November 30 Strike

Unions and police are two arms of the same state

Submitted by World Revolution on

On November 9, 10,000 students marched in central London, spurred on by the mounting cost of education and a will to fight the government’s programme of austerity. Recalling last year’s student demonstrations, the demonstration was treated not to the kettle, but to the ‘sock’, a kind of mobile kettle, where marchers were herded down a prescribed route. A group of striking electricians started to move towards the student march and were met by a police line.

The beginning of struggle or just another token gesture?

Submitted by ICConline on

Unions predict that maybe two or three million workers will be on strike on 30 November, from education, health, local government, the civil service, and more. The main issue of the strike – the future of public sector pensions – is a very real one because we are all being asked to work longer and pay more for less to retire on.

leaflet pdf file

Government and unions aim to smother the workers’ response

Submitted by World Revolution on

Despite the government claiming that it had made major concessions on pensions, aimed at averting the ‘irresponsible’ public sector strike on 30 November, the day of action will go ahead and around three million workers from education, the health service, local government and elsewhere will be on strike that day.

The struggle against capitalism is a struggle between classes

Submitted by World Revolution on

Resistance against the present social order is spreading, from the huge social revolts in Tunisia and Egypt to the movement of the ‘indignant’ in Spain, to the general strikes and street assemblies in Greece, the demonstrations around housing and poverty in Israel, and the ‘Occupy’ movements across the USA, now echoed on a smaller scale in the UK. Awareness that this is a global movement is becoming sharper and more widespread.

Union preparations and the need for a workers' response

Submitted by World Revolution on

The trade unions and the Left are preparing to make the 30 November strike over pensions something big. TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said that it would be “the biggest trade union mobilisation for a generation” as more than a dozen major unions prepared to ballot their members. Workers are angry and the unions are doing something. The trouble is the effect of the unions’ actions is to divide workers and undermine their attempts to fight.

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