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TUSC candidates will put Corbyn’s anti-cuts policies into practice in the town halls!
Fighting for No Cuts budgets
In a recent Prime Minister's Question Time Jeremy Corbyn lacerated Theresa May over the financial collapse last month of Northamptonshire County Council and the resulting threat to public services there (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43484836).
Putting her on the spot - was it the responsibility of the Tory councillors' austerity policies in Northamptonshire or Tory austerity policies nationally? - all May could do in the first exchanges was flannel.
But later on she was able to deflect attention from the reality of Tory cuts by attacking the record of right-wing Labour councils in slashing local services. One instance she cited was Birmingham council allowing rubbish to pile up on the streets last summer - while attempting to break a strike against its sacking of 106 bin workers and wage cuts for the rest.
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Mersey TUSC candidates take up the fight to keep the guards on our trains
The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) has announced that it will be standing candidates in this year's local elections against two members of the Liverpool City Region Transport Authority, responsible for trying to push safety-critical guards off the trains on Merseyrail.
The representatives from Halton and Liverpool councils on the transport committee are seeking re-election as councillors on May 3rd. But this time they will be challenged by TUSC candidates Stephen Armstrong, a Unite union workplace rep, and Ann Walsh, the former chair of the Merseyside Pensioners Association, who are committed to backing the RMT transport union's campaign to keep the guards on the trains.
Merseyrail plans to introduce Driver Only Operation (DOO) on the new stock that will come into service by 2020. The Merseyrail franchise is under the control of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, led by the Labour Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram and councillors from Merseyside's six Labour-led councils.
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‘To stand or not to stand’ is the question at Saturday’s TUSC conference
Saturday's conference of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) will feature a keynote debate on the controversial issue of whether or not socialist anti-austerity candidates should stand in this year's local council elections.
The session under the heading, 'Building support for Jeremy Corbyn's anti-cuts policies in the 2018 local elections', will discuss two resolutions that have been submitted to the conference calling on TUSC to put up candidates - but not "against consistent public supporters of Jeremy Corbyn and his anti-austerity policies" (see http://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/411.pdf).
The conference will be chaired by Jeremy Corbyn's old parliamentary backbench colleague, Dave Nellist, the former Labour MP (1983-1992), who is now the chairperson of TUSC. All TUSC supporters are welcome and there will be plenty of opportunity to join the debate.
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TUSC conference to discuss Brexit negotiations stance
TUSC opposes EU-driven austerity
The February 2018 Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) conference includes a forum session entitled 'TUSC and the Brexit negotiations'.
Following extensive debate within our coalition, TUSC decided to campaign for a Leave vote in the June 2016 EU referendum. This included a '20-city tour' of public meetings under the heading, 'The Socialist Case Against the EU', and a campaign against the official recognition and public funding of the right-wing dominated Leave organisations.
Not every TUSC member or supporter backed a Leave position in the referendum. We had wide agreement on the neo-liberal and anti-working class character of many EU directives and regulations but this did not necessarily mean agreement on how to vote in a 'yes or no' referendum in the specific conditions in which it was held.
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Survey confirms right-wing councillors a block to Corbyn’s anti-cuts message
Last autumn the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) national steering committee launched a survey to find out how far local Labour councillors were prepared to back Jeremy Corbyn's anti-cuts policies in the 2018-19 council budget-setting process and, in those councils going to the polls this year, in the 2018 local elections.
Now, as TUSC prepares for a conference debate on what it should do in May's elections (see http://www.tusc.org.uk/events), the survey results are in.
Not unexpectedly, but unfortunately, the survey shows that Labour-controlled councils, still under the domination of Blairite right-wing councillors, are continuing to make drastic cuts to local services, jobs and conditions even under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the national party - over half a billion pounds this year in the 21 councils where detailed information has been collected.
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Obituary: Mary Jackson, 1949-2018
Mary Jackson with Bob Crow, at the 2013 Doncaster mayor election launch
Longstanding Doncaster socialist Mary Jackson has sadly died after a year-long battle against cancer. We send condolences to her husband of 50 years John, and their children Michael, Carol and Peter.
Mary became a socialist through her experiences in the 1984 miners' strike, when with her friend she would picket the local pit and got involved in Women Against Pit Closures.
Her other huge influence was reading Robert Tressell's classic novel The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists. Mary kept wishing this book was updated and finally decided to take that job on herself by writing The Great Money Trick, which explains how the workers are robbed by the bosses. Partly autobiographical, this is a wonderful glimpse into working class life in her village, Thorne, where she lived for 50 years.
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Steering committee sets timetable for February TUSC conference
TUSC conference January 2017
The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) national steering committee has agreed the agenda and timetable for the TUSC conference to be held in London on February 10th.
The main conference session will be under the heading, 'Building support for Jeremy Corbyn's anti-cuts policies in the 2018 local elections'.
Platform speakers from the constituent components of the TUSC steering committee, the RMT transport workers' union, the Socialist Party, and the Individual Members' representatives, will introduce the discussion - which will include the controversial question of whether or not socialist anti-austerity candidates should stand in next year's council elections.