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The General Election is not the only party in town…

Paul Bell
12th February 2010 at 10:50
2 comments

While the General Election will be the main party in town over the next three months, let us not forget the local elections that are also taking place up and down the country on May 6th. These elections affect the lives of so many workers in this country and those of us that use services provided by local authorities.

For example, if there is a recent campaign that sums-up for me the difference between the main political parties, it is the Leeds refuge workers campaign. A struggle that seems to be the choice between the Tory and Liberal Democrat (plus New Labour) view that the low paid, the poor, and working people, should pay for the economic crisis that the bankers and light-touch regulation has caused. This campaign was fought to prevent the council from cutting the already modest pay of refuse collectors from £18,000 to £13,000 a year.

The dispute in Leeds where the council is controlled by a Liberal Democrat/Tory coalition is a wake-up call to those that are thinking about not voting for Labour in the council elections. The Liberal Democrat leader, Richard Brett, of Leeds City Council told the striking workers that they were ‘lucky’ to have a job at all owing to the current economic conditions. Who does he think he is? Well I can tell you, for his elected position he pockets £45,883 a year; Neil Evans, the Director of Environment and Neighbourhoods, the directorate responsible for the refuge workers, had his salary increased from £117,679 to £132,593 last year. Staggering isn’t it? These people are the same people who fought to stop a “Leeds Living Wage” that a Labour and Green Party coalition tried to secure in December 2008.

The refuge workers dispute has lasted for 12 weeks and has finally been settled thanks to the rejection of the Lib Dem/Tory proposals by the workforce and public opinion. However, it is not without a price. Many of the workers were already struggling before the dispute started, now they have been without pay for twelve weeks. For them, it was a campaign they had to win and they have. Public opinion does not favour punishing hardworking people who have done nothing to cause the recession.

All of us are in this situation together and it is unacceptable that the low-paid pay to get us out of it. According to the Guardian, “We are now seeing groups of workers ready to stand up to oppose deteriorating wages and conditions. They feel the economic crisis should not be solved at their expense and are showing a real combative attitude when attacked. The Leeds bin workers’ stance and their ultimate victory under extremely difficult circumstances prove that working people are not willing to be turned over; their example will be followed by others.”

It is vital that Labour candidates in the local elections, who stand for social justice and whom work for the eradication of poverty are supported.

Paul Bell
http://www.paulbell.org

Tags: local elections may 2010 (1)

Comments

on 27th February 2010 at 20:30, Robert Naether said:

But new labour are not doing much for us are they, try again rob.

Why is labour ending DLA and AA for the over sixty fives it will be the hardest thing to these people, why oh why is it labour thats not only attacking the poorest but the disabled.

on 3rd March 2010 at 18:39, Marie Lynam said:

Hello Paul
Your article is very good.
It is a timely reminder of the local elections which are not very much discussed.
Well done the workers who fought, but as you say, they have had to pay for their fight, and probably borrowed to pay the bills during 12 weeks. There were Trade Union solidarity collections, but I doubt whether this could have been enough, particularly considering that many workers leave the solidarity fund to the strikers most in trouble, those in real hardship.
I suggest something to you Paul. Robert has a point when he says ‘but new labour are not doing much for us, are they’. I suggest to both of you that you say in touch with me, (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
There are others like me, but at least I am here, talking to you.
It needs putting one’s foot down. Any Labour candidate, local or parliamentary, should be presented with the Peoples Charter, preferably in public.
That person should be asked: ‘Do you support the P. Charter’. And if the answer is yes, right then, let that person help you (help us) develop the Peoples Charter in your town and in the country. Eventually, as I see it, the mass of the population, the workers and the sincere Trade Union leaders will have a lever, thanks to the Charter. They will say to the Labour candidates: ‘You want my vote? You will have it if you support the Charter’. Locally, it needs getting people together and getting them to ask from any candidate: ‘Do you support the Charter?’. It will turn out that some Libdems and probably many greens and others will support - as well as many Labour. Once they are elected, the local Peoples Charter has a lever that it can apply against what they do: ‘Eh, you! You supported the Charter, hence you support the workers, hence you support the fight of the workers against being made to pay for the crisis of the capitalists’. If a Labour candidate got elected but starts ‘screwing’ the workers, the Peoples Charter goes to the local press, writes to the LRC, starts a campaign with the local/national P. Charter (other ideas welcome), to denounce the political fraud.
Would be glad to hear from you Paul and Robert.
Comradely greetings, Marie Lynam, GMB, Peoples Charter (NW of London)