Demonstrate for our local public services!
DEFEND COUNCIL SERVICES AND JOBS CURRENTLY UNDER THREAT OF £20m FURTHER CUTS!
SPEAK OUT FOR THE NEEDS OF OUR COMMUNITIES AND OUR WORKFORCE
Tuesday February 28th
6pm – Assemble Wood Green Library, N22. March to Haringey Civic Centre for rally at 6.45pm
Invitation to all local community organisations and trades unions to support the Haringey residents’ and workers’ demonstration to the next Full Council meeting
Dear Friends
The Council is currently ‘consulting’ the public over proposals to cut another £20m off our vital local services. This is due to the Government’s determination to underfund and undermine public services as they seek to force them to close or be privatised.
The deepest and most significant public spending cuts since the 1920s are creating widespread anger as jobs are lost and services reduced. The Government has no mandate for such a radical programme to dismantle the welfare state. The cuts threaten to turn the economic recession into a long-term depression. A downward spiral of rising unemployment leading to more cuts is now likely. Our services and jobs are being sacrificed to bail out the banking system, which caused the crisis in the first place.
However there is still everything to fight for. Throughout London and the UK local anti-cuts campaigns have mobilised to encourage local communities and workers to speak out. Over the last year in Haringey there have been many lobbies, marches, rallies, street stalls and protests – and many service user groups have organised and campaigned to defend their services under threat. In August HAPS co-organised a 3,000-strong ‘Give Our Kids A Future’ demonstration. Local public sector workers have also defended their jobs and conditions of work, and 1,000 attended their anti-cuts demonstration at the beginning of 2011. Around that time the TUC’s national anti-cuts March for the Alternative attracted over half a million people – the largest union-organised demonstration in British history. This was followed up in June and November by 2 million public sector workers taking industrial action to defend their pensions.
Last month over 1,000 parents, children, teachers and supporters took part in a march from Downhills school to the Civic Centre pledging to resist the Government’s attempts to force 4 local primary schools to become private ‘academies’.
It is clear there is the will to resist the Government’s programme of cuts and privatisation. Let’s make those who caused the economic crisis, not the public, pay for it out of their hundreds of billions of pounds of obscene profits, bonuses and tax avoidance scams. Councillors should stand up to the Government and demand adequate resources for Haringey.
Haringey Alliance for Public Services supports all these battles and we want to see the greatest possible unity against cuts. We are planning this local Haringey demonstration to pull together everyone who wants to fight back, and to build on last year’s impressive mobilisations.
What next?
1. Please let us know your organisation supports the demonstration and can publicise it to your members. Leaflets are available from us. Let us know if you’d like a HAPS rep to attend one of your meetings. Affiliations/donations very welcome – please make cheques to ‘Haringey Trades Union Council (HAPS)’.
2. You are invited to send a rep to the next HAPS planning meeting, Wednesday 15th February, 7.15pm at the North London Community Centre, Moorefield Road, London N17 to help with the publicity and preparations
Haringey Alliance for Public Services supporters include: Haringey Trades Union Council, Haringey Federation of Residents Associations, Haringey UNISON, CoHENEL University & College Union, Day-Mer, Defend Haringey’s Health Services Coalition, Haringey Friends of Parks Forum, the Sustainable Haringey network, and a range of other community groups, trade union branches and political organisations.
For more information check out our webpages or contact: haps@haringey.org.uk / 0208 216 9651
