Regional anti-cuts organising
- Thread starter butchersapron
- Start date
butchersapron
Bring back hanging
Potentially very important court case here - make sure your local unions/people with big resources know about it:
Union’s legal challenge may scupper council budget cuts
Union’s legal challenge may scupper council budget cuts
butchersapron
Bring back hanging
Resource post: i'm sure we've all heard the pro-cuts people whine that no others substantive proposals have been put forward, and i'm sure we've all seen substantive reports and proposals being linked to time after time then the same people coming back with the same whining a few days later, not having bothered to read those reports. Here is a collection of the best anti-cuts reports in one place. Use these (they're all fairly soft left efforts), develop their arguments, extend them...
There is also a collection of useful reports at the TUC site here and some at the Compass site.
Note: not a full endorsement of these - esp that last one.
There is also a collection of useful reports at the TUC site here and some at the Compass site.
Note: not a full endorsement of these - esp that last one.
past caring
The Cathars were right
Hate to appear pessimistic, but this kind of thing has been tried - even successfully - in recent years and had very little real impact. I can look out more details if anyone's interested, but I remember a judicial review case brought by service users (I think) of the welfare rights unit in one West London borough that had its funding cut, resulting in closure of the service. The JR was brought on the exact same premise - that no proper equalities assessment (required by the DDA) had been carried out prior to the decision to cut funding.
Whilst the High Court upheld the challenge, all its ruling meant was that the local authority had to go away and carry out consultation/carry out an equalities impact assessment - and then make budget decisions. The ruling was absolutely not (and could not be) one that ruled out any cuts. In that case the LA went away and did the assessment and then made the cuts - I doubt that any more will come of this challenge.
Whilst the High Court upheld the challenge, all its ruling meant was that the local authority had to go away and carry out consultation/carry out an equalities impact assessment - and then make budget decisions. The ruling was absolutely not (and could not be) one that ruled out any cuts. In that case the LA went away and did the assessment and then made the cuts - I doubt that any more will come of this challenge.
ymu
Niall Ferguson's deep-cover sock-puppet
It doesn't matter. It's the combined force of everything that everyone is doing that might make a difference - no one action will do the trick on its own. There are a bunch of legal challenges going on and they're getting media coverage. It's all good.
past caring
The Cathars were right
It matters if people are led to believe by those bringing the legal challenge that a successful court case might stop LAs being able to make cuts when it won't. It's a delaying tactic at best.
butchersapron
Bring back hanging
There is a danger here you're right - aside from what looks like little chance of doing anymore then delaying - that protest/resistance/whatever is channeled into legalistic routes, is taken out of the hands of the wider population and into the hands of specialists, into bureaucratic channels, that power is delegated away...
Labour do not have to shift to the left under any circumstances now that there is no threat of a non-capitalist alternative either domestically or internationally. It's a major reason for New Labour in the first place.
butchersapron
Bring back hanging
Going back to the legal challenge stuff, the fawcett society has just lost its attempt to to take the budget to Judicial review.
butchersapron
Bring back hanging
This is what we're starting to work on now: get a map of your area/ward. Mark the large employers, get down there at 4.30 or first thing in the morning. Get the EMA kids down there, there's a good chance their family or family mates are working there. Get that link going.
Bristol uni students voted to end representation yesterday btw - we are all delagates.
Bristol uni students voted to end representation yesterday btw - we are all delagates.
Fisher_Gate
Active Member
I thought it was crap and a dire reflection of an increasingly sectarian direction.
The last thing the anti-cuts movement needs is one that is tied to the electoral strategy of this or that group, be it the Labour Party, SP, anarchists, SWP or anyone else.
The anti-cuts movement needs to be as broad based as possible and it is inevitable that there will be some people involved who, while broadly opposed to cuts, will have their own view about how best to fight elections and who we should support.
Ironic really. If anyone had suggested back in 1989/90 that the Anti-Poll Tax campaign stood candidates against Labour Party candidates who were not committed to refusing to implement the poll tax, the first people up to argue vehemently against that would have been the Militant tendency.
BigTom
Well-Known Member
Birmingham Against the Cuts has formed. I meant to say something about the meeting last week but forgot. Held in far too small a room, only held 25, 10-15 people turned away - this event was barely advertised though.
Essentially a union formed group, though swp/rtw/ean were there, as were IWW and someone from the green party (not in an official green party way), plus a couple of service groups - CROSSBrum who are a schools services campaign group and Connexions had people there.
Gonna be a slow moving group really. They are talking about demo's for Brum's budget meetings on one or more of 4th Feb, 26th Feb, 4th Mar .. they don't know when the budget meeting will be yet. Talk of who should call the demos, and of speaking to the unions before any dates were decided. I spoke up and said I didn't understand that, I don't know why it matters who calls the dates, that BATC can just say we are going to have demos on the 4th and 26th of feb, and ask the unions to turn out on the same day with their own demos (co-ordinated obviously). Did actually get the NUT/SWP guy there to change his mind and agree with me but no dates were set
Some dates:
Tommorow - more stalls in the city centre Birmingham 1-3 and leafleting in Kings Sq. West Brom 11-12
Tues Dec 21st - Unison Solihull budget protest 3:30 will post details on the council protests thread)
Wed Dec 29th, Binmen start their strike against £4,000 pay cuts. Trying to acquire details on this to know how/where to show solidarity.
Wednesday January 5th Connexions one day strike
Tuesday 18th January Cross Public Meeting (see link)
Saturday January 29th CWU demo against Royal Mail privatisation [Poster image on facebook 11:30 Victoria square, will post more about this closer to the date.
Hopefully will be demo's against brum council budget meetings on the 4th and 26th feb and 4th march.
Birmingham Against the Cuts Facebook
Essentially a union formed group, though swp/rtw/ean were there, as were IWW and someone from the green party (not in an official green party way), plus a couple of service groups - CROSSBrum who are a schools services campaign group and Connexions had people there.
Gonna be a slow moving group really. They are talking about demo's for Brum's budget meetings on one or more of 4th Feb, 26th Feb, 4th Mar .. they don't know when the budget meeting will be yet. Talk of who should call the demos, and of speaking to the unions before any dates were decided. I spoke up and said I didn't understand that, I don't know why it matters who calls the dates, that BATC can just say we are going to have demos on the 4th and 26th of feb, and ask the unions to turn out on the same day with their own demos (co-ordinated obviously). Did actually get the NUT/SWP guy there to change his mind and agree with me but no dates were set
Some dates:
Tommorow - more stalls in the city centre Birmingham 1-3 and leafleting in Kings Sq. West Brom 11-12
Tues Dec 21st - Unison Solihull budget protest 3:30 will post details on the council protests thread)
Wed Dec 29th, Binmen start their strike against £4,000 pay cuts. Trying to acquire details on this to know how/where to show solidarity.
Wednesday January 5th Connexions one day strike
Tuesday 18th January Cross Public Meeting (see link)
Saturday January 29th CWU demo against Royal Mail privatisation [Poster image on facebook 11:30 Victoria square, will post more about this closer to the date.
Hopefully will be demo's against brum council budget meetings on the 4th and 26th feb and 4th march.
Birmingham Against the Cuts Facebook
ymu
Niall Ferguson's deep-cover sock-puppet
Watch the swappies carefully. Their antics on the Brum StWC were a fucking disgrace.
BigTom
Well-Known Member
I'll read through that tomorrow ymu, but yeah, I am watching the swappies, I don't think BATC is going to be the organisation that is going to take any kind of vaguely radical action, but it might be possible that it will help to mobilise more people in brum.
There was one nice story from the meeting actually, one of the guys there has been creating some kinds of street committees in Erdington, not clear on the details and I wasn't taking notes (no table for me) but sounded good - otoh it might just have been two people from a couple of streets, I'm pretty sure there were 3 streets.. it'll be good if that is duplicated across the city, and hopefully it'll turn out that there are some militant pockets of people in brum.
There was one nice story from the meeting actually, one of the guys there has been creating some kinds of street committees in Erdington, not clear on the details and I wasn't taking notes (no table for me) but sounded good - otoh it might just have been two people from a couple of streets, I'm pretty sure there were 3 streets.. it'll be good if that is duplicated across the city, and hopefully it'll turn out that there are some militant pockets of people in brum.
BigTom
Well-Known Member
Energy, food, metals and industrial input commodity prices are all going stratospheric, in a pre-2008 global recession kind of way. Wonder what could be causing that? And what might happen next? Another recession would mean that growth is now over, permanently. If growth is now over, we are insolvent. If we are insolvent, we can't sustain ANY public services, much less reduced ones.
Folks - organising anti-cuts protests is like organising anti-tides protests. Great fun, but pointless. How about you conserve your energy, and devote any surplus to something constructive like organising the system that will be necessary to replace the current broken one?
Link: commodity prices
Folks - organising anti-cuts protests is like organising anti-tides protests. Great fun, but pointless. How about you conserve your energy, and devote any surplus to something constructive like organising the system that will be necessary to replace the current broken one?
Link: commodity prices
butchersapron
Bring back hanging
Off the thread weirdo from the 70s.
Brainaddict
slight system overdrive
Utter gibberish, but start another thread if you want to talk about it properly. This one is about local organising.
Things that aren't understood often appear that way. The services you are seeking to defend were only made possible through the surplus wealth generated by cheap, abundant fossil fuel supplies. They were lovely. Now, there are no cheap, abundant fossil fuel supplies, only ones you can't afford. So the services you are seeking to defend are no longer possible.
You are "organising locally" without anything more interesting to say than that the world today ought to look like the world yesterday, while remaining utterly incurious about fundamental changes taking place in the world beyond Hackney. The Union of Concerned Buggy Whip Manufacturers no doubt organised locally with at least the same enthusiasm and intellectual rigour, but that is because they didn't understand the consequences of the Model T Ford on Buggies. That fact is about as central to the thread as can be imagined.
You have far fewer resources at your disposal than you probably realise, and you would be better advised to direct them toward some more constructive aim than the fruitless attempt to prop up an artefact from a bygone era. But I suspect you are immune to counterfactual evidence and therefore beyond reasoning on this point, so I'll leave you to carry on.
dennisr
the acceptable face
ah - the old you 'don't understand' caveat. actually we do.
you are talking out of your backside. go away
butchersapron
Bring back hanging
Bristol - meet Castle park at noon, saturday. Stuff to do.
BigTom
Well-Known Member
Birmingham - Bin Men strike on Monday (I know I posted the 29th earlier in this thread, the date must have changed and I didn't realise it).
"The 3 GMB organised sites are Perry Barr, Lifford lane and Montague Street."
(I'm a GMB member so I emailed GMB to find out this info).. there are other unions involved as well, unite and someone else iirc, so there might well be other depots which are organised by other unions, but this was my reply to a question asking if the regional organiser of the GMB had a list of refuse depot sites to hand, obviously he only knew the GMB ones so couldn't tell me if there were others..
Gonna pop down on Monday with some biscuits and tea..
Loads of actions going on everywhere on saturday for ukuncut... there's a thread in the protest/activism/direct action forum (if I've remembered to name it correctly - the one at the top of the p&p section)..
"The 3 GMB organised sites are Perry Barr, Lifford lane and Montague Street."
(I'm a GMB member so I emailed GMB to find out this info).. there are other unions involved as well, unite and someone else iirc, so there might well be other depots which are organised by other unions, but this was my reply to a question asking if the regional organiser of the GMB had a list of refuse depot sites to hand, obviously he only knew the GMB ones so couldn't tell me if there were others..
Gonna pop down on Monday with some biscuits and tea..
Loads of actions going on everywhere on saturday for ukuncut... there's a thread in the protest/activism/direct action forum (if I've remembered to name it correctly - the one at the top of the p&p section)..
BigTom
Well-Known Member
I *think* it's just a one day strike at the moment, but they got a 97% yes vote in the ballot, so I imagine there'll be more to come. They are facing a £4,000 pay cut so it's not a light thing.
Mentioned this strike at the IWW meeting I went to this week and someone asked if it meant they shouldn't put their bin out, I said that it might be more effective to put it out and leave it rotting in the street.. someone else suggested leaving it outside a well known councillors house instead
When I go down to the picket line, I'll find out more information.. the GMB guy's emails were quite short and to the point so I think he might be very busy (and he will be out on the picket line at montague street all day which is good to hear).
Mentioned this strike at the IWW meeting I went to this week and someone asked if it meant they shouldn't put their bin out, I said that it might be more effective to put it out and leave it rotting in the street.. someone else suggested leaving it outside a well known councillors house instead
When I go down to the picket line, I'll find out more information.. the GMB guy's emails were quite short and to the point so I think he might be very busy (and he will be out on the picket line at montague street all day which is good to hear).
dennisr
the acceptable face
More local and national Union stuff - From the recent NSSN Bulletin:
1200 Heinz workers in Wigan are to strike for 24 hour for an improved pay offer. Messages of support to Ian at wrightian5@sky.com.
Medirest Staff at Southampton General & Amersham & Wycombe Hospitals took 48 hours of strike action. http://sabmw.weebly.com/meetings--events.html
Clitheroe Grammor School Lancs members of NUT/NASUWT took strike action against express academies.
ALSEF - Massive vote for strike action by LU Train drivers on boxing day. On the 23rd London Midland ASLEF will also be on strike. http://tinyurl.com/3y5dux7
PCS urge YES vote in ballot open till 14th Jan http://tinyurl.com/34ep3yy
Sorry for any repeats
1200 Heinz workers in Wigan are to strike for 24 hour for an improved pay offer. Messages of support to Ian at wrightian5@sky.com.
Medirest Staff at Southampton General & Amersham & Wycombe Hospitals took 48 hours of strike action. http://sabmw.weebly.com/meetings--events.html
Clitheroe Grammor School Lancs members of NUT/NASUWT took strike action against express academies.
ALSEF - Massive vote for strike action by LU Train drivers on boxing day. On the 23rd London Midland ASLEF will also be on strike. http://tinyurl.com/3y5dux7
PCS urge YES vote in ballot open till 14th Jan http://tinyurl.com/34ep3yy
Sorry for any repeats
What time you thinking of going? And to which site? We're close to Lifford Lane.
BigTom
Well-Known Member
Term has finished now, so I'm free all day - I pm'd Blagsta but forgot to add you onto the email, sorry.. I'm also close to Lifford Lane, so that would be good for me.. PM me or wait and chat to Blagsta to decide what time you'd like to go down and we'll chat about it, would be nice to meet you as well 
frogwoman
No amount of cajolery...
I *think* it's just a one day strike at the moment, but they got a 97% yes vote in the ballot, so I imagine there'll be more to come. They are facing a £4,000 pay cut so it's not a light thing.
Mentioned this strike at the IWW meeting I went to this week and someone asked if it meant they shouldn't put their bin out, I said that it might be more effective to put it out and leave it rotting in the street.. someone else suggested leaving it outside a well known councillors house instead
When I go down to the picket line, I'll find out more information.. the GMB guy's emails were quite short and to the point so I think he might be very busy (and he will be out on the picket line at montague street all day which is good to hear).
Anything we can do to help publicise it ? is there a strike fund or anything?
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