Tower Hamlets council have gone ahead and set the first year of a three-year cuts budget, despite opposition from all the unions which represent local government workers.
The £72m worth of cuts mean the closure of most afterschool clubs in the borough, the running down of services provided by Children’s Centres, and the decimation of those school services which provide support and opportunity to children with special needs. They also mean the loss of up to 500 jobs through compulsory redundancy, voluntary redundancy, and “natural wastage”.
The councillors and the mayor blamed the government for forcing them to make these cuts. But they had a choice; to stand with the local people they represent, or to do the bidding of a virulently anti-working class government which is determined to make workers pay for their crisis.
Tower Hamlets Unison and NUT led the way in opposing further attacks on our services and jobs when they took united strike action on 30 March. But cautious trade union leaders are slow at preparing a national fightback against the cuts in jobs, services and attacks on our pensions. Individual union leaders claim that they cannot move unless all the unions move at once, knowing that some unions are less prepared to fight than others. This is a smoke screen; unions should fight together where we can, but also be prepared to start the fight where we can’t.
The Tower Hamlets strike shows the way. We got united action between two of the unions, but we didn't let the sluggishness of some other unions hold us back. As a result, both NUT and Unison have recruited new members, gaining strength for the next stage of the battle. But despite our unions putting up a fight in our borough, our local union leaders also let Mayor Rahman and the councillors lead our feeder march to the central London demonstration on 26 March holding the Hands Off Our Public Services banner, as if we are all on the same side!
We shouldn’t fall for the “we had no choice” rhetoric of local politicians like Rahman who push through Tory cuts. We should demand that they follow tyhe example of the Poplar councillors from the early 1920s who faced jail rather than betray the working-class people who elected them. Their slogan was “better to break the law than break the poor”. The council has reserves it could spend rather than making cuts, and we should make sure that politicians —both local and national — know that we will fight for every job and every service. Our unity must be with workers and local people who use our services fighting the cuts, not with the people who are carrying them out.
The fact that Rahman was allowed to lead our march also shows a problem with the way the Hands Off Our Public Services campaign is run; we need to make sure the meetings are open and democratic, so the campaign is controlled by workers and service-users rather than trade union officials.
Our day of action was a big success but this is just the start. We need to prepare for the next stage of the fight against the government's attacks on our class.
• Organise in the workplace: build your union, hold regular meetings, invite speakers into your workplace from anti-cuts campaigns and other strikes across London.
• Make links with other public sector unions in the borough. Talk to each other about where the next action is taking place, organise solidarity, push for your own action to happen at the same time.
• Get involved in the Tower Hamlets Hands Off Our Public Services Campaign. Email towerhamletshoops@gmail.com or ring 07891058130.
• Support the UCU and Unison in their fight to defend London Met University from cuts and privatisation.
• Make links with students, parents, and other service users to ensure the maximum unity against the cuts.
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