The Socialist 24 February 2021

Where's the road map to jobs and wages Boris?

Where's the road map to jobs and wages Boris?

Johnson's 'road map' for schools: Act together to protect safety

Vaccine algorithm can't solve capitalist inequality

Garment workers and Covid: Dying for less than minimum wage

Starmer's speech a return to New Labour

Justice for Moyied Bashir

Uber drivers win case - they are workers

Social care: End privatisation and let workers decide how it's run

How militant trade unionism defeated the 1971 Industrial Relations Act

Usdaw elections - right makes gains but Broad Left builds

HMRC: Divisive pay deal leads to expulsions

Hinkley Point electricians fight 'deskilling'

"I'm here to fight for the future education of children in Hackney"

London bus dispute against low pay, pay cuts and longer hours

GMB members continue fight against 'fire and rehire' in British Gas

Scunthorpe steelworks scaffolders: Fifth week of action

Liverpool Unite branch supports 'no cuts' budget strategy

Scottish TUSC election campaign launch

Keep the fighting fund rushing in for a TUSC stand in May

W. Sussex children's centres on the chopping block

Coventry success building subscriptions

Socialist Students conference - postering

Save John Carroll Leisure Centre

Getting the Socialist out in lockdown

Pride flag is about unity in struggle

Tories tout toilet tensions

Nigeria: Abbey Trotsky on trial for assisting workers' struggle

Facebook v Australian government: nationalise the bosses' media!

Film Review: The White Tiger

Tories admit guilt for asylum seeker neglect

Tories target universities in free speech shakedown

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Scottish TUSC election campaign launch

(Click to enlarge)

Sean Robertson, Scottish TUSC candidate for the Highlands and Islands Region

On Saturday 20 February, the Scottish Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) launched our election manifesto for the Scottish elections in May.

More than 40 attendees, including socialists, trade unionists and community activists, took part. It was announced that Scottish TUSC would be standing to offer working-class people a genuine socialist alternative to challenge the pro-big business, pro-cuts mainstream parties like the Tories, the Scottish National Party (SNP) and Scottish Labour.

Chaired by Sinead Daly, the conference kicked off with a discussion on the need for a socialist alternative for workers. Michael Hogg, a Scottish regional organiser for the RMT transport workers' union, opened the discussion. He explained that, while he and his union support an independent Scotland, independence alone is not enough for workers. The pro-independence SNP government has backed big business, including in the rail and ferry sector, and does not back workers in struggle. Meanwhile, Labour's rightward turn and position on independence makes it unelectable.

Lynda McEwan, a candidate for TUSC's West of Scotland regional list, speaking on behalf of Socialist Party Scotland, said that the queues of hundreds of people waiting in the snow in Glasgow for food handouts is a true picture of 21st-century capitalism in Scotland under the SNP government.

Brian Smith, lead TUSC candidate in Glasgow region and Glasgow City Unison branch secretary, who has a proud record of fighting for low-paid workers, said that Scottish TUSC was a step towards building a desperately needed new workers' party in Scotland.

He added: "As socialists we fight for all reforms to improve the conditions for workers, but reforming capitalism won't be enough. We socialists want to change the world. We can use this election as a platform to expose the limits of capitalism and fight for a socialist future."

In the second session, Philip Stott, of Scottish TUSC's national steering committee proposed TUSC's election manifesto. The document lays out the broad commitments that TUSC candidates must agree to in order to stand under the TUSC banner.

The manifesto, which was unanimously passed by conference, calls on socialists to fight for a socialist recovery for the working class and for an independent socialist Scotland. At the heart of these policies is a call for the major sections of the economy to be brought into public ownership under democratic workers' control, and for all jobs threatened by the pandemic to be saved, including by nationalising companies threatening redundancies.

Scottish TUSC standing will mean at least 1.5 million people throughout Scotland will have the choice to vote for a genuine working-class, socialist alternative in May's Scottish election.

Do you want to join the fight for an Independent Socialist Scotland? Could you stand for socialism as a Scottish TUSC candidate in your local area? Contact Scottish TUSC via email at [email protected] or find us on twitter @ScottishTUSC or facebook.com/ScottishTUSC.

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Where's the road map to jobs and wages Boris?