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STEP UP THE STRIKES TO STOP THESE CUTS

T
hatchers death was celebrated in the households of many working class people. People took to the streets in ex-mining communities like Goldthorpe, where a mock coffin was burned to mark the occasion. Thatcher is gonebut her legacy lives on. Camerons Tories are driving through attacks that Thatcher could only have dreamed of. From the assault on the welfare state to the vicious Bedroom Tax, this is a war on the poor. On 20 March, the PCS struck for everyone as Osborne launched another cuts budget. The one day strike was the start of the PCS programme of action over job cuts and attacks on pay and terms & conditions. On 30 November 2011, the unions demonstrated their potential to mobilise the kind of strikes with the power to stop the attacks and bring down the government. On that day 2.6 million people struck over the attacks to our pensions. who understand we cant wait to strike. Teachers in the NUT union, who face a barrage of attacks from Michael Gove have not been on strike nationally since 30 November 2011. This is not the way to win! The leaderships failure to call action has been met with sizeable opposition. Some 40 percent of the recent NUT conference voted for a national strike in June, rather than wait until November. Although there is no national strike in the short termPCS members should do everything they can to support the NUTs regional strike in the North West on 27 June. problemswe have to keep maximum numbers on board with the action. If the government push through with their attempts to take a days pay for half day strikeswe will have to return to full day strikes anyway. It is clear that it is somewhat harder to sustain a strong sense of collective action with this form of action.

Vote for a fighting union leadership:

Coordination

Headache

The shift that the union has made to different forms of action including half day strikes, combined with action short of strikes, can cause a massive headache for the bosses. There have been a few teething

The best scenario for building momentum is to combine these forms of action with strikes with everyone out across the civil service together and that means escalation. Mark Serwotkas call for a day of strikes and protests on the day of the governments Comprehensive Spending Review (26 June) was the right one. If we want to finish this government like the Poll Tax rebellion finished Thatcher then we have to keep pushing for coordinated strikes.

Recruitment

The unions saw a big spike in recruitment because people felt like they could win. Further strikes of the same magnitude early in 2012 would have hit the government hard. But instead the leaders of the largest unions in the country signed the heads of agreement and the potential to beat the attacks was frittered away. We have to remember that this is an internally divided and weak government which has been forced to make numerous U-turns. We can win. The great pensions strike only happened because smaller unions striking together pushed the larger unions, which have greater ties to Labour, to fight. If we escalate our strikes, we can win this battle. But if the PCS remains isolated the government will just come back for more. A united fight is the only way to drive back the attacks. The PCS leadership was absolutely right to decide it could no longer wait for other unions to join strikes. Waiting months between single days of action no longer cut the mustard with members. But its not just civil service workers

The elections for the PCS NEC have now opened, they run until 9 May. The elections are an opportunity to elect a leadership which will fight for a strategy to win. Socialist Worker is supporting the Democracy Alliance slate. As a part of the slate the following Socialist Worker supporters are standing:

NEC elections - back these candidates

(Public Sector Group)

Sue Bond

(Revenue & Customs)

Marianne Owens

Andy Reid

(Revenue & Customs)

Paul Williams

(Dept for Transport)

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