Workers Solidarity Movement

Tens of thousands of public workers from the North are expected to take part in the UK wide industrial action this Thursday in protest over cuts to pension and attacks on living standards. In the North, civil servants are expected to join immigration officers in the day of action while healthcare workers are taking limited action over lunchtime, involving Nipsa and Unite! members. While this latest strike action is sending out a message that we won’t work longer, pay more into the pension fund and get less, it is significant climb-down from the public sector strike last November which was the largest in decades.

The attack on public service pensions is only one part of the Government’s austerity agenda and restructuring of capital in times of recession. On the one side we have government policies which dole out tax benefits for the wealthy and business sectors. On the other side we have government attacks on working families through changes to Working Families Tax Credits as well as attacks on the unemployed and those reliant on social security benefits under the umbrella of welfare reforms. The latter includes the sick, the disabled and the unemployed. In the recent budget the government reduced the rate of tax for those earning in excess of £150,000 per year while at the same time hit pensioners by reducing the value of their tax allowances.

If we are have any hope of defeating cuts to pension we need to unite the resistance and galvanise opposition across both the public and private sector, to the students and unwaged because we are all in this together and we are the solution.  Limited token on day actions on their own our largely ineffective which is why we need to utilise all means at our disposal including civil-disobedience because this is class war and it is time to get the gloves off.

 Copy of leaflet delivered by WSM members at the Nov30 strike- http://www.wsm.ie/c/n30-strike-unite-against-cuts-solidarity-strength