About 50 people attended our Public Meeting at the Winter Gardens in Weston super Mare on 19th September. Guest speakers included:
Lisa Youlton, UNISON South West Regional Manager, who spoke about the joint union campaign against the South West Pay Cartel, which aims to reduce the wages of NHS staff by about 15%. She asked the audience to sign the petition against regional pay - here's the link: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/36063
Michael Wright from Youth Fight for Jobs told the audience about their manifesto's 5 key aims: to scrap workfare schemes, to bring back the EMA, to scrap tuition fees, to re-open youth serviecs and to invest in socially useful jobs and training. More information at this link: http://www.youthfightforjobs.com
Gwyneth Powell-Davies from UNITE spoke about the dangers of NHS privatisation, with massive global health care companies circling like vultures, since the Health and Social Care Act, which despite what David Cameron has said is the biggest top down re-organisation of the NHS ever.
North Somerset councillor Donald Davies spoke about the disproportionate impact of the cuts on benefit claimants, young people, women and immigrants. He also expressed concerns that the media in general (with a few exceptions like Owen Jones) seem to think there is nothing wrong with what the Tories are doing. Councillor Davies proposed that Council Tax could become a fairer tax if more bands were created at the top, and the ratio between the lowest band and the highest band was closer to current pay ratios.
Members of the audience spoke about the impact of the cuts on older people, and also expressed the view that we all need to stand together against the cuts, and that trade unions must further build their strength and also work with other groups and individuals.
