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With the Tories and bosses slashing our jobs, welfare and pay...

HE BRUTALITY OF the Tories benefits assault was tragically exposed this week, with the suicide of Stephanie Bottrill who faced losing 20 a week because of the Bedroom Tax. She told her neighbours, I cant afford to live. Last week she threw herself under a lorry and died. In her suicide note to her son Steven, Stephanie said, Dont blame yourself for me ending my life. The only people to blame are the government. Anger over Stephanies suicide has piled pressure on the government. Already thousands of people have signed a petition calling on Iain Duncan Smith to resign for indirectly causing her death.

DONT LET THEM DIVIDE US STRIKE BACK TOGETHER

GMB in workers occupied their canteen last week in a fight to defend pay

Disgusting

What a disgusting indictment of this nasty government and their vicious austerity agenda. They are out to destroy working class peoples lives, whether its through their attack on benefits, their plans to decimate pay, the onslaught to the NHS and the welfare state or the savaging of workers conditions and trade union rights. We cannot allow this to go on. We need to pull together the resistance that can beat them, and urgently. This week thousands are marching in the capital on a London-wide demonstration to parliament to defend the NHS. The campaign was organised by all the big NHS campaigns, who have each put thousands onto the streets of their local communities against hospital closures.

The 18 May NHS march (assembling 12 noon at Jubilee Gardens, SE1) was called to link up the local resistance, take the fight to the Tories by marching on Downing Street. This is a great step forward, but crucially, the demonstration is also about piling pressure on the TUC for a national demonstration for the NHS.

Overdue

workers occupied their canteen. NHS workers in Unison Mid Yorkshire Health branch, who are fighting to defend the pay of some the lowest paid, are now balloting across the whole branch for strikes. Unison are providing an excellent example by balloting all 3,000 members in the branch to join strikes as the next step in their strategy to defeat the attacks. This has come from pressure from below, by workers who have kept up their fight and pushed union leaders for escalation that can win. A quarter of a million PCS members have been striking back against austerity. This week saw strikes across Scotland and in the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs. This is part of a wider programme of strikes across the PCS, including national strikes. Its a shame that the teachers NUT leadership decided not to call a national strike in March, or June, despite calls from mass meetings to do so. Had they joined the PCS action they could have strengthened the fight against austerity.

It is long overdue. If our union leaders were to call national action, and not just over the NHS, but against all aspects of the Tories austerity plans, the response from members would be massive. Ballot after ballot, survey after survey, workers have shown union leaders that they are willing to take on the Tories. Despite the lack of a national lead since the 2011 pensions dispute that saw the magnificent strike of 2.6 million workers, this mood to stand up to the cuts onslaught is still strong. In Brighton, 300 refuse workers in the GMB are now balloting for strikes to defend pay. This follows a two-day unofficial walkout when

Example

Now it is crucial that teachers in the NUT and NASUWT unions in the north west region receive widespread solidarity for their strike on 27 June. If teachers strike together nationally in November, we should push to make it a day of resistance for everyone. Activists in every union should push to coordinate strikes on the day. Linking up struggles and pushing for escalation within them can mount pressure on our union leaders to call coordinated strikes at a national level. This is how to bring down the Tories.

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