TUSC says council cuts are a threat to safety and security

Swansea Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) supporters out campaigning to get Ronnie Job elected as a TUSC Against Cuts councillor in the Uplands by-election last night were struck by just how dark it was. Yes, I know, the clocks go back every year but that's why we have street lighting to keep people safe.

It seems to be The Council's policy to turn off every other light, either that or cuts are affecting street light maintenance. TUSC supporters are in favour of saving energy as part of a plan to protect our local environment but I suspect these cuts are more to do with saving money and will come at the cost of increased accidents and injuries. Particularly when cut backs across the board at the Council seem to be leading to other hazards like wet leaves remaining on pavements.

There is also a very real threat to personal safety. Even students making their way home fro the University after the last lecture of the day will be walking in the dark thanks to street lighting cuts.

Don't take chances with peoples' safety and security. Cuts pose a danger to council workers and residents alike. Staff and resource council departments that keep us safe and free from injury properly. Oppose all council cuts and outsourcing.

Are Labour Councillors paid £1,000 a meeting to cut jobs and services?

The Post revealed last week that Swansea councillors are being paid over a £1000 a month for the privilege of representing their constituents and it has rightly left a lot of people angry.

Ronnie Job, Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidate in the forthcoming Uplands by-election said,

"The lowest paid councillors are getting over £1,000 a month. That's £1,000 a council meeting (£2,000 a meeting for those with poorer attendance records). And in most cases, that's on top of their day jobs."

"Councillors are earning as much for a few hours' attendance, or non-attendance in some cases, at Council meetings, as some of the council workers whose jobs they vote to cut or outsource."

Cabinet members get around £600 a week, well over the average wage and the Council Leader a whopping £1,000 a week!

Socialists don't take positions, representing working class people, as a means to make money for themselves.

Ronnie pledges:

"If elected, I would take only genuine expenses, donating the rest of the councillor's wages to campaigners and trade unionists fighting cuts, like those being made by our overpaid Labour councillors."

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

Press release: Socialist Challenge in Llanelli at General Election

There will be a new left wing challenge to the established political parties in Llanelli at next year’s general election. The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) has selected Scott Jones, a young trade unionist living in the Dafen area to fight the Llanelli seat.

TUSC, as the name suggests is a coalition of people who stand for socialist and trade union principles and values. They all have in common a belief that Labour is no longer a party of the working class and the time is now ripe for a new party that unashamedly fights for the rights, welfare and living standards of working people. In practice, that means fighting the cuts and austerity agenda of the Government and also opposing cuts implemented by local authorities whatever party is carrying them out.

TUSC supports the TUC policy to increase the minimum wage to £10 per hour and this is one of their main priorities.

TUSC is already supported by the Rail workers union (RMT) formerly led by the late Bob Crow who was also leader of TUSC.

Scott Jones is 26 years old and is a local branch secretary of the shop workers union USDAW. Mr Jones said “At a time when we are facing some of the biggest attacks on our living standards in history, the working class needs somebody to fight for them. The millionaires have their political parties. It’s time we had one of our own.”

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