STEADY WORK AGAINST IMPOSED AUSTERITY

Furness Against the Cuts at the 'Poverty Summit', 22nd June

HOW JOLLY NICE
A 'Poverty Summit' was organised by Barrow Churches Together and held at the Trinity Centre, Barrow, on Wednesday 22nd June.


The object of the exercise was 'to address poverty and financial exclusion' but what it boiled down to was the setting up of a Barrow Credit Union supported by Cumbria County Council.


Furness Against the Cuts attended with the message that the policies of the present government were creating poverty for many people throughout the country by job losses and cuts to benefits of the vulnerable.  Many other organisations were also present such as Shelter (homeless charity), Citizens' Advice Bureau (charity providing information on a range of issues), Christians Against Poverty, Furness Multicultural Forum and two Credit Union organisations.  


The difference between Furness Against the Cuts and the other organisations was that FAC urged the eradication of debt whereas the rest just gave advice on how to manage it.  The FAC approach was "Never mind showing people how to bail out faster, show them how to plug the holes in the boat!"


Yes, the idea behind a Credit Union is philanthropic but in reality smacks of 'we middleclass people must show these feckless working class chappies discipline, how to budget, and the benefits of deferred gratification.'  It is true that some people have no access to a bank account but in many cases this is simply because they pay out all that comes in and are often left wondering how they will manage for the last couple of days before payday or the arrival of their next benefit payment.  


Credit Unions are able to offer small loans at a very low rate of interest (eg 1%) and anything that helps to prevent desperate people falling into the hands of loan sharks is to be welcomed. However, to become entitled to a loan through a Credit Union, a person must first make regular savings for eight weeks to qualify.  Generally, poor people are poor because their level of income means they have no spare cash that they can save each week.  The only people that really benefit from a Credit Union are those who are 'not too badly off'.

'DEFENDING PENSIONS' DAY OF ACTION

PCS members picket Barrow Job Centre 30th June

ONE DAY IN JUNE
First, absence of posts here was caused by a need for eye surgery.  This didn't prevent me from being 'active' however.  


The 30th June was an official national day of action by the Public & Commercial Services union (PCS), National Union of Teachers (NUT), and the Association of Teachers & Lecturers (ATL).  


PCS members had a picket at the local Department of Works and Pensions (DWP) and also at the local Job Centre.  The picket was well received and respected and only non-union employees crossed the picket line.


The majority of schools in the borough were closed for the day so it would be incorrect to state the action was ineffectual.  A cynic might suggest school staff simply welcomed the opportunity for a day's holiday without fully appreciating the significance of the action.


There are two branches of the NUT in this region: Barrow NUT covers schools in the borough of Barrow in Furness (this includes Dalton, Askam and villages), and Furness NUT which extends from Ulverston to Broughton (which includes Grange, Cark, Cartmel, Levens Valley and other villages)  Barrow NUT was to have a branch meeting at the Custom House, Barrow, at 4.30pm at the end of the Day of Action but cancelled this at the eleventh hour (so nothing's changed here in 30 years - at least they are consistent!) 


There has been no further action by these unions since June.  Is it too much to hope that they are preparing for campaigns in the autumn following the annual conference of the Trade Union Congress in September?


   

MAY DAY - TWENTYFOUR YEARS AGO

ONCE UPON A TIME......
Barrow in Furness had an active branch of the Communist Party of its very own.  It upheld the May 1st celebration of  International Workers' Solidarity and attended the May Day Gala at Barrow's public park with its own professional
market stall selling Communist/Socialist literature, posters and badges.  


The branch continued to support the Gala even after the local Labour Party and Trade Union Council dumped responsibility for organising the
event into the welcoming arms of The Charities who saw this as a great fund-raising opportunity.  It was not long before the new 'Gala Committee' rid the event of any unseemly political activity and, not long after that, the field in the park was used to site the new sports centre (with swimming pool).


Local CP members became too embroiled in the Inner Party conflict (between the Marxist-Leninist loyalists and the EuroCommunist revisionists) to have any energy left for May Day activity and nobody else was interested. The local CP became 'South Lakes CP' - a talking shop of no consequence and even less relevance.  Thus May Day in Barrow and the rest of the Furness peninsula was forgotten - just as it is to this very day.


The Socialist Observer, illustrated here, was produced and distributed by Barrow CP but fell victim to the turbulent reactionary political events of the time and only three editions were published (three years before the collapse of the Communist Party of Great Britain and the re-establishment of the Party as the Communist Party of Britain)


Furness people at that time did not understand that when Tories make an announcement, what they say is not necessarily what they mean.   For example, when Cecil Franks, Tory parliamentary candidate, used the slogan 'Trident means jobs' the locals thought this was a promise of job creation and security.  Not so; soon after the Trident project got under way, the shipyard offloaded 11,000 jobs - just as the local CND group said would happen (but who listens to CND, eh?) Then Thatcher declared "The NHS is safe in our hands!" whereas what she really meant was "The NHS safe is in our hands!" and was followed by hospital ward closures.  Arthur Scargill, National Union of Mineworkers' Union leader, warned the Tories planned to close over seventy pits.  The Tories denied it, smashed the NUM whilst the TUC looked on, then shut down over seventy mines.  


And now we have Tory leader Cameron spouting about 'The Big Society' when he and his millionaire cronies are actually creating 'The Pig Society' for themselves at the expense of everyone else. Well at least the people of Furness don't mind being ripped off so Tory policies are perfectly acceptable here, or so it would seem.  


But the local electorate returned a borough council with an overwhelming Labour Party majority in the recent election and the constituency has a Labour Party Member of Parliament so that's an impressive force with which to support a Furness campaign against the Tory/LibDem coalition government's attack on the NHS and the Welfare State, isn't it? Isn't it?
Well, isn't it?  Yes, or no? (Watch this space)

TUC'S 'MARCH FOR THE ALTERNATIVE'

HALF A MILLION MARCH
Half a million people took to the streets of the capital on Saturday 26th March and the red flag flew beneath Big Ben.
Although pleasing, a far better sight would have been to see the hammer and sickle flying above Big Ben!


Now the question must be "So, what's next?" Many of those attending the demonstration will now expect the TUC to lead further actions against the cuts but, if history is anything to go by, they are likely to be disappointed.


In Furness, the work of the Furness Against the Cuts steering group has begun and further attempts are being made to encourage people, either as individuals or as representatives of unions, community groups or voluntary organisations to join the campaign.  Indeed, any person or organisation that is without prejudice towards age, gender, sexual orientation, race, colour or religion and sharing the aim to resist government-imposed cuts will be made welcome.


In a previous posting it was noted leaders and members of local unions, community groups and voluntary organisations (with the exception of Barrow & Furness Pensioners' Association) had never in the past twelve months shown the slightest interest in mounting a campaign against the cuts.  However, once the local newspaper, the North West Evening Mail, began to feature the national demonstration the various 'leaders' crept out of the woodwork to mouth off and get their mugshots published.


Bob Pointer, 'secretary' of the defunct Barrow TUC wrote a letter describing how important it was for ordinary people to resist the cuts blah, blah, blah.  Alec Proffitt, Unison Barrow Branch official, Pauline Charnley (Four Groves Community Association), Anne Carruthers (Barrow Island Community 'Activist') and Margaret Burrows (Furness Disability Association) each stuck their oars in for a nice piece of personal publicity. The only person missing was Steven Forbes of the GMB who has been very quiet of late - well, quieter than usual: silent.


This blog has been described (by some) as being 'snarky' which I believe is street-speak for 'sneering and sarcastic'.  Surely, this is not the way a communist ought to behave if the aim is to encourage people to unite against their oppressors.  To a certain extent, they have a point. It would be a joy to report how local organisations - unions in particular - were leading the anti-cuts campaign with all-inclusive rallies and demonstrations in the town centre once a month and how they'd organised coaches to take local people to the 26th March TUC event but none of this happened.  Those who have access to campaign resources have sat on their hands and, until very recently, kept their mouths tightly shut.  So what would be the point in pretending in this blog that they are genuinely concerned about the people of this area and taking action against the cuts when they have done precisely nothing?  Don't they deserve criticism?


But Unison did organise a coach for the London demo!  True, this union which had done nothing all year did in fact organise a coach - for Unison members only.  So a non-campaigning union took non-campaigning members to a national campaign.  Bravo!  And a jolly time was had by all, no doubt.  It's reminiscent of a union day trip to Blackpool but without the buckets and spades. 


As shown above, trade union 'tribalism' is alive and well here in Furness.  The instruction was that the anti-cuts campaign should be union-led.  But what do people do if the unions are incapable of providing that leadership?  If I had waited for my union (NUT) to instigate anything at all in the last thirty years I'd be fossilised by now.  The teaching assistants who  recently held their rally and petition in the town centre were Unison members who had been promised pamphlets, posters, banners and flags - but received none of these things.  One of the organisers bitterly remarked that Unison would see a significant dip in union subscriptions next year!


So, the next few months might be interesting.....or not.  Whatever the situation, this blog will continue to report the situation as it really is and not as some would pretend it to be.  And useless hoosegow-head (nothing gets in and nothing comes out) hypocrites deserving of criticism will indeed receive it.    

THE TEACHING ASSISTANTS' CAMPAIGN

TOWN CENTRE PETITION
The Teachers' Assistants certainly got their act together and held a very successful campaign and petition in Barrow's main shopping area.


The day began wet, draughty and chilly (nothing new in these parts) but at noon the clouds parted, the rain stopped, and the place was bathed in warm sunshine - just in time for the photo-shoot appearance of our local Labour Member of Parliament, John Woodcock.


I had met, some weeks previously, one of his assistants at the 'retirement do' of a mutual acquaintance and I remarked that I had imagined a conversation between our new MP and his predecessor, John Hutton - oops, sorry Sire, I mean Lord Hutton of Furness.  Anyway, the conversation went something like this:  "Well, Johnnie m'lad, you've landed on your feet.  And if you do like wot I did i.e. keep your nose clean, get lots of photos of you opening charity events and wandering around BAE in a yellow hardhat, say you're a socialist - but watch out for the commie git on the front row - kiss plenty of babies and keep away from Public Parks, then you'll end up just as rich as me and get to feel the irmine collar on your neck."
(The Public Park reference relates to an occasion when, soon after his election, our MP -JW- ventured into a park on Walney Island and was subjected to intimidating abusive language and behaviour by a bunch of young hooligan proletarian Island Aboriginals - a fitting introduction to the area, I thought at the time)  


The assistant was not amused nay, not one jot I kid you not. Now consider for a moment the scene of me standing next to that same assistant this fine sunny lunchtime and observing...  yes, you've guessed....John Woodcock with someone's child in his arms! The assistant, by the way, is the very same person to whom I gave a lift one evening (see Blog Archive  2010, September, 120 Years the Internationale Anthem - for a Socialist World! There Aren't Many Of You About, Are There? but only if you're interested!)


The TA cause is a just one.  Cumbria County Council has finally decided to introduce Single Status which lumps Teaching Assistants together with Dinner Ladies, Cleaners, Mid-Day Supervisors and Drivers yet, as campaigners respectfully point out, none of the latter would ever be called upon to obtain professional qualifications and to cover groups of children or supervise whole classes in the absence of a teacher. Some TAs stand to lose up to £3000 a year as a result of adjustment. These dedicated workers are merely asking for a wage that reflects their professional role in the education system and one which adequately recognises the value of their hard work. Sadly, the Steering Group of the Campaign Against the Cuts has not yet succeeded in obtaining recruits to support such local demonstrations.


MEANWHILE, the University of Lancaster has become the latest institution to charge students the maximum £9,000 in fees.  It seeks to justify this hike, to be introduced next year, by claiming the fee would reflect its teaching and research standing...................
Shopmobility in Kendal faces closure leaving hundreds of disbled people prisoners in their own homes.............
As price of metal increases so too does theft.  A floodwater pumping station in Barrow was disabled when copper wiring was stolen and there is a report of a break in at a scrap metal dealer in Kendal so wait for railway points and signalling systems to be rendered useless as scallies rip out miles of cabling and churches spring leaks as lead is repeatedly stripped from their roofs....
But things should get easier for our light-fingered acquisitive bretheren because Cumbria Constabulary must shed 80 officers and make plans about how an £18.7 million budget deficit is to be handled.  


   

FIGHTBACK BEGINS IN FURNESS?

AT LAST, A SPARK TOUCHES TINDER
The proposal for Barrow & Furness Pensioners' Association to call a meeting to which organisations and individuals would be invited to discuss what they wished to do about government cuts to public services was finally approved by a sizeable majority of members.


The original idea was to have a meeting in the last week of February but the secretary did nothing about booking a date and venue for three weeks.  Without a date and venue it was impossible to send out invitations to organisations, groups and individuals.  It turned out that the secretary, together with the chairman and deputy chairman, did not agree to holding a public meeting so decided to do nothing to make it happen.  The treasurer found a venue and established a date. Threatened with an unholy row about defying the decision of the members, the secretary reluctantly also began promoting the public meeting.  What a pathetic performance!


By Barrow standards, attendance at the meeting was 'good' i.e. twenty persons were present.  Five members of the Pensioners' Association attended and were joined by representatives of Kendal Against the Cuts, Greater Manchester Trades Union Council, the North East Shop Stewards' Network, and the Teachers' Assistants Pay Campaign.  A local Labour councillor gave his support and there were persons from disability and mental health groups.


The following were contacted but did not reply:
Barrow Trades Union Council, Ulverston Trades Union Council, Four Groves Community Association,  Barrow Island Community Association, MIND in Furness, Cumbria Disability Association, and the unions - Unison, GMB, Unite, Furness NUT, PCS, CWU, UCATT, and NAPO.


At the close of the meeting six persons signed up to found a Steering Group to establish a name and programme for a campaign against the cuts and a regular meeting place for discussion and planning.


Bearing in mind the TUC national anti-cuts march and rally was to be held in London on the 26th March it was most extraordinary that unions gave no input to the Barrow Public Meeting to enlist supporters for the rally and book coaches to allow Furness people to attend the event in the capital. 

INTRODUCTION TO CUTS AWARENESS IN FURNESS

DISMAL PUBLIC RESPONSE TO CUTS 
HERE IN FURNESS
It is said a picture is as good as a thousand words so maybe I ought to just leave these in place and sign out.....


But, if I did that, you wouldn't know what they were about and that would be unsatisfactory.


                                                                                 


 The top picture is of the meeting by Cumbria        
Local Police Authority (public police service 'watchdog') held to inform the public about measures to be taken to cushion the service against the imposed government cuts in funding provision.

Occupying the tables at the front are two members of the LPA and two senior police officers.  Two members of the local police force are sitting on the front row.  The next row shows an Ulverston town councillor being interviewed by a member of the local press, and the row behind them contains the secretary of Ulverston Trades Union Council and his wife.  Two other attendees are missing from the photograph: the local press photographer who completed his task and departed, and the person taking the picture - me! 


The majority opinion at this meeting was that measures to reduce waste and improve efficiency were to be welcomedbut some did not agree with the 'More can be done with less' government propaganda slogan.


The bottom picture shows attendance at the Cumbria County Council 'Public Consultation' meeting held at the same venue (Forum 28, Barrow) as the PLA meeting but in a different studio theatre.  It's hardly a case of 'standing room only', is it?!


Generally, the gathering consisted of persons having a special interest they wished to see preserved - even if this meant others got dumped on.  Interest was maintained by the application of a colourful Powerpoint presentation, a roving microphone and provision of an individual electronic voting device for each member of the audience.


Members of the public were allowed to promote their own particular area of interest but not a single person asked the most obvious question - "Why are we discussing these austerity measures when it was not us who caused the problem?" Which could have quickly been followed by the demand - "Let those responsible for creating this mess pay to clear it up!" 


Meanwhile, the secretary of Barrow and Furness Pensioners' Association ought to have secured a venue for an anti-cuts public meeting and be busy contacting various potential speakers for the event......