Carolyne Leckie MSP

IN some ways life as an MSP isn’t much different from what it was when I was a UNISON Branch secretary.The battles are the same, the enemy is the same, just a different arena. But I miss the day to day organ- ising amongst members, the victo- ries big and small. From getting overtime payments a member is due, to making employers provide a safer environment; to the fantas- tic victories of NHS ancillary staff against the multi-national parasite Sodexho for better pay and condi- tions and medical secretaries win- ning the pay grade they deserved. I miss living off the growing enthu- siasm and political will of mem- bers to fight. And I miss the direct involvement in the nitty gritty of tactics and strategy minute by minute. But being an MSP allows me a bigger platform to promote the battles of workers. Instead of being a Branch secretary representing 5000 workers, Scottish Socialist Party MSPs can and do fight with and for all workers in Scotland. Right from the word go, we’ve raised the demands the other par- ties have forgotten: G A £7.52 minimum wage for all with no age discrimination. G A maximum 35 hour week with no loss of earnings. G Public ownership of the rail- ways and a reversal of the whole privatisation bandwagon that has seen workers lose pay, terms and conditions and safety in the workplace. More important than that we’ve stood shoulder to shoulder with all those in struggle. The nursery nurses have been an inspiration.These women have swum against the tide in a society that only sees them as cheap babysitters and the children they educate as sources of profit for the fast food chains and fizzy drinks companies etc. A society that demeans women and the work they do and cares nowt about securing the educational develop- ment of children and future generations.Their heroism in a year long campaign and 14 weeks of all out action can only be matched in scale by the treachery of their labour dominated employ- ers and government. It’s a disgrace they’ve even had to take strike action, a disgrace they haven’t got the national pay they deserve but it’s been a pleasure to share their picket lines and protests. We made the parliament confront the nursery nurses.We made sure their struggle was debated and that the ruling parties’ MSPs had to face the people they wanted to turn their backs on. The day the SSP moved a motion supporting the nursery nurses was the day that made every other day in that torture chamber worthwhile.When I summed up I forgot I was in the parliament and spoke like I was at a strike rally. Nursery nurses came in buses from all over in Scotland.They sur- rounded the parliament and they occupied it.We booked out the public gallery, committee rooms and put on a lunch. Everywhere a politician turned, there were nursery nurses.They sang like lin- ties and even the police and securi- ty staff commented it had been their best day at work ever. And when the old Tories and the New Labour Tories exposed their contempt for the nursery nurses by voting against them, they were there to see it. At least some of them had the decency to have a red face. And the nurses made sure every other week they were on strike that their red faces were re-heated on a regular basis. We didn’t succeed in helping the nursery nurses get their national pay but trying is what we’re here for.The battle for them isn’t over and the war against poverty pay and inequality has only just begun. But we’re in for the long haul and we’re still on the picket line. From picket line to parliament By Carolyne Leckie MSP 26