All Around the UK subcategories:
UK Towns and cities keywords:
Southampton
Highlight keywords |
Print this article
Snow chaos showed the bosses' coldness - but also workers' grit
Bea Gardner, Southampton Socialist Party
The snow has now mostly melted away. But the chaos is still fresh in our minds.
It's true the weather was severe, particularly in Scotland. But it laid bare the bosses' ruthless pursuit of profit and the inability of Britain's austerity-ravaged infrastructure to cope.
However, it also showed the capacity of ordinary people to organise.
Low-paid workers across Britain were forced to risk their safety and defy the advice of police not to travel due to some bosses refusing to pay workers who couldn't make it in.
Big businesses including Lloyds Bank, RBS, Marks & Spencer, KFC and McDonald's forced staff to come in despite the Met Office's red weather warning, meaning likely imminent threat to life and property.
Unionised workers at one KFC in Livingston, West Lothian reported the only reason their restaurant did eventually close was due to agitation from the staff. This included them all signing a letter threatening to withdraw their labour.
By the time some employers took on board the severity of the situation, it was already too late, meaning workers left work during the worst of the weather.
This was the case in Southampton. Despite the warning for heavy snow during the afternoon, many people did not leave work until at least 3pm when the worst of the weather had set in.
I watched from my living room window as multiple vehicles skidded out of control on the road outside, with one car hitting a lamppost.
Despite these conditions, a parcel delivery worker, who had abandoned his truck further up, was wheeling parcels down the road before returning to his van to presumably continue with his work.
But why were the roads so bad? This weather was forecast, giving local authorities and workplaces time to consider and coordinate their response.
Presumably, some councils had simply cut the resources they needed. According to the AA, 53% cut their 2016-17 spending on road maintenance compared to the previous year.
And as the snow began to fall, the Tories who ruined Northamptonshire Council passed another cuts budget. It included reducing the number of gritted roads and the budget for road maintenance
Meanwhile, on the rails, many networks ended up cancelling all services, leaving people stranded away from home, including several trains breaking down with passengers still on board.
Hundreds were trapped overnight on lines between Southampton and Bournemouth. One train broke down just outside Christchurch in Dorset, leaving people stuck for 14 hours, without heating, with just three foil blankets between them, and no working toilets.
Rail users in Britain pay extortionate fares compared to our European neighbours. Where is the money going?
Privatised rail providers seem to have concluded they lose less profit by allowing the service to fail than by putting measures in place to manage adverse weather.
The solidarity showed by people like the Greggs delivery driver handing out pastries and doughnuts to those stranded on the A1 contradicts the bosses' lie that people are too selfish for socialism.
The wealth exists - in the hands of the super-rich - for quality infrastructure, housing and heating for all, as well as safety at work and home. Corbyn's anti-austerity manifesto is a good starting point.
He should go further, taking big business into public ownership under democratic working class control. And in the meantime, tell Labour councils to stop making Tory cuts!
Donate to the Socialist Party
Finance appeal
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.
Inevitably, during the crisis we have not been able to sell the Socialist and raise funds in the ways we normally would.
We therefore urgently appeal to all our viewers to donate to our Fighting Fund.
LATEST POSTS
12 May Stop Israeli state brutality
![]() |
9 May Post-election meetings
15 May Birmingham Socialist Party: How can we fight for socialist change and a new workers' party?
17 May Oxfordshire & Aylesbury Socialist Party: The role of the state
18 May Bristol North Socialist Party: Liverpool - history of socialist struggle
CONTACT US
Phone our national office on 020 8988 8777
Email: [email protected]
Locate your nearest Socialist Party branch Text your name and postcode to 07761 818 206
Regional Socialist Party organisers:
Eastern: 079 8202 1969
East Mids: 077 3797 8057
London: 075 4018 9052
North East: 078 4114 4890
North West 079 5437 6096
South West: 077 5979 6478
Southern: 078 3368 1910
Wales: 079 3539 1947
West Mids: 024 7655 5620
Yorkshire: 078 0983 9793
ABOUT US
ARCHIVE
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999










