Greenwich Save Our Services is a coalition of trade unionists, campaigners, service users, local workers and students who have come together to form a local campaign to fight the attacks on services, jobs and pay. Over £70 million of cuts are to be imposed. The group will publicise the cuts, show the effect on the community and most importantly oppose the cuts.
The cuts being carried out by the ConDem government are not borne of economic necessity, they are ideologically driven. It was the bankers and bosses that plunged the economy into recession. They recklessly plunged the our economy into crisis by gambling away the wealth created by ordinary working class people. The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union estimates that £150 million worth of tax a year is avoided by the super rich and no-doms. Yet we are being told by the media and the government that we have to pay for this crisis with our jobs and services.
Labour councils, like Greenwich don’t have to implement the cuts handed down to them by the government either. They could take the stance that the Militant led Labour council in Liverpool did from 1982-87. They refused to implement the cuts, set a budget based on the needs of people in that city and launched a huge campaign to get the money off the government to pay for it. Their campaign forced the Thatcher government, the most anti-working class government until now, to back down and hand over £30 million over to the people of Liverpool. The achievements of that council still stand in bricks and mortar. The money was to pay for a massive social housing programme, leisure centers, nursery’s, schools and a whole host of other services. The also employed thousands of people who otherwise would have been on the dole.
It’s fine for Greenwich council leader Chris Roberts to go to the councils propaganda rag the Greenwich Times and lament that “there is no mandate for these cuts” that will affect “every family in the borough”. Yet he still implements the cuts, this year alone the council will cut £30 million worth of our jobs and services. We say that Greenwich council should adopt the slogan of Liverpool council in the 80’s and say ‘its better to break the law than break the poor’. Any councillor that does stand up against all cuts and votes against them in the chamber is more than welcome to fight alongside us. Those that don’t should expect a massive campaign in defence of against them in defence of our rights and living standards.
We aim to do this by building the maximum unity amongst those who oppose these attacks on our public services.
Members of the UNITE 1563 union branch sent the following message in launching the campaign:
"Let us unite now, let there be no petty sectarian squabling. There is too much to lose. Unite now to save our services"
Sorry this has taken so long (nearly three months in fact!) fighting the cuts is busy work and i just haven't had time to give this blog the attention it deserves. Any way report of the Demo in February follows. 