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