Left talk cannot win nurseries

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There will obviously be no shortage of rousing "left' rhetoric from the panel of bureaucrats due to speak at the SE Region TUC's conference "Care of the But there will be little if any talk of practical action by the TUC or local union officials to defend. existing, child care facilities from savage Labour government cuts and the prospect of annihilation they now face under the Tories.

So reluctant are the TUC to wage any fight on this, an issue which affects millions of working class women, that their own comprehensive booklet Care of the Under Fives has for months been out of print, while the much smaller "Under Fives' Charter" is obtainable only on request.

In the South East Region, the major struggle waged so far in defence of nursery facilities -the occupation of the South Oxford nursery class-met with. a stubborn refusal from union officials to call the supporting strike action that was necessary to take the struggle forward.

This conference therefore provides a good opportunity to contrast the fiery words with the pathetic or outright treacherous actions of the labour bureaucracy on the question of child care and the cuts, and to discuss the way these issues must be taken up in practice in working class areas and within the workers' movement as a whole through meetings, conterences, strikes and occupations in *No cuts and closures! Open all nursery facilities! Protect services from inflation through a sliding scale of spending.

*Expose the profiteers! Open the books of local author¡ties to show the cash paid out to private contractors, suppliers and banks!

*Demand free state nursery care for the under fives.

*Call on public sector and teaching unions for action to defend services against the cuts!

OUATHS FRAM SACKSTRO ABORT ONS ekDomck PHOTO: Derek Spiers, IFL Brendan Gallagher