Around 150 people turned out for the second Notts anti-cuts meeting on 22 September. The meeting saw a real political and organisational debate.
Two Labour MPs spoke (they positively asked to speak rather than being invited), along with the Labour opposition group leader on Notts County Council. All good “fighting talk” but all three failed to respond positively to calls on them to defy demands on them to make cuts.
Nottingham AWL put out a leaflet outlining the politics of the cuts and repeating the demand (passed successfully at the Trades Council) for Nottingham’s Labour city council to defy the cuts and help mobilise workers and communities against the government.
Tom Unterrainer
Chesterfield
Chesterfield Trades Council will be holding an open anti-cuts meeting on Monday 11 October at 7pm in the North East Derbyshire District Council offices on Saltergate. The meeting will discuss how to defend home help services from Lib-Tory cuts.
Currently Derbyshire County Council provides the only free home help service in the country. The Liberal Democrats and Tories on the County Council are moving to change this, and make service-users pay for this vital service.
Chelmsford
There was a good turn out at the anti-cuts meeting in Chelmsford on 22 September. Sixty people came, mostly unaligned local activists and concerned workers or residents, but members of left groups too.
The event was organised by the Chelmsford Trades Council; there were three speakers, one a regional GMB organiser, one a Unison national executive member (but speaking from Public Services Not Private Profit), and one from Harlow Defend Council Housing.
An open steering committee was set up. There was also talk about doing stalls, local demos, door knocking and contact work with local groups such as housing associations.
One floor member spoke up against union members paying a political levy, saying that New Labour was disgraceful. A few people made the point about its importance, and the GMB speaker spoke about fighting within the Labour Party as well as outside. The campaign has a website —
chelmsfordagainstcuts.wordpress.com
John Hutt
