As the sun beat down during a sizzling summer, Reading Trades Union Council (RTUC) remained vigilant, taking part in three actions with Reading & District Labour Party (RDLP). We stood up for local and national transport as well as for public health provision.
Celebrating 70 Years of the NHS
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| John Partington (left, TSSA) and Nikki Dancey (right, GMB) of the RTUC join Matt Rodda MP, Labour Councillors John Ennis, Rachel Eden and Ruth McEwan and supporters at the birthday card presentation |
On 28 July, Labour's prospective parliamentary candidate for Reading West, Cllr Rachel Eden, joined Matt Rodda, Labour MP for Reading East, and other supporters and defenders of the National Health Service to deliver 70th birthday cards to the Royal Berkshire Hospital. Cards were signed by supporters of public health who condemn the creeping privatisation of the NHS by the Tory Government and they were addressed to several wards in the hospital. Delivered to the RBH reception, the security attendant - himself employed by an outsourced firm - assured the cards' distribution to the nurses, porters, doctors and other hospital staff in the designated wards. Kevin Brandstatter, Nikki Dancey (both GMB) and John Partington (TSSA) attended the event on behalf of the RTUC.
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| Cllr Rachel Eden and Matt Rodda MP hand over the birthday cards at RBH reception |
Reading Buses Open Meeting
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| Matt Rodda MP addresses the audience in the Reading Buses open meeting |
On 1 August Matt Rodda, Labour MP for Reading East, organised an open meeting in Caversham Baptist Church to inform the general public of proposed timetable and route changes by Reading Buses. Alongside Matt on the panel were Caversham Councillors, Adele Barnett-Ward (Labour), Ed Hopper (Tory) and Jane Stanford-Beale (Tory).
The Reading Buses Chief Executive Officer, Martin Gilbert, made a noble effort, failing to address the absence of a workers' representative on the panel but doing his best on the logistics of timetabling. Ultimately, although Reading Buses does not aim to make a profit, it cannot make a loss and receives no subsidy from the Conservative Government - so timetabling and route determination are decided by market mechanisms with some redistribution of income across the town's regions.
John Partington (TSSA), attending for RTUC, set Matt up with a chance to promote the Labour Party manifesto and condemn Tory austerity by pointing out that bus services should not be a public service genie squeezed into a profit making bottle - but Matt preferred not to make party political points and instead acted as a meet and greet figure. Rather than be profit making organisations, bus companies are a public service which generate wealth for the local economy. As such, subsidy for unprofitable routes is essential.
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| Matt Rodda MP alongside Caversham Councillors |
John also challenged the Councillors present with the notion of park-and-ride services to draw passengers out of cars in favour of buses to their rail commute from Emmer Green, Sonning Common and environs - but this did not elicit a direct response. The question of where a park-and-ride facility would be built was too thorny an issue for anyone to take on.
Cllr Adele Barnett-Ward did announce the Labour council's consultation on congestion charging and a company car parking levy. Either of which proposal would take great strides towards alleviating town centre congestion and really boost Reading Buses' public appeal.
Protesting Rail Fare Increases
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| Chris Reilly (RMT) and John Partington (TSSA) of RTUC leaflet the commuting public outside Reading Railway Station |
On 15 August, RTUC and RDLP members gathered in two shifts (07:00-09:00 & 18:00-19:00) to protest the Tory Government's announcement of rail fair increases for January 2019 of 3.2%. While commuters suffer below-inflation pay rises (and company directors average 11% pay rises annually), the rail fares will again increase above inflation.
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| Cllr John Ennis with RTUC's Nikki Dancey and Kevin Brandstatter (both GMB) |
Labour Councillors John Ennis and Ellie Emberson joined other Labour protesters alongside RTUC delegates John Partington (TSSA), Chris Reilly (RMT), Nikki Dancey and Kevin Brandstatter (both GMB) to distribute leaflets declaring 'Cut Fares Not Staff' and inviting the public to write to their MP to condemn the year on year inflation-busting fare rises.
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| Labour Party protesters leaflet outside Reading Railway Station |
This year's protest took on added flavour as the Tories also announced their desire to see pay negotiations with the rail unions to be based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rather than on the Retail Price Index (RPI) - a lower measure of inflation which ignores increases in mortgage rates - thus further squeezing pay for working people - while company directors receive an average of 11% pay increases year on year! Rest assured - the RTUC will oppose continued wage squeezes on all workers and will be back on the streets protesting fare rises in the run up to their January implementation, with a view to preventing or lowering them.
On 25 August, a coalition of radical groups and individuals assembled in Oxford's Cornmarket Street in a show of defiance against fascist thuggery under the banner, 'We will not be silenced'. The previous week, on 17 August, socialists at a stall at the Carfax Tower, protesting Tory MP Boris Johnson's Islamophobic comments about women in burkas, were attacked by two fascists who spoliated the stall, damaging literature and jostling and verbally abusing the stall-keepers.
Defiance to Fascism in Oxford
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| Communist Party, Oxford Stand Up to Racism, Oxford & District Trades Union Council and Palestine Solidarity stalls in Cornmarket St., Oxford |
On 25 August, a coalition of radical groups and individuals assembled in Oxford's Cornmarket Street in a show of defiance against fascist thuggery under the banner, 'We will not be silenced'. The previous week, on 17 August, socialists at a stall at the Carfax Tower, protesting Tory MP Boris Johnson's Islamophobic comments about women in burkas, were attacked by two fascists who spoliated the stall, damaging literature and jostling and verbally abusing the stall-keepers.
The event on 25 August was attended by Oxford Stand Up To Racism, Oxford & District Trades Union Council, the Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist), Palestine Solidarity and sympathisers from other groups. John Partington (TSSA) also attended, taking solidarity from the Reading Trades Union Council. Speeches were made by prominent local anti-racists and leaflets were distributed.
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| Upcoming anti-racist events publicised |
The 'Love Music Hate Racism' festival in Oxford (1 September) and the 'Confronting Racism and Fascism' conference in London (23 October) were publicised. A petition against fascist demonstrations was also circulated, gaining dozens of signatures on the day. The message from the day was clear - for every one anti-racist stall disrupted by fascists, three or more will follow. 'We will not be silenced!'
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| Petition against fascist demonstrations in the UK |
