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From The Socialist newspaper, 17 June 2020
Cumbria: Teachers, parents and socialists fight reckless school reopening
Brent Kennedy, Carlisle Socialist Party
Socialist Party members in Cumbria have been active as teachers and parents in the campaign against the reckless attempt to prematurely reopen schools without safety guarantees. The national u-turn is a victory for all of us and a humiliating defeat for the Tory government.
It shows how powerful workers and the wider working class (in this case, as parents) are when they are given a lead by trade unions - not just the National Education Union but all the unions involved.
But this has also revealed another reality - the baleful role played by some Labour-led councils such as Cumbria county council. It gave no lead in this and gave us no help, instead playing Pontius Pilate - "it's up to the schools."
Through the local media, Unite Community union branded this "an abrogation of responsibility which puts an unfair burden on individual head teachers and their staff".
The Labour councillors didn't even match the Tory-led Lancashire county council and make a clear statement against the government's reckless plan. Instead, they effectively implemented government policy - drive the parents back to work, safely or not - just as they implement Tory cuts every year. Some opposition!
Rejecting public demands from Unite Community to stop the unsafe reopening, on Monday 15 June they declared in the local press: "We would like to reaffirm our commitment" to opening schools. These hapless councillors were doubling down on the government's previous order just as the Tories were abandoning it, leaving them high and dry just two hours later.
Even after the u-turn the council published a statement, again reaffirming that abandoned position, leaving them standing to the right of Boris Johnson.
Teaching activists were dismayed that even the Tories (in their own interests) had taken more notice of the mood of opposition from parents, teachers and their unions than Labour councillors! This has caused disquiet in the Labour Party and criticism of the council leader, but there is no plan to remove him or the other Blairite councillors. With them and Sir Keir Starmer presenting the face of Labour, what chance do they have of enthusing workers to vote in the next council elections?
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In The Socialist 17 June 2020:
What we think
Which way forward for Black Lives Matter protests?
Oppose racist symbols and the racist system
News
Capitalism = inequality. Fight for socialism!
Black Lives Matter: more youth protests take aim at capitalism
Contact tracing fiasco: You can't believe a word the government tells us
Youth
Youth without a future: fight for jobs and homes - fight for socialism!
Workplace news
Resist relaxation of Sunday trading laws
Debenham's protests: Workers must not pay price of Covid-19
Battle with BT management needed to win real pay rise
Schools
Tories retreat on free school meals
Parents' protests against Welsh schools reopening
Cumbria: Teachers, parents and socialists fight reckless school reopening
Reviews
Tears and anger over the treatment of the Windrush generation
Film: Da 5 Bloods - entertaining but politically constrained
Campaigns and party news
Why we joined the Socialist Party
20 days. One town. Four domestic violence murders.
Lessons from history
Reform or revolt? How was the slave trade abolished?
Scotland
Scotland and coronavirus - a catalogue of government failure
Readers' opinion
Three years on: No justice for Grenfell, no peace from BLM
Two-metre rule under 'review' - Another case of profit before safety
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