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TUSC will oppose all cuts to council jobs, services, pay and conditions. Reject increases in council tax, rent and service charges to compensate for government cuts. Vote against the privatisation of council jobs and services. Our policies
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Telephone: 020 7702 8667
email: info@tusc.org.uk
Press: 020 8988 8773
TUSC candidates march to defend Stafford hospital
20 April 2013
Labour votes down rebel councillors 'no bedroom tax evictions' motion
Sue Atkins with Don Thomas and Keith Morrell, photo TUSC
Posted: 31 May 2013
THE SOUTHAMPTON council meeting on May 15th debated a motion moved by the 'rebel councillors' Keith Morrell and Don Thomas that the council remove the threat of eviction if a tenant falls into arrears because they are unable to pay the 'Bedroom Tax' increase in their rent.
The motion was quite straightforward. It read:
"Further to the resolution of the council concerning the under-occupation penalty (so-called 'Bedroom Tax'), Southampton council further resolves not to evict any tenant who goes into rent arrears because of the 'Bedroom Tax' and calls on other local social housing providers to do the same.
Sixty at Haringey TUSC meeting
Posted: 30 May 2013
SIXTY PEOPLE attended last week's meeting to launch the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition's anti-cuts electoral challenge for next year's local elections in the north London borough of Haringey.
The meeting was chaired by Jenny Sutton, a local University and College Union (UCU) rep who has stood for TUSC locally in previous elections and achieved creditable results.
Platform speaker Oktay Sahbaz of the Day Mer Turkish and Kurdish group that hosted the meeting, explained that austerity policies, supported by all the major parties, were unnecessary and had made the rich even richer at our expense in the period since the financial crash.
Southampton by-election: Labour non-answers show why anti-cuts councillors are needed
Posted: 23 May 2013
"CAN YOU guarantee that this time next year, Sure Start, local libraries, and Woolston youth centre will still be open?" Twice Carol Cunio, one of the Labour councillors for Southampton's Woolston ward, where a council by-election is taking place on June 13th, was challenged by Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidate Sue Atkins.
Chairing the TUSC Woolston by-election campaign launch meeting, anti-cuts councillor Keith Morrell invited the Labour councillor to answer.
The meeting was met with silence. It revealed to everyone there why electing a third anti-cuts councillor in Southampton is an urgent task for those fighting to protect jobs and services from Con-Dem cuts.
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Bulletin No 52
Posted: 22 May 2013
TUSC News
Is there a 100,000 voters club? - If there is, TUSC has joined it.
This May's local elections saw the number of votes cast for candidates standing under the TUSC umbrella pass the 100,000 mark since its formation in 2010.
Posted: 16 May 2013
THE HARINGEY Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition has organised a public meeting to discuss standing anti-austerity candidates in next year's council elections in this north London borough. All welcome.
Haringey TUSC to stand anti-austerity candidates in elections
23rd May 2013 @7pm
UKIP surge continues, squeezing TUSC in Rotherham by-election
Posted: 17 May 2013
THE UKIP advance in May's local elections continued on Thursday as they took a seat from Labour in the Rawmarsh ward council by-election in Rotherham.
When this seat was contested in the 2012 borough council elections Labour won with 1,685 votes (66%) to the BNP's 531. The only other candidate was a Conservative, who polled 328 votes.
This time the UKIP candidate, who had some profile from contesting the Rotherham parliamentary seat in the 2010 general election, won with 46% of the vote, with Labour falling to 42% on only a slightly lower turnout. The BNP collapsed from 531 (21%) to 80 votes.
TUSC member hospitalised in hit-and-run attack on anti-blacklist protest
16 May 2013
RETIRED CONSTRUCTION worker George Tapp, who has stood as a Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidate in council elections in Salford, has been hospitalized after being deliberately knocked down by a car as he took part in a protest against blacklisting at Manchester City football ground on Wednesday.
The 64-year-old sustained two broken legs and a fractured knee cap, and is now recovering at Manchester Royal Infirmary hospital.
Witnesses say the car drove deliberately and at speed into a crowd of protesters who were leafleting at the BAM construction site. BAM paid £38,371.85 to the Consulting Agency, a firm that ran anti-union blacklists, between 1996 and 2009.
RMT calls for workers’ voice in EU debate
15 May 2013
THE RMT transport workers’ union has attacked the mainstream media for only using right-wing voices from the anti-EU side of the debate when in fact it is the working class that are suffering most across Europe as a result of the bankers and business-led austerity measures.
RMT General Secretary and Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) Steering Committee member Bob Crow said: “Across Europe, and specifically in Spain and Greece which are at the eye of the storm, it is the working class who are suffering the most as democracy is ripped apart and the EU and the central bank demand cuts to jobs, wages and pensions and wholesale privatisation of public assets.
Southampton anti-cuts ‘rebel councillors’ back TUSC by-election candidate
15 May 2013
SOUTHAMPTON’S TWO ‘rebel councillors’, expelled from the Labour Party last year for refusing to back council cuts, are backing the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidate a council by-election on June 13th.
The by-election in Southampton’s Woolston ward was caused by the resignation of the council’s Labour leader, Richard Williams, who quit his seat and dramatically walked out of the council chamber on April 25th.
Now the ‘rebel councillors’, Keith Morrell and Don Thomas, have issued the following press statement explaining their support for the TUSC candidate, Sue Atkins
Leicester council by-election campaign builds support for TUSC
13 May 2013
TRADE UNIONIST and Socialist Coalition candidate Tessa Warrington won a very creditable 165 votes (6.6%) in the Abbey ward council by-election in Leicester on May 9.
Leicester is a city with 52 Labour councillors out of 54 but the council and the Labour directly-elected Mayor have merely passed on the government's cuts.
TUSC to stand in Southampton by-election as Labour cuts leader quits
7 May 2013
THE Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition is contesting a Southampton by-election caused by the resignation of the council’s Labour leader, Richard Williams, who quit his seat and dramatically walked out of the council chamber on April 25th.
A meeting of Southampton TUSC supporters on Thursday agreed to nominate Sue Atkins, a Labour Party member from 1967 to 1992 and former chair of Southampton UNISON, as a candidate for the subsequent by-election, with the full backing of Southampton ‘rebel councillors’, Keith Morrell and Don Thomas, who were expelled from the Labour Party last year for opposing council cuts.
2013 Local Elections: The TUSC results in full
5 May 2013
A COMPREHENSIVE account of the TUSC results from Thursday’s local elections is now available at TUSC-election-report.
One hundred and twenty candidates, standing in 117 wards in 20 councils, contested the English local elections on May 2nd under the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) umbrella. In addition, TUSC stood a candidate in the Doncaster mayoral contest and two candidates in council by-elections that were held on the same day.
Elections took place in 35 English local authorities, to fill 2,362 seats. TUSC stood at least one candidate in twenty councils with elections (60%), contesting 5% of the seats. This contrasts markedly with when these particular seats were previously contested in the four-yearly local elections cycle in 2009, before the formation of TUSC. Then, a year after the financial crisis had broken, there were literally less than a handful of candidates presenting a working class alternative to the pro-austerity consensus.
2013 Local Elections: TUSC Doncaster Mayor candidate wins 1,900 votes in Ed Miliband’s backyard
3 May 2013
AFTER A recount delayed the announcement of the result, the first preference votes for the Mayor of Doncaster election have now been published. The TUSC candidate Mary Jackson polled 1,916 votes (3.1%) coming in sixth place, ahead of one of the ‘parties of government’, the Liberal Democrats – and not too far behind the other, the Conservatives, who polled 4.5%.
Another anti-cuts candidate, Doug Wright, polled 1.3%. Mary and Doug’s combined showing will give confidence to anti-cuts and anti-bedroom tax campaigners in Doncaster.
Mary’s campaign in particular rattled the local Labour Party – with one of Doncaster MPs, of course, being Labour leader Ed Miliband.
2013 Local Elections: TUSC results first ‘early season’ league table
3 May 2013
AS WE post this, counting the votes in Thursday’s local elections is still under way in most of the councils where polls took place.
This year there were 2,362 council seats up for election – mainly in Conservative-held county councils – in 35 English local authorities. TUSC stood at least one candidate in 60% of the councils with elections, contesting 120 seats, 5% of the total.
When all the results come in we will post up a comprehensive seat-by-seat report on how the TUSC candidates fared. In the meantime, based on the first 18 results for TUSC candidates in the few councils that counted the ballots overnight, we are posting an ‘early season league table’, listing the votes won by TUSC candidates in percentage order.
TUSC candidate speaks at Lincolnshire anti-drone demonstration
1 May 2013
AROUND 700 anti-war campaigners marched from Lincoln to RAF Waddington on Saturday 27th April to protest against the barbaric use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle ‘Reaper’ drones in Afghanistan.
The national demonstration, called by groups including the Stop the War Coalition and War on Want, took place just two days after the UK government had announced that the drones had begun to be operated from the Lincolnshire base rather than operated from Nevada.
Nick Parker, Secretary of Lincoln & District Trades Council, and the TUSC candidate for Lincoln East in Thursday’s county council elections, addressed the closing rally.
Over 200 come to TUSC showing of 'Spirit of 45'
30 April 2013
AROUND 220 people attended the Hackney and Islington TUSC screening of Ken Loach's film about the founding of the NHS, The Spirit of 45.
The film brilliantly shows the mood and expectations of the period. Workers were no longer prepared to tolerate the mass unemployment of the thirties and the overcrowded slum housing in the towns and cities.
Labour was elected on a landslide vote. Reflecting the semi-revolutionary attitude of many workers, Labour nationalised some key industries: transport, mines, gas, electricity, water. They were in a state of collapse and capitalism even welcomed the take-over to prop up the ailing system.
Edging out the Tories in Newcastle
27 April 2013
THURSDAY SAW two council by-elections take place in Newcastle, both contested by Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidates.
Labour held on to the South Heaton ward with 61% of the vote, with the Green Party keeping hold of their second place position from when this seat was last contested, in May 2012.
The Liberal Democrats remained in third but this time the TUSC candidate Paul Phillips, who stood in South Heaton in 2012, came in fourth ahead of the Tories, with 5.3%. Paul also outpolled a Newcastle First candidate – “UKIP in disguise” – and another independent.
‘Why we’re standing’: TUSC candidates in next week’s elections
24 April 2013
Some candidates explain who they are and why they are standing on May 2nd.
IN NEXT week’s council elections over five per cent of the seats will have a fighting anti-austerity alternative on the ballot paper. The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is standing 120 candidates, in 20 of the 35 councils with elections this year.
In addition there is the TUSC candidate for the mayor of Doncaster, Mary Jackson, and TUSC candidates in two council by-elections taking place on the same day.
TUSC candidates march to defend Stafford Hospital
23 April 2013
TRADE UNIONIST and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidates are standing on 2 May in all the four divisions covering the centre of Stafford and across Staffordshire – in Rugeley, Burton-on-Trent, Leek and Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Last weekend TUSC supporters joined the 50,000-strong march to defend Stafford hospital and to stop the privatisation agenda pursued by the previous Labour government and the Con Dems.
Disability activist Josie Shelley is standing in Stafford North, alongside NHS worker John Barbrook in Stafford South East, local teacher Jim Reading in Stafford Central, and former Stafford Borough Labour councillor Scott Wilson in Stafford West.
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Wales organising meeting
Posted: 23 April 2013
AN ORGANISING meeting of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Wales is taking place on Saturday 27 April at the Holiday Inn in Castle Street, Cardiff. Below is the letter of invitation issued by prominent trade unionists in Wales:
Dear comrades,
We are all facing unprecedented attacks from the current ConDem government. The legacy of Thatcher is still very visible in Wales from her relentless drive to force down working class living standards and boost the wealth of the rich. The ConDem Government wants to complete the job she began in Wales. It will be fitting in the month of her death that we get organised to build a political alternative to these Tory policies.
Week Three in Doncaster’s Mary4Mayor campaign
18 April 2013
Monday 8 April
Doncaster has 225,000 voters concentrated in the town and several outlying ex-mining villages. On ‘the day Thatcher died’ we’re in Thorne – everybody knows Mary Jackson, the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidate for mayor of Doncaster.
She’s lived here for 40 years. The campaign stall is like a poster distribution centre. Message from a supporter Shaun, “done six hours leafleting in Moorends, need more leaflets”. And box of 4,000 dropped off with young Rob, working nights, gonna do a couple of hours flyering each morning after work.
Lincoln TUSC organise bedroom tax council protest
12 April 2013
THE LINCOLN Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is holding a lobby of Lincoln city council's full council meeting on Tuesday 16th April to try to persuade councillors not to evict tenants who are penalised by the Con-Dem government’s new ‘bedroom tax’.
This follows a protest organised by TUSC on Lincoln High Street on Saturday 30th March to coincide with a national day of action against the introduction of the bedroom tax by the government.
The protest saw around 30 protesters gather at Speakers Corner. Those involved had brought homemade placards and even a mattress with ‘Fight the Bedroom Tax’ written on it. TUSC activists appealed to passers-by to sign a petition opposing the bedroom tax.
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Bulletin No.51
Tuesday 9 April 2013
There are quite a few items in this action packed bulletin so here are some of the headlines:
* TUSC gets 8.5 per cent in Knowsley Council by-election http://www.tusc.org.uk/press060413.php
* If you are an independent socialist then join the Independent Socialist Network in TUSC: http://bit.ly/q8RyiS
* TUSC stands over 120 candidates in May 2nd elections
Over 120 candidates standing for TUSC on May 2nd 2013
10 April 2013
FIVE PER cent of the seats in the local council elections will have a fighting anti-austerity alternative on the ballot paper on May 2nd.
The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is standing 120 candidates, in 20 of the 35 councils with elections this year. In addition there is the TUSC candidate for the mayor of Doncaster, Mary Jackson, and TUSC candidates in two council by-elections taking place on the same day.
This contrasts with when these particular seats were previously contested in the four-yearly local elections cycle. In 2009, for example, a year after the financial crisis broke and when Labour polled just 24% of the vote, there were literally just a handful of candidates presenting a working class alternative to the pro-austerity consensus.
Local election leaflet and poster
4 April 2013
TUSC A4 election leaflet: Our chance to protest at the Tories, Lib Dems, and Labour too!
A TUSC local elections leaflet is now available, for printed copies to be sent out by post or a PDF version – Council election leaflet – that could be copi-printed locally.
On the front there is space to overprint details of local candidates and, on the reverse side, is the TUSC ten-point ‘core policy platform’ for council elections.
Third place for TUSC in Knowsley
6 April 2013
TUSC candidate Steve Whatham won a respectable third place in a Knowsley council by-election on Thursday 4th April.
Labour held the Prescot West seat with 44% of the vote and the Lib Dems kept their second place position from last May’s contest. Steve came in with 8.5% of the poll, ahead of both the Tories and the Greens.
The Merseyside borough of Knowsley remains a ‘one-party’ council – all 63 councillors are Labour – but the by-election showed again that the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition banner can still be picked up by anti-cuts campaigners to mount a credible working class challenge to the pro-austerity consensus.
Doncaster Mary4Mayor campaign under way
4 April 2013
THE Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) campaign for the Mayor of Doncaster election got off to a great start on Tuesday (April 2nd), with sixty people attending a launch meeting addressed by the TUSC candidate Mary Jackson, and Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT transport workers union.
Joining Mary and Bob on the platform were Joe Robinson, the 21-year old newly elected TUSC councillor in Maltby, and Tony Mulhearn, one of the Liverpool 47 councillors who stood up to Thatcher’s government in the 1980s.
Tony stood as a TUSC candidate in last May’s Liverpool Mayoral election, polling 4,792 votes (4.73%) – ahead of the Tories and with double the UKIP vote. Now TUSC has a chance to make an impact in Doncaster, one of whose MPs is Labour leader Ed Miliband.
TUSC screening Ken Loach’s Spirit of ‘45
Posted: 21 March 2013
TUSC in Hackney and Islington are screening Ken Loach’s new film “The Spirit of ‘45”
2pm, Saturday 20th April
At the Rio Cinema,
107 Kingsland High Street,
Dalston,
E8 2PB.
A discussion will be chaired by Bev Woodburn and introduced by Helen Riddet, Unison member and health worker (speaking in a personal capacity).
Camden by-election: laying down roots
18 March 2013
WHEN THE VOTES were counted in Camden Town Hall late on Thursday night the winner was the least interesting result. As expected, the Labour candidate romped home, taking just under 60% of the vote in the by-election in Gospel Oak ward.
The more remarkable story of the night was the collapse in the Lib Dem vote and the very creditable result of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), standing in their first election in the ward and indeed the borough of Camden.
The Lib Dems were the largest party on Camden council as recently as 2010. In the borough wide elections that year their three candidates in Gospel Oak ward garnered a combined vote of 20%. Fast forward two years and their vote had melted to 6.2%, putting them behind the Tories and Greens in fourth place.
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Bulletin No.50
Saturday 10 March 2013
TUSC News
Rebel councillors to stand under TUSC umbrella
This week Keith Morrell and Don Thomas, the ‘rebel two’ councillors in Southampton (see http://www.tusc.org.uk/press180213.php) were invited to speak at a meeting of the RMT’s national executive committee. Their principled stand against the cuts, for which they have been expelled from the Labour Party, was warmly welcomed by the RMT.
They in turn voiced their appreciation of the support they have had from the RMT and from other TUSC supporters. Keith Morrell is up for re-election in May 2014 and, while the rebel two are looking at exactly what name he will use on the ballot paper, Keith is clear that he will be standing with others across the city under the TUSC umbrella.
It might only be Maltby Town Council…
8 March 2013
IT MIGHT ONLY be Maltby Town Council. It was only a by-election. There’s only 3,000 electors. Only a 16.5% turn-out. And only two candidates.
But you can only beat the opposition put in front of you, and last night Joe Robinson did just that. Standing for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), young Socialist Party member Joe was elected by 303 votes to 201, taking 60% of votes cast.
His opposition was an ‘independent’ without description on the ballot paper, but in reality the Labour candidate whom the ruling group on Maltby town council had tried to co-opt when a vacancy arose.
Eastleigh: growing revulsion at main parties
From The Socialist newspaper, 7 March 2013
But anti-cuts alternative still needs to be built
Nick Chaffey, Eastleigh TUSC Election Agent
Underlining the deep economic crisis austerity has brought in cuts to jobs, benefits and living standards, the Eastleigh byelection has left Tory ringmaster Cameron with his big tent in tatters.
While the Lib Dems hung on, Labour were side-stepped into fourth with a huge protest vote emerging for the United Kingdom Independence Party (Ukip).
Lincoln TUSC lobby against council cuts
5 March 2013
ANTI-CUTS PROTESTERS will hold a lobby of Lincoln City Council's full council meeting tonight to try to persuade councillors of an alternative to proposed cuts.
Lincoln City Council is proposing to cut the uphill bus which connects the High Street and Castle Square, as well as £75,000 from the subsidy for the iconic Drill Hall.
It also proposes to abolish ward budgets for community groups, and the jobs of urban rangers and common wardens. Finally, it plans to charge households £25 for garden waste collection. The City Council has also voted recently to increase council tenants' and garage rents by 3.66%, going up by almost four times as much as benefits and public-sector wage increases.
Camden council Gospel Oak by-election public meeting
Posted: 1 March 2013
Wednesday 6th March, 7.30pm, Gospel Oak Primary School, Mansfield Road, London NW3 2JB.
Guest speakers include Bob Crow, General Secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers Union (RMT), and Izzie Counihan from the Counihan-Sanchez Housing Campaign.
RMT slams media blackout of working class candidate Daz Procter in Eastleigh by-election
25 February 2013
RMT Press Release:
WITH LESS than a week to go in the Eastleigh by-election, promoted by the resignation of ConDem criminal Chris Huhne, transport union RMT today blasted a deliberate media blackout of working class candidate Darren Procter, a member of the union’s executive and the candidate of the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition (TUSC).
While the press have been busy boosting the egos and profile of the establishment candidates – a Lib-Dem grandee and council boss, a Palinesque pro-privatisation Tory and a Labour media luvvie – Daz Procter, a ship worker who lives in the real world of cuts to services and attacks on living conditions, has been carefully ignored by the circus that has descended on the Eastleigh seat.
RMT executive backs Daz Procter’s Eastleigh campaign
21 February 2013
THE NATIONAL Council of Executives of the Rail, Maritime and Transport workers’ union (RMT) agreed at its meeting this week to officially back TUSC candidate Darren Procter in the Eastleigh by-election.
In a letter to RMT branches explaining the decision to back Daz, General Secretary Bob Crow said that the union “wished him well in the campaign” and reported that a £1,000 donation would be made from the union’s national political fund.
This is another step in the RMT’s drive to build a vehicle for working class political representation, with the union now officially represented on the TUSC national Steering Committee by Bob Crow, the newly-elected National President, Peter Pinkney, and five Council of Executives members, Daren Ireland, Sean Hoyle, Darren Procter, Steven Skelly and Sean McGowan.
TUSC council by-elections campaigns in London, Yorkshire and Merseyside
21 February 2013
IN ADDITION to standing a candidate in the Eastleigh parliamentary contest, the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is fighting council by-elections in seats in London, Yorkshire and Merseyside in the coming weeks.
The TUSC candidate for the March 14 by-election in the Gospel Oak ward on London’s Camden council is John Reid, the secretary of the London Transport Regional Council of the Rail, Maritime and Transport workers union (RMT). John is also the chair of his local tenants’ association in the Gospel Oak ward.
The vacancy for the North ward on Maltby Town Council is being contested for TUSC by a 20-year plater/welder Joe Robinson (pictured), who was part of the TUSC campaign team in last year’s Rotherham parliamentary by-election.
Labour stops debate on Southampton rebel councillors’ no cuts budget
18 February 2013
LABOUR-CONTROLLED Southampton city council voted for £16m cuts and service charge hikes at its budget-making meeting on February 13 – and refused to even discuss an alternative anti-cuts budget submitted by the two ‘rebel councillors’, Keith Morrell and Don Thomas.
The Rebel Two’s proposals met the legal requirements of a balanced budget at least for the 2013-14 financial year – it was not a ‘deficit budget’. But the council’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) judged it as not being a ‘prudent budget capable of implementation’. Consequently council officers advised the Mayor – an elected Labour councillor – to make a chair’s ruling that the amendment would not be debated at the council’s budget-making meeting and, backed by the Labour group, that’s what he did.
But the no cuts budget could have been debated. Before the meeting Keith and Don wrote to every Labour councillor answering the CFO’s objections and asking the councillors to use the legal power they had to at least allow the amendment to be debated before the public in the council chamber. But it was not to be.
TUSC: 'No cuts' candidate in Eastleigh
16 February 2013
The resignation of Lib Dem minister and MP for Eastleigh Chris Huhne is just one of the latest crises to hit the coalition government.
It is further evidence to reinforce people's sense that politicians cannot be trusted and that they are completely out of touch with ordinary people.
Barely a household in the Eastleigh constituency will have been unaffected by the vicious cuts that have been carried out by the coalition as jobs have gone at Fords, B&Q; and elsewhere.
Rally for TUSC in Eastleigh
Posted: 16 February 2013
Tuesday 26 February, 7.30pm
Locomotive Engineers Club, 18 Southampton Rd, Town Centre, Eastleigh SO50 9FJ
Speakers: Daz Procter, RMT Executive, Tim Cutter, Hampshire Unison branch secretary (personal capacity), Dave Nellist, former Labour MP now backing TUSC
Support our campaign! Contact Nick Chaffey 07833 681 910; eastleightusc@gmail.com
Hackney and Islington Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Public meeting
Posted: 16 February 2013
Monday 18 February, 7.30pm
Halkevi Centre, 31-33 Dalston Lane, London E8 3DF
Speakers include: Bob Crow, general secretary RMT, and Nancy Taaffe, TUSC candidate in 2012 GLA elections
Walsall councillor’s anti-cuts challenge to Labour
12 February 2013
THE WALSALL Democratic Labour Party (DLP) is part of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), whose candidates stand for election on a platform of refusal to implement any cuts in public spending to pay for the economic crisis.
This week Walsall DLP councilor Pete Smith not only vowed to oppose local cuts of £13 million, and a council tax rise of 1.85%, but he also challenged the 28 Labour councillors on Walsall council to join him and thereby overturn the budget recommendations of Walsall’s minority Tory/Lib-Dem administration
“I wish to inform the people of Walsall Borough that I will vote against any budget resolution or amendment that includes a combination of £millions of cuts in services, job losses and/or increases in council taxes”, he told the Walsall Express and Star. “Why should the people of Walsall keeping having to pay out more money for ever diminishing services?”
RMT executive member Darren Procter to stand in Eastleigh by-election
8 February 2013
THE Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition announced today its candidate for the Eastleigh by-election, to be held on February 28.
Darren Procter, secretary of the Southampton Shipping branch of the Rail, Maritime and Transport workers union (RMT) and a member of the union’s national executive committee, will contest the seat made vacant following the resignation of the disgraced Lib-Dem MP, Chris Huhne.
Darren’s candidacy was immediately welcomed by Tim Cutter, the secretary of the Hampshire County Council branch of the public sector workers’ union, Unison, which includes the Eastleigh constituency, as a chance to challenge the pro-austerity consensus of the establishment parties. While the RMT’s Assistant General Secretary Steve Hedley appealed for all trade unionists “to get behind this outstanding candidate”.
Meeting to discuss Bucks county council election campaign
Posted: 7 February 2013
ON MONDAY February 11th Aylesbury Trade Union and Socialist Coalition supporters will be holding a meeting to discuss standing anti-cuts candidates in the forthcoming county council elections.
TUSC candidate Roger Priest stood in local elections in 2011 and this year with the cuts and attacks on working peoples jobs, services and quality of life, there is even more reason to vote for someone who will represent the 99% rather than the 1%.
The meeting is open to all, especially those who are campaigning against cuts and wish to work alongside others as the local county council is implementing massive cuts on the social care budget, at a time when Buckinghamshire’s population is aging.
TUSC national chairperson does ‘Ghost Town Disks’ on Coventry BBC radio
31 January 2013
TUSC national chairperson Dave Nellist appeared on presenter Bob Brolly's midday equivalent of the well known BBC series Desert Island Discs, on BBC Coventry and Warwickshire Radio yesterday.
Dave explained how he came into politics, selecting the Specials' 'Ghost Town'. Dave concludes by appealing for 400 candidates to stand with TUSC in the forthcoming May county council elections. With 400 TUSC candidates, the BBC would be prepared to give some national coverage to TUSC for the first time.
Brighton council workers appeal for support
31 January 2013
GMB members employed by Brighton & Hove City Council are facing massive cuts to their take-home pay following Green Party and Conservative plans to alter their terms and conditions.
Green and Conservative councillors forced through a measure last week which authorised council officers to implement a ‘modernised pay and conditions package’.
Council officers will now enter into negotiations with the recognised unions to seek cuts for allowances under part three of the NJC terms and conditions.
Hackney: Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition meeting
Posted: 22 January 2013
Monday 18 February 2013 7-30pm
Halkevi Centre, Dalston Lane
Speakers: Bob Crow, general secretary of RMT union
Nancy Taaffe TUSC candidate in 2012 GLA elections
Gareth Beeton FBU North East London regional chair
Oktay Shabaz Day-mer Turkish and Kurdish Centre
Plus a Day-mer youth speaker
Kent County Association of Trades Councils public meeting
Posted: 22 January 2013
“How can trade unions defend our NHS?”
Trade unions must speak up for the workers of the NHS, which is the largest single employer in the world. The Con-Dem plans represent a massive attack on those workers, and therefore on the lives of everyone who depends on the NHS for their healthcare. Come and hear from a range of speakers, including Doctors, nurses and cuts campaigners, and bring your own ideas on building a serious campaign to support and defend our NHS.
Wednesday, 30th January 2013 at 7.15pm
Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury campus
Meet at Old Sessions House entrance, off Longport
Dave Nellist launches TUSC campaign for Staffordshire county council elections
17 January 2013
ON JANUARY 14, despite freezing conditions and snow-covered roads, seventeen people attended a meeting in Newcastle-Under-Lyme to hear TUSC national chairperson, Dave Nellist, give a talk about the importance of TUSC in this May’s forthcoming elections, and to appeal to those in attendance to consider standing as a candidate in their area.
Dave started by outlining the disillusionment of voters and the fact that there is not a ‘cigarette paper’ between the policies of the three main parties.
He discussed the role that TUSC has to play in opposing these policies, and drew on several examples in history where the labour movement was successful in driving back the austerity measures of the day.
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Bulletin No.49
Saturday 12 January 2013
TUSC News
May elections – ten weeks until nominations open!
It is only ten weeks before nominations open for the May 2013 local elections – so all TUSC supporters need to get out our ‘Appeal for Candidates’ as far and wide as possible. Printed copies of a four-sided TUSC broadsheet can be ordered from the TUSC website.
Rotherham TUSC NHS campaign continues
10 January 2013
In October, Brian James, then the Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust chief executive, proposed a 'smaller hospital, with substantially fewer beds' and a smaller workforce to save £50m over the next four years.
TUSC made fighting these cuts the main policy of our campaign in the Rotherham parliamentary by-election held in November. We have continued the petition since and last night’s protest was the next step in our campaign. TUSC received widespread media coverage with two local papers, three radio stations and BBC North news reporting on the protest/petition.
TUSC public meetings in London
Posted: 7 January 2013
Brixton Hill byelection public meeting
Monday 14th January 7.30pm
Vida Walsh Centre
2B Saltoun Road
SW2 1EP (by Ritzy cinema)
Waltham Forest TUSC public meeting
Wednesday 23rd January 7.30pm
William Morris Community Centre
Greenleaf Road
E17 6QQ
New TUSC broadsheet available
December 11rd 2012
An appeal to anti-austerity campaigners: we need council candidates to stand up to the Con-Dems! Why not you?
A NEW A3 folded TUSC broadsheet is now available, appealing for candidates to contest next May’s local elections. It includes the TUSC ‘core policy platform’ for council elections and a brief introduction to what the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition is. Ideal for distributing to trade unionists and anti-cuts campaigners looking for a chance to fight back.
£3-00 for 80 copies
£5-00 for 150 copies
£9-00 for 300 copies
Cheques payable to Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, and sent to TUSC, 17 Colebert House, Colebert Avenue, London E1 4JP.
Or click here to use the the PayPal donation facility on the TUSC website and send an e-mail with delivery details etc, to cliveheemskerk@socialistparty.org.uk
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Bulletin No.48
December 3rd 2012
TUSC News
New TUSC broadsheet available
An appeal to anti-austerity campaigners: we need council candidates to stand up to the Con-Dems! Why not you?
A new A3 folded TUSC broadsheet is now available, appealing for candidates to contest next May’s local elections. It includes the TUSC ‘core policy platform’ for council elections and a brief introduction to what the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition is. Ideal for distributing to trade unionists and anti-cuts campaigners looking for a chance to fight back: £3-00 for 80 copies £5-00 for 150 copies £9-00 for 300 copies. Cheques payable to Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, and sent to TUSC, 17 Colebert House, Colebert Avenue, London E1 4JP. Or use the PayPal donation facility on the TUSC website – at http://www.tusc.org.uk/donate.php – and send an e-mail with delivery details etc, to cliveheemskerk@socialistparty.org.uk
1 December 2012
THE TRADE Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) was set-up in 2010 to enable trade unionists, community campaigners and socialists to appear on the ballot paper in elections as something distinctly opposed to the establishment parties and their pro-austerity agenda.
Otherwise, if not endorsed by a party registered with the Electoral Commission, opponents of austerity would only be able to appear as indistinguishable ‘Independents’. At the same time, TUSC exists to aid those fighting the long-term battle that is necessary, in the trade unions in particular, to re-establish independent working class political representation.
The candidates who came forward to take up the TUSC banner in November’s by-elections certainly fulfilled both tasks, and are to be congratulated for their stand.
TUSC public meetings in the Rotherham and Middlesbrough by-elections
Posted Thursday 22 November 2012
Rotherham meeting: Monday 26 November, 7pm at the Unity Centre, St Leonards Road, Rotherham S65 1PD
Middlesbrough meeting: Wednesday 28 November, 8pm at St Mary’s Centre, 82-90 Corporation Road, Middlesbrough TS1 2RW.
Rotherham meeting speakers include the TUSC chairperson, Dave Nellist, former Labour MP (1983-92) and Preston socialist councillor, Michael Lavalette, alongside Rotherham TUSC candidate, Ralph Dyson, the joint divisional secretary of Rotherham National Union of Teachers.
Middlesbrough meeting speakers include TUSC chairperson, Dave Nellist, and Middlesbrough TUSC candidate, John Malcolm, the secretary of the Tees, Esk & Wear Valley Health Unison branch.
TUSC results on November’s ‘super Thursday’ election day
16 November 2012
WITH A £5,000 deposit required to get on to the ballot paper – but with no candidates’ freepost mailshot available – TUSC did not field any candidates in the Police Commissioner elections held on November 15, dubbed by the media as Britain’s ‘super Thursday’ with 40 million people eligible to vote.
But TUSC did stand candidates in the Manchester Central parliamentary by-election, the Bristol mayoral election, and three council by-elections, held on the same day.
In Bristol the TUSC candidate Tom Baldwin, the youngest contender in the field, polled 1,412 votes. For comparison the Liberal Democrats, who lead the city council, polled just over six thousand votes while the Greens, with two city councillors, managed 5,248 votes.
An open letter to angry Rotherham Labour Party members
14 November 2012
THE LABOUR PARTY meeting on Tuesday 13 November to choose their candidate for the Rotherham by-election was thrown into confusion when at least half of those present walked out in protest at the exclusion of any local candidate from the shortlist.
Rotherham supporters of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) have issued the following open letter to Rotherham Labour members:
To Rotherham Labour Party members
Dear comrades,
We in TUSC, including many ex-Labour Party members, welcome your angry reaction to the New Labour apparatus imposing another external candidate and possible MP on the town...
TUSC to stand in Rotherham and Middlesbrough by-elections
8 November 2012
THE TRADE Unionist and Socialist Coalition has announced its candidates for the Rotherham and Middlesbrough parliamentary by-elections that will take place on November 29.
The Middlesbrough seat, vacant following the death of sitting MP Stuart Bell, will be contested by John Malcolm, the secretary of the Tees, Esk & Wear Valley Health Unison branch. John’s candidacy, agreed at a constituency meeting on Monday, has already won the backing of Craig Johnston, the RMT’s Regional Relief Organiser, Peter Pinkney, Middlesbrough RMT branch secretary, Fran Heathcote, the PCS civil service union’s DWP group president, Simon Elliot, PCS regional secretary, and Julie Young, PCS regional organiser (all in a personal capacity).
TUSC’s candidate in the Rotherham by-election, caused by the resignation of Labour’s Denis McShane for fraudulent parliamentary expenses claims, will be ex-Yorkshire miner Ralph Dyson. Ralph was the National Union of Teachers (NUT) rep who led strike action last year against redundancies at Rawmarsh Community School and is now the joint divisional secretary of Rotherham NUT.
TUSC councillor’s ‘defy cuts’ challenge to Labour
5 November 2012
THE TUSC-backed Walsall councillor Pete Smith has sent the following letter to the local media challenging the borough’s 28 Labour councillors to take a stand against the cuts:
Councillor Bird, leader of Walsall council (under Con-Lib control), has challenged Cllr Oliver and his Labour Group to put forward an alternative budget if they are unhappy with the one likely to be forwarded by the Conservative- Liberal coalition in control of Walsall council at the crucial February council meeting. Cuts of £13m are proposed for 2013/14, with £73m cuts over the next four years.
I challenge the 28 Labour councillors to join me in opposing any budget that includes cuts to jobs or services. If the council's £millions of reserves and/or the possibility of prudential borrowing is insufficient to make up for the shortfall in government grants coming to Walsall, then the budget should be voted down. There are enough councillors to do just that. Then the message will be loud and clear to the government: 'if you want cuts to jobs and services in Walsall, then come and do your own dirty work! We, a majority of councillors refuse to pass a cuts budget'.
Unions must build the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC)
17 October 2012
Alex Gordon, RMT transport union President.
On Saturday 22 September the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition national supporters' conference discussed the vital task of putting forward socialist candidates to fight the austerity cuts
RMT's executive committee took part in the conference on behalf of our union. This year RMT's 2012 annual general meeting adopted a policy to support the development of a new political force that advances the ideas of trade unionism and socialism, to give confidence to workers and help to create a viable political alternative to austerity.
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Bulletin No.47
Thursday 11 October 2012
TUSC News
TUSC announces candidates for Bristol and Manchester – and will fight in Croydon too
The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition has announced its candidates for the Mayor of Bristol election and the Manchester Central parliamentary by-election that will take place on November 15.
TUSC announces candidates for Bristol and Manchester – and will fight in Croydon too
TUSC press release, 8 October 2012
THE TRADE Unionist and Socialist Coalition has announced its candidates for the Mayor of Bristol election and the Manchester Central parliamentary by-election that will take place on November 15.
Manchester Central will be contested by Alex Davidson, the vice-chair of the PCS civil servants union North West Region and a former member (2011-12) of the PCS Public Sector Group Executive Committee. TUSC’s candidate for the Mayor of Bristol is Unite member Tom Baldwin, a previous TUSC candidate in local and general elections, who is set to be the youngest candidate in the field.
The TUSC national steering committee, meeting on October 3, also agreed to seek nominations to be a TUSC candidate in the Croydon North by-election, caused by the death of the sitting MP. The date for this election has yet to be formally decided but, assuming that it too will be November 15, applications to be a TUSC candidate in Croydon need to be submitted quickly. Application forms are available on the TUSC website at http://www.tusc.org.uk/candidates.php.
Bristol mayor candidate will give 'anti-austerity voice'
BBC News Bristol, 8 October 2012
A Bristol mayor prospective candidate has been selected by the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC).
Tom Baldwin has vowed to stand for the 'ordinary people' of the city for the group which wants an 'anti-austerity voice' in the 15 November election.
Mr Baldwin will appear on the ballot paper under Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts.
Bob Crow slams Labour over pay ‘kick in the teeth’ and calls for a political alternative
TUSC press release, 2 October 2012
Responding to the adoption of Con-Dem policies on public sector pay by the Labour front bench at the conference in Manchester, RMT General Secretary Bob Crow today said:
'Millions of workers have had their pay frozen for years now and have seen their real standards of living decrease by 16% while boardroom pay has gone through the roof. You would have thought that the Labour Party might do something to side with those taking a battering and against those dealing it out but you would be wrong.
'Labour and the government are now positioned like Tweedledum and Tweedledee; whichever one you vote for you end up with the same kick in the teeth for the very people that make this country tick and that is a disgrace.
Posted Wednesday 19 September 2012
Saturday 22nd September 2012, 11am-5pm, Room B34, Birkbeck College, Malet Street, London WC1E
All welcome. Registration on the door £5 waged/£2 unwaged, with a pooled fare for waged attendees capped at £10 (ie, if your travel costs are less than £10 you will be asked to pay the difference into the pooled fare).
Agenda
* 11am to 1-15pm: TUSC ‘open forum’ - Building working class political representation against the austerity consensus
* 1-45pm to 3-30pm: For councillors who will stand up to the Con-Dems
* 3-30pm to 5-00pm:
‘Reviewing TUSC’s structures’
TUSC to stand in Manchester Central by-election and for Bristol mayor
TUSC press release, 11 September 2012
The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) will be standing candidates in the parliamentary by-election in Manchester Central and the contest for the mayor of Bristol taking place on November 15.
This was the decision taken at the latest meeting of the TUSC national steering committee, held on September 5, which also discussed the other November parliamentary by-elections in Corby and the Cardiff South & Penarth seat.
Applications to be the TUSC candidate in the Manchester and Bristol contests had been received and were discussed at the steering committee meeting. But with the developments around the resignation of Kate Hudson as the prospective Respect Party candidate for Manchester Central, it was agreed that more time should be given for other possible candidates to come forward and seek the TUSC nomination.
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Bulletin No.46
Friday 24 August 2012
TUSC News
Four weeks to the TUSC conference!
There are now just four weeks to go to the TUSC conference, being held on Saturday 22nd September, from 11am to 5pm, at Birkbeck College, Malet Street, London WC1E.
The conference opens with a session entitled, ‘Building working class political representation against the austerity consensus’.
This will include a speaker from the RMT, following their recent conference decision to “continue to support TUSC candidates in local and parliamentary elections”, and a senior officer of the PCS, after that union’s membership ballot to free up their political fund.
Also confirmed as a speaker in this session is the Unite Executive Council member, Kingsley Abrams, speaking in a personal capacity.
Walsall councillor calls on every councillor to reject cuts programme
TUSC press release, 20 August 2012
LAST WEEK Walsall council began a public consultation on ‘spending priorities for 2013-14’.
Speaking of ‘challenging times’ for councils the consultation invite spoke of Walsall facing further cuts of around £67m over the next four years.
The accompanying questionnaire asked people to say which council services ‘were most important to them’ and which were ‘less important’ but unsurprisingly did not include the option of saying no to all the cuts.
Parliamentary by-elections: candidate applications
Friday 17 August 2012
THE RESIGNATION of the Tory backbencher Louise Mensch as the MP for Corby and East Northamptonshire brings to three the number of parliamentary by-elections that will be contested on November 15, alongside the election for the Mayor of Bristol and the inaugural elections for police commissioners. The other parliamentary by-elections in November will be for the Cardiff South and Penarth seat and for Manchester Central, both seats becoming vacant as their Labour incumbents are resigning to stand as police commissioners.
The TUSC national steering committee will be meeting on September 5 to discuss the November contests. TUSC was initially established precisely with the aim of enabling trade unionists, community campaigners and socialists to resist electorally as part of a national coalition the pro-austerity consensus of the establishment parties. Candidates are required to endorse the founding core policies of our coalition, posted on the TUSC website at http://www.tusc.org.uk/policy.php, but with that provision are responsible for their own campaign.
TUSC conference, Saturday 22 September
Saturday 22 September 2012
11am-5pm, Room B34, Birkbeck College, Malet Street, London WC1E. The agenda comprises of three sessions: an opening session on building working class political representation against the austerity consensus; a session on TUSC local election policy, including preparations for the 2013 elections; and a final session on ‘Reviewing TUSC’s structures’. All welcome. Registration £5 waged/£2 unwaged.
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Bulletin No.45
26 July 2012
July Steering Committee drafts the TUSC Conference Agenda for TUSC National Conference on September 22nd
There will be three Sessions. Speakers will be restricted so that there is ample time for discussion
Session One: Building working class political representation against the austerity consensus. Speakers to be invited from the RMT executive, PCS and one speaker each from the affiliated socialist organisations, the SP, SWP and ISN
RMT union conference sees big step forward for TUSC
TUSC press release, 3 July 2012
THE RECENT annual conference of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport workers (RMT) saw a significant step forward in the struggle for working class political representation and for the development of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC). The resolution below was agreed with no opposition. It speaks for itself.
Resolution to RMT Annual General Meeting 2012: Trade Union and Socialist Coalition (TUSC)
This Annual General Meeting applauds the decisions of the Council of Executives to allow RMT branches and regional councils to use their Political Funds to support all candidates standing for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) in local elections in England and Wales, which took place on Thursday 3rd May 2012.
This AGM congratulates all RMT members who stood as TUSC candidates, or whose branches or regional councils supported TUSC candidates, for contributing to the hard, long-term task of rebuilding political representation for working class people and communities in the most difficult period for our movement since the 1930s.
Liverpool council by-election results
TUSC press release, 6 July 2012
TWO COUNCIL by-elections in Liverpool were contested by TUSC candidates on Thursday 5th July.
The Riverside ward seat became vacant after the sitting Labour councillor Joe Anderson won the contest to become the city’s directly-elected Mayor on May 3rd. Riverside has been a solid Labour seat since it was formed after boundary changes in 2004 and once again the Labour candidate was returned.
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Bulletin No.44
27 June 2012
TUSC News
National TUSC supporters' conference called for 22 September 2012
The TUSC National Steering Committee, at its meeting on June 13th, confirmed that the TUSC Conference would be held in London on September 22nd. The Conference Organising Committee will discuss possible venues. The conference is open to all TUSC supporters - starting at 11am and finishing by 5pm.
It has also been agreed that a working group ‘commission’ should be set-up “to collate information on possible structures and receive submissions” as part of an ongoing discussion of TUSC’s development, with the aim of producing a report for the TUSC conference scheduled for September.
TUSC steering committee agrees plans for future election strategy
TUSC press release, 19 June 2012
AT A TIME when growing numbers of people across Europe are turning to anti-austerity alternatives at the ballot box, the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) national steering committee met on June 13th to discuss its plans for contesting future elections here in Britain.
The next scheduled national contest will be the May 2013 elections for 35 non-metropolitan county councils and other authorities in England (and Anglesey council in Wales), with nearly 2,500 seats to be filled. TUSC national chairperson Dave Nellist, who was himself a county councillor in the 1980s before going on to be the MP for Coventry South East from 1983-1992, said:
“While next year’s cycle of council elections will see fewer seats contested than this year or 2011, the county council elections are vital for the 24 million people who use the key services these councils administer – from education, adult social services and libraries, to youth provision, planning and regeneration, highways and emergency services”.
Help the TUSC by-election campaigns in Merseyside
15 June 2012
TUSC candidates Chris McDermott and Lynne Wild are contesting by-elections in Allerton and Hunts Cross ward.
Following the impressive performance of Tony Mulhearn, the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidate for Liverpool mayor in May’s local elections – polling 4,792 votes, ahead of the main ‘party of government’ in the Con-Dem coalition – TUSC is now contesting two Liverpool council by-elections on July 5th.
Chris McDermott is standing in the Riverside ward and Lynne Wild is contesting the by-election in Allerton and Hunts Cross ward.
Second union general secretary joins steering committee
1 June 2012
THE GENERAL SECRETARY of the Prison Officers Association (POA), Steve Gillan, has joined the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) national steering committee, becoming the second union general secretary on the committee alongside Bob Crow, of the RMT transport workers’ union. Also joining the TUSC committee is the POA Assistant General Secretary, Joe Simpson.
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Bulletin No.43
31 May 2012
TUSC News
National TUSC supporters' conference called for 22 September 2012
After due consideration the 22nd has been chosen over the 8th September because the TUC conference opens on Monday 10thSeptember (in Brighton) with delegations arriving over the weekend – when there will be a pre-conference general council and also, the National Shop Stewards Network and other campaigning organisations will want to make their presence felt. So all in all the best date is 22 September for the TUSC supporetr's conference– put it in your diaries now.
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition here to stay
Socialism Today, June 2012
‘TUSC IS not going away’ was the conclusion of all the participants in the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) at its first national steering committee meeting held after May’s local elections.
There was no spectacular breakthrough in the second set of local polls contested by TUSC since it was formed in early 2010. But the 6.2% average vote achieved by the 134 local council candidates – up from last year, and in a bigger percentage of seats – was felt by all involved to be a solid basis for continuing the task of building a trade union-based and socialist electoral alternative.
The Liverpool Daily Post take on the TUSC mayoral campaign
Liverpool Daily Post, 17 May 2012
In two previous posts, I've looked at the share of the votes obtained across Liverpool's 30 electoral wards by the winning candidate in May's mayoral election, Joe Anderson, and also by the 2nd and 3rd placed candidates, respectively Liam Fogarty and Richard Kemp.
Here, I undertake a similar analysis for the candidates placed from 4th through to 7th. In rank order, these 4 candidates were: 4th, John Coyne (Green, 5.3% of the votes); 5th, Tony Mulhearn (Trade Union and Socialist Coalition, 4.9%); 6th, Steve Radford (Liberal, 4.5%); and Tony Caldeira (Conservative, 4.5%).
While none of these individual candidates secured more than one-tenth of the votes obtained by Joe Anderson, their respective vote shares are perhaps more important than is immediately obvious.
Election results: How did TUSC do?
The Socialist, 9 May 2012
This year's elections were the second set of local polls contested by the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) since it was formed in early 2010. How did TUSC do?
It is hard to draw broad conclusions from a small sample. Elections took place in 128 councils in England, to fill 2,407 seats. TUSC stood 120 candidates, 5% of the seats, in 36 councils (28%). In Wales there were 14 TUSC candidates (out of the 1,224 seats vacant) in four of the 22 councils with elections.
But the results say something. The BBC, followed by the other media, headlined 'growing support for Ukip' on the basis that it 'gained 13% of the vote in the seats where they stood'. Ukip stood in more seats (19%) but still TUSC council candidates averaged 6.2% 'where they stood' - but was this reported? Or the victory of two TUSC-backed candidates, Michael Lavalette in Preston and Peter Smith in Walsall?
Tusc: roots are the key to success
Socialist Worker, 12 May 2012
Two candidates backed by the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) won their seats in the council elections.
As well as Michael Lavalette (see above), Peter Smith of the TUSC-backed Democratic Labour Party in Walsall won back a seat he lost last year with 46 percent.
This reflects a theme. Where candidates had roots and a record, they did well.
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Bulletin No.42
10 May 2012
TUSC News
TUSC to hold national conference in September 2012. Report from 9th May TUSC national steering committee here
Election data and analysis:
2012 Local Elections: Victories in Preston and Walsall; a setback in Coventry; solid votes in many councils
Two TUSC-backed candidates have won council seats in Thursday’s elections! Michael Lavalette, who narrowly lost his Town Centre ward seat on Preston council last year, claimed it back this time, beating the Labour candidate by nearly a hundred votes with 48.5% of the poll. In Walsall, Peter Smith, who had also lost his seat in 2011, shot up from 34% of the vote in 2011 to 45.8% this year to win back the Blakenall ward. Peter is a member of the Walsall Democratic Labour Party, which co-operates with other socialist organisations under the TUSC coalition umbrella. Unfortunately, the elections in Coventry saw a setback for TUSC. The TUSC national chairperson, Dave Nellist, lost his seat on Coventry council. Despite increasing the socialist vote in the St Michaels ward from last year to 1,469 this time (43.4%), Dave was defeated by a city-wide Labour Party campaign to unseat the only anti-austerity opposition from the council. Read more here
Thursday, 3 May 2012
TWO TUSC-backed candidates have won council seats in Thursday’s elections! Michael Lavalette, who narrowly lost his Town Centre ward seat on Preston council last year, claimed it back this time, beating the Labour candidate by nearly a hundred votes with 48.5% of the poll.
In Walsall, Peter Smith, who had also lost his seat in 2011, shot up from 34% of the vote in 2011 to 45.8% this year to win back the Blakenall ward. Peter is a member of the Walsall Democratic Labour Party, which co-operates with other socialist organisations under the TUSC coalition umbrella.
Unfortunately, the elections in Coventry saw a setback for TUSC. The TUSC national chairperson, Dave Nellist, lost his seat on Coventry council. Despite increasing the socialist vote in the St Michaels ward from last year to 1,469 this time (43.4%), Dave was defeated by a city-wide Labour Party campaign to unseat the only anti-austerity opposition from the council.
Liverpool elected mayor candidates take part in BBC debates
BBC News Liverpool, 27 April 2012
Candidates hoping to become Liverpool's first directly elected mayor have set out their policies in a series of debates on BBC Radio Merseyside.
The rivals took part in three debates on the Roger Phillips show ahead of the election on 3 May.
... Mr Mulhearn said he would campaign against cuts to services in the city. "These cuts have got to be stopped now," he said. "The very fabric of everything that makes Liverpool a civilised city is under attack. "I am standing to say enough is enough. There is an alternative to cuts and I'm going to campaign against these cuts."
This is South Wales, 2 May 2012
THE Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition said it opposed all cuts to council services, jobs, pay and conditions.
It said it would reject future increases in council tax, rent and service charges, and vote against the privatisation of council jobs.
The coalition, which has four Swansea candidates for tomorrow's election, pledged to set a council budget that met the needs of the local community and that the Government should make up the shortfall.
Support for TUSC from London Turks and Kurds
TUSC Independent Socialist Network, 1 May 2012
Nick Wrack spoke on behalf of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) at the 4th GIK-DER Culture and Art Festival in Edmonton on Friday 27 April.
The festival was dedicated to Hrant Dink, an Armenian journalist and writer who was killed in Istanbul in 2007. Over 600 people, mainly Kurdish and Turkish, attended the event which included music, poetry, political speeches and dancing. A Greek band, Armenian musicians and a famous left wing singer from Turkey performed.
The presenter of the event, who is on the management committee of GIK-DER, spoke in favour of TUSC and asked people to vote for TUSC, explaining how to vote on the orange ballot paper.
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Bulletin No.41
1 May 2012
Good Luck to all Trade Unionist and Socialist candidates and election teams in the 3 May elections from TUSC Bulletin – resisting the cuts and building a mass socialist party of the working class -
Standing in the elections? – then tell us your vote as soon as you know it!
It is vital that the details of the actual results are relayed to TUSC nationally as soon as they are known, so that we can produce an accurate overall picture of the TUSC campaign as rapidly as possible. The information we need for each ward where there is a TUSC candidate is:
The ward name in which the TUSC candidate stood;
The votes for every party/candidate (including independents) in the ward;
The total number of votes cast in the ward (if it is possible to provide this as some councils do not publish this information, although the returning officer will have it).
Olympic Park protest success: Inequality and Olympic hypocrisy highlighted
Press release, 1 May 2012
Campaigners demand real solutions to Newham's housing crisis
Campaigners and candidates standing for the Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition (TUSC) on the GLA London-wide member list in next week's London elections staged a protest outside the Olympic Park today.
The protest was called in the wake of the leaked letter sent by the mayor of Newham asking for up to 500 Newham families to be re-housed hundreds of miles away in Stoke.
Local issues hold key to tight election battle in Winchester
The Guardian, 1 May 2012
Lib Dems hold same number of seats as Tories on council but are likely to lose ground, and smaller parties may have impact
... As in Winchester, smaller parties may have an impact. In Southampton the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is fielding 13 candidates in the 16 wards where seats are being fought for. It may not take seats, but it could tempt some left-leaning voters away from Labour.
The TUSC candidate Nick Chaffey says the party would not field candidates if Labour had promised to reverse cuts. "But they haven't adapted that, so we are standing." Chaffey does not expect the sort of upset that George Galloway managed when he took Bradford West from Labour in March for Respect. "I'm not suggesting that will happen here yet, but it will happen everywhere at a certain stage."
Civil servants' union (PCS) 'Make your vote count' 2012
PCS website, 1 May 2012
1. The Trade Union and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) fully supports the PCS campaign against all public sector cuts. TUSC candidates all stand on a minimum program that not a single public spending cut is justified nor that any cut in spending is a 'good cut'. TUSC candidates are pledged to fight against public spending cuts and to argue for real political alternatives.
We believe the state should recover the £120 billion of tax receipts unpaid, avoided and evaded by wealthy corporations and individuals in order to fund public sector investment and to create socially useful jobs for the unemployed and young people. This would include a house building programme to help alleviate the drastic housing shortages in London.
2. TUSC candidates oppose the government's public sector pay freeze and support workers fighting for fair pay, with inflationary increases as a minimum. We are committed to demanding the implementation of the London living wage for all workers employed or contracted to bodies under the control of the Mayor of London in order to allow more working people to live above the poverty line...
TUSC candidate Nick Wrack interviewed by Prisma magazine
The Prisma, 29 April 2012
The Prisma is a bilingual publication, published in both Spanish and English, to bring together the speakers of these two languages in the United Kingdom. It works to create links between immigrants, Spanish speaking or otherwise, and natives of the UK.
We need a strong left-wing, socialist party; this is the solution suggested by the candidate for the London Assembly. According to him, ending the crisis would require the working class to unite in clear opposition to right-wing and traditional parties.
He will vote for Ken Livingstone for Mayor of London because he believes that he is the only candidate who can defeat Boris Johnson, although he will do so with little enthusiasm as it will still be a vote for the Labour Party.
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition applauded on BBC's Question Time
27 April 2012
Royal Free Hospital demo over health ‘privatisation’
Ham and High, 26 April 2012
Health campaigners manned a picket line outside the Royal Free Hospital to protest about privatisation of the NHS, cuts in services and charging for essential healthcare on Monday (April 23).
Members of Trade Union Socialist Party [should be 'Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition' - ed], a coalition of socialist and trade union organisations set up 18 months ago to oppose public cuts, handed out mock NHS credit cards to staff and patients at the hospital in Pond Street, Hampstead.
The cards contained the message “Top up this card to pay your NHS charges: £50 GP appointment, £200 x-ray, £2,000 hip replacement”.
Largest mayoral rally in Liverpool shows impact of TUSC campaign
27 April 2012
Three hundred people braved torrential rain to attend a pre-election rally for Liverpool mayoral candidate Tony Mulhearn and other TUSC candidates across Merseyside.
None of the other political parties standing in the 3 May election have had a rally in Liverpool of this size.
There was a large platform of speakers but they were diverse and each made points from their own perspective on how the economic crisis is affecting them.
Waltham Forest rally: TUSC standing leaders with 'bottle' to fight cuts
27 April 2012
There was only standing room left as 100 people attended the Waltham Forest Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) public meeting for the London elections to hear RMT transport union general secretary Bob Crow, and TUSC candidates Nancy Taaffe and Jenny Sutton.
Nancy, the coordinator of Waltham Forest Anti-Cuts Union and a library worker made redundant by the council, said that libraries were a great achievement for working class communities, the 'NHS for the mind' as put by Harry Potter author JK Rowling.
Waltham Forest has 37 Labour councillors and two Labour MPs. But instead of being any sort of resistance, the council has implemented the Con-Dems' cuts, sacked workers and closed buildings, including three libraries.
Letter of complaint sent today by TUSC to the BBC News producer
Thursday 26 April 2012
To: The Producer, BBC News
Dear Sir
I am writing as the national election agent of the Trade
Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) to complain about the unfairness of
your coverage of TUSC in your news broadcasts on Wednesday 25 April.
You broadcast an item dealing with the prospect of smaller, ‘fringe’ parties gaining support at the forthcoming local elections. You covered Respect, the BNP and the English Democrats. But you did not mention or feature at all the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition despite the fact that it is standing more council candidates on 3 May than any of the three mentioned parties...
Complaint re transcription in today's Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Thursday 26 April 2012
Dear Editor,
As election agent for Mary Cooke, I wish to complain about your paper's change in Mary's description of her 'hero' ( in response to your reporter's question) from 'Mark Serwotka, General Secretary of the civil servants' Union' to what you actually printed 'Mark Serwotka, General Secretary of the Soviet Union'. It is difficult to see how this could have been a straightforward transcription error, but in any case the failure to check the piece prior to publication is also a very serious error.
Mary completely rejects the dictatorial Stalinist system and is a firm believer in the democratic control of society by the millions, not by the millionaires. For her to be maligned in this way just one week before polling deserves in our view a very prominent apology from yourself and from all your staff involved. We reserve the right to take this matter further unless this complaint is addressed to our satisfaction.
PCS Assistant General Secretary backs left of Labour challenge in London Assembly elections
TUSC press release, Thursday 26 April 2012
With a week to go before polling day, Chris Baugh, Public and Commercial Services Union Assistant General Secretary, speaking in a personal capacity, said:
“Bankers and the three main parties expect us to pay for their crisis. Public and private, employed and unemployed, women and men, young and old, black and white, disabled and able-bodied, we need strong trade unions and a political voice for working people. It is why I call for support for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition(1) candidates in the London Assembly elections.”
Guardian 26 April 2012
...Trade Union and Socialist Coalition (Tusc) London Assembly candidate Nick Wrack, a barrister at Tooks Chambers, demonstrates similar levels of conviction, having forgone the advantage that being a lawyer would usually afford in politics to fit into his party's culture.
Last week, the Guardian's Hugh Muir suggested in his diary column that Wrack had lost out on top position on the Tusc London Assembly list because the union funding much of the campaign wanted one of its own there instead. Wrack's only comment on Muir's piece is that 'my fellow candidates – train drivers, tube workers, local government workers, fire fighters – are all as articulate and capable as I am'. He adds: 'There are many brilliant people who would like to represent others, yet all too frequently lawyers end up being candidates.'
Jimmy McGovern endorses Tony Mulhearn for Liverpool mayor
Liverpool Daily Post, 23 April 2012
Multi-award winning Liverpool writer Jimmy McGovern has endorsed Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Liverpool mayor candidate Tony Mulhearn.
Jimmy said: "Tony's stance of opposing all cuts and his record when one of the socialist councillors in the 1980s who defended the city from the ravages of Thatcherism and who has spent decades campaigning for Liverpool's working people makes him uniquely qualified for the office of first mayor of Liverpool."
In other news Mr Mulhearn will be holding an election rally on Thursday night at the Adelphi Hotel.
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Bulletin No.40
24 April 2012
TUSC National Election Campaign News
Latest TUSC Press releases:
Tube strike 'A fight for equality that all Londoners have a stake in supporting' - Alex Gordon, RMT president
Other London Assembly candidates speak out in support of the tube maintenance workers strike
London Assembly candidate and trade union president calls for end to Newham's social cleansing plans
24 April 2012
Speaking about Labour's plans in Newham to expel low income families from the borough, Alex Gordon, TUSC lead candidate for the London Assembly and President of the National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers (RMT) said:
"The contrast between the government's lavish expenditure on the 2012 Olympics and Queen's Jubilee with the treatment of families being deported from Newham like refugees in their own country is sickening.
"This grotesque and authoritarian abuse of some of the most vulnerable families in London exposes once again a political system in London run by and for a rich elite, which treats the rest of society like cattle..."
RMT Press release, 24 April 2012
Alex Gordon said: "The 3-day strike starting today by RMT members working for Tubelines, the PFI consortium that went bust and was bailed out by Transport for London, is a fight for equality that all Londoners have a stake in supporting.
"RMT's call for equal access for Tubelines employees to join TfL's pension scheme is just and affordable, but Tubelines bosses are resisting it simply because Boris Johnson wants to reprivatise the company responsible for engineering maintenance of the Jubilee, Piccadilly and Northern lines and for Emergency response across the entire Tube network.
"TUSC candidates are standing for election to the GLA next week on a manifesto of affordable, publically-owned public transport for Londoners. TUSC will oppose any attempt to flog off the safety and emergency services of London's Tube. TUSC candidates support RMT members and all trade unionists fighting for workplace and pension justice."
London Assembly candidates speak out in support of the tube maintenance workers strike
24 April 2012
As a 72 hour strike by underground maintenance workers got under way Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidates for the London Assembly on 3 May spoke out in support of the strikers:
Nick Wrack, No.2 on the TUSC list said:
"I support the strike action by RMT members that begins today. It is important that the unions defend the rights and living standards of their members. The bosses want to pick off different sections of the workforce one by one. If they are allowed to do this, it will get worse for everyone. The unions are a line in the sand to prevent the erosion of living standards for all. This government and the bosses want us all to see our wages, conditions and pensions driven to the lowest level. I commend the RMT for refusing to allow this to happen. They are taking a stand that will benefit all Londoners."
An alternative to endless cuts
Morning Star, 19 April 2012
TUSC is standing candidates across England, Wales and Scotland on May 3.
We are facing an international crisis of capitalism and all three main parties aim to make the working class pay for it.
Unless there is a completely new direction in British politics we will see people working until they drop, while decent education and healthcare become the preserve of the well-off.
Ken Loach backs TUSC at packed house in Peckham
Monday 23rd April 2012
A sell-out audience of over 250 people came to one of London's few truly independent cinemas, Peckham Plex, to see director Ken Loach screen his long-suppressed film, 'The Save the Children Fund Film' and to discuss his politics with Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidate for the London assembly, Nick Wrack. Attendees left with hundreds of leaflets to distribute across London, backing TUSC's robust anti-cuts agenda.
In 1969, Ken and his producer Tony Garnett received a commission from Save the Children to produce a television documentary celebrating fifty years of the charity by looking at their work in care homes in Blackburn, Kenya and Uganda.
What Loach and his collaborators uncovered was not the stuff of a celebration: institutionalised racism, patronising and dismissive attitudes to the children in care, the triumph of big business in areas of extreme poverty and the failure of charity to provide a sustainable future for those most in need. As a result, the film was suppressed for forty years, only kept from destruction by a demand from Loach that it be kept in the British Film Institute’s archives, forever unshown.
Protest outside The Royal Free Hospital
Monday 23rd April 2012
Around 10 Trade Union and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) activists, including health workers will be assembling outside the Royal Free Hospital in Camden protesting against plans to privatise NHS services, extend charging for and cuts to services.
The activists will be promoting awareness of the TUSC election campaign, aiming to elect a GP, a train driver, a teacher and trade unionists as representatives to the London assembly. They will be drawing attention to the fact that although some of the main parties have raised concerns regarding these threats to the NHS, including local councillors and London assembly members TUSC is unique in its resolute opposition to privatisation, extension of NHS charging and cuts in services.
TUSC Candidate and Camden resident Alex Gordon who is a train driver and president of the RMT said: “The majority of people in Camden and around the country do not support privatisation. They want an NHS in public ownership, free at the point of access and available to all. As the real implications of the Health and Social Care Act have become known, the public and NHS staff have made their opposition to these changes clear.”
May elections – TUSC: Opposing all the cuts
Red Pepper, 8 April 2012
The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is standing candidates for the London assembly and elsewhere in the local elections on 3 May. Red Pepper spoke to Nick Wrack, a member of the TUSC national committee and number two on its slate of candidates in London
What is TUSC?
It is exactly what the name says. It is a coalition of trade unionists and socialists who want to support a different set of policies from the other parties. There is now a three-party consensus in favour of cuts, privatisation and austerity; that aims to make the working class pay for the current capitalist crisis. TUSC opposes that agenda entirely.
Mediacityuk Ejects Salford Election Candidate
Salford Star, 19 April 2012
A Salford Star Exclusive
ELECTION CANDIDATE BARRED FROM DISTRIBUTING LEAFLETS
Ordsall local election candidate, George Tapp, was yesterday banned from handing out his leaflets to BBC workers at MediaCityUK which is within the Ordsall ward.
20 April 2012
GOVERNMENT’S NHS BILL: The Health & Social Care Act Means: NHS Privatisation
Vote Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) on 3 May
The Socialist, 19 April 2012
Alex Gordon, President of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), explains why a vote for TUSC is important.
"As we prepare to celebrate International Workers' Day on 1 May, my union RMT is preparing to defend jobs and safety across the railway industry.
"On 3 May we have the opportunity to vote for candidates who share RMT's values of demanding an alternative to privatisation, liberalisation and a race to the bottom in workers' pay and conditions.
Successful Uxbridge TUSC meeting hears Bob Crow
19 April 2012
Nearly 70 local Uxbridge people braved the rain to hear RMT general secretary Bob Crow argue the case for TUSC on 18th April.
The brilliant meeting was co-hosted by Hillingdon Against Cuts community campaigners, and was full of local workers and union reps from council unions Unison, Unite and GMB, teachers union NUT, RMT, and postal workers union CWU.
Bob Crow opened the meeting by saying he was supporting TUSC on behalf of his union, not just in London but Britain as a whole.
Haringey’s TUSC public meeting
19 April 2012
At Haringey’s TUSC public meeting on 17th April, Oktay Sahbaz from the Daymer Kurdish and Turkish organisation explained why Daymer is supporting TUSC.
“Migrant communities are affected by the cuts to public services, education, jobs, the NHS. The ConDem coalition does not represent us. The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition does.”
Oktay said that Daymer’s activists had ensured every Kurdish and Turkish shop had TUSC leaflets and posters.
18 April 2012
Wales TUSC A3 poster pdf
TUSC Poster National pdf
TUSC ballot Paper A3 poster pdf
TUSC Ballot Paper (London) A3 pdf
Pdfs open in new window. (Main link is to TUSC National Poster.)
TUSC election posters are available for display in windows, workplace and community notice boards. They must NOT be used for flyposting, which is an offence under the Town and Country Planning Act (and subsequent regulations).
TUSC campaign reaching out across the length and breadth of London
Socialist Party, 17 April 2012
Everywhere we go in London, election campaigners for the London Assembly election list of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition - TUSC - are getting support.
Trade unionists, young people, people in local communities are sick of the main parties of cuts and privatisation and say it's about time we get a voice for ordinary Londoners elected.
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Bulletin No.38
16 April 2012
TUSC National Election Campaign News
Click here for full report of TUSC candidates standing
Carlisle: TUSC public election meeting: 'There IS an alternative' April 30th 2012 Speakers: Brent Kennedy, TUSC candidate for Currock ward. Currock House Community Centre, Lediard Avenue, Carlisle, 7pm.
South Wales: Fierce competition for seats in diverse city centre ward
There are 20 candidates battling it out for the four seats, with the Green Party and the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition represented: http://bit.ly/IRDVMb
Children’s Laureate and Novelist backs left of Labour challenge in the London Assembly Elections
13 April 2012
Broadcaster, children's novelist and poet, the author of
140 books and fifth Children's Laureate, Michael Rosen has thrown his support
behind the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (1) election campaign.
Speaking today Mike Rosen said: “The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition offers us a chance to say we oppose what this government is doing - which is sacking people and cutting our services to help the bankers...”
TUSC candidate intervenes in Evening Standard mayoral candidate election debate
13 April 2012
April 11th saw the Evening Standard mayoral election debate take place in the centre of London which was chaired by Clive Anderson, who had earlier that day said that he would like to see a cat fight between the candidates at the event.
Whilst there was no real cat fight between the candidates other than a heated debate on the issue of personal taxes, the Fire Brigade Union (FBU) London Region Executive Council Member and Trade Union Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidate for the GLA elections Ian Leahair, was able to intervene on the question of policing when he raised the issue of budget raiding and privatisation in the Fire Service, accusing the current Mayor Boris Johnson of robbing the London Fire & Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) reserves to the sum of £50m over the last two years to increase police numbers short term which may lead to a worse fire service and raise issues of public safety post the Olympics.
Two separate mentions for TUSC’s Election Campaign in Rugby
13 April 2012
Following a Rugby TUSC Media Release, the local Rugby Advertiser published a short article today listing all the candidates in Rugby this May, including the 8 of us standing as Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts (TUSC). Most of the rest of the Media Release then appeared as a letter from Pete McLaren, Rugby TUSC, with the Paper’s own headline, as follows:
Hooray for lack of BNP
“From our point of view in TUSC, we are delighted there will be no BNP candidates standing to cause division within communities. We are a little surprised the Lib Dems are only contesting half the seats, and Labour two thirds, indicating local organisational weaknesses and/or lack of membership...
“TUSC has only been in existence for just thirteen months, yet we are not only standing in half the wards, but also we will be pursuing an active campaign leafleting every household at least once to put across the anti cuts message, and talking to as many voters as possible...
A packed launch meeting for Tony4Mayor campaign in Liverpool
The Socialist, 12 April 2012
After a hectic week preparing the ground for the upcoming mayoral and council elections, the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) in Liverpool entered the campaign with a bang.
Over 120 union activists, socialists and community campaigners packed into the Liverpool Pub in the city centre on Wednesday 4 April for the campaign launch.
A message of support was given from film director Ken Loach, and then Daren Ireland, TUSC candidate for Central ward and a RMT executive council member, kicked off with a scathing attack on the cuts policies of New Labour.
TUSC candidates in the 2012 local elections
11 April 2012
The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition is standing 132 candidates in 38 Councils.
In addition there is the TUSC list of 17 candidates for the Greater London Assembly, and the TUSC candidate for the mayor of Liverpool, Tony Mulhearn.
This spread of TUSC candidates compares well with last year’s elections. Then there were a total of 174 candidates, standing in 50 councils, who contested the local elections under the TUSC umbrella. However, in 2011 there were elections in 279 councils (all in England) with 9,396 seats to be filled.
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Bulletin No.37
10 April 2012
TUSC News and Events
Brief TUSC candidates report for the 2012 local elections: http://bit.ly/InEjPG
The campaign news from across Britain:
BBC News report: Scottish Anti-Cuts-Coalition to stand principled fighters in 37 council seats. http://goo.gl/SpQ1A
TUSC candidates gaining support in Southampton http://pic.twitter.com/nYP3BuwP
120 attend TUSC election launch meeting in Liverpool
Southall man overcomes stroke to stand for election
Ealing Gazette, 10 April 2012
Southall resident Mark Benjamin hopes to win a seat on the Greater London Assembly when voters head to the polls on May 3. He told POPPY BRADBURY how recovering from a stroke spurred him on to represent the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition .
JUST 18 months ago, a serious stroke rendered Mark Benjamin bed-bound and unable to speak properly.
To his doctors’ astonishment, the 44-year-old learned to walk and talk again and was back to work within six short months.
Expelled Labour councillor backs TUSC candidates in London
6 April 2012
George Barratt is an independent socialist councillor in Barking and Dagenham.
He was a Labour councillor. But when he refused to vote for the ruling Labour party cuts budget he was unceremoniously expelled.
Here, George explains why he’s backing Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidates in the London elections on 3 May.
Letter to Guardian from Nick Wrack, TUSC candidate for London assembly
The Guardian, 5 April 2012
Seumas Milne (Comment, 4 April) is right to point out that a major factor in George Galloway‘s overwhelming success in Bradford West was that he confronted the three-party consensus in favour of austerity and cuts.
While much of the media presents the London elections as a personal battle between Ken and Boris, the Bradford result reveals a deeper process at work. Labour can no longer take working-class voters for granted. Thousands of Labour-voting union members are backing the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition in the London assembly elections. The RMT national executive and the London region of the Fire Brigades Union support it.
Three union general secretaries have publicly endorsed TUSC: Bob Crow, Steve Gillan and Matt Wrack. In addition it has the support of Ken Loach, Paul Laverty, Michael Mansfield QC, solicitor Imran Khan and others. TUSC, with its uncompromising opposition to all cuts, privatisation and austerity, and unashamed espousal of socialism, is not afraid to support workers who strike. A success for it in London on 3 May would pose serious questions for Labour.
Nick Wrack
TUSC national committee member and candidate for the London assembly
SENDIKA VE SOSYALIST KOALISYON (TUSC)
10 April 2012
Leaflet about TUSC in Turkish
3 Mayıs 2012 tarihinde, Londra Anakent Meclis seçimlerinde adaylar gösteriyoruz. Londra’nın sıradan çalışan insanların sesinin duyulmasını istiyoruz, bankalara ve zenginlere karşı yoksulların çıkarları için mücadele eden adaylara oylarınızı verin. Bizim adaylarımız; Demir Yolları Sendika Başkanı başta olmak üzere, değişik işyerlerinden militanca faaliyet sürdüren sendikacılar ve değişik kampanyalarda aktif yer almış insanlardan oluşur.
Memo to TUSC candidates: find a big dog to break press boycott
South Wales Evening Post, 5 April 2012
"Les Woodward, the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidate for Gowerton ward, spent three days in hospital after being attacked by the animal whilst delivering election leaflets on Sunday..."
Les Woodward will be speaking alongside the left-wing MP John McDonnell at a protest meeting against the government’s closure of Remploy factories in central London on Thursday 19th April:
Central London public meeting on Remploy closures:
Fight the Remploy Closures Meeting: Thurs 19 April, 7.30pm, ULU, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HY. Speakers include: John McDonnell MP, Gail Cartmail, Unite Assistant General Secretary, Les Woodward, GMB National Convenor of Remploy; Rob Murthwaite, Disabled People Against the Cuts (leaflet can be downloaded here)
Sign the petition to save Remploy factories and send cheques payable to ‘The Remploy Fighting Fund’ to: Phil Davies Manufacturing Section GMB National Office, 22-24 Worple Road, Wimbledon, London, SW19 4DD
Tony Mulhearn: Standing to defend Liverpool from the cuts
Guardian 3 April 2012
Tony Mulhearn of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition sets out his agenda for saving services and defending jobs
In response to an imagined slight, Liverpool city council leader and mayoral candidate Joe Anderson shouted 'You are scum!' at people protesting outside the Echo arena, before swanning in to meet Tory cabinet member Francis Maude, at a meeting for conservative business leaders.
In the years since I was a part of the city council in the mid-1980s, Labour has clearly moved away from its traditional values. It is now is happy to court big business, to condemn working people taking strike action and to pass on every single council cut demanded by the ConDem coalition.
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Bulletin No.36
3 April 2012
TUSC News and Events
Steve Gillan, General Secretary of the POA wholeheartedly supports TUSC
Steve Gillan General Secretary of the POA speaking in a personal capacity on Friday 30 March said, 'I support the Trade Union and Socialist Candidates in the forthcoming GLA elections. TUSC gives workers in London a viable political option to fight the cuts, redundancies and privatisation in the capital. I would urge all workers in London to put their cross next to the TUSC list on 3rd May'
4 April 2012
Coventry Socialist Party Councillor and TUSC national chair, Dave Nellist.
3:30pm - April 28th, 2012, Starley Suite (upstairs)
Galloway victory shows potential for another upset says London Assembly candidate
30 March 2012
Trade Unionist and Socialist London list candidate Nick Wrack said:
“George Galloway’s overwhelming win in Bradford West shows that Labour can no longer take its working-class voters for granted. Labour has paid a huge price for its support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and its endorsement of the government’s austerity policies.
Tony Mulhearn’s bid for city mayor will shake up Liverpool politics
Liverpool Echo, 29 March 2012
FORMER Militant Tony Mulhearn's bid to become Liverpool's first executive mayor, is the first hint the May 4 contest may finally transform itself from a nodding dog side-show into a fight worth getting out of bed for.
In 1987, three years after being elected to the council, Mulhearn was one of 47 rebels suspended for failing to set a so- called “legal” budget.
Now he is back, promising to reverse all council cuts; a pledge that will have deep resonance in a city where the recession is hitting ordinary families hard, and one in five 16 to 24-year-olds has no job. While some may regard the former president of the Liverpool District Labour Party as a political dinosaur, his commitment to old-fashioned left-wing principles is without question.
TUSC supports London teachers’ and lecturers’ strike
29 March 2012
“With TUSC there’ll be no running away from supporting strikers” Alex Gordon announced at the TUSC London launch rally.
TUSC candidates and supporters showed what this means on the March 28 London teachers’ and lecturers’ strike. Strikers included TUSC candidate Martin Powell-Davies, who represents Inner London on the National Union of Teachers executive, and Jenny Sutton, who has recently been elected to the executive of the University and College Lecturers Union.
They were joined on the 10,000 strong demo by other TUSC candidates Nancy Taaffe, April Ashley and Lesley Woodburn. Thousands of TUSC postcards were given out and the TUSC banner was accompanied on the march with a sound system which allowed candidates and TUSC supporters to speak to the crowds of angry strikers. The idea of trade unionists standing in the London elections went down a storm.
29 March 2012
Hundreds of people will gather outside the American Embassy in central London this Saturday to protest following the death of a black teenager Trayvon Martin who was shot and killed by a neighbourhood watchman on his way home in Florida.(1)
Tottenham resident and Trade Unionist and Socialist candidate in the London Assembly list elections candidate Gary Mcfarlane, who will be attending the protest, said:
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Bulletin No.35
26 March 2012
A Special event to support TUSC in London
Ken Loach, in association with the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition’s Southwark branch, will be appearing at Peckham Plex on 19 April to introduce and later discuss his films and political outlook.The Save the Children Film was commissioned by the charity in 1969, but was suppressed for 40 years due to its controversial content. Ken will be in discussion with Nick Wrack, a TUSC candidate in the London elections on 3 May. This event will be only its third ever public screening: See: http://bit.ly/H6bKIp
Stephen Lawrence lawyer Imran Khan backs socialist candidate in London elections
27 March 2012
Imran Khan, the solicitor who has represented the Stephen Lawrence family since his murder in 1993, has given his support to socialist barrister Nick Wrack in his bid to get elected to the London Assembly.nd.
Wrack, who works at the Tooks Chambers headed by Mike Mansfield Q.C., is second on the list of candidates being presented by the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition for the London elections on 3 May. The lead candidate is the RMT rail union president Alex Gordon. For Wrack to be elected TUSC would need to reach ten per cent. TUSC is a relatively new party and is hoping to get more than five per cent to get at least one candidate on to the Assembly.
Cuts Aren't Working - leaflet produced by Sheffield TUSC
27 March 2012
The campaign in Sheffield is under way with an excellent leaflet.
Tony Mulhearn enters Mayoral election race in Liverpool
26 March 2012
Tony Mulhearn has entered the race to be Liverpool’s first elected mayor. The veteran socialist and trade unionist, former District Labour Party President and one of the leaders of the Socialist Council 1983-87, today announced he is seeking nomination to stand.
Tony said: 'I intend to provide the real anti-cuts alternative to Joe Anderson’s vision of savage cuts today and pie-in-the sky promises for the distant future.'
Tony is standing on a clear anti-cuts platform, on behalf of the Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition (TUSC). TUSC is backed by union leaders such as Bob Crow General Secretary of the Rail Maritime & Transport union and Chris Baugh, Assistant General Secretary of the PCS, and the Socialist Party of which Tony is a member.
London TUSC: Standing to say "there is an alternative"
The Socialist, Thursday 22 March 2012
On the day of the millionaires' budget, the transport union RMT national executive made the decision to back the London Assembly election list of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) and to allow RMT branches around the country to back TUSC candidates in the council elections in May 2012.
RMT general secretary Bob Crow made this important announcement that evening when he opened a rally to launch the TUSC list of candidates for the London-wide member list in the Greater London Assembly elections. The executive had written to every single branch in the Greater London area and not one said they shouldn't support TUSC!
Bob pointed out that while Labour leader Ed Miliband may get up and condemn the budget for the rich, 'what would they do under the same circumstances? Exactly the same except over a longer period of time'.
Morning Star, Thursday 22 March 2012
Trade unionists joined forces on Wednesday night to launch the London election campaign of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (Tusc).
Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack and RMT leader Bob Crow joined other London trade unionists to kickstart their campaign for the London Assembly vote.
Mr Crow said: 'The RMT called a Budget day of action over government plans to axe thousands of jobs, close ticket offices and jack up fares, but it is not enough for trade unionists just to protest, we need a political voice. '
22 March 2012
On the day of the millionaires’ budget, the rail union RMT national executive made the decision to back the London list of Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (1) in the 3 May election, and to allow branches around the country to back TUSC candidates in the local council elections also on 3 May 2012.
RMT general secretary Bob Crow made this important announcement yesterday when opening the rally to launch the TUSC list of candidates for the London-wide member list in the Greater London Assembly elections. The RMT executive had written to every single branch in the Greater London area and not one said they should not support TUSC.
20 March 2012
Speaking at the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
election rally this evening Alex Gordon RMT President, and Trade Unionist
and Socialist London Assembly candidate will say:
Today the coalition government unveiled a Downton Abbey budget as part of their policy of bringing back an Upstairs Downstairs Britain...
20 March 2012
Construction worker activist Mick Dooley has been confirmed
as a candidate on the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (1) list in the
London-wide Assembly Members list section (2) of the election for the Greater
London Assembly on 3 May.
Mick played a prominent role in the recent victorious electricians’ dispute, which saw six months of determined action by electricians all over the country against the efforts of big companies such as Balfour Beatty to impose up to 35 per cent pay cuts.
16 March 2012
Firefighters' leader Matt Wrack will share a platform with rail
union RMT leader Bob Crow, alongside other leading public sector trade
unionists, at a major public meeting on Budget day to launch the Trade Unionist
and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) London Assembly election campaign and to
outline their response to what is expected to be another 'giveaway to the rich'
from chancellor George Osborne.
Bob Crow and Matt Wrack will be speaking in support of their leading officials standing as TUSC candidates for GLA elections to give Londoners who want to resist cuts and job losses a political voice.
19 March 2012
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) (1) candidate
April Ashley, from public sector union Unison’s national executive, standing in
a personal capacity, said:
“Thousands of families all over the country are going to be driven into poverty by this budget, while the rich laugh all the way to the bank. Already public sector workers face a pay freeze. Now the government wants to end national pay and force public sector wages down to the level of the worst private employers."
FBU’s Matt Wrack gives £2,000 to TUSC
18 March 2012
Matt Wrack, general secretary of the
firefighters' union has donated £2,000 to the Trade
Unionist and Socialist Coalition to help its election campaign...
The donation comes out of Matt's personal campaign fund. As Matt has explained in his blog, he set up the fund in 2005, following his election as general secretary, to fulfil a pledge to his members to bring his salary more in line with the members he represents. He pays about 30 per cent of his salary, £1,000 per month, into the fund and makes donations out of it. He has set out on his blog where his donations have gone.
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Bulletin No.33
12 March 2012
Public rally to launch London TUSC campaign
Wednesday 21 March 7.15pm
235 Shaftesbury Avenue London WC2H 8EP
Bob Crow, general secretary rail union RMT
Matt Wrack, general secretary, Fire Brigades Union, FBU
Alex Gordon, president RMT & TUSC candidate
Ian Leahair, firefighters’ union FBU national executive & TUSC candidate
April Ashley, Unison national executive & TUSC candidate
Jackie Turner, doctor and health campaigner & TUSC candidate
Chaired by TUSC candidate Nick Wrack
London Fire Brigade Union leader and election candidate slams Tory plans to privatize control rooms
15 March 2012
Controversial plans to outsource the London fire control
centre could be agreed today by the Tory led London fire authority, raising
serious questions about firefighter and public safety.
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (1) election candidate and firefighter Ian Leahair (2) said:
‘Firefighters and the public rely heavily on the local knowledge, expertise and professionalism of control room staff, who are the first line of attack in saving lives in an emergency. The work of control staff cannot be underestimated and we should not just sit back and allow this Government or any other political party to simply dismantle such an important public service.’
Firefighters’ union leader backs TUSC candidates in London elections
14 March 2012
Matt Wrack, general secretary of the FBU firefighters’
union, is to speak at an election rally for the Trade Unionist and Socialist
Coalition (1) on 21 March.
He will be speaking in support of two London FBU members, Ian Leahair and Sian Griffiths who are TUSC candidates in the London elections on 3 May, commenting:
"I am delighted to be able to support two members of the Fire Brigades Union who are standing for election to the London Assembly as part of the TUSC list. As a union we are facing huge cuts to our service. We are also seeing creeping privatisation of the London Fire Brigade – a policy which has already been a disaster. I know Ian and Sian will fight to defend good quality public services for the people of London"
TRADE UNIONIST & SOCIALIST COALITION MERSEYSIDE
6 March 2012
Subject: Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition Local Election challenge 2012
Next meeting of Merseyside TUSC takes place
Friday 9th March, at 7.00pm, in the Casa [cellar bistro], 29 Hope St., Liverpool 1
On Wednesday 7th March a lobby of the Liverpool city council will take place – protest to assemble from 4.30pm onwards at Liverpool Town Hall.
£Millions of cuts will once again be inflicted on the people of Liverpool by Labour, Lib-Dem, Liberal and Green councillors who all agree that the people of Liverpool have to be punished for a financial crisis they did not cause by reducing their local services and slashing jobs! Once again we will see that not one Liverpool councillor is prepared to defend us against the Con Dem cuts! Underlying the need to stand anti-cuts candidates in every ward!
President of RMT to lead new electoral challenge in Greater London Assembly Elections
TUSC press release, 16 February 2012
The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) has selected Alex Gordon (pictured, photo by Paul Mattsson), President of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), to lead its list for the London Assembly elections due to take place on 3 May 2012.
TUSC believes that there is a real chance to get a candidate elected to the GLA who will be a voice for ordinary people against the deafening consensus in support of cuts to public services, privatisation and pay freezes. TUSC is supported by leading members of the RMT, including General Secretary Bob Crow, the London Region of the Fire Brigades Union and thousands of trade unionist and community activists across London.
New TUSC postcard for the London Elections 3 May
20 February 2012
New TUSC postcard for the London Elections 3 May
Please contact info@tusc.org.uk to order cards for your area.
Unionists call to rethink cuts
Southampton Echo, 13 February 2012
MEMBERS of the Southampton Trade Unionists & Socialists Against Cuts (TUSC) party will urge city councillors to rethink cuts when they meet to agree a budget on Wednesday.
TUSC candidate Perry McMillan, anti-cuts campaigner Gavin Marsh and Andrew Howe from Youth Fight will make a deputation to the meeting to oppose cuts of up to £14m proposed this year by ruling Conservatives.
New left-wing coalition to challenge for a seat on London Assembly
27 January 2012
TUSC press release:
A new alliance, the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), made up of trade union members and socialists, is to stand candidates in the Greater London Election on 3 May to challenge the all-party support for the government’s austerity cuts and pay freeze.
The coalition expects to win support from trade unionists and other voters who are angered by the recent statements of Labour leader Ed Miliband and the Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls, in which they stated that they will not reverse the Government’s cuts and that they support its pay freeze.
Trade unionists and socialists prepare for May elections
The Socialist, 4 February 2012
Last Saturday over 50 prospective candidates and campaign organisers from around the country met to plan the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition's (TUSC) challenge in May's local and London Assembly (GLA) elections.
Following the statements by Eds Milband and Balls, the leaders of the Labour Party, saying that they support the government coalition's cuts and that a Labour government would not reverse them, the question of building an anti-cuts working class political alternative is an idea that millions will be more open to than ever before.
TUSC conference: Socialists prepare for local elections
Socialist Worker, 4 February 2012
Activists gathered in central London last Saturday to discuss the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) campaign for this year’s local elections.
Many areas have elections this May and TUSC is planning to stand anti-cuts candidates.
What we’ve got at the moment is a three-party consensus,” said TUSC national committee member Nick Wrack. “Nobody speaks up at a national level for the working class.
Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition Merseyside
29 January 2012
Next meeting Friday 3rd February, 7.00pm The Casa (cellar bistro), 29 Hope Street, Liverpool. L1 9BQ
Any queries please contact Daren Ireland – Merseyside TUSC on 07787128498
Main item – report back from the recent TUSC national conference
- And arising from that
1/ We appeal for all those who wish to fight against all cuts to consider standing themselves as TUSC candidates - “Trade Unionists & Socialists Against Cuts” – in the 2012 local election on Merseyside
2/ help work to raise TUSC’s profile locally, and to participate in building to our local election challenge against all the pro-cuts councillors who are voting for and carrying out the Con Dem coalition cuts throughout the local authorities around Merseyside
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition Bulletin No.29
23 January 2012
TUSC Election campaign Conference
Saturday 28 January 2012,
11:00am – 4:00pm, University of London Union, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HY:
ULU Contact page
11-00am to 1-30pm: How can local councillors fight the cuts?
Cllr Dave Nellist , Michael Lavalette and Nick Wrack to speak for ten minutes each, followed by a ‘Question Time’ format discussion...
2-00pm to 4-00pm: Organising an election campaign
Maxine Bowler, Hannah Sell, and Pete McClaren to speak for ten minutes each, followed by discussion...