Archive for Public Sector Strike

Public Meeting – Stop the pensions robbery, the fight goes on!

10/05/2012 Drew Walton No comments

Solidarity with UNITE, PCS and UCU members taking action on May 10th.

Go down to a local picket line and give the strikers your support this morning. There will be a rally with speakers from striking unions at the Oddfellows Club on Humberstone Gate at 12 noon (this is not hosted by Leicester Socialist Party).

Tuesday 15th May – Public Meeting, The Globe, Silver St 7pm (upstairs)

Stop the Pensions Robbery – the fight goes on!

Speaker – Tony Church (PCS)

The government are determined to force through proposals to slash public sector pensions. Public sector workers are being asked to work longer, pay more, get less – with the pension age being increased up to 68, employee contributions going up by around 50% and all for a smaller pension at the end of the working life for public sector workers.

In order to defeat the government, we need united strike action across the public sector, and support from the private sector. It is vital that we do not let the working class be divided in this battle.

The PCS, UCU and sections of UNITE are striking again today – let’s support them today and put pressure on those unions not taking part in action, to continue the fightback. This is a battle we must fight and win, as pension cuts will pave the way for further privatisation of our public services, making them more profitable for future takeovers.

Unlike New Labour’s Ed Milliband, who has not supported striking workers, the Socialist Party and Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition  fully back the strikes and calls for escalation of the struggle. We are opposed to all privatisation and cuts to our public services. To find out more about how we can unite workers across public and private sector trade unions, contact the NSSN.

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5th December – Public meeting – Fight till we win!

02/12/2011 Drew Walton No comments
Socialist Party public meeting – Leicester University, 7.30pm, Tuesday
5th December. (Venue TBC, but likely to be Ken Edwards Building).

On Wednesday around 3 million public service workers went on strike – the biggest day of action since 1926. In Leicester around 5000 trade unionists marched in one of the biggest rallies in the city for decades. We need to turn this into a movement to defeat not just the Tory / Lib Dem cuts but also to put forward a socialist alternative.

What programme does the Socialist Party put forward to stop attacks on pay and conditions? How can we put pressure on the leadership of trade unions to escalate the action if the government do not back down? What alternative do we pose to the argument that the cuts are a necessary evil and how can we stop the cuts?

We say that cuts are not necessary and that there is the wealth in society to provide a decent pension and well-paid employment for all, if the wealth were controlled by the vast majority of the population. Ordinary people did not cause the economic crisis, so they should not have to pay for it. We need a mass campaign and a mass political party to put across the ideas of socialism, rather than put up with the lesser evilism of New Labour and the Tories. Milliband does not support the strikers, so why should we support Labour? We argue that we need build working-class political representation.

Come along to the meeting and join in the discussion.

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Support striking public sector workers on November 30th

22/11/2011 Drew Walton No comments

Anger at the government’s attacks on pensions and public sector cuts have led to trade unions voting for the largest co-ordinated strike action in Britain since the general strike of 1926. 3-4 million public sector workers will be striking. We are not going to work until we are 68, or put up with cuts to vital services.

Unions on strike include UNISON, UNITE, GMB, the teachers’ unions and civil service unions. The National Shop Stewards Network has played an important role in lobbying the TUC to call for the public sector general strike in the first place.

Leicester Socialist Party will be supporting striking workers by offering solidarity on local picket lines from 7am and joining in the march and rally from High St to the Athena (assemble 11am outside the Orange Tree on Wednesday 30th). We will be marching in the Leicestershire Against The Cuts contingent.

Get involved

There is a joint trade union public meeting on 22nd November at the Adult Education Centre, Wellington St, 7.30pm.

Our usual branch meeting has been postponed to Wednesday 23rd November at the Turkey Café, Granby St, 7.30pm and the following Tuesday (29th November, 7.30pm) there will be an organising meeting to plan action on the 30th.

Leicestershire Against The Cuts are hosting an interactive meeting on Saturday 10th December to discuss the way forward for the campaign after November 30th. This will be held at the Adult Education Centre, Wellington St from 11am.

All welcome.

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After 30th June – all strike together!

04/07/2011 Becci Heagney No comments

On Thursday 30th June, strike action was taken by four trade unions: NUT (National Union of Teachers), ATL (Association of Teachers and Lecturers), UCU (University and College Union) and PCS (Public and Commercial Services). In Leicester, this meant the closing or ‘partial closing’ of the vast majority of schools, courts, jobcentres and tax offices.

Best strike we’ve ever seen…

Socialist Party members visited the picket lines at workplaces and the feeling amongst those workers were that it had been a great success, with some describing it as the ‘best strike we’ve ever seen’. The pension robbery that is being proposed by the government means that many people see no other option but to fight back.

PCS picket outside HMRC Saxon House

PCS members form a picket outside the HMRC Saxon House tax office.

PCS and Socialist Party member Alex Morgan said “We’ve had excellent support today, showing the massive opposition to the pensions robbery – a blatant case of theft that will hit the lowest paid hardest. Public service pensions were reformed in 2002 and their costs will fall in the coming years. This isn’t about saving money, it’s an ideological attack.”

At the Land Registry office, PCS members were able to turn away the post and the bin lorry. Many postal workers, who are members of CWU (Communication Workers Union), refused to cross picket lines and fully supported the strike action. Postal workers are having to fight their own battles against job cuts and the privatisation of Royal Mail so realise the need for unions to work together to defeat this government.

Unions also reported that 30th June brought many young trade unionists who had never been on strike before. Young workers are set to lose the most under the new pension scheme. Also, people were signing up to join the union a few days before so that they could take strike action too.

30th June is only the beginning

The words on many strikers lips, however, were ‘Where are Unison, Unite and GMB?’. These other trade unions, which represent millions of workers in the public sector, unfortunately did not ballot for strike action. Leicestershire Against the Cuts organised a rally of 100 people at the bottom of New Walk to involve members of these unions who are wanting to fight back. There were speakers from PCS, GMB and Unison and the message was: today is only the beginning!

We then made our way to Victoria Park for an excellent rally organised by the NUT. Walking up New Walk, workers were chanting and waving placards and banners. In the park, over 800 people heard from speakers of the striking unions and supporters. Tony Church from PCS and convenor of Leicestershire Against the Cuts got massive applause when he criticised the Labour Party leader, Ed Miliband, for his condemnation of the strikes as being ‘wrong’. The Socialist Party believe that Labour no longer represents ordinary people and this was shown clearly by Miliband’s comments. Rory Palmer, deputy Mayor and a Labour councillor at Leicester City, spoke at the rally in support of the strike action but also argued that the government’s cuts were ‘too deep and too fast’. Many workers completely reject this idea. The bankers and the super rich caused this crisis and they should be the ones paying for it – not the working class!

For a 24-hour public sector general strike

Other speakers received cheers whenever the point was made that further co-ordinated strike action was needed. Workers are now looking to the autumn for Unison and other trade unions to call strike action. The message from the day was a resounding call for a 24 hour public sector general strike. There needs to be pressure put on the TUC to call this action. The National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN), an organisation of rank-and-file trade unionists and workplace representatives, is lobbying the TUC congress on 11th September in London to do this.

There is a NSSN public meeting on Tuesday 5th July at the Adult Education College at 7.30pm. All welcome.

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Public sector strike 30th June 2011

29/06/2011 Dan Fahey No comments

J30 Strike Badge750,000 workers will be on strike across the country against cuts to public sector pensions

We will be meeting at the Council offices (bottom of New Walk) 11.30-12.20, then we will be joining the rally hosted by the NUT, ATL, PCS and UCU unions in Victoria Park from 12-3pm. Bands and speakers will be on a large stage, with television screens. All welcome.

In the morning, join a picket line at a school or PCS workplace near you to give support to the strikers. Obviously many schools will be closed, but those which are partially open may well have picket lines.

Schools closures due to strike action on 30th June 2011

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