Following on from the great success of Socialism 2009, the event in 2010 will be Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th November, at the same venues.
Socialism 2010 will raise the ideas of a socialist alternative to the bosses crisis and bring together the most determined fighters to discuss, debate and organise the fightback.
DON’T MISS THIS FANTASTIC WEEKEND!
WHERE ELSE CAN YOU MIX WITH OVER 1000 SOCIALISTS!!!
FOR MORE INFO OR TRANSPORT DETAILS FROM NORTH STAFFS CALL 07845893607
Transport now going from North Staffs to Lobby the TUC General Council!
Demand that the TUC calls a national demonstration against the Con-Dem government’s vicious cuts!
Join the Lobby of the TUC General Council, 12 noon, Sunday 12 September, Manchester Central Convention Centre
* * * NORTH STAFFS TUC HAS AGREED TO PROVIDE TRANSPORT
FOR THIS IMPORTANT LOBBY * * *
Trade union members from across North Staffs including from the CWU Postal, CWU Telecoms, Unison, NUT, PCS, UCU and GMB have already put their names down to go to the Lobby. But we want more!!!
Transport has also been booked from Bristol, Hull, Sheffield, 3 coaches from Brighton, Leeds, Wakefield, Huddersfield, Newcastle, South Wales, 3 coaches from London, Coventry and elsewhere.
This is a fight not just for current jobs & services but for a decent future for the next generation.
Please sign up and join others from North Staffs going to lobby the TUC. You can do so by return email or by calling 07845893607. But please sign up asap so we can make sure we have sufficient transport.
Please invite your friends, other members, workmates and all. We want to start the TUC conference off with a fighting mood and a push for co-ordinated action, which is important as the TUC is the umbrella body representing over 7 million workers and has more potential resources and power at its fingertips than it currently uses.
We cannot wait until until Spring for our movement to act decisively. We need to convince our trade union leaders of their power, which could potentially stop this government in its tracks.
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For more info please call 07845893607
Despite the holiday period, around 100 community campaigners and trade union activists attended the North Staffs TUC (NSTUC) public meeting on 18 August to launch an anti-cuts alliance. This meeting was initially proposed by Stoke Socialist Party members because of the urgent need to organise a serious fight back against the Con-Dems’ savage cuts.
NSTUC president Jason Hill stressed that, “the trade union movement needs to be at the forefront of the fightback against the government’s cuts and its attack on our communities.”
North Staffs TUC President Jason Hill
Much anger was expressed at the Con-Dems cuts but also at Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s own ‘cuts coalition cabinet’. Despite Labour having 26 out of the 60 council seats they have cobbled together an unholy alliance with the Tories, Lib Dems and Independents and have agreed to pass on government cuts of £32 million without a whimper of opposition. They even have a version of the Con-Dems’ “Big Conversation” publicity stunt. But in Stoke it’s called “Lets Talk”.
This means we now have the grotesque spectacle of the council paying people to walk around the city asking working class people, those who will suffer most from the cuts, where they think the cuts should be made! According to the Sentinel (9 August), they have spoken to 700 people. Andy Bentley, speaking from the platform, told the NSTUC public meeting that this was a sham consultation and was a waste of money because;
“Members of Stoke Socialist Party have already carried out a much more extensive survey. In the last 12 weeks Stoke Socialist Party members have held 60 campaigning stalls in Hanley, Longton, Shelton, Stafford and Crewe. We’ve spoken to over 4,000 people and over 4,000 people say no to cuts, over 4,000 people support a mass campaign to defend jobs and services and over 4,000 people call on the TUC to organise a national demonstration against the cuts!”
Socialist Party Organiser Andy Bentley
Despite the fact that many Labour activists will want to participate in the anti-cuts alliance based on serious opposition to all cuts, the position of the local Labour ‘machine’ was a disgrace. Labour councillor, Kassem Al Khatib argued that if Labour had only a few councillors they could vote against cuts because it wouldn’t matter but as they were the largest party they had to vote for them!
In response to Kassem Al Khatib, Liat Norris from Youth Fight For Jobs, speaking from the platform, said,
“What an anti-cuts alliance needs is councillors who are opposed to cuts not just in words but also in deeds – we need councillors who will join the campaign of opposition and vote against cuts”
Liat Norris, North Staffs Youth Fight For Jobs Organiser
Despite two other “cuts coalition Cabinet” members being present (both Labour) they made no attempt to speak at this public meeting. They are only too willing to spend council tax payers’ money to carry out their “Let’s Talk” consultation about cuts but when it comes to fighting against them they have nothing to say. Those present will draw their own conclusions from their silence.
Newly elected Stoke-on-Trent Central Labour MP Tistram Hunt was also at the meeting and was asked directly by PCS member Paul Sutton if he would alter his pre- general election support for cuts and join with PCS members fighting against them. Tristram Hunt’s response? – a deafening silence quickly followed by him leaving the meeting with his ‘minders’!
Fortunately, the massive opposition which will develop in Stoke-on-Trent and across the country to the Con-Dems’ savage cuts will not rely on the Labour ‘machine’. The anti-cuts alliance here and those which are springing up around the country will be built by those who are prepared to fight against all cuts – increasingly it will become a question of “Which side are you on?”
Stoke-on-Trent City Council has already decided to pass on government cuts of £32 million without a hint of any opposition.
They are now carrying out a sham consultation to get those who will suffer from any cuts to decide where to wield the axe!
According to the Sentinel (August 9th), 700 people have replied to Stoke -on-Trent City Council’s ‘Let’s Talk’ consultation on where to carry out cuts in services.
The results show;
4,000 SAY NO TO CUTS!
4,000 SUPPORT A MASS CAMPAIGN TO
DEFEND JOBS & SERVICES!
4,000 CALL ON THE TUC TO CALL A NATIONAL
DEMONSTRATION AGAINST THE CUTS!
Instead of pressurising people in Stoke-on-Trent to decide on cuts, councillors should be mobilising us to fight against the government’s attempt to make ordinary working class people pay for a crisis created by big business and top bankers.
Socialist Party councillor Dave Nellist was the only member of Coventry council to vote against £4.51 million in cuts to their budget.
Labour show their true colours by wringing their hands and apologising, but ultimately voting for cuts that would hit the poorest and most vulnerable hardest.
Contrast this to the 47 labour councillors in Liverpool, led by Militant (the forerunner of today’s Socialist Party), who set a budget for what they needed, rather than what they could afford and built five thousand houses, created thousands of jobs, and opened more nursery schools in 1983 – 87 than any other city.
view the video here Dave speaks 29 mins in.
North Staffs TUC have organised a public meeting on the 18th of August at the Hope Center in Hanley (full address on the poster) against the public sector cuts.
We urge everyone who will be affected by the governments cuts, the worst in living memory, to come down and get involved with the campaign.
Socialist Party members in Stoke have been in a flurry of activity over the past month, campaigning against the governments planed cuts and building for the North Staffs TUC public meeting on the 18th of August. Since the last North Staffs TUC meeting on the 14th of July we have…
- Done 26 campaign stalls against the cuts have been in Stafford, Longton and Hanley, selling 628 papers
- We had our first Socialist Party meeting in Stafford and have helped to set up the Stafford anti-cuts alliance steering group alongside local environmental and green party activists.
- We had a large stall at the 6 towns festival on Sunday, getting people to sign our petition and helping to distribute thousands of leaflets advertising the TUC Public Meeting.
- Today party members distributed posters and flyers advertising the meeting to many local union branches and under threat work places.
Click on the link below for a video from the Committee for a Workers International Summer School
On Wednesday 14 July North Staffs TUC agreed to organise an anti-cuts public meeting after it was suggested by Socialist Party members. The aim of this important public meeting on 18 August will be to launch a united Anti-Cuts campaign to fight against all cuts that the Con-Dem Coalition government and local councils are trying to impose against the will of the majority of ordinary working class people.
Socialist Party Organiser, Andy Bentley, told the TUC meeting how,
“Stoke Socialist Party members have already done over 30 campaigning stalls over the last eight weeks in Hanley, Longton, Shelton, Crewe and Stafford building support for an organised and united fightback against all the planned cuts to jobs, public services, benefits and pensions. On these stalls we have spoken to more than 3000 people extremely angry at the cuts – including young people, pensioners, workers and the unemployed. Most agreed with us that we need a massive campaign including public meetings, marches, demonstrations and strike action where necessary to stop the cuts”
One of the most important roles of these campaigning stalls is to explain to people that, despite what politicians, top bankers, bosses and the mass media tell us, there is an alternative to THEIR aim of making the working class pay for a crisis THEY have created.
The Socialist Party says, make the rich pay instead!
Last year, in a period of recession where hundreds of thousands of workers lost their jobs, the richest 1000 people in Britain INCREASED their wealth by a staggering £77 billion. They now have £340 billion in total stashed away and are still raking it in!
The Socialist Party says, build a massive campaign of opposition to force the government to stop these savage cuts!
ORGANISE TO DEFEND OUR JOBS & PUBLIC SERVICES!
COME ALONG TO THE
NORTH STAFFS TUC PUBLIC MEETING
WEDNESDAY 18 AUGUST – 7pm
HOPE CENTRE, GARTH STREET, HANLEY
STOKE-ON-TRENT ST1 2DA
ALL WELCOME
PLEASE CALL 07845893607 FOR MORE INFORMATION
Yesterday’s Anti-Cuts protest was well supported by people in Hanley. Hundreds signed our petition against the cuts and calling for a trade union organised national demonstration.
This protest was jointly organised by Youth Fight for Jobs, National Shop Stewards Network and Stoke Socialist Party. We were also joined by representatives from the Telecoms section of the Communications Workers Union. The protest formed part of a week long series of similar protests, marches, public meetings etc across Britain and Europe.
Interviewed live on Radio Stoke Socialist Party Organiser Andy Bentley said, “Why should working class people pay for a crisis created by top bankers, big business and governments. Last year the richest 1000 people in Britain increased their wealth by a staggering £77 billion so make the rich pay instead.” We also got a brief report in the Sentinel.
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