The Socialist 3 November 2021

Socialist change to end climate change

Socialist change to end climate change

Fight for socialism to end climate destruction

COP26 begins - workers strike for pay

COP26 News in brief

Why I joined the Socialist Party

Fund the fight for a socialist world

Sheffield students tirelessly campaigning for socialist change

Hackney children's centres: Campaigners see through council deception

East London gentrification plans exposed

Fight for a real wage rise for all

Local government cuts set to continue - we need councillors prepared to fight

Race to top for bankers

Fight for a £15-an-hour minimum wage and an end to youth rates

Water companies put profits before protecting our environment

Tories threaten arts students: we are prepared to fight back!

Tory Universal Credit crumbs no solution to cost of living crisis

Tory plans won't fix social care

Pay freeze lifted for civil servants - prepare now for the struggle for a decent rise

NEU: Strategy needed to bring members together to take national action

Oaks Park school strike spurred on by head's lies

Scunthorpe scaffs strike into fifth week

Unite leaflets supermarkets to build support for Weetabix fire and rehire strike

Plant engineers pay dispute

Sexism, safety and the profit system

Sudan - mass protests and general strike against coup

Chile: International solidarity campaign to free political prisoners

Vaccine inequality - the ugly face of capitalism

Hunger strike in Calais for refugee rights

Protests against Sudan coup reach Britain

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Hackney children's centres: Campaigners see through council deception

Protesters outside Hackney council. Photo: Hackney and Islington SP (Click to enlarge)

Brian Debus, Hackney Trades Union Council president

Responding to the closure of Fernbank and Hillside children's centres in east London, Hackney Labour mayor Philip Glanville claimed: "If we did not have to do this we wouldn't".

Glanville uses a flawed report to justify closure, claiming a 23% vacancy rate at council-run nurseries. Parents have picked apart this consultation document.

Pre-Covid, for many months in 2019, Fernbank was running at over 100% capacity, and had a financial surplus. To try and use figures from the Covid period is downright dishonest. Nationally, similar settings suffered a significant decline in attendance.

There is an alternative, and that is to fight, as parents and staff have decided to do.

The workers' union, Unison, will conduct an official ballot for strike action of all its members at the two centres to stop the closures and job losses.

Mayor Glanville and all Labour councillors should use council reserves in the interim, and join us in demanding the government returns the £140 million it has stolen from Hackney in the last decade. The Tories have given billions of pounds to their rich mates, a few crumbs from this cake would solve Hackney's problems.

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is helping to draw up a People's Budget that spells out the needs of the population of Hackney, and the bill should be presented to the government. If Labour councils adopt this fighting strategy, local community campaigns, trade unions, and the wider population would be only too willing to join them.

If this does not happen, many will draw the conclusion that we need alternative candidates in next year's local elections. TUSC is ready to stand against those parties implementing budget cuts.

In this issue

COP26

Socialist change to end climate change