More Massive Cuts Planned for Bristol City Council

Bristol mayor Marvin Rees on BBC Points West

By Mike Luff, Bristol Unison member, personal capacity

Bristol is facing a massive attack on its jobs and services, with a rapidly capitulating newly elected Labour mayor and its Labour controlled council. The Mayor, when challenged on the television that he was elected on an anti austerity platform, surprised the interviewer saying by saying “NO”.

Proposed cuts include the halving of bus subsidies, charges for users of dementia service, fees for disabled parking bays, handing over parks from Council control, cuts in museum hours, reduction of lollipop controls, ending of companion bus passes for carers, library service closures and some removal of short term help for paying bills – the list goes on. This amounts to £27 million cuts for 2017/2018, and then there is a further £65m cuts by 2020. Even the Mayor describes his proposed cuts as “horrifically unpalatable”.

This is in addition to 1000 full time equivalent posts being cut, one sixth of the workforce over the next few months. This will inevitably lead to hundreds of compulsory redundancies. No service closures have been announced, so we are likely to see reductions in services. As a Regional Unison officer said ”the cuts in jobs are not sustainable at such thin levels”. Services will easily collapse.

On the day before these announcements, the Anti Cuts Alliance, BADACA, met with Mayor Rees. We gave a clear way forward to build a mass popular campaign of trade unions, communities and campaigns from across the city, which would strengthen the demand for the return of our money from this weak Tory Government. By using reserves, prudential borrowing, the cuts can be frozen legally for a period, during which such a campaign can be built. This could act as a beacon to other authorities to build a national campaign to defeat the Tory government cuts.

The excuse given for not trying to build such a campaign was that it would weaken negotiations with the government! The fact that such an approach has been used and failed over the previous years is conveniently forgotten. On the following day, Sajid Javid, the Local Government Secretary visited Bristol and was asked about the government funding, he said “What I say is local government are looking to use their money more efficiently and having to make savings”.

Jeremy Corbyn has visited Bristol supporting Rees on a number of occasions  during the election campaign stating “the message of opposition to austerity”. Jeremy has to face up to those who are undermining the general election campaign of an anti austerity government by carrying out the Tory cuts.

Bristol and District Anti-Cuts Alliance public meeting

Report back of meeting between BADACA and Mayor Rees

7.30pm, Monday 17th October

Tony Benn House, 92 Victoria St, BS1 6AY

Come to the meeting and hear a full report back of the discussion between Marvin Rees representatives of BADACA. We will also be discussing how we can resist this latest round of swingeing cuts.

Changes to ESA: more attacks on disabled people

By Matt Gordon, Bristol Socialist Party

On 28 January changes to the Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) come into force that will see hundreds of thousands of sick and disabled people at risk of losing vital benefits.

These changes were tabled as 'minor clarifications' at the end of 2012 and have not been discussed by parliament, but in reality they completely change how ESA is awarded and will have a huge impact on some of the most vulnerable people in the country. Sick and disabled people will have their individual needs ignored and the support needed to manage their conditions could be withdrawn - instead they will be told they are 'fit to work'. This alone will be devastating for many, without even asking the question, fit to work in what jobs?

The changes to the WCA will give the 'healthcare professionals' at Atos even more power to withhold benefits. Assessors will now make judgements not just about a condition as it is at the time of the assessment, but about how that condition might 'improve' on the basis of medication, treatment or adjustments, whether or not these are suitable or easily available on the NHS. And these judgements can be made without the opinion or wishes of the claimant being taken into account.ESA was introduced in 2008 under Labour and was claimed by the government to improve the chances of getting those with long-term illnesses and profound disabilities back into work. In reality this benefit is awarded, or not awarded, via the deeply flawed and heavily criticised Work Capability Assessment (WCA), administered by notorious French company Atos.

Disability groups have drawn attention to the so-called 'imaginary wheelchair' aspect of the WCA test, where the assessors consider the improved ability to work if the claimant were to use a wheelchair - without discussing the suitability of a wheelchair or considering whether they are compatible with a particular workplace or their availability. This aspect of 'imaginative guesswork' will be extended to hearing aids, guide dogs, walking sticks and prosthetic limbs - so it is not just imaginary wheelchairs, but imaginary dogs and limbs as well!

These changes show that the Con-Dem government is not only out of touch with the hardship faced by sick and disabled people, but increasingly out of touch with reality itself.

Ordinary people live in the real world and not the imaginary world of the millionaire cabinet. We cannot 'imagine' the coalition out of existence, but we can stop the cuts by building a mass campaign that links the struggles of the disabled and unemployed with those of workers under attack.

Paralympics, Atos scandal, Remploy closures... Con-Dems win gold for hypocrisy!

By Les Woodward, national convenor, Remploy trade union consortium

http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/15093/29-08-2012/paralympics-atos-scandal-remploy-closures-con-dems-win-gold-for-hypocrisy 
The ethos that despite being disabled, a person should be able to fulfil their own potential, through holding down a job and being a productive member of society, was also the ethos that eventually led to the setting up of the first Remploy factory in 1946.Millions are watching the 2012 Paralympics. The Games aim to inspire young disabled people to take up sport, compete at the highest level and illustrate to the world that having a disability doesn't mean that a full, active and challenging life cannot be lived.

The forerunner of the Paralympics started in 1948 in Stoke Mandeville Hospital as a way of using sporting competition as a form of healing and therapy for disabled ex-service personnel, many of whom were recovering from injuries suffered in World War Two.

2012 will be a memorable year for disabled people who will be part of the Paralympics, either as spectators or participants. It will also be a memorable year for the disabled workers of Remploy, but the memories will be poles apart.

The disabled athletes, their families and fans, will have joy and excitement. They will look back on 2012 as the year they came to the Games, and left with souvenirs and full photograph albums to record every joyous second.

The disabled Remploy workers and their able-bodied comrades, however, will have bad memories. Their factories, which have provided good quality employment for the best part of 70 years, will shut their gates for the last time. They will head, not for gold but for the dole and a life of poverty and deprivation as they get dumped on the scrapheap.

This will be then vastly exacerbated by the Con-Dems' cold cruelty: with benefits slashed and denied financial and other support to live independently, disabled people are also being demonised as "scroungers", and abuse towards them is rocketing.

In the Con-Dems' arrogance, brought about by the 'Born to Rule' attitude that they have all grown up with, they have ignored the big questions that will be on every working class disabled person's lips, especially if they are ex-Remploy workers or victims of Atos, sickeningly one of the prime sponsors of the Olympics and Paralympics.

Why is it that disabled people are encouraged to compete on the field of sport, partake as competitors in activities from which able bodied athletes are segregated, while being employed in a workplace alongside other disabled people in a supported environment is not acceptable? The government, some charities and, to their shame, some trade unions seem to find having fun together acceptable, but not working together.

Why should disabled people have to suffer the stress of the 'work capability' assessment administered by Atos? The sole aim of this cruel process seems to be to push as many people as possible off sickness benefits, as part of the £18 billion welfare cuts.

No Remploy closures. The factories should be run for disabled people, by disabled people, where people with all forms of disability can fulfil their employment potential in the short, medium and long term.

Fight all welfare cuts. Kick Atos out of the system. End the work capability assessment. A living wage and fulfilling work opportunities for all without compulsion.

Disabled People Against Cuts organising against Atos

From Monday 27th to Friday 31st August, Disabled People Against Cuts is organising the Atos Games - five days of action against a company that's sponsoring the Paralympics but wrecking disabled people's lives.

DPAC is calling on disabled people, disabled activists, families, colleagues, friends and supporters to come together and fight back against Atos's attacks.

They are asking the whole of the anti-cuts movement to join them in opposing a company that is driving through the government's brutal cuts agenda.

Details available on:

http://www.dpac.uk.net/2012/08/latest-information-on-atos-games-week/

Hardest Hit Demo - Bristol Saturday 22nd October

HARDEST HIT DEMO BRISTOL 

22nd October 2011

12-2pm

March starts at College Green (Circular route) at 12pm

Rally starts at College Green at 1pm

Website: http://thehardesthit.wordpress.com/octoberaction/south-west/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=217222128331466

Anti-Cuts Alliance: http://www.bristolanticutsalliance.org.uk/

From the website:
Disabled people in the South West, along with their families and friends, are taking to the streets in Bristol to protest against Government cuts to disability benefits and services. Join us and help to make sure all our voices are heard.

The march will leave College Green at 12pm, although we expect people will begin to assemble from 11.30am. The march will return to College Green where a rally will start at 1.15pm. We plan to have a range of speakers who will keep us informed and entertained. Our rally compare Andy Rickell is Chief Executive of the Vassal Centre Trust. He will be joined on stage by MP for Bristol East Kerry McCarthy and Roger Berry the former MP for Kingswood who will share their views on the proposed changes. We will also be joined by a number of disabled people from across the South West who can speak from their own experiences about what the proposed cuts to benefits and services will mean to them as disabled people trying to live independent and fulfilling lives.

Please note that, whilst we have endeavoured to make the march route as accessible as we can, the centre of Bristol has a number of hills and some cobbled streets, which we are not able to avoid. People who don’t feel able to join the march are welcome to stay in the College Green area whilst the march is taking place.

General information about College Green can be found here

Information on blue badge parking is here which includes a searchable car park finder. A public transport map of Bristol can be downloaded – the buses shown linking Temple Meads train station and Park Street are the 20 and 904 click here.

There is also a free bus which runs from Station Approach – directly in front of Temple Meads train station. The nearest stop for College Green is on Colston Avenue, near the Jobcentre which is about 300m away but they tell us they may be able to drop people by Sainsbury’s, which is a bit closer. The service starts at 10am and runs till 6am. Buses leave Temple Meads on the hour and half hour. Buses back to Temple Meads leave Colston Avenue at 15 and 45 minutes past each hour. We hope to have volunteers at the station who will be able to meet people outside the station and assist people to the bus.

In addition to the free bus Unite are providing a mini bus to run people from Temple Meads to College Green and back again. The mini bus will be leaving Temple Meads around 11.30am. If you would like to use this service you need to email southwest@hardesthit.org.uk, telling us the time your train gets in and your mobile number (if you have one)

Details of coach pick up points can be found at the bottom of the page.

As new speakers and contributors are confirmed we will be adding them to this page, so do keep an eye out for any changes. Please also help us spread the word about Hardest Hit. Bristol is one of many cities across the South West that have been severely affected by budget cuts. Across the region people are seeing deep cuts in services such as social care and transport, which they rely on to remain independent. Please come along, and bring as many friends and family as you can. Help us to send a clear message to the Government: stop these cuts.

To register your interest in the march and rally or to volunteer to join our team of stewards please email: southwest@hardesthit.org.uk or call 020 8522 7433

We would like to say a big thank you to BES Systems for their support. They stepped in when we were struggling to find affordable staging, providing us with far more kit than we could ever have afforded.

Coach information
A coach will travel from Torquay toBristol, picking up en route as follows:-

Lymington Road, Torquay 8am
Exeterservices 8.45am
Honiton Motel 9.15am
Junction 25/M5 10am

Seats on the coach must be booked in advance and will be sold on a first come first served basis. To book a coach seat either email southwest@hardesthit.org.uk or call Jo on 01404 881109. Seats cost £10.50 per person, payable on the day.