail thanked me for helping to slash millions of pounds from services in Swansea:

“With your help last year we were able to identify millions of pounds of savings and begin to change so that our services can be sustainable in the years ahead.”

If Labour councillors are going to vote through destructive cuts to services then they shouldn’t try to make the rest of us collaborators in their betrayal. You will never get my help in making cuts to jobs and services. TUSC supporters will fight every cut.

Those cuts were so successful in making services sustainable that they’ve come back for much, much more! A throwaway comment at the end of the e-mail informs us how much Labour councillors intend to slash from services,

“The challenge is even greater than last year because the savings target has risen from £45m to at least £70m in the next few years.”

That’s not a challenge; that a disaster! It’s a disaster that spells destruction for council services and council workers and devastation for the local economy.

 

If you’ve had enough of being made to pay for a crisis that we didn’t cause, while the rich get richer then..

Vote Ronnie Job, TUSC Against Cuts, today in Uplands Ward today (November 20) and..

Join with us in building the Trades Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) as the socialist, no-cuts alternative for the general election and beyond.

Response to Uplands resident on issues of student integration, environmental issues and multiple-occupancy housing

An Uplands resident asked a number of questions on issues of recycling, integrating students into the local community and multiple-occupancy housing, all issues relevant to large numbers of people in Uplands. They were good questions which forced me to think hard about how practically, a socialist councillor would serve their community. I spent some time composing a response and I've decided to publish it here. This is not a fully rounded socialist programme but an attempt to answer some specific issues from a concerned resident. Comments and even (constructive) criticism would be welcomed.
Ronnie Job

 

I think all the questions you have posed have to be considered against the background of the huge cuts to jobs and services that the Labour Council has been making. You can’t cut £26 million from services in a single year and not see a reduction in quality in local services. That £26 million taken away from providing services to our community this year is only the first part of a 3-year programme of cuts, which was estimated at £45 million when Labour’s cuts budget was passed in February, had risen to £70 million by the time Rob Stewart replaced David Phillips in Labour’s cabinet coup and is now estimated at £70-100 million by Rob Stewart, in the coming years.

On top of this, large numbers of council workers have been demoralised not only by the job loses but by the council’s attacks on their incomes. Workers in some of the services that deal with the issues you have raised were badly affected, with some refuse workers standing to lose £ thousands in the implementation of new contracts that the Council demanded they sign or face the sack. This was bound to have a detrimental effect on services.

When leafleting at night, a number of TUSC supporters have said how they have slipped on leaves; the combination of leaves lying around and poor street lighting makes walking after dark very hazardous. No one can convince me that this isn’t a direct result of cuts leading to a poorer service.

I'm not in position to give expert opinion on the detail of some of your questions but I am confident that the necessary expertise and experience does exist in the council workforce and the local community. I think a good place to start formulating plans to address some of these issues would be bringing the local community, trade unions representing the Council workforce and representatives of the students together. This is something that I would see as being key to the role of an Uplands councillor.

A large part of the issues you've raised are to do with integrating students into the local community. The Council and residents groups could use Freshers’ week and induction at the University to begin to build links with the students union.

There will be environmental student societies and together with the students' union, they can play an important role in educating students about procedures for recycling. Many trade unions have green/environmental reps these days so it may be worth encouraging the campus trade unions to get involved as well.

I lived in the Uplands/Brynmill for a good part of the time I was studying in Swansea University in the late 1980s. I know that not all students make for the best neighbours but they also contribute to the community financially and socially. Many students fall in love with Swansea and decide to make it their home as I did. Part of the reason Uplands is so vibrant is because of the large numbers of young people. What is important then is making students feel part of the community they’re living in, perhaps through community events which students are encouraged to take part in. Any events that bring together students with local residents should be welcomed. I think the students union could also help by opening up events to local youth to break down any resentment about students have access to better facilities and events.

There are also plenty of issues where the two groups have shared interests in fighting cuts and which I would like to see students and local residents campaigning together on, including:
Public transport which is infrequent, over-crowded and expensive.

• Personal security. Leafleting in the evenings has brought home just how dark the streets are in parts of the ward. It must be equally intimidating for local residents and students returning from the university at the end of the day to walk these streets.
• Housing.

I lived in several multiple occupancy houses in Uplands/Brynmill while a student at Swansea University and for a number of years afterwards. I was living in a flat in Bernard Street when I met my wife, Claire (she was leading a rent strike against a rogue landlord, in this case the university, which had just tripled the cost of student nurses’ accommodation in Parc Beck). Some of the HMOs I stayed in were well-maintained, safe and clean with fair and accessible landlords; others were poorly looked-after and probably hazardous to health.

Not all multiple occupancy houses are student accommodation of course; one effect of the bedroom tax has been to force people out of Council accommodation into private sector renting in multiple occupancy housing. The Labour Party have said, eventually, that they’ll scrap the bedroom tax. It’s about time then that this Labour Council stops harassing people who can’t afford to pay the bedroom tax; let’s not drive any more council tenants out of their homes and into the multiple occupancy private rented sector.

The Council could play an important role in regulating and helping to ensure the safety and quality of multiple occupancy housing. Improving the quality of MHOs is beneficial not only for those living in them but also for the better landlords as they are not undermined by those who don’t spend on upkeep and for the community generally. Ultimately what is needed is safe, clean, environmentally friendly, affordable housing; a programme of council house building could reduce the pressure in the market for private renting.

As a socialist, I believe there is a wealth of talent in our community; the challenge is to organise the different elements of the community together in a democratic manner for the good of all. It's a challenge I'd relish if elected next Thursday.

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.

Labour has given up all rights to be considered the workers' party

Leaflets for Swansea West Labour MP, Geraint Davies, have been dropping through doors this week in the start of what clearly will be a long campaign for the General Election. Perhaps Labour in Swansea West have started early because they fear the challenge from the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC)?

On the back of the leaflet is the headline "Swansea needs a fairer future not more Zero Hours contracts says Geraint Davies MP"

We completely agree Geraint. We therefore invite you to condemn your Labour colleagues running the Council for their use of zero hours contracts and for outsourcing council services to companies and other organisations that do.

Every promise Labour makes about what they will do in Government  - and there's precious few of them (they have only said they'll regulate, not scrap zero hours contracts by the way) - is undermined by the actions of Labour councils.

Labour-led councils have cut, outsourced and axed council services as much as those led by other parties and Welsh Labour has been no better than their colleagues in England. The way they've treated their workforces is reprehensible.

On the same day that I got my leaflet from Geraint promising a rosy Welsh Labour future, Merthyr's Labour Council was threatening to dismiss it's entire workforce and re-employ them in worse conditions. It's a repeat of the threat made by Swansea's Labour Council to its own workers protesting against cuts in income: "sign or be sacked"!

Sorry Geraint but actions like these mean that Labour has given up all rights to be considered the workers' party. That's why TUSC supporters in Swansea West plan on being part of the biggest ever left challenge to Labour when we stand 100 candidates in the General Election.

The choice for Uplands voters: vote for cuts or vote TUSC Against Cuts

The graphic for the next leaflet the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) will be using in our campaign to get Ronnie Job elected as Councillor in the Uplands by-election on November 20, sums up why TUSC is standing.

The choice is simple, you can vote for cuts or you can vote TUSC Against Cuts, the only way to get a councillor committed to voting against and fighting all cuts to jobs and services.

We all know the Tories are vicious. They've forced the very poorest into dependence on food banks and pay day loans. We've all suffered to protect profits of their friends.

The Liberals think they're progressive but in government, they allowed the Tories to attack us. The last Liberal administration in Swansea, outsourced and cut services.

The Liberals lost control of the Council because of their enthusiasm for making Con-Dem cuts but anybody expecting a change of direction from Labour will have been disappointed.

We've heard the claim more than once in this campaign, "our cuts are better than their cuts". But we're still waiting for a convincing explanation of why it's better Labour councillors get paid to cut services for the rest of us.

Plaid Cymru helped the previous Liberal-led administration into power in Swansea and they've offered to help Labour in neighbouring Carmarthenshire to identify cuts to jobs and services. Last years' Welsh Government Budget was passed with support from Plaid Cymru, in alliance with the Lib Dems. We can't accept that Welsh cuts are in any way better than English cuts.

People may be tempted to see the Green Party as an alternative but when given a chance, Greens have voted for cuts as well. In Brighton, the Green-led council has cut £60 million from jobs, services and council workers' wages, while the leader of the council has had a pay rise!

The central commitment that every TUSC candidate makes is to vote against all cuts. We are trade unionists and campaigners with basic trade union principles of socialism and solidarity who fight cuts daily in our workplaces and communities.

So, if you're opposed to council cuts and live in the Uplands, there is only one choice on November 20:

Vote Ronnie Job, TUSC Against Cuts

Swansea: Cuts, Culture and Dylan Thomas' commitment to the socialist ideas that Labour's abandoned

As Swansea's celebration of the centenary of Dylan Thomas' birth continue there has been precious little mention of his socialist principles and campaigning.

Here's a link to an article by TUSC candidate for the Uplands by-election, Ronnie Job, written on occasion of the awarding of City of Culture to Hull over Swansea.

It includes suggestions for reading about Dylan Thomas' commitment to socialism and the socialist principles that Labour has abandoned, as demonstrated by Swansea's Labour councillors' commitment to carrying out Tory cuts.

http://www.swanseasocialistparty.org.uk/view/news/2013-11-22/296-swansea-vs-hull---cuts-culture-and-dylan-thomas.html

Welsh Labour overseeing the end of council services as we know them

From this week's Socialist Paper: Welsh Labour presiding over the end of council services as we know them and why it was important that TUSC stands in the Uplands by-election.

http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/19557

TUSC Campaign for Uplands Ward up and running

Spent a pleasant morning (despite the weather) leafleting and talking to people around the Uplands Market about why I'm standing for the Trade Unionists and Socialist Coalition in the Uplands by-election on November 20.

We met a lot of council workers furious that a Labour council is cutting jobs and outsourcing services, that it employs workers on less than the Living Wage and makes use of zero hours contracts. Other Uplands residents told us how they fear for the future of services in Swansea as Labour continues to pass on Con-Dem cuts - they intend to take £26 million out of jobs and services this year and £70 million over 3 years.

Not everybody was pleased to see us though. One Labour councillor went past shouting about how if he and his Labour colleagues didn't make cuts then they'd be made by Jack Straw (Chief Executive of the Council - not the former Labour Government Minister). That would be the same Jack Straw that a number of Labour councillors thanked in the budget-setting meeting earlier this year, for helping them to put together their budget of cuts to jobs and services then?

In any case as I wrote yesterday, I can't see how it's better to have your services cut or your job axed by a so-called 'left' Labour councillor than by council officers. We want councillors who will vote against all cuts and who will instruct officers to protect, not cut, jobs and services.

It was great to get the campaign up and running, our leaflets went down well and our new TUSC banner looked fantastic. We aim to show over the next 4 weeks that it is possible to have an alternative - representatives prepared to vote against and fight all cuts. If you've had enough of Labour councillors being paid to make Tory cuts then help us build TUSC as that alternative.

Labour Council Cuts: Better for whom?

One of the justifications Labour councillors often use when voting through cuts is "it's better that we make cuts than somebody else does". This was one of the repeated phrases at the Council's budget-setting meeting when not one councillor was prepared to speak out, let alone vote, against £26 million of cuts to jobs and services just in this year.

It's something I've never got! How can it be better to know that your job is being axed or outsourced by a Labour council? How can it be better to know that a service you rely on is under threat of being axed by Labour councillors?

If you add in 3 little words: "get paid to" it makes more sense. As in "better we GET PAID TO make cuts than somebody else does". The only people for whom Labour cuts are better than Tory, Lib-Dem, UKIP or any other political shade of cuts, are the Labour councillors getting paid to make them, as far as I can see.

The Evening Post has been publishing this week just how much they are being paid: over £13,000 for a councillor, £31,000+ for a cabinet member, £52,000 for the Council Leader. The basic councillor's wage is more than some members of my union branch employed by the Council, in some cases on zero-hours contracts or for less than the Living Wage. And for many councillors this is an additional income on top of their 'day jobs'!

As a Socialist Party representative, standing for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, I pledge to take only audited expenses - I don't expect to be paid for being a councillor.

If elected, like all TUSC representatives, I will vote, speak out against and campaign against all cuts to jobs and services.

TUSC demands the Council immediately stop exploiting workers through zero-hours contracts, including contracting services to firms that do.

TUSC calls on the Council to stop stalling and immediately implement the Living Wage as the first step towards TUC policy of £10/hour.

Ronnie Job

Welsh Labour Council attacks union members - same old story

An all too familiar tale..

The sight of a Welsh Labour Council attacking the trade union members who voted and campaigned for their election is becoming the norm in Wales at the moment.

This time it is the majority Labour administration in Swansea who are trying to force through cuts under the disguise of ‘job evaluation’. Last week Swansea Socialist Party reported on the increasingly threatening noises coming from leading members of the council as they poured cold water on the idea that anything could come out of further discussions with UNISON, despite the overwhelming vote by UNISON members to reject the Council’s proposals.

Now the council has gone over the heads of the union and sent out a letter to all council employees telling them to move over to the new contracts voluntarily or be dismissed and re-hired on the new conditions, “..any employee who refuses to accept the new reward package will be dismissed and offered immediate re-engagement under the new terms”. UNISON has correctly accused the Council of trying to bully union members and issued advice not to sign the new contracts, while they seek advice and consult.

Among the workers who stand to lose out from the cuts to allowances, bonuses, etc., are 2,000 plus workers who will have their retainers removed, effectively reducing the number of weeks a year they get paid for. For many, this will cancel out anything they would gain from the Council agreeing to pay the minimum wage this year (which doesn’t however include a commitment to become a recognised minimum wage employer). It has been estimated by the union that nursery nurses could lose 10% of their income.

UNISON has organised a demonstration outside the Civic Centre, where the Council meets, next Tuesday (27^th August) at 4pm. It is important that everybody who uses Council services understands that it is impossible to make cuts to the terms and conditions of council workers without destroying morale and having a detrimental effect on the quality of service our members provide. In any case, these are just a taste of the cuts in services to come, now that the Labour Council has shown it is just as willing to carry out Con-Dem cuts as the previous Lib Dem-led coalition and just as ruthless in their implementation. It is vital that other trade unionists and anti-cuts campaigners back the demonstration on Tuesday, council workers should not be made to pay, by a Labour council, for a crisis that was not of our making.

It is increasingly clear that the council will not back down unless it meets determined industrial action from the council workforce. Some left Labour councillors may be embarrassed by being lobbied by their own workforce but ultimately Welsh Labour Councils will not baulk at attacking their own supporters and their own workforce to achieve cuts. Labour councils in Neath Port Talbot and Rhondda Cynon Taff after all were pioneers in the early days of the Con-Dem government of using the threat of mass dismissals and re-employment on poorer terms, to drive through cuts to workers’ conditions.

When the Green council in Brighton implemented similar cuts, there was UK-wide trade union backing for GMB members who refused to accept them. The fact that this is a Labour council can not be allowed to hamper the fight and the backing of UNISON members with all the resources they need. These Labour councillors were elected with substantial UNISON support; they have now forfeited any right to further support. UNISON should withdraw funding and support from Labour and instead back candidates who are prepared to vote in the interests of our members; candidates who are prepared to vote against all cuts, like TUSC Wales candidates.