The Socialist 25 January 2012

Hard times - but not for the 1%

Hard Times - but not for the 1%

The trade unions and Labour

Add your name to the TUSC petition

Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition election conference

Public sector pensions: 'Coalition of the willing' gathering strength

Financial vultures kill Peacocks

Con-Demned to unemployment

Fight the Tories' Welfare Reform Bill

Victory against Dorries' abstinence education bill

Keep the racist EDL out of Leicester

Them & Us

Haringey parents say: No to academies!

NUS calls national student walkout

Balfour Beatty re-ballot: Vote to strike again

Sweetheart stitch-ups in the electrical industry: A spark's history of the Joint Industry Board

Exposed - the dirty world of the construction blacklist

Egypt - A year of revolution and counter-revolution

Stepping up the action to defend pensions at Unilever

Defend Len Hockey: Outrageous attack on Whipps Cross hospital workers

Pontefract hospital: Army withdrawn - now kick out PFI!

Save Vine services

Llanelli: Save Prince Philip's A&E

Stop the Salford day centre closures

Kirklees parents say 'save our children's centres!'

Greenwich Unite members oppose cuts, privatisation and racism

Workplace news in brief

PDFs for this issue




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Kirklees parents say 'save our children's centres!'

Mike Forster

Towards the end of last year, the Labour-led Kirklees council in Yorkshire announced a consultation over the future of 32 Sure Start centres.

The council proposes mothballing 17 of these centres, in effect halving essential childcare provision in Kirklees, once again hiding behind the government's cuts.

Refusing to even stand up to the Con-Dem government's agenda, the Labour councillors have merely decided to pass on these cuts.

But parents are resisting. At the start of January, a Saturday morning meeting of 35 parents launched a campaign and a 12-strong committee is now meeting every week to coordinate opposition.

Signatures

They have collected thousands of signatures, made three MPs support their campaign, organised two further public meetings, organised another bigger lobby of the council and called a local demo on 3 March.

Every centre is being visited by the committee to gather more signatures and identify more parent reps to coordinate the fightback.

The parents are supported by the local Unison branch which has donated £1,000 to the local group and offered practical support.

Parents are now lobbying every councillor demanding that they stop the phoney consultation exercise and look instead at measures to keep every centre open.

Local councillors are being bombarded with emails and invitations to visit the centres they intend to mothball.