Sunday 21 August 2016

In the Labour Party and or Momentum – Get stuck in now!

There is a so much negative publicity about Jeremy, I wouldn’t be surprised if some supporters are becoming overwhelmed by the relentless attacks and smears.

There is a risk and we are all human to try and engage the negative comments online.
My advice, is try not to respond.

Unlike Jeremy who appears to have unlimited energy levels as he travels the length and breadth of the country, we must all try to conserve our energies in order to avoid burn out. Believe me, this is not something I would want for anyone.

What I am going to do is concentrate on the positive work we all can do in our workplaces and communities.

I am in Enfield Labour Party, Barnet UNISON Branch Secretary and most recently proud to belong to Enfield Momentum who have already started the grassroots work necessary to ensure a Labour Government is elected to implement and end Austerity. Enfield Momentum have already started running stalls across our borough, handing out flyers, starting up conversations residents, countering the smears being produced across the national media. 

We need more flyers and in my view each Momentum group needs to be linking up with their local campaigns fighting Austerity.

There are some really useful online material that groups can use in their workplaces and communities here:

10 Pledges to rebuild and transform Britain

1. Act to End Prejudice and Injustice
2. Peace and Justice Abroad
3. Cut Income and Wealth Inequality
4. Democracy in Our Economy
5. Action to Secure Our Environment
6. A Free National Education Service
7. Secure Our NHS and Social Care
8. Security at Work
9. Secure Homes For All
10. An Economy That Works For All

1. An Economy That Works For All
We will create a million good quality jobs across our regions and nations and guarantee a decent job for all. By investing £500 billion in infrastructure, manufacturing and new industries backed up by a publicly-owned National Investment Bank and regional banks we will build a high skilled, high tech, low carbon economy that ends austerity and leaves no one and nowhere left behind. We will invest in the high speed broadband, energy, transport and homes that our country needs and allow good businesses to thrive, and support a new generation of co-operative enterprises.

2. Secure Homes For All
We will build a million new homes in five years, with at least half a million council homes, through our public investment strategy. We will end insecurity for private renters by introducing rent controls, secure tenancies and a charter of private tenants’ rights, and increase access to affordable home ownership.

3. Security at Work
We will give people stronger employment rights from day one in a job, end exploitative zero hours contracts and create new sectoral collective bargaining rights, including mandatory collective bargaining for companies with 250 or more employees. We will create new employment and trade union rights to bring security to the workplace and win better pay and conditions for everyone. We will strengthen working people’s representation at work and the ability of trade unions to organise so that working people have a real voice at work. And we will put the defence of social and employment rights, as well as action against undercutting of pay and conditions through the exploitation of migrant labour, at the centre of the Brexit negotiations agenda for a new relationship with Europe.

4. Secure Our NHS and Social Care
We will end health service privatisation and bring services into a secure, publicly-provided NHS. We will integrate the NHS and social care for older and disabled people, funding dignity across the board and ensure parity for mental health services.

5. A Free National Education Service
We will build a new National Education Service, open to all throughout their lives. We will create universal public childcare to give all children a good start in life, allowing greater sharing of caring responsibilities and removing barriers to women participating in the labour market. We will bring about the progressive restoration of free education for all; and guarantee quality apprenticeships and adult skills training.

6. Action to Secure Our Environment
We will act to protect the future of our planet, with social justice at the heart of our environment policies, and take our fair share of action to meet the Paris climate agreement - starting by getting on track with our Climate Change Act goals. We will accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy, and drive the expansion of the green industries and jobs of the future, using our National Investment Bank to invest in public and community-owned renewable energy. We will deliver clean energy and curb energy bill rises for households - energy for the 60 million, not the big 6 energy companies. We will defend and extend the environmental protections gained from the EU.

7. Democracy in Our Economy
We will rebuild public services and expand democratic participation, put the public back into our economy, give people a real say in their local communities, and increase local and regional democracy. We will rebuild our economy with public investment to deliver wealth for all, across our regions and nations in a genuinely mixed economy.  We will act to ‘insource’ our public and local council services, increase access to leisure, arts and sports across the country and expand our publicly-controlled bus network. We will bring our railways into public ownership and build democratic social control over our energy.

8. Cut Income and Wealth Inequality
We will build a progressive tax system so that wealth and the highest earners are fairly taxed, act against executive pay excess and shrink the gap between the highest and lowest paid - FTSE 100 CEOs are now paid 183 times the wage of the average UK worker, and Britain’s wages are the most unequal in Europe. We will act to create a more equal society, boost the incomes of the poorest and close the gender pay gap.

9. Act to End Prejudice and Injustice
We will ensure that the human rights of all citizens are respected and all are protected from discrimination and prejudice. We will take action to tackle violence against women and girls, racism and discrimination on the basis of faith, and secure real equality for LGBT and disabled people. We will defend the Human Rights Act and we will guarantee full rights for EU citizens living and working in Britain – and not allow them to be used as pawns in Brexit negotiations.

10. Peace and Justice Abroad
We will put conflict resolution and human rights at the heart of foreign policy, commit to working through the United Nations, end support for aggressive wars of intervention and back effective action to alleviate the refugee crisis. British foreign policy has long failed to be either truly independent or internationally co-operative, making the country less safe and reducing our diplomatic and moral authority. We will build human rights and social justice into trade policy, honour our international treaty obligations on nuclear disarmament and encourage others to do the same.



1 comment:

  1. Hear, hear!
    We definitely need to do this in Barnet too, in addition to phone banking towards the leadership election, a task imposed on us foolishly by those within the Labour party who won't let us pursue these excellent pledges if Jeremy will not get ellected. Hence the urgency to ensure firstly his election as Labour leader, and we have only a month to do that!
    So, although you are totally right, John, if Momentum and Labour members need to preserve their energy and can do only so much at any given time, I would say - let's focus this month on #JeremyforLabour and start street stalls vigourosly straight after he is ensured as our Labour leader.
    We must have stamina because once Jeremy is elected the task in hand is as huge as it is fantastic and inspiring.

    ReplyDelete