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TUSC to challenge for the Merseyside ‘metro-mayor’
Roger Bannister at UNISON conference
The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is on the ballot paper for the inaugural election of the Liverpool City Region directly-elected Mayor (the 'Metro-Mayor').
Roger Bannister, a member of the UNISON national executive council from the formation of the public services' union in 1993 until his retirement this February, will represent TUSC's anti-austerity socialist message in the May 4th contest.
Roger was a Labour Party member from 1970 until his expulsion in 1986 for his role in the struggle of the Liverpool Labour council against Margaret Thatcher's government. He stood as the TUSC candidate for the Mayor of Liverpool council in May 2016, polling 4,950 votes (5.1%), coming in ahead of the Tories in Britain's eighth biggest city.
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NHS worker socialist Steve to stand for mayor of Doncaster
Steve Williams
The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is pleased to announce that Steve Williams will be standing as the TUSC candidate for Doncaster Mayor in the May elections.
Steve is the chair of the Doncaster District & Bassetlaw UNISON health branch, with a decades-long record of fighting for the NHS.
Steve says: "I've worked in the NHS for 27 years as a mental health nurse. I see first hand the devastating effects of the cuts on the most vulnerable in society.
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Scottish TUSC agrees core policies for May’s local elections
Scottish TUSC on the march
Scottish TUSC activists gathered in Glasgow on February 25th to discuss plans for a 100% anti-austerity, socialist election challenge in May's Scottish local council elections.
A draft manifesto for the elections had been discussed by Scottish TUSC's constituent organisations, the RMT transport workers' union, Socialist Party Scotland, and the Socialist Workers Party, and was agreed by the conference (see below).
The conference heard from a number of trade union speakers from the frontline in the battle against austerity. Dave Semple, a member of the PCS union's DWP Group Executive Committee, speaking in a personal capacity, explained the union's campaign against the mass closures of DWP and HMRC offices and sites. Dave will be a TUSC candidate in Glasgow.
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Campaign for a Sheffield Peoples Budget says ‘end the Amey tree-cutting PFI’
Sheffield TUSC on a recent trees protest
A well-attended Campaign for a Sheffield Peoples Budget public meeting on Monday sent a clear message to Sheffield's Labour council ahead of their budget setting meeting on Friday 3 March: 'Labour council, grow a backbone. Stand up to Tory cuts!'
Around 40 local trade unionists and community campaigners heard speeches from Clare Goonan (PCS union, Save Eastern Avenue Job Centre); Julie Marsland and Stella Garnham (Unison, Save Hurlfield View); Tim Jones (Sheffield Mental Health Action Group); Chris Rust (trees campaigner); Pete Davies (GMB union at Veolia and Amey); and Neil Carbutt (Fire Brigades Union).
They all explained the effects of Tory government imposed austerity cuts on the most vulnerable people in Sheffield, but were also scathing about the Labour council passing on these cuts without any resistance.
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No Southern Rail on Merseyside – TUSC backs RMT campaign to save train guards
RMT president Sean Hoyle
The RMT transport workers' union is stepping up its campaign to save the safety critical role of train guards on Britain's railways, the issue that lies behind the long-running dispute on Southern Rail. But it's not just Southern that is putting railway safety at risk.
The Northern Rail franchise awarded last year to the Arriva train operating company includes plans to switch some routes to Driver Only Operation (DOO). And now the RMT is in dispute with Merseyrail, after its failure to provide assurances about the train guards' role when it introduces new rolling stock on the network.
The RMT general secretary Mick Cash has made the union's position on DOO "perfectly clear" to Merseyrail (RMT press release, 2nd February). "We will not agree to any extensions of DOO and will fight to retain the safety critical role of the guard and to keep a guard on the train", he said. On March 7th the RMT will be staging a 9-30am protest in Derby Square, Liverpool to take its campaign to the public.
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Another UNISON branch backs ‘no cuts budget’ strategy to defend council services
Lobbying Leicester council (with former TUSC councillor Wayne Naylor, centre)
Leicester City UNISON branch has become the latest local government trade union body to present an alternative No Cuts Budget proposal to its local council.
Like other council union branches that have taken the same stance (see for example http://www.tusc.org.uk/17325/10-01-2017/carmarthenshire-unison-shows-the-way-on-fighting-council-cuts), the report submitted by Leicester UNISON is based on the strategy that the council should use its reserves and borrowing powers to refuse to make cuts today in order to allow it to build support for a campaign to reverse the national cuts to local authority funding.
"In proposing this 'no cuts' budget", they write, "we acknowledge that this would be a one-off budget that could not be repeated in three years' time". But jobs and services could be protected now, buying time to build support for a campaign, including linking with other Labour-controlled councils.
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Now an article in The Independent backs call for Labour councils to stand up to Tory cuts
TUSC supporters lobby Newham council, January 2017
TUSC's campaign for Labour councillors to refuse to implement the Tories' austerity agenda got an unexpected boost last week with a favourable mention in an article by Matthew Turner on The Independent's website.
Matthew was responding to the revelations of how the government had brought off the opposition to its cuts from Surrey county council (see http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/pmqs-labour-councils-sweetheart-deal-surrey-theresa-may-austerity-a7571156.html).
TUSC has pioneered the idea in its electoral campaigns that councils can use their borrowing powers and reserves to set legal no cuts budgets as a first step to building a mass campaign to force the Tories to retreat and properly fund local government.