TIME TO MARCH AGAINST AUSTERITY

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: january 2011 :: RMTnews 19 On October 20 a disgusting scene took place in the House of Commons. As Chancellor George Osborne finished his long speech outlining the government’s plans to make everyone pay for the economic crisis except those who caused it, Tory and Lib- Dem MPs waved their order papers and cheered with joy. They cheered that at least 500,000 jobs were to go, that many of our citizens would be made destitute, that the public services millions rely on for their well-being, and for some their very lives, were to be destroyed - and that more was to come. Squeezing and patting Osborne’s arm, prime minister David Cameron, whose family owns a swathe of Berkshire and is married to a daughter of an aristocratic family which owns a sizeable chunk of Lincolnshire, beamed approval at his Eton chum. Surrounded by the other millionaires in the ConDem cabinet they gloated because in their eyes they had dealt the welfare state a mortal blow. But none would have been happier that evening than the city fat cats and pigs at the money trough – the bonus- gobbling bankers who created the crisis. The government had served them well: they had seized on the international economic crisis and turned it into a political opportunity to destroy their hated welfare state. Those to suffer most would be the poor and needy, the disabled, the weakest in society, the old, the young. On their hit list was anyone who needs or benefits from the welfare state – the safety net created by people who knew what society was like when it didn’t exist: people who had experienced the ‘five evils’ described by its architect William Beveridge: want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness. From the moment of its birth, generations of the rich and their lackeys have longed for the opportunity to destroy it. The news media had softened the people up, dredging up stories about the feckless and the workshy, about lazy public- sector workers in non-jobs living in the lap of luxury off the backs of ‘real’ workers in the private sector. There were miles of newsprint about spongers galore, like parasitic university students poncing off taxpayers who never went to university: the people had to be made to understand that the rich earn every penny and the poor are undeserving idlers who must be made to suffer in their own interest. Yes, their media did the job. ALL IN IT TOGETHER? So, on October 20, the government, with the battle cry of “we are all in this together” declared class war on millions, and openly mocked us. Three days later we learned that in the preceding year the top 1,000 earners shared £7 billion in bonuses; four days later that £200 billion given to the banks in quantitative easing to pass on to borrowers had been stashed away in their vaults: in other words they’d pocketed our money. That was followed by the news that the Greek government decision to sell its smaller islands, for anything from £25 million to £250 million had found great interest from British buyers; a vase put up for auction in London fetched £43 million, and a cola bottle used as a model by artist Andy Warhol fetched £18 million at Christies. The revelation that the rich dodge taxation to the tune of £120 billion every year indicates how such purchases become possible. As Ricky Tomlinson might say: “In this together? My arse!” As the true picture of the destruction emerges, it is clear that the time has come to make a stand. RMT knows which side it is on, and as the cuts begin to bite there is no doubt that the union will close ranks to defeat the attacks, and we must prepare ourselves for them. But the union is also on the side of all the victims of this crisis they didn’t create. The trade-union movement is faced with a broader struggle in which we must stand by our communities. Cuts in council spending will mean jobs destroyed in the private and public sectors, the disappearance of support services for the old and the disabled, and deathly blows to education, emergency services and community projects. Those left without work will be insulted and mocked with cuts in benefits, and hundreds of thousands will join the three million already struggling to pay their mortgages. For all these reasons we urge all RMT members to mobilise colleagues, families, friends and neighbours and attend the national demonstration in London on March 26. Organising committees for March 26’s demonstration have been set up in every RMT region – call your regional office for details and check www.rmt.org.uk for details TIME TO MARCH AGAINST AUSTERITY RMT organiser John MacDonald and veteran member Geoff Revell explain why the union is joining the TUC national demonstration against government cuts in London on March 26