Back to battle: cuts, taxes, Vestas, the TUC and Palestine

Finding it harder than usual to get back into things. I feel it isn’t only me. The prospects for the next year look grim. Who wants to leave the quiet, restful days of August to get stuck into this? Nevertheless, as people meet to plan and organise, with the conference season under way, there is a smell of blood in the air, suddenly Clegg and Brown and Osborne are all talking about cuts. The cartoon in today’s Guardian sums it up well.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/cartoon/2009/sep/19/labour-government-spending-cuts

For all the talk of cutting Trident, ID cards, putting up taxes, when the knife goes in it will be into the poor. Who pays for the crisis remains the big question. Graham Turner shows that public spendiong is hardly up at all. The crisis in government finances is because of the fall in tax revenue. He proposes therefore that taxes should rise for those that can afford it. As Britain has become more unequal than at any time in the last century, taxation seems a sensible way or killing two birds with one stone.

Actually August wasn’t as restful as usual. The Vestas battle kept us busy in Manchester, not counting the two comrades who went to camp for six weeks outside the plant. Two weeks ago we had a meeting with Jaymie from Vestas, the third Vestas worker to come to Manchester and Thursday just gone we had the picket of the Warrington HQ and the solidarity leafleting and petitioning in Piccadilly with about 15 of us there. The meeting at the end of July with Matt from Vestas was one of the best solidarity meetings any of us can remember with the Mary Quayle room packed, 60 plus. It was particularly good to have Steve from RMT to talk together with Matt about the RMT’s role. It isn’t quite the same as Big Bill Hayward going as IWW organiser to a dispute in the Deep South but it is in the same tradition. I think this couldn't have been done without the Trades Council which is a compliment but also a warning. The scale of the solidarity is modest, we have a lot of work to do. It's important to se that it is based on a political understanding of the state of the planet, the role of Ed Miliband, the importance of occupations. Political trade unionism is the key.

And what better example that the TUC vote to boycott goods from the occupied territories labelled Israeli. The TUC managed to take a stand that impressed me. I can’t remember when that last happened. It’s also the first time the new UCU has been vindicated so publicly on a political stand it has made.

Reflections on Vestas, August 2009

Something is changing. The Vestas dispute engaged the leftan the trade unions and the climate change movement to an extent that none of the earlier occupations have done.

To make a difference it was necessary to be bold and to move quickly and I think Manchester Trades Council and the Campaign against Climate Change did both. I'm thinking in particular of getting Matthew from Vestas to come and speak at what was a remarkable meeting on the Tuesday evening in the Mechanics. And we are continuing to do so.

This is a battle to force the government to take over a "green" plant which its owners want to abandon.it sums up a good deal of what is wrong with the world today.

If the reports that Ed Milliband wants to do something to save the plant but has been blocked are even only partly true, then there is a division to be exploited. As the Labour Party conference approaches - and the Isle of Wight is not far from Brighton.

It still all depends on the self activity of the workers themselves. In this case the dozen or so plus supporters outside who occupied and now the occupation has finshed want to fight on, organising locally, travelingl the country, speaking at meetings, doing delegation work.Once a group of workers act, the opportunity to organise solidarity is there and speed is of the essence. There is an obvoius lesson here we need to remember well: things are speeding up. Those who don't adjust to this are lost.

One new element in the Vestas battle is the role of Bob CrowReflections on Vestas, Aug 200 and the RMT. Its not quite like having Big Bill Haywood coming down to help but it is part of that tradition, which has not been seen here for a very long time. In any event, having a national union actively in support makes a difference and it is significant that the support came through locally with the Piccadilly RMT branch.