The Socialist 6 April 2011

Cuts wreck people's lives

Cuts wreck people's lives

Tory health plans are sick

Bosses prepare for war on public sector workers

Labour Link won't save jobs and services

Housing benefit cuts start to bite

Bristol meeting - The battle of our lives has begun

On the move in London to fight the cuts

Fight the cuts with TUSC: more than just a 'protest vote'

Austerity measures take away the basics

Labour 'campaigning' - casework style

Fast news

1981 Brixton riots

Ireland's economy on the brink

Jordan: 'Reforms' fail to halt growing opposition

Saltend lock-out - Solidarity strike spreads

Call for strikes to stop Ford attack on pensions

Birmingham prison officers determined to fight privatisation

Prison officers fight prison privatisation: Interview with POA assistant secretary, Joe Simpson

Teachers and council workers strike together in Tower Hamlets

Leeds Unison - fighting the cuts

Pay cuts provoke strike

School students stage anti-cuts strike in Dundee

Leicester: still angry with Clegg

Save Hackney youth services!

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Leeds Unison - fighting the cuts

A Leeds Unison steward

Leeds Unison local government branch, jointly with the other council unions, has recently run a consultative ballot amongst the membership. This is over the employer's cuts packages.

But there was no clear mandate from the ballot. This is partially because the wording of the recommendation from the Joint Trade Union Committee (JTUC) said that the offer was the best that could be achieved through negotiations but we cannot positively recommend this offer. This was a confusing and defeatist message.

After hearing concerns from branch activists, Unison sent out a much stronger statement to recommend a rejection. Yet the initial recommendation will have contributed to the low turnout.

The union leaders feel incapable of raising the confidence of activists and mobilising a genuine campaign to oppose all the cuts. Instead they have decided to jointly reject the council's proposals but also to continue negotiations "with the aim of avoiding compulsory redundancies".

It's clear that the unions want to engage with the employer with a 'softly softly' approach. But in doing so they are agreeing to 'smaller' cuts. We've already had consultation and we've been issued with another 90-day consultation period that ends on 3 May.

Socialist Party members believe that we need to move straight to a strike ballot against these severe cuts.

In this issue

Anti-cuts campaign

Cuts wreck people's lives