Welsh Communists @ Wales TUC 2010

Unite Against the Banksters! by Rick Newnham

With the election of a Tory-Liberal (Conned 'em) government, trades unions and the members and communities they represent face a huge challenge. We will have to defend the conditions and services that make life bearable for millions of people. But it is not enough to merely look forward and prepare for the battles to come. The Labour movement has missed a decade of opportunity by supporting New Labour and its pro-big business, imperialist and anti- trade union agenda. Whenever it really mattered, the affiliated unions allowed the attacks on working people to continue - indeed they bankrolled them! As New Labour leave office, let us not forget. One in three children in Wales live in poverty. The gap between rich and poor is of Victorian proportions. The basic state pension languishes well below the poverty line. We have far fewer doctors or hospital beds than the European average. We lock up more young people than any one else in Europe. Our anti trade union laws are some of the most reactionary in the developed world. And we engage in more wars than any country in the world except the USA. To ensure big business profits, there is a colossal housing shortage which created artificially high prices for those who can afford them. Blair and Brown maintained mass unemployment - always around two million - particularly amongst young people, allowing wages to be held down while pensions, terms and conditions were eroded. New Labour also committed itself to breaking up public services in favour of market-driven privatisation, PFI schemes and schools run by tycoons & religious fanatics.

Continued Overleaf

Big business and the City have got the government they wanted in a hung parliament. A Blue-Yellow Tory coalition will now lead the ruling class offensive against public services, jobs and employment and trade union rights. This week's £6.2 billion cut in government current spending this coming financial year is not even the beginning. What happened to the LibDems' pre-election warning that such a cut would risk a double-dip recession? New Labour's Budget in March had already proposed a £10 billion reduction in capital expenditure. In Wales, this means total spending cuts announced so far of around £600 million over the next two years, with at least £187 million out of the National Assembly block grant. Of course, these sums are small beer compared with the £1,350 billion spent or pledged in bailing out the banks and money markets during the Great Finance Crash. They are not necessary, when taxing the rich and big business monopoly profits would easily close the budget deficit. But they will cost thousands of jobs and worsen the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in our society. And the Blue-Yellow Tory

'emergency budget' on June 22 may stick the knife in even deeper. Certainly, a rise in VAT is on the cards - a regressive tax not based on ability to pay. This leaves the whole trade union movement facing an enormous challenge in the period to come. We have to explain to service users and community-based organisations that public spending cuts will unavoidably hit front-line services, as back-up posts and services deteriorate. Slashing procurement expenditure will have an immediate impact on private sector jobs, wages and conditions as well. In July 2009, a TUC report revealed that 29 per cent - almost a third - of public expenditure goes directly to private sector enterprises in procurement and subsidies. That's a higher proportion of the public budget than the 26 per cent which goes on public sector pay (and which mostly ends up buying goods and services produced by the private sector). The objective basis therefore exists to unite all trade unions in a huge coalition against public spending cuts. At local level, Trades Councils can play an important role in developing

Continued Overleaf

Comiwnyddion Cymru @ CULl Cymru 2010

We need a peoples’ coalition against cutsWe need a peoples’ coalition against cuts by Robert Griffithsby Robert Griffiths

Cymdeithas 'Niclas y Glais' Sefydlir Cymdeithas 'Niclas y Glais' ar faes yr Eisteddfod Genedlaethol yng Glyn Ebwy ym mis Awst. Roedd Niclas - sef Thomas Evan Nicholas - yn gymrawd Keir Hardie yn y Blaid Lafur Annibynol ym Merthyr Tudful o amgylch y Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf. Fe oedd golygydd tudalen Cymraeg papur newyddion Hardie a'i blaid, sef y Merthyr Pioneer. Yna, ymunodd Niclas a'r Blaid Gomwinyddol pan sefydlwyd y blaid honno ym 1920. Fe ddaeth yn un o feirdd enwogaf Cymru yn ystod y 20fed ganrif, gan ennill 30 o gadeiriau eisteddfodol. Taranai cerddi Niclas yn erbyn cyfalafiaeth, imperialaeth, brenhiniaeth a phob math o anghyfiawnder a gormes. Dedfrydwyd i'r garchar ar ddechrau'r Ail Ryfel Byd, ar gymhelliad Prif Gwnstabl Sir Aberteifi, gelyn democratiaeth ac edmygydd Hitler - ond fe ryddhawyd yn fuan yn sgil ymgyrch frwd gan bobl gyffredin ac enwogion o bob liw gwleidyddol. Nodwedd arall barddoniaeth Niclas oedd ei gariad am bobl a broydd ei eni a'i yrfa fel pregethwr, deintydd a Chomiwnydd, sef Sir Benfro, Glais ger Abertawe, a chymoedd glo Morgannwg. Dangosai sut roedd yn bosibl i fod yn chwyldroadwr cydwladol ac yn wladgarwr yr un

pryd. Prif nod y gymdeithas newydd fydd i ddathlu a lledaenu gwaith a syniadau Niclas y Glais, gan drefnu gweithgareddau a chyhoeddiadau i'r perwyl hwn, yn y ddwy iaith ond yn anad dim trwy gyfrwng y Gymraeg, sef unig iaith ei lenydda ei hun. Am fanylion pellach, cysyllter a Gareth Miles: milltiroedd@computingwales.com, ffon 07981 699041. Summary: A new society to celebrate the life, ideas and work of famous Communist poet T.E. Nicholas will be launched at the National Eisteddod in August, in Ebbw Vale. He was a close comrade of Keir Hardie and edited the Welsh language page of the Merthyr Pioneer, before joining the Communist Party on its foundation in 1920. His poems rage against capitalism, imperialism, monarchism and all kinds of kind of injustice and oppression. 'Niclas y Glais', to use his bardic name, was imprisoned by the pro-fascist Chief Constable of Cardiganshire near the beginning of the Second World War - but was released following a big all-party campaign. His poems demonstrate not only his internationalism (he wrote about Russia, Spain, Cuba), but also his patriotism, and his love for the people of Pembrokeshire and the coal valleys of Glamorgan where he was born, worked as a brewer and a dentist, and preached Christianity and then Communism. For more information, contact Gareth Miles: milltiroedd@computingwales.com, tel. 07981 699041

People’s Coalition Against Cuts cont.

broad-based campaigns of trade unionists, service users and local community bodies to defend our public services. Labour Party organisations, MPs and councillors should also be challenged to oppose public sector cuts. But it will also assist campaigning if a positive alternative to Blue-Yellow neo-liberal policies are put forward. The Left-Wing Programme proposed by the Communist Party and others on the left calls for: A Wealth Tax on the super-rich, the

10 per cent of the population who own 44 per cent (£4 trillion) of all declared personal wealth in Britain.

A windfall tax on the monopoly profits reaped in the oil, gas, electricity, banking, pharmaceutical & arms sectors of the economy.

The closure of all tax havens under British jurisdiction.

The abolition of plans for a new nuclear weapons system and reducing Britain's military spending to the same proportion of our economy as the average level in western Europe.

These or similar policies can be found in the People's Charter, endorsed after a struggle at the Trades Union Congress last September. Now we need to turn the words into action, and link the fight against public sector cuts with campaigning for the People's Charter. We also need, urgently, to win a referendum giving economic, law-making and financial powers to our National Assembly of Wales. This could provide an important line of defence in the struggle against public spending cuts Our battles here in Wales and Britain are the same in essence as those being fought in other countries. As the financial crisis unfolds in Greece - and looks likely to spread to Portugal, Spain and possibly Italy - it should be noted that across Europe the neo-liberal, anti-trade union agenda is being spearheaded by the EU Commission, the European Central Bank and the ECJ. Workers need and deserve international solidarity. But the institutions and basic treaties of the undemocratic EU are no friends of public services or the trade union movement.

Robert Griffiths is CP General Secretary.

MORNING STAR daily paper of the left 60p from your local newsagent

Unity Against Banksters cont.

All this occurred before New Labour decided to throw £1,350 billion at the banks to resolve a crisis that its policies and big business profiteering created. The occasional sabre rattling from the 'awkward squad'

of trade union leaders wasn't enough to frighten a little mouse let alone a Blair, Brown or Mandelson. Through their timidity and passive support of New Labour's agenda, some of our trade union leaderships helped pave the way for the Tories return to power. It is unlikely that the Labour Party leadership 'battle' will produce a winning candidate who supports the left and progressive policies of most of the affiliated trade unions. Why on earth should Unite, UNISON, GMB, USDAW and the rest support one of the Tweedlebands, Tweedleburnham or Tweedleballs? They represent the same New Labour bandwagon which ended up in the ditch on May 6. Changing the wheels will take the labour movement nowhere. So what lessons can we learn for the struggle to come? If trade unions are to engage in anything other than last-ditch defensive battles, we need to ensure that the political vehicle exists to advance the interests of working class people. This means unions either fighting seriously to reclaim the Labour Party for the labour movement or, if this proves unsuccessful, agreeing to re-establish a mass party of labour. But this will not be achieved in a vacuum. The trade unions need to move beyond single issue campaigns - important though these are - and put aside unconditional loyalty to the Labour Party leadership. Broad, united campaigning is required around a political programme of measures which defend and advance the conditions of working people and their communities. The People’s Charter represents such a programme. The Charter is designed to be fought for both inside and outside the structures of the Labour Party. A mass campaign around the Charter would strengthen the basis for unity between affiliated and un-affiliated unions, between those in and out of work, and help to re-establish the link between the Labour movement and local communities. A stronger, more influential Communist Party would help to build a militant movement in favour of such a programme, creating the conditions to ensure that workers and their families have a mass party of labour to represent them in elections and government.

Rick Newnham is CP Welsh Secretary.

Pamphlets from the Communist Party £2.50 each (inc. p&p). Order from CP Merchandise & Publi-cations, Ruskin House, 23 Coombe, London CR0 1BD www.communist-party.org.uk

For up-to-date reports on the campaign against public spending cuts in Greece, visit the English language section of the KKE (Communist Party of Greece) website. www.inter.kke.gr

Join the fight against cuts, for peace, socialism and working class power

name

address postcode Age if under 30 phone E-mail return to Wales Communist Party, PO Box 69, Pontypridd CF37 9AB

t: 0208 686 1659 e: office@communist-party.org.uk

The Wales TUC has been described as a 'paper tiger', notably by former Welsh Communist Party industrial organiser Bob Jones. He warned George Wright (former Wales TUC and T&G secretary) that it was turning into a talking shop for trade union bureaucrats, not living up to its potential to be what South Wales NUM general secretary Dai Francis called 'the parliament of Welsh workers'. The test will be whether the sleeping giant of the Welsh labour movement can be roused to lead popular resistance against public sector cuts imposed by the Con-Dem Westminster Government. The most crucial debates at this year’s Wales TUC conference 'lite' (an early victim of spending cuts) will be on the economy, employment rights and public services. A well-meaning but rather unambitious motion from Unite (12) will lead the economy debate. But it would not be strengthened in any realistic way by the Swansea Trades Council amendment that repeats the mantra for ‘all workplaces targeted for closure to be nationalised under workers’ control and management’. Insisting on workers' control and management would mean waiting until after the socialist revolution before jobs and workplaces are saved. GMB present a focused motion (13) calling upon government to ‘utilise social and environmental grounds for awarding public

procurement contracts’ and noting the positive affects of ProAct in Wales. A UNISON motion (14) provides more of an economic analysis and strategy for dealing with the crisis, calling on the Wales TUC to develop an alternative economic agenda based upon 'fairness, good jobs, quality public services and the strengthening of democratic regulation and control of our economy’ and the need to develop community coalitions in support of this agenda. This motion would be further strengthened by the Deeside Trades Council amendment highlighting the central role of Trades Councils in co-ordinating affiliates and activists. The Employment Rights debate sees positive motions from Unite (20), USDAW (21 and 22) and PCS (23), all of which highlight specific areas of concern, e.g. agency workers rights, vulnerable workers, violence at work and bullying. But the Cardiff Trades Council motion (P35) goes the necessary step further, urging a campaign for the 'repeal of all anti-trade union laws’ and to offer ‘support and solidarity to all workers in struggle’. The crucial public sector debate sees motions from UNISON on the protection of public pensions (25) and rejecting the advice of right-wing think tanks to cut jobs, pay & pensions and privatise public services (27). Vitally, the PCS motion (29) presents a strategy for a co-ordinated fight back. It calls on the general council to establish a forum for public sector affiliates to address the attacks on public services, and to call a ‘major conference to launch a campaign in defence of Welsh public services, including marches and rallies in major Welsh towns and cities'. The call for a special conference is also echoed by an RMT motion (30). Will this year's

conference pass the Bob Jones test - or will the Wales TUC show itself to be a 'paper tiger' in the Welsh people's hour of need? Other important debates will take place on education & skills, equalities, the environment and on organising. But the test will be whether the conference takes meaningful decisions on the economy and public services, to start the process of mobilising Welsh workers to stand up for themselves and their communities. Such a welcome development will require delegates to break out of their comfort zones, whether those of ‘conservative’ bureaucracy or empty sloganeering and sectarianism. The Swansea Trades Council motion on Youth Fight for Jobs (P33) is a missed opportunity, calling for the Wales TUC to support a narrowly-based campaign instead of co-ordinating a broad labour movement initiative on this crucial issue. We shall see whether these important questions can be properly considered in a truncated conference. The drive to cut costs underlines the necessity to return to an earlier debate. The workers and people of Wales need a National Assembly with real legislative and financial powers. They also need a Wales TUC which has the resources necessary to play a leading role in Welsh economic, public and political life. Our big trade unions need to grasp the nettle and demand that the British TUC and its affiliates ensure proper funding and status for what should be the Welsh Trades Union Congress. Welsh Communists call on delegates, not to waste this opportunity to provide leadership to Welsh workers and their communities and ensure that the labour movement is untied in its fight back against reaction.

‘Paper Tiger’ or Leading the Resistance?

Cynhadledd Cymru Wales Conference

Dydd Sadwrn, Gorffennaf 24 10.30 - 4.00 Saturday, July 24 YMCA, Taff St., Pontypridd CF37 4TS

THE FIGHTBACK STARTS NOW! SOS - Saving Our Services Edwina Hart Labour AM & Welsh Assembly Government health minister Dominic MacAskill UNISON Wales head of local government Jill Evans Plaid Cymru MEP John Haylett Morning Star political editor

A National Assembly for the people Mick Antoniw Labour NAW candidate Pontypridd Pippa Barlotti Green Party Leanne Wood Plaid Cymru AM Rick Newnham Welsh Communist Party secretary

Trade unions to the fore Rob Williams Unite convenor Mike Payne GMB regional officer Sian Wibblin PCS & Wales TUC president Rob Griffiths Communist Party general secretary Am fanylion pellach neu i sicrhau lle yn y gynhadledd hon, cysyllter a'r trefnydd/ For further information or to book a place at this conference, contact organiser Roger Bevan: rogerbevan@btinternet.com tel. 07879 625665