Right To Work Conference - Glenroy Watson RMT Branch Chair

http://www.righttowork.org.uk
Draft statement from the Fight for the Right to Work conference, 13 June 2009




Working people across the world are being asked to pay for an economic, social, political and environmental crisis that they did not create. Capitalism isnt working and the results include mass unemployment, repossessions, increased racism, criminal neglect of climate change and intensified pressures towards war.




In Britain unemployment is over 2.2 million and headed upwards, despite empty talk of recovery. Younger people are hit particularly hard. There are 820,000 unemployed under the age of 25. Around 600,000 people leave school this summer and many will not find jobs. The unemployment rate for 16 and 17 year olds stands at 29.3 percent.




We need action to defend every job and to win rights for the unemployed. The government has found tens of billions to bailout banks and financial institutions, but has done very little to defend workers jobs and living standards as we have seen at LDV in Birmingham. And the government is pressing ahead with policies that directly threaten jobs from Royal Mail to local government to the civil service to the NHS.




We congratulate workers at Waterford Glass, Prisme and Visteon for their occupations and campaigns which showed it is possible to fight back and win over jobs. We need more of such resistance, and pledge to do all in our power to encourage and support such fightbacks.




We congratulate the students who occupied colleges over Gaza and other issues.




We congratulate groups of workers presently engaged in struggle such as on the London Underground and in Royal Mail. We also support the fightbacks in private industry such as at Fujitsu.




We will also need much more determined defence of public services. The budget on 22 April unveiled a decade of attacks on workers and public services, even on the basis of Alistair Darlings over-optimistic figures.




We stand for democratically-controlled public services, for the renationalisation of privatised industry, and for people to come before profit.




We are determined to actively oppose the growth of racism and fascism. We call for united opposition to the BNP and to anything that divides workers. We oppose attempts to scapegoat people on benefits for the crisis and the drive towards making people work for benefits. We oppose the welfare reform agenda.




We oppose the attacks on migrant workers and any attempts to blame immigrants or migrants for unemployment. We reject the slogan British jobs for British workers.




Many of us are already involved in initiatives such as the Peoples Charter for Change and the National Shop Stewards Network, and we will continue to support these and the broadest possible active unity among workers, students and the unemployed.




We resolve: * To support and actively build the demonstration at the Labour Party conference on 27 September called by the UCU and supported by the NUJ. * To hold a day of action at JobCentres in early September to highlight the fight for rights for the unemployed and to win support for the demonstration at the Labour Party conference * To continue to press for individual unions and the TUC to lead the fight against job losses by opposing redundancies, resisting closures and demanding a transformation of government policy. * To elect a steering committee from this conference to co-ordinate the day of action in September and to initiate Fight for the Right to Work meetings in cities across Britain to bring together the employed and the unemployed, students and school leavers to build the 27 September demonstration.

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