Coastguards strike over bank holiday in pay protest

On 23 August, 700 PCS members in the Maritime and Coastguard Agency went on a 48-hour strike over pay. Sean Brogan, an ex-marine radio officer, from Teignmouth, Devon, reports:

The refusal of this government to negotiate with those workers who watch out for the safety of lives at sea led to closure of the Brixham station in south Devon over the busiest bank holiday of the year.

Wages are £9,000 below the equivalent in the ambulance service after six year's service. With a starting salary of £12,000, how can anyone expect to live never mind find accommodation?

Emergency workers face very strong dilemmas when choosing to go on strike. The 'right' and the 'good' sit in judgement condemning such action as immoral and unjustified.

MPs seem to need five times as much as us to live on, never mind the expenses of ten times that amount and the free meals that are thrown in.

The refusal of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to have meaningful negotiations over pay is part of New Labour's strategy to make workers pay for the recession. The myth that wage increases cause inflation was buried by Marx 150 years ago but just like they did in the 1970s, the rich and their representatives are desperate to blame anyone but themselves for inflation.

They are prepared to allow our coastguard stations to be manned by managers with very little operational experience, putting lives at risk.

Unity in action - together we can win!

In a show of unity and strength, public sector workers across Devon and the country have gone on strike in coordinated joint action. Taking part were teachers (from the NUT), further education lecturers (UCU) and workers in the Department of Work and Pensions (Jobcentre Plus) and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (both PCS).

For teachers and lecturers, the main reason behind the strike was pay, triggered by an insulting below-inflation 'pay rise' for teachers and the continued underpayment of lecturers in further education. For the civil servants, pay is also an issue (a three year pay deal where some will receive a complete pay freeze!), but also privatisation and job cuts led to action. Teachers and lecturers are also concerned with this, as well as increasing workload.

In North Devon, all secondary schools were closed for the day, a reflection of the anger and determination felt by NUT members. At North Devon College there was a tremendous 35-strong picket. Socialist Party members joining the picket to offer support were received well. The lecturers were pleased at the turnout, and one striker revealed that the strike had led to several inquiries from non-UCU members about joining the union. The problems faced by workers in further education in organising effective action centre around the multitude of different unions involved and increasing casualisation. Workers are organised not just into the UCU, but also the ATL, ASCL, UNISON and GMB. Anti-trade union laws mean that without a full ballot members of these organisations could be victimised for participating in action with the UCU.

The increasing casualisation at the college means that about half of the teaching staff are employed on an ad hoc hourly basis. This insecure and irregular employment is bad for the lecturers and their students, and obviously makes them very reluctant to raise their heads above the parapet and take part in strike action. All of this illustrates the need to organise united action across all public sector unions, and build a new political alternative to the main parties, which would enthusiastically campaign against the restrictive anti-trade union laws introduced by the Tories and kept on the statute book by New Labour.

Socialist Students and Socialist Party members also attended pickets at South Devon College and Exeter College. A lot of students signed our petition expressing support for the strikers. Many students also took part in the rally organised by the UCU from Exeter College to a rally held at St James Park, Exeter City's ground.

The rally, organised by Devon NUT, was incredibly well attended. The room was full to bursting and many people had to hand around outside the room and listen in. The broad range of speakers representing unions from the NUT, to UNISON, UCU, FBU, PCS and back to NUT (well it was their rally!) was admirable, as was the consistent theme of public sector unity. Addressing the rally, PCS National Executive member and Socialist Party member Mark Baker stressed the need for a political alternative to the main parties (all of whom condemned the strike action) and for unity: "On our own we can't defeat Gordon Brown's pay freeze. Together we can, together we will."

Eight members of the Socialist Party attended the rally. One of these, student teacher Jim Thomson, spoke from the floor following the main speeches. He stressed the need to combat the neo-liberal policies of New Labour and the other two main parties. The disaster of privatisation and private involvement in public services is clear, and he gave the local example of the costly and unpopular PFI scheme which rebuilt Exeter's secondary schools. Obviously, as well as industrial struggles to fight for 'public services not private profit' there will need to be political struggles too, which means unionists and campaigners must build a new party to represent the case for well funded public services where the priority is serving those who use it, and not lining the pockets of fat cats.

The rally ended with a tribute from the South West regional secretary of the NUT, Andy Woolley, to the late NUT general secretary Steve Sinnott. The tribute, like the rally and the atmosphere on picket lines, was positive and celebratory. All those present were aware, as Steve Sinnott was, that this action was the beginning, not the end, and that more struggles lie ahead for teachers and all public sector workers, in getting a decent pay rise, stopping job cuts and privatisation, and starting the fightback against neo-liberalism and the idea that public service = bad, and private profit = good.

Unity in action - 24th April joint public sector strike - some pictures

From the top:

Photos 1 and 2 - Strikers at North Devon College in Barnstaple.
Photo 3 - A picture from the well-attended rally held at Exeter City's St James Park.
Photo 4 - Socialist Party member and PCS National Executive member Mark Baker addresses the rally.
Photos 5 and 6 - Jim Thomson, a student teacher and member of Exeter Socialist Party, speaks at the rally.
Photo 7 - The picket line at Exeter College.
Photos 8 and 9 - The UCU, with supporters including members of the Socialist Party and Socialist Students, march to St James Park.

24th April - Pay, pensions and 'public services, not private profit'

This Thursday, thousands of teachers, further education lecturers, Department of Work and Pensions (Jobcentre Plus) staff and council workers in Birmingham are going on coordinated strike action. The action will take place on the same day not just to maximise the impact and pressure on the Government and other public sector unions, but to reflect the fact that the issues all these workers face are similar and linked.

Teachers are striking about the insulting pay offer, but are also angry about high and increasing workload, the privatisation of education and performance related pay. As the strike bulletin of the grassroots campaigning organisation 'Classroom Teacher' points out, "The Government wants us to carry on working ourselves into the ground meeting their targets when the best they can offer in return is year after year of below-inflation pay awards."

Further education lecturers have their own problems with pay. It seems likely that the Communication Workers' Union will ballot for strike action soon over Royal Mail pensions.

Staff in the Department of Work and Pensions are staging action on a number of issues, including pay, privatisation and brutal job cuts.

What links all 4 actions is a generalised assault on public services and the workers who day after day keep them running, despite the dead-hand of Government bureaucracy and targets, and crass and exploitative management. The New Labour government is trying to privatise and marketise public services, just as the neo-liberal faith it slavishly follows is crashing and burning in the wake of the global credit crisis and economic slowdown.

We support the strike action. With real inflation running at well over the official inflation (a ludicrous 2.5%) the Government dishonestly peddles, the pay offers to public sector workers means a decline in standard of living, and more and more workers struggling to make ends meet. In addition to this, the Government continues to claim that public sector pay rises are inflationary, a flat out lie, as admitted by most economists, many of them no friend to workers.

It is critical that this Thursday is not the end, but a stepping stone to future action involving all public sector unions. United action around the banner of 'public services not private profit', but encompassing other issues common to most public sector workers such as pay, pensions, workload and bullying management would be the best way to fight back against the Government, who won't rest until every public sector worker has their pay, pension and morale crushed, and every avenue of opportunity for private sector vultures to make as much money out of public services has been explored and exploited.

Join us on the picket lines and at the rally at St James Park, Exeter at noon!

3rd May elections and recent activity

On Saturday 28th April, Devon Socialist Party members and CNWP supporters leafletted the Ilfracombe East ward with anti-BNP leaflets. The leaflets put forward class arguments and posed the question of a new alternative to the main parties for workers. The BNP candidate subsequently failed miserably, garnering just 63 votes. Also on the 28th, members did stalls in Exeter and Taunton and sold over 30 newspapers. On the Sunday, members travelled up to Bristol to assist with Tom Baldwin's election campaign in Windmill Hill. He got a good vote in the end, and was praised by the PCS union for his answers to the questions they asked of all council candidates.

We expressed our solidarity with the striking PCS members on 1st May.

There will be a full analysis of the local, Scottish and Welsh elections on here shortly, including the votes for Socialist Alternative candidates, the state of the BNP vote and lessons for anti-fascist work and the situation in Scotland.