Gareth Bromhall, Swansea and West Wales Socialist Party and Swansea Trades Council secretary
Around 50 trade unionists and supporters gathered to celebrate international workers’ day at Swansea Trades Council’s annual May Day rally.
The rally was called in support of steelworkers at Tata Steel at Port Talbot and Llanwern in Newport, and was headed by main speaker Jason Wyatt, a Unite rep in the steelworks and spokesperson for the campaign.
Other speakers included Amarjite Singh of Wales TUC, Libby Nolan, president of Unison, Mark Williams, regional secretary of the CWU, and Ian Isaac, the NUM secretary at St John’s Lodge during the 1984-85 miners’ strike – who also signed copies of his book ‘When We Were Miners’, which chronicles his work and that of his Militant comrades.
Delegates Helen Johns of NASUWT and Dai Jenkins of CWU also spoke before I, a Socialist Party member and Swansea Trades Council secretary, concluded proceedings by restating the trades council’s position on nationalisation of the steel industry.
As an ambulance service worker and rep, I highlighted the current state of the NHS and the threat posed by an incoming Labour government and the need for a new workers’ party to counteract these attacks. I also announced my candidacy for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition in the Swansea West constituency in the upcoming general election.
