Colchester against the cuts

by New Worker correspondent

The New Worker, 26 November 2010

TRADE unionists, students and members of disability organisations last week took part in a meeting at Friends House in Colchester to discuss the effects of the proposed Government public spending cuts and how to fight them.

The trade unions involved included the civil service union PCS, general unions Unite and Unison, the Communication Workers’ Union and the National Union of Students.

The meeting moved a vote of solidarity with three local students who were arrested for demonstrating outside the Conservative headquarters in Milbank London.

Three Hundred students from Essex University went to the demo.

The regional secretary of CWU spoke of the fight against privatisation within the postal services.

Call for affiliations

New Communist Party industrial organiser Michael Fletcher called for all organisations to affiliate to the Labour Representation Committee.

In the debate he said this was a crisis of capitalist over production and the cuts would reduce the purchasing power of the people.

He said also that the Blairites had gone from the leadership of the Labour Party and changed the situation; the movement should support the Labour Party as the mass basis of the working class, to extend its trade union influence in Parliament.

The platform of the meeting agreed with this statement.

A speaker from Colchester health branch of Unison described the cuts at Colchester General Hospital as increasing stress, with fewer workers taking on more workloads, and the first have been announced among the nursing staff.

The meeting was very successful and inspiring, and the venue was packed out, with people standing outside in the corridor.

Also a delegate from the Police Federation was there supporting the campaign.