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TED GRANT WRITINGS
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From time to time governments like to pretend that they are indeed aware
of the problems of society and truly wish to resolve them. This normally
takes the form of some announced "action" or "task force" aimed at
getting to grips with whatever problem they have identified.
“We’re all in it together” is the constant message from the government.
Yet the reality is very different. Workers are facing pay freezes or
even cuts, those in need are seeing benefits cut back and services shut
down, prices are rising month on month. Unemployment continues to go up
with women and youth being hit particularly hard. Every survey indicates
that job prospects for the coming year are grim, not least due to the
continued job losses in the public sector.
Margaret Thatcher is a hate figure for millions in Britain who suffered
under 13 years of her rule. We, who opposed Thatcherism to the bitter
end, will never forget the mass unemployment, the cuts, wholesale
privatisation and the attacks on the trade unions as well as our
democratic rights.
Working people are facing the biggest attack on their living standards
for generations. They are being presented with a bill for a crisis not
of their making. In the meantime, millionaire bankers and financiers
have gotten away with murder.
For the last few days Prime Minister Cameron has been full
of himself. Having exercised the veto in Europe, he has been receiving fulsome
praise from ultra-right wing Tories and the gutter press for “standing up to
Europe.” On Wednesday the real world returned with the announcement of shocking
new unemployment figures.
The constant excuse of Cameron and the government for
attacking public sector pensions is that workers in the private sector do not
have access to final salary pensions but have to rely instead on the
fluctuations of the money markets to provide the pension funds with enough
income to give to its members a miserly pension. But it was not so long ago
that the majority of private sector workers had the opportunity to enrol in
final salary schemes. It was only after 1998 that schemes started to close to
new members so that today only 15% of private sector workers are covered by
final salary schemes.
Well if ever there is a place in England that isn’t
revolutionary or willing for workers action you might think it would be Bury St
Edmunds – or so you might think. Bury is a town that is typically seen as
bourgeoisie and reactionary with quaint villages surrounding it which keep to
themselves. The 30th however saw something that has not
entered the consciousness of the people of Bury (after discussion with locals)
ever. By this of course I’m talking about the mass strike action. As the UNISON rep for West Suffolk College I was able to
draw upon my own reflections of the day and discuss with others why this was
necessary.
There were unprecedented scenes in Birmingham on N30 after the
Tory-Lib-Dem coalition that runs Birmingham City Council tried to ban
the planned TUC protest march.
On
the day it turned out to be the biggest trade union demonstration in
Coventry since the 1970s. They came in their hundreds from all parts of
the city and from all public sector trade unions as well as from trade
unions that were not on strike that day - the FBU was well represented.
By the time of the rally at the end of the march through Coventry city
centre some 2,500 trade unionists and their families were crammed into
the area known as Speakers Corner opposite the Council building.
