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TUSC conference debates election plans and anti-cuts campaigning
TUSC conference opening platform, from the left: Sean Hoyle and Paul Reilly (RMT), Dave Nellist (Chair), Hannah Sell (Socialist Party) and Charlie Kimber (SWP). Photo Paul Mattsson
The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) met in conference last Saturday to discuss its plans for 2017. The main session was a forum under the heading, 'TUSC's role now and the 2017 elections', exploring how TUSC should operate in the welcome new political situation opened up by Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party.
This included the question of whether or not TUSC should stand candidates in the local elections taking place this May, with platform speakers from the three constituent organisations of TUSC - the RMT transport workers' union, the Socialist Party, and the SWP.
Reports of this debate have appeared in The Socialist, at http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/24360/01-02-2017/tusc-to-stand-or-not-to-stand and in Socialist Worker, at https://socialistworker.co.uk/art/44016/TUSC+tackles+the+elephant+in+the+room. A resolution was agreed by the conference (see text below), which will now go to the TUSC national steering committee meeting on February 15th.
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TUSC guides to the 2017 elections
2017 Elections Directory
The TUSC national steering committee has published detailed guides to the elections taking place on Thursday May 4th, including a timetable and procedures to approve any TUSC candidates there may be in these contests.
There are elections this year for all the 32 Scottish councils, the 22 councils in Wales, and 33 English county councils and unitary authorities. At the same time there will be Mayoral elections for the new combined authorities' so-called 'Metro-Mayors', in Merseyside, Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire, Teesside, the West of England, and the West Midlands.
As usual TUSC has produced a directory of these elections, listing the councils being contested and their current political control, the number of councillors up for election and, in a new feature, a list of the 210 Labour councillors who publically joined the coup attempt against Jeremy Corbyn last summer who are up for re-election this year! The directory is available on our website at http://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/392.pdf.
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Carmarthenshire UNISON shows the way on fighting council cuts
Carmarthenshire UNISON
The crisis facing local public services is now so intense that it has become unavoidable news even for the tame establishment media. The flashpoint over Christmas was the situation in the NHS, including the tragic story of two patients waiting for attention in A&E unable to get a bed and literally dying on hospital trolleys.
But part of the reason for the crisis in the NHS is the parallel crisis in adult social care, which is provided by local councils. The years of council cuts - by Tory, Liberal Democrat but Labour councils too - has meant that there are record numbers, of elderly patients in particular, fit enough to be discharged but having to remain in their hospital bed because there is no social care provision to enable them to return to their home safely.
The mantra of all bar a handful of councillors has been, 'there is nothing we can do', 'we have no option' but to pass on Tory government cuts to council funding. But the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) has explained that is just not true, councillors can fight back. And now more evidence for our arguments has come from the Carmarthenshire council branch of the public sector workers' union, UNISON, which has produced a 'No cuts' proposal for this year's council budget.
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Campaigning against council cuts – resources for TUSC groups
Peoples Budget briefing pack
The November meeting of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) national steering committee agreed the text of a new model letter to local government union branches, following up the letter to Labour councillors agreed last month (see http://www.tusc.org.uk/17319/20-10-2016/tusc-agrees-new-appeal-to-labour-councillors-to-join-the-fightback).
The letter to council workers is available as a Word document (at http://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/388.doc) so it can be adapted by local groups.
The model letter to Labour councillors is also available both as a Word document (at http://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/383.doc) and as a PDF (at http://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/389.pdf).