TUSC supports Police march against cuts

600 police officers from South Wales will be amongst those demanding an end to government cuts to their pay and conditions, when they march through London next Thursday. According to the Evening Post, police officers are in militant mood.

Picking the same day as thousands of public sector workers in PCS, RMT, UCU, UNITE and NIPSA are striking seems like a clear signal that police officers identify with other public sector workers fighting cuts. The Police Federation is also balloting its members to gauge support for fighting for trade union rights, including the right to strike.

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition is fully supportive of this demand. On Saturday (April 28) trade unionists were assisted by the police in marching through the city centre in Swansea to mark May Day - perhaps next year we will march together and maybe before too long we might strike together as well?

Support Strike Action and Rally on May 10

On Thursday, May 10 a number of unionis will be involved in strike action, including PCS, UNITE Health, UCU, RMT, NIPSA. The PCS union is holding a rally in Castle Square at 12:30pm on the day. This is an opportunity for other trade unionists to show support and solidarity for those taking action. Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidates in Swansea call on all trade unionists and members of the public to make every effort to show their support by attending with placards and banners.

Victory to the striking trade unionists on May 10! Oppose all cuts - to public sector workers' jobs, terms and pensions and to the services they provide.

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

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To get involved with TUSC campaigns go here: http://www.tusc.org.uk/support.php

 

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
You can find out more about TUSC at: http://www.tusc.org.uk/index.php

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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

Food bank users double, while the rich get richer. Vote TUSC on May 3rd for a real future

Today was 'bring a tin to work' day - a day when canned and dried foods are collected for distribution by the local food bank. What a comment it is on austerity Britain that the number of people who have to rely on these sorts of hand outs has doubled under the Tory/Lib Dem coalition.

Britain is not a poor country though. The weekend saw the publication of the rich list - a celebration of the obscene wealth of the richest 1%. While the rest of us, the 99%, continue to struggle to make ends meet, the rich have continued to get richer, their profits boosted by our wage freezes, cut services and tax handouts from their millionaire friends in the cabinet.

When you see these enormous excess - far more than any person could reasonably spend and enough to end overnight the sort of poverty that leaves people dependent on donated food - it proves there is absolutely no justification for cuts at all. Labour's "cuts are too deep, too soon" mantra is still aimed at preserving the system that creates such inequality and hardship.

Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) supporters want something more than this. Only a socialist society can eradicate poverty and want.

Vote TUSC on Thursday for a society run for the needs of the millions and not in the interests of the millionaires.

70,000 to loose disability benefits

Today's Guardian reports that around 70,000 disabled people will this week lose some or all of their disability benefits. As the Con-Dems limit contributory benefits to one year. This is a cut that strikes at the heart of the idea of a welfare state to which working people contribute in the knowledge that they will be taken care of should something happen that prevents them from working. For shocking individual examples of the callousness of Tory cuts and why we have to fight these and other cuts to benefits, read the full article at: http://m.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/apr/29/sickness-benefit-cuts?cat=society&type=article

Meanwhile as yesterday's rich list was released, it provided further evidence of how the very richest in society have seen their wealth grow. They are doing very well out of the recession in which we are supposed to "all in it together". So while disabled people suffer sleepless nights worrying how they will survive without the benefits the Tories have stolen, the rich are laughing all the way to the bank (bailed out at our expense) to deposit their unpaid taxes.

Stop all benefit cuts and restore those already made!
Defend the welfare state!

Vote TUSC on Thursday for candidates that fight for the millions and not the millionaires.


Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Swansea May Day: Save Remploy - Support Strike Action May 10 - Fight all Cuts - Vote TUSC May 3!

A modest Swansea Trades Council May Day March and Rally yesterday reflected the horrendously changeable weather South Wales has suffered recently and perhaps, the fact that there has been something of a lull in the movement generally since November 30. However it was representative of some very important struggles taking place currently. 

The march was lead off by disabled people that work for Remploy; the Swansea Fforestfach plant is one of 7 out of the 9 Welsh plants threatened with closure this summer. As we entered the city centre, shoppers stopped to applaud the Remploy Workers. This is reflective of the enormous public support for keeping Remploy open that exists up and down the country. Les Woodward, who is a shop steward in the Swansea plant and the national trade union convenor for Remploy expressed the anger of Remploy workers to this government and explained why he was standing for the Trade Unionists and Socialist Coalition.

Dave Warren, of the PCS, called on all trade unionists present to support the strike action taking place on May 10, of public sector workers in PCS, UNITE Health, UCU and NIPSA and also of private sector workers taking action on the same day, such as RMT. There was also a contingent of Visteon Pensioners, with their ‘Fraud’ banners; ex-Visteon workers have now entered into the third year of their struggle for pension justice from Ford.

Political speakers on behalf of Labour, Plaid Cymru and the Green Party all explained why the cuts of the other parties were worse than those of their party. Ronnie Job, Trades Council Secretary, reminded the rally that the day was also Workers’ Memorial Day; a day to remember the workers who have suffered from capitalism’s incessant drive for profits and to re-commit ourselves to fighting to end it. He said that trade unionism is founded on the principles of solidarity and unity; that an injury to one is an injury to all, and in that spirit, called for a fight against all cuts and a vote for TUSC on May 3.

TUSC Wales response to PCS election pledges

Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Wales

1.    I pledge to support PCS campaigns against public service job cuts, to ensure quality public services are delivered to those in need and to support efforts to secure fairer funding for Wales

TUSC fully supports the PCS campaign for the alternative. All the TUSC candidates are committed to campaigning against all cuts and if elected would vote against cuts and argue that councils use reserves and borrowing powers to avoid making cuts. As part of this battle TUSC is also working to build a mass campaign to fight for the funding that we need in Wales to meet people’s needs.  Fast cuts or slow cuts are not an option as we cannot afford any cuts and the resources are there.  We support the PCS demands on closing the tax gap of £123 billion and scrapping Trident which would release the resources to invest in jobs and public services.

2.    I pledge to support the PCS campaign for fair pay and a living wage for workers and to oppose plans to introduce regional or local pay.

TUSC is completely opposed to regional or local pay which would drive down all wages in Wales.  We will support trade unions fighting to defend pay to get a decent living wage for all regardless of age. We support the PCS battle to get national pay bargaining and we argue that the failed experiment of local pay in the MOJ that the last Government introduced should be reversed.

3.    I pledge to protect quality public services and work alongside PCS, community organisations and other trade unions to ensure that no more public services are privatised, outsourced or mutualised.

TUSC is totally opposed to privatisation of public services and fully support trade unions campaigning against this attack on our services. Our candidates have pledged to vote against any attempts to privatise or outsource local authority services, as well as campaigning in our communities to mobilise the opposition to attacks on our services . We also campaign to bring back transport and the utilities into public ownership and for the banks which have been nationalised to be brought under public control so that these resources can be used for the benefit of all in our communities.

4.    I pledge to support the PCS campaign for fair pensions for all; including calling on the government to protect public sector pensions, ensure the state pension keeps in line with inflation, that the government addresses pensioner poverty and that companies are prevailed upon to ensure they fulfil their pension obligations to staff.

TUSC fully supports trade unionists fighting to defend pensions in both the public and private sectors.  We campaign for a living pension for all and oppose the attempts of this government to make everyone work longer, pay more and get less. We will be supporting picket lines on May 10^th and encouraging members in all public sector unions to stand together and strike together against the attacks on pensions.

TUSC is standing 14 candidates across South Wales with a range of trade unionists, community campaigners and socialists to give voters a real alternative to the main parties that are delivering cuts with just a difference in pace.