Wales Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC)

Wales Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) press release

“Milford Haven ruling against these workers show why we are standing in the election”

A new electoral alliance is standing candidates in the forthcoming general election.

In Wales, two prominent trade unionists and socialist campaigners are amongst the candidates. Rob Williams, reinstated convenor in the Linamar plant in Swansea will be standing in Swansea West while Ross Saunders, who the Welsh organiser of the campaign against youth unemployment, ‘Youth Fight for Jobs’, will be contesting Cardiff Central.

The coalition has been launched by leading trade union figures including RMT general secretary Bob Crow. It is aiming to give working people an alternative to the big business policies of the main parties.

The high court verdict today, which has outlawed the strike at Milford Haven Port by workers who are aiming to stop their pensions being attacked, shows yet again that the anti-working class laws brought in by Margaret Thatcher and the Tories have remained on the statute books despite thirteen years of Labour Party rule.

The Labour Party was formed a century ago because all the main parties stood aside when the Taff Vale ruling threatened to bankrupt the unions when their members went on strike.

Now, after this ruling today and the British Airways injunction at the end of last year, it is almost impossible for unions to take legal industrial action in order to protect their jobs, terms and conditions and pensions.

The Milford Haven ruling against these workers shows why we are standing in the election. Workers haven’t got a voice. We are standing to make sure that they have a genuine alternative in this election, based on the best fighting socialist traditions of the labour and trade union movement – instead of the racist blind ally of the BNP and the far right.

TUSC is holding its Welsh launch in the Railway Club in Swansea’s Wind Street at 7.30pm on Thursday March 4th 2010. The two candidates will be speaking.