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After N30 escalate the action to defeat the Con-Dem’s
ALL N30 OUT ● TRADE UNIONS MUST NAME THE
DAY FOR THE NEXT ALL OUT STRIKE ● DEFEND PENSIONS - STOP THE CUTS SOCIALIST PARTY SCOTLAND MEETING
STANDING ANTI-CUTS CANDIDATES IN 2012 CONFERENCE Saturday 10th December 2.30pm Adelaides, 209 Bath Street, Glasgow, G2 4HZ Speakers
(in a personal capacity)
BRIAN SMITH Glasgow City Unison branch secretary CHERYL GEDLING PCS NEC member Socialist Party Scotland members play a leading role in public sector unions including PCS, Unison as well as local anti-cuts campaigns and the Scottish Anti-Cuts Alliance. Check out our website for more information. www.socialistpartyscotland.org.uk
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DEFEND PENSIONS - STRIKE ON N30 30 November will see up to three million public sector workers, representing 28 trade unions, taking part in the biggest strike for 85 years. Public sector workers are striking to stop the government’s attacks on their pension rights, which mean they will have to pay more for their pensions, work longer and then retire on lower pensions. However, the strike is also crucial to the fight against all the ConDem cuts This is understood by private sector workers and reflected in the huge popularity of the strike, with 77% of the population supporting it. Anger is building against this government as workers face pay cuts and job losses. Young people face a future of being unemployed, priced out of higher education and having no chance of getting their own home. Our NHS is under attack and this government has made cruel cuts to disabled people, families who can no longer afford childcare and young people.
BUILD MASS STRIKES
ESCALATE THE ACTION
But the government can be defeated and has already been shaken in the face of N30. Desperate to weaken and divide the strike they are ‘offering’ unions the ‘option’ of a 15 minute strike without loss of pay. As the GMB have rightly said, ‘that is a tea break, not a strike’.
Decisions on negotiations and further action should not be left in the hands of the trade union leaders; we demand democratic control of the negotiations at every stage. Socialist Party Scotland argues for a serious plan to escalate the action unless the government retreats. Local and regional strike action can play an important role, but national coordinated strike action is vital to forcing the government to retreat. It is essential that a date is set for further general strike action – of 24 or 48 hours – to take place within two months of 30 November, involving the whole public sector, but also look to call out the private sector for 24 hours.
Despite their propaganda, the government has not made any significant concessions on pensions, so rightly a 24 hour, mass public sector strike should go ahead. Trade unions should also appeal to young people, pensioners, the unemployed and private sector workers to take part and show support.
REJECT THE PARTIES OF CUTS - WE NEED AN ALTERNATIVE The SNP government in Scotland and every single Labour and SNP council in the country is carrying out the orders of the ConDem government and slashing public services. Ed Miliband has made it clear that a Labour government would slash public spending – just a little bit slower than the ConDems. Neither the SNP or Labour represents working class people. Those trade unions that are affiliated to the Labour Party pay millions of pounds to Labour each year and get no support in return. We call for those unions to stop funding New Labour and use the money to start to support candidates that will fight the cuts and help build a party that stands in trade unionists interests. That is why the Socialist Party Scotland is playing a key role in building support for standing anti-cuts candidates next May when all of Scotland’s councils are up for election. We will be contesting the elections on a clear ‘no cuts’ platform, arguing for councillors to refuse to implement the ConDem cuts.
TAKE THE WEALTH OFF THE 1% - FIGHT FOR SOCIALISM The economic crisis was not caused by the public sector or by working class people; it is a crisis of the capitalist system. The same bankers and financiers that triggered the crisis by gambling vast sums are now demanding that governments make us pay for their crisis. Not just in Britain, but across Europe, governments are willingly doing the financiers bidding. We need a clear idea of an alternative to the cuts – whether implemented at breakneck speed by the ConDem’s, or more slowly by New Labour and the SNP. The alternative is socialism.
Join the SOCIALISTS today Text JOIN with your name & postcode to 07761 818206
email info@socialistpartyscotland.org.uk www.socialistpartyscotland.org.uk