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From The Socialist newspaper, 16 November 2018
Swansea: Labour council tries to dodge no-cuts protest
Trade union and Socialist Party members protesting for a no-cuts budget in Swansea, 28.2.19, photo by Socialist Party Wales (Click to enlarge)
Gareth Bromhall, Swansea & West Wales Socialist Party
Swansea Trade Union Council lobbied the Swansea Council budget-setting meeting on 28 February, alongside Socialist Party members and trade unionists from across the city.
The Labour administration once again waved through tens of millions in cuts to jobs and services in Swansea, while praising itself for a job well done.
Our history of protesting at these meetings has had an obvious effect. The council moved the start forward to 3pm, effectively cutting off participation from most working people.
The council also attempted to undemocratically fill the public's ten-minute question time with predetermined questions - including one scaremongering about the "dangers" of not setting a "balanced budget," a direct attack on our call for legal no-cuts budgets.
Our call though was echoed, however, from the public gallery, by a local government workers' representative from public service union Unison, who called on the council to set a no-cuts budget in line with Welsh Trade Union Congress policy.
Socialist Party member Alec Thraves also spoke. He called on the council to fight austerity, and not make the £24 million cuts or sack the 145 teachers and 126 social care workers as set out in the budget. This garnered cheers and applause from the public gallery.
The budget was passed and the cuts and job losses are set to continue. But activists on the ground are commuted to fight every one, and continue to challenge the right-wing Labour administration in its participation in the Tories' austerity agenda.
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The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.
The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.
The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.
- The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
- When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.
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In The Socialist 16 November 2018:
What we think
No retreats: Corbyn must stand firm against Blairites
Workplace news
News
Boot out failing Grayling and the other Tory wreckers
Solidarity with Chris Williamson
Trade union action to end low pay now!
A&E 4-hour waiting targets scrapped - Save our NHS!
International Women's Day 2019
A socialist programme to end women's oppression
International Women's Day 2019: End oppression with fight for socialism
Socialist history
Leon Trotsky's struggle against Stalinism
Socialist Party reports and campaigns
Southampton: Fight council cuts
Cuts must stop - boot the Tories out
Wildfires hit Europe - build for 15 March student climate strikes
Swansea: Labour council tries to dodge no-cuts protest
Hull: support for anti-cuts policies at Corbyn solidarity rally
Hundreds of Tamils protest against death-threat brigadier
Opinion
Women workers' militancy during the 'great unrest'
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