Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts leaflet for local elections in Bristol, May 22nd 2014.
Promoted by Tom Baldwin (agent), Top Flat, 96 Cotswold Road, Bristol, BS3 4NS.
Showing posts with label Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts. Show all posts
Wednesday, 14 May 2014
Wednesday, 7 May 2014
Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts candidates standing in every ward in Bristol
Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts candidates and supporters at the Bristol May Day rally
The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC)
will be standing candidates in all 24 seats in Bristol being contested in the
local elections on May 22nd. The candidates will appear on the
ballot paper under the description 'Trade Unionists and Socialists Against
Cuts'. People across the city will now have the option of voting for a real
alternative to the main parties - anti-cuts campaigners who will put defending
local jobs and services ahead of chasing their own political careers.
TUSC candidates:
Avonmouth - Patrick Hulme
Bedminster - Robin Clapp
Bishopston - Martin Saddington
Bishopsworth - Joe Etherington
Brislington East - Matt Gordon
Brislington West - Ibado Ali Mahamoud
Filwood - Marion Jackson
Hartcliffe - Rob Nash
Henbury - David Rawlings
Hengrove - Mark Baker
Henleaze - Chris Farrell
Horfield - Martyn Ahmet
Kingsweston - Caroline Vincent
Knowle - Domenico Hill
Lockleaze - Roger Thomas
Redland - Laura Collins
Southmead - John Yeandle
Southville - Matt Carey
St George West - Tom Boyd
Stockwood - Phil Bishop
Stoke Bishop - Michael Wright
Westbury-on-Trym - Mike Luff
Whitchurch Park - Frankie Langeland
Windmill Hill - Tom Baldwin
Previous TUSC mayoral candidate, Tom Baldwin,
currently standing for Windmill Hill, is a TUSC spokesperson. Tom said:
“We’re standing to give a voice back to ordinary
people and protect the jobs and services that we need.
“£83m of cuts will be made by Bristol City
Council. These will be devastating for the city with the loss of 1000 jobs and
vicious cuts to vital services like libraries and care. Yet all the parties on
the council – Labour, Tory, LibDem and Green – are involved in George
Ferguson’s cuts cabinet while UKIP say they want even more cuts!
“Nobody else is standing up for people like us
and offering any opposition to the onslaught from the Tory government. We’ve
been hit hard by a recession we didn’t cause and we’re still being hit hard
now. If there’s a recovery then where’s ours?
“There’s plenty of money in this country but we
can’t wait on the charity of the rich and their representatives in power. We
need a voice of our own, not indistinguishable politicians falling over each
other to do the Tories’ dirty work and pass on the cuts.
“Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts
councillors would oppose all cuts. We would move an amended budget based on
Bristol’s needs, not carrying out the Tory agenda of robbing from the poor and
giving to the rich. We’d build a campaign that can take them on and win back
the money they’ve stolen from the city.
“I’ve met a lot of people campaigning bravely and
tirelessly to defend the services they rely upon but this finds no reflection
in the council chamber. Our members are out there campaigning with them all
year round, not just in elections but we think working-class people also need a
political voice on their side.”
TUSC policies include:
·
Opposing all cuts to council jobs, services, pay
and conditions.
·
Refusing to pass on budget cuts. Instead we will
move a budget based on the needs of the people of Bristol, not the demands of
the Tories. We will mobilise a campaign to try and win back the money the
government have stolen from the city.
·
Refusing to evict tenants who can’t pay rent due to
the bedroom tax and other benefit cuts.
·
Building council houses and capping rents to meet
housing needs.
·
Opposing any privatisation measures affecting
council services.
·
Campaigning for the Living Wage for all staff
employed by directly by the council or working on council contracts.
·
Using all powers available to councillors to
oppose cuts and privatisation of local NHS services.
·
Candidates standing on a worker’s wage, taking no
payments or expenses beyond what is necessary to do the job.
See www.tusc.org.uk for more information.
Monday, 2 December 2013
TUSC Public Meeting Tomorrow – Why We Need Anti-Cuts Councillors
Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition
Fighting Austerity – Why We Need Anti-Cuts Councillors
Tuesday Dec 3rd
7.45pm
Youth Hostel, 14 Narrow Quay, Bristol, BS1 4QA
The government is demanding Bristol City Council cut £90m from their budget in the next 3 years. This is one quarter of the total budget, already reduced by years of austerity.
This will mean 1000 people could lose their jobs. Services will be shut. This will hit hardest in so-called discretionary services like libraries, parks and public toilets. These are vital to Bristol but don’t have to be provided by law.
Services that remain open may be privatised or run by volunteers, not trained professionals. Charities may be expected to step in but Unions and anti-cuts campaigners will be working hard to stop this, starting by lobbying consultation meetings.
But will our mayor and councillors listen? They have already shown themselves to be dependable servants of the Tory government, pushing through the cuts locally. Last year’s cuts budget went through with only one vote against.
While anti-cuts activists don’t have a political voice we are fighting with one hand tied behind out backs. We need local representatives who will stand up for local people, not this shameful shower of collaborators. Last year Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts stood for mayor to oppose all cuts. We said the budget should be based on what local people need, not Tory demands for austerity. We should fight to get back the money they’ve stolen. Next year we’ll be standing in every council seat in Bristol. But we don’t just need your vote, we need your help. Join us in supporting every protest, industrial action and occupation needed to stop these savage attacks on ordinary people.
Tuesday, 19 November 2013
BRISTOL COUNCIL: £90M Cuts, 1000 Job losses, services slashed… DEFEND JOBS AND SERVICES!
The government is demanding Bristol City Council cut £90m from their budget in the next 3 years. This is one quarter of the total budget, already reduced by years of austerity.
This will mean 1000 people could lose their jobs. Services will be shut. This will hit hardest in so-called discretionary services like libraries, parks and public toilets. These are vital to Bristol but don’t have to be provided by law.
Services that remain open may be privatised or run by volunteers, not trained professionals. Charities may be expected to step in but Unions and anti-cuts campaigners will be working hard to stop this, starting by lobbying consultation meetings.
But will our mayor and councillors listen? They have already shown themselves to be dependable servants of the Tory government, pushing through the cuts locally. Last year’s cuts budget went through with only one vote against.
While anti-cuts activists don’t have a political voice we are fighting with one hand tied behind out backs. We need local representatives who will stand up for local people, not this shameful shower of collaborators. Last year Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts stood for mayor to oppose all cuts. We said the budget should be based on what local people need, not Tory demands for austerity. We should fight to get back the money they’ve stolen. Next year we’ll be standing in every council seat in Bristol. But we don’t just need your vote, we need your help. Join us in supporting every protest, industrial action and occupation needed to stop these savage attacks on ordinary people.
Public Meeting
Fighting Austerity – Why We Need Anti-Cuts Councillors
Tuesday Dec 3rd, 7.45pm, Youth Hostel, 14 Narrow Quay, Bristol, BS1 4QA
Wednesday, 8 May 2013
Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition election results in Bristol
Here are the TUSC results for the recent Bristol City Council elections. Some excellent results amongst them and overall it was a good campaign especially considering the low turnout and the limited nature of our resources compared to the main parties and parties such as UKIP. The important thing is that a clear working-class anti-cuts alternative was available on the ballot paper and that a marker has been laid down for future elections. Thanks again to all that took part and gave us support. Don't let the cutters get away with it!
A full breakdown of the nationwide results and some analysis can be found here: http://www.tusc.org.uk/pdfs/2013/TUSCElectionReport2013.pdf
Ashley - Tom Baldwin 49 (1.38%)
Avonmouth - Patrick Hulme 28 (1.03%)
Bishopston - Chris Farrell 32 (0.92%)
Cotham - Caroline Vincent 34 (1.49%)
Eastville - Mark Baker 84 (3.25%)
Frome Vale - Phil Bishop 36 (1.36%)
Hillfields - Matt Gordon 188 (9.14%)
Horfield - John Yeandle 35 (1.39%)
Kingweston - Roger Thomas 40 (1.78%)
Lawrence Hill - Fiona Joyce 66 (2.62%)
Redland - Martyn Ahmet 30 (1.12%)
St. George East - Mike Luff 110 (5.21%)
St. George West - Bernie Lyons 54 (2.40%)
Southmead - Domenico Hill 81 (4.14%)
Total - 867 1.48%
A full breakdown of the nationwide results and some analysis can be found here: http://www.tusc.org.uk/pdfs/2013/TUSCElectionReport2013.pdf
Ashley - Tom Baldwin 49 (1.38%)
Avonmouth - Patrick Hulme 28 (1.03%)
Bishopston - Chris Farrell 32 (0.92%)
Cotham - Caroline Vincent 34 (1.49%)
Eastville - Mark Baker 84 (3.25%)
Frome Vale - Phil Bishop 36 (1.36%)
Hillfields - Matt Gordon 188 (9.14%)
Horfield - John Yeandle 35 (1.39%)
Kingweston - Roger Thomas 40 (1.78%)
Lawrence Hill - Fiona Joyce 66 (2.62%)
Redland - Martyn Ahmet 30 (1.12%)
St. George East - Mike Luff 110 (5.21%)
St. George West - Bernie Lyons 54 (2.40%)
Southmead - Domenico Hill 81 (4.14%)
Total - 867 1.48%
Wednesday, 1 May 2013
Vote Trade Unionists & Socialists Cuts in Bristol tomorrow! Vote NO TO ALL CUTS
Trade Unionists & Socialists Againsts Cuts are once again standing in tomorow's Bristol City Council elections - Thursday May 2nd.
It has been an excellent campaign so far, with two public meetings, numerous hustings, two radio interviews and countless stalls, activities and public events - sincere thanks to all those who have helped with the campaign, nominated us to stand or helped in any way.
Vote TUSC Against Cuts for councillors who fight the cuts! Vote NO TO ALL CUTS!
Its not too late to spread the word....
Here is our Bristol Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/TUSCBristol
Here is the list of candidates for Bristol: http://www.tusc.org.uk/candidates.php
Here is the article about us on the BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22350097
The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition policy platform:
Oppose all cuts to council jobs, services, pay and conditions - we reject the claim that 'some cuts' are necessary to our services.
Reject increases in council tax, rent and service charges to compensate for government cuts.
Vote against the privatisation of council jobs and services, or the transfer of council services to 'social enterprises' or 'arms-length' management organisations, which are first steps to privatisation.
Use all the legal powers available to councils, including powers to refer local NHS decisions, initiate referenda and organise public commissions and consultations, to oppose both the cuts and government polices which centrally impose the transfer of public services to private bodies.
When faced with government cuts to council funding, councils should refuse to implement the cuts. We will support councils which in the first instance use their reserves and prudential borrowing powers to avoid passing them on - while arguing that the best way to mobilise the mass campaign that is necessary to defeat the cuts is to set a budget that meets the needs of the local community and demands that the government makes up the shortfall.
Trade Unionists and Socialist Coalition policies
The working class and peoples of Britain face a ruling class offensive which will intensify over the coming period.
It is an offensive against public services, incomes, living standards and trade union rights in order to boost monopoly profit. Not content with the banks receiving the biggest bail-out in the history of British capitalism, big business aims to make workers and their families pay to serve the interests, first and foremost, of the City of London's financial institutions.
It is also an offensive which will be stepped up regardless of which party wins the forthcoming General Election. The likelihood is that a Tory government will make earlier and deeper cuts in public spending than a New Labour one. A Labour government may also be more vulnerable to trade union pressure not to outlaw industrial action in 'essential' services.
But both main parties intend to prolong the imperialist occupation of Afghanistan and to maintain the expansion of nuclear power and a new generation of British nuclear weapons.
Therefore this coalition is contesting the General Election to show that there is a clear left-wing alternative to policies of public sector cuts, privatisation, militarism and environmental degradation.
We recognise that there will be Labour and non-Labour candidates standing in the general election who agree with our policies, who share our socialist aspirations and who will be supported by left and labour movement organisations participating in our coalition.
We also recognise that there are different strategic views about the way forward for the left in Britain, whether the Labour Party can be reclaimed by the labour movement, or whether a new workers' party needs to be established.
But our coalition is united on the need for mass resistance to the ruling class offensive, and for an alternative programme of left-wing policies to help inspire and direct such resistance. These are the policies which we therefore propose to put before the people:
PUBLIC OWNERSHIP, NOT PRIVATISED PROFIT
Stop all privatisation, including the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and Public-Private Partnerships (PPP), and the immoral privatisation of prisons. Bring privatised public services and utilities back into public ownership under democratic control.
NO CUTS - QUALITY PUBLIC SERVICES
Take rail back into public ownership and build an integrated, low-pollution public transport system.
For a high-quality, free National Health Service under democratic public ownership and control.
Stop council estate sell-offs and build eco-friendly, affordable public housing.
Good, free education for all, under democratic local authority control; student grants not fees.
Keep Royal Mail as a publicly-owned service, not a privatised cash cow.
JOBS, NOT HANDOUTS TO BANKERS & BILLIONAIRES
Bring banks and finance institutions into genuine public ownership under democratic control, instead of giving huge handouts to the very capitalists who caused the crisis.
Tax the rich. For progressive tax on rich corporations and individuals, with a crackdown on tax avoidance.
For massive investment in environmental projects.
EMPLOYMENT & TRADE UNION RIGHTS
Repeal the anti-trade union laws.
A minimum wage set at half average adult male earnings, with no exemptions.
Invest to create and protect jobs, including for young people.
Solidarity with workers taking action to defend jobs, conditions, pensions, public services and trade unions. Reinstate full trade union rights to prison officers.
PROTECT OUR ENVIRONMENT - STOP GLOBAL WARMING
Deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions - otherwise climate change, caused by capitalism, will destroy us.
Invest in publicly-owned and controlled renewable energy.
Move to sustainable, low-pollution industry and farming - stop the pollution that is destroying our environment.
Recognise that many of our planet's resources are limited and that capitalism fritters them away for profit.
Produce for need, not profit, and design goods for reuse and recycling.
DECENT PENSIONS & BENEFITS
Restore the pre-Thatcher real value of pensions. Reinstate the link with average earnings.
Protect entitlement to benefits; for living benefits; end child poverty.
DEMOCRACY, DIVERSITY & JUSTICE
Welcome diversity and oppose racism, fascism and discrimination on the grounds of race, sex, disability, sexuality, age and all other forms of prejudice.
Defend the right to asylum. No scapegoating of migrant workers.
Ensure women have genuinely equal rights and pay.
Defend our liberties and make police and security democratically accountable.
SOLIDARITY NOT WAR
Bring home all British troops from Afghanistan immediately - no more wars for resources.
No more spending on a new generation of nuclear weapons, huge aircraft carriers or irrelevant eurofighters - convert arms spending into socially useful products and services.
An independent foreign policy, based on international solidarity – no more being a US poodle, no moves towards a capitalist, militarist United States of Europe, no Lisbon Treaty.
SOCIALISM
For a democratic socialist society run in the interests of the people not the millionaires. For democratic public ownership of the major companies and banks that dominate the economy, so that production and services can be planned to meet the needs of all and to protect the environment.
Oppose all cuts to council jobs, services, pay and conditions - we reject the claim that 'some cuts' are necessary to our services.
Reject increases in council tax, rent and service charges to compensate for government cuts.
Vote against the privatisation of council jobs and services, or the transfer of council services to 'social enterprises' or 'arms-length' management organisations, which are first steps to privatisation.
Use all the legal powers available to councils, including powers to refer local NHS decisions, initiate referenda and organise public commissions and consultations, to oppose both the cuts and government polices which centrally impose the transfer of public services to private bodies.
When faced with government cuts to council funding, councils should refuse to implement the cuts. We will support councils which in the first instance use their reserves and prudential borrowing powers to avoid passing them on - while arguing that the best way to mobilise the mass campaign that is necessary to defeat the cuts is to set a budget that meets the needs of the local community and demands that the government makes up the shortfall.
Trade Unionists and Socialist Coalition policies
The working class and peoples of Britain face a ruling class offensive which will intensify over the coming period.
It is an offensive against public services, incomes, living standards and trade union rights in order to boost monopoly profit. Not content with the banks receiving the biggest bail-out in the history of British capitalism, big business aims to make workers and their families pay to serve the interests, first and foremost, of the City of London's financial institutions.
It is also an offensive which will be stepped up regardless of which party wins the forthcoming General Election. The likelihood is that a Tory government will make earlier and deeper cuts in public spending than a New Labour one. A Labour government may also be more vulnerable to trade union pressure not to outlaw industrial action in 'essential' services.
But both main parties intend to prolong the imperialist occupation of Afghanistan and to maintain the expansion of nuclear power and a new generation of British nuclear weapons.
Therefore this coalition is contesting the General Election to show that there is a clear left-wing alternative to policies of public sector cuts, privatisation, militarism and environmental degradation.
We recognise that there will be Labour and non-Labour candidates standing in the general election who agree with our policies, who share our socialist aspirations and who will be supported by left and labour movement organisations participating in our coalition.
We also recognise that there are different strategic views about the way forward for the left in Britain, whether the Labour Party can be reclaimed by the labour movement, or whether a new workers' party needs to be established.
But our coalition is united on the need for mass resistance to the ruling class offensive, and for an alternative programme of left-wing policies to help inspire and direct such resistance. These are the policies which we therefore propose to put before the people:
PUBLIC OWNERSHIP, NOT PRIVATISED PROFIT
Stop all privatisation, including the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and Public-Private Partnerships (PPP), and the immoral privatisation of prisons. Bring privatised public services and utilities back into public ownership under democratic control.
NO CUTS - QUALITY PUBLIC SERVICES
Take rail back into public ownership and build an integrated, low-pollution public transport system.
For a high-quality, free National Health Service under democratic public ownership and control.
Stop council estate sell-offs and build eco-friendly, affordable public housing.
Good, free education for all, under democratic local authority control; student grants not fees.
Keep Royal Mail as a publicly-owned service, not a privatised cash cow.
JOBS, NOT HANDOUTS TO BANKERS & BILLIONAIRES
Bring banks and finance institutions into genuine public ownership under democratic control, instead of giving huge handouts to the very capitalists who caused the crisis.
Tax the rich. For progressive tax on rich corporations and individuals, with a crackdown on tax avoidance.
For massive investment in environmental projects.
EMPLOYMENT & TRADE UNION RIGHTS
Repeal the anti-trade union laws.
A minimum wage set at half average adult male earnings, with no exemptions.
Invest to create and protect jobs, including for young people.
Solidarity with workers taking action to defend jobs, conditions, pensions, public services and trade unions. Reinstate full trade union rights to prison officers.
PROTECT OUR ENVIRONMENT - STOP GLOBAL WARMING
Deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions - otherwise climate change, caused by capitalism, will destroy us.
Invest in publicly-owned and controlled renewable energy.
Move to sustainable, low-pollution industry and farming - stop the pollution that is destroying our environment.
Recognise that many of our planet's resources are limited and that capitalism fritters them away for profit.
Produce for need, not profit, and design goods for reuse and recycling.
DECENT PENSIONS & BENEFITS
Restore the pre-Thatcher real value of pensions. Reinstate the link with average earnings.
Protect entitlement to benefits; for living benefits; end child poverty.
DEMOCRACY, DIVERSITY & JUSTICE
Welcome diversity and oppose racism, fascism and discrimination on the grounds of race, sex, disability, sexuality, age and all other forms of prejudice.
Defend the right to asylum. No scapegoating of migrant workers.
Ensure women have genuinely equal rights and pay.
Defend our liberties and make police and security democratically accountable.
SOLIDARITY NOT WAR
Bring home all British troops from Afghanistan immediately - no more wars for resources.
No more spending on a new generation of nuclear weapons, huge aircraft carriers or irrelevant eurofighters - convert arms spending into socially useful products and services.
An independent foreign policy, based on international solidarity – no more being a US poodle, no moves towards a capitalist, militarist United States of Europe, no Lisbon Treaty.
SOCIALISM
For a democratic socialist society run in the interests of the people not the millionaires. For democratic public ownership of the major companies and banks that dominate the economy, so that production and services can be planned to meet the needs of all and to protect the environment.
Wednesday, 17 April 2013
TUSC Candidate for Lawrence Hill to speak at Husting - Thursday 25 April
Easton & Lawrence Hill Neighbourhood Management have invited all candidates, including the Trade Unionist and Socialists Against Cuts candidate for Lawrence Hill Fiona Joyce, to speak at a husting next week. Please go along and ask the other councillors what THEY will do to protect local jobs and services.
Thursday 25 April
6pm to 9pm
City Academy, Russell Town Avenue
Wednesday, 3 April 2013
TUSC Public meeting tomorrow at Barton Hill Settlement - Bin the Bedtoom Tax
TUSC Public Meeting - Bin the Bedroom Tax!
Thursday 4th April 2013
7.30m
Barton Hill Settlement, 43 Ducie Road, BS5 0AX
Fiona Joyce, TUSC candidate for Lawrence Hill in the May council elections will be speaking among others. All welcome!
Axe the bedroom tax!
By Mary Jackson , TUSC mayoral candidate, Doncaster
Around Britain, there have already been many protests against the so-called 'Bedroom Tax'. This is one of the coalition's most blatantly anti-poor policies and it will certainly be even more hated when it comes in on 1 April.
David Cameron and his multi-millionaire family have four homes, mansions in reality. Tory welfare minister David Freud, who is bringing in this law, owns an eight-bedroom mansion and a £1.9 million London home. These well-housed millionaires want council house and housing association tenants to lose 14% of their housing benefit if they're deemed to have one spare room, 25% if they have two.
We think that 4,822 households in Doncaster will be hit by this spiteful tax, over 3,000 of them with at least one disabled person. The bedroom tax will hit the poorest, low-paid workers, sick, disabled people, pensioners and the unemployed. The government says people should move in to smaller properties but they haven't done their sums.
In Doncaster, it would take an estimated 16 years to re-house those affected... but only if no other households move into that category, if no grown up children leave home, no one dies, no one joins the army. This can only lead to increasing poverty.
Many people just 'can't pay'. Doncaster, like many other areas, already has mass unemployment and deprivation. With 11,521 people on the waiting list for social housing there is a crying need for affordable housing. Rents must be capped, not benefits. We need a massive council house-building programme which will create much needed jobs and would actually cut the housing benefit bill.
There are things councils can do. There's a huge pot of money from the sale of council houses. Ring-fenced, because of legislation brought in by Margaret Thatcher and not repealed during three terms of a Labour government. And nationalising the banking system under democratic workers' control would free up more resources.
I am standing in an election to be Mayor of Doncaster. One of the first things I will do if elected is to look at a legal challenge to release this money to build the houses needed.
But what we need most of all is a campaigning policy of mass resistance. As with the battle that brought down the poll tax it will need organisation to ensure that no tenant is evicted just because she or he is poor and to convince councillors they should refuse to implement the tax, or replace them with those who will fight instead for a mass house-building policy to meet the needs of the people.
Around Britain, there have already been many protests against the so-called 'Bedroom Tax'. This is one of the coalition's most blatantly anti-poor policies and it will certainly be even more hated when it comes in on 1 April.
David Cameron and his multi-millionaire family have four homes, mansions in reality. Tory welfare minister David Freud, who is bringing in this law, owns an eight-bedroom mansion and a £1.9 million London home. These well-housed millionaires want council house and housing association tenants to lose 14% of their housing benefit if they're deemed to have one spare room, 25% if they have two.
We think that 4,822 households in Doncaster will be hit by this spiteful tax, over 3,000 of them with at least one disabled person. The bedroom tax will hit the poorest, low-paid workers, sick, disabled people, pensioners and the unemployed. The government says people should move in to smaller properties but they haven't done their sums.
In Doncaster, it would take an estimated 16 years to re-house those affected... but only if no other households move into that category, if no grown up children leave home, no one dies, no one joins the army. This can only lead to increasing poverty.
Many people just 'can't pay'. Doncaster, like many other areas, already has mass unemployment and deprivation. With 11,521 people on the waiting list for social housing there is a crying need for affordable housing. Rents must be capped, not benefits. We need a massive council house-building programme which will create much needed jobs and would actually cut the housing benefit bill.
There are things councils can do. There's a huge pot of money from the sale of council houses. Ring-fenced, because of legislation brought in by Margaret Thatcher and not repealed during three terms of a Labour government. And nationalising the banking system under democratic workers' control would free up more resources.
I am standing in an election to be Mayor of Doncaster. One of the first things I will do if elected is to look at a legal challenge to release this money to build the houses needed.
But what we need most of all is a campaigning policy of mass resistance. As with the battle that brought down the poll tax it will need organisation to ensure that no tenant is evicted just because she or he is poor and to convince councillors they should refuse to implement the tax, or replace them with those who will fight instead for a mass house-building policy to meet the needs of the people.
Wednesday, 21 November 2012
Tom Baldwin's speech at TUSC Rally
An ex-liberal democrat intent on cutting £32million from Bristol may be the new mayor, but we can still look back on what was an excellent anti-austerity campaign from the Trade Unionists & Socialists Coalition - here is one of the highlights.
Thursday, 15 November 2012
Sunday, 11 November 2012
Tom Baldwin for Mayor! - Eve of Poll Rally this Wed 14th
Trade Unionist & Socialist Against Cuts
Eve of Poll Rally
Bristol Council House, College Green
Wednesday 14th 2012
7.30pm
Speakers:
Dave Nellist - former Socialist Party councillor in Coventry
John McInally - PCS NEC, personal capacity
Tom Baldwin TUSC mayoral candidate
Thursday, 8 November 2012
Nadine Dorries in I'm a Celebrity row - Dave Nellist talks about his time as an MP on a workers wage
Following the example of all genuine workers representatives, Tom Baldwin, Mayoral candidate in Bristol for the Trade Unionists & Socialists Coalition has pledged to repudiate the huge salary and only except the average wage of a worker in Bristol.
See this from Coventry Socialist Party: http://www.coventrysocialists.co.uk/latestnews_82404.html
Rightwing Tory MP Nadine Dorries decision to take part in reality TV show ‘I’m a celebrity...Get me out of here’, which could see her being away from her job in the Commons for up to a month, has sparked controversy across the establishment media and within the Tory Party itself. It raises once again the role and duties of an sitting MP.
We have re-posted beblow an interview with Coventry Socialist Party member Dave Nellist. Dave was a ‘Militant’ supporting Labour MP in Coventry from 1983-92, who chose only to take a skilled factory workers wage, and a Socialist Party Councillor in Coventry from 1998-2012.
Dave Nellist Interview In Red Pepper
The recent scandal over MPs’ expenses and second jobs only seems to have confirmed the suspicion that ‘they’re all at it’. But when Dave Nellist was elected as Labour MP for Coventry South East he made a point of only taking the wage of an average worker. Now a Coventry city councillor and leading member of the Socialist Party, he spoke to Red Pepper about his experience in Westminster
You took the average worker’s wage as an MP – how much would that have been, roughly, in today’s terms?
It was an average skilled worker’s wage, which was always less than half an MP’s salary. For example, in 1989 MPs received £24,107 and the average skilled worker’s wage that year, calculated from figures from the engineering union’s Coventry district office, was £11,180 – so that was 46 per cent. An MP today is on £64,766 – 46 per cent of that would be £29,792. But the amount I would take today if re-elected would depend not on a percentage, but the actual average wages received by the people I represented.
What were your personal circumstances at the time? Were you married? Did you have kids? Were you conscious of making sacrifices?
My wife Jane and I were married in August 1984, during the miners’ strike. We held a social as part of the wedding celebration and charged an entry fee, which raised quite a bit for the local miners’ support fund!
For the first year we were married Jane still had her job in a department store in Sutton Coldfield. But a year later the first of our three children arrived and for the rest of my time as an MP we only had the one worker’s wage for myself, Jane and our family to live on.
I’d been unemployed before being elected in 1983, so living on a skilled worker’s wage was not a ‘sacrifice’. We had a holiday every year in Scotland or Wales, and we could manage a night out for a meal or to the theatre or the cinema in exactly the same way as any other couple with young children could. But we felt the same pressures with bills and other living expenses as the people I represented.
So I would say taking the ‘worker’s wage’ wasn’t so much making a sacrifice. If I had taken the full MP’s wage we would have been insulated against those day-to-day problems and the pressures that most people in Coventry felt.
How did you divide your time between your constituency and Westminster?Did you need to keep up two houses? Did you take much in the way of expenses above and beyond your ‘worker’s wage’?
I usually dealt with constituency business on Monday morning, went to London Monday lunchtime, tried to come back Tuesday evening (late), more constituency business/meetings on Wednesday morning, then back to London at lunchtime, coming back to Coventry late Thursday night – unless there was any pressing business on Friday. Friday and the weekend would be spent on casework/meetings in the constituency or addressing public meetings elsewhere.
Although I managed to have a voting record usually in the top ten of Labour MPs, I addressed about 1,500 meetings over the nine years I was an MP. In the 1980s parliament often sat late into the night (or even through the night), so I rented a furnished flat in London. No moat or oak beams! Nor any claims for food!
I claimed the full ‘office costs’ allowance to employ research and secretarial assistance in the Commons and in the constituency. I also rented an office in Coventry to work from. I was receiving on average 200 letters a week. We had wards with 50 per cent male unemployment, and a huge amount of constituency casework. None of the office costs money came to me personally – it was used to pay wages, and for rent and equipment.
What did you think of your fellow MPs? Were they clearly ‘on the take’ in your day? Did having a comfortable salary make them out of touch?
A number of MPs had outside jobs – mainly, in those days, Tory MPs with directorships. One I remember, Geoffrey Rippon, who had been a minister in previous Tory governments, was the King of Company Directors. When I was there he was an MP, a QC, and the chairman or director of four dozen different companies. He had 50 jobs!
It always seemed to me to be the real reason why parliament sat in the afternoon and evening, so Tory MPs could make their real money in the mornings – or as Geoffrey Rippon apparently put it, ‘to earn a crust and go on drinking decent claret’. These days, of course, it’s ex-Labour ministers who are earning tens of thousands of pounds a year moonlighting. In my book it’s an even bigger crime than playing the expenses system to be an ex-‘Labour’ minister advising private companies on how to win contracts taking public services away, and getting paid perhaps two or three times an MP’s salary – on top of an MP’s salary!
(Terry Fields MP & Dave Nellist MP at Eric Heffers funeral. Photo Dave Sinclair)
How did other MPs react to the example set by yourself (and fellow left MPs Pat Wall and Terry Fields), proving that the job could (and perhaps should) be done on the average worker’s wage?
Although there were a number of honourable exceptions (Dennis Skinner’s and other Campaign Group MPs’ generous donations during the miners’ strike, for example), for many Labour MPs it wasn’t the socialist ideas we tried to champion in parliament that upset them the most, but the threat to them receiving their ‘due reward’.
Perhaps the most vivid example was the debate on MPs’ salaries and allowances shortly after the 1987 general election (MPs’ wage increases were never announced before elections, when they might upset voters). The debate started at 9pm and went on until past midnight, and yet every seat in the House was taken! The motion was for a 21.9 per cent rise in MPs’ salaries from £356 a week to £434 a week. That £80 a week rise was £3 more than the then take-home pay for a whole week for civil servants, upon whom the government had just imposed a 4.25 per cent pay award.
See this from Coventry Socialist Party: http://www.coventrysocialists.co.uk/latestnews_82404.html
Rightwing Tory MP Nadine Dorries decision to take part in reality TV show ‘I’m a celebrity...Get me out of here’, which could see her being away from her job in the Commons for up to a month, has sparked controversy across the establishment media and within the Tory Party itself. It raises once again the role and duties of an sitting MP.
We have re-posted beblow an interview with Coventry Socialist Party member Dave Nellist. Dave was a ‘Militant’ supporting Labour MP in Coventry from 1983-92, who chose only to take a skilled factory workers wage, and a Socialist Party Councillor in Coventry from 1998-2012.
Dave Nellist Interview In Red Pepper
The recent scandal over MPs’ expenses and second jobs only seems to have confirmed the suspicion that ‘they’re all at it’. But when Dave Nellist was elected as Labour MP for Coventry South East he made a point of only taking the wage of an average worker. Now a Coventry city councillor and leading member of the Socialist Party, he spoke to Red Pepper about his experience in Westminster
You took the average worker’s wage as an MP – how much would that have been, roughly, in today’s terms?
It was an average skilled worker’s wage, which was always less than half an MP’s salary. For example, in 1989 MPs received £24,107 and the average skilled worker’s wage that year, calculated from figures from the engineering union’s Coventry district office, was £11,180 – so that was 46 per cent. An MP today is on £64,766 – 46 per cent of that would be £29,792. But the amount I would take today if re-elected would depend not on a percentage, but the actual average wages received by the people I represented.
What were your personal circumstances at the time? Were you married? Did you have kids? Were you conscious of making sacrifices?
My wife Jane and I were married in August 1984, during the miners’ strike. We held a social as part of the wedding celebration and charged an entry fee, which raised quite a bit for the local miners’ support fund!
For the first year we were married Jane still had her job in a department store in Sutton Coldfield. But a year later the first of our three children arrived and for the rest of my time as an MP we only had the one worker’s wage for myself, Jane and our family to live on.
I’d been unemployed before being elected in 1983, so living on a skilled worker’s wage was not a ‘sacrifice’. We had a holiday every year in Scotland or Wales, and we could manage a night out for a meal or to the theatre or the cinema in exactly the same way as any other couple with young children could. But we felt the same pressures with bills and other living expenses as the people I represented.
So I would say taking the ‘worker’s wage’ wasn’t so much making a sacrifice. If I had taken the full MP’s wage we would have been insulated against those day-to-day problems and the pressures that most people in Coventry felt.
How did you divide your time between your constituency and Westminster?Did you need to keep up two houses? Did you take much in the way of expenses above and beyond your ‘worker’s wage’?
I usually dealt with constituency business on Monday morning, went to London Monday lunchtime, tried to come back Tuesday evening (late), more constituency business/meetings on Wednesday morning, then back to London at lunchtime, coming back to Coventry late Thursday night – unless there was any pressing business on Friday. Friday and the weekend would be spent on casework/meetings in the constituency or addressing public meetings elsewhere.
Although I managed to have a voting record usually in the top ten of Labour MPs, I addressed about 1,500 meetings over the nine years I was an MP. In the 1980s parliament often sat late into the night (or even through the night), so I rented a furnished flat in London. No moat or oak beams! Nor any claims for food!
I claimed the full ‘office costs’ allowance to employ research and secretarial assistance in the Commons and in the constituency. I also rented an office in Coventry to work from. I was receiving on average 200 letters a week. We had wards with 50 per cent male unemployment, and a huge amount of constituency casework. None of the office costs money came to me personally – it was used to pay wages, and for rent and equipment.
What did you think of your fellow MPs? Were they clearly ‘on the take’ in your day? Did having a comfortable salary make them out of touch?
A number of MPs had outside jobs – mainly, in those days, Tory MPs with directorships. One I remember, Geoffrey Rippon, who had been a minister in previous Tory governments, was the King of Company Directors. When I was there he was an MP, a QC, and the chairman or director of four dozen different companies. He had 50 jobs!
It always seemed to me to be the real reason why parliament sat in the afternoon and evening, so Tory MPs could make their real money in the mornings – or as Geoffrey Rippon apparently put it, ‘to earn a crust and go on drinking decent claret’. These days, of course, it’s ex-Labour ministers who are earning tens of thousands of pounds a year moonlighting. In my book it’s an even bigger crime than playing the expenses system to be an ex-‘Labour’ minister advising private companies on how to win contracts taking public services away, and getting paid perhaps two or three times an MP’s salary – on top of an MP’s salary!
(Terry Fields MP & Dave Nellist MP at Eric Heffers funeral. Photo Dave Sinclair)
How did other MPs react to the example set by yourself (and fellow left MPs Pat Wall and Terry Fields), proving that the job could (and perhaps should) be done on the average worker’s wage?
Although there were a number of honourable exceptions (Dennis Skinner’s and other Campaign Group MPs’ generous donations during the miners’ strike, for example), for many Labour MPs it wasn’t the socialist ideas we tried to champion in parliament that upset them the most, but the threat to them receiving their ‘due reward’.
Perhaps the most vivid example was the debate on MPs’ salaries and allowances shortly after the 1987 general election (MPs’ wage increases were never announced before elections, when they might upset voters). The debate started at 9pm and went on until past midnight, and yet every seat in the House was taken! The motion was for a 21.9 per cent rise in MPs’ salaries from £356 a week to £434 a week. That £80 a week rise was £3 more than the then take-home pay for a whole week for civil servants, upon whom the government had just imposed a 4.25 per cent pay award.
I organised the vote against. I prepared a speech, which I reckoned would take me 10-15 minutes to deliver. Because of interruptions, it actually took 38 minutes. I asked MPs to vote against the rise; but that if it were passed I asked Labour MPs to give at least 5 per cent of their new salaries to the Labour Party to prevent the proposed 40 redundancies that were due to take place at Labour headquarters.
Immediately after me, David Blunkett spoke and complained about me ‘lecturing colleagues on how much to give of their pay’. He said he tried ‘to do a good job, to learn how to do it better and to try to earn the rewards that I am paid’. The motion to increase MPs’ wages by 22 per cent went through by an 11 to one majority.
David Blunkett now apparently gets three times his MP’s salary (on top of his MP’s salary) in outside earnings from firms including A4e, which describes itself as ‘a leader in global public service reform’.
I rest my case.
Dave Nellist was MP for Coventry South East from 1983 until 1992
Monday, 5 November 2012
Thursday, 25 October 2012
Tuesday, 11 September 2012
BADACA: Save Bristol's care service!
Bristol City Council has passed plans to close most of the city's council run Care Homes and Day Care Centres. This affects the elderly residents of these omes and some of the most vulnerable people in the city. 200 residents face being made homeless by these plans and over 100 care staff could lose their jobs. These are services we could all need in the future so we must do what we can to save them.
Please sign the online petition against the closures and circulate it:
http://epetitions.bristol.gov.uk/epetition_core/community/petition/1988
The Bristol and District Anti-Cuts Alliance has also organised events to collect more signatures around the city over the next few weekends. More details of these and of the campaign can be found on their website: www.bristolanticutsalliance.org.uk
There is also a lobby of the next council meeting on Tues 18th Sept, starting from 5pm at the Council House. Please come down and invite as many people as you can, we need to show the council that the people of Bristol will not stand for this.
Please sign the online petition against the closures and circulate it:
http://epetitions.bristol.gov.uk/epetition_core/community/petition/1988
The Bristol and District Anti-Cuts Alliance has also organised events to collect more signatures around the city over the next few weekends. More details of these and of the campaign can be found on their website: www.bristolanticutsalliance.org.uk
There is also a lobby of the next council meeting on Tues 18th Sept, starting from 5pm at the Council House. Please come down and invite as many people as you can, we need to show the council that the people of Bristol will not stand for this.
Saturday, 7 May 2011
Monday, 2 May 2011
TUSC Against Cuts: Eve of Poll public meeting TOMORROW
Cross Keys Pub,
Fishponds Road,
BS16 3BA
Tuesday 3rd May 2011
7.30pm
Monday, 4 April 2011
Trade Unionists & Socialists Against Cuts - Campaign launch public meeting
Tomorrow
Tuesday 5th April 2011
Tuesday 5th April 2011
Cheltenham Road Library, BS6 5QX
7.30pm
Trade Unionists & Socialists Against Cuts will be standing in the forthcoming local elections for Bristol City Council. Our candidates will be standing against all cuts and privatisation in contrast to the main parties Labour, LibDems and Conservatives, all of whom support the cuts. We believe that councils should refuse to implement government cuts as part of the wider mass anti-cuts movement.
With most of the nomination forms now completed we should be in a position to stand in about 16 wards in the city. Thanks for all your hard work to everyone who has helped collect the ten signatures we needed for each ward.
Come to our campaign launch meeting this Tuesday 5th April and hear from the candidates why you should vote for us to stop the cuts and what you can do to help the campaign.
Further information on Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition policies available here:
http://www.tusc.org.uk/policy.php
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