Author: ourbulgarianlife

from James McDaid Scottish Region 11/7/2022

Dear James, I read about your strike during my attendance at the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers ( RMT) trade union Annual General Meeting in Birmingam. It is clear that mining companies in America are as determined to crush trade unions as the Rail Company and Government in the UK, This policy is in part due to Globalisation which seeks higher profits for companies at the expense of workers, a policy which the UK together with the Nationalised National Coal Board in 1984/85, a policy which they had fought and lost in 1972 and 1974 when Britain’s miners not only won their legitimate wages and jobs claim in full, but in the process forced the Government to call a General Election on the slogan ” who rules Britain” We won because we had solidarity action from workers in other industries who respected our picket line’s and in 1972 secured victory when workers in other sections ignored right wing leadership and answered a call to take solidarity strike action in spite of legislation which the government sought to use, they simply took Strike action and joined miners on the picket line in what became known as ” The Battle of Saltley Gate ” In 1984/85 miners would have won if trade unions in other industries had taken the same strike action as the workers did in Birmingam in 1972. As a result of that failure the longest strike in Britain’s history ( One Year and Two Months) ended by 98 votes to 91 votes. The three NUM National Officals, the President Arthur Scargill, Vice President Mick McGahey and General Secretary Peter Heathfield all stood firm and supported continuing the strike. As a result of that decision and the para- military police force the miners returned to work and the Government systematically closed all of Britain’s Pits, and the price is we are now in a crisis with energy prices rocketing and a panic striven government re-opened coal fired Power Stations. On behalf of the International Energy and Mining Organisation ( IEMO) and the Socialist Labour Party we send our support to the courageously miners, their partners and children and we hope that other workers in America will give you the same support the United States Government is giving to the Coal Owners. Yours in Solidarity Arthur Scargill -,- President IEMO and Leader Socialist Labour Party 9/7/2022

As with so much that the privileged, Public School educated, Boris Johnson got wrong, he used the term “herd instinct” to describe his Tory colleagues when he should have used the term “nerd instinct”. To see the forced smiles from the potential future leaders of the Party is particularly sickening. One thing that Johnson did get correct was his support for us pulling out of the European Union, but this backing was to further his own political career, not from any deep beliefs. When choosing the new Prime Minister, it was stated in the mainstream media that the Tory voters are even more to the ‘right’ than many of the Tory M.P.s (if this is possible). If this is truly the case, then there is someting fundamentally wrong with our education system. Caring for other people and not aggravating other nations into unnecessary wars should be fundamentals to education. The teaching of social studies to all children should be up at the top of any educational agenda. Unfortunately, we have in Parliament at the moment a set of people in all Parties (including Labour, LibDems, Nationalists and Greens) who go along with much of the Tory ‘nerd’ agenda of furthering the interests of the super-rich capitalists, bankers and privileged elite at the expense of the working class, forced to use food banks in their hundreds of thousands and scarmbling around for secure, affordable accommodation. The whole nerd elite needs to be turfed out from being anywhere near the running of our British society. Rob J. Hawkins, Southwest Region 9/7/2022

Arthur Scargill was an invited guest and gave the opening speech at the 2022 annual conference of the RMT. This is the text: RMT ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2022 It is an honour to be invited to attend the RMT 2022 AGM, but it is a real privilege to be invited to speak at the commencement, when your Union is taking strike action on a claim for a wage increase and no loss of jobs as a result of “new technology”. I applaud the outstanding leadership of the RMT National Officials whose advocacy in meetings and in the media including T.V. has been inspirational. The claim by RMT for a wage increase is on any test justified. In the first six months of 2022 we have seen the cost of living increase to 11.7%. The Government has repeatedly said that RMT’s claim is a matter between the Union and employers in the rail industry. Yet on Tuesday, 28 June, the Transport Secretary Grant Schapps acknowledged to the BBC that he and the Treasury had set an overall mandate which dictated how much money was available, and that he had final sign-off on what was agreed! In effect, he confirmed that it is the Government and not the employers who are dictating policies – as has been the case before including the miners’ strikes of 1972, 1974 and 1984/85. Background to miners’ strike action in 1972 As the result of the refusal by the National Coal Board and the Government to concede the NUM’s pay claim, Britain’s miners took national strike action on 9 January 1972 for the first time in 46 years. In the days that followed, mass picketing together with support from unions such as the NUR, the National Union of Seamen, ASLEF and the TGWU had an impact but unfortunately, leaders of unions with members working in power stations and in the steel industry refused to support us and respect NUM picket lines, let alone take supporting action. However, one event was to be the pivotal moment leading to the victory of the 1972 miners’ strike. It took place here, in Birmingham, Britain’s second largest city. For three days, a handful of local NUM pickets had been unable to prevent hundreds of scab lorry drivers from taking thousands of tonnes of coke from a depot at Saltley in the centre of this city. Miners from other coalfields responded to a call for help and on Saturday, 5 February several hundred NUM pickets including me arrived in Birmingham. The response by trade unions and the people of Birmingham was amazing – from the local Labour and Communist Party Secretaries to union officials Alan Law of the TGWU and Arthur Harper of the AEU. But by Tuesday, the 8th, it was clear we needed more help. On Tuesday evening arrangements were made for me to speak to local and regional leaders of key trade unions of the day, including the TGWU, AEU, NATFHE, Vehicle Builders, NUR, UCATT, the GMW, the FBU and groups of shop stewards from other unions – about 13 meetings in all. I argued as passionately as I could that what the miners needed wasn’t money or messages of support: “We don’t want your pound notes. We want you to take strike action. Will you go down in history as the working class of Birmingham who stood by while the miners were battered, or will you become immortal?” We needed solidarity action – and we needed it by Thursday, 10 February. What happened on 10 February 1972 remains a lasting symbol of what workers united can achieve. On that morning, 30,000 Birmingham women and men came out on strike and 20,000 marched to join the miners on the picket line at Saltley Gate. That day, they marched into history. The Government was shaken to the core. Today, 50 years later, they remain terrified of what the working class of Birmingham showed could be achieved by workers uniting in struggle. As Margaret Thatcher writes in her autobiography “The Downing Street Years”: “In February 1972 mass pickets…forced the closure of the Saltley Coke Depot in Birmingham by sheer weight of numbers. It was a frightening demonstration….” The battle of Saltley Gate marked the beginning of a year of historic trade union struggle. In July 1972, there was the London dockers’ strike and the incarceration of the Pentonville Five, whose release from jail was forced by massive trade union campaigning and action. In October 1972, UCATT building workers were involved in a strike against exploitation in the construction industry, organised by men like Des Warren and Ricky Tomlinson. It took nearly 50 years until the Court of Appeal in 2021 effectively admitted that the arrest and imprisonment of the Shrewsbury pickets was unlawful The events of 1972 show how powerful our Movement can be. Today, RMT needs that same support of other trade unions, who should be taking supportive or secondary strike action. It is not for me to advise any Union what it should do. The RMT leadership has conducted an outstanding campaign and you have a right to ask other unions to take supportive collective strike action against employers and the Government who are taking collective action against your members. It would not surprise me if the Government started to use legislation either to stop the RMT strike or to bring action against the Union’s leadership, as was the case with the NUM in 1984/85 – indeed, recently released papers reveal how Thatcher was indicating to the police and the judiciary ways and means of arresting Scargill and charging him with conspiracy. Only last Wednesday, three GMB Union Officials arrested on a picket line in East Sussex were brought before Hastings Magistrates Court charged with “obstruction of the highway” – exactly the same tactic deployed against me by the Government and police in the miners’ strike in 1972, in the Grunwick Dispute in 1977 and at Orgreave in 1984. Sequestration and Receivership Unions should not be intimidated by any threat of sequestration and/or receivership. The Courts appointed first a Sequestrator and, second, a Receiver against the NUM in 1984 but we were able to continue servicing our membership not just in the year-long strike but until 1989 when all legal actions against the NUM and its leaders were abandoned by order of the High Court. In 1990, in response to a media smear campaign, I had to reveal how we had functioned – in cash and an independent trust fund – during the 1984/85 strike, but by 1992, every smear story had been discredited or dismissed by the Courts. I don’t think what we did in 1984/85 can be compared to Prince Charles, who received €3 million euro in cash from Qatar’s Prime Minister – from which his Prince’s Trust donated £100,000 to GCHQ, the Government’s spy centre which had conducted surveillance on Mick McGahey, Peter Heathfield and me. The RMT and its members are facing new laws which will prevent the Union from being able to defend its members, laws which if enacted are in breach of United Nations and International Labour Organisation conventions. When faced with an attack against the right to strike, trade unions and their members should act in defiance of this unlawful legislation. I am appalled by the refusal of the Leader of the Labour Party to support RMT and its members. And I am sick and tired of listening to politicians who support the right to strike in Eastern European countries but oppose and threaten British workers who legally have the right to take action without any interference from Government. I also have nothing but contempt for the former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair who sponsored a London gathering to discuss “centrist politics” last Thursday . It was attended by former Tory Minister Rory Stewart, former Scottish Tory Leader Ruth Davidson and Labour front-bencher Peter Kyle. Other notables included Bill Clinton’s former U.S. Treasury Chief, Larry Summers and George W. Bush’s former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Blair later told BBC’s Newsnight that Sir Keir “must be clear that a Labour Government cannot afford a wave of strikes”. As a retired trade union leader and Socialist, I would suggest that all affiliated trade unions seriously consider whether it’s time to cut their ties with the Labour Party and look towards a Socialist alternative. Our Movement has historically defied unfair laws. Trade unions won the right to exist not because of benevolent politicians but through strike action. We must follow in the footsteps of the weavers of Yorkshire and Lancashire, the Tolpuddle Martyrs and the Suffragettes – and more recently the Women of Greenham Common, by adopting a policy of non-compliance with unjust laws. Today it’s our turn to emulate great trade union leaders such as Jim Larkin, James Connolly and A.J. Cook who inspired their members to fight. We have to fight back. The Movement should start by standing side by side with RMT. I have been an active trade unionist and Socialist all my working life and I will continue to the day I die to remain committed to the trade union movement and to the vision of a Socialist society. Arthur Scargill 3 July 2022

On the second day of RMT action for pay and conditions for rank and file railway staff Arthur Scargill moved on to Sheffield picket line along with his grandson. ITV were there to interview him. Arthur Scargill speaking at an RMT Picket Line outside Sheffield Midland Railway Station said the RMT strike can succeed because their case is just. Speaking to students on the Picket Line he said the support by young people like the students from Universities in Sheffield remind him of the way in which the NUM had to take strike action over the past 50 years. In 1969 NUM members took unofficial strike action to demand that surface workers should have an 8 hour day succeeded after a 3 week strike. In 1972 miners had to take strike action again as they fought for a substantial wage claim and better conditions. The strike started in January 1972 and after weeks of conflict including the famous Battle of Saltley Gate in Birmingham which saw the people and trade unions taking strike action and bringing Birmingham to a standstill the Gate was closed, the Government surrendered and the NUM won. In 1974 the NUM had to take strike action against the Social Contract  which tried to force a wage freeze. The Miners not only won an historic victory but forced a general election which saw the defeat of the Heath Tory Government. In 1981 miners again took unofficial strike action which was won following an agreement with the Thatcher Government – it succeeded by determined trade union action. In 1984/5 the NUM commenced the longest national strike ever seen in the U.K. It witnessed the famous Battle of 0rgreave and miners could have won if other trade unions had supported the strike as they had done in the unofficial strike in 1981. The greatest victory in 1984/5 was the struggle itself as is now recognised by the release of Government papers which prove that our fight was not with the National Coal Board but with the Government using paramilitary tactics which have still have to be explained. The last miners’ strike led by Arthur Scargill was in 1999 when the NUM took action against the privatised RJB Mining company. Historians overlook this strike which succeeded in winning a £20 a week increase for coal face workers and percentage increases for all other grades. Most important of all RJB Mining had to agree for the following 5 Years there would be an increase for miners based on the increase in the Retail Prices Index. Trade Unions are essential to protect British workers. UK governments over the past 50 years have been quick to support strikes in East European countries whilst introducing unlawful legislation designed to prevent strikes in the UK. The right to Strike is a fundamental United Nations and ILO law and must be upheld in the United Kingdom. If legislation is introduced which allows Companies to sack who they want and bring in Agency workers thenTrade Unions should implement a policy of Non-Compliance. Arthur Scargill President  NUM  1982-2002 Leader Socialist Labour Party

Arthur Scargill joined the RMT picket at Wakefield Station on the first day of the RMT strike on 21st June 2022. He was wearing the same cap as the one he had on when he was arrested on the picket line at Orgreave Colliery 40 years ago when picketing as leader of the NUM. 21/6/2022

I call on all Trade Unions to take Industrial Action in support of the RMT in its strikes for an increase in pay and in its defence of its members who are threatened will the loss of hundreds of jobs as Rail Operators and the Tory Government plan to reject not only RMT”s legitimate claim for a wage increase but plan to outlaw strike action in those sectors it deems nessesary. Faced not only with rejection of its pay and jobs claim the RMT and it’s members are facing new laws which will prevent the Union from being able to defend its members, a law which if enacted is in breach of the United Nations, International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the European Union. When faced with an attack against its right to Strike, Trade Unions and trade union members should act in defiance of this unlawful act ! I am appalled by the refusal of the Leader of the Labour Party to support RMT and it’s members. 0ur movement throughout the ages have defied unfair laws. Trade Unions won the right to exist through taking industrial action. Not because of benevolent politicians but through strike action. Women won the right to vote not because of members of parliament but through the bravery of the Suffragettes who took direct action to force the establishment to give in. Today it’s our turn to emulate our great trade union leaders such as Keir Hardie, James Connolly, Jim Larkin and A J Cook who inspired their members to fight. I am sick and tired of listening to politicians who support the Right to Strike in Poland and in the Ukraine but oppose workers in Britain, threatening workers with fines, imprisonment and the seizure of Union funds. We have to fight back, We should start by standing side by side with RMT. Take action and the Rail workers will win. The Miners with support of other trade unions showed the way at Saltley in Birmingham in 1972. We can do it today by taking industrial action with RMT. Arthur Scargill President National Union of Mineworkers 1982-2002 and Leader Socialist Labour Party 20/6/2022

“The struggles of the past inspire the struggles of today” The following indicate either where performances of “From Saltley Gate to Partygate” will take place or there is interest in arranging one.

Lenin’s comment on a “free press” under Capitalism is demonstrated daily. For example NATO and the CIA have been secretive and in denial about the existence of 46 biolabs in the Ukraine. Suspicion was aroused after concern was raised about the possibility of any of these falling into Russian hands. This was reported in the Morning Star today (13/6/2022). John Tyrrell 13/6/2022

North Ayrshire Council Election Results – 2022 Posted on 6 May 2022 The results for the 2022 North Ayrshire Council elections have been declared. North Ayrshire Council is now made up of the following: Scottish National Party – 12 Conservatives – 10 Scottish Labour – 9 Independent – 2 The first preference votes cast for the nine multi-member ward results are: Ward 1 North Coast – 5 seats 1st pref votes Eleanor Collier (SNP) 1,724 Todd Ferguson (Conservatives) 1,633 Jane Fraser (Alba) 100 Alan Hill (SNP) 1,325 Nick Hobson (Independence For Scotland) 72 Wendy Low-Thomson (Independent) 234 Tom Marshall (Conservatives) 1,331 James McDaid (Socialist Labour) 118 Margaret McLellan (Liberal Democrats) 203 Ian Murdoch (Independent) 1,718 David John Nairn (Green Party) 392 Valerie Reid (Labour) 995 The candidates elected are: Eleanor Collier (stage 1) Ian Murdoch (stage 1) Todd Ferguson (stage 3) Alan Hill (stage 10) Tom Marshall (stage 12) Turnout – 53.9%. Rejected papers – 160. Quota required – 1,641. Ward 7 Irvine West – 4 seats 1st pref votes Kevin Blades (Independent) 133 Bobby Cochrane (Socialist Labour) 150 Scott Gallacher (Conservatives) 932 Lewis Hutton (Liberal Democrats) 72 Tristan Lindsay (Independent) 47 Shaun Macaulay (SNP) 1,274 Sylvia Mallinson (Labour) 660 Louise McPhater (Labour) 729 Chloe Robertson (SNP) 623 Colin Turbett (Scottish Socialist) 46 The candidates elected are: Shaun Macaulay (stage 1) Scott Gallacher (stage 2) Chloe Robertson (stage 8) Louise McPhater (stage 10) Turnout – 39.8%. Rejected papers – 142. Quota required – 934. Note from Nick James, Total vote Bobby Cochrane 150. Jim McDaid 118. SSP vote in same ward as Bobby 47. TUSC in another Irvine ward 40. Bobby Cochrane also significantly increased his vote. David Jacobsen. Leith Walk, Edinburgh 113 Details of results through stages of votes using single transferrable vote. Click to download result for North Coast, North Ayrshire Council Election. High time STV was used in England but politicians are dragging their feet to avoid democratic change to fair representation. First past the post is throttling the system. Congratulations and thanks to SLP candidates who stood and achieved commendable results. Results sent by James McDaid SLP Scottish Regions 7/5/2022