tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51032464389084808132024-03-05T14:15:41.170+00:00TUSC Wales / CULS CymruWorkers, trade unionists and socialists are standing as TUSC in the Welsh Parliament elections and council by-electionsRedaiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11560017536959800772noreply@blogger.comBlogger92125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5103246438908480813.post-37002012430057667882022-04-27T16:41:00.003+01:002022-04-27T16:41:51.168+01:00Grangetown needs socialist councillors<p> </p><h1 class="name post-title entry-title" itemprop="itemReviewed" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Thing" style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; color: #333333; font-family: Oswald, arial, Georgia, serif; font-size: 28px; font-weight: normal; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 10px; outline: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><em style="border: 0px none; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaSASk3wVeOcNMQ_JzH9RQuhm9d5sjQ813hmc3LSIo16Lx9htS1CAMUG2EDTQcpX9UoMfVPhjmd8ZXzXRZ0xEyccuMrV2-7laNzgTz4m-rX_Cr0ILCW7syR3JJG6IduKM1G8NHqcr4gpejkPizVot1fH8adin0jLoNVy8dzHVfnQEe-GVxZOE27EXj/s2016/277994743_1019129815359979_7475698379154438413_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaSASk3wVeOcNMQ_JzH9RQuhm9d5sjQ813hmc3LSIo16Lx9htS1CAMUG2EDTQcpX9UoMfVPhjmd8ZXzXRZ0xEyccuMrV2-7laNzgTz4m-rX_Cr0ILCW7syR3JJG6IduKM1G8NHqcr4gpejkPizVot1fH8adin0jLoNVy8dzHVfnQEe-GVxZOE27EXj/s320/277994743_1019129815359979_7475698379154438413_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />By Joe Fathallah, TUSC candidate for Grangetown</em></h1><div class="entry" style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><p style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px 0px 1em;">I’m standing as a candidate in the Cardiff Council elections on May 5<sup style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">th</sup>, in Grangetown ward, for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition. Grangetown has 44% of children growing up in poverty, and this is in no small part due to the actions of the council in passing on vicious cuts to our communities. </p><p style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px 0px 1em;">Council leader Huw Thomas recently announced that Cardiff is aiming to participate in UNICEF’s ‘Child Friendly Cities’ initiative, but this is a sick joke when held up against the reality faced by working-class children. Grangetown Playcentre, locally known as the adventure playground, was effectively closed by the Labour-controlled council. The centre’s funding was cut, and it was transferred into ‘community control’, but this was a death sentence. A facility like this needs professionally trained staff working full time, and it wasn’t long before the centre ceased to function.</p><p style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px 0px 1em;">This was despite a heroic campaign conducted by young people, parents, and youth workers, and supported by campaign group Cardiff Against the Cuts. We held a mass protest stopping traffic outside the centre, and marched on and occupied County Hall, gaining significant attention and media coverage. The council pressed ahead with the cuts, and there are no longer any facilities like this for children in Grangetown. </p><p style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px 0px 1em;">In 2014, the same council had presented a proposal to build a school on the site of Channel View leisure centre, another vital community facility. There was, and is, a genuine need and demand for Welsh-medium education in this part of the city, and we fully supported the building of the school – but not on top of the leisure centre! The council themselves presented alternative siting options in their public meetings on the issue, but it was clear to everyone in attendance that there was a preference for this site. The council officers claimed that the public would be able to use the leisure facilities at the school! There would have been huge issues with this, including child protection, and clashing with PE lessons, school team matches, and so on. A campaign to save the leisure centre, in which I played a leading role, was successful in causing the council to back off, showing the need to community organisation to fight cuts. The council clearly tried to play off those who used the leisure centre against those parents who wanted the new school. We cannot allow ourselves to be divided in the fight against austerity. </p><p style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px 0px 1em;">Other facilities cut over the years have included the old Grangetown Library, which was sold off and converted into flats. It was replaced by the ‘Grangetown Hub’, but this doesn’t have all the same facilities, and it was clear that this was motivated by the land sale. Working-class communities such as Grangetown have been targeted in this way because the Labour councillors (as well and Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats when they were previously in coalition) have proved totally incapable of standing up and fighting against Tory austerity, and have instead passed cuts budgets year after year, resulting in the loss of vital jobs and facilities. </p><p style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px 0px 1em;">Vote TUSC in the election on May 5<sup style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">th</sup>! All TUSC candidates pledge to fight against austerity in deeds not just in words. If elected, instead of voting through cuts budgets, I would draw up in collaboration with local communities, an alternative budget based on the real needs of the city. This would involve, in the first instance, dipping into the council’s £120 million reserves to plug the funding gaps. This could buy time to launch a real fightback against the Tories in Westminster, involving council workers and trade unions, service users, and communities, to win the funding we need for the jobs and services we need. </p></div>Ross Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11645356967200160092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5103246438908480813.post-91627409369496358402022-04-14T17:44:00.003+01:002022-04-14T17:44:51.727+01:00Welsh Labour Won't Give Us Rent Control<p><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"></strong></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAKNFoiB5cn8Go6FITqjQCvN9bSptkK2A2rifcda4_ccBexrOc3RShm3uwzj8dOGYqlL_DsYD0DAg6MQVewMjfy-zs17BHcNTuLJG8yQl0WTJ2bxAD9eocucts10HL3N3MCXPQ4PC59_N7Qa7gFrSZ5SjNdrYIht4wNrwTYG-og0Lj1vjPvp3lu5fB/s2016/278177590_656509562087113_2757210267738731567_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1504" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAKNFoiB5cn8Go6FITqjQCvN9bSptkK2A2rifcda4_ccBexrOc3RShm3uwzj8dOGYqlL_DsYD0DAg6MQVewMjfy-zs17BHcNTuLJG8yQl0WTJ2bxAD9eocucts10HL3N3MCXPQ4PC59_N7Qa7gFrSZ5SjNdrYIht4wNrwTYG-og0Lj1vjPvp3lu5fB/w156-h209/278177590_656509562087113_2757210267738731567_n.jpg" width="156" /></a></strong></div><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><br />John Williams, Cardiff West Socialist Party and TUSC candidate for Plasnewydd ward in Cardiff</strong><p></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 26px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Rents are out of control. The average rent for a property in Britain has risen to £969 a month, according to Zoopla. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the average rent has increased by £62 a month. Wales has seen the third-highest increase – 9.8% in the last year. There are over 1,000 empty properties in Cardiff alone, and more than 4,000 homeless people.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 26px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Socialist Party Wales supports any genuine attempt to tackle homelessness, and guaranteed fair rents for all. In the Welsh Labour and Plaid Cymru agreement last year, after the Welsh Senedd elections, both parties announced a commitment to the principle of rent control. They cautiously posed: “The role a system of fair rents could have in making the private rental market attractive for local people on local incomes”.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 26px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">However, there are no firm or clear proposals. Landlord organisations are already applying pressure, and the Welsh government is giving landlords time to come up with a strategy to oppose them.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 26px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Legislation</strong></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 26px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Welsh Labour Senedd members had the chance to show that they were serious in fighting for rent control and to tackle homelessness, by voting in favour of a Plaid Cymru motion to develop legislation for fair rents. The majority abstained. Welsh Labour deputy climate minister Lee Water said: “Labour had abstained because [rent control] is already covered by the budget agreement with Plaid”.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 26px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">But in the detailed draft budget narrative document sent out by the Welsh government, we’ve seen nothing of the sort. What we have seen though, is the £3.5 million private sector leasing scheme aimed at tackling homelessness.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 26px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">The scheme offers landlords grants and interest-free loans of up to £10,000. It gives councils the power to run a property, including any repairs, and, in return, the landlord gets guaranteed rent, but only 90% of the local housing allowance rent.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 26px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Currently, a puny amount of 24 properties in the whole of Wales are signed up to the scheme. The scheme only works if property owners want to give up income, which clearly they don’t want to do!</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 26px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">During lockdown, for a period, the Welsh government wiped out street homelessness by putting people up in hotel rooms, proof it was always possible to do so. However, it has not been prepared to fight for the funding for this to continue. What’s missing is the political will.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 26px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Like local authorities, the Welsh government could pass a needs-based budget, defying Tory imposed austerity. The Senedd could back up Welsh local authorities, overwhelmingly Labour-led, to take the same approach. In doing so, a fighting Welsh government could mobilise the support of the Welsh working class and demand the required funding from Westminster.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 26px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">This is the approach the Socialist Party in Wales will be campaigning for when our members stand as part of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition in local council elections on 5 May.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 26px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Rent control</strong></p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 26px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 21px;">Cardiff City Council already licences landlords; all local authorities could do the same. Fair rent, secure tenancies, safety and decent conditions, as agreed by elected committees of tenants and trade union representatives, could be made a requirement of a licence.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 21px;">Tenants should have the right to rent tribunals, overseen by these committees, to challenge rent levels and unsafe conditions.</li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 26px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Empty homes</strong></p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 26px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 21px;">Councils must use their powers to compulsorily purchase property left empty; to be brought back into council housing stock – to be rented at social rents on secure tenancies.</li></ul><p style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 26px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Council homes</strong></p><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: Verdana, BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 26px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 21px;">A mass building programme of eco-friendly affordable council homes to tackle the housing crisis, under the democratic control of working-class communities, to prevent overcrowding and to ensure the provision of all necessary services including green spaces.</li></ul>Ross Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11645356967200160092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5103246438908480813.post-56342126031913361322022-04-12T15:58:00.001+01:002022-04-13T16:30:40.132+01:00Why We Need Free Bus Travel<p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipiJnLLwRAnLcn12DbzC_pMd5NtTsnjBc8UDznHZ0u7RFaORIvjeo-2OIvruiNX8CGDtwSPa0ww1xRPm2Mb1kf0nTeReRIQu9Oc8RgxoYIBCSNF9RrW168ubgaoSPqPbyPHco4HZRZ1X8izkRjdire8n2Ee8aCONYIpZqssOzlNPa9zuUtYVJi7lmZ/s2016/277994743_1019129815359979_7475698379154438413_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipiJnLLwRAnLcn12DbzC_pMd5NtTsnjBc8UDznHZ0u7RFaORIvjeo-2OIvruiNX8CGDtwSPa0ww1xRPm2Mb1kf0nTeReRIQu9Oc8RgxoYIBCSNF9RrW168ubgaoSPqPbyPHco4HZRZ1X8izkRjdire8n2Ee8aCONYIpZqssOzlNPa9zuUtYVJi7lmZ/s320/277994743_1019129815359979_7475698379154438413_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />by Joe Fathallah, Socialist Party member and TUSC candidate for Grangetown<p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">One of the hardest-hitting aspects of the cost-of-living crisis has been the increase in the price of fuel, making running a car an unaffordable luxury for many. In this context, a free, reliable, and effective public transport system is a necessity we must fight for. In addition, public transport is essential in the battle against climate catastrophe, with private transport one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions.</span><u style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"></u><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;"><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">Bus travel in Cardiff is owned and controlled by Cardiff Bus, an ‘arms-length’ company wholly owned by Cardiff Council, but with its own board of directors separate from any elected body. This means that the company is not subject to control of even the council, let alone the communities whose facilities it operates. The current Managing Director of Cardiff Bus, Paul Dyer, was formerly the CEO at DHL Supply Chain, and the whole operation effectively operates in the same way as a private company.<u></u> <u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">The impacts of this lack of accountability have been clear. Since 2015, the capital city of Wales has been without a central bus station, when the facility was closed to make way for commercial development in the city centre. This has made it much harder to change buses, especially for disabled passengers and those unfamiliar with the layout of the city. Seven years later, building work on what is meant to be the new bus station is still ongoing. In 2015, plans to cut routes and push through unfavourable changes to working conditions were met by strike action by the bus drivers organised in Unite the Union. Multiple important routes have fallen victim to cuts over the last decade. <u></u> <u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">In 2015, the Welsh government announced the launch of the South Wales Metro, which is supposed to be a plan to create an integrated public transport system. So far, it has delivered little more than the re-branding of existing services. In 2020, Transport for Wales took over the rail operations from former privatised operator Keolis-Amey. The covid-19 pandemic caused a crash in ticket sales, so Keolis-Amey simply walked away from their contract, despite having received £267 million of public subsidies in the previous two years! The losses were nationalised, and the Welsh government picked up the slack.<u></u> <u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">To begin to tackle the cost of transport, the environmental crisis, and to make sure we can all get to where we need to be, we need so much more than this. We need a fully nationalised, integrated, socialist public transport system, under the democratic control of passengers, transport workers, and elected representatives. This would mean that fares could be abolished, by getting our hands on the profits stashed up by former private operators. It would also mean re-opening Cardiff central bus station, and democratically planning a route map to meet the requirements of the travelling public.<u></u> <u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 15.6933px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt;">Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidates in this election will fight for the establishment of such a system, putting passengers ahead of city-centre property developers, and creating public transport fit to meet the needs of working-class people in Cardiff.</p>Ross Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11645356967200160092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5103246438908480813.post-9529661045278823052022-04-11T15:29:00.003+01:002022-04-11T15:29:32.828+01:00Wales TUSC Core Policy Platform for the 2022 Council Elections<p><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">Cuts to public services emanating from Tory governments in Westminster have rained down on Wales for over a decade. The Welsh Labour governments in that period have failed to protect working people in Wales from those cuts - in fact they have implemented most of them. These cuts have been most cruelly exposed in this Covid crisis by the cuts to NHS hospital beds. The number of beds since 2008 have been cut by 21% which has meant that Wales entered the Covid crisis with the lowest number of intensive care beds per person in western Europe – lower even than NHS England under the Tories.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-spacerun: 'yes';">Covid has revealed both the drastic situation our local public services are in - with the NHS and councils massively underfunded - but also some of the many things the Welsh government has the power to do that could improve our lives. </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-spacerun: 'yes';">For example, why not extend the scheme that housed the homeless during the first lockdown and banned evictions and make it permanent? And the Welsh government has spent £2 billion in grants to business during the Covid crisis. But it should have ensured that any government aid to individual businesses is dependent on retaining jobs and pursuing ethical employment practices – ensuring workers are not forced to work in unsafe Covid conditions; not using fire and rehire to drive down wages.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-spacerun: 'yes';">The Welsh Labour government’s defence for cutting services in the past is that it’s funding in real terms has been cut by the UK Tory government. But where has there been the fight against these cuts? In fact there are a whole number of levers that the Welsh government can use to protect Welsh public services from Tory cuts – where there is a will there is a way!</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-spacerun: 'yes';">Sadly the Covid crisis means that more Tory austerity will be on its way to Wales – the working class will be expected to foot the bill for the economic effects of the crisis, just as working class communities suffered the worst from the effects of the virus itself. It is expected that NHS spending will be 8% less than the level in 2010-11 before the cuts began. Now more than ever we need a Welsh government that will stand up for working people in Wales against more cuts.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-spacerun: 'yes';">Instead of passively implementing the cuts it can refuse to carry out Tory cuts and begin a mass campaign to force the Westminster government to return the funds denied to public services. In the 1980s Liverpool City Council with a socialist leadership refused to cut back services and instead successfully demanded extra funds from the Thatcher government to expand council housing, education and other services. If one city could force the ‘iron lady’ to back down in 1984 imagine what an entire nation could achieve against a weak and divided Tory government.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-spacerun: 'yes';">The next time it receives a budget from Westminster that demands further cuts it can pool its reserves with Welsh local authorities, refuse to implement further cuts and instead spend what working people in Wales need on the NHS, education, social services, housing. </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-spacerun: 'yes';">It can use this breathing space to take its campaign to all our communities desperate for these services and mobilise them in a national campaign to fight for what we need. The campaign should draw on the hundreds of thousands of trade union members and the best traditions of the Welsh workers’ movement with a dynamic campaign of workplace rallies, demonstrations and strikes to resist Tory austerity.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-spacerun: 'yes';">The multiple U-turns made by Johnson and his chancellor, spending billions when the pressure is on them, show that if the Welsh government used the powers it has to refuse to implement any more cuts and spend what is necessary instead, the Tories could be made to pay up and return the cash they have stolen from Wales and our public services.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-spacerun: 'yes';">The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) has a policy platform for Welsh parliament elections (see below) which could make a real difference. Even one MS taking a stand, if they used their position in the Senedd chamber to appeal to those outside, could give confidence to local trade unionists and community campaigners to fight. </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-spacerun: 'yes';">Socialist MSs would link up with those taking action against climate change, the Black Lives Matter movement, and campaigns against attacks on women's rights and services. they would be at the heart of any struggle that is a step towards a society in which people can enjoy life to its fullest without the fear of unemployment, homelessness, poverty and discrimination.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-spacerun: 'yes';">Agreement with the platform below is the minimum basis on which any prospective Senedd candidate can stand under the TUSC name in the 2021 election - but it is a minimum, not a limit to the issues candidates will raise.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-spacerun: 'yes';">Every trade unionist, anti-cuts campaigner, community activist and all those who want to see an alternative to austerity politicians can become a TUSC candidate. But voters should know that any Member of the Senedd elected under the TUSC banner will fight for:</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12.0000pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-spacerun: 'yes';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="15" style="margin-left: 36.0000pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0000pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt;">· </span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">Opposition to all cuts and closures to public services, jobs, pay and conditions. We reject the claim that 'some cuts' are necessary to our services or that the Covid crisis is a reason for austerity.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="15" style="margin-left: 36.0000pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0000pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt;">· </span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">Support all workers' struggles against government policies making ordinary people pay for the crisis.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="15" style="margin-left: 36.0000pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0000pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt;">· </span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">A united working class struggle against racism and all forms of oppression.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="15" style="margin-left: 36.0000pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0000pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt;">· </span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">Reverse cuts to the NHS</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="15" style="margin-left: 36.0000pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0000pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt;">· </span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">The permanent renationalisation of public transport including the rail infrastructure and for an integrated public transport system</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="15" style="line-height: 107%; margin-left: 36.0000pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0000pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt;">· </span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">Free school meals for all school-aged children in Wales </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="15" style="line-height: 107%; margin-left: 36.0000pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0000pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt;">· </span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">For free education – scrap tuition fees</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="15" style="margin-left: 36.0000pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0000pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt;">· </span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">Reject income tax, council tax, rent and service charge increases for working class people to make up for cuts in funding and demand the UK government restores the cuts in funding it has imposed.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="15" style="line-height: 107%; margin-left: 36.0000pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0000pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt;">· </span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">Use Welsh government’s powers to begin a mass building programme of eco-friendly affordable council homes to tackle the housing crisis. For rent controls and end to evictions.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="15" style="margin-left: 36.0000pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0000pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt;">· </span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">Vote against the outsourcing, privatisation of public sector jobs and services, or the transfer of council services to 'social enterprises' or 'arms-length' management organisations, which are first steps to privatisation. Bring all services back in-house.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="15" style="line-height: 107%; margin-left: 36.0000pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0000pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt;">· </span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;">For the right of national self-determination for Wales</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="15" style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 107%;"><b><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Welsh TUSC Core Policy Platform for the 2022 Local Government Elections</span></b><b><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;">Tory governments have inflicted years of savage austerity, cuts and privatisation, while Welsh Labour – led governments have meekly passed on the cuts to working class people in Wales. The results have laid bare the dire situation we find ourselves in as the social, economic and health effects of the Covid 19 pandemic continue to hit our workplaces, schools, services and communities.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;">On 20</span><sup><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; vertical-align: super;">th</span></sup><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"> December 2021, the Welsh Government published its draft budget for the next three years. Despite an additional £0.75 billion for local authority services, the budget is still £3 billion lower than if it had increased in line with the economy since 2010/11. </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;">Against this background it is necessary to ensure that politicians from whatever party not only use any increased funding to expand public services rather than make more cuts but go further and demand adequate funding to repair the damage inflicted over the past 12 years. Councillors who refuse to fight for public services should face a challenge at the ballot box and the council elections in May 2022 will be an opportunity to do this.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;">Covid has revealed both the drastic situation our local services are in – with councils massively underfunded by Welsh Government – but also some of the many things local authorities have the power to do to improve our lives. In the first lock-down for example, councils acted against homelessness in their local areas and many councils stepped in during autumn half term to continue free school meals.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;">But they could go so much further. The Welsh Government has announced free school meals for primary school children, but working with the Welsh Government, councils could ensure free school meals for all school students. They could also use their powers to begin a mass home-building programme to tackle the housing crisis.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;">Most current councillors however, including unfortunately Labour and Plaid Cymru representatives, would say they cannot use their legal authority to act without first getting funding from Welsh Government.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;">But that’s the wrong way round. Councils still account for over one fifth of public spending in the UK, with responsibilities for adult social care, housing, education support, transport, recycling and rubbish collection, libraries and many other services. That’s a powerful position from which to organise a fightback. Councils should first spend what’s needed – and then demand the money back from Welsh Government.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;">The Tory Government has made multiple U-turns, spending billions when the pressure was on them. If Labour and Plaid councils in Wales together with the Labour Welsh Government were to use their powers and refuse to implement any more cuts and spend what is necessary instead, the Tories could be made to pay up. This would involve the Welsh Government fighting for the restoration of the £3 billion lost since 2010/11 as a minimum.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;">The Welsh Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (Welsh TUSC) has a policy platform for the local council elections (see below) which could make a difference. Even one councillor in a local authority taking a stand, if they used their position in the council chamber to appeal to those outside, could give confidence to local trade unionists and community campaigners to fight. A network of rebel councillors across Wales could have an even bigger impact in fighting for what is needed.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;">They would link up with those taking action against climate change, the Black Lives Matter movement and campaigns against attacks on women’s rights and services. Welsh TUSC councillors would be at the heart of any struggle that is a step towards a society in which people can enjoy life to its fullest without the fear of unemployment, homelessness, poverty and discrimination.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;">Agreement with the platform below is the minimum basis on which any prospective council candidate can stand under the Welsh TUSC name in the 2022 local council elections – but it is a minimum, not a limit to the issues that candidates will raise.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;">Every trade unionist, anti-cuts campaigner, community activist and all those who want to see an alternative to austerity politicians can become a Welsh TUSC candidate. But voters should know that any councillor elected under the Welsh TUSC banner will:</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="15" style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p><p class="15" style="line-height: 107%; margin-left: 36.0000pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0000pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 11pt;">· </span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt;">Oppose all cuts and closures to council services, jobs, pay and conditions. We reject the claim that ‘some cuts’ are necessary to our services or that the Covid crisis is a reason for austerity.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="15" style="line-height: 107%; margin-left: 36.0000pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0000pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 11pt;">· </span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt;">Support all workers’ struggles against government policies making ordinary people pay for the crisis.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="15" style="line-height: 107%; margin-left: 36.0000pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0000pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 11pt;">· </span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt;">Fight for united working class struggle against racism and all forms of oppression.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="15" style="line-height: 107%; margin-left: 36.0000pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0000pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 11pt;">· </span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt;">Reject council tax, rent and service charge increases for working class people to make up for cuts in central funding and demand that Welsh Government restores the cuts in funding it has passed on from central government.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="15" style="line-height: 107%; margin-left: 36.0000pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0000pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 11pt;">· </span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt;">Use council’s powers to begin a mass building programme of eco friendly affordable council homes to tackle the housing crisis.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="15" style="line-height: 107%; margin-left: 36.0000pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0000pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 11pt;">· </span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt;">Vote against the privatisation of council jobs and services, or the transfer of existing council services to social enterprises or ‘arms-length’ management organisations which are the first steps to their privatisation.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="15" style="line-height: 107%; margin-left: 36.0000pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0000pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 11pt;">· </span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt;">Use all the legal powers available to councils to oppose both the cuts and the transfer of public services to private bodies. Bring all services back in-house.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="15" style="line-height: 107%; margin-left: 36.0000pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0000pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 11pt;">· </span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt;">Vote for councils to refuse to implement austerity. We will support councils which in the first instance use their reserves and prudential borrowing powers to avoid making cuts. But we argue that the best way to mobilise the mass campaign that is necessary to defend and improve council services is to set a budget that meets the needs of the local community and demand that Welsh Government funding makes up the shortfall.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="15" style="line-height: 107%; margin-left: 36.0000pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0000pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 11pt;">· </span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11pt;">Restore council services that have been cut since 2010. Ensure any increases in funding are used to restore services, not be added to reserves.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Ross Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11645356967200160092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5103246438908480813.post-12668807457228625662022-03-31T15:02:00.002+01:002022-03-31T15:02:29.883+01:00Vote for a Socialist Alternative in Wales on 5th May! Back TUSC candidates!<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">Wales is suffering because we don't have people in power who will stand up and fight for working-class people. This week, ahead of Council elections, supporters of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition have been on the streets campaigning for an end to funding cuts to services, rent control to relieve the pressure on ordinary people, free public transport to tackle the climate crisis and more. </span><a href="https://www.tusc.org.uk/support.php" style="text-align: left;">Sign up</a><span style="text-align: left;"> as a TUSC supporter now. </span></div></div></div><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh679nQA9xIXS3NPkU39eVtm9iptc2grzGpD0nmANcrVCZvRIbCK23LYSSirD6uv61hPorDY71n711xo660oJpYcCVsDYqkLyI7fZxs0_CSEqfq49eYTK1vCYIdmAStUhwXulLczFFjPpQk_1GeNHGEnfZ7kPTkdEjvHIImPYDSsWxu6cVNAF7NXa5M/s2048/277117442_512137210291795_1660129409750336282_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh679nQA9xIXS3NPkU39eVtm9iptc2grzGpD0nmANcrVCZvRIbCK23LYSSirD6uv61hPorDY71n711xo660oJpYcCVsDYqkLyI7fZxs0_CSEqfq49eYTK1vCYIdmAStUhwXulLczFFjPpQk_1GeNHGEnfZ7kPTkdEjvHIImPYDSsWxu6cVNAF7NXa5M/s320/277117442_512137210291795_1660129409750336282_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDyUHwt1e7rn6UVmSx2wWsFucQEpQFi70E-53Q8V74PXVHZ6BWVhXeLtqDGtSRBgFbci8YbBSdx_n7HHnluJxNTWm1Pxe-YDwfWYT15ioUbfUIqRVwQ-RscilB-7OGMT-omT6V-r2RC5FDn2hzx4A-7C5NDYrQUOeYcvRwceYQ9xVZJJ4Lh5LQK5tB/s320/Ely.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p>Ross Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11645356967200160092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5103246438908480813.post-60909914493855829022021-05-04T15:38:00.003+01:002021-05-04T15:38:41.934+01:00Nationalise Kautex Textron to save jobs!<p>Labour, Plaid and the other parties have no idea how to save these jobs.</p><p>Only TUSC candidates are calling for Kautex Textron and any other factories threatening job losses to be nationalised to save jobs.</p><p>The steel and automative industries will go the way of coal, with a similar devastating effect on our communities, unless Wales takes the socialist road.</p><p> <a href="https://caerphilly.observer/news/1000551/calls-to-save-220-jobs-at-kautex-textron-but-can-anything-actually-be-done/?fbclid=IwAR189Aa962iD2GH_EM5Xw_hlxYYRcaArOsOudMHPGngHSTBhhRNWcQYRSVA">https://caerphilly.observer/news/1000551/calls-to-save-220-jobs-at-kautex-textron-but-can-anything-actually-be-done/</a></p>Ross Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11645356967200160092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5103246438908480813.post-82546634130150415832021-04-28T13:49:00.005+01:002021-04-28T13:49:28.066+01:00End Racist Policing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-_7tJ0d4l_y6l1eOYxxDX6PDvlS1Dmkn-SG8GEbRC4uoewq0DAIw3TAcSFtiOQzcWv6DEgnQnGc-3XJ4sJ_XFhlkyMSrNQeO8tI4jnBNMwBzIGBxKABG7olwa_bNzPHnDX895_aGZP8g/s976/28696.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="549" data-original-width="976" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-_7tJ0d4l_y6l1eOYxxDX6PDvlS1Dmkn-SG8GEbRC4uoewq0DAIw3TAcSFtiOQzcWv6DEgnQnGc-3XJ4sJ_XFhlkyMSrNQeO8tI4jnBNMwBzIGBxKABG7olwa_bNzPHnDX895_aGZP8g/w400-h225/28696.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>Two young men have died at the hands of police in South Wales since 1st January. The killings of Mohamud Mohammed Hassan in Cardiff and Mouayed Bashir in Newport have brought out big crowds to demand justice.</p><p>Despite Covid restrictions, hundreds of brave, mainly young people have closed the streets in front of police stations, and led marches through the city centre determined to make their voices heard. They rightly say these terrible injustices deserve as much attention as deaths across the Atlantic. </p><p>Fifteen Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests have taken place in South East Wales so far this year. In Cardiff and Newport, the local community is demanding answers.</p><p>From the start, the Socialist Party has demanded the immediate suspension of all the officers involved in the deaths. We call for independent inquiries to include representatives of the families, the local community and the trade unions, whose only interest is to secure justice. But we also call for democratic community control of the police, to stop these terrible miscarriages of justice happening in the first place.</p><p>In April, the Young Socialists organised a protest in Cardiff to build support for Siyanda Mngaza, jailed for trying to defend herself from a brutal, racist attack. There is also the case of 13-year-old Christopher Kapessa whose death in the River Cynon in 2019 was never properly investigated.</p><p>The Socialist Party has played a prominent role speaking at BLM protests and in securing support for Siyanda, Mohamud, Mouayied, and the wider BLM movement from trades councils, trade unions and the Wales Trades Union Congress.</p><p>The trade unions are where millions of workers are organised. We call on the trade unions to make their opposition to institutional racism visible by bringing trade union banners out on BLM protests. But also to play their part in fighting to create a new party for workers that has a political programme to end racism and inequality. Socialist Party members are standing as part of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) as part of that process.</p><p>If you have been fighting for justice in the BLM protests, vote for TUSC on 6 May</p><p>Mariam Kamish</p><p>TUSC Candidate in the Senedd elections</p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px;">Promoted by Dave Warren, TUSC Wales secretary, on behalf of TUSC Wales, 29 Tir Y Farchnad, Gowerton SA4 3GS</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5103246438908480813.post-46138404504947235472021-04-28T13:48:00.001+01:002021-04-28T13:48:43.470+01:00A political alternative for black and Asian people<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJW0HfH8KJzQNTU7RKpZZaokFrPO6q0BzMFWZ4DDLA9oE1BqogWE3VuhzeI6w4w8SXMGXBtOgGvdJdGZtjGsAuAk_ktBNS0a1YggU0yPHufhRjkhobeKTB3vz0zm3EqoyTmU38w7d2ank/s620/EZhJFIKWoAIQIuP.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="620" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJW0HfH8KJzQNTU7RKpZZaokFrPO6q0BzMFWZ4DDLA9oE1BqogWE3VuhzeI6w4w8SXMGXBtOgGvdJdGZtjGsAuAk_ktBNS0a1YggU0yPHufhRjkhobeKTB3vz0zm3EqoyTmU38w7d2ank/w400-h213/EZhJFIKWoAIQIuP.png" width="400" /></a></div><p>The Socialist Party, as part of Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), recognises the disproportionate way black and Asian people are affected by the pandemic, and within the capitalist system itself.</p><p>In recent anti-racist protests, we have seen black and Asian youth fighting the inequality within the system. In workplaces, we are seeing workers coming out to fight for better pay and conditions.</p><p>We are now seeing more black and Asian people looking for a real alternative, including in the ballot box, that will improve their lives and livelihoods.</p><p>Voting for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) in the upcoming election is an opportunity to vote against cuts, to send a message that we want an alternative to the current miserable conditions facing ordinary people.</p><p>Traditionally, black and Asian people have seen Labour as the party for them. But the Labour Party under Keir Starmer is not a party that represents our interests. It is turning more and more towards big business and the capitalists. One in five Labour MPs are now black or minority ethnic. But that’s not enough. It is the policies that they stand on that matter.</p><p>TUSC stands for a decent future for all: an end to low pay and insecure jobs and for more funding for youth services, NHS and schools.</p><p>TUSC is based on the working class and it is therefore not surprising that there are a number of black and Asian workers and young people standing as candidates. It is an example of how a real fighting socialist programme can encourage black and Asian people to be involved in the fightback.</p><p>Cammilla Mngaza</p><p>TUSC candidate for South Wales East</p><p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px;">Promoted by Dave Warren, TUSC Wales secretary, on behalf of TUSC Wales, 29 Tir Y Farchnad, Gowerton SA4 3GS</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5103246438908480813.post-62935942767532604412021-04-27T20:29:00.001+01:002021-04-28T13:28:35.681+01:00Fight for the Care Services We Need<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEeWkjTUb_6xmRXZDEUwRHiG8nFq4FQFk52wkkAIuSR9sf3F0sNC1hnqdJPJAjJmY4mRHD2Gzc5quE8zZAS9HVRM9mLaVBH4EF3ymPaOGZFb4hx9DAdCTGW7WWhGhNtq62dYHagYU0OlU/s1000/5645.jpg" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="656" data-original-width="1000" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEeWkjTUb_6xmRXZDEUwRHiG8nFq4FQFk52wkkAIuSR9sf3F0sNC1hnqdJPJAjJmY4mRHD2Gzc5quE8zZAS9HVRM9mLaVBH4EF3ymPaOGZFb4hx9DAdCTGW7WWhGhNtq62dYHagYU0OlU/w407-h267/5645.jpg" width="407" /></a></p>The failure to protect the elderly and vulnerable during the COVID pandemic has highlighted systemic flaws in the social care system. Social care provision is fragmented, with the vast majority of care homes in the UK operated by private companies for profit or charities.<p></p><p>During the second wave of the pandemic, care homes were the largest source of multi – infection incidents according to official data, with ‘acute respiratory infection incidents’ in care homes more than doubling from 364 to 749 across the UK in the fortnight to 3rd January.</p><p>The Welsh Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition stands for a publicly operated and fully funded national care service for residential, nursing and home care. </p><p>We also promote the health and safety, well - being and financial remuneration of all staff, who should be directly employed by the public sector service. NHS workers have marched to demand a 15% pay rise in the wake of the pandemic. Workers in social care should receive a similar double digit pay rise. TUSC will fully support trade union action to achieve this.</p><p>We value the selfless work of unpaid carers and recognise that an improvement in the integration and funding of professional care as suggested above would alleviate the burden on them and provide the support they need. We believe that if carers are unable to work due to their caring responsibilities, they ought to receive benefits equivalent to the national living wage. As an immediate measure, we support a substantial increase in the level of benefits available to them.</p><div><br /></div>Ross Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11645356967200160092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5103246438908480813.post-48325301883643586482021-04-27T12:11:00.005+01:002021-04-27T14:15:18.617+01:00A manifesto for socialist change in Wales<p><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.28px;">The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is standing in all five regions in the 2021 </span><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 17.28px;">Senedd elections, allowing every voter in Wales to vote for a real socialist alternative.</span></span></p><p><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.28px;">The manifesto below is the minimum basis on which TUSC candidates stand, and our minimum offer to every voter in Wales.</span></p><p><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.28px;">But it is a minimum, not a limit to the issues that candidates will raise and pledge to fight on. Every trade unionist, anti-cuts campaigner, community activist and all those who want to see an alternative to austerity politicians can become a TUSC candidate. But voters should know that any Member of the Senedd elected under the TUSC banner will fight for these manifesto demands.</span></p><p><span face="Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 17.28px;">(If you are using a mobile device, you may find it more convenient to <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/505104590/TUSC-Wales-Senedd-Manifesto-2021">click here to read in fullscreen</a>)</span></p>
<iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" data-aspect-ratio="0.7729220222793488" data-auto-height="false" frameborder="0" height="800" id="doc_68245" scrolling="no" src="https://www.scribd.com/embeds/505104590/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-X5SfpaRUkFJfbA52ZXRj" title="TUSC Wales Senedd Manifesto 2021" width="600"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Promoted by Dave Warren, TUSC Wales secretary, on behalf of TUSC Wales, 29 Tir Y Farchnad, Gowerton SA4 3GS</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5103246438908480813.post-3476521655255016902021-04-26T21:36:00.003+01:002021-04-27T14:14:49.935+01:00Wales Needs Rent Control and Council Housing<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMBiLgc9OZoc3WAfQF6LKx7pzOjToJVFX-G5AUncBGT9ooAYac1wZB25hKSh5GWNX72zgKWzwfYatrvyeETwmPnxZYSgd9h8ythk37tOhrnS19eDTeun36eRQH6r2nysSyR6lzm-4vVdY/s1164/Protest+31+%25282%25292.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1164" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMBiLgc9OZoc3WAfQF6LKx7pzOjToJVFX-G5AUncBGT9ooAYac1wZB25hKSh5GWNX72zgKWzwfYatrvyeETwmPnxZYSgd9h8ythk37tOhrnS19eDTeun36eRQH6r2nysSyR6lzm-4vVdY/w400-h279/Protest+31+%25282%25292.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><i><div><i><br /></i></div></i><i>John Williams</i><i><br /></i><div><br /></div>The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is standing in all five regions in Wales, meaning that every voter will have the chance to back anti-austerity socialist campaigning candidates.<br /><br />Across Britain there are over 300 TUSC candidates standing in the local elections in England and parliamentary elections in Scotland and Wales in this first year that TUSC has resumed activity since Jeremy Corbyn was removed as Labour leader.<br /><br /><div>Candidates in Wales include Black Lives Matter activists like Cammilla Mngaza and Melanie Benedict, leading Welsh trade unionists like Mark Evans and Mariam Kamish and leaders of student rent strike campaigns like Oisín Mulholland and Michelle Francis. <br /><br />TUSC supporters welcome the development of community organisations, such as Acorn, that fight for tenants' and workers' rights. Describing itself as a 'community-based union', Acorn's demands include a 'renter's manifesto' that TUSC members fully endorse.</div><div><br /></div><div>TUSC Wales agreed on the 14th February this year <a href="https://www.tuscwales.org.uk/2021/02/tusc-adopts-core-policies-for-senedd.html">its core policies for the Senedd elections.</a> These include calling on the Welsh government to introduce:</div><div><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>A complete ban on no-fault evictions</li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Rent control to cut rents, overseen by tribunals of tenants’ representatives and trade unionists.</li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>A mass building programme of eco-friendly affordable council homes to tackle the housing crisis, controlled by working-class communities to prevent overcrowding and ensure the provision of all necessary services including green spaces.</li></ul></div><div><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">Solutions for the housing crisis</h3><div><br /></div>TUSC is standing because none of the mainstream parties are willing to even scratch the surface of what’s needed to solve the housing crisis or the other problems ordinary people are facing. There needs to be a radical shift in the balance of power from those who are exploiting housing as a means of making profits to those who use housing as somewhere to live. We need rent control now, for the public and private sector - for too long rents have skyrocketed for working class people and students.</div><div><br /></div><div>Rent tribunals need to be brought back, where a tenant could bring their landlord to account if their rent is too high, and they should be run not by the establishment but by people who understand the struggles of ordinary people.</div><div><br /></div><div>We need real security of tenancy, starting with a ban on no-fault evictions. Welsh Labour’s pre-election promise to extend the tenancy period is not enough - it will mean at most a delay in revenge eviction by landlords who want to punish tenants who stand up for their rights. Revenge eviction should be abolished: no one should have the power to make you homeless.</div><div><br />Even before the economic damage of the pandemic, it’s <a href="https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/true-scale-homelessness-cardiff-revealed-16789592">estimated that 4000 people were homeless in Cardiff.</a> Many more are vulnerably housed and the majority face unaffordable housing and living costs. Action during the pandemic wiped out homelessness for a period - demonstrating that it is possible to do so. But in normal times thousands of homes lie empty - landbank by speculators - and powers to compulsorily purchase homes lie unused by bodies like Cardiff Council because the mainstream parties which have run the city have not been willing to stand with tenants against the landlords and letting agents.</div><div><br /></div><div>We need to increase the supply of housing in cities like Cardiff and we need a regional plan drawn up for homes, jobs and transport to distribute resources in the most efficient way. A mass programme of council-house building, reversing the changes brought in by Margaret Thatcher which have boosted landlordism not private ownership.</div><div><br /></div><div>We welcome creative proposals like those advanced by Acorn to give public bodies “first refusal” on sales of homes as a means of increasing public housing. We have similar demands ourselves, including shortly after the crash of 2007/8 when we managed to get an independent socialist Assembly Member to raise a proposal in the Senedd to permit struggling homeowners to exchange unaffordable mortgage payments for affordable council rents, transferring the asset.</div><div><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">Failed by the other parties</h3><div><br /></div>The failure of Labour, Plaid Cymru, Liberal and Green-run councils to fight the cuts demanded by the Tories in Westminster has also assisted unscrupulous landlords to shirk their responsibilities to tenants. The law protected tenants’right is inadequate, but even if it were perfect the inadequacy of the current resources devoted to its enforcement would mean that tenants would be left unprotected. In Cardiff, a city of a third of a million people, Cardiff Council has just 6 enforcement officers to respond to reports of health and safety breaches in housing, and are discussing further “efficiencies” which could made to this team by sharing services across other authorities.</div><div><br /></div><div>TUSC says no more cuts. We need representatives who will fight to save jobs and for the funding necessary for the services we need.</div><div><br /></div><div>Domestic abuse deaths doubled during pandemic, after demand for services doubled over the decade but funding for refuges has been cut in real terms in Cardiff when they should have been expanded to meet the needs of all, including the LGBTQ+ community, some of whom are fleeing homophobic and transphobic homes, or have been forced to go into the closet since the pandemic. TUSC candidates are unique in having pledged to defy demands for cuts and to support legal needs-based budgets to provide the services for all who need them.<br /><br />Similarly, the Welsh Labour government has proven conclusively that it will not act decisively to tackle the housing crisis. Just as they have done this year, before the last Senedd elections Welsh promised to solve the housing crisis with new laws like the Renting Homes (Wales) Act and Housing (Wales) Act.</div><div><br /></div><div>At the time, TUSC supporters organised a March for Homes and set up Housing Action Committees to organise and demand the bold measures necessary to meet this basic need. We won a pledge to scrap upfront agency fees but the key demands for rent control and to increase the housing supply through an expansion of council housing was ignored.</div><div><br /></div><div>Even the positive (although inadequate) measures like landlord registration and training were chronically delayed once the election was over. In the meantime the most unscrupulous landlords and letting agents have tightened their grip on the rental market. The scrapping of upfront agency fees have proved worthless because Welsh Labour was not willing to bolster it with rent control, so landlords merely tacked the extra charges onto rent.</div><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">TUSC is different</h3><div><br /></div><div>TUSC was founded by campaigners who concluded that anyone who has had the experience of campaigning against cuts to services, to save jobs, to fight for housing right or for justice for ordinary people would do a better jobs than the representatives of parties who are entirely in hock to big business or won’t stand up to them. We need a new party, controlled and run democratically by ordinary working-class and committed to fighting for a socialist society run by the millions not the millionaires.</div><div><br /></div><div><h3 style="text-align: left;">My own testimony</h3><div><br /></div>“I’ve had too much experience of the housing experience in cardiff, since I moved here in 2014 for university. I’ve had to move house at least every 9 months- I’ve rented with every housing agency that’s going, and I can tell you most of them are cowboys, vultures and bullies.</div><div><br /></div><div>“On the day we were meant to move into a house in Grangetown, to our surprise the previous tenants were still living there. With no sign at all that they were planning on moving out. We rang up the agency to find out what was going on who told us that it was our responsibility to kick out the previous people living there! </div><div><br /></div><div>“After much arguing, the agency then conceded, and soon after a white van came along, which the previous tenants quickly gathering essentials and all 10 of them left. The house was exactly as they left it. It was only the morning after that the agency got cleaners around to make the house liveable. It became clear to us that the agency was illegally allowing 10 migrant workers live in a house meant for 4. Who knows what was really going on. What would have happened if the police got involved?</div><div><br /></div><div>“I moved into the house I’m living at now last September- but it was only 2 months or so that the house met legal requirements. We had an open man hole, a leaking downstairs toilet, the upstairs shower leaked into downstairs, a part of the ceiling collapsed, none of the doors met health and safety fire requirements, and a whole lot more. What was staggering is that every time we made a fuss to get it sorted, they made us feel like we were being picky and annoying, and that we had ‘to work with them’ to find a compromise. Most housing agencies feel like they can get away with anything.”</div><div><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Promoted by Dave Warren, TUSC Wales secretary, on behalf of TUSC Wales, 29 Tir Y Farchnad, Gowerton SA4 3GS</span></div>Ross Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11645356967200160092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5103246438908480813.post-84760306537705641702021-04-24T06:47:00.003+01:002021-04-27T14:14:37.495+01:00Vote Gareth Bromhall - a Socialist Voice for Swansea's Castle Ward<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX_jHNQRC77Cbnqb4f6ntjscmgi_Ax9Zmv2lF9HKzGBvPwVMTfKXbqmyNuDCyFar6hZkVIh1Z8lvi0VTEHIJs_M-Qu4m6ibN1eadIZ_UZBp6hNJ2S9hZSraeA4P7gb7gv2fn-b-wwJdpQ/s1600/175666179_125737009594617_5636119947422972625_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1362" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX_jHNQRC77Cbnqb4f6ntjscmgi_Ax9Zmv2lF9HKzGBvPwVMTfKXbqmyNuDCyFar6hZkVIh1Z8lvi0VTEHIJs_M-Qu4m6ibN1eadIZ_UZBp6hNJ2S9hZSraeA4P7gb7gv2fn-b-wwJdpQ/s320/175666179_125737009594617_5636119947422972625_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p>Gareth Bromhall is standing as a Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidate for Castle ward in order to challenge the savage cuts to the city budget that have been carried out by the Labour administration at Swansea council.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">About Gareth</h3><p>Gareth says: "the residents of Castle ward need a socialist voice that will fight for them in the council chamber and fight alongside them in our community".</p><p>Gareth Bromhall is a Sandfields resident, a committed trade unionist and community activist.</p><p>As a longstanding member of Swansea Socialist Party he has been involved in and led campaigns to defend the NHS and fought against council cuts over the past decade. As a Unite branch officer and secretary of Swansea Trades Union Council he has organised support and solidarity for workers on picket lines across the city.</p><p>A graduate of Swansea University Medical School, Gareth is now a key worker supporting vulnerable young people in Swansea.</p><p>As a disabled activist, Gareth has been involved in advocacy and support for disabled people, supporting campaigns and giving advice and support on benefits and access to services.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Fighting to Stop Council Cuts</h3><p>Despite all the allegedly glowing achievements coming out from the Swansea Labour council's propaganda machine, residents in Castle ward and across the city witness on a daily basis the reality of years of cuts, cuts and more cuts.</p><p>Over the past five years Labour has obediently implemented over £70 million of Tory cuts, affecting every area of council services, from social services, education, street cleaning, leisure - you name it and its been cut! At the same time council tax payments go up at twice the rate of inflation or more every year.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Action on Fly-Tipping and Litter</h3><p>Castle ward is unfortunately referred to as the "city centre rubbish tip" where fly-tipping scars the landscape. Accumulated street filth constantly litter our residential streets in the Sanfields, Waun Wen, North Hill and Mount Pleasant.</p><p>This is a direct consequence of Swansea Labour councils not being prepared to fight the Tory government for the resources needed to employ more council workers and instead, unbelievable, Labour councillors actually appeal to residents to voluntarily clean up their own streets!</p><p>Continuing council cuts mean that our young, elderly, and most vulnerable residents are increasingly neglected and all of us see our quality of life deteriorate as council venues, sports facilities, and leisure servies face regular price increases, back-door privatisation, or closure.</p><p>With another £55 million of cuts projected over the next four years, the excuses from Labour councillors that "there is nothing we can do" is not acceptable.</p><p>If they won't stand up to Tory cuts then they should step aside so that socialist councillors can organise with the trade unions and community campaigners to set a "no-cuts budget" and mobilise to fight the Tory government for the resources we need to run our services.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">A working class voice at the ballot box</h3><p>Labour councillors, MPs and MSs have offered no opposition to the Tories. We need a mass party of our own to put forward a real anti-austerity alternative, and give a voice to workers who have risked their lives, and lost their jobs, homes and loved ones during the pandemic.</p><p>Gareth is a Socialist Party member. The Socialist Party is standing as part of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition. TUSC was set up to enable trade unionists, community campaigners, and socialists to stand together against the pro-austerity establishment parties. It is a beginning - a step towards the kind of party we need to deliver a socialist alternative to austerity.</p><p><small>Promoted by Dave Warren, TUSC Wales secretary, on behalf of TUSC Wales, 29 Tir Y Farchnad, Gowerton SA4 3GS</small></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5103246438908480813.post-31506412154135002352021-04-21T15:58:00.007+01:002021-04-21T16:00:35.403+01:00Fighting for wages, conditions, and safety in the Welsh construction industry<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWg6k4JU56rpzQa9M0K8BXfy-uG7k8rU1lexIugAA0Yn6L4-nYMqH3WFTBOnn3Ok8WQOn4knZqEbqdFEB-CT6q5pUoebNMsoXqaeSR3kFdcRyzPBMIk3g4ZqHJCRTAzS2584NUX7gZWD4/s640/176331574_3911814328911848_5989952491507834064_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWg6k4JU56rpzQa9M0K8BXfy-uG7k8rU1lexIugAA0Yn6L4-nYMqH3WFTBOnn3Ok8WQOn4knZqEbqdFEB-CT6q5pUoebNMsoXqaeSR3kFdcRyzPBMIk3g4ZqHJCRTAzS2584NUX7gZWD4/w400-h300/176331574_3911814328911848_5989952491507834064_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>"We gotta fight for the right To Sparkie!" This was the chant that rang out as even more sparks turned up this week at the Bouygues site at Cardiff University where HSO-using NG Baileys are working. Support is growing for decisive action to force Balfour Beatty and NG Baileys to back down with HSO, an attempt to force down wages and skill levels using Electrical Support Operative (ESO) grades instead of fully-trained electricians.</p><p>R&F organiser Andrew Wilkes sent a message to likes of Baileys: “Your latest offer from the ESO to the HSO, you just changed a letter! You just want to put labourers on a week’s health safety course and a 6-9 week course to teach them to put containment in. The Cardiff Sparks say No to ESO!”</p><p>Andrew also questioned how a site sponsored by the Welsh government was using companies that are so anti-union that they forced workers to remove Unite face masks.</p><p>Andrew is standing for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) in the Welsh Senedd elections.</p><p>The Welsh government claims to be operating an ethical employment policy with contractors, but NOTHING HAS CHANGED. Still construction contracts are being signed with companies that are:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>black-listing union activists</li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>constantly attempting to de-skill the industry</li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>driving down wages</li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>using umbrella companies</li></ul><p></p><p>We need workers’ representatives elected to the Senedd who stand up for workers to pressurise the government to implement its policy.</p><p>For too long our unions have handed money and support over to Welsh Labour and received very little in return.</p><p>Every public sector contract signed in Wales must only be made to an approved contractor who respects national agreements and does not seek to undermine them with ‘training’ schemes like ESO and HSO.</p><p>The contractor must also be held responsible for the practices of the sub-contractors who work for them.</p><p>And we need socialists in the Senedd who will fight for nationalisation of the big construction giants and a national construction plan that guarantees wage structures and conditions - vote TUSC on 6 May.</p><p><i>For previous and ongoing coverage of this campaign across Wales, see <a href="https://www.socialistpartywales.org.uk/">https://www.socialistpartywales.org.uk/</a></i></p><p><iframe allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="true" frameborder="0" height="431" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=316&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2F104204928180830%2Fvideos%2F3828272177296184%2F&show_text=true&width=560" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" width="560"></iframe></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5103246438908480813.post-62238040231526766342021-04-19T20:52:00.005+01:002021-04-21T16:28:00.096+01:00 Stonewall Cymru LGBT Hustings: What I Wish We Could Have Said<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghhKUpNSn6L_af038u1c7nTCdIqyA42Hnc-_Z_KYYxiHetH9OA9t23SZfbm_hgPM_5G9F5Qgc3-Pw0GYtEHmWDb1Y5TiX4oMubolvb8Z9iaQfcHCCfzv-r-ybw7Y_x58t_ghaXAMd4hYc/s1000/24398.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="741" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghhKUpNSn6L_af038u1c7nTCdIqyA42Hnc-_Z_KYYxiHetH9OA9t23SZfbm_hgPM_5G9F5Qgc3-Pw0GYtEHmWDb1Y5TiX4oMubolvb8Z9iaQfcHCCfzv-r-ybw7Y_x58t_ghaXAMd4hYc/s320/24398.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>The Stonewall Cymru hustings was unfortunately a missed opportunity for LGBT+ people to really hold candidates to account. It was very stage managed with no questions taken and all chat functions on Zoom disabled. Stonewall Cymru also refused the appeal by the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) Wales to include a candidate in the panel, despite TUSC standing in every region in Wales and <a href="https://www.tuscwales.org.uk/2021/04/tusc-wales-candidates-pledge-action-for.html">supporting the demands of the Stonewall Cymru LGBT manifesto.</a></p><p>Stonewall Cymru’s manifesto contained good and important demands that TUSC Wales would fight for. We would have liked the opportunity to explain how we would achieve it and to put to the other candidates, how do they propose to get the funding to meet Stonewall Cymru’s demands and improve society for LGBT+ people? Will they lead a fight in the Welsh Parliament to demand extra funding from Westminster, like TUSC Wales are calling for? Or would they pay for LGBT+ services by making budget cuts elsewhere - in which case aren’t they just “robbing Peter to pay RuPaul”?</p><p>The Tory candidate in his opening remarks claimed that trans rights competed and conflicted with other people’s rights. Unfortunately this was not challenged by the other candidates. TUSC regrets that we were not given the opportunity, which we would have confidently taken, to explain that trans rights do not fundamentally conflict with anyone else’s, that any conflict can be democratically resolved and overcome with a united fight for services. The capitalist class would like nothing less than for us to be divided and argue there is a limited pool of rights or services for us to ration out. TUSC stands for a united working class struggle against all forms of oppression, for LGBT+ liberation, and a socialist world.</p><p>The question about what candidates were doing to address discrimination in their own parties had the potential to be interesting. But without accountability from the floor, it was an exercise in self-congratulation removed from the reality of LGBT+ people leaving these parties in protest at the mishandling and tolerance of homophobia and transphobia from senior figures.</p><div><small>Promoted by Dave Warren, TUSC Wales secretary, on behalf of TUSC Wales, 29 Tir Y Farchnad, Gowerton SA4 3GS</small></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5103246438908480813.post-11102203186260122792021-04-13T14:15:00.006+01:002021-04-25T11:34:14.211+01:00Every Voter in Wales to Get a Chance to vote TUSC<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 6pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #222222; font-size: 9pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq7SjfdvOEzqIrZI_kW6aQ51D-nLYEvqnO0hKaoHoNoxkfS04ekwLa6-X1fVrrUSJqdcywT3Is0cN1FrqzvidOe4oeXj0OEeG_MUC-bklf2necHB5buYoEqK7bh-kBYNdYNZhUWiHiKR0/s925/welsh+and+english+tusc+logo+contiguous.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="433" data-original-width="925" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq7SjfdvOEzqIrZI_kW6aQ51D-nLYEvqnO0hKaoHoNoxkfS04ekwLa6-X1fVrrUSJqdcywT3Is0cN1FrqzvidOe4oeXj0OEeG_MUC-bklf2necHB5buYoEqK7bh-kBYNdYNZhUWiHiKR0/w579-h272/welsh+and+english+tusc+logo+contiguous.jpg" width="579" /></a></div><br /><b>TUSC Wales announces that it will contest all five regional lists in the Senedd elections, allowing all voters in Wales to vote for a real socialist alternative.</b><br /><br />The response to our call for campaigners to come forward and use the elections to continue their fight against exploitation and injustice has been overwhelming.<br /><br />As well as the three South Wales regions, supporters in Mid and West Wales and North Wales have also come forward to stand and the financial appeal has exceeded expectations. <br /><br />TUSC is standing to provide a real alternative for working people, including traditional Labour voters, who have been abandoned by the main parties. <br /><br /><b>Mark Evans, lead TUSC candidate in South Wales West said: </b>“We must build a real alternative for working people to all the main parties bringing together all those who are suffering the effects of the Covid crisis which Welsh Labour has failed to protect us from: workers, service users, black lives matter activists, young job seekers, students and many others” <br /><br />TUSC will be standing for: <br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Universal free school meals for all pupils</li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Opposition to all cuts and closures to public services, jobs, pay and conditions.</li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>For an immediate investment in the NHS to reverse previous cutbacks and a 15% pay rise for all NHS and care workers</li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>A united working-class struggle against racism</li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Renationalisation of rail and public transport to electrify Wales railways</li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>For rent controls, secure tenancies and end to evictions.</li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Nationalise energy utilities to create a publicly-owned energy company to build tidal lagoons on the Swansea, Cardiff and North Wales coasts and to make Wales 100% green energy self-sufficient</li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>For a multi-option referendum on independence</li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Full law-making and tax raising powers for the Welsh Parliament including the power to nationalise companies threatening closure</li></ul><br />Candidates will include a council workers’ leader, NHS nurses and workers fighting for a decent pay rise in the pandemic, a leader of the rent strike at Swansea University, a prominent community anti-cuts campaigner, a Black Lives’ Matter activist and an 18-year-old college student. <br /><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">TUSC lead candidates: </h3><div><br /><b>South Wales West</b><div><br /></div><div>Mark Evans – Carmarthenshire council workers’ leader <br /><br />Karen Gerrahty – Maesteg NHS occupational therapist <br /><br />Gareth Bromhall – Secretary of Swansea Trades Union Council and care worker <br /><br />Oision Mullholland – organiser of the rent strike at Swansea University <br /><br />Charlie Wells – Swansea University organiser of Free Education campaign</div><div> <br /><br /><b>South Wales Central <br /></b><br />Ross Saunders – organiser of Cardiff Against The Cuts and secretary of Socialist Party Wales <br /><br />Beth Webster – nurse at UHW hospital <br /><br />Mia Hollsing – Cynon Valley campaigner against domestic violence <br /><br />Andrew Wilkes – Construction electrician and Unite the Union activist <br /><br />Kevin Gillen – Barry community activist <br /><br /> <br /><b>South Wales East </b><br /><br />Mariam Kamish – Campaigner for A&E at Ysbyty Ystrad Fawr <br /><br />Cammilla Mngaza – Campaigning for justice for her daughter Siyanda Mngaza <br /><br />Melanie Benedict – 18 year old campaigner for youth rights <br /><br />Dave Reid – Trade union and community <br /><br /><br /><b>Mid and West Wales </b><br /><br />Carys Phillips – President of the Social Workers’ Union <br /><br /> <br /><b>North Wales </b><br /><br />Michelle Francis – Organiser of the rent strike at Bangor University</div></div>Ross Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11645356967200160092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5103246438908480813.post-59210279085191816432021-04-05T22:48:00.013+01:002021-04-09T19:15:17.233+01:00Get Socialists into the Senedd: TUSC Wales Election Campaign Launch<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6ChnIAYy2Ropjtpz8zY7RnH_66FmLsLDDOTUuDs92ty2Jelr97pf8My1QEniLY-f4rJezEPMrqTIhoTAwkHEuadTbInu1CLnT-46F4BIHbQ8ZJvFXDt3lZUvNO2RhiiVz8FdadOpeQak/s1000/169880697_195475049053817_2867857960678932142_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6ChnIAYy2Ropjtpz8zY7RnH_66FmLsLDDOTUuDs92ty2Jelr97pf8My1QEniLY-f4rJezEPMrqTIhoTAwkHEuadTbInu1CLnT-46F4BIHbQ8ZJvFXDt3lZUvNO2RhiiVz8FdadOpeQak/w400-h225/169880697_195475049053817_2867857960678932142_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>Workers, socialists, and trade unionists are standing together in the Welsh parliament elections as part of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC).</div><div><br /></div><div>TUSC is seeking to stand candidates in every region of Wales to give everyone in the country a chance to vote for a socialist alternative in the Senedd elections this year.</div><div><div><br /></div><div>Come and hear directly from the candidates, ask your questions and take part in the discussion about how to build a socialist recovery from Covid that makes the rich pay while workers' living standards are protected.</div><div><b><br /></b></div>
<div style="background-color: black; color: white; padding: 0.25em 1em;"><p><b>Come to the launch of the TUSC Wales election campaign</b></p><p>An opportunity to hear from the candidates, ask questions, or get involved.</p><p>Thursday April 8th at 7.30pm<br />Remotely via Zoom - meeting ID: 839 9844 5107</p><p><b>Remind me:</b> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/131435652272554/" style="color: white; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Facebook event</a>, <a href="https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0/r/eventedit?text=TUSC+Wales+election+launch&dates=20210408T193000/20210408T210000&ctz=Europe/London&details=Zoom+meeting+ID+839+9844+5107&pli=1&uid=20210405tuscwales.org.uk&sf=true&output=xml" style="color: white; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Google Calendar</a></p></div>
<div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Our policies</b></div><div><br /></div><div>TUSC candidates believe that the Welsh Parliament should be leading a fight today for the resources we need in society, for universal free school meals, a mass council house building programme, rent controls, pay rises, <a href="https://www.tuscwales.org.uk/2021/04/tusc-wales-candidates-pledge-action-for.html">LGBT+ rights</a>, <a href="https://www.tuscwales.org.uk/2021/04/the-welsh-parliament-should-fight-for.html">pension justice</a>, <a href="https://www.tuscwales.org.uk/2021/03/no-woman-should-have-to-be-afraid-to.html">support for domestic abuse services</a>, a multi-option referendum on independence, <a href="https://www.tuscwales.org.uk/2021/03/welsh-voters-given-real-alternative-to.html">and more.</a></div><div><br /></div><div><div><b>Our Candidates</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Candidates include a <a href="https://www.tuscwales.org.uk/2021/03/tusc-wales-to-stand-leading-trade.html">leading Trade Unionist from the Unison union in Wales</a>, the President of the Social Workers' Union and other trade-union activists; an 18-year old Black Lives Matter campaigner, student rent strikers and Socialist Students organisers; <a href="https://www.tuscwales.org.uk/2021/03/nhs-workers-disgusted-but-unsurprised.html">NHS workers</a> who have had to march for a pay rise and more.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Come to the TUSC Wales election campaign launch meeting on Thursday to find out more about the campaign!</b></div></div>
<small><div><small><br /></small></div>Promoted by Dave Warren, TUSC Wales secretary, on behalf of TUSC Wales, 29 Tir Y Farchnad, Gowerton SA4 3GS</small>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5103246438908480813.post-63176134562813146552021-04-05T17:02:00.016+01:002021-04-24T06:47:30.272+01:00TUSC Wales candidates pledge action for LGBT+ rights<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd_RiApX0yOp9zoM4-pRsCxm3jvhmklvXCtlvme2sPKlGADh65SjMHh4QhMiVqdZjoxUMD4-ZWE0il7P8Hzep389dz1M8HE4KucP_MAY7bhdWTLE6gwC7bubEvP3Gac2U4-Y6SNpJ3XQw/s1000/19360.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd_RiApX0yOp9zoM4-pRsCxm3jvhmklvXCtlvme2sPKlGADh65SjMHh4QhMiVqdZjoxUMD4-ZWE0il7P8Hzep389dz1M8HE4KucP_MAY7bhdWTLE6gwC7bubEvP3Gac2U4-Y6SNpJ3XQw/s320/19360.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo: Sarah Sachs-Eldridge</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>TUSC Wales candidates applaud the <a href="https://www.stonewall.org.uk/resources/cymru-manifesto">Stonewall Cymru LGBT manifesto</a> launched 29th March. Everyone should support, at a minimum, these important demands.</p><p>But achieving these policies requires a fight for the resources we need in society. We need an end to austerity budgets carried out at the behest of big business. TUSC candidates reject the idea that Senedd members and councillors have got no choice but to pass on cuts demanded by the Tory government in Westminster.</p><p>Workers, socialists, and trade unionists are standing together in the Welsh Parliament elections as part of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC). We would lead a fight for the Welsh government to demand the funding needed for services, including LGBT+ services.</p><p>Our candidates stand for a mass council house building program, rent controls, and an end to evictions. In addition to targeted measures, this would help address LGBT+ homelessness and make it easier for people to leave homophobic and transphobic homes and locations.</p><p>We will reverse cuts to public transport and take public transport into public ownership, so that LGBT+ people aren't isolated, particularly in rural communities.</p><p>Rising LGBT+ hate crime in Wales must be combated with a united working class struggle against all forms of oppression, for LGBT+ liberation, and a socialist world.</p><p>Socialist Party Wales candidates standing for TUSC say <a href="https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30992/01-07-2020/yes-to-self-identity">"yes" to self-ID</a> for trans people.</p><p>TUSC would reverse cuts to the NHS and increase funding and staffing with a 15% pay rise for all NHS staff. We need NHS investment in general but also specifically in order to offer trans and non-binary people additional gender affirming services not currently available in Wales, such as facial feminisation surgery and permanent facial hair removal options for those who want it.</p><p>The belated Welsh Gender Identity Clinic is doing great work, but needs urgent support to bring down the 30 month waiting time. We also need a Welsh NHS gender service for people under the age of 18, in line with international standards, for which no provision currently exists.</p><p>LGBT+ workers still face horrendous discrimination and harassment in the workplace, made worse by job insecurity. TUSC Senedd members would fight to ban exploitative zero-hours contracts and back the work of fighting trade unions to challenge discrimination of all kinds in the workplace.</p><p>Gareth Bromhall, TUSC candidate for South Wales West region and in the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Gareth-Bromhall-a-Socialist-Voice-for-Castle-Ward-TUSC-112603330907985/">Swansea Castle Ward by-election</a>, said: "TUSC pledges to tackle barriers and support LGBT+ rights and services, including supporting the demands rightfully raised by the Stonewall Cymru LGBT manifesto, and to go further, to demand the resources and socialist changes desperately needed in Welsh society, even when other parties will say 'it can't be done'."</p><p>Vote Trade Unionist and Socialist on May 6th and support working class fighters for LGBT+ rights.</p>
<div style="background-color: black; color: white; padding: 0.25em 1em;"><p><b>Come to the launch of the TUSC Wales election campaign:</b></p><p>Thursday April 8th at 7.30pm<br />Zoom ID: 839 9844 5107</p></div>
<p><small>Promoted by Dave Warren, TUSC Wales secretary, on behalf of TUSC Wales, 29 Tir Y Farchnad, Gowerton SA4 3GS</small></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5103246438908480813.post-10482032663779382422021-04-02T19:27:00.004+01:002021-04-09T19:18:45.640+01:00The Welsh Parliament Should Fight for Pension Justice<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmv3VXboWkan2fVeVhaUJVnZ_y1BoE7yvC74fhuPcYp3dcx1ACzE9F2nLEFvEknpI0pH7ws4Rwc3dUKOynUEjwLdO2c3FXepKXxeBh2qbgPUUhBKsxL2G6QFsMSxvRMloFXVsCifaVlFw/s1000/1950s-women-vow-to-carry-on-fight-for-pension-justice.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="681" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmv3VXboWkan2fVeVhaUJVnZ_y1BoE7yvC74fhuPcYp3dcx1ACzE9F2nLEFvEknpI0pH7ws4Rwc3dUKOynUEjwLdO2c3FXepKXxeBh2qbgPUUhBKsxL2G6QFsMSxvRMloFXVsCifaVlFw/s320/1950s-women-vow-to-carry-on-fight-for-pension-justice.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: small;">TUSC is committed to pension justice and dignity in retirement. In 2015 TUSC all TUSC candidates agreed to fight to: </span><p></p><ul style="background-color: white;"><li style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">Restore the pre-Thatcher real value of pensions. </li></ul><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;">and to:</span></div><ul style="background-color: white;"><li style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 6px;">Reverse the increases imposed on the state retirement age, creating jobs for younger people.</li></ul><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">We reaffirm our support for those policies.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Photo: Bridget Green)</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">We also do not agree with those who say that bodies like the Welsh parliament and local councils have no power to fight the unjust pension cuts. We support the WASPI campaign. The Welsh government should set up a fund to pay groups like the women born in the 1950s and 1960s a non means-tested hardship fund of £137.60 per week until they can access their pension, and launch an energetic campaign for more funding from central government to pay for this and other anti-austerity measures.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">South Wales Central TUSC candidates:</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Ross Saunders</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Beth Webster</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Mia Hollsing</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Andrew Wilkes</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Kevin Gillen</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">South Wales West TUSC candidates;</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Mark Evans</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Karen Geraghty</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Gareth Bromhall</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Oisín Mulholland</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Charlie Wells</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">South Wales East TUSC candidates:</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Mariam Kamish</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Mia Hollsing</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Dave Reid</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Mid and West Wales</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Carys Phillips</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">North Wales</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Michelle Francis</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></div>Ross Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11645356967200160092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5103246438908480813.post-86012545125276567452021-03-30T15:31:00.004+01:002021-04-09T19:18:37.194+01:00Child poverty in Wales: Labour’s failed strategy<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm2casD1PXOSlecjqZxjAQLexo0cKVaU85y4_MMfZZaK-cliXjS9n_VzMN21CF8x-k46N31XVXJzj2ZtqnpxibSOzcm4gjdl6wL0PGnEzoMfkYi8F7IzEC2MoH2j4lQAUQXHrYLjRSI8U/s620/xIMG_20201216_132054-620x330.jpg.pagespeed.ic.HegldgAvUu.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="620" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm2casD1PXOSlecjqZxjAQLexo0cKVaU85y4_MMfZZaK-cliXjS9n_VzMN21CF8x-k46N31XVXJzj2ZtqnpxibSOzcm4gjdl6wL0PGnEzoMfkYi8F7IzEC2MoH2j4lQAUQXHrYLjRSI8U/w400-h213/xIMG_20201216_132054-620x330.jpg.pagespeed.ic.HegldgAvUu.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>Almost one in three children in Wales live in poverty. Even before the Coronavirus pandemic, the EHRC estimated that UK Government tax and welfare reforms would push a further 50,000 children into poverty.</p><p>This has happened on Welsh Labour’s watch. The Welsh Government’s recent <a href="https://gov.wales/child-poverty-income-maximisation-action-plan-2020-2021-html">Child Poverty Strategy</a> sets out an action plan which boils down to little more than advice, raising awareness of existing inadequate programs, and improving takeup of free school meals for those who are eligible. Keyword: “eligible” - free school meals are mostly restricted to children of parents earning less than £7,400 a year. Shamefully, <a href="https://www.socialistpartywales.org.uk/welsh-labour-votes-down-free-school-meals-for-children-on-benefits/">every Labour Member of the Senedd present voted against widening access.</a></p><p>Advice and awareness is all well and good, but no amount of advice on welfare benefits, the best energy deals, benefits of a smart meter, or begging for a slice of the discretionary assistance fund, will address the root issues: low pay, housing costs, and the shameful way this country treats unemployed people, ill and disabled people, and unpaid carers.</p><p>After twenty years of Welsh Labour "managing" capitalism and capitulating to Tory cuts from London, we need a real Socialist strategy for eliminating poverty in Wales.</p><p>Workers, socialists, and trade unionists, including <a href="https://www.socialistpartywales.org.uk/">Socialist Party Wales</a>, are standing together in the Welsh Parliament elections as part of the <a href="https://www.tusc.org.uk/">Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC)</a>. TUSC candidates believe that the Welsh Parliament should be leading a fight today for the resources we need in society, for universal free school meals, a mass council house building programme, rent controls, pay rises, and more.</p><p><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Promoted by Dave Warren, TUSC Wales sec</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">retary, on behalf of TUSC Wales, <span style="background-color: white;">29 Tir Y Farchnad, Gowerton </span><span style="background-color: white;">SA4 3GS</span></span></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5103246438908480813.post-54155992388373648502021-03-26T20:04:00.002+00:002021-04-09T19:15:10.418+01:00Why Wales should vote TUSC<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu-Bra_iBPbcDvmWppdK5fQJUBv3YnCmA6vm1oxzLN8UoKppOCFV1fSPPDIVytiE4yxRMjaVWMNn_C_RToZBHa5BydiOBjPjjxEJnD_XghHSbKBJAZlGKcG6T-3KXblkDMSaEQkjRT_ow/s2048/159075248_232951841884507_5272768703665134638_n.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1075" data-original-width="2048" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu-Bra_iBPbcDvmWppdK5fQJUBv3YnCmA6vm1oxzLN8UoKppOCFV1fSPPDIVytiE4yxRMjaVWMNn_C_RToZBHa5BydiOBjPjjxEJnD_XghHSbKBJAZlGKcG6T-3KXblkDMSaEQkjRT_ow/w400-h210/159075248_232951841884507_5272768703665134638_n.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>Welsh Labour have spent more than twenty years in power in Wales. Still, one in five adults and almost one in three children are in poverty.</div><div><br /></div><div>It's clear that twenty years of Welsh Labour "managing" capitalism and capitulating to Tory cuts from London has been a failure and we need an alternative.</div><div><br /></div><div>Just waiting for a future Labour government in London has never been a good solution. It's unconscionable now that the Labour party is being led by Sir Keir Starmer.</div><div><br /></div><div>In Wales, England and Scotland, workers, socialists, and trade unionists are standing together in elections as part of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC).</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhStKUqw8BXQh1FErTuDf7-d3peNphBpqHmoy7Wr_LXgUD2k0qFObam1tNEmMjeBwL_nOe-3vCRBp7SFOXoahnKg7Xu2MqHHXrZvfYmeHdCxlpr2DpCm0h1FUpAt7V6wM0MatBEXHwvEaw/s1433/164495847_114405497394435_797545058120377827_o.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="819" data-original-width="1433" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhStKUqw8BXQh1FErTuDf7-d3peNphBpqHmoy7Wr_LXgUD2k0qFObam1tNEmMjeBwL_nOe-3vCRBp7SFOXoahnKg7Xu2MqHHXrZvfYmeHdCxlpr2DpCm0h1FUpAt7V6wM0MatBEXHwvEaw/w400-h229/164495847_114405497394435_797545058120377827_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>TUSC candidates believe that the Welsh Parliament should be leading a fight<b> today</b> for the resources we need in society. These candidates pledge to vote against all cuts budgets, not pass them on with crocodile tears.</div><div><br /></div><div>Labour won't commit to this. Plaid won't commit to this. The Green Party won't commit to this. In Brighton last year, the Green Party's answer to Labour's proposed £1.47 million cut to learning disability services was a £1.24 million cut instead - and they said it like it was a good thing.</div><div><br /></div><div>TUSC candidates reject the idea that we've got no choice. In the Welsh Parliament elections, everyone should vote for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition as the best way to support fighting candidates ready to defend and extend jobs, pay and services, not manage their decline.</div><div><br /></div><div>TUSC candidates deserve your vote, your campaign donations, and your help getting their message out. If you can help in any way, <a href="https://www.tusc.org.uk/support.php">contact us today.</a></div><div><br /></div>All candidates have pledged to take only the average worker’s wage in Wales if elected. TUSC will be standing for:<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Universal free school meals for all pupils</li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Opposition to all cuts and closures to public services, jobs, pay and conditions.</li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>For an immediate investment in the NHS to reverse previous cutbacks and a 15% pay rise for all NHS and care workers</li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>A united working-class struggle against racism</li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Renationalisation of rail and public transport to electrify Wales railways</li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>For rent controls, secure tenancies and end to evictions.</li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Nationalise energy utilities to create a publicly-owned energy company to build tidal lagoons on the Swansea, Cardiff and North Wales coasts and to make Wales 100% green energy self-sufficient</li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>For a multi-option referendum on independence</li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Full law-making and tax raising powers for the Welsh Parliament including the power to nationalise companies threatening closure</li></ul><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">Promoted by Dave Warren, TUSC Wales sec</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;">retary, on behalf of TUSC Wales, <span style="background-color: white;">29 Tir Y Farchnad, Gowerton </span><span style="background-color: white;">SA4 3GS</span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5103246438908480813.post-59149104001617285602021-03-23T21:12:00.005+00:002021-04-09T19:18:13.835+01:00Solidarity with CWU strikers at BT! <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS5ZVzzNj-VXeJI_HR0M9RrQ5qTNw59M7-QwCZZbar6rIlZOYNsea4PxGyxq7fGh3P2k5jcdSS3rXSlKW2EcHahmjmADQeukpqxCAu3uU1dY3f9FEHQTY5amX-iYoy6hoqD_0zxml40-w/s5456/DSC01832.JPG" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3632" data-original-width="5456" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS5ZVzzNj-VXeJI_HR0M9RrQ5qTNw59M7-QwCZZbar6rIlZOYNsea4PxGyxq7fGh3P2k5jcdSS3rXSlKW2EcHahmjmADQeukpqxCAu3uU1dY3f9FEHQTY5amX-iYoy6hoqD_0zxml40-w/s320/DSC01832.JPG" width="320" /></a></p>TUSC Wales sends solidarity to the CWU members who were on strike today at BT.<p></p><p>Ross Saunders, who attended the picketline in Merthyr Tydfil, pictured, reported, "RPE Engineers are striking against changes to grading management are trying to impose. A resounding 86% of members voted in favour of strike action on a colossal 94% turnout which smashed throught the thresholds imposed by the Tory anti-union laws. RPE workers do important work making changes to the network to connect large-scale construction projects like the one at Prince Charles Hospital. Amongst the changes management wants to impose are the replacement of automatic pay progression with bonus payments which could be withdrawn at management's discretion. The changes are part of a general assault on the pay and conditions of the whole BT Openreach workforce. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjki6hpjNkmzwxLT5CjdtUFyUchPtFSOCnUGH5ZRsd86vCwGSkn2QzPK8euBKWnyVmmGhqzxV7jOUMKNOh9j1FCJEQgBPs1N1pE86VmwdBUHXI51DWfjfdAhm1qABvVOsvjH8vx6eF4N98/s2048/CWU+Bulletin+Oct+2020_Page_1.jpg" style="clear: right; display: inline; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1439" height="404" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjki6hpjNkmzwxLT5CjdtUFyUchPtFSOCnUGH5ZRsd86vCwGSkn2QzPK8euBKWnyVmmGhqzxV7jOUMKNOh9j1FCJEQgBPs1N1pE86VmwdBUHXI51DWfjfdAhm1qABvVOsvjH8vx6eF4N98/w284-h404/CWU+Bulletin+Oct+2020_Page_1.jpg" width="284" /></a></p><p>The CWU is to <a href="https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/32187/17-03-2021/thousands-of-bt-workers-to-ballot-for-strike-action" target="_blank">ballot all 40,000 Openreach workers</a> for action against office closure plans and cuts to entitlements. A phenomenal 7000 workers attended an online meeting organised by the union on the 10th March.</p><p>Ross said, "All ordinary working-class people will back the efforts of these strikers to fight off plans by the bosses to cut their conditions as part of a general attempt to cut the share going to workers. Just like the British Gas workers who have taken action against the company's "fire and rehire" plans, this is a business that has boomed during the pandemic. Bosses are as usual trying to boost profits at workers' expense. Both companies should be nationalised under democratic control of the workers. So should the whole communications sector and the utilities too. Now that Labour has been recaptured by big business, workers will have to build a new party to make that programme a reality."</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgWVLhxhLXQVpS8hxuvP99bzBtGmnQP9vJ9gBus_TOJTPHzCl0sLBd9VrEZBiDHhnvTMI4iyz2-MwrsdZp-8G9sdUqAqfZRL7VngQrnx3yyjUHMH2-nNg1AxxTayMNJX89ze4FcmWJb0Q/s2874/DSC01833.JPG" style="clear: left; display: inline; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2242" data-original-width="2874" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgWVLhxhLXQVpS8hxuvP99bzBtGmnQP9vJ9gBus_TOJTPHzCl0sLBd9VrEZBiDHhnvTMI4iyz2-MwrsdZp-8G9sdUqAqfZRL7VngQrnx3yyjUHMH2-nNg1AxxTayMNJX89ze4FcmWJb0Q/s320/DSC01833.JPG" width="320" /></a></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs7tv25Lrw2ZDGBGSHnu32cn2ai9dxBKTAT75h289zjPqCKbZXWRK-9kRvEL9RIMatEWyx61Kgi3SxafFv3m7mPxRvob9QJvwT6LQwCuaWGJWIBOqm4ZS2fUFUqF_9XtbBfFch6fpvQzg/s2048/CWU+Bulletin+Oct+2020_Page_2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1448" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs7tv25Lrw2ZDGBGSHnu32cn2ai9dxBKTAT75h289zjPqCKbZXWRK-9kRvEL9RIMatEWyx61Kgi3SxafFv3m7mPxRvob9QJvwT6LQwCuaWGJWIBOqm4ZS2fUFUqF_9XtbBfFch6fpvQzg/s320/CWU+Bulletin+Oct+2020_Page_2.jpg" /></a></div><br />Ross Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11645356967200160092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5103246438908480813.post-68850416708480367172021-03-22T17:58:00.002+00:002021-03-22T18:02:13.407+00:00Welsh Labour Put Profits Before Our Safety in Covid Response<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQF17EypTavIlRQe8grD9MzBeAZXZ8OWlqqfImgsg0dDLQ0yqiN7RAxYntk6AagJadDrCLTDkxgGhUfqv5CLTUpZcYeaC7KYkthf45tuj9s0oEdoGs3LXHllxA09xXh6AehNCFglXdF7Q/s810/1_CDF_120321_CF_First_Minister_Press_11JPG.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="539" data-original-width="810" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQF17EypTavIlRQe8grD9MzBeAZXZ8OWlqqfImgsg0dDLQ0yqiN7RAxYntk6AagJadDrCLTDkxgGhUfqv5CLTUpZcYeaC7KYkthf45tuj9s0oEdoGs3LXHllxA09xXh6AehNCFglXdF7Q/s320/1_CDF_120321_CF_First_Minister_Press_11JPG.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Mark Drakeford delayed the second lockdown by over a month against the advice of even official SAGE. Thousands died as a consequence of that and the slowness of the testing and tracing system - <a href="https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/wales-biggest-mistake-coronavirus-pandemic-20220816" target="_blank">latest evidence</a>. Still no recognition of the role that keeping schools and workplaces open played in transmission. Deaths were almost double in second wave compared to the first. This tragedy was avoidable if we had a government in Wales willing to stand up to the pressure big business was putting on it. Instead Welsh Labour prioritised profits over our safety.</div><div><br /></div><div><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #141414; font-size: 11px; letter-spacing: -0.07px; text-indent: 20px;">(Image: Chris Fairweather/Huw Evans Agency, via Walesonline)</span></div><br /><br />Ross Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11645356967200160092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5103246438908480813.post-80172262862225342212021-03-18T11:47:00.006+00:002021-04-09T19:18:00.460+01:00Justice for Mohamud Hassan!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIgjtL7i5dnB1Kg1G8kuf-cl9puImbZomI_b3ShKX5DsY5aIooquvIFHMjacsqMoaHeOdBVOUh0sqgiQxJfoljYLjjAMRyLItLXnXD_xkBTz1nLwsEbovkwDdisVfP7HtCNkDRbB_IYzI/s976/28696.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="549" data-original-width="976" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIgjtL7i5dnB1Kg1G8kuf-cl9puImbZomI_b3ShKX5DsY5aIooquvIFHMjacsqMoaHeOdBVOUh0sqgiQxJfoljYLjjAMRyLItLXnXD_xkBTz1nLwsEbovkwDdisVfP7HtCNkDRbB_IYzI/w304-h172/28696.jpg" width="304" /></a></div>Even now, after four police officers who dealt with Mohamud Hassan before his death have <a href="https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/four-more-south-wales-police-20185482" target="_blank">been served misconduct notices</a>, not a single one has been suspended. Those officers are on still on the streets.<div><br /></div><div>They should be suspended, and a full inquiry headed by workers should be called to uncover the truth.</div><div><br />The family have, quite rightly, <a href="https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/19169161.mohamud-hassan-death-family-demand-police-resignation/" target="_blank">demanded</a> the resignation of Jeremy Vaughan, the Chief Constable of South Wales police.</div><div><br /></div><div>There should be fundamental change as well to prevent these outrageous injustices from being repeated. No force claiming to exist in order to keep ordinary people safe should be so unaccountable to ordinary people. Democratic control of the police by working-class communities and organisations needed.</div>Ross Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11645356967200160092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5103246438908480813.post-4430327990743002992021-03-15T16:07:00.007+00:002021-04-09T19:17:53.492+01:00"No woman should have to be afraid to walk home at night."<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh79DObKfkZLKaO9Idb3WhQmx_yszrd1mY3Mom337FKG3AcWprB4RK_h9h9MGHXOcGTDlZtD0CSSRirn7gA5hzC3qDoRFXA77H1L78VZcbDDWBsWhIOYWI_V7cAps3a73DHeZhdwfiY7KI/s2048/160165565_430031138296331_2900133295126191338_n.jpg" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh79DObKfkZLKaO9Idb3WhQmx_yszrd1mY3Mom337FKG3AcWprB4RK_h9h9MGHXOcGTDlZtD0CSSRirn7gA5hzC3qDoRFXA77H1L78VZcbDDWBsWhIOYWI_V7cAps3a73DHeZhdwfiY7KI/s320/160165565_430031138296331_2900133295126191338_n.jpg" /></a></p><b>End violence against women!<o:p></o:p></b><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">TUSC supporters joined the vigil outside the Senedd on Saturday to remember the life of Sarah Everard and demand an end to violence against women.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Mia Hollsing</b>, TUSC candidate for South Wales Central, spoke to the gathering:</p><p class="MsoNormal">"Sarah Everard left a friend’s house at 9pm on the 3<sup>rd</sup>
of March. She was never seen again. Her body was found in Kent woodland on the
12<sup>th</sup> of March. A serving police officer in the Met has been arrested
suspected of her kidnapping and murder. This shocking crime has rightly left people
outraged across the country. No woman should have to fear this kind of
violence. <b>No woman should have to be afraid to walk home at night.</b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"Unfortunately Sarah is not the only woman who has been a
victim of male violence. On average two women a week are killed in the UK by a
partner or ex-partner. Approximately one in every three women will experience
domestic abuse in her lifetime. It is also estimated a further three women a
week kill themselves as a result of experiencing domestic abuse. Despite this
there are more animal shelters in Britain than refuges for women and children.
Every week women are dying as a result of male violence, with the chronic
underfunding of domestic abuse services making the situation worse. Already
before Covid-19, in the year 2018-2019, 512 women were turned away from refuges
in Wales due to lack of space, capacity or resources (Welsh Women's Aid).<o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5fl_PF4gKTL2HYQ8bkb-IAYdSeMO_zYhfOlgJ-KHq9OvE2-1EAhMoh_oB82D8rpjCCmkUDZ8hGwDst9waQmzQ_Puopc-kQkCuWnJLfIZLisvtqpWbE8DN7I60epHEZj_Ij7bBLqzhTgo/s601/159779844_438694900714606_1163059648028966078_n.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="601" data-original-width="472" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5fl_PF4gKTL2HYQ8bkb-IAYdSeMO_zYhfOlgJ-KHq9OvE2-1EAhMoh_oB82D8rpjCCmkUDZ8hGwDst9waQmzQ_Puopc-kQkCuWnJLfIZLisvtqpWbE8DN7I60epHEZj_Ij7bBLqzhTgo/s320/159779844_438694900714606_1163059648028966078_n.jpg" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"The pandemic has only made the situation worse. Lockdown,
furlough and widespread working from home has meant women having to spend more
time at home alone with their abusers, and homeschooling has meant children
having to spend more time at home in families where abuse is present. At least
90% of VAWDASV (Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence)
services in Wales have reported increased costs related to Covid -19. At the
same time the number of survivors on waiting lists for support in the community
has gone up by 143% (Welsh Women's Aid).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"What happened to Sarah is not an isolated incidence. It
could happen to any woman and it needs to be stopped."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">TUSC Wales demands:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">* Long-term sustainable funding for all VAWDASV services in
Wales to meet the needs of survivors of domestic abuse and to stop women being
murdered.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">* Democratic control of VAWDASV services.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">* Refuge spaces for all who need them.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">* A council house building building programme to make sure
everyone has a safe home of their own, including women who need to move for
their safety and to move on from refuge accommodation.</p>Ross Saundershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11645356967200160092noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5103246438908480813.post-15288006807873511252021-03-12T16:36:00.003+00:002021-04-09T19:20:01.711+01:00Security at Work For All<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWx4UsWsE7IaCfTg0P5DFJ8Gbzb1Sw1dRIoWxuncmsK4nx61pwkchQqHTh6duc-6TCcrLUON9l48k-lGxpeUW33lE_vHwxNMiaAEkrsZzd2u8BqvxfT8b9bdx3GRaiut39WQAOEtHy-Cw/s280/0+Hours.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="280" data-original-width="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWx4UsWsE7IaCfTg0P5DFJ8Gbzb1Sw1dRIoWxuncmsK4nx61pwkchQqHTh6duc-6TCcrLUON9l48k-lGxpeUW33lE_vHwxNMiaAEkrsZzd2u8BqvxfT8b9bdx3GRaiut39WQAOEtHy-Cw/s0/0+Hours.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Insecure employment is one of the biggest issues facing ordinary people in Wales. Living on a zero-hour contract feels like living under a cloud. You can’t be certain, from one week to the next, that you’ll have enough hours to ensure that your wage packet can cover your rent or mortgage, your bills and your food costs. A sudden drop in hours leaves workers having to make the decision to buy food for the week and risk rent arrears or falling behind on mortgage payments or keep on top of their housing costs. It can leave workers at risk of eviction or homelessness. </div><p>This means that the bosses have a weapon to wield in any kind of dispute. Workers who are known to be outspoken about their conditions or pay can have their hours reduced. This makes attempts to organise workers into trade unions more difficult. Workers who experience bullying or harassment will avoid speaking out or raising grievances because they know that this carries the risk of being labelled a troublemaker and having hours taken off them. One worker reports incidence of racially aggravated bullying and sexual harassment going unreported and then festering and escalating into increasingly unacceptable behaviour. </p><p>Precarious employment doesn’t just mean the week-to-week stress of a zero-hour contract, it can also mean the long-term insecurity of a temporary short-term contract. You could be employed on a temporary contract of a year or two years and that means you are always aware that the employer could decide not to renew your contract at the end of t he period. Again, this makes workers wary of getting involved with trade unions, joining other workers in demanding improvements to their pay or conditions, or making complaints about unfair treatment. </p><p>The Wales TUC reported a 35% increase in the numbers of employees on zero-hours contracts between 2018 and 2019. In the UK as a whole, 3.6 million people were in insecure employment before the pandemic hit, and that the prevalence of insecure work is particularly bad in Wales and affects black and ethnic minority workers to a greater extent. This perhaps goes some way towards explaining why poorer part of Wales, and BAME workers saw higher instances of Covid-19 as they felt increasing pressure to return to unsafe working conditions in order not to be penalised when contract renewal time roles around. </p><p>Part of the precarious work culture is down to organisations and institutions, including the Welsh government itself, who like to cut their payroll costs by outsourcing aspects of the supply chain to private contractor companies. Instead of employing their own security guards or cleaners and having to cover their holiday, sick pay and pension costs, it’s cheaper to pay a contractor like G4S or Mitie. This leave the workers vulnerable and disposable. If a client to the contractor takes a dislike to you or your face doesn’t fit, they can ask for you to be replaced and because the contractors must keep shareholders happy and profits rolling in. They will bend over backwards to keep the client happy whilst hanging their workers out to dry. </p><p>This is why we need all public sector jobs to be brought back in house and an end to penny pinching contracting. This would mean that workers at all levels within the organisation would have their conditions and pay protected and they would have access to a HR department in order to raise grievances and stamp out bullying and harassment. We must also demand an end to zero-hours contracts, with the work being organised fairly amongst workers to end the absurd situation where some workers are overworked and some workers do not have enough hours to make ends meet. </p><p>TUSC calls on the Welsh government to:-</p><p><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>• Bring security and all other outsourced services back in house.</p><p><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>• Ban exploitative zero hour contracts in all public services. Workers who require flexibility should be given it on their terms - through enhanced rights to access unpaid leave or similar.</p><p><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>• Exclude companies who use zero hours from winning contracts with public bodies.</p>Pleebrat Danihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11964731027037958481noreply@blogger.com0