Vote Yes, Yes for action

Solidarity, Scotland’s Socialist Movement have called for PCS members to vote YES to both questions in the industrial action ballot.

National action in November 2004 forced the government to abandon plans to introduce draconian limitations on paid sick leave and led to an agreement which compelled all departments to take measures to avoid compulsory redundancies.

But the announcement of 27 compulsory redundancies in DEFRA and the DTI in October 2006 shows that the time is right to move to a further national ballot. There have been a number of Departmental campaigns such as in DWP - where eleven days of strike action were taken against job cuts and efficiency measures - and in the HMRC against “lean processing” an attempt to bring so called total quality management techniques into the department. Every workplace is feeling the pressure. These measures are not about making the service more efficient - 21 million calls to DWP contact centres are going unanswered and only 50% of calls to Jobcentre Plus are being returned within 24 hours. Meanwhile, the estimated official error overpayment amounts on state pension payments have trebled in the last two years since 20,000 DWP jobs were cut – on route to reducing that to 30,000 . HMRC have announced that hundreds of its local offices are to be closed and a further 12,500 jobs axed on top of those that have already gone. Yet the Department, seeking to save £105 million through staff cuts, has spent £106 million on management consultants.

As we go into 2007, Solidarity, Scotland's Socialist Movement, looks ahead with confidence and optimism.

We continue to grow and become stronger in every region, city, town and village in Scotland, establishing ourselves as the only principled party of the left in Scotland. Offering solidarity with all those in struggle as we move towards what will be an historic election in May, we aim to return an MSP in every region of Scotland and a councillor in every local authority.

Campaigning for a break up of the British state after 300 years of union, we will do so alongside serious political activists and trade unionists. We will never engage in immature stunts, such as dressing up in Robin Hood suits, but will instead continue to focus and engage on the issues that impact on the lives of working class people with all the seriousness that those issues demand.

We will fight on the picket lines with the workers of Scotland and the UK, joining them in
taking on the government’s agenda of privatisation, closures, cut backs and redundancies. We will stand arm in arm with anti-war protesters here and across the world. We will continue to stand in solidarity with resistance to ethnic cleansing and colonial occupation in Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Solidarity MSP Tommy Sheridan will celebrate the bells with a toast to the 48th anniversary of the Cuban people’s revolution. Almost half a century after the historic day when Fidel Castro and Che Guevara led the march into Havana, the Solidarity Co-Convenor will make it a feature of his New Year radio show on Hogmanay:

“The Cuban Revolution has been an inspiration to socialists across the world. They have shown what is possible, despite blockades by the USA and a hostile capitalist world, Cuba has improved the lives of working class people year after year. It is a testament to the revolution that such a small country sends more medical staff to assist in third world countries than the USA.”

The Glasgow MSP will be joined on his show by Scots folk singer Gilly Hewitt, who will sing a couple of songs including “Auld Lang Syne”. She has been a regular on the UK folk circuit for years and is best known for her classic 1996 album of Burns songs “An Honest Lass”.

Tommy will also use the show to call for his listeners, and Solidarity members, to give blood in 2007:

“Blood donor levels are at the lowest point for twenty years. I would urge anyone who can, to make sure that they give blood at some point in the New Year.”

www.scotblood.co.uk

Cuba, blood donors, New Year celebrations and resolutions will be among the topics for discussion on Sunday Morning With Citizen Tommy on Talk107 this Sunday from 10.00 a.m. The show is broadcast live across the east of Scotland and on the internet at www.talk107.co.uk.

Listeners can email Tommy at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it or call on 08454 107 107

Solidarity MSP Rosemary Byrne has claimed that the Scottish Executive plan to focus on “cold turkey” methods to combat heroin addiction could lead to more deaths and accused the Labour-Lib Dem coalition of “playing to the galleries” on the issue. Speaking from her constituency office in Irvine, the South of Scotland MSP said:

“I have seen heroin addicts who do benefit from going away to a centre to dry out, but when the treatment is over they return to the same environment in their towns and villages with limited support in the community. The result is often a return to heroin which can cause overdoses due to their bodies re-adjusting. Cold turkey on it’s own is simply not enough and might even be worse.”

The Co-Convenor of Scotland’s fastest growing political party has a bill in parliament that would see heroin treated as a social and health problem rather than a criminal one. The proposed bill is being delayed by the Parliament but will be considered at a crucial meeting of the Health Committee early in 2007. Ms. Byrne’s bill proposes a guaranteed, full, holistic care package for heroin addicts within seven days of seeking help and heroin on prescription for addicts in some cases:

“It is time for the Executive to stop playing to the galleries on heroin and recognise that this is people’s lives that we are dealing with and the lives of their children and families.”

Solidarity MSP Rosemary Byrne has called for 2007 to be the year that Trades Unions fight back against Tony Blair and his millionaires. Speaking after news revealed that top bosses pay rose by 17 times more than workers since 2000, the South of Scotland MSP said:

“Trade Unionists across the country are saying enough is enough. After 10 years of New Labour rule we still see Tory anti-trade union laws in place, civil and public service pay cuts, and an erosion of conditions for Scottish workers. Tony Blair has made the UK a good place for millionaires to be and it is time to fight back.”

Many leading trades unionists have rejected New Labour and joined Solidarity since the new party’s foundation in September this year. Byrne has called for her party to get behind them and stand alongside working women and men on the picket lines in 2007:

“This year will see the Unions taking a stand against the gross inequalities in our society, we see workers pensions and pays being cut while top bosses are rolling in it. Solidarity will join those fighting trades unions on the picket lines in 2007.”

Three award winning stars of TV and Movies are teaming up to produce the first Parliamentary Election Broadcast for Solidarity, Scotland’s Socialist Movement.

Davie McKay, Martin McCardie and Peter Mullan will join with technical and creative workers from the film world to create the broadcast for Scotland’s fastest growing political party. Solidarity have been attracting a lot of support from the Scotland’s artistic and creative community with rapper Eastborn, folk singers Alistair Hulett and David Ferrard and Saltire Prize winner and author John Aberdein, already working and campaigning with the party.

Mullan won a Cannes Award for best leading actor for his role in Ken Loach’s film “My Name is Joe” which also featured MacKay and McCardie. He is now best known as a Director, following the success of “Orphans” and “The Magdalene Sisters”. Solidarity Co-Convenor Tommy Sheridan welcomed the news:

“This is fantastic news for Solidarity. I have known Peter, Martin, and Davie for a long time and they are talented and respected artists, as well as committed socialists. To attract such highly regarded professionals to our election campaign is a real boost and the whole party are excited at the prospect.”

Solidarity MSP Tommy Sheridan has hit out at the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) who have sent a press release criticising his bid to ban the sale and possession of air guns in Scotland. BASC claim that the majority of guns owned in Scotland are “legal” and “within the law”.

Sheridan, Co-Convenor of Scotland’s fastest growing political party reacted:

“We know that ownership is within the law, but that does not stop them being used for unlawful purposes. My bill would protect hundreds of people from attacks and vandalism by these dangerous weapons.”

BASC list as their aims “to promote and protect sporting and shooting”, they are a multi-million pound organisation whose patron is the Duke of Edinburgh. Tommy Sheridan suggested that they were not living in the real world:

“ If they think that the hundreds of thousands of these weapons on our streets are being used for sport, they are living in a different world to me. Firefighters, children, pensioners are being attacked by these weapons and we sadly know that it can cost lives. Have your sporting shooting if you wish, but leave your guns locked up at the gun club when you leave.”