Staffordshire Shop Stewards Network

Shop Stewards Network Staffordshire
Public Meeting


"Where Next After N30?"

Monday 12 December - 7.30pm
Sacred Hearts Social Centre
corner of Downey St & Regent Rd
Hanley
ST1 3BY

The historic strike action of N30 was a massive demonstration
of the potential strength of the organised working class in Britain
and shows how the government CAN be forced to back down
over pensions. But it's vital that trade unionists discuss and plan
what the next step is so that we can act quickly to build on N30.

This NSSN Stafforsdhire meeting will provide an opportunity to
do just that.

It is open to all trade unionists whether public or
private sector, other workers and supporters.

We hope you can make it


NSSN Bulletin No. 68
After 30th Nov - 2 million strike!

The day before the strike, with pure arrogance and clear hatred of the working
class, Osborne announced the next tranche of attacks on us. On top of the
300,000 public sector workers who have been sacked over the last year, a
further 400,000 plus are in their sights. Also, after 2 years of pay freeze,
public sector workers will face two years of a maximum 1% pay rise. This is
when inflation is officially over 5%!

But far from scaring people away from action, it pulled more people to the
picket lines and protests with 30 unions officially taking part in a historic
day of industrial action, which also brought out hundreds of thousands onto
the 1000 plus local and regional protests & rallies taking place. Many towns
and cities saw their biggest demonstration ever. To show how the momentum is
growing, on June 30th there was a march of 6,000 in Manchester - yesterday saw
over 30,000 marching there! Nurses in the US held rallies in 6 cities to
support our strike and Bangladeshi Garment workers organized a walk out in
solidarity!

It was clear from the placards, the chants and the conversations this strike
was much more than just about pensions. It was about the service cuts, wage
cuts, the extended hours, the dismantling of the NHS, the price rises, the
Disability cuts, the benefit cuts, the massive youth unemployment, student
fees & the withdrawal of the EMA, the unaffordable housing, it was about the
gleefully and unnecessary demands for workers & the rest of the community to
take the blame for the bankers greed, who have robbed us with the blessing of
the governments, past and present.

Whatever is said, and smeared across the mainstream press, we know, each and
everyone of us who took part in this action, who saw and felt the solidarity
here and abroad, that this action was absolutely necessary and will need to be
escalated until this government backs down. For reports from around the
country see NSSN website. Please use all methods of communicating with each
other (& us) to share information.

So WHAT NEXT?
Over the next two weeks, the TUC general council and its Public Services
Liaison group meets to discuss what next. The NSSN gave out over 40,000
leaflets yesterday demanding that the next strike dates are announced
immediately, & action is escalated. There should be at least another one day
nationally co-ordinated strike across the public sector - a 24 hour public
sector general strike - before the end of January. The TUC should be looking
towards setting out a timetable of action that could escalate the strike to 48
hours and beyond to force the government to back down. We should also look at
practically moving towards a strike by public and private sector as both are
affected – we rise like water together to flood through the dams built by
this government to contain, suppress & profit from us. At the very least, all
disputes in the private sector should be co-ordinated with the next public
sector strike. For example, unions in Unilever have just voted by a massive 85%
for strike action to defend their pensions. Contact your unions & organisations
and also use twitter/FB etc early next week - ‘TUC NAME THE DAYS – STRIKE

TOGETHER, AGAIN!

Internally, in our organizations, it will be important to have meetings with
full and frank discussions on how the strike worked, what we need to be better
prepared for, as PCS have done after the 30th June strike action. It is an
excellent approach to reviewing our processes but also making ourselves
stronger and more united effective for the future.

Discussing and promoting the alternative to the cuts, is also essential.
Arguing against the so-called debt workers are supposed to pay, and discussing
budgets based on the needs of the majority not the greedy, hypocritical
minority.