WHY IS 30 JUNE SO IMPORTANT?

Four trade unions will strike on Thursday 30 June, involving 800,000 people.

They are trying to stop a government plan for millions of people to pay higher pension contributions, work longer and receive a lot less when they retire. 

They will be joined by council workers in Birmingham, Doncaster and Southampton who are also striking to stop cuts to jobs and services.

Many activities are planned to make Thursday a success. 
We explain below why your support is vital.

This is what you can do:

Send a message of support to people on strike. Jobcentres, courts, police stations, government buildings, museums, college & university buildings and some schools will all have people out on strike, and many will have picket-lines – send them cards, visit them, let them know you support them, hoot your car/bike if you see them, etc.  Stop and talk!

You or your workmates, friends or neighbours could send a card or letter to: Southwark Trades Union Council c/o 19 Spa Road SE16 3SA - or email a message to southwarktuc@ gmail.com

Come to Southbank University at the Elephant & Castle at 9am on Thursday.  Teachers, parents, government workers and university staff will gather  there before setting off at 10.30 am to march up to a national demonstration at Lincoln’s Inn Fields.

Join the thousands of people who will demonstrate in central London, leaving Lincoln’s Inn Fields (close to Holborn Tube) and heading for a lunchtime rally at Westminster.

This is a battle for everyone

This government does not represent the majority. We didn’t vote for smashing health and welfare services. We didn’t vote for them to steal our pensions.

Make the government collect the £120 billion owed by the rich in unpaid taxes: cutting benefits, jobs and services is an unjust outrage. 

Four reasons to support this week’s public sector strikes

1.  The government is lying

They say public sector workers have gold-plated pensions

FACT: the average public sector pension is less than £5,000 a year

FACT: a quarter of civil servants get less than £2,000 a year - £40 a week

How can people live on that when living costs are so high, and rising?

They say the pension schemes are too expensive, and ‘in crisis’

FACT: the ‘black hole’ they talk about is a myth. They base their predictions on the CURRENT number of people reaching pensionable age, but this number will FALL for several decades, after the current ‘baby boom’ generation

They say public sector pension schemes aren’t financially viable

FACT: the government’s own National Audit Office said says the teachers’ pension scheme is self-financing! So why tell them to pay 50% more in contributions?

2.   We are not ‘all in this together’

The average pension for the UK’s largest company heads is £330,000 a year. These pensions will not be cut.

During the first year of the Con-Dem government, the personal wealth of the 1,000 richest individuals in this country INCREASED by £60 billion.

Con-Dems aim to use public sector pension contributions to off-set the ‘debt’, money to bail out the banks that caused the problems in the first place!

3.  If the strikes WIN, ALL of us will benefit

If the Government gets its way, it won’t give one penny extra to private sector pensions. Those schemes were starved by employers taking ‘pensions holidays’ during the so-called ‘boom years’ – boosting their profits at our expense. Winning the battle for public sector pensions means workers in the private sector can demand more. Let’s level pensions UP, not reduce everyone to poverty.

If public sector workers have to work 8 years more to get pensions, how will young people find jobs? Can a 68 year-old teacher teach with the same energy as a 28-year old?

4.  Striking now is now our only option

The government is playing at ‘negotiations’. This week’s ITV poll shows most people agree with us. Stopping work for one day is nowhere near as disruptive as years of cutbacks , low morale and unemployment.

30 JUNE PICKETS

Universities and Colleges:
Southbank, London College of Communication, Southwark College, Camberwell Arts College.
Job Centres:  
Peckham, London Bridge and Camberwell
Government: Skipton Hse (by Bakerloo Tube, E&C), EHRC (Tooley St, eastern end near Southwark Council Offices, 9-12 o/c), New Kings Beam Hse (by Blackfriars Bridge), Rose Court (by Southwark Bridge), Wellington Hse (Waterloo Road nr Old Vic), Crown Court (opp HMS Belfast), Imperial War Museum (Lambeth Road), Camberwell Court ( nr the Green), Magistrates (Newington Causeway) and local police stations.
Schools: Contact the NUT office at union@SouthwarkNUT.org.uk


London Protest
Starts assembling at Lincon’s Inn Fields, Holborn at 11am (Unions will leave London Southbank 10.30).
March to rally in Westminster Central Hall.