Fed up with Labour - Vote TUSC

On Friday April 10 the Guardian ran an article '10 things Guardian readers think should be in the Labour manifesto' this was the same day the Guardian completely blanked and ignored the national manifesto launch of the TUSC manifesto. 

TUSC is all about meeting the needs for working class people but remains the largest party many people haven't heard of - stop the media blackout now!

Iain Dalton TUSC candidate in Leeds has had the following letter published on the Guardian this week. 

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/apr/14/working-class-people-disillusioned-by-labour-should-consider-tusc?CMP=share_btn_fb

The Welsh launch of the TUSC manifesto takes place tomorrow 

Thursday 15 April in Cardiff outside the Cardiff and Vale college 35 The Parade Cardiff CF24 3AD at 11am. 

Make sure you tune into the TUSC election broadcast on Friday  17 when TUSC will have an historic opportunity to mount, on TV, the clearest anti-austerity message from any party in the election. Broadcast times are scheduled to be BBC2 5.55pm, ITV 6.25pm and BBC1 6.55pm.

Vote for cuts or vote TUSC Against Cuts!

In Swansea West, like over 120 parliamentary constituencies where there are now TUSC prospective parliamentary candidates approved, voters can vote for cuts in a wide variety of party rosettes or they can vote for a clear no-cuts alternative - TUSC. The image for the latest TUSC leaflet says it all.

We'll be distributing some of these at the Uplands market on Saturday (28 March). If you're sick of the cuts consensus and want to know more about TUSC, come and have a chat.

Rejecting the political gravy train

There's been fresh revelations of politicians for hire and news that, here in Wales, Assembly Members are to get a £10,000 pay rise recently.

It's a good time then to repeat that representing working class people isn't  about personal gain for me.

Like all Socialist Party members, I'm committed to the principle of all elected representatives, be they MPs, AMs or trade union officials, being a workers' representative on a worker's wage.

In the event of being elected in May, I wouldn't take a penny more in salary than my current wage as an education worker in a college. That would mean not taking well over half the salary of an MP, donating the rest to trade unionists and campaigners fighting cuts and austerity.

It's not an idle boast, current Chair of TUSC, Dave Nellist, was for years a workers' MP on a worker's wage, before Labour decided there was no place for socialist principles in their party.

Here's an article from the Socialist on corrupt politicians and the need for workers' MPs on workers' wages, written by Claire, Swansea Socialist Party branch secretary.

http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/20157

Real wages continue to fall but Labour will continue public sector pay freeze

Today is the start of TUC Fair Pay Fortnight. The TUC has produced figures to show that the much-trumpeted recovery has not halted the continual decline in real wages.

The TUC estimates that real wages have fallen by over £2,200 for the average worker, since the Tories came to power. They also point out that the relentless attack on our wages has led to a loss of tax revenue to the Government of at least £33 billion. That's more than the planned £30bn of cuts that Tories, Liberal Democrats and LABOUR all voted should be made on the next Parliament, whoever wins the election.

Here, in Wales, wages fell in average by a further £300 last year.

Miliband, at Welsh Labour Conference, in Swansea this last weekend, spoke about Labour's pledge to increase wages. The Mirror today hailed this as a "hike in wages" but look at the detail. Labour is promising £8 an hour by 2020. That's just 15p more than the Current Living Wage outside London. It's already less than the London Living Wage; by 2020 it will be less than the Living Wage - what we're told we need to get by on - for all of us.

Even the Living Wage only provides enough to get by on when supplemented by working benefits in many cases. That's why the Bakers Union, BFAWU demanded and won TUC backing for £10/hour - the real minimum needed for workers. Unlike Labour, TUSC backs official TUC policy and demands £10/hour now.

In any case, Labour's claims to want to address the issue of falling wages can't be taken seriously while they remain committed to maintaining the Con-Dems' public spending cuts, including the cap public sector wage increases.

TUSC supports all workers taking action to halt the decline in their living standards, something else Labour has repeatedly failed to do.

Use Fair Pay Fortnight to highlight the issue of low pay.

Support the BFAWU/Youth Fight For Jobs/Hungry for Justice campaign for £10 Now!

Build TUSC as a political alternative, fighting to reverse the decline in workers' real wages.

100 days to build the socialist challenge

It is 100 days to the election and Trades Unionist and Socialist Coalition plans to mount our biggest ever socialist election challenge are coming on nicely.

Across the UK we are more than half way to reaching our target of 100 parliamentary candidates and 1,000 council candidates in May. At the recent TUSC Conference we also saw a number of Labour councillors, fed up with that party's support for continuing Tory cuts, pledge their support for TUSC. Standing against all cuts has attracted Labour councillors from Southampton, Leicester, Warrington, London and elsewhere to the TUSC banner.

Here in Wales, we don't have council elections in May but we look to have already found enough parliamentary candidates to reach the threshold where we should qualify for balanced press coverage and an election broadcast.

In this corner of Wales, we already have candidates who are all rank and file trade union leaders, in place to challenge in Llanelli, Swansea West and Aberavon.

The contest in Aberavon highlights more than most the differences between TUSC and the modern Labour Party. We're standing a member of the RMT Union, which played a central role in founding TUSC and is the first trade union (hopefully of many to come) to commit officially to TUSC. He'll be standing against a London-based businessman who personifies the political establishment - one of the Labour 'princes' (second and third generation offspring of Labour politicians) and spouse of the prime minister of Denmark, Stephen Kinnock.

If you're looking for an alternative to the establishment parties. One that is committed to opposing all cuts and fighting for socialist policies in the interest of trade unionists and working class people. Then consider how you can help to build TUSC.

Swansea TUSC representatives will be meeting at least once a month to plan our election challenge and how we can support others fighting cuts. Our next meeting is on February 11, 7.30pm in Dyfatty Community Centre. If you're fed-up of the establishment's cuts-consensus and want to do something about it, come along and join with like-minded people.

What's socialism got to do with it?

Responses to some questions from Uplands residents on the Socialist Party and why I'm a socialist. Ronnie Job


Q: In a time where more and more people are asking for social and economic justice from their politicians and government, why do you think socialism is still one of the least followed political causes?
 A: I don’t agree that socialism doesn’t have much of a following. The crisis of the capitalist markets has shaken the belief of lots of people in the future for themselves and their children. This is the first generation in Britain that expects to have a lower standard of living than their parents. The subsequent questioning has been behind our successes in Ireland where we now have 3 TDs (MPs). Everywhere people are looking around for an alternative way of organising society. Even in the belly of the capitalist beast (the USA) socialism is on the march. The election of Socialist Alternative (co-thinkers of the Socialist Party in the States) Council member, Kshama Sawant in Seattle, with over 93,000 votes has sent shock waves across America. The biggest obstacle perhaps to people calling themselves socialist in Britain/Europe is the existence of so-called Labour or Socialist parties whose claims to be socialist while inflicting huge cuts and creating confusion. But where a clear and relevant socialist programme is put across it gets an echo and support, which although not necessarily translated into votes everywhere at this stage, gives socialists reason to be confident for the future.

 

Q: Socialists are renowned for having incredibly strong membership cores, much more so than more popular, main stream organisations. All of your members directly involved in real activism all the time, and no other party has that; Why do you think this is, and how do you do it? 
A: There are a couple of things that are relevant. Firstly there is the confidence in our ideas. Socialist Party members constantly debate and discuss and test our ideas in the trade unions, in elections, in our communities, refining them until we are confident in their correctness. Then we are not professional politicians after a career or playing at politics. We are just ordinary people who want to see a better life for our children, our workmates, communities and class. We have a principled position of being workers’ representatives on a workers’ wage. We think it’s important that workers’ representatives do not become divorced from the people they represent by taking home inflated salaries. Even at a local council level, I think it’s ridiculous that councillors get a basic allowance of £13,000+ (more than some of my union members earn for full-time jobs). If elected, I would take only genuine expenses, donating the rest to campaigns and the movement. There are no lucrative careers to be had in the Socialist Party so we don’t get flighty careerists.

Q: How do you believe the Socialist Party can take their grassroots activities to a national stage to compete with major political parties? What benefit does forming a coalition with the Trade Unions provide you and the Socialist Party locally?
A: The Socialist Party has played and will continue to play a pivotal part on a national and international stage but we are about much more than elections. In the past, when we were the Militant Tendency, we had 3 Labour MPs, we were a leading part in the battle of Liverpool Council with Thatcher’s government, where we translated socialism into the language of 5,000 new homes, community centres, nurseries and sports centres, resulting in the creation of thousands of jobs. Militant provided the political leadership of the anti-poll tax movement which brought down Thatcher.

We participate in the National Shop Stewards Network a rank and file movement of trade union activists. The Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is an alliance with the RMT trade union (which is officially affiliated to TUSC), other individual trade unionists, various left groups, anti-cuts campaigners and individuals who just want to fight back. TUSC is a coalition, united around a basic programme which all its members can agree on, based on trade union principles of socialism and solidarity. Decisions at a local and national scale are taken by consensus.

The Socialist Party takes part in TUSC because by coming together we have an opportunity to present the socialist, no-cuts alternative to as wide an audience as possible. In the council elections in England last year, TUSC provided the biggest ever left challenge to Labour. In May, we aim to stand 100 parliamentary candidates, including Swansea West and 1,000 council candidates in England. Not bad for an organisation that has only been in existence for 4 years!

Q: You’re really pushing the Anti-cuts message; to locals out there who don’t know Socialist policy, what do you hope to achieve on a local level aside from fighting cuts? What will a vote for you and TUSC do for the ward, the city and the TUSC cause?
We talk a lot about fighting cuts because cuts to services pose such a threat to the quality of ordinary people’s lives. Cuts to the NHS threaten the health of our communities, cuts to education threaten our children’s futures and if we don’t take a stand now then, in a few years’ time council services, as we know them, will cease to exist.

But you’re right, there is much more to a socialist programme than saying we’re against cuts. The Socialist Party wants to see ordinary people freed from spending all their time struggling to make ends meet, which is why we have a programme of demands including raising the minimum wage, reducing the working week and taking the giant companies that dominate our lives into democratic, public ownership – that would include the power and energy companies and utilities and the banks.

Standing in one council election in Swansea might seem a far cry from these ambitious aims bit we are part of a far wider movement and we’re putting down a marker for the future. The Labour Party has given up all rights to be considered a workers’ party with their slavish copying of Tory policies. Their collapse in Scotland is a taste of what’s to come elsewhere in future. Workers desperately need a new mass party of their own; TUSC offers an opportunity to build such a party. Every success, even every vote for TUSC is a step along that road.

Locally, a TUSC councillor would be demanding investment in housing – renovation and building of quality council housing. We would put the case for bringing the services that the Liberals and Labour have both outsourced back in house and planning them for the needs of the local community not to make profit from parasitic private vultures. We would argue for the participation of local people and council workers in improving and expanding services for all our benefit.

Putting down a marker for TUSC

We've entered the last few days of campaigning in the Uplands council by-election. It's been both a frustrating and an enjoyable few weeks.

Frustrating because we haven't been able to discuss our ideas fully with everyone in the ward. The local media has pretty much ignored the election; one reporter phoned my agent, Alec, to ask when the election is taking place!

Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) supporters stand in elections because we think that the working class need representatives who will fight for them. Even more importantly, we aim to show that there is an alternative to the cuts consensus of all the other parties.

TUSC supporters are, as our banner suggests, campaigners and ordinary people who are united by basic trade union principles and socialist ideas. We do not have the huge financial resources of some of our opponents, who promote one brand of austerity and cuts over another. The only way we have to overcome this disadvantage is by talking with and convincing people through discussion.

This is the enjoyable part of any election campaign. In particular, I've particularly enjoyed Saturdays leafleting and talking to people around Uplands Square. We've had a friendly and receptive response. We've discussed with council workers who've seen their incomes frozen or cut or their jobs under threat and with people who are seeing services that they, or other family members rely on, cut or threatened.

There's enormous anger that halfway through the Labour administration's term in charge of running the Council, the pace of cuts to jobs and services is accelerating. Just how many votes for TUSC that anger will be translated into on Thursday remains to be seen. People have been let down so many times that many won't even vote.

If we win though, then for the first time, Swansea will have a councillor willing to stand up and say "no" to austerity. Voters have an opportunity to achieve something historic rather than making cuts with "a heavy heart" (and a nice allowance cheque).

Either way though we have put down a marker for the future. TUSC plans to stand 1000 candidates in the English council elections in May and 100 candidates in parliamentary seats in the general election. Uplands voters will have another chance to vote TUSC in May because Swansea West is one of those 100 seats we aim to stand in.

And where do TUSC supporters go between elections? We continue arguing the case for socialism and fighting cuts in our workplaces, unions and communities. Members of my union, UNISON, have just provided a mandate to ballot for strike action over pay in Welsh colleges because we've been offered no cost of living increase.

We're the activists in your trade union branch. We're the people highlighting low-paying employers and those using zero-hours contracts. We're the people protesting at attempts to close down services. If you're  fighting cuts then we're the people alongside you.

If you want to be part of building a socialist alternative, give us a vote on Thursday - vote Ronnie Job, TUSC Against Cuts - then join with us in building TUSC as a real voice for trade unionists, workers and all those opposed to cuts.

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.