CONTACT: RUGBY AGAINST THE CUTS:

Email: rugbyagainstthecuts@googlemail.com Tel: 07881 520626

Write to: RUGBY AGAINST THE CUTS - PO Box 4123, Rugby, CV21 9BJ.

CONVENOR and PRESS OFFICER – Pete McLaren.TREASURER – Julie Weekes TRADE UNION LIAISON –Martin Eversfield and Roy Sandison

Tuesday 14 December 2010

Withdraw Proposal To Cease The Whole Of The Youth Service In Warwickshire petition

Withdraw Proposal To Cease The Whole Of The Youth Service In Warwickshire petition
Category: Youth Issues
Region: Warwickshire
Target: Councillor Alan Farnell Leader of Warwickshire County Council

Why the 'Withdraw proposal to cease the whole of the Youth Service in Warwickshire petition' was created



We the undersigned are outraged at Warwickshire County Council’s proposal to:
“Cease the whole of the Youth Service”.
We know how vulnerable young people can be. However, Warwickshire County Council is withdrawing the very service that is proven to work successfully alongside them.
We consider that this proposal contradicts the leader of the Council, Councillor Alan Farnell’s claim to “protect the most vulnerable and the front-line services that support them,” and we are calling for its immediate withdrawal.

Saturday 11 December 2010

Save the EMA day of action | 13 December

The Educational Maintenance Allowance is a small grant available young people aged 16-19 who stay on in education. It is means-tested and students can receive between £10 and £30 a week. Last year, 635,000 students received EMA and 80% of these received the full £30. In Leicester, as many as 4/5 students receive it.

The government plans to completely scrap the EMA, despite a pre-election promise from Michael Gove - anybody see a trend here? This will have a massive impact of young people from poorer backgrounds, some of whom will simply not be able to afford to stay in education. This is turn will put more jobs at risk.

Thursday 9 December 2010

35,000 students protest outside parliament as fees debated

On Thursday 9 December, while parliament debated the Con-Dem coalition government's plan to treble university tuition fees, a fourth day of angry protests took place across the country. The debate ended with MPs disgracefully voting to increase fees to a higher limit of £9,000 a year, with 323 in favour and 302 against, and so the campaigning against this attack must now continue and be stepped up.
In central London, 35,000 students and education workers, many from outside London, marched to parliament to show their strong opposition to education cuts and increased tuition fees.
However, demonstrators were faced with very heavy policing, and the use again by the police of kettling, on what was a very cold day.

The recently launched Youth Fight for Education campaign (YFE) held an impromtu rally during the demonstration, with speakers from the YFE campaign itself, London RMT regional secretary Steve Hedley, and student activists from Hull, Cardiff, London and elsewhere.
As well as fighting against higher fees, YFE is demanding that the educational maintenance allowance (EMA) is retained and that teachers and lecturers' jobs are not cut.
YFE promised that if parliament voted for higher fees, the campaign against this attack would go on, as will campaigning against all the other attacks on education.

Protests elsewhere in the country included: 2,000 marching in Newcastle, 300 protesting in Swansea; a 50-strong demonstration in Leicester; 250 school and college students marching through Coventry - including 25 'year 11s' who walked out of Coundon Court school.

Wednesday 8 December 2010

LIB DEMS HIT 8% IN POLLS

Tonight’s YouGov poll for the Sun has topline figures of CON 41%, LAB 41%, LDEM 8%. It’s the lowest Lib Dem score YouGov have ever shown, and as far as I can tell the lowest Liberal Democrat score any pollster has shown since September 1990, over 20 years ago.
I’ll add my normal caveats about not getting too excited about a single poll, new extreme highs and lows for parties do tend to be the outliers, but nevertheless, the fact that we’ve got our first 8% for the Lib Dems suggests that their support is still on a downwards trend. It is probably no co-incidence that this comes after several days of the Liberal Democrats internal ructions over tuition fees have been all over the political headlines.

Tuesday 7 December 2010

400 PEOPLE MARCH IN COVENTRY AGAINST THE CUTS IN IMPRESSIVE SHOW OF STRENGTH!

Rugby residents joined the impressive 400 strong march in Coventry on Saturday - the demonstration supported by many local trade unions and students leading the fight against Clegg's Lib Democrats sell out over student Tuition Fees and their support for the abolishment of the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) laid the basis for the first of many protests to come.
Youth workers in UNITE also joined the protest in large number from Warwickshire (where the Youth Service will cease under Tory plans) and Coventry where Labour intend to make large cuts. The rally agreed to support both set of workers in their struggle.



 
Please visit the Coventry Against the Cuts website for further reports about the protest and more pictures.- http://coventryagainstthecuts.blogspot.com/

COALITION OF RESISTANCE CONFERENCE RESOUNDING SUCCESS SAYS RUGBY'S DELEGATE

Roy Sandison attended the COR conference as a delegate on behalf of the Rugby Against The Cuts and pronounces the conference “a resounding success”
Roy says ““I was really pleased to represent my town at this conference. This inspiring conference that attracted 1300 people on a cold wintery day from around the country showed the determination of campaigners from local anti cuts groups as well as trade unionists – both local and national and sent a clear and determined message to the CONDEM government – cut our services and jobs to pay for the bankers at your peril.”
Fuller report below and video and pictures on COR website - http://www.coalitionofresistance.org.uk/

The Coalition of Resistance’s Founding Conference on Saturday 27 November saw the birth of a mass anti-cuts movement in Britain. Some 1300 people attended. Every plenary and workshop was packed, with people sitting on floors around the speakers or standing at the back or in the aisles.
The atmosphere was electric. Unity, anger, and resolve were key notes. Discussion raged about the implications of the cuts, how we organise to resist, and what sort of world we are fighting for.
The spirit of the student revolt pervaded the conference. The students, with their dynamism, spontaneity, and militancy, have shown us all that resistance is possible. The mood in the conference reflected the revolt on the streets and in the occupations.
CoR Conference
The range of platform speakers displayed the breadth of the Coalition. The Labour Left was represented by Tony BennJohn McDonnell, and Jeremy Corbyn. For the Greens,Caroline Lucas sent a video message and Jean Lambert spoke from the platform. Headline trade-union speakers included Bob Crow (RMT), Len McCluskey (Unite), andMark Serwotka (PCS). Then there was entertainer Billy Bragg, film-maker Ken Loach, black activist Lee Jasper, pensions campaigner Dot Gibson, radical student leaderClare SolomonAndrew Murray from STW, Kate Hudson from CND, Chris Bamberyfrom Right to Work and many more. Videos of all the speakers are being added to the site as they become available.
Dozens of others also spoke, either from platforms or in vibrant workshop discussions. In the workshop on organising against the cuts locally, nearly 35 speakers from anti-cuts groups around the country contributed. The feedback from participants, on the day and since, has been overwhelmingly positive, with activists returning to their campuses, workplaces, and localities fired up for the fight to come.
In the final plenary, Tony Benn was elected Honorary President of the Coalition of Resistance, and 122  people volunteered to serve on the National Council. The Council will meet at least four times a year, and at its first meeting it will elect a Steering Committee to administer the Coalition on a week-by-week basis.
The first meeting of the National Council will be on Saturday 15th January. Venue details and amendments to the Conference declaration will be sent out next week and a full list of National Council members posted on the website. Conference agreed that at least 50 per cent of the National Council would be women.

What next for the Coalition of Resistance?

  • Demonstrate on 9 December

    Parliament votes on the tuition fee rises on Thursday 9 December. CoR is supporting the call for walkouts and a mass demonstration to Kettle the Con-Dems in Parliament. Assemble: 12 noon, University of London Union.
    Download poster…
  • Build Student Assemblies

    The ULU-based London Student Assembly, with weekly meetings of a hundred-plus students from colleges across London, has become the democratic expression of the student revolt in the capital. This is a brilliant model. We need Student Assemblies in every major town, and a National Student Assembly early in the New Year.
  • Occupy against the cuts

    Students are occupying 32 colleges against the cuts. CoR is supporting the wave of student occupations, and encouraging local anti-cuts groups to stage street protests and occupations of town halls when councils meet to impose cuts. The Con-Dems have no democratic mandate for the cuts. The direct democracy of direct action is a moral right.
  • Build CoR groups

    Where anti-cuts groups already exist, get them to affiliate to CoR. Where they do not exist, set them up. And we need individual membership to raise money or we cannot function. See the Pay Pal button below or visit the Coalition of Resistance site.
  • Prepare for February Week of Action

    CoR is calling for a week of meetings, protests, and direct action that will unite students, workers, and campaigners in localities across Britain. More details to follow – please check the site.
  • Prepare for 26 March TUC Demonstration

    The aim should be to make this one of the biggest demonstrations ever seen, and the launch-pad for moving the resistance onto a new level.