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From The Socialist newspaper, 30 September 2020
Solidarity not charity
Hull unions launch Unity Shop
(Click to enlarge)
Hull Trades Union Council launched its Unity Shop food bank initiative on 26 September. The trades council coordinates the unions in Hull.
Faced with poverty unseen for a generation, the trades council felt that it had to show solidarity to families struggling to put food on the table.
Millions of workers nationally, and thousands in our area, through no fault of their own, are facing a bleak future. The capitalist system has failed them.
Unity Shop provides solidarity, not charity, to those workers with food and other needs. Linked to this is a call to arms to fight to change the system that creates poverty in the first place.
The socially distanced launch was more low key than we had hoped, due to the restrictions of Covid. However, speeches from trades council officers - including Ken McCall and blacklisted activist Tony Smith, who have done most of the organising - were streamed and watched over 7,000 times. The highlight of the evening was Joe Solo's passionate singing and support.
Even before the formal launch, struggling families contacted Unity Shop for support. One mother had even blown up the launch picture in the Hull Daily Mail, to be able to read the telephone number of the shop.
Mick Whale, Hull Trades Union Council chair
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The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.
The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.
The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.
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In The Socialist 30 September 2020:
News
Tory scheme won't halt mass unemployment: mobilise the unions!
Job Support Scheme - too little, too late
International news
Trump's failure over western US wildfires
US: Police escape justice over Breonna Taylor killing
South Africa: Working class unity to stop violence against women
What we think
Covid restrictions expose Tory splits
Students
Students trapped on Covid campuses speak out
Apprehension about Covid - anger at fees, costs and exploitation
Black History Month
Still crawling at 60: Capitalism has failed Nigeria
Workplace news
Trade unions must fight to put their stamp on events
Usdaw elections: Defend members' right to participate
PCS: No to DWP management's plans - Yes to action
NHS workers need 15% rise and full funding
Peterborough CWU have massively voted for strike action
Campaigns and party news
Why I joined the Socialist Party: Labour moved right and left me behind
£71,522 raised: We've smashed our target again
Campaign for new King George Hospital wing gets boost
Readers' opinion
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