The Socialist 21 July 2010

Warning: NHS under attack

Warning: NHS under attack

Youth and students: organise to fight for a future

Class struggles on the rise

Stand united, fight the cuts!

Lessons of the cuts

Education workers must teach Tories a lesson

Fast news

Union recommends BT pay deal

Stop the courts closures

Wales: No to fire service cuts

Strike action wins at Tube Lines

Swansea Linamar

Cuts blogger!

PCS: a strategy to stop the cuts

TUC refuses national demo

Unite the struggle to defend pensions

Con-Dems propose denationalisation of the NHS

The Socialist Party needs you!

More join the Socialist Party in Yorkshire

Funding the socialist fightback

Building new workers' parties and the tasks of socialists

Egypt: Thousands protest over brutal police killing

Harder work, longer hours... All part and parcel?

A testing 'pudding' for councillors

Keep probation services public

Previous issues, etc

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Stop the courts closures

The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) announcement of an 'estate rationalisation consultation,' threatening the closure of 103 magistrates' courts and 54 county courts, commencing on 23 June until 15 September, comes as no surprise to MOJ workers.

Kevin Greenway, Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) national executive (NEC), personal capacity.

During October 2008 the Times carried a leaked story headlined "10,000 jobs to go and 100 courts to close in the Ministry of Justice". This was rubbished by ministry officials as a gross overstatement. The truth is out and it threatens to be far worse.

They claim 5% of staff are affected in the 157 courts, this suggests around 900-1,000 jobs are at risk. The MOJ also blithely claims that no redundancies will arise. This will be severely tested when this unprecedented exercise is linked with the wider cuts proposals. The reality is that compulsory redundancies are a real possibility into 2011-12.

PCS in the MOJ has been warning of these threats since 2008, together with presenting an analysis of what the future looks like for those workers who will remain after this and any other cull in the near future. It is a future of oppressive factory-like conditions with the ever present risk of privatisation.

Closing courts is no different to closing any other public asset like a library, a school or hospital. Local democratic access to courts must be defended. Centralisation means that the public, defendants, witnesses, families, in fact all court users will have to travel much further at greater cost. Many will choose not to attend court because of cost and many will be deterred from bringing cases because of cost and distance. These assets and the workers within them provide valuable services that are the very fabric of a civil society, something that we as socialists should fight to protect.

PCS members in the MOJ were to the front of the action to defend redundancy terms and will defend themselves against these attacks.

The PCS MOJ group executive has launched a campaign in opposition to the cuts and meets on 27 July to consider our industrial strategy, including industrial action, taking account of the wider picture affecting PCS members across the civil service.

Oppose the court closure programme.

Defend all public services.

For a major programme of investment in the justice sector and all public services.

Defend every job.

In this issue

Warning: NHS under attack