London National Shop Stewards Network Meeting

The National Shop Stewards Network which is supported by the RMT is making a call for a national strike to follow the upcoming march against austerity on 20th October.

The NSSN has arranged a meeting for the 24th of October, 7pm at ULU, Malet Street WC1E 7HY. (Map.)

There's more info at the NSSN website.

The text and images below are from the NSSN leaflet - you can download the leaflet below

To trade union and anti-cuts organisations
The National Shop Stewards Network welcomes the overwhelming vote at this year’s TUC Congress in passing the motion of the Prison Officers Association (POA) for the unions to take “…co-ordinated action where possible with far reaching campaigns including the consideration and practicalities of a general strike.”

We are particularly proud of our relationship with the POA, RMT and the PCS who (along with the CWU, NUM, NUJ and countless union branches, trades councils and anti-cuts campaigns) officially support the NSSN and were so prominent in this historical debate that can give hope to millions of workers and working-class people in general, that this government’s austerity offensive can be met with fierce resistance from the trade union movement. Before the start of Congress, the NSSN organised a lobby of the TUC, which saw up to a thousand union members march through Brighton in support of the POA motion.

We now firmly believe that this vote can change the character of the TUC’s October 20th demonstrations in London, Glasgow and Belfast. Along with the rest of the union movement, the NSSN will strive to help build a turnout that even eclipses the massive demonstration on March 26th 2011. We will do all we can to get a million people on the streets. But we believe that if the marches are used as a platform to popularise the idea of a 24 hour general strike, we can send a real message of intent to the ConDems that if they continue with these brutal cuts, they will be met with the full force of the organised working-class, still the most powerful force in society.

We therefore, call on the TUC General Council to discuss how this motion can be put into practice. We hope that this will create debate and discussion throughout the movement about the next steps to fight austerity. The NSSN is happy to provide speakers to any regular or special meeting called by your organisation, to explain why we think a 24 hour general strike is necessary in the next stage of resistance. Please contact us through the email address or this mobile phone number - 07816134690. The NSSN is also organising a series of meetings and conferences over the next few months around the country. Your local contact and/or event can be found on the front of this flyer.

Linda Taaffe (NSSN national secretary)
Rob Williams (NSSN national chair)

Model motion
This [trade union body] welcomes the overwhelming vote at this year’s TUC Congress in support of the POA motion. It called for the unions to take “coordinated action where possible with far-reaching campaigns including the consideration and practicalities of a general strike.”

We are alarmed that a relentless barrage of even more austerity cuts is coming down the line, and will continue into the foreseeable future. Millions of workers, young people, the sick and the disabled face a lifetime of severe hardship through cuts to pay, conditions, benefits and services – the horrendous situation facing working people in Greece could be our future if we don’t stop the Con-Dem attacks.

We believe austerity cuts must be stopped, and that the labour movement has the potential to force a massive U-turn on this Coalition government of the rich, if our trade unions were to organise action decisively together.

We urge all members, friends and families to come to the TUC demo on 20 October, and that this day is seen as the beginning of a new stage of action.We urge all unions participating in the demo to follow up with a further coordinated 24-hour national strike of both public and private sector workers, making direct calls to youth and students, the unemployed, and community campaigns to join in.

We, therefore, agree that this branch will organise a local/regional meeting to discuss how to progress these ideas put forward by the PCS and POA at the TUC.We also call on the national executive of our union to call on the TUC general council To urgently meet to name the date for the biggest possible co-ordinated strike


Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
25
26
27
28
29
1
2
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
 
 
 
 
 
 
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
 
 
 
 
 
 
31
1
2
3
4
5
6