Solidarity Stand with Trades Unionists Agains Racism and Facism
Sunday, 26 November 2006
On Saturday, November 25, Solidarity members joined with over 1500 people in the STUC's annual march and rally against racism and fascism in the centre of Glasgow. Other organisations in attendance were Glasgow Anti-Racist Alliance (GARA), the Communist Party, SSP, Cairde na hâ Eireann, and a host of trade union delegations from, among others, RMT, Unison, and PCS.
This year's event held added significance in that it came at a time when the Blair government is attempting to target Muslims in order to deflect from the war in Iraq. There have also been a rise in the number of dawn raids on asylum seekers by the immigration service in recent months.
Kevin Connor, a member of Solidarity in the Lothians who travelled through for the march, said:
"With the way things are just now in Iraq, and how that's impacted on the Muslim community and immigrants here at home, I think this and other events like it are crucial. I'm especially delighted that the unions are behind this event today, because ultimately it's the working class who will end racism and fascism and not the government or the police. It really is up to us."
Saturday's event followed in the wake of a horrific assault on a 15-year old Sikh youth in Edinburgh, who was kicked and punched to the ground after having his hair hacked off. A rally called by the Edinburgh Sikh community last week in Leith, in response, was also attended by a sizeable Solidarity contingent.
Once again, we offer our unconditional support to all victims of racism and fascism on our streets. We pay tribute to all who attended Saturday's march.
Letter to Solidarity from Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Saturday, 25 November 2006
The Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC) have taken the unprecedented step of welcoming a statement from a political party on the cause of the Palestinian people. Mick Napier, SPSC Chair, said in the letter that this was the first time that any political formation in Scotland had oficially expressed their open and unambigious support.
John Wight of Lothians Solidarity welcomed the letter as an example of how Solidarity are building respect in the wider movement:
"This letter shows that the clear positions and solid work that Solidarity have carried out is having an effect and is respected by campaigners for justice."
The letter also caled on other political parties to show the clear commitment that Solidarity had and asked Solidarity to establish links with Palestinian left wing parties.
Letter to Solidarity
Dear Solidarity
The Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign welcomes the statement from ‘Solidarity’ on the deepening crisis in Palestine. No political formation in Scotland to date has expressed officially, openly and unambiguously its support for the just struggle of the Palestinian people.
Unison members in Glasgow Council have voted 2 to 1 in favour of strike action in an effort to force the city's Labour leaders to back down over the threatened pay cuts to 4,500 low and middle earning workers as part of an inadequate, poorly funded equal pay review. Sixty-six per cent voted to stand by this minority of the workforce who face cuts of up to £5,000 in just two years time. The local branch described the result as "a tremendous result on a relatively high turnout" and have called three days of all out strike action on 5 - 7 December, backed up by selective action.
The result shows that huge numbers of the so-called "winners" saw through the Council's divide and rule tactics and rejected the Council's offer of a back dated payment in December - in effect a bribe just before Xmas - and chose to show solidarity with their fellow workers. The strike action will see almost 11,000 workers called out and will have a massive impact on council services from residential homes, daycare centres, environmental services, libraries, sports centres, museums, financial collection, nurseries, etc.
It is unclear at this stage whether Steven Purcell, the Council Leader, will attempt to negotiate a new deal in light of the threatened strike action or will dig in for a battle with his workforce. Purcell and other leading Labour Councillors attempted to cut across the unions by inviting the "losers" to meetings to explain how the pay review was a scientific, transparent and well funded offer. The whole exercise backfired with the Councillors not understanding the services they are responsible for or their employees' jobs. One even suggested that the workers could not read which led to some workers walking out in disgust and ripping up their new pay letters on the way out the door!
Solidarity have called todays vote by Highland Council tenants to reject transfer to a private housing association as a victory for people power and common sense.
Tenants rejected the move by a margin of 60 to 40 in a 60% . turnout of 16000 tenants. Highlands are now the fourth council in a row to have rejected the Scottish Executive´s preferred privatisation strategy, following on from Edinburgh, Stirling and Renfrewshire. The vote must now place a serious doubt on the sustainability of the stock transfer strategy.
"Highlanders have sent Malcolm Chisholm homewards tae think again," said Solidarity co-convenor, Tommy Sheridan. "We call on the Executive to take the necessary steps to now write-off Highland Councils housing debt - and the debt of the other councils where privatisation has been rejected - to enable the proper investment in housing under council control that the majority of tenants clearly want. There can be no excuses. If the money was available yesterday it is available today, otherwise it was simply a bribe."
Solidarity members and Highlands Against Stock Transfer activists will be organising a celebration of what they claim was a real David and Goliath victory, particularly after information attacking the partys role in the campaign appeared recently on the website of Highland Housing Association.
Frank Ward, secretary of HAST and Solidarity spokesperson on housing in the Highlands said, "The council spent £200,000 promoting a yes vote, we had only our shoe leather and a tiny budget, but our arguments won the day. Highland tenants looked at the vagueness of the promises and the experience in Glasgow and said no thanks. They want affordable and well-maintained public sector municipal housing, accountable through a democratically elected council. This has been a victory for people power and common sense."
Solidarity Accuses New Labour of Failure Over Poverty
Tuesday, 21 November 2006
Solidarity condemned as shameful the evidence from the Save the Children charity and Scottish Executive figures that almost nearly half a million children will this winter live in unheated homes in Britain, and one in five Scottish households have to survive on less than £10,000 per year.
The recent rocketing price rises for gas and electricity is driving hundreds of thousands of people into fuel poverty, levels of which have doubled in the last three years. Solidarity MSP for Glasgow, Tommy Sheridan, condemned the obscene profits of the private energy companies:
“The Scottish Executive’s claims that they are on course to eradicate child poverty are a shameful con. It is clear, for example, that the 5 price rises in the last two years in fuel bills are dragging thousands of Scots into poverty. Scottish ministers are doing nothing to challenge what is now robbery on a grand scale. It is a 21st century scandal that privatised power companies can make billions of pounds in profit at the cost of the misery that these price rises cause for ordinary families. We demand urgent action to slash fuel costs. And that can best be achieved by bringing these companies into public ownership and using their ill-gotten profits to reduce the burden of fuel costs.”
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