Five of the SSPs Candidates in the European Elections discuss the alternative to the boom and bust of New Labour, Tories and the SNP.

There is an excellent and detailed post on SafeSpace about the Miners Strike. If you are too young to remember, or have only heard the medias accounts, it is well worth reading. Even if you are neither of these it should be read, as you will probably relate to the take by having heard hundreds like it.

The personal recollections of one woman’s memories of it, how it affected her family and how they viewed the portrayal in the media. It should be a real eye opener for those who dismiss the lefts and working classes hatred sheer hatred of Thatcher. The Tory policies destroyed families and communities and they should never and will never be forgiven for it. It is also why the attacks on New Labour for having the same policies as the Tories are pretty much the worst insult you can throw at them.

The SSP fully supports all those workers in the construction and engineering sectors taking strike action in defence of their jobs and those of future generations. This dispute is not directed, as suggested by the media, against foreign workers but rather against anti union employers and their refusal to employ UK labour for sub contracted work.

The SSP supports the free movement of Labour and vehemently opposes racist immigration controls introduced by New Labour. At the same time however we unequivocally support the demand that UK workers should enjoy equal consideration for work on these contracts. We reject efforts by organisations such as the BNP to divide workers up on the basis of race or nationality.

This is fundamentally a dispute to defend jobs, wages and working conditions and it requires the unity of all workers, of all nationalities, in rejecting multi national employers’ attempts to slash jobs, wages and conditions and trades union rights.

We urge UK unions to support those defending their right to work and to urgently meet with unions in Italy and Portugal to build a unified approach capable of halting employers efforts to divide and exploit workers across Europe.