All out on N30 – Name the day for another shutdown

Three million of us will be striking together on November 30th in what will be the largest ever one-day strike by the working class in Britain. Public services workers in union after union have voted by huge majorities of around five to one to strike against the Con-Dem attacks on our pensions. Trade unions who have never been on strike before are taking action.

In Scotland almost one in four workers are in the public sector, meaning that the size of the mobilisation on N30 will be unprecedented. It represents a watershed and a significant point in the fight back against the cuts programmes of the UK and Scottish Governments and the fat cat bosses.

The huge mobilisation on 26 March in London and the marvellous action on 30 June by hundreds of thousands of civil servants and teachers showed that, if properly led and organised, the trade unions remain the single biggest force for defeating the government. We can gather behind our banner all others who oppose the cuts.

The leaders of some of the public services trade unions have habitually used strike ballots as a bargaining tool to gain very limited concessions in disputes. This is not one of those occasions when such an approach is acceptable.

This is not a “normal” industrial conflict. The Con-Dem’s have made it a highly politicised dispute and the big business bosses are foursquare behind Cameron in his attempt to inflict a large defeat on the working class by taking on the public sector unions.

Any serious U-turn by the Con-Dem’s would undermine Cameron’s authority and embolden working class people to take – up other fights to protect their jobs and living standards.

After N30, unless Cameron and co back down, the trade unions should organise more co-ordinated UK wide action. We need to name the day for at least another 24-hour public sector shutdown, or even an escalation to a 48-hour public sector general strike.

The nature of future action should be decided democratically through mass consultation of trade union members through workplace meetings, shop stewards committees, local branches, etc. Where possible this should be coordinated with workers in the private sector as well.

The anger of public services workers, their families, young people and the working class grows by the day. We know that we didn’t create this economic mess and should not have to pay for it.

 We are clearly entering a huge battle with the strike on N30. It is incumbent on all in the labour movement to ensure that November 30th is the beginning of a mass movement to stop the cuts and bring down this savage government of the rich.