Looking ahead after a great campaign

Thanks for all your support!

After Labour’s meltdown – fight back against the Tories by building TUSC  

After a really excellent campaign our results are:

Nancy Taaffe in Walthamstow – 394 votes

Len Hockey in Chingford – 241 votes

We distributed well over 100,000 leaflets, had dozens of volunteers helping us campaign on the streets or bundle leaflets or raise money, and had thousands of conversations. “I see you everywhere” said many when they came across our pink flashmobs around the borough! And the pink is here to stay – this campaign was always a step towards something bigger, building for the future.

These are modest votes. We believe this reflects mainly the campaign of fear by the mainstream parties leading people to think they had no choice but to vote purely on who they would prefer to be prime minister. The on-going battle for every ounce of media coverage is also an issue. It’s clear from the thousands we spoke to that our support goes much wider than those who felt able to vote for us this time. Having said that, we increased our vote in Walthamstow from 2010 and there is certainly a small but growing constituency of committed TUSC voters.

We would appeal for those voters, and others who support us, to not just passively give us your vote but to join us. Help us build a political voice for working class and young people.

We’re horrified to see another Tory government elected. The Con-Dem Coalition is hated for what it has done to people in the last 5 years. In that situation the Labour Party should have been able to win this election hands down. That they haven’t is an indictment of Labour and its failure to inspire and enthuse the mass of people.

We would argue, if Labour cannot defeat the Tories now, when people are so angry and so keen for a change, then when could it? Labour is no longer capable of representing working class people in our fight against the bosses and their party the Tories. We have to build something new. The struggles that will inevitably follow in the next months and years to defend jobs and services from yet another Tory onslaught, need to take the lead. TUSC is at the heart of this process.

We plan to organise a post-election meeting soon, check back for details.

Rally report and videos: A Voice for the 99%

Activists from across Waltham Forest gathered on 2 May to celebrate the 2015 Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition general election campaign and plan the last few days of activity before polling day on 7 May. Below are videos from 3 of the 5 speakers (apologies for there being no videos of the other two due to technical difficulties.

Here’s Nancy Taaffe, our Walthamstow candidate, on the need for the TUSC challenge.

And Len Hockey, our Chingford candidate on why he’s standing.

Glenroy Watson of the RMT transport union spoke about the importance of his union’s official support for TUSC and the need to continue to build and strengthen that support post-election.

Isai Priya spoke for the Socialist Party.

Sarah Wrack, a young Waltham Forest renter, spoke about the desperate situation facing private renters and the importance of our campaign for rent control.

End of campaign rally: A voice for the 99%

Support DPAC ‘revenge tour’ – vote Len Hockey to sack Iain Duncan Smith

On Saturday 25th April we will be participating in the DPAC (disabled people against cuts) day of action against Iain Duncan Smith, Tory work and pensions minister and Chingford and Woodford Green MP, in Chingford – meeting at 2pm at Chingford rail station. Below is the text for our leaflet on the day:

TUSC supports the demands of Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC).

As DPAC state, disabled people are affected by the cuts 9 times more than everybody else, and the most severely disabled people are affected by the cuts 19 times more than everybody else.

We agree with DPAC that this discrimination against disabled people must end – and also demand that ALL cuts and austerity must end.

The changes to benefits introduced by the Labour government and intensified by the Tories demonstrate the cold cruelty of capitalist parties who want to force working class people to pay for a crisis we did not cause, and who have sought to wreak their worst on people that they thought were hidden and would be less likely to fight back.

We applaud the bold actions of DPAC in fighting these cuts, and support the ‘Revenge tour’ fortnight of action in the run up to the election.

TUSC rejects austerity. The richest 1,000 people in Britain have doubled their wealth through this crisis, while working class people have lost jobs, pay, benefits, services and even homes.

Our manifesto states:

■ STOP THE ATTACKS ON DISABLED PEOPLE

Promote inclusive policies to enable disabled people to participate in, and have equal access to, education, employment, housing, transport and welfare provision.

Support measures to ensure disabled people receive a level of income according to needs. Equal pay for equal work.

In order to achieve these things, TUSC calls for the democratic public ownership of all transport, public services, utilities and the banks. TUSC stands for a democratic socialist society in the interests of the millions not the billionaires, with full human rights and equality for all; in which everyone can live a meaningful life with dignity and control, with full access to work, education, home, leisure, transport and public life.

What is TUSC?

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is an electoral coalition standing against all cuts. It includes the RMT transport union, the Socialist Party, the SWP and leading members of other trade unions and activists. We are standing 135 general election candidates and over 600 local election candidates this May.

Our candidate in Chingford and Woodford Green is Len Hockey. Len has been a porter at Whipps Cross hospital for 26 years and led numerous campaigns in defence of NHS services and terms and conditions for NHS workers.

Come to our end of campaign rally:

Sick of big business politicians and their cuts?

A voice for the 99%!

2.30pm Saturday 2nd May

Harmony Hall, Truro Road, Walthamstow

walthamforesttusc@gmail.com

@TUSCWF

Facebook: Waltham Forest Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition

http://www.walthamforesttusc.com

We need YOU!

There are lots of dates coming up that it would be great to see as many supporters at as possible:

1) Friday 17th April TUSC TV broadcast

Catch it on all five terrestrial channels – BBC2 5.55, ITV 6.25, BBC1 6.55, C5 6.55, C4 7.55

2) Saturday 18th April Super-Saturday

-12pm campaign stall by Lidl on Walthamstow Market – wear pink!

-4pm fundraiser event at the William Morris Community Centre, Greenleaf Road, E17 6QQ – bring a dish, a bottle, a friend and some cash!

3) Sunday 19th April Chingford activity

12pm by Chingford Sainsburys – come along to help or meet candidates and supporters

4) Saturday 2nd May End of Campaign Rally – a Voice for the 99%

2.30pm Harmony Hall, Truro Road

Why we’re standing: Whipps Cross hospital workers

Len, Russell, Aidan, Craig and Patrick

We are workers at Whipps Cross Hospital standing in Leytonstone and Forest wards in the council elections on 22nd May.
For the last few months we have been part of a big campaign of the unions in the hospital and the community to fight against £77.5m cuts in Barts Health Trust. We have been fighting pay cuts, the risk of 1000 job cuts and an even more overworked, underpaid workforce.
Thanks to everyone in the local community who supported us on our demonstrations!
Barts Health Trust, which includes Whipps Cross, is saddled with a massive PFI (private finance initiative) debt to rebuild the old Royal London, costing £115m a year!
Private companies are sucking the lifeblood out of the NHS. And the ConDems plan to sell off even more of our NHS – all to pay for a crisis caused by bankers and bosses.
We say cancel the PFI debt! Why should working people pay such a terrible price for the failures and the greed of the rich and big business?
The government bailed out the banks – why not bail out the NHS?!
All the main parties, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Tory, agree about cuts and privatisation to the NHS and all our public services. It was the Labour government that pressed ahead with the disastrous PFI projects that have caused such a crisis in the NHS.
This is why we have decided to stand as candidates for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) in the local elections.

In Forest vote:
Craig Guiste
Patrick Brown
Russell Pennington

In Leytonstone vote:
Len Hockey
Aidan Taylor
Suzanne Muna (Suzanne’s ‘why I’m standing’ will appear in a future post)