One of them is Head Fixing Industry by John Keracher. John was born in Dundee and later moved to America where he formed a group called the Proletarian Party of America.

Interesting stuff. Hopefully someone can find the time to run some text scanning software against it and get a text version of it.

The election of the Tories – the Twin Tories, with the treacherous Lib Dems joining forces with the Tory Butchers – marks a new threat to education workers, education services and communities. We all face a level of carnage to jobs, conditions and services not experienced since Thatcher at her most rampant.

Cameron and Clegg have lost no time in pronouncing their top priority is to cut public spending.

These upper class butchers want to wield the axe to jobs, pay, pensions, benefits, public services – to enrich their own class even further.

Cameron’s claims that we all face pain for years to come is false to the core.

The bankers who enjoyed a bountiful handout from public funds don’t face ‘pain’ – for instance, 100 of them at the RBS recently awarded themselves a £1m bonus each!

The richest 1,000 fat-cats whose incomes rocketed by 30% last year, to £353billion! – do not face ‘hard choices’ or ‘painful decisions’.

It’s Scotland’s 630,000 public sector workers, alongside workers in the private sector, our families, our communities, who face a massacre – unless a united, determined, militant campaign of resistance is built, starting now!

In resisting the cuts, EIS and other unions need two central guiding principles: unity in action is our best defence – and a convincing set of policies to explode the myth that cuts are unavoidable.

Teachers, civil servants, council and NHS workers have marched and taken strike action against cuts.

It would be fatal if these fights were kept separate and apart, or if any union adopted the notion that cuts are inevitable – but ‘not in our service’. That would weaken the resistance and guarantee cuts to all services.

So SSP members in the EIS (and in all other unions) strongly advocate united action – across all public sector unions and alongside community groups, anti-cuts campaigns, Save Our Schools campaigns…

EIS and other unions should build a united public rally on Saturday 26th June, after new levels of carnage are announced in the 22nd June Butchers’ Budget – as a springboard for building a mass march in the autumn, when even more cuts will be announced in the government’s Spending Review.

Such events would help build the fighting morale of tens of thousands who right now are terrified of what the future holds.

Equally important in building a rebellion against cuts from a government that has no mandate in Scotland – with 85% voting against the Tories – is a convincing set of policies that exposes the lie that cuts are necessary and unavoidable – a monstrous lie peddled not only by the Tories and Lib Dems, but also New Labour and the SNP! Otherwise many people will fall for the argument that there’s not enough money to defend jobs and services, that cuts are a necessary evil – and then fall out amongst themselves over where the cuts should occur.

That divide-and-conquer trickery lies behind the Tory plan to consult people over what to cut! There is no need for any cuts! There are oceans of wealth swilling around – but in the hands of the bankers. billionaires and boardrooms of oil companies – not in the hands of the public.

The SSP fights for alternatives that would create jobs, improve services, protect conditions. Commit EIS to action against the cuts – alongside other unions – and argue for socialist policies that would fund the expansion of jobs and services. And join the SSP – for an independent socialist Scotland.

Twenty’s Plenty in a class

The Scottish Socialist Party has an unrivalled track record of standing up for kids, communities and education. We have consistently fought school closures that lead to larger classes, job losses, increased stress for staff, worse education.

We have led several Save Our Schools campaigns, uniting parents, communities and trade unionists – demanding smaller classes and investment in community-based schools within easy, safe reach of children’s homes.

We led the mass opposition to Labour’s school closures in Glasgow last year. During that campaign we popularised the slogan Twenty’s Plenty in any class, and lobbied the SNP government to pass legislation to limit classes to 20 for all age groups.

At the recent STUC Congress, SSP members pushed this policy and won the backing of the conference for a campaign for classes of 20 maximum for all.

In East Dunbartonshire, when the Labour-Tory Coalition announced closure of 8 primaries last week,the SSP called a protest demo and public meeting to set up a Save Our Schools campaign.

150 local people joined the demo, the councillors took fright, and shelved their butchery – for now!

EIS shares the SSP’s policy of 20 max in a class. The time is rotten-ripe for the EIS leadership to lead action in support of this policy – including industrial action.

Angela said: Despite being told by all the major parties that after the election we must prepare for savage cuts in public services, one group not affected is the greedy bankers, who continue to award themselves large bonuses. A fact made all the more galling because the banks had to be bailed out by the ordinary tax payer.

The Scottish Socialist Party calls for an end to the bonus culture and for all banks to be nationalised under workers’ control.

We also oppose the cuts which are being promised and believe that there is no need for any cuts to public services if the rich were forced to pay their fair share of taxes.

It was the rich who paid for this crisis, make them pay for it!

To track Rod the Robber’s progress throughout the day please see www.twitter.com/dundeessp. Photos will be posted as it happens at http://tinyurl.com/ssp0405

Saturday, 01 May 2010
Time:
11:40 – 12:50
Location:
Cowgate to Albert Square

We previously covered the re-dedication of the new plaque

Dundee East and West branches of the Scottish Socialist party organised a public meeting in the city’s Queens Hotel on the evening of Wednesday, September 23, to protest at the continuing war in Afghanistan, and calling for the troops to be brought home.

It was a particularly poignant time to hold this meeting in Dundee, as two young soldiers from the area, one from Dundee itself and the other from nearby Monifieth, had lost their lives in the fighting in Afghanistan during the previous three weeks, in this pointless and senseless war.

Street stalls were held on the five days leading up to the meeting and the reaction from the public was overwhelmingly against the war and agreeing with the SSP‘s position.

Many of those signing our petitions and pledging support for our stance told us that they were either family or friends of service personnel currently on duty in Afghanistan.

In the two days leading up to the meeting, Dundee West member Angela Gorrie was interviewed on the two local radio stations, Radio Tay and Wave 102, giving her the opportunity to state the Scottish Socialist Party’s case against the continuation of the war in Afghanistan.

The meeting itself was well attended with around thirty members of the pbulic turning out to show their anger at Britain’s continuing involvement in the war in Afghanistan.

Speakers at the meeting were Colin Fox, national spokesperson of the Scottish Socialist Party; former MP and MSP and Scottish Socialist Party member John McAllion; and Mohammad Asif, of the Scottish Afghan Society.

First to speak was John McAllion, who highlighted the enormity of the lies and deceptions surrounding the war, while the next speaker, Mohammad Asif, told of the countless unnamed Afghan casualties who never seem to rate a mention as victims of a war being fought on their own soil.

In the final speech of the evening Colin Fox stated that on the run-up to next year’s general election the war in Afghanistan and the ongoing crisis of captitalism would be the main issues on which the election would be fought.

Following their speeches, the speakers then answered various questions from the floor of the meeting.

As regards further anti-war activity, it was agreed that we should use the time between now and the anti-war demonstration in Edinburgh on November 14 to build for the demo, and we should attempt to get the maximum number of people from Dundee through to Edinburgh for the event in order to keep up the pressure on the government.

6th August 2009

A rash of factory and workplace occupations is spreading across the globe as workers defy the brutal consequences of the recession.

Instead of surrendering to mass redundancies and outright closures – sometimes at a few minutes’ notice, often without even redundancy packages – workers are occupying their workplaces as a central method of struggling for justice.

Every example that wins concessions is boosting the belief of other workforces that there is an alternative to just resigning to the butchery in the boardrooms – that belligerent, militant class action can win at least something where workers have nothing to lose.

Socialists have a duty to assist fellow-workers in deploying the best methods of struggle to save jobs – as well as uniting workers around fighting socialist policies that would challenge and eliminate the need for redundancies.

Victory to Vestas

The sit-in at Vestas wind turbine factory on the Isle of Wight has created a storm of international publicity and sympathy for the 600 workers who face the dole, at the very time the Labour government pledges to create 400,000 new green jobs over 5 years.

The 25 Vestas workers who staged this factory occupation, supported by a mass rally outside every night, displayed tremendous courage in the face of numerous attempts by the bully-boy, anti-union Vestas bosses to evict them.

They tried to starve them out, blocking food supplies being sent in by supporters. They threatened the sack and removal of redundancy payments from the workers staging the sit-in. They took out an injunction to gain re-possession of the factory – in order to close it and move production to the USA and China!

Vestas had no union recognition. Some workers joined a union and started organizing others. A group of them established a campaign committee and organised the sit-in from 20th July. This bold action won the active support of hundreds others – Vestas workers, other trade unionists, environmentalists, the local community – on an island where there are no other jobs to go to.

Vestas workers have gone further than any of the other recent factory sit-ins in terms of the demands they are making from their ‘campaign headquarters’ inside the factory: “Gordon Brown – Nationalise this!” declared the banner from day one.

A statement from the workers’ occupation declared, If the government can spend billions bailing out the banks – and even nationalize them – then surely they can do the same at Vestas.

Every victory encourages action

As well as organizing solidarity for these heroic fighters for jobs and the protection of the environment, we have a duty to learn from workers’ experiences of sit-ins as a method of struggle, particularly as redundancies and closures sweep the land like a pandemic.

Vestas is only the latest in a series of workplace occupations in the UK. And Thomas Cook workers in Dublin, members of the TSSA union, on 31st July occupied in defiance of closure of 100 offices.

The recent outbreak of factory take-overs in Britain and Ireland began with Waterford Glass workers occupying the plant on 30th January, when the employers announced an immediate end to production and 480 job losses.
After 8 weeks’ struggle, they reluctantly accepted a deal that saved 176 of the 480 jobs.

Visteon occupations

But their example fed the appetite of other workers facing savage closures under brutal terms and conditions. On 31st March, over 600 workers at three Visteon (ex Fords) plants in Belfast, Enfield and Basildon occupied and picketed when they were declared redundant at a few minutes’ notice, without any redundancy pay and with their pensions frozen.

A month later, appropriately on May Day, the workers won enhanced redundancy terms, payments in lieu of notice, and holiday pay.

As Kevin Nolan, UNITE union convener at the Enfield factory put it,

People ended up with a year and a half’s worth of salary. That’s a victory when you consider Visteon were hiding behind the recession as a way of completely abandoning all responsibility for 600 UK workers and just dumping them.

Prior to that high-profile sit-in, a small group of non-unionised workers at Prisme in Dundee occupied their workplace, encouraged by Waterford Glass workers, (who subsequently visited the Dundee sit-in). They had been sacked without notice and without any redundancy pay Fifty-one days later, the sit-in beat off the redundancies by establishing a cooperative.

Vital part of history

Workplace occupations are not a new form of struggle, of course, but this new wave of sit-ins follows many years of the method receding into the background.

Italian car workers seized their factories in northern Italy in the 1920s. What were dubbed ‘sit-won strikes’ swept countries like France and the USA in the mid-1930s. Closer to home and to the present, the most famous workplace occupation was the 1971-2 Upper Clyde Shipbuilders (UCS) ‘work-in’ – in reply to the Tory government’s closure of the yards with at least 6,000 redundancies. This triggered a mass movement, saved many of the jobs after the Tories were forced into a U-turn, and was the impetus to at least 200 sit-ins across the UK in the first half of the 1970s.

For a time such audacious actions receded, although Lee Jeans (mostly women) workers in Greenock occupied in 1981; Caterpillar workers in Uddingston in 1986; and Glacier Metal workers in Glasgow won an outright victory after their seven-week occupation in November-December 1996.

Now, as the global capitalist crisis bites, with even more catastrophic closures and cut-backs on jobs looming, this form of struggle could come back into its own.

Powerful weapons of struggle

Sit-ins are a powerful weapon, paralysing production; psychologically bringing the battle into the bosses’ ‘own territory’; preventing them from stripping the factory of machinery and equipment that they may want to shift to other production sites, including abroad, in their hunt for subsidies and cheaper labour; preventing bosses from bussing in scabs past picket lines that are hamstrung by anti-union laws and deployment of the police (as seen, for example, at Timex in 1993).

But a sit-in ‘with folded arms’ can still be defeated, or at best win shoddy concessions far short of the potential victories on the agenda, if workers’ occupations are not accompanied by concerted campaigning outside the sit-in.

When workers facing closures consider a sit-in they should also try to prepare for a campaign of seeking solidarity from fellow workers and local communities – or at least put that into action as soon as they occupy. Such outgoing, concerted campaigning is critical, firstly to help prevent employers evicting them, secondly to enhance the prospects of outright victory for their demands. That was the advice we put into action from day one of the Glacier Metal occupation in 1996. It is clearly what the Vestas workers are ably applying.

Touring other workplaces; taking to the streets with leaflets, bucket collections and megaphones to explain the case behind the sit-ins; organizing solidarity mass pickets, rallies and demonstrations – all this and more was done in conquering outright victory for the 1996 Glacier Metal workers sit-in, and is the method being applied at other recent occupations to one extent or another.

Demands from the sit-ins

The other key question that remains is: what do workers demand whilst they occupy their workplace?

Of course that depends on what they are fighting against! In the case of Glacier Metal it was mass dismissal of the entire workforce in the drive to smash the union and rip up hard-won conditions. Full re-instatement of every worker, with continuity of terms and conditions, and continued union recognition, were the demands of the sit-in. And that was what was won!

In the case of Visteon, workers occupied to win redundancy payments and protection of their pensions. They won substantial concessions, though they still lost their jobs.

Vestas workers have made the most far-reaching demands – and absolutely appropriate ones to the situation, occupying in support of nationalization of the factory. With the need to save jobs and simultaneously save the planet from catastrophic climate change, the best route is public ownership of the UK’s only wind turbine factory, as part of the call for public ownership of the energy industry as a means of democratically planning clean, green energy production.

Most occupations arise from closures or mass redundancies. So defence of every job is the starting point. And instead of pouring a fortune from the public purse down the throats of profiteering bosses who are hell-bent on racing across the globe in pursuit of super-profits, workers and their unions should champion the demand for public ownership of the assets, under democratic working class control, to sustain jobs.

Alternative plans of production

In situations where a workers’ inspection of the company accounts and the industry concludes that continued production of their pervious products are either unviable or undesirable, alternative plans of socially useful and environmentally friendly output comes into its own.

Way back in the 1970s, workers at Lucas aerospace plants constructed such workers’ alternative plans of production. In subsequent years, several other examples were produced by workers in struggle, with the help of sympathetic experts. And the unions and peace movement have published well-researched proposals for jobs diversification in the defence industry that would actually increase employment.

In the 21st century, this is especially important, with vast scope for job protection and job creation to match the need for green social production, such as energy-efficient housing, a vastly expanded, integrated public transport network, and production and distribution of clean green energy. 

Reverse the tide of closures

Workplace occupations are not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ method of struggle, applicable on every single occasion.

They should not be turned into a fetish. But they are an enormously powerful weapon of struggle that should be utilized far more widely in the teeth of closures and mass redundancies, and in the vast majority of cases have won huge concessions or outright victories.

Strikes are another indispensable means of fighting to defend jobs. Often they are the most viable method of resistance in workforces spread around scattered workplaces – as in the Royal Mail currently, the civil service – and places that provide services rather than being centres of industrial production. On the other hand, in some conditions, strikes against closures can sometimes allow the employers to just walk away, leaving whole communities wrecked. Strikes can sometimes be more akin to a boss’s lock-out, and less effective in stopping asset-stripping by employers shifting production to richer pastures for profiteering.

In stark contrast to both, appeals to the employers’ good nature to ‘change their minds’ about closures are a pitifully weak response to the boardroom boot-boys, who will only ever ‘change their minds’ when they know the alternative is carnage for their reputation and profit levels.

Many workers will increasingly see they have nothing to lose in the teeth of mass redundancies, and a lot to win by taking up the cudgels. As Visteon’s UNITE convener Kevin Nolan recently told Labour Research magazine,

We just thought: ‘What do we have to lose?’ So we just went for it. If anyone else is in the same position I’d say weigh everything up and if you think there’s a chance of winning something back or improving your situation by occupying the place, then go for it.

By seizing control of the company assets, including valuable machinery, plus halting production, whilst using the workplace as a huge campaign headquarters, occupations provide workers with an unprecedented platform to take on the bosses who want to heap the crisis they have created on the shoulders of working people.

We have a duty to concretely assist every group of workers who take such action; every victory won is a boost to the generalized struggle to save jobs, not profits, to reverse the tide of closures and cut-backs endured for far too long. The national unions, TUC and STUC should urgently call rallies and demonstrations in solidarity with all who have the courage to stand up for jobs, and give courage to those cowed by the Juggernaut of closures and redundancies.

What do you think of transport in the city? Is your street clogged up with cars? Does your bus take forever and not stop near your house? Quicker walking home after work than being stuck in a queue? Fancy riding a bike to work but not back up that hill again afterwards?

Feel free to comment below with your thoughts on transport.

We have managed to dish out thousands of leaflets to passers by to let them know two things that not only are we standing in the European elections but that we are active in the area.

Today was glorious sunshine in Montrose surrounded by the excellent background music of the festival going on behind us. We look forward to our semi regular stalls in Arbroath and Montrose – the SSP, not just on the streets at an election.

Bill Nuti, the Chief Executive of NCR has been awarded a bonus of £5.6 million. A month later he axes manufacturing at NCR in Dundee throwing 252 workers on the dole. They are not the only ones to lose out. Bill Nuti is feeling the pinch too – he has downsized from a private jet to a private helicopter. That’s spreading the cuts in the language of the head parasites of global corporations.

How many other workers around the country are being asked to take pay cuts or wage freezes for the good of the company? There is no good of the company – only good of the shareholders. The worst part of these cuts is not that the factory is not profitable but is not profitable enough.

It is not enough that the factory is not making a loss and that it makes money to these people. They don’t value the skills and experience of the workers – the ones who create the profit in the first place. They only value their own dividends and the madness that is demanding increase upon increase in their return year upon year. This not only leads to the decisions such as these but also the short term view of the company. Who cares if the decisions taken by chief executives mean a company will survive for the next 10 years, getting a massive increase in profit in the next quarter guarantees them big bonuses then. They then have the cheek to talk about the good of the company.

The workers of Prisme have shown the way, not intent on taking a P45 and no redundancy from their boss they, are starting up without the boss.

On Friday it was announced that manufacturing was to close down at NCR. This will also lead to a number of job losses at related companies including Taylor Group Diecastings Limited.

Texol also announced their closure.

The Evening Telegraph has a depressing list of the major job losses which have hit Dundee in the last two years: 1539 jobs in total. This does not include the recent announcements just in time for the end of the financial year and the big bonus payments to the bosses.

It is yet to be seen if these workers will fight back having seen the Prisme workers do so.

There is now a Prisme workers fund, send cheques with payment to: TUC Lobby Fund, to
Prisme Workers Solidarity,
c/o Mike Arnott,
Dundee TUC,
141 Yarrow Terrace,
Menzieshill,
Dundee,
DD2 4DY.

The other event overshadowed by these depressing reports was the election results in the Maryfield by election. As expected the SNP walked it, although surprisingly not in the first round. The SSP had a disappointing result but it was as we expected. In a two horse race like a by election the votes get squeezed for smaller parties. It is unknown how many second votes were given to the SSP after giving a first vote to Labour or the SNP. In a normal council election with multiple councillors being elected these may be passed to us, in this case there was no chance of them ever being passed to us.

The people of Dundee have resoundingly said they want an SNP council. They were the largest party returned at the council elections and at the two subsequent by elections won them both comfortably. It is yet to be seen if the anti-democratic coalition of Labour/Tories/Liberal Democrats. Ian Borthwick got off the fence last time and sided with the will of the voters in Dundee, it is to be seen if he will do so again.

Not that an SNP council will be an improvement for the working class of Dundee. Just ask teachers or nursery nurses in nearby Angus Council how an SNP council treats it’s employees.

Rally Saturday 7 March 10am City Square, Dundee (5 minutes from train station), outside Labour Party Conference

12pm at Prisme Factory, Tannadice Street (next to stadium, across from Jerry Kerr stand, 20 minutes from city centre)

Also from group an interview with Matthew, one of the workers

On Monday we came into work as normal and the Managing Director came in and gave his letter of resignation. So we phoned the company secretary who was actually on holiday. We were told to speak to a guy called Alan Dand. On Tuesday he called us and an administrator came to look at the accounts. Then the company told us that they didn’t have enough assets to pay for the administrator and said ‘Looks like we’re just going to shut the door’.

We were told that the director and a legal representative were coming to tell us our rights but in fact the legal representative was for the director and wouldn’t tell us anything. They won’t even tell us who owns the company! We demanded that we be given a letter how much we were entitled to in redundancy payments, our P45’s and statutory redundancy forms. When we received the letter it stated how much our statutory redundancy payments were and that we were entitled to wages, pay in lieu of notice and accrued holiday pay. Then the next sentence of the letter said ‘Unfortunately, we do not have any money to make these payments to you’.

They said there were other routes we could take to get our redundancy payments but all they have suggested is speaking to the Citizens Advice Bureau.

After receiving these letters we were told to leave and come back at half nine in the morning but we decided we’re not leaving until we receive what we’re entitled to. We’re not giving them the opportunity to lock the doors while we’re out so we end up with nothing.

Prisme Packaging Workers Occupy Factory

Thirteen people at Prisme Packaging in Dundee lost their jobs on Wednesday the latest victims of an increasingly brutal recession. Their firm, which manufactures cardboard boxes, lost its biggest customer on Monday and has subsequently gone bust.

But this non union workforce found to their cost that they are more vulnerable with the treatment they received as the firms owners announced they were all sacked with immediate effect and would not receive any redundancy pay or even their wages for March.

They were each handed a letter telling them they would not get a penny piece even though some of them had worked there for 14 years and were legally entitled to severance pay as the firm had gone bust. Their response was immediate and unanimous, they occupied the factory and took control of the assets.

Since I happened to be up in Dundee on Thursday, campaigning for SSP candidate Angela Gorrie in next weeks Maryfield by election, I went along to offer my support to the occupation.

I was delighted to meet Matthew, Christine, David and the others and find them in such good spirits considering what had happened to them. I recounted my experience in the Caterpillar occupation of 1988 and pledged support from the SSP in helping them save their jobs or at least secure the redundancy monies they are entitled to.

More details on our proposals to scrap the council tax are here

If you have the inclination the full paper explaining our proposed replacement is here

Reprinted below is an article from 2003 giving a brief explanation of the proposed replacement. If you want to express your anger at the Lib Dem and SNP u-turn over scrapping the despised tax you have the opportunity to vote SSP on March the 12th in Maryfield in Dundee.

Scrap the unfair Council Tax

This week the Scottish Socialist Party launched its campaign for the 2003 Scottish Parliament elections, with the fight to scrap the cruelly unfair Council Tax at the heart of its manifesto.

Countless numbers of ordinary Scots get into huge debts every year as they struggle to pay enormous Council Tax bills. Here Alan McCombes looks at how the SSP‘s proposed new Scottish Service Tax would shift the burden of local taxation onto the shoulders of the rich rather than Scotland’s lowest paid workers.

Why the Council Tax is unfair

John and Anne live in a modest semi-detached home in Glasgow with their three young children.

Anne stays at home to look after their three-month-old son. John works as a porter in a local hospital where he is paid £5 an hour.

John has to work for six weeks to pay his annual Council Tax bill of £1,141.

Jack and Bridget live in a detached home with their two children. Bridget is a high-flying council executive earning £90,000 a year. Jack is the First Minister of the Scottish Parliament with a salary of £118,000 a year.

Jack has to work five days to pay his Council Tax bill of £1,545.

Then there is Ian who lives in a mansion in Aberdeenshire. Ian – or Sir Ian as he is now known – was Scotland’s top earner last year, raking in £600 million in salary, bonuses and stock market wheeling and dealing.

Ian has to work for 50 seconds to pay his Council Tax bill of £1,838.

The Council Tax is a blatantly unfair Tory tax, which reinforces Scotland’s grotesque divide between rich and poor.

It was concocted by the last Tory government as a fallback for the hated Poll Tax, which was destroyed by people power in the early 1990s.

It was like mugging an old woman, then giving her back a few coins for her bus fare home. Under the Council Tax, the maximum differential is three to one.

Someone living in a mansion in Pollokshields or Murrayfield will pay just three times more than someone living in a rundown flat in Possil or Craigmillar.

Beaufort Castle near Inverness is one of the most lavish private homes in Europe. Set in 180 acres of beautiful countryside, the 24-bedroom baronial castle is stuffed full of priceless paintings, ornate furniture and exquisite tapestries.

The castle used to be the family seat of one of Scotland’s most powerful clans, the Frasers. Now it is owned by Scotland’s richest woman, Ann Gloag, whose personal wealth runs to hundreds of millions of pounds.

In 1995, Ann Gloag bought Beaufort for £1.5 million. Today, it’s valued at £3 million.

Ann Gloag’s total Council Tax bill is £1,878.

It’s hard to imagine a more startling contrast between Beaufort Castle and the Scaraway flats in Glasgow. Here hundreds of families are packed into a few tower blocks.

Helena Duffy lives in the flats with her teenage daughter, who is a student. Helena earns £170 a week for 45 weeks as an ancillary worker in Stobhill Hospital. For her two-bedroom flat, 14 floors up, Helena pays £761 a year in Council Tax.

Ann Gloag’s home is worth 150 times more than Helena Duffy’s home. Ann Gloag earns 100 times more than Helena Duffy. Yet Ann Gloag pays just two and a half times more in Council Tax.

As well as discriminating directly against the poor, the Council Tax also discriminates against people who live in the poorest towns and cities.

For example, Council Tax for a Band D property in Glasgow is £1,141. In prosperous Wandsworth Council in London, Council Tax for a Band D property is just £402.

That means that a Glasgow family living in identical accommodation are forced to pay almost £15 a week more.

Even within Scotland, there are variations. People in the poorest urban areas such as Glasgow, Dundee, Inverclyde and West Dunbartonshire can pay hundreds of pounds a year more than those living in similar properties in more prosperous rural areas.

These variations lead to some extraordinary absurdities. For example, even though the Council Tax is supposed to be based on property values, some three-bedroom semi-detached homes in Glasgow are liable for higher Council Tax than the 100 apartment Balmoral Castle, set in 50,000 acres of prime land.

A radical alternative

The Scottish Socialist Party has launched a radical new alternative to the Council Tax.

The Scottish Service tax developed by Paisley University economists, Geoff Whittam and Mike Danson would be based on income.

It would redistribute wealth from high income households to low and average income households.

The Scottish Service Tax would be set at a uniform rate across Scotland, with the revenues allocated to local councils on the basis of need.

Over 77 per cent of Scottish homes would be better off. Many low income households would stand to save between £20 and £30 a week from the change.

At the other end of the scale, the wealthiest 16 per cent of households would pay more.

Many of these households have benefited from a cash windfall totalling tens of thousands per household since the abolition of the old rates system.

The bill for that windfall was picked up by low paid workers.

There are a a small number of households – around 7 per cent – who would neither gain nor lose from the Scottish Service Tax.

There are six compelling arguments for replacing the Council Tax with the Scottish Service Tax.

• It would redistribute wealth and income by shifting tens of millions of pounds from the rich to the poor.
• It would automatically exempt the lowest income households without a degrading and complicated means test.
• It would generate some extra, desperately needed cash to improve local services.
• It would be uniform throughout Scotland, which means that people who earn the same would pay the same, irrespective of where they live.
• It would be easy to collect and administer, in contrast to the bureaucratic minefield of the Council Tax.
• It is based on income rather than property, which means it does not discriminate against larger families.

How the Scottish Service Tax would work

The Scottish Service Tax would be levied on individuals according to their income. Each individual in the household would be assessed.

There would be five ascending rates of SST based on income.

• Rate 1) Nil. All income under £10,000 is exempt from Scottish Service Tax.
• Rate 2) 4.5 per cent. All income between £10,000 and £30,000 will be taxed at a rate of 4.5 per cent.
• Rate 3) 15 per cent. All income between £;30,000 and £50,000 will be taxed at a rate of 15 per cent.
• Rate 4) l8 per cent. All income between £50,000 and £90,000 will be taxed at a rate of 18 per cent.
• Rate 5) 20 per cent. All income above £90,000 will be taxed at a rate of 20 per cent.

To calculate your – or anyone else’s – Scottish Service Tax:

• Step 1: deduct the first £10,000 of income. (If you earn below £10,000 you will be automatically exempt without having to deal with complicated red tape or form filling.) If you are on £10,000 you will pay NIL.
• Step 2: divide all additional income from £10,000 to £30,000 by 100 and multiply by 4.5. Thus, if you are on £15,000 you will pay £225 (4.5 per cent of £5,000 = £225). If you are on £30,000 you will pay £900.
• Step 3: divide all further income from £30,000 to £50,000 by 100 then multiply by 15. Add on £900, the amount you will pay up to £30,000. Thus, if you are on £50,000 you will pay £3,900 (£900 plus 15 per cent of £20,000).
• Step 4: divide all income from £50,000 to £90,000 by 100 then multiply by 18. Add on £3,900, the amount you pay up to £50,000. Thus, if you are on £90,000 you will pay £11,100 (£3,900 plus 18 per cent of £40,000).
• Step 5: divide all income over £90,000 by 100 then multiply by 20. Add on £11,100, the amount you pay up to £90,000. Thus, if you are on £120,000 you will pay £17,100 (£11,100 plus 20 per cent of £30,000).

Scottish Service Tax as a proportion of total income

Percentage of income paid in Service Tax within each income range. (The figures are an average within each range. Those at the lower end of each range will pay less; those at the higher end will pay more; those in the middle will pay the figure cited.)

• Under £10,000: 0.0%
• £10,000-£15,000: 0.9%
• £15,000-£20,000: 1.9%
• £20,000-£30,000: 2.6%
• £30,000-£40,000: 4.4%
• £40,000-£45,000: 6.6%
• £45,000-£50,000: 7.2%
• £50,000-£70,000: 9.2%
• £70,000-£90,000: 11.8%
• Over £90,000: 16.1%

Winners and losers

Those who would gain:

Laurie, a self-employed actor, lives with her teenage son in a Band C tenement property in Edinburgh. Last year, she earned just under £10,000. Her Council Tax bill, including a 25 per cent single person’s discount is £667.50. Under the Scottish Service Tax she would pay NOTHING.
Saving: £55 a month.

Sarah and Ken live in an owner-occupied Band E property in Glasgow. Sarah earns £15,000 and Ken earns £17,000. Their Council Tax bill is £1,395. Under the Scottish Service Tax they would pay £540.
Saving: £71 a month.

Wullie is a call centre worker in Glasgow who earns £11,000 a year. His partner Jackie earns £8,000 a year. They live in a Band B flat and currently pay £887 a year in Council Tax. Under the Scottish Service Tax, they would pay £45.
Saving: £70 a month.

Dave is a firefighter in Dundee who lives in a Band D property with his partner Angela and their three children. Dave earns £21,500 and the household Council Tax bill is £1,079. Under the Scottish Service Tax they would pay £517.50.
Saving: £47 a month.

Those who would lose:

John and Fiona live in a Band G property in the Highlands. John is a GP who earns £62,000. Fiona is a part-time teacher who earns £13,000 a year. Their Council Tax bill is £1,565. Under the Scottish Service Tax they would pay £6,195.
Loss: £386 a month.

Nicola is a high-flying lawyer who lives on her own in a Band H property in Edinburgh. Last year she earned £143,000. Her Council Tax bill, including single person’s discount came to £1,500. Under the Scottish Service Tax she would pay £21,700. Loss: £1,683 a month.

Frederick is one of Scotland highest paid chief executives, earning £1,200,000 last year. He lives in a Band H property in Edinburgh with his partner and their children. Their current Council Tax bill is £2,002. Under the Scottish Service Tax they would pay £233,100 a year.
Loss: £19,258 a month.

The Maryfield by-election leaflet is now produced, the text is below with links to images of the leaflets. If you would like to help in the campaign by leafleting, canvassing or making a financial donation to help then get in contact with us. Unlike the SNP, Labour or Tories, we don’t have multi millionaire backers so anyway to help out would be appreciated.

Vote for the SSP

Leaflet front

Vote for the SSP the campaigning party

The Scottish Socialist Party campaigns on the streets of Dundee every week, not just during elections.

• The City of Dundee has one of the highest council tax rates in Scotland. The SSP has for years campaigned for it to be replaced by a tax based on income and ability to pay.
• Dundee has a student population of 17,000. The SSP says, Abolish all fees and loans. Bring back grants.
• The Scottish Socialist Party supports workers in struggle and during the local authority dispute last year stood firmly behind the council workers.
• When Post Office closures were announced in Dundee last year, the SSP mounted a campaign against the cuts.
• The Dundee SSP has taken direct action against the parking charges at Ninewells Hospital, with stalls both on the street and within the car park at Ninewells Hospital itself.
• The Scottish Socialist Party is the party committed to campaigning on behalf of working class communities.

To join the Scottish Socialist Party, or for more information, contact us at
PO BOX 6773
DUNDEE, DD1 1YL
or online at www.dundeessp.org

Leaflet back

Capitalism in crisis – Who pays?

The Scottish Socialist Party is an anti-capitalist party. We believe in people, not profit. As socialists, we fight for a different type of system where the needs of the many are put before the greed of the bosses. The current economic crisis is a result of the insatiable drive for profits of capitalism. While the bankers get obscene bonuses, we face redundancies, home repossessions and cuts in services. We believe it does not have to be this way:

• End the fat cat bonuses
• Stop all home repossessions
• Fully nationalise the banks under workers’ control

Wars and the attack on Gaza

The city of Dundee is twinned with the Palestinian town of Nablus, which has been under Israeli occupation since 1967. During the recent Israeli attacks on Gaza, the SSP has helped to organise demonstrations in solidarity with the people of Gaza, medical aid and the boycott of Israeli goods. We oppose all imperialist wars and play an important role in the anti-war movement in Scotland.

For free public transport

The Scottish Socialist Party believes that free and efficient public transport would benefit both the people and the planet.

As the world’s climate heats up it makes sense to reduce our oil dependency and get cars off the road. We should also be investing in research and development of alternative sources of energy for the future.

Submission to Post Office Limited regarding proposed Post Office closures in Dundee from Scottish Socialist Party – Dundee branches

We believe that the Post Office network across the UK should not just be viewed as a chain of branches of a standard business, assessed solely on its ability to make a profit.

The nationwide network of Post Office branches is a valuable public asset that provides a vital social service in both rural and urban communities across Scotland. As a public service, Post Offices should be viewed and assessed on the wider role and benefits they provide to communities, not on the profit (or loss) they provide to Post Office Limited.

In light of the government’s recent £50 billion bail out of Northern Rock, Post Office Limited have strong grounds for going back to the government and asking for an increase in subsidy to protect the Post Office branch network, thus maintaining its positive role in communities.

It is also deeply insensitive to these communities, who are having to fight for their local Post Office service, that Royal Mail’s Chief Executive, Adam Crozier, earned £633,000 basic salary, topped up with a £3 million bonus in 2007/08!! How many Post Offices could have been saved with that £3 million?

In March 2007, Adam Crozier was appointed Chairman of the EFD.

At the time he stated

“I am extremely pleased to have been invited to take on this role. Ensuring equal opportunity for all is hugely important to us at Royal Mail and I look forward to helping to promote and develop the terrific work which Employers’ Forum for Disability does with employers throughout the UK.”
Source

On its website EFD states EFD has worked closely with government and other stakeholders, sharing best practice to make it easier to employ disabled people and serve disabled customers.

One has to question Mr Crozier’s commitment to EFD’s stated aims as the closure of Post Offices around the country is hardly going to improve Post Office Limited’s service to its disabled customers. It is going to make accessing post office services more inconvenient, more time consuming and more costly (public transport, taxis).

The recurring objections that have been raised by the hundreds of customers of the four Post Offices threatened with closure in Dundee to whom we have spoken over the last few weeks while campaigning, are:

Accessibility to the next nearest Post Office and the ‘fitness of purpose’ of those alternative Post Offices.

Lochee Road Post Office:

If this branch closes then the nearest Post Offices will be Ward Road, Tescos in the Stack, Brantwood or Blackness Road.

If walking, all of these alternatives involve either an uphill journey there and a downhill journey back, or vice versa. The bus services to both Blackness and Brantwood branches are infrequent. Any bus journey would involve added expense (For example, 2 visits per week to the Ward Road branch would incur a cost of £4.40).

This added expense would have a profound effect on those many Post Office customers who are on very low incomes and benefits. Many of those who use Lochee Road Post Office are elderly or disabled and/or on low income.

Although the public transport into the City Centre (Ward Road) is more frequent the extra expense is still incurred. The service at the Ward Road Post Office is already poor because of the lack of staff, resulting in long queues and standing time. At busy times, it is not uncommon for customers to have to queue for 10 – 15 minutes before being served. This adds to pressure and stress on staff and customers alike and can lead to a hostile atmosphere. Also some of the transactions carried out at Ward Road are the more complicated ones such as passports and car tax, which obviously increase waiting time.

Broughty Ferry Road Post Office:

Like Lochee Road, this branch serves a high proportion of elderly and disabled customers, who will find it extremely difficult to access other branches if Broughty Ferry Road closes.

Their alternative options are Ward Road branch (see above for comments); Maryfield branch or Arbroath Road. Both these branches involve a lengthy uphill walk and bus services in the area have recently been cut. Of course, the use of public transport will mean additional costs to those who can least afford it.

Nethergate Post Office:

The two alternatives for Nethgergate customers are:

• Ward Road branch (see above) and it involves crossing 2 busy main roads to access it;
• Perth Road branch, which is already extremely busy, often experiences lengthy queues in quite a small premise. So again there will be increased waiting times and queues, literally, out the door.

The Nethergate Post Office is also the nearest branch to the University of Dundee which is attended by thousands of students and hundreds of staff. The University has also recently built new premises in the Hawkhill area which might put even more pressure on Ward Road branch.

There are also many businesses in this area, such as Bank of Scotland, DVLA, HMRC and the new Alliance Trust offices being built just around the corner.

Fairmuir Post Office:

Again, there is an elderly population in the area of Fairmuir Post Office. An adjacent branch is the one in Arkley Street, which provides an excellent service, but the premises are very small. Under present circumstances, it can become overcrowded with four people waiting to be served. If it has to absorb Fairmuir’s customers then the service provided will decline. Elderly customers could be queued out into the street. This is surely not an image that Post Office Limited would want to be associated with, particularly during cold or wet weather.

All four branches are surrounded by independent, local shops or small businesses. Those shops we have canvassed have expressed their concern that the closure of the neighbouring Post Office will have a significant impact on their ability to survive. This is at time when they are already under pressure from the supermarket chains such as Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s.

Another factor that should be considered is that a significant proportion of Dundee’s population is on lower than average income and in receipt of social security benefits. Dundee also has one of the highest child poverty rates in Scotland.

Our extensive research and discussion with residents in all four areas leads us to conclude that none of the Post Offices in Dundee targeted for closure should be closed. We have found support for the retention of these four branches to be overwhelming among their local communities.

July 2008

Michael has learned through his Legal Aid solicitor that the procurator fiscal decided way back on 18 December not to proceed with the charge of Disorderly Conduct against him. Only they did not tell anybody. Does this mean that very useful CCTV evidence against the police may have been discarded?

Free School Meals pilot

A pilot has started of our proposal for Free School Meals to improve the health of a whole generation of children. We are immensely proud of the work in this campaign and the organisations who joined with us in campaigning for this essential health policy.
Free Prescription Charges

The SNP government have pledged to scrap prescription charges within the next four years. Both the SNP and Greens supported us in parliament when we originally proposed the Bill. It is essential for you to contact your MSPs asking them to support the eventual Bill.

Following the AGM of the International Brigade Memorial Trust held in Belfast this weekend, I can confirm that Dundee has been unanimously agreed as hosts of next year’s AGM on 11th October 2008. I will be in touch in due course to ask for your help in squeezing every possible ounce of assistance out of the Dundee labour and democratic movement (and beyond), to develop a full programme of events and activities for the evening of Friday 10th, Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th.

Mike

If you can assist, please contact Mike at: dundeetuc at hotmail.com

The hit of the day was a walking tour of parts of Dundee by Mike Arnott, Secretary of the Dundee Trades Council. Not only did he have to add a second tour later in the day but there was still demand, including from the Dundee SSP members who knew they ask Mike to do one again. We hope to in future have Mike do a tour as part of a locally held Day School so keep checking back for details.

On another note, an SNP member who was elected as both a councillor and MSP made the difficult choice of keeping the job with 4 times the salary of the other. Due to this a by-election will be held in Lochee on Thursday 22 November.

In October the SSP conference and Socialism discussion programme are coming to Dundee.

1. Independence Refurendum
2. Free Public Transport
3. 100,000 new council houses
4. Free School Meals
5. Scrap Council Tax

We hope that we have won support on these important issues at a local and national level. Bleary eyed and tired we will find out at about 6-7 on Friday morning.

Whatever happens, we will be back out in housing estates, communities and the city centre on a variety of campaigns over the next four years and beyond. You will see us again before the whole shibang starts again before the next elections and the big business parties remember you exist.

Hustings, public meetings and leafletting have been the main activities. In the next couple of days everyone in Dundee should be getting an SSP

On Tuesday night you can see the second SSPSee the first one here if you missed it)

And don’t worry, the Saturdays immediately after the election will still give you an opportunity to meet the SSP ]]> http://dundeessp.org/blog/2007/04/21/weve-been-busy/feed/ 0 http://dundeessp.org/blog/2007/04/06/our-candidates/ http://dundeessp.org/blog/2007/04/06/our-candidates/#comments Fri, 06 Apr 2007 14:12:14 +0000 nessppress http://dundeessp.wordpress.com/2007/04/06/our-candidates/ Dundee City Council – About our candidates standing for Dundee City Council

North East Biographies – About our candidates standing for the North East List in the Scottish Parliamentry Election.

According to the Courier they The SNP yesterday unveiled plans for the biggest tax cut in a generation, promising to scrap council tax and replace it with 3p on income tax across Scotland.

The Scottish Socialist Party have been fighting to replace the Council Tax with an income based tax for years. In 2005 we presented a bill to the Scottish Parliament to replace the Council Tax with our proposed Scottish Service Tax. We had hoped it would pass as the SNP and the Liberal Democrats had also claimed the wanted to Scrap the Council Tax, although neither has tried to actually do this in 8 years of Holyrood rule.

What happenned? on the 1st of February 2006, it fell and both these parties voted against it. At the time the SNP claimed that our proposal wasn’t really local as we wanted the Tax collected by the Inland Reveneue at the same time as Income Tax and National Insurance are deducted. This was estimated to actually save money over the current system which duplicates the same process all over the country. Now they are proposing the same collection scheme.

It’s always easy to see when an elections looming, the pro-capitalist parties start going on the street, holding stalls and proposing policies they have argued against for the last four years. You’d think they only wanted your vote or something…

If you want the Council Tax scrapped and replaced by a local income tax based on the ability to pay then its the SSP who have proposed this, argued for it and voted for it.

This is a great example of what happens when people put thir common interests before the interests of their own organisation. A turnout increase of 50% also shows that the students on campus aren’t apathetic when it comes to political issues.

Well done to Dundee Uni students

Courier report

Apparantly he thinks us knowing how he’s spending our cash means that if this reaches its logical conclusion, it will be easy for anyone who wants to kidnap, injure or assault an MP because they’ll know their exact movements,

Never mind that we already know when he will be holding surgeries etc, where he lives (from the electoral register), where his offices are and when he’s going to Parliament, if we know that he got a taxi somewhere 3 years ago how would that assist some mythical kidnapper in the future?

That’s if you manage to look at his argument and actually mistake his “logical conclusion” for being logical rather than paranoid fantasies.

Never mind that he’s supported Labours ID Card and Anti terrorism laws which mean the state can find out where you are.

SSP rallies round NCR workers

The SSP has been unequivocal in its condemnation of Ohio-based company NCR’s recent decision to axe 650 jobs in Dundee.

A decision that has left hundreds of families in abject panic, given that Dundee is a city with an already high level of unemployment, dangerously dependent upon corporate giants like NCR.

In the wake of the decision, SSP convenor Colin Fox travelled north with the party’s message of support for workers squaring up to this wretched decision.
He was also keen to distance the SSP from the attitude of all the other parties that nothing can be done and that the only option remaining is to follow the Scottish Executive lead and provide retraining, advice on setting up new businesses and educational routes forward away from NCR.

Colin, alongside SSP Industrial Organiser Richie Venton and Dundee SSP member Rod McGregor, spoke to local press, radio and TV, and met Scott Murray, Amicus union convener at NCR, to discuss the situation, the union’s approach and the SSP’s support.

The public meeting was organised by Dundee SSP members within days of the NCR announcement.
In building for the meeting, they held a successful stall in the city centre and in two local schemes, leafleted the NCR factory three days running, and got an article in the Dundee Courier.

The meeting was well-attended and constructive, with speakers Colin, Richie, and Mike Arnott from Dundee Trades Council.

Richie called NCR a “subsidy junkie. They have been handed £4million by the Scottish Executive in grants since 1993. And a further £2.2million off Scottish Enterprise just eight months ago.

Instead of offering more handouts to NCR bosses who lie and plunder, the Scottish Executive should seize their assets and keep the workforce and its skills.

Mike Arnott exposed NCR bosses as Corporation Tax-dodgers.
“They channel all their non-US profits – including those from Dundee – through a front company in Ireland. NCR Global Solutions in Ireland employs a grand total of 31 people.

“Yet by this legalised tax theft they can claim in 2005 that 31 people generated $186million profit – almost half their global total! Why do they siphon their profits across the Irish Sea? Because Corporation Tax there is only 12.5 per cent – compared to 30 per cent here.”

Colin Fox warned NCR workers not to be conned into relying on Task Forces that promise to re-train redundant workers.

“Look at Motorola. They didn’t even allow a trade union. But they had a works committee. I met the convener of the works committee when Motorola was closing down, promising re-training.
Six weeks later I met the same skilled worker in Harthill Service Station, sweeping up the forecourt!
Unlike the mainstream parties who wring their hands in pretend sympathy but preach there is nothing you can do, the SSP strongly believes that if the NCR workforce decide on powerful, united action, the jobs can be saved.”

Richie flagged up how Glasgow council workers forced the Labour council to drop plans to slash wages by up to £10,000 – and instead concede life-time protection of wages for most current staff – through mobilising for a three-day strike last month.

Mary McGregor, of Dundee SSP, said, Our party will continue to build support for the NCR workers and their families. We cannot let this devastation of the city go ahead without a fight.

The SSP is there to organise support for any action the workers take.

You can get the form from About My Vote

If you are currently living in Dundee then the form you need is: Dundee Vote Registration

Remember if you are a student you can register at your home and term time address so that you can vote (once) depending on where you are living at the time of the election