Fighting policies against the cuts
Socialist Press1980 1980-03-12Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 11 →
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-TO THE GOVERNMENT'S ECONOMIC MEASURES - MASSIVE REDUNDANCIES - ANTI UNION LAWSIT CANTGO ON- IT'S TIME FOR...
Nearly 100 delegates and observers took part in a one-day. conference last Saturday organised by the Oxfordshire Campaign Against Cuts in a bid to unite the struggles against the whole range of public service spending cuts.
The plattorm of speakers was led by a Sheffield steel striker who stressed the link between the Tory attacks®on steel jobs and wages and the attacks on public services.
"If they lick us, they'l! go on to attack the whole working class". , he argued.
Redundancies Other platform speakers included CPSA NEC member Pat Byrne, who examined the impact of Civil Service cuts on the payment of social security and other benefits; Helen Flack, from Leicester NUT, who outlined their struggle against 1,800 redundancies in education; and Dr. Ken Williamson from Oxford MPU/ASTMS who spoke on NHS funding and the local workers' inquiry into geriatric care.
Reports were also taken from campaigns against the cuts in housing, nursery education, higher education, the civil service, and the NHS, as well as on the struggle to defend jobs, wages and conditions in Oxford's British Leyland car plants.
TELLING YOU, WE'LL HAVE NO DY DISCUSSION ON IRELAND IN TIS MOVEMENT! SO CANCEL THAT CONFERENGE OR YOU'LL BE DISATILATED!
The afternoon saw particularly heated discussion in the workshop on "where will the money come from?". • Right wingers strongly -and with some correctness-argued that it was impossible to maintain jobs and services within the present system.
Defeatist Their conclusion was not, however, that the system was wrong and should be done away with, but that public services and workers' living standards had to be cut back in line with the requirements of capitalism.
To bring down the Tories would not be "democratic" they argued. • A similar defeatist view was also put forward in the discussion on strike action against the cuts by public sector unions.
Weak It was claimed that these unions were so weak and exercised so little authority that a general strike call would be a disaster.
Against this it was pointed out that the steelworkers had responded 100% to their first national strike call for 50 years -after having previously appeared weak in accepting redundancies by the tens of thousand. What is needed to produce firm action is firm leadership.
The conference as a whole went on to pass a succession of resolutions calling for policies in the Labour Party, the trade unions and Community Groups directed towards mass action-in particular occupations and strike actión-against closures, run down of services, job loss and other attacks.
It called for the TUC to use the May 14 Day of Action as preparation for a General Strike to bring down the Tory government and for any future Labour government to be committed to a programme of cialist policies.
Open the books
And a comprehensive resolution-on NHS cuts tabled by the Oxford COHSE branch was also passed. It opposed local and national " cuts and closures;
called for adequate funding and a restoration of all cuts; and demanded the opening of the books of Health Service supply firms to workers' committees, and for these firms to be nationalised without compensation under workers' management. -MRS THATCHER TO START TALKING WITH THE TUC ABOUT HOW TOGETHER WE CAN GET THE COUNTRY BACK ON ITS FEET - OUCH!