The rising revolt

Resistance is growing to the public spending cuts being pushed through by the Westminster government

Richie Venton Posted by on September 2, 2011. Filed under Public Spending Cuts. Posted with the tags:,
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The rising revolt

Fighting school closures in Edinburgh

As the financial markets fluctuate like a frenzied rodeo show, and plunge towards meltdown, workers and communities are being hammered with the price of the crisis created by the rich and their economic system.

Every opponent of cuts must build maximum support for those workers and local communities taking action to resist the cuts, and help forge a mass STUC anti-cuts demonstration in Glasgow on 1 October.

They also need to be arguing and organising in the unions for a united one-day stoppage of the entire public sector later that month.

Worse off

Working class people face brutal consequences as rich protect their profits and privileges.

Asda – themselves no slouches when it comes to profiteering out of workers’ pockets – have published a survey revealing that families are on average £11 a week worse off than a year ago.

This results from a cocktail of pay cuts, price rises and pension cuts meted out by governments and big business.

The cost of travelling (including to work) has officially risen 16 per cent; rents have gone through the roof by 16 per cent; utility bills are rocketing by 18-19 per cent; childcare costs a crushing £800 more than last year; and food price inflation beggars belief every time you reach the checkouts.

Across the entire public sector – with knock-on effects in the so-called third sector – workers have had their pay frozen, and in some cases cut in absolute terms.

Pension contribution hikes are a double taxation on these workers, driving many below the breadline.

Private sector workers are being told they are lucky to have a job, let alone a pay rise.

One in nine retail outlets in Glasgow may have been shut by the recession, but the retail giants’ profits are booming, whilst they slash their workforces, demanding more work of less staff, with below-inflation pay awards.

Resistance grows

As we report in this Voice hundreds marched in support of the Accord Centre for disabled adults in Glasgow’s east end, being shut by the Labour council in favour of a bus park for the Commonwealth Games.

Teachers are about to be balloted for strike action by the EIS union – in opposition to savage cuts to their incomes through 50 per cent increases in their pension contributions [from 6.4 per cent to 9.6 per cent of salaries] for pensions that will be worth 15 per cent less – after working longer!

Parents and others in Renfrewshire are up in arms at the plan by the Greater Glasgow & Clyde Health Board to shut the children’s ward in Paisley’s Royal Alexandra Hospital. Over 3,000 people have signed the online petition in a mere 3 weeks. They have poured into public meetings in protest.

Strikes and protests

Workers in Quarriers are striking against horrendous pay cuts; ten per cent of staff stand to lose £7,000 a year! They are incensed that this voluntary sector employer, funded mostly by local councils, is using the excuse of a £1.4million deficit to claw back £2.4millon from staff’s pay packets!

And coastguards are mounting a campaign to stop the slaughter of the life-and­death service they provide. The Tories were forced to beat a partial retreat by the fury that erupted in affected communities when they announced their original plans

But they still want to shut eight stations – including Forth and Clyde – and shed 140 jobs. Their scheme would mean no coastguard station along the entire coast from Holyhead (in North Wales) to Aberdeen.

This is mind-boggling recklessness towards the health and safety of countless communities and hundreds of thousands of passengers, workers at sea and on land, and people using the coastal waters for recreation.

Build the STUC People First march

Trade unionists, community activists, disabled people, students, unemployed campaigners and socialists are stepping up their efforts to build a mighty march on Saturday 1 October, in Glasgow, on the People First demo and rally called by the STUC.

This is the immediate opportunity to put tens of thousands of Scots on the streets as the smug Tories assemble for their annual Party conference.

It also comes just weeks before the SNP government are due to publish their spending plans for next year giving the lie to the tale that they are opposed to cuts.

It is the chance to unite the various struggles and strikes.

It is a golden opportunity to build workers’ confidence for a one-day strike across the entire public sector, which would be a powerful battering ram against the Butchers’ Cabinet and their servile echoes at local level.

VOICES FROM THE FRONTLINE

SOME of those in the firing line spoke to the Voice

All these cases nail the gov­ernment lie that frontline servic­es will be protected during the cuts; that only ‘backroom’ staff will suffer.

You can’t get much more front-line than a centre for dis­abled adults; Quarriers staff who care for vulnerable children and adults; a kids’ hospital ward; or life-saving coast-guards.

Their cases deserves the wholehearted backing of any­one who – like the Scottish Socialist Party – thinks taxing the rich is a better idea than attacking the rest of us!

COASTGUARDS:

This is a tragedy waiting to happen!

Forth and Clyde stations both face closure. In Clyde’s case, they cover 2,500 miles of rugged (often treacherous) coastline; 336 square nautical miles. And local knowledge is irreplaceable. The government, by contrast, seems to be more concerned with saving money than saving lives.

Richard Morgans, one of the coastguards and PCS union member, told the Voice:

“We deal with an area includ­ing 10 major islands; 25-30 cruise liners with about 53,000 passengers; ferries to Ireland and the islands (Arran alone fer­ries 6.4million passengers a year; Ireland 1.9million).

We deal with harbours and vessels, with historically very high accident rates, and 12 airstrips.

Annual figures measure inci­dents according to Distress, Urgency and Safety. Clyde coastguard station was the 3rd highest of all three categories combined last year, and 2nd highest on the two most urgent categories of incident. And yet they want to shut us down!”

The PCS union members have created an online and paper petition; won support off MPs, MSPs and councillors, and plan to hold a rally in Greenock. The central lesson of the campaigns that saved Stornoway and Shetland sta­tions from closure is the need to ignite the fury of local communi­ties, which the SSP has pledged to assist the coast-guards in doing.

CHILDREN’S WARD, ROYAL ALEXANDRA HOS­PITAL PAISLEY

As part of £57million cuts, the Health Board want to shut the children’s ward (Ward 15) in Paisley’s hospital, shunting sick kids and their families at least 10 miles to Yorkhill, Glasgow.

As Sandra, one of the moth­ers at the heart of the campaign to stop the closure told the first campaign public meeting:

“I have two sons, with autism, and Ward 15 is more than just a safety net. You can go there and it will be fixed, whereas it would take me 45 minutes by public transport to Yorkhill, and there are no buses

from my area on a Sunday!

“Last year there were nearly 5,000 admissions to Ward 15; that’s 5,000 clinical reasons against closure. Kids who are seen and treated but not admit­ted to the ward save the NHS money, on top of the £10billion a year that carers save the NHS!”

Sheila, a UNISON rep, warned that people need to “talk with their feet as well as their mouths. Staff don’t know where they are going to be working next. We need to keep the serv­ices local, instead of losing yet another service at RAH – when we have the second busiest A&E unit in Scotland.”

SSP members are helping other parents and staff mount a resistance, demanding that the Health Board and local council refuse to pass on cuts, and demand the cash off Holyrood to save all local health services

QUARRIERS:

Quarriers workers, members of UNISON, are striking against crucifying pay cuts of up to 23 per cent, plus attacks on pen­sions, sick pay and other condi­tions.

An overwhelming 3:1 vote to strike gives a hint of their fury at bosses who are using the recession and public sector cuts as an excuse to slash wages, and attack and try to victimise those workers who stand up for themselves.

Several are being threatened with Gross Misconduct for speaking out about the impact of the cuts on them. Top man­agement will take cuts of 3 per cent, whereas the rest of the workforce face cuts of £3-5,000, and more for some.

Councils lacking the back­bone to fight for more funding off the Scottish government are passing on their cuts to volun­tary sector bodies that they largely fund, like Quarriers, in the hope people don’t spot the guilty politicians’ role in these cuts.

One Quarriers worker told the Voice:

“I stand to lose over £400 a month. I have 3 children. I am going to struggle to pay my mortgage. I will need to give up my car as I won’t be able to afford to keep it on the road. The worst effect this will have is on my children as we will strug­gle to make ends meet.

“The thought of losing my home that I have worked so hard for terrifies me. I feel it is ironic that a charity that started with a vision to protect children who I have been loyal to is going to have an adverse effect on my own children.

“I would lose £4189 yearly and £349 per month. I present­ly live with my partner and I have two children, a daughter and an infant son.

In preparation for these cuts. I have cancelled many Direct Debits, restricted food shopping etc. I reduced planned holiday activities with my family, basical­ly kept my outgoings to a mini­mal.

“Once these cuts are imple­mented I will be forced to sell our home and I don’t know where I will live, my family has no room in their homes, I won’t be able to buy another house and Housing Associations have long waiting lists. My family and I will be homeless.”