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The Socialist issue 939

8 March 2017

We can save our NHS!

PDF | Audio | 2017 Back issues


The Socialist issue 939

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Save our NHS!

spotDemo shows battle to save the NHS can be won

For hours they poured off coaches and out of Euston and other stations as over 100,000 people – some estimates were as high as 250,000 – streamed to London in order to march in defence of the NHS. Stop STPs ‘slashing, trashing and privatising our NHS’ was repeatedly chanted by the predominantly working-class marchers and from the platform.


Socialist Party news and analysis

spotFight the cuts: Demand no-cuts council budgets

In tandem with the attacks on the NHS is the ongoing savagery of council cuts. Only some six Labour councillors nationally in Labour-run councils have carried out their historic duty to vote against cuts – and have been suspended by the Blairites for their stand.

spotOne million workers on zero-hour contracts

Fight for secure jobs for all: 910,000 workers in Britain are on zero-hour contracts – a six-fold increase since 2008 – according to analysis by the Resolution Foundation think-tank.

spotTories to dodge rulings against disability benefit cut

Despite two tribunals ruling that the Department for Work and Pensions should expand the reach of the ‘personal independence payment’ (PIP) disability benefit, the government is bringing emergency legislation to stop it.

spotMPs take £1k raise

Put MPs on workers’ wages: 18% worse off. The Institute for Fiscal Studies calculates that UK households will have living standards 18% lower by 2021 than they would have been had the economic crisis never happened.

spotAristocrats to hold byelection for one of their 92 reps

There’s a byelection coming up on 21 March. There are 27 candidates, all hereditary peers, all men, and all very rich.

spotTUSC supports Irish MPs’ call on Corbyn

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) has added its support to an appeal to Jeremy Corbyn by socialist members of the Irish parliament (TDs).

Comments and reviews

spotStruggling to care against a backcloth of cuts

The following is an account of years of struggle by parents of a disabled child to secure the proper resources to meet their daughter’s needs. A situation made more difficult by draconian cuts in funding local services.

spot1987 Zeebrugge disaster

Thirty years ago, 193 passengers and crew drowned off the coast of Belgium after P&O’s Herald of Free Enterprise car ferry capsized. One of the dead was seafarer and Militant (forerunner of the Socialist) supporter Geoff Haney.

spotThe Socialist inbox

Letters to the Socialist’s editors including the Copeland byelection, benefits, India and pensions.

International socialist news and analysis

spotHistoric demonstration in Barcelona in support of refugees

On 18 February, Barcelona held the biggest demonstration in Europe in support of refugees under the slogan “Volem acollir” (we want to welcome them).

spotSupport the Jobstown defendants: Defend the right to public protest

The international campaign of solidarity with Jobstown protesters took a big step forward in Britain with the backing of Len McCluskey, the leader of Britain’s largest union, Unite.

spotBuild a movement to defeat Trump!

Bigoted, misogynist billionaire US president Donald Trump has reinstated his discriminatory travel ban on six majority Muslim countries and suspending the US refugee assistance programme.

Socialist Party workplace news

spotSecond front in battle over driver-only operation opens on Northern Rail

Northern Rail train guards have voted by an overwhelming majority in favour of strike action against the introduction of driver-only operation (DOO). Our first strike date is 13 March and is planned to coincide with our striking brothers and sisters on Southern and Merseyrail.

spotLeaked document threatens jobs and conditions at Ford Bridgend

Ford workers’ warnings of a rundown of the Bridgend plant have unfortunately proved correct. Ford has leaked documents indicating the rundown of the plant over the next four years. The document projects the loss of 1,160 workers.

spotBus drivers’ strike: Huge anger at bosses’ attacks

Over 400 bus drivers at the Oxford Bus Company, owned by Go Ahead, have started strike action in a dispute over pay and attacks on terms and conditions.

spotDeliveroo cedes ground in Brighton dispute

Deliveroo has ceded ground to its workers in Brighton by imposing a recruitment freeze so that existing cyclists and scooter riders don’t see their hours diminish further. This is in the face of pressure exerted by the strike of 14 February and a petition signed by over 20,000 people.

spotStriking for jobs and union recognition at Fujitsu

Fujitsu has announced 1,800 job losses through offshoring, outsourcing and automation.


spotEHRC workers walk out

Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) workers took another day of strike action on 1 March after the disgraceful sacking of ten of their colleagues by email last month. The PCS and Unite unions are now demanding the reinstatement of these workers.

spotWorkplace news in brief

Short reports on some of the latest trade union struggles including Bromley library victory, academy opposition in Camden and a Liverpool dockers strike.

Join the Socialist Party!

spotMillions protest – now join the Socialist Party to fight to change the world

It’s only March and already 2017 has been dominated by protests. Millions of people have taken to the streets against the establishment and the status quo.

spotWhy I joined: “I am a Labour Party member and I recently decided to join the Socialist Party”

I joined the Labour Party as a school leaver in 1981 but by the mid-80s I left, completely disillusioned, and became politically inactive. Then, during the 2016 Labour leadership election, I felt enthused by Jeremy Corbyn’s anti-austerity policies and the possibility that at last the Labour Party had a chance of defeating the Tories and their vicious cuts.

spotWhy I joined: “In those 16 pages of the Socialist I found more sense and integrity than in the mainstream media”

I have read the Socialist paper occasionally over the years and chanced upon Socialist Party members selling it locally one weekend. In those 16 pages I found more sense, integrity and genuine class pride than in months of propaganda and spin from the mainstream media.

spotWhy I joined: “I began to feel really exploited and to think about why”

I first heard about socialism from my mum when I was about 7 or 8. I remember being in the car and she had a Billy Bragg album playing. The Red Flag was on it and I asked her what it was about and what it meant and she sort of explained what socialism was.

spotWhy I joined: “I hope that more and more people are going to join the Socialist Party and the fight to end inequality”

I think the simplest answer to why I joined the Socialist Party is that I saw inequality and wanted to help. I admit though that it was not simple to recognise this inequality, and for a long time I refused to acknowledge it even existed.

Socialist Party reports and campaigns

spot‘Anti-union law’ charges against trees protesters dropped

Prosecution of two protesters became “not in the public interest”.


spotSheffielders call for a no-cuts ‘people’s budget’

Around 40 local trade unionists and community campaigners discussed proposals for a no-cuts ‘people’s budget’ ahead of Sheffield council’s budget-setting meeting.

spotHands off our Jobcentre!

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has announced a proposed large-scale reduction of its office estate by 20%, including Jobcentres and back-of-house offices with a further reduction of 10% by office co-location.

spotGreater Manchester: patients are people not guinea pigs!

Manchester Keep Our NHS Public has responded to a report in the Financial Times that “local [NHS] leaders are offering leading drugmakers, including GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Novartis, access to Greater Manchester’s sophisticated electronic patient record to test the real-world outcomes of their drugs”.

spotBradford: Anti-cuts lobby against poor-bashing budget

Bradford Socialist Party members were in attendance along with other activists at the lobby of the council on 23 February outside Bradford city hall. Some Labour councillors came and talked to us as we attempted to persuade them to set a no-cuts budget.

spotMary Creagh should resign not remain

Hundreds of signatures have been collected by Wakefield Socialist Party and Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition members calling for the resignation of Wakefield’s Labour MP Mary Creagh.

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