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Comrades!

Bristol IWW | 16.09.2010 20:22

We are standing before the biggest salvo in the class war since the poll tax. Not since the heyday of Thatcher has there been such an attack on our jobs, services and communities.

We are told that massive cuts are needed to bailout the country’s economy after a bankers’ free-for-all. All the measures the politicians propose are aimed directly at us.

Our pensions are unaffordable but continued bonuses in the city are fine and healthy for the economy. We continue to pay taxes at a far greater level than the rich who just move their money offshore and employ corporate accountants to find them tax loopholes.

We live here; we will suffer. So will our families, friends and communities. We must fight this.

The TUC have voted for co-ordinated action. Fair play. But by the time they have balloted and organised it could be too late. The cuts are happening now not some time in the future.

The workforce is increasingly split into small service providers and businesses. Many of us are in temporary or part time work or even on ‘zero hour’ contracts. We need to stand together as workers and as a community. ‘An injury to one is an injury to all’.

Remember: these cuts are already happening. English as a second language provision went before the summer while the Labour government were still encouraging ‘citizenship’ for new arrivals. Cuts started last year at the BRI.

Youth service Connexions has been decimated, just as the youth of this country need more support to get work. Libraries are operating under a short staff regime and many are closing early and at the weekend.

Anybody ever spotted a Tory councillor in the library? Lib Dem libraries boss, Councillor Simon Cook and Kate Davenport, the head of the libraries on a £90k salary, don’t even have a Bristol libraries card.

At the city council’s new customer services call centre in Whitchurch there are 50 vacancies. The council are deliberately keeping these vacancies open so they can write them off when they need to cut staff. Of course, the staff that are left are leaving in droves because they cannot cope with the workload demanded at this anti-human battery farm the council have created.

The council’s customer service ratings have plummeted from 3 stars to 0 stars in months. How are you going to get your granny home care? How are you going to get your council house repaired? Who cares? We should.

In Bristol there are groups struggling against the cuts. Even the trade unions might do something if they stop fighting amongst themselves.

There is an email list for those who want to fight. When a member of the list hears about any cuts or disputes they email all the other members. While this is Bristol-based, we encourage comrades from all the counties that used to be Avon to contribute and become members.

Then hopefully, when new cut or disputes raise their ugly head, we can get there straight away. A lot of groups are already signed up to this and will be notifying their members.

Let’s get 1000+ on this list. Even if only 10% respond we could have a massive effect on any picket and struggle.

Many of us firmly believe that this could be a new poll tax. We defeated that and we can beat this. The main reason we beat them then was that the majority stood up for themselves.

Whole communities said no - this is wrong. So are these cuts. Nobody voted for them. Not even most Tories or Liberals envisaged this shower of shite. What they propose is plain and simple wrong.

It is economic stupidity and morally repugnant to pick on the weak and the poor.

Welcome to another round of the class war.

Please consider getting stuck in and drop us a line on

notcutsinbristol@yahoogroups.com

solid


Bristol IWW
- Original article on IMC Bristol: http://bristol.indymedia.org/article/693490