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NSSN statement on November
30th and further action
06 December
The day before the strike, with pure arrogance and clear hatred of the working
class, Osborne announced the next tranche of attacks on us. On top of the
300,000 public sector workers who have been sacked over the last year, a further
400,000 plus are in their sights. Also, after 2 years of pay freeze, public
sector workers will face two years of a maximum 1% pay rise. This is when
inflation is officially over 5%!
© Paul Mattson
But far from scaring people away
from action, it pulled more people to the picket lines and protests with 30
unions officially taking part in a historic day of industrial action, which also
brought out hundreds of thousands onto the 1000 plus local and regional
protests & rallies taking place. Many towns and cities saw their biggest
demonstration ever. To show how the momentum is growing, on June 30th there was
a march of 6,000 in Manchester - yesterday saw over 30,000 marching there!
Nurses in the US held rallies in 6 cities to support our strike and Bangladeshi
Garment workers organized a walk out in solidarity!
It was clear from the placards, the chants and the conversations this strike was
much more than just about pensions. It was about the service cuts, wage cuts,
the extended hours, the dismantling of the NHS, the price rises, the Disability
cuts, the benefit cuts, the massive youth unemployment, student fees & the
withdrawal of the EMA, the unaffordable housing, it was about the gleefully and
unnecessary demands for workers & the rest of the community to take the blame
for the bankers greed,who have robbed us with the blessing of the governments,
past and present.
© Paul Mattson
Whatever is said, and smeared across
the mainstream press, we know, each and everyone of us who took part in this
action, who saw and felt the solidarity here and abroad, that this action was
absolutely necessary and will need to be escalated until this government backs
down. For reports from around the
country see NSSN website. Please use all methods of communicating with each
other (& us) to share information.
So… WHAT NEXT?
On December 14th the TUC Public Services Liaison group meets to discuss what
next. The NSSN gave out over 40,000 leaflets on November 30th demanding that the
next strike dates are announced immediately, & action is escalated. There should
be at least another one day nationally co-ordinated strike across the public
sector - a 24 hour public sector general strike - before the end of January.
We support the
call by Scottish Unison’s Regional Council for further national strike action on
January 25th. The TUC should be looking towards setting out a
timetable of action that could escalate the strike to 48 hours and beyond to
force the government to back down. We should also look at practically moving
towards a strike by public and private sector as both are affected; we rise like
water together to flood through the dams built by this government to contain,
suppress & profit from us.
At the very least,
all disputes in the private sector should be co-ordinated with the next public
sector strike. For example, unions in Unilever have just voted by a massive 85%
for strike action to defend their pensions. Contact your unions & organisations
and also use twitter/FB etc early next week:
‘TUC NAME THE
DAYS – STRIKE TOGETHER, AGAIN!’
Internally, in our organizations, it will be important to have meetings with
full and frank discussions on how the strike worked, what we need to be better
prepared for, as PCS have done after the 30th June strike action. It is an
excellent approach to reviewing our processes but also making ourselves stronger
and more united effective for the future.
Discussing and promoting the alternative to the cuts, is also essential. Arguing
against the so-called debt workers are supposed to pay, and discussing budgets
based on the needs of the majority not the greedy, hypocritical
minority.
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