Neoliberalism As Water Balloon

Royal Mail workers have voted by a record-breaking majority to take national strike action against the concerted assault on their jobs, pay, workloads, the service they deliver to the public – and the attempts to smash the Communication Workers’ Union as a national union.

They voted by over 3:1 for national strikes – a 76.24 per cent Yes vote in an extremely high turnout of 67 per cent. 61,623 voted Yes, 19,207 No.

This is a mass rejection of the bully-boy rule of Royal Mail bosses – egged on in their reign of terror by the job-cutting, privatising New Labour government, headed up in their crusade against CWU members by Lord Mandelson.

It is a mass mandate for effective, united and immediate strike action, at a time of year when the volume of mail rockets, workloads rise, and the value of our posties is even more recognised by the public.

Royal Mail spin-doctors are trying to whip up public fury at these workers daring to ‘disrupt Christmas’ – the same bosses who have ‘disrupted’ the lives of 60,000 workers (and their families) who have lost their jobs with Royal Mail in the last 5 years.

Willie Marshall, secretary of the Scotland no2 branch of the CWU, told me what he thinks of the vote.

This is a bigger majority even than the 74 per cent YES vote in 2007, the last time we had a national strike. I wasn’t surprised at the massive turnout, when you look at the level of anger amongst members.

It proves members are ready for the fight. And this is not about pay; it’s about the survival of Royal Mail.

Members want the strike action within 7 days after the national meeting of regional secretaries and divisional reps on 12th October. We want the action as soon as possible, and for at least the first strikes to involve the entire workforce, all out together, to show our unity and solidarity.

Members of the Scottish Socialist Party inside the CWU played their full part in winning this landslide for unified national strike action. The SSP does not hesitate in giving full-blooded support to CWU members forced to strike against the decimation of jobs, public services, pay, pensions and union rights. We will do all we can to build public support for their strike action, until they win a decent deal that defends jobs, services, conditions and workplace rights.

And we will do what we can to press the leadership of UNITE to call on their members not to be used as organised scabs during strikes.

Royal Mail managers used to be in a union called CMA, which has now merged into UNITE. Top dogs in Royal Mail have prayed in vain for a No vote, or at least a poor turnout in the strike ballot, but lost no time in organising for managers to be deployed as scabs to sustain the pretence of a postal service just in case CWU members had the audacity to vote Yes!

They have regularly jetted managers into local offices on strike, usually taking care to deploy them from far-flung places, to reduce the likelihood of them taking sympathy action with CWU members they already know.

Willie Marshall commented to me, The excuse they used for doing striking CWU members’ work during local strikes is that nobody informed them! That is nonsense, but they can’t use that excuse this time.

Leaders of UNITE should instruct their members to do their normal duties, not other people’s jobs, and start a campaign for a strike ballot of their own members in Royal Mail – many of whose jobs are also on an extremely shaky nail.

The national CWU leadership have been handed a massive mandate to forge ahead with national strikes, to keep up the momentum, and they should immediately approach UNITE to organise solidarity with their battle for the survival of Royal Mail as a public service – rather than stand silent as UNITE members are organised by top management as a battalion of scabs.

Stand by your posties – victory to the CWU!

Pundits, sycophants and supporters of this Toy Town scheme mocked all of those who raised questions about the financial logic of this development based on ever increasing land prices and free and easy credit from the banking system, once those two things crashed the project was doomed. Caltongate was based on artists impressions of a architect’s dystopian fantasy and those architects names must be etched on the tomb of Edinburgh’s real disgrace – such as Richard Murphy, Allan Murray and Malcolm Fraser. Hopefully this Shakespearean tragedy will not be replayed over and over again.

The council used public money and council taxes to facilitate a big business plan for yet another Old Town development without looking at the needs and desires of the community.

The protesters and campaigners have been called liars and trouble makers for genuinely raising our concerns about lack of sustainable development and ignoring the community! More links here

It is quite ironic that the council ignored the objections based on the ludicrous financial model of the development only for the proposed proponents of the blight of the Old Town to go bust due to their ludicrous financial model.

One to celebrate throughout Scotland. Next we need the Tram Vanity project to get binned and the people of Edinburgh can live in their area instead of existing in the background of consumerism.

Scottish Peoples Charter

We need Change. We need Hope.

We need a fair Scotland and a [fair] Britain.

A fair economy for a fairer society

Progressive taxes without loopholes or tax havens. We must own and control the main banks. Guarantee all pensions, mortgages and savings. Tie pensions and benefits to wages. Give pensioners free transport and heating. Increase the minimum wage.

More and better jobs:

Defend and improve employment. Make a massive investment in new jobs particularly in green technology for our childrens’ sake.

Decent homes for all:

Create 250,000 new publicly owned homes in Scotland over the next five years. Stop the repossessions. Control rents.

Save and improve our services:

Energy, Telecommunications, Water and Transport to be owned by all of us. Remove profit making from the NHS. Support our public service staff.

For fairness and justice:

Equality for all. Together against all racism and discrimination. Equal pay for women. End child poverty. Give young people a future. Free child and youth facilities, education and training for all. Repeal the anti-trade union laws to fight poverty and inequality.

A better future starts now:

No more blood and money for war. Bring the troops home. No more £billions for nuclear weapons. No replacement for Trident. We want massive investment for a greener, safer world. Get rid of the debt economy in Britain and cancel the debts of the poor of the planet.

Seeing a friend or relative in hospital can be stressful enough without this unfair
added burden says local activist Helen Fortune.

These charges are a galling example of
profit being put before people when the sick, their visitors and staff have what is in
effect an extra tax placed on them. This situation, brought about purely by private
involvement in public services, clearly shows the lack of control the Holyrood government
have when they enter into such partnerships.

Dundee SSP Members Outside Ninewells Hospital

Banners read (left to right)

• Abolish all car parking charges at Ninewells
• Parking Charges: If you want them oot then give us a toot!
• Abolish all car parking charges at Ninewells
• Parking Charges: If you want them oot then give us a toot!