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After Sundays anti-Tory march...

Strike together to beat back Cameron

O
n Sunday tens of thousands of trade unionists and campaigners will take to the streets of Manchester as the Tory Party starts its annual conference in the city. We all have our reasons to march. Workers have seen their wages fall on average by almost 9 percent (in real terms) since mid 2008. Some face the bedroom tax or other benefit cuts. Migrant workers face scapegoating by the Tories, UKIP, the EDL and the right wing press. A million young people face life on the dole, pushed out of education by huge tuition fees and the end of EMA (Education Maintenance Allowance). Others work on zero hours contracts without job security. The list goes on, from Royal Mail privatisation to the closures of our A&Es. At this years TUC Congress there was support for a general strike for the second year running and a huge vote for a day of action with co-ordinated strikes at its heart. Our union leaders must turn votes into action. Its also the case that our side has won some victories. In London a campaign that brought thousands onto the streets prevented the closure of Lewisham A&E. At Hovis in Wigan strikes stopped the use of zero hours contracts.

Crossrail
On strike at Hovis in Wigan

It seems at long last Labour have noticed something might be wrong. Ed Miliband made pledges to scrap the bedroom tax and freeze energy bills at Labours conference. Hes also been talking about upping the minimum wage and tackling zero hours contracts. Thats all good, but we have to remember that Labour has also pledged to stick to Tory spending plans. That will mean more austerity. And Ed Milband spent most of the summer bashing the unions. It would be a massive mistake for any of us to simply rely on Labour. We cant wait around until the next election, especially if Labour delivers more cuts. There is a fightback underway. Last

Energy

Wednesday firefighters struck to defend their pensions across England Wales. Next Tuesday teachers will begin big regional strikes with national action planned. Postal workers, university workers and probation officers are all balloting, for strikes while civil service workers union leaders meet in October to decide on their next wave of action.

The Unite union defeated the blacklist on the massive Crossrail project by winning the reinstatement of activist Frank Morris. In Glasgow an unofficial strike by social care workers won the reinstatement of a colleague who refused to cover the work of a vacant post. To put the pressure on we need to organise networks of activists across the unions who can push for a real fightback now. The Unite the Resistance conference on 19 October is a step towards making that network a reality.

Powerful

There is the potential to bring all these fights together into a powerful movement that can challenge the Tories. We built that kind of coalition back in November 2011 when 2.6 million workers struck to defend pensions. But some trade union leaders threw away the chance to beat Cameron and settled for a shoddy deal. We cant let that happen again.

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