Fighting mood against council cuts in West Dunbartonshire

Lynda McEwan

A public meeting organised by the Clydebank Trades Council and the joint trade unions in West Dunbartonshire last week was well attended by 100 people, and set a fighting mood against the proposed £21 million cuts to the budget in March by the Labour council. 

Eddie Cassidy (Unite Glasgow Covenor ) Alex Gordon (national president RMT) and councillor Jim Bollan (Community Party) spoke from the platform.

Jim told how he’d presented a no cuts budget to the council but that not one other councillor had seconded it. 

Eddie Cassidy made the point that while the block grant from Westminster had been cut, the SNP/Green coalition government have cut it further. He referred to the refuse strike of last autumn and said that the unions need to take action together. 

Alex Gordon outlined the latest on the national rail dispute and the need to get young people into the unions. He said we need to get the Tories out and how that is not a political strategy on its own but unfortunately failed to follow that up with any alternative. 

He said that a Starmer Labour government would reverse the anti-union bill but this was on the same night Starmer refused to allow Corbyn to stand as a Labour candidate in a future general election. He also highlighted income inequality and the huge profits of the energy companies. 

The speeches got a good reception from the audience who made good contributions, including a worker from Working4U, a council organisation that assists people with debt, employment and access to learning issues. She said that the services in West Dunbartonshire are cut to the bone and that a fight back needs to happen.

Lynda McEwan, Socialist Party Scotland and a candidate for TUSC in the council elections of last year, spoke about how we had been in the same room with Labour and SNP candidates who promised to fight the cuts and lead the way out of the cost of living crisis yet here we are now facing £21 million of cuts.

She also argued for the need for the STUC and TUC to act and organise for a 24-hour general strike, the need for a new workers’ party and a socialist alternative to Keir Starmer’s Labour who would implement austerity in government. 

Jim Halfpenny, the joint EIS convenor in West Dunbartonshire and a Socialist Party Scotland member, called for a no cuts budget against the onslaught of cuts to be made in education, including to free school uniforms and breakfast clubs.

This is particularly jarring considering how he spoke about many children arriving at school with inadequate shoes and clothing and without having an eaten before leaving home in the morning.

He also spoke about the huge enthusiasm amongst teachers during their industrial action and called for a 24-hour general strike. 

Jim also warned against any illusions in a Starmer Labour government. 

Eddie Cassidy agreed with our position on the need for a new mass workers’ party but also said trade union struggle is the key issue and the question of political representation could wait.

While the trade unions will play the crucial role in the class struggle, workers need political representation to fight austerity regardless of who is implementing it. 

Women from the floor expressed their anger at the cuts and the lack of transparency over what cuts will be made, especially job losses. 

A demo has been arranged for 1st March outside the council office on Church Street, Dumbarton where the budget meeting will take place.