- Big businesses interests have silenced any voice for working people at Westminster
- Militant union leaders to challenge ‘big business’ parties in general election as the Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition (TUSC)
Sick of the corruption and sleaze at Westminster, trade unionists are organising a new political challenge in the upcoming general election, breaking with the trade union movement’s traditional support for the Labour Party.
Bob Crow, RMT general secretary speaks to Vestas wind turbine workers occupying to protest against redundancies, pic: RMT television
Bob Crow, leader of the RMT rail union and a leading figure in TUSC, says, “Gordon Brown has supported the management in every industrial dispute since Labour came to power over a decade ago.
“What conclusion should workers and trade unionists draw? We’ve been disenfranchised! There is no party that puts forward a pro-union, pro-worker programme.
“All we get are cuts, privatisation and deregulation.”
Dave Nellist speaking at the National Shop Stewards Network conference 2009, photo by Suzanne Beishon
Dave Nellist, Coventry North East TUSC candidate and former Labour MP, comments, “As a Labour MP between 1983 and 1992 I accepted only the wage of a skilled worker, donating the rest of my parliamentary salary to labour movement campaigns.
“My expenses were open to the examination of my constituents at all times.
“Byers, Hewitt and Hoon’s behaviour is the inevitable outcome of the New Labour project.
“In a party that sold its soul to big business more than a decade ago, is it any wonder that its senior figures put personal gain above integrity?”
Strike action is continuing at BA and across the civil service. Ballots for industrial action have been won across the national rail network. Many commentators are anticipating a ‘spring of discontent’. This breakdown in industrial relations can only escalate after the general election, whoever wins, as the ‘axemen’ begin hacking jobs and services in the strongly unionised public sector.
Launch Rally:
Thursday evening will see the launch rally of the Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition (TUSC).
Leading trade unionists will explain that the Labour Party is dead as a political vehicle for the interests of workers and trade unionists and that an alternative is needed.
Speakers will include Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT trade union, Brian Caton, general secretary of the Prison Officers Association, Chris Baugh, assistant general secretary of the PCS trade union and Dave Nellist, former Labour Party MP and Socialist Party councillor.
7:30pm, Thursday March 25th, Friends Meeting House, Euston, London, NW1 2BJ. Meeting open to the public.
The platform speakers will be available from 6:30pm to speak to journalists, give quotes/interviews and answer questions. Please contact 07984 027754 to arrange a time.