FIFE FIGHTS CUTS

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: november/december 2015 :: RMTnews 20 Over 500 people marched through the streets of Dunfermline to attend the People’s Assembly Rally at the city’s Pittencrieff Park. Organisations that were represented included UNITE, UNISON, RMT, EIS, Fife TUC, Dunfermline and Glenrothes Labour Parties, the SNP, the Communist Party, RISE, Solidarity and Mrs Barbour’s Army, along with the NUM Dysart branch. Chairing the event, Mary Lockhart praised the level of unity among local organisations to defeat the Tories. She emphasised that the Conservatives continued to divide the working class by using poverty as a political weapon. “They want to strike fear and insecurity to paralyse working people but they will not succeed. “The People’s Assembly will demonstrate that the Tories are the real threat to our National Security,” she said to loud applause. RMT political officer Phil McGarry spoke on behalf of the People’s Assembly in Scotland. He reminded us that austerity began in 2010 and had gone from bad to worse since the Tories got elected in May. “They have embarked upon the most vicious attacks on the old, the young, the Infirm and the working poor in our society. “Their hated Bedroom Tax, wage freezes, zero hour contracts, welfare cuts, together with the sanctions regime on the unemployed over 1million people and their families now depend on food banks. “This is a class war whereby the rich get tax cuts, reductions in inheritance tax as well as the government refusing to close tax loop holes used by transnational corporations which allows them to move profits into tax havens and offshore accounts thus avoiding Corporation Tax. “At the same time the unemployed are demonised and reductions in Tax Credits will force people and families into deeper poverty. “It is now estimated some 2.7million people will lose up to £3,000 and it is an outrage that FIFE FIGHTS CUTS RMT member Brian Reynolds reports on a People’s Assembly (Scotland) and anti-cuts gala