Scott Hunter, Swindon Socialist Party
When Labour won a majority on Swindon Borough Council in May 2023, for the first time in 20 years, the new council leader, Jim Robbins, warned that Labour would be making “an unprecedented amount of cuts” in the town. Perhaps the only positive thing I can say about Jim Robbins is that he’s certainly been a man of his word.
Social workers in Swindon, organised in the GMB union, have taken two weeks of strike action. These workers make up the Emergency Duty Service, which provides 24-hour emergency care to vulnerable people. They face losing £700 a month due to removal of their unsocial hours payments. Who can afford to lose £700 a month?
Throughout this dispute, the council has displayed an alarming lack of urgency. When the social workers first offered to negotiate, the council said there would be no negotiations because all their negotiators were on holiday!
Since then, the council has employed “every trick in the union-busters’ handbook,” according to Andy Newman, GMB branch secretary, from threatening to bring in agency staff during the strike, to threatening to dock workers’ pay for periods they were not on strike.
With negotiators apparently back from holiday, Swindon council has now offered the strikers more money. Workers are concerned that the offer is not ‘legally robust’ and could be taken away again. But the council has declared the dispute ‘over’ and is refusing to negotiate further.
Meanwhile, GMB has evidence that, shockingly, the council is allowing emergency calls to go unanswered, despite GMB’s offer of ‘derogation’ of its members to cover emergencies.
Regarding the change from a Conservative to Labour council, Andy Newman says: “Our members feel that it is like being in a bad restaurant, where the chef has been changed, but the food hasn’t improved.”
We need councillors who will stick up for workers – and who are workers themselves! Councillors who won’t pass on cuts from Westminster but fight alongside workers to get the money off the government and back into our communities. The Socialist Party calls for needs-based, no-cuts budgets and fully funded public services. Stand with us under the banner of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition to fight for that!
