Youth Fight for Jobs
Public Meeting
Wednesday 25 November 18:00
Glyndon Community Center
75 Raglan Road
Plumstead, London
SE18 7LB
Socialist Party
Public Meeting "The collapse of the Berlin Wall-20 years on"
Thursday 3rd December 19:45
Glyndon Community Center
75 Raglan Road
Plumstead, London
SE18 7LB
Greenwich Unison Anti-cuts Demonstration
Tuesday December 8th 18:00
Greenwich Town Hall
Wellington Street
Woolwich, London
SE18 6PW
Socialist Party
Public Meeting "Is Cameron The New Thatcher?"
Thursday 17th December 19:45
Glyndon Community Center
75 Raglan Road
Plumstead, London
SE18 7LB
THIS MEETING HAS BEEN POSTPONED, NEXT MEETING WILL BE ON 14TH JAN.
Watch this space for more info.
Friday 20 November 2009
Wednesday 11 November 2009
Unison witch-hunt: Defend the Four campaign gets a boost
Four Socialist Party members - Onay Kasab, Glenn Kelly, Brian Debus and Suzanne Muna - are facing bans from holding office in Unison, ranging from three to five years. This was as a result of a leaflet distributed at Unison conference over two years ago!
The four are in the process of appealing against this scandalous action by the Unison leadership.
They are also taking their case to an employment tribunal on the basis that they have been discriminated against because of their political and philosophical views.
Five branch officers were originally investigated, but only the four officers who are also members of the Socialist Party were subject to disciplinary hearings and charges.
The recent high profile legal case, Grainger plc and others, involving a worker who has been told he can take his employer to court on the grounds that he was dismissed because of his views on climate change, is a significant legal breakthrough for the campaign.
Our campaign is using the same legislation, claiming that the four have been discriminated against because of their philosophical beliefs - ie Marxism and Trotskyism - beliefs held by members of the Socialist Party. It is significant that the judge in the above case stated: "Belief in the political philosophies of socialism, Marxism, communism... might qualify."
The campaign to defend the four is going from strength to strength. But the campaign has never relied on legal action alone - that is why the campaign continues to ask for support in the following ways:
Letters of protest to Unison general secretary Dave Prentis: Unison HQ, 1 Mabledon Place, London WC1H 9AJ or email: d.prentis@unison.co.uk. Please send copies to: Defend the Four Campaign, PO Box 858, London E11 1YG or email: info@stopthewitchhunt.org.uk
Unison Appeal Hearings: Please attend the lobby on Monday 16 November at the Holiday Inn, Carburton Street, London, which is the first day of Kas's hearing. There will also be a lobby for Suzanne's first day - Thursday 19 November at the same venue. Brian's hearing starts on 11 January, the venue is not yet known. The results of the appeals will not be announced until all the hearings have taken place.
Employment Tribunal - the next dates are: 15-18 December. Supporters can attend: London Central Employment Tribunal, Ground Floor, Victory House, 30-34 Kingsway, London WC2.
Other events, meetings and protests are being planned. Please check out the website www.stopthewitchhunt.org.uk.
The four are in the process of appealing against this scandalous action by the Unison leadership.
They are also taking their case to an employment tribunal on the basis that they have been discriminated against because of their political and philosophical views.
Five branch officers were originally investigated, but only the four officers who are also members of the Socialist Party were subject to disciplinary hearings and charges.
The recent high profile legal case, Grainger plc and others, involving a worker who has been told he can take his employer to court on the grounds that he was dismissed because of his views on climate change, is a significant legal breakthrough for the campaign.
Our campaign is using the same legislation, claiming that the four have been discriminated against because of their philosophical beliefs - ie Marxism and Trotskyism - beliefs held by members of the Socialist Party. It is significant that the judge in the above case stated: "Belief in the political philosophies of socialism, Marxism, communism... might qualify."
The campaign to defend the four is going from strength to strength. But the campaign has never relied on legal action alone - that is why the campaign continues to ask for support in the following ways:
Letters of protest to Unison general secretary Dave Prentis: Unison HQ, 1 Mabledon Place, London WC1H 9AJ or email: d.prentis@unison.co.uk. Please send copies to: Defend the Four Campaign, PO Box 858, London E11 1YG or email: info@stopthewitchhunt.org.uk
Unison Appeal Hearings: Please attend the lobby on Monday 16 November at the Holiday Inn, Carburton Street, London, which is the first day of Kas's hearing. There will also be a lobby for Suzanne's first day - Thursday 19 November at the same venue. Brian's hearing starts on 11 January, the venue is not yet known. The results of the appeals will not be announced until all the hearings have taken place.
Employment Tribunal - the next dates are: 15-18 December. Supporters can attend: London Central Employment Tribunal, Ground Floor, Victory House, 30-34 Kingsway, London WC2.
Other events, meetings and protests are being planned. Please check out the website www.stopthewitchhunt.org.uk.
Demonstrate 28 November
Taken from this weeks "The Socialist"
Fight for real jobs and free education
New Labour and the Conservatives are determined to make young people and workers pay for this crisis. Labour's plans to slash funding for youth training and to put greedy fat cats in charge of setting university fees have been exposed.
Ben Robinson, Youth Fight for Jobs (YFJ) campaign national chair
£350 million cuts in youth training schemes are planned. Out of around 600,000 school leavers, only 8,000 will get real apprenticeships, ones which lead to a job and a qualification.
The body charged with reviewing university fees levels includes some of the biggest capitalists and privateers in Britain, such as Lord Browne, former chief executive of BP. How does profiteering out of natural resources and environmental pollution qualify him to comment on education?
In fact Browne left BP, amidst allegations of corruption, with a £5 million payoff and a £21 million pension pot. Is this man seriously going to say that society cannot afford our education?
David Eastwood, vice chancellor of the University of Birmingham, also sits on the review body. For years, as part of the Russell Group, he has been demanding students pay more for education. His university is currently trying to close its entire sociology department, without consultation with staff, because it is not bringing in enough money.
The eight person board also includes a former advisor to Tony Blair (the prime minister who abolished free university education) and, unbelievably, Peter Sands, chief executive of Standard Chartered Bank. Is he going to demand the same level of investment, to the tune of £1.4 trillion, in education, in our future, that the banks have received over the last eighteen months?
Of course not. Peter Sands (who has earned almost £15 million in six years at Standard), Lord Browne (estimated personal wealth of £45 million), Lord Mandelson and the others want to make young people pay for the crisis of their system. The bosses' organisation, the CBI, calls for fees of £5,000 a year. Both Labour and the Tories say similar. Before the review board has met, the outcome is clear.
Never mind that young people want to learn, want to work! Never mind that a majority of the population think university education should be free! Since when did the politicians in the main capitalist parties care what we think? But we need more than polls to show what we want.
Fighting back works. That's the lesson of the struggles of many groups of workers this year and also of students and workers who campaigned against education attacks in Ireland. Youth Fight for Jobs says no to university fees, no to mass youth unemployment, no to writing off our generation.
We are demonstrating on Saturday 28 November - for real jobs, for free education. This campaign is supported by three national trade unions, the PCS, RMT and CWU, as well as students unions and many trade union branches. Join us in the fightback!
See www.youthfightforjobs.com/transport for transport details for the march as well as other information
Fight for real jobs and free education
New Labour and the Conservatives are determined to make young people and workers pay for this crisis. Labour's plans to slash funding for youth training and to put greedy fat cats in charge of setting university fees have been exposed.
Ben Robinson, Youth Fight for Jobs (YFJ) campaign national chair
£350 million cuts in youth training schemes are planned. Out of around 600,000 school leavers, only 8,000 will get real apprenticeships, ones which lead to a job and a qualification.
The body charged with reviewing university fees levels includes some of the biggest capitalists and privateers in Britain, such as Lord Browne, former chief executive of BP. How does profiteering out of natural resources and environmental pollution qualify him to comment on education?
In fact Browne left BP, amidst allegations of corruption, with a £5 million payoff and a £21 million pension pot. Is this man seriously going to say that society cannot afford our education?
David Eastwood, vice chancellor of the University of Birmingham, also sits on the review body. For years, as part of the Russell Group, he has been demanding students pay more for education. His university is currently trying to close its entire sociology department, without consultation with staff, because it is not bringing in enough money.
The eight person board also includes a former advisor to Tony Blair (the prime minister who abolished free university education) and, unbelievably, Peter Sands, chief executive of Standard Chartered Bank. Is he going to demand the same level of investment, to the tune of £1.4 trillion, in education, in our future, that the banks have received over the last eighteen months?
Of course not. Peter Sands (who has earned almost £15 million in six years at Standard), Lord Browne (estimated personal wealth of £45 million), Lord Mandelson and the others want to make young people pay for the crisis of their system. The bosses' organisation, the CBI, calls for fees of £5,000 a year. Both Labour and the Tories say similar. Before the review board has met, the outcome is clear.
Never mind that young people want to learn, want to work! Never mind that a majority of the population think university education should be free! Since when did the politicians in the main capitalist parties care what we think? But we need more than polls to show what we want.
Fighting back works. That's the lesson of the struggles of many groups of workers this year and also of students and workers who campaigned against education attacks in Ireland. Youth Fight for Jobs says no to university fees, no to mass youth unemployment, no to writing off our generation.
We are demonstrating on Saturday 28 November - for real jobs, for free education. This campaign is supported by three national trade unions, the PCS, RMT and CWU, as well as students unions and many trade union branches. Join us in the fightback!
See www.youthfightforjobs.com/transport for transport details for the march as well as other information
Rallying for struggle, solidarity and socialism
This year will be remembered for the "re-awakening of the industrial working class" declared Keith Gibson, a leader of the Lindsey oil refinery construction strikes in February and June, at the Rally for Socialism on Saturday. All of the rally speakers talked about the heroic fightbacks that began this year against the bosses' onslaught in the wake of the financial meltdown.
Up and down the country workers are standing up and being counted, from the 'unofficial' strike action at Lindsey, to the occupations at the Visteon and Vestas factories, to the successful battle to reinstate sacked union convenor Rob Williams at the Linamar plant in Swansea and the determined strike action shown by postal workers and bin workers.
Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), had just returned from South Yorkshire. FBU members there are involved in a "bitter dispute" over imposed shift changes and the fire and re-hire threats of the Labour Party-run council to get them through.
Internationally the fightback is underway too. The election of Joe Higgins to the European Parliament by the Dublin working class was a stunning victory on the political field. At the rally Joe spoke of this achievement, which followed the tireless involvement of the Socialist Party in Ireland in the struggles of ordinary people over many decades.
Young people in struggle
Tracy Edwards, a member of the Youth Fight for Jobs (YFJ) campaign steering committee, spoke of the brilliant example set by the young workers at Vestas in occupying their factory to defend their jobs. Tracy said that the demonstration called by YFJ on Saturday 28 November has the potential to be a turning point in the struggle of young people.
Matt Wrack reported that youth in the FBU are entering into struggle. He spoke of the dozens of young firefighters who had been on the picket lines determined to see the struggle through to the end and rubbished the attempt to portray the new generation as "Thatcher's children" with no interest in struggle or socialism.
The fighting spirit developing among the new generation was shown in a text message read out by Keith Gibson from a young striker at Lindsey: "I'm not giving my life, my kids' life or my girlfriend's life up for no one. Together we'll win, together we'll get a slice of the pie instead of the crumbs they want to take away from us."
Senan, Tamil Solidarity international coordinator, spoke of the tremendous movement of young Tamils rising up in Britain against the barbarity being inflicted upon the Tamil-speaking people in Sri Lanka, and the campaign of international solidarity that has been organised. As Peter Taaffe, general secretary of the Socialist Party, pointed out, all of this puts a lie to the idea that class struggle and the ideas of Marxism, socialism and internationalism have been "buried under the rubble of the Berlin Wall".
A political voice for workers
Brian Caton, the left-wing general secretary of the Prison Officers Association (POA) spoke of the shackle the anti-trade union laws are to the efforts of his union members to defend their pay and conditions. "Trade union rights are human rights".
Criminally, many workers' disputes have received only half-hearted support from the majority in the trade union leadership. The reason for the timidity of these right-wing trade union leaders is bound up with their continuing support for the Labour Party and the abandoning of a socialist perspective.
Peter Taaffe argued for a "militant class struggle policy for the labour movement" and the need to link that to the ideas of socialism. Keith Gibson warned that although a tremendous victory had been won at Lindsey, the bosses would be back and that "a political voice is needed as well as an industrial one".
Bob Crow, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport workers' union (RMT) announced that, in five weeks time, he will be recommending participation in a coalition for the 2010 general election to the RMT executive. This coalition, which will include the Socialist Party and others, is a practical step on the road to solving the crisis of working class political representation.
Anticipating the accusation from pro-Labour union leaders that any challenge to Labour will let the Tories in, Bob declared defiantly: "New Labour has let the Tories in with their betrayal!" Joe Higgins congratulated the RMT on its bold stand and implored the RMT, the Socialist Party and the other coalition partners to "declare early" to ensure the most successful electoral challenge possible.
Capitalism in crisis
Peter Taaffe, Socialist Party general secretary addresses Socialism 2009, photo Rob Emery (Click to enlarge)
Peter Taaffe, in analysing the world economic crisis explained that the Socialist Party had anticipated the devastating collapse of the capitalists' bubble economy. In contrast to the arrogance of the 'banksters', Peter compared the Socialist Party's warning to the lone phone call from the Isle of Wight warning of the impending 1987 hurricane that devastated Southern England. That warning too was scorned and laughed at but ultimately proved correct.
Peter also warned that not since 1922 with the 'Gedes axe' budget have such cuts been proposed. The result of that budget? Four years later the famous general strike of 1926 where the workers of Britain stood on the threshold of power.
Tracy showed where extra money could be found if there really is such a public spending crisis - £100 billion in uncollected taxes, £4.6 billion every year on war, £12 billion on PFI deals in the NHS and of course the £1.4 trillion poured into the banks!
Speakers condemned the divisive role of the far-right racist British National Party. Brian Caton described how the POA has "sought out and kicked out" BNP members within its ranks. Keith Gibson described how rank and file trade union members chased the BNP away from the Lindsey pickets. But crucial to stopping the rise of the BNP is the development of a mass political alternative that would raise the ideas of working-class solidarity to counter the BNP's divisive racism.
What unites all the issues facing the working class and young people of the world is the need to replace the rotten capitalist system with an alternative.
Peter explained how socialism is not a utopian idea but "flows from the incapacity of capitalism" to deliver. Young people and workers will again find the ideas of Marxism and socialism and the traditions of solidarity and class struggle. The Rally for Socialism was a celebration of recent victories, but it was also a call to the future, a future that those present will doubtless have been inspired to ensure is a socialist future.
The fightback begins
"WHICHEVER PARTY or combination of establishment parties win the next general election, they are all saying working-class people must pay for the crisis in the capitalist system. Tories, Labour and LibDems all plan around £90 billion of cuts each year - the equivalent of the entire NHS budget."
This stark warning was spelt out by Campaign for a New Workers' Party secretary and Socialist Party councillor, Dave Nellist, at the Sunday closing rally at Socialism 2009, entitled 'the fightback begins'.
But what are we going to do about this situation? To paraphrase TV comedian Harry Hill: "Fight"! That was the message from the platform speakers.
Rob Williams, Unite convenor at the Linamar car components factory in Swansea, explained that despite the worst economic crisis since the 1930s his fellow workers were prepared to go on all-out strike to secure his reinstatement, following his unjustified sacking earlier this year. The Linamar workers clearly understood that if Rob was removed the employers would see it as open season on jobs, wages and pensions.
Commenting on the attacks on workers' conditions during this recession, Rob's advice was: "The worst thing is to lose without a fight... Because the employer will come back for more."
Another group of workers occupying the headlines has been the postal workers who, having suffered the imposition by management of 'modernisation' (ie cuts) in many Royal Mail offices, said "enough is enough" and went on strike.
London divisional secretary John Denton spoke to the rally: "We balloted our members for action and won. We took 18 days' strike action, with each postal worker typically losing over £2,000."
John said that the agreement between Royal Mail and the CWU union concedes to some of the union's demands. He reckoned it was a "significant step forward, but if we don't make progress the strike ballots are still live."
Also in the media spotlight are the British Airways workers. Cabin crews are currently balloting for strike action following the imposition of job and pay cuts - while BA boss Willie Walsh continues to enrich himself.
BA's 'New Fleet' working arrangements will mean new cabin workers will receive only half the wages of current crews. Heathrow Airport GMB workers' rep, Chris McNulty, pointed out that the man involved in Royal Mail's vicious modernisation plans - Tony McCarthy - has been head-hunted to British Airways!
Chris told the audience that airport workers are determined to resist the biggest ever assault on their working conditions. However, he warned that some trade union leaders "seem more determined to sue for industrial peace by making concessions [to satisfy the Labour government] than in standing up to the employer."
But it is not only the current but a new generation of workers whose future is in jeopardy because of the bosses' crisis, as Sean Figg of Youth Fight for Jobs (YFJ) explained.
Sean pointed to Sunday's Observer headline that revealed the Labour government is secretly cutting funding to its own flagship youth job creation programme. He slammed TV celebrity bosses like Alan Sugar who peddled "the idea that young people simply have to project a better image of themselves" as a "patronising big lie."
YFJ's response to one million young unemployed in Britain is to organise a march for jobs and free education on Saturday 28 November. "The bigger the demo, the bigger the wake-up call," said Sean, appealing to all young people, trade unionists and anyone who cares about future generations to attend.
Summing up the rally, Socialist Party deputy secretary Hannah Sell said there is a battle royal looming in the public sector after next year's general election. The Socialist Party has a vital role to play in advancing workers' struggles.
However, under this system workers will continually face attacks and be forced to battle back "unless and until a new generation of fighters succeeds in transforming society along socialist lines."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's been a very encouraging environment where you can ask a question without the worry of it being asked before. It's definitely convinced me to join the Socialist Party.
- Meryl, Birmingham
It's been really inspiring to have the opportunity to participate in discussion about what needs to be done in the future.
- James Nash, Manchester
It's the best socialism event that I've been to. More people here than ever before, lots of young people all active and all wanting to play a role in fighting for socialism.
- Roger Bannister, Unison NEC (pc)
This year there is a real mood of optimism and for trade unionists, it's definitely a great place to come.
- Julia, West London
I had a great time and met some really amazing people. It was a very good event, one of a kind.
- Alex Rosado-Thornhill, Harwich
Up and down the country workers are standing up and being counted, from the 'unofficial' strike action at Lindsey, to the occupations at the Visteon and Vestas factories, to the successful battle to reinstate sacked union convenor Rob Williams at the Linamar plant in Swansea and the determined strike action shown by postal workers and bin workers.
Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), had just returned from South Yorkshire. FBU members there are involved in a "bitter dispute" over imposed shift changes and the fire and re-hire threats of the Labour Party-run council to get them through.
Internationally the fightback is underway too. The election of Joe Higgins to the European Parliament by the Dublin working class was a stunning victory on the political field. At the rally Joe spoke of this achievement, which followed the tireless involvement of the Socialist Party in Ireland in the struggles of ordinary people over many decades.
Young people in struggle
Tracy Edwards, a member of the Youth Fight for Jobs (YFJ) campaign steering committee, spoke of the brilliant example set by the young workers at Vestas in occupying their factory to defend their jobs. Tracy said that the demonstration called by YFJ on Saturday 28 November has the potential to be a turning point in the struggle of young people.
Matt Wrack reported that youth in the FBU are entering into struggle. He spoke of the dozens of young firefighters who had been on the picket lines determined to see the struggle through to the end and rubbished the attempt to portray the new generation as "Thatcher's children" with no interest in struggle or socialism.
The fighting spirit developing among the new generation was shown in a text message read out by Keith Gibson from a young striker at Lindsey: "I'm not giving my life, my kids' life or my girlfriend's life up for no one. Together we'll win, together we'll get a slice of the pie instead of the crumbs they want to take away from us."
Senan, Tamil Solidarity international coordinator, spoke of the tremendous movement of young Tamils rising up in Britain against the barbarity being inflicted upon the Tamil-speaking people in Sri Lanka, and the campaign of international solidarity that has been organised. As Peter Taaffe, general secretary of the Socialist Party, pointed out, all of this puts a lie to the idea that class struggle and the ideas of Marxism, socialism and internationalism have been "buried under the rubble of the Berlin Wall".
A political voice for workers
Brian Caton, the left-wing general secretary of the Prison Officers Association (POA) spoke of the shackle the anti-trade union laws are to the efforts of his union members to defend their pay and conditions. "Trade union rights are human rights".
Criminally, many workers' disputes have received only half-hearted support from the majority in the trade union leadership. The reason for the timidity of these right-wing trade union leaders is bound up with their continuing support for the Labour Party and the abandoning of a socialist perspective.
Peter Taaffe argued for a "militant class struggle policy for the labour movement" and the need to link that to the ideas of socialism. Keith Gibson warned that although a tremendous victory had been won at Lindsey, the bosses would be back and that "a political voice is needed as well as an industrial one".
Bob Crow, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport workers' union (RMT) announced that, in five weeks time, he will be recommending participation in a coalition for the 2010 general election to the RMT executive. This coalition, which will include the Socialist Party and others, is a practical step on the road to solving the crisis of working class political representation.
Anticipating the accusation from pro-Labour union leaders that any challenge to Labour will let the Tories in, Bob declared defiantly: "New Labour has let the Tories in with their betrayal!" Joe Higgins congratulated the RMT on its bold stand and implored the RMT, the Socialist Party and the other coalition partners to "declare early" to ensure the most successful electoral challenge possible.
Capitalism in crisis
Peter Taaffe, Socialist Party general secretary addresses Socialism 2009, photo Rob Emery (Click to enlarge)
Peter Taaffe, in analysing the world economic crisis explained that the Socialist Party had anticipated the devastating collapse of the capitalists' bubble economy. In contrast to the arrogance of the 'banksters', Peter compared the Socialist Party's warning to the lone phone call from the Isle of Wight warning of the impending 1987 hurricane that devastated Southern England. That warning too was scorned and laughed at but ultimately proved correct.
Peter also warned that not since 1922 with the 'Gedes axe' budget have such cuts been proposed. The result of that budget? Four years later the famous general strike of 1926 where the workers of Britain stood on the threshold of power.
Tracy showed where extra money could be found if there really is such a public spending crisis - £100 billion in uncollected taxes, £4.6 billion every year on war, £12 billion on PFI deals in the NHS and of course the £1.4 trillion poured into the banks!
Speakers condemned the divisive role of the far-right racist British National Party. Brian Caton described how the POA has "sought out and kicked out" BNP members within its ranks. Keith Gibson described how rank and file trade union members chased the BNP away from the Lindsey pickets. But crucial to stopping the rise of the BNP is the development of a mass political alternative that would raise the ideas of working-class solidarity to counter the BNP's divisive racism.
What unites all the issues facing the working class and young people of the world is the need to replace the rotten capitalist system with an alternative.
Peter explained how socialism is not a utopian idea but "flows from the incapacity of capitalism" to deliver. Young people and workers will again find the ideas of Marxism and socialism and the traditions of solidarity and class struggle. The Rally for Socialism was a celebration of recent victories, but it was also a call to the future, a future that those present will doubtless have been inspired to ensure is a socialist future.
The fightback begins
"WHICHEVER PARTY or combination of establishment parties win the next general election, they are all saying working-class people must pay for the crisis in the capitalist system. Tories, Labour and LibDems all plan around £90 billion of cuts each year - the equivalent of the entire NHS budget."
This stark warning was spelt out by Campaign for a New Workers' Party secretary and Socialist Party councillor, Dave Nellist, at the Sunday closing rally at Socialism 2009, entitled 'the fightback begins'.
But what are we going to do about this situation? To paraphrase TV comedian Harry Hill: "Fight"! That was the message from the platform speakers.
Rob Williams, Unite convenor at the Linamar car components factory in Swansea, explained that despite the worst economic crisis since the 1930s his fellow workers were prepared to go on all-out strike to secure his reinstatement, following his unjustified sacking earlier this year. The Linamar workers clearly understood that if Rob was removed the employers would see it as open season on jobs, wages and pensions.
Commenting on the attacks on workers' conditions during this recession, Rob's advice was: "The worst thing is to lose without a fight... Because the employer will come back for more."
Another group of workers occupying the headlines has been the postal workers who, having suffered the imposition by management of 'modernisation' (ie cuts) in many Royal Mail offices, said "enough is enough" and went on strike.
London divisional secretary John Denton spoke to the rally: "We balloted our members for action and won. We took 18 days' strike action, with each postal worker typically losing over £2,000."
John said that the agreement between Royal Mail and the CWU union concedes to some of the union's demands. He reckoned it was a "significant step forward, but if we don't make progress the strike ballots are still live."
Also in the media spotlight are the British Airways workers. Cabin crews are currently balloting for strike action following the imposition of job and pay cuts - while BA boss Willie Walsh continues to enrich himself.
BA's 'New Fleet' working arrangements will mean new cabin workers will receive only half the wages of current crews. Heathrow Airport GMB workers' rep, Chris McNulty, pointed out that the man involved in Royal Mail's vicious modernisation plans - Tony McCarthy - has been head-hunted to British Airways!
Chris told the audience that airport workers are determined to resist the biggest ever assault on their working conditions. However, he warned that some trade union leaders "seem more determined to sue for industrial peace by making concessions [to satisfy the Labour government] than in standing up to the employer."
But it is not only the current but a new generation of workers whose future is in jeopardy because of the bosses' crisis, as Sean Figg of Youth Fight for Jobs (YFJ) explained.
Sean pointed to Sunday's Observer headline that revealed the Labour government is secretly cutting funding to its own flagship youth job creation programme. He slammed TV celebrity bosses like Alan Sugar who peddled "the idea that young people simply have to project a better image of themselves" as a "patronising big lie."
YFJ's response to one million young unemployed in Britain is to organise a march for jobs and free education on Saturday 28 November. "The bigger the demo, the bigger the wake-up call," said Sean, appealing to all young people, trade unionists and anyone who cares about future generations to attend.
Summing up the rally, Socialist Party deputy secretary Hannah Sell said there is a battle royal looming in the public sector after next year's general election. The Socialist Party has a vital role to play in advancing workers' struggles.
However, under this system workers will continually face attacks and be forced to battle back "unless and until a new generation of fighters succeeds in transforming society along socialist lines."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's been a very encouraging environment where you can ask a question without the worry of it being asked before. It's definitely convinced me to join the Socialist Party.
- Meryl, Birmingham
It's been really inspiring to have the opportunity to participate in discussion about what needs to be done in the future.
- James Nash, Manchester
It's the best socialism event that I've been to. More people here than ever before, lots of young people all active and all wanting to play a role in fighting for socialism.
- Roger Bannister, Unison NEC (pc)
This year there is a real mood of optimism and for trade unionists, it's definitely a great place to come.
- Julia, West London
I had a great time and met some really amazing people. It was a very good event, one of a kind.
- Alex Rosado-Thornhill, Harwich
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