A big thanks to all who attended the successful Conference at the Guildhall in Plymouth yesterday. Plymouth Trades Union Council hosted the “Plymouth Fightback Against the Cuts” planning Conference, under the call to “Unite the Resistance”. Trade union activists from PCS, Unite, UNISON, the NUT, CWU and USDAW joined with pensioners representatives, Occupy Plymouth and UK Uncut to discuss the next few months of resistance to all cuts in Plymouth. PCS vice-President, John McNally, identified the impact of the public sector strikes against pension cuts, and offered a key note speech which you can hear in full on this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-n--cE6vcc
We agreed a series of actions in Plymouth, including an anti-cuts protest next Thursday morning, and a picket of BBC Question Time to be held live at Plymouth Guildhall on the evening of Thursday 26th January – Stop All Cuts Now! We are mounting a new campaign to defend the local health service, and re-launching the Plymouth Claimants Union, offering representation and advocacy for all receiving welfare benefits.The Plymouth meeting coincided with the Unite the Resistance Conference in London, where PCS General Secretary called for united action across the Public Sector before February half-term. His full key note is below:
Pensions a fight by Mark Serwotka PCS General Secretary
Mark Serwotka on the Pensions Fight.
" The battle on pensions can still be won but we are a pivotal moment. Before Christmas a number of the public sector union leaders indicated they wished to sign up to the heads of agreement. That does have the potential of many people
being withdrawn from the fight. The task is to ensure that doesn't happen. PCS's message is quite simple. Millions went on strike because we didn't want to work longer, pay more and get less.
Everybody who went on strike is still faced with exactly that. The best chance of winning is if we keep everybody together to fight the government and to call as soon as possible for further coordinated strike action.
" All along we have been arguing for the slogan ' Fair Pensions For All' and that we should fight for decent pensions for public and private sector workers. The developments in Unilever are very exciting. It makes it all the more incredible that after such a brilliant strike on 30 November, followed by the strike at Unilever, that a number of union leaders seem to want to withdraw from the fight, even though we have got no concessions from the government.
"The Heads of Agreement represented a concession to the government on all the issues we have been fighting on. They enshrine an increase in the pension age for some people of 8 years. They enshrine a move from RPI to CPI which for many people will be a 20% cut in their pension. The Heads of Agreement, if accepted, represent a complete defeat. We
must do everything possible so that as many unions as possible reject signing up to the Heads of Agreement and join us in striking to defend our pensions.
"I'm proud that we have a union whose leadership is prepared to say it as it is. We have a government who wants to make workers pay. They are determined to squeeze down salary levels, cut jobs, attack welfare, and attack pensions. The four unions that struck in June, PCS, UCU, ATL and NUT also played a pivotal role in transforming the situation. It has been clear to me for a while that the strategy of the government, and some within our movement, has been to try to
isolate us and avoid taking action. The turnout on 30 June and the debate that it caused, and the confidence that it gave activists in other unions, transformed everything. 30 November was truly inspiring. It makes it all the more unbelievable that people would withdraw from the fight when we have had such an incredible opening salvo.
"In my opinion it is because of a deep seated fatalism that has infected the leadership of much of the labour movement. That was best illustrated by the quote from one of the public sector union leaders that the battle was about 'damage limitation'. That simple sentence highlights the poverty of ambition of some and contrasts that with the willingness of the members to fight.
"It was a strike not just for pensions. In PCS our ballot was about pay, pensions and jobs. I have thought for a long while that pensions is an important issue but it critically gives the trade union movement the ability to have coordinated action. If we can keep the momentum going we can force the government back. It is not a strong government; they have no mandate for any of this and the more people that stand up to them the better our chances.
" How can we build unity against the government's plans? In PCS we have been really pleased to support everything from the Occupy movement, Youth Fight for Jobs, to the anti racist campaigns. We genuinely believe that the best way of supporting any one group is to make sure you are supporting everyone else. That remains our strategy. The government's attempts to isolate us have been assisted by very senior people in the trade union movement. That openly
includes attacking me at the negotiations with government ministers. We must gain the maximum support at executive and activist level to reject the Heads of Agreement. If that is not successful we want unions to put it to their members. The best possible outcome would be for the unions to reject the Heads of Agreement and call another coordinated strike. That would be what the government would be least expecting. If we can't get that then we do have to consider the
situation in each union.
"There is an alternative to austerity and cuts. But no main stream political party is prepared to put that argument and it has fallen to the union to do that. Unaccountable financial institutions are essentially picking governments and prime ministers and determining social policy. It all stems back to the fact that all the mainstream parties accept the way
that the capitalist system works. They accept that in a crisis like this you have to have austerity.
"But it falls to us to say that there's a different way of running society. In the short term we should say that people should be making decisions not bankers and markets. 2011 was the year that people all over the world decided that they
are not going to take what is coming our way and they were prepared to fight against it. Look at Greece and the 15 general strikes they have had. It really goes to show that people are prepared to resist. But what assists that greatly is if there is clear leadership and leaders that stand with the people that are resisting.”
Mark Serwotk, 14th January 2012
