Solidarity Scotland

Solidarity Co-Convenor Tommy Sheridan has criticised Tavish Scott for his lack of vision in his national transport strategy published today. The Glasgow MSP who is also a member of the Local Government and Transport Committee said:

"Tavish Scott has announced a new transport strategy which is a mouse rather than a lion, it is big on reviews, studies and plans but short on substance. It also accepts the current trends and projects them into the future rather than trying to plan, it is not a strategy so much as an acceptance of what the market will provide. A real transport strategy would take Scotland's transport into public ownership, as the majority of people in Scotland want, and plan for an integrated, publicly owned and controlled transport system which gets people off the roads and air and into public transport."

Chavez Victory Is A Victory For Human Progress

Solidarity joins with the poor and working class of Venezuela, along with millions around the world, in hailing the electoral victory of Hugo Chavez.

By this morning it had become clear that over sixty percent of Venezuelan voters had opted to continue the Bolivarian Revolution against an opposition coalition made up of various oligarchs, business leaders and media barons offering a vision for the country designed to appease their backers in Washington. In short, their aim was, and is, a return to the free market hell responsible for the misery and poverty which had blighted Venezuelan society, and Latin America in general, before Chavez first came to power on the back of a popular movement from below in 1998.

The radical reforms implemented in his six years in power have literally transformed the lives of millions of people. Just under a million children in Venezuela from the shanty towns and poorest villages now receive free education; 1.2 million illiterate adults have been taught to read and write; secondary education has been made available to 250,000 children previously excluded by their social status. As for healthcare, the 14,000 Cuban doctors sent to help the country have transformed the situation in poor communities, where 11,000 neighbourhood clinics have been established and the health budget has tripled. New homes have been and are being built, agrarian reform has redistributed large swathes of land to the poor, and an entire generation are being politicised in the process.

Victory for Glasgow Council Workers

Solidarity – Scotland’s Socialist Movement today welcomed the climb down by New Labour led Glasgow City Council over their plans to enforce wage cuts on up to 4,500 city council workers from March 2009.

In a fantastic show of solidarity with their fellow workers 11,000 Unison members had voted overwhelmingly to strike for three days this week over the council’s threat to impose swingeing wage cuts.

Facing a massive strike from tomorrow that would have brought all council services to a halt in the city, council leader Stephen Purcell and the council leadership have now agreed that the March 2009 deadline be dropped. There is now a commitment that those who were to lose out in this process will maintain their earnings beyond March 2009 while the council’s process of retraining/service redesign takes place. This will be a massive relief to thousands of council workers, many of whom are low paid, and who faced the prospect of draconian cuts in pay and for some of losing their homes.

Solidarity MSP, Tommy Sheridan said:

“We welcome this victory. It is a marvellous example of working class solidarity forcing the employer to retreat. I pay tribute to the Unison members who have won a victory, not only for the Glasgow City Council workforce but for council workers across Scotland. This was a flawed review process from the start that was about taking money from already hard pressed and low paid workers to resolve longstanding unequal pay. Solidarity demands that the Scottish Executive and Scotland’s local authorities pay up to deliver genuine equal pay and abandon their strategy of robbing peter to paul.”

Sheridan Attacks GHA Over Evictions

Solidarity MSP Tommy Sheridan has attacked the Glasgow Housing Association after figures showed an increase in evictions. A reply to a letter from Sheridan showed a near 40% rise in evictions between 2004 and 2005. The Co-Convenor of Scotland's fastest growing political movement called for investment in public housing in the Highlands to match that given to Inverclyde's new housing quango.

"These figures show that the GHA is increasing sharply the number of people thrown out from 178 in 2004 to 247 in 2005, and from what I hear in Glasgow it is rising again this year. These people are likely to be joining the hidden homeless which is a growing problem in Scotland and since the GHA is getting rid of rented houses rather than building new ones the problem will only be getting worse. The GHA are an undemocratic quango ran by overpaid managers set up to facilitate the backdoor privatisation of council housing and they are certainly succeeding but for the poor of Glasgow it is a disaster."

Following the ballot of tenants in Inverclyde in favour of transfer of stock to a new private association, the Glasgow MSP called on the executive to show the same commitment to public housing in the areas where tenants had rejected the Executives privatisation agenda.

"If the investment was there for a yes vote, the money must surely be there for those who choose their housing to be publicly owned and democratically accountable. I call on the Scottish Executive to release the money to invest in public housing in Highlands, Stirling and Edinburgh just as they will for the new undemocratic quangos in other areas."

Farepack Victims Thank Solidarity for Support

The Farepack victims group unfairpak has thanked Solidarity for their unconditional support for the campaign for compensation. Solidarity agreed last week to support the demo against HBOS at the Mound in Edinburgh by producing a leaflet for the event. The group were also very pleased with Solidarity Co-Convenor Rosemary Byrne's contribution to the debate in parliament. Chair of the unfairpak campaign Suzy Hall said:

"Rosemary's contribution to the debate was fantastic and we are very grateful to Solidarity for their help and practical support with leaflets and other assistance."

Solidarity members across the country have played a key role in organising practical help for the victims of what amounts to corporate robbery.

John Wight of Lothians Solidarity welcomed Suzy Hall's words:

"We agreed unanimously to support the campaign unconditionally more than a week ago and Solidarity members, many of whom lost money to Farepack, are angry about this theft. We will be on the mound showing Solidarity with Suzy Hall and the other campaigners on the 11th and would hope that all socialists and campaigners for justice will join us."

Details of the demo and the campaign at the unfairpak website www.unfairpak.co.uk

Tommy Sheridan Hits the Airwaves

Solidarity Co-Convenor Tommy Sheridan takes to the airwaves today for the first airing of his new weekly radio show on Talk107.

"Sunday Morning With Citizen Tommy" is on from 10.00am till 1pm and will include chat, discussion and phone-ins. The Solidarity MSP for Glasgow is looking forward to the contributions from listeners:

"I am looking forward to it, hopefully I will be able to give a platform to members of the public to discuss politics and other issues in a friendly, comradely spirit. In the first show I will be talking about my hero John MacLean, and will invite listeners to call, text and email me who their heroes are and why."

The show goes out through the Edinburgh area but anyone can tune in and hear it live on the internet at www.talk107.co.uk or can download the show at anytime from that address.

Call Tommy on 0845 4 107 107, text him on 8181 and start your message with the word 'talk', or email him on ' This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

Solidarity with the Victims of Bhopal

On the 22nd anniversary of the environmental disaster in Bhopal,India, Solidarity have called on the petrochemical company Dow to face criminal proceedings, fully compensate victims, and clean up the site and surrounding areas.

On the 2nd and 3rd December 1984, the worlds worst ever industrial disaster killed thousands of people in India and left 150,000 disabled. To this day over 50,000 local people are too sick to work and some are dying still. Mary Spowart, environmental activist and South of Scotland Solidarity member said:

“The Bhopal disaster got me involved in environmental politics, this was the worst ever industrial disaster but there are hundreds of Bhopals across the world and those who have made massive financial gain from the industry have failed to take the blame and face the consequences.”

www.bhopal.net ; www.studentsforbhopal.org