Fighting for jobs

• THE UK now has the highest rate of unemployment since 1995 with 2.5 million or 8 per cent of the workforce unemployed.
Young people are particularly badly affected with one in five of the 16-25 age-group unemployed.
All the main political parties are threatening to make swingeing cuts to public sector spending. However the government found billions of pounds to bail out the bankers. They should be increasing investment in education and training, and cutting the billions they spend on the war in Afghanistan and the £75billion on replacing the Trident nuclear programme.
But there is a new spirit of resistance against the attempt by our rulers to make ordinary working class people pay for the bankers’ and bosses’ crisis. Recently, we have seen major strikes among postal workers, bus drivers, council workers and lecturers.
In Camden, we have seen the Eurostar cleaners striking for a living wage, and the campaign for decent wages and against victimisation among university and London Underground cleaners. We are also seeing fights against job cuts at University College, London, and King’s College, and in the local civil service. There are also campaigns against cuts and privatisation of the Camden caretakers, against NHS privatisation and the sell-off of council housing.  
Following the highly successful march and lobby of the Labour Party conference, the Right to Work campaign is calling a conference at the Central Hall, Manchester, on Saturday January 30 to discuss the fight-back against unemployment. We are a group of trade union, campaign and community activists in Camden.
We call on employed and unemployed, on students and young people, to support the conference, either by attending or sending a delegation from your workplace, trade union branch, college, tenants’ association or community organisation.
For details, go to: www.righttowork.org.uk or eamil righttoworkconference@gmail.com or phone 07961 337 640.
MERIC APAK (Chair Camden Federation of Tenants’ Associations)
MANDY BERGER (Camden Unison Housing Cconvener)
GEORGE BINETTE (Secretary Elect, Camden Unison; Chair, Camden Trades Council)
MUKID CHOUDHURY (Director, Bengali Workers’ Association)
TONY DAVIS (CWU, NW London)
PETE FIRMIN (CWU Rathbone Place branch committee, President Brent Trades Council) )
JIM KIRWAN (CWU, N/NW Branch Secretary)   
JANET MAIDEN (UCLH Unison, Branch Chair)
SANDY NICHOL (SOAS Unison, Branch Secretary)    
MAEVE O’CONNOR (Secretary, Camden Keep Our NHS Public)
CLLR ADRIAN OLIVER (Camden Green Party)
EAMONN SLEVIN (CWU rep Royal Mail Camden NW1)
BEN SPRUNG (FBU Camden rep, London Region Executive)
CANDY UDWIN (Chair, Camden Keep Our NHS Public)
BARRY WALDEN (Joint Chair, Camden Unison),
SEAN WALLIS (UCL UCU Branch Secretary)   
PHOEBE WATKINS (Joint Chair, Camden Unison),
JIM WOLFREYS (President, King’s College UCU)
(all in a personal capacity except Adrian Oliver)