Portsmouth workers vow: Not one single cut!

“We will not accept one single cut! We will not accept one single job loss!” That was the rallying cry in Portsmouth city centre on Saturday 30 October as over 150 trade unionists and students marched against the cuts.

Ben Norman, Youth Fight for Jobs

The rally and march, organised by the local PCS union with the support of Portsmouth trades council, brought together activists from across the labour movement, uniting them alongside campaigners from the students’ union and community groups including the Pensioners Association and the White Ribbon Campaign against domestic violence.

Socialist Party member Chris Picket spoke on behalf of the Tiny Tots campaign, a group of parents who are fighting to save a local nursery school from closure.

Chris spoke about the importance of uniting local community groups with the wider trade union movement and declared, to great applause, that this and other demonstrations around the country proved the need for a national demonstration this year.

Speaking on behalf of Youth Fight for Jobs, I called for a coordinated campaign between the city’s student movement and the growing trade union-led action.

“Students are facing an unholy trinity of attacks in the form of higher fees, education cuts and rising unemployment”, I said.

“Only by uniting students with teachers, lecturers and with other public sector workers can we defeat these attacks”.

Other speakers included the president of the students’ union as well as several local PCS and Unison members from local government offices.

This demonstration will be followed by a public meeting on 18 November to formally launch the Portsmouth anti-cuts campaign.

The meeting will take place at 7pm, at Park Building and will be hosted by the trades council.