November 30th - Strikes and Solidarity - Rally and March in Lancaster

November 30. Lancaster prepares for biggest strike rally in decades.

Local people are invited to join what is planned to be a carnival like day of celebration of public services on Weds 30th November. There will be music, entertainment, speeches, a street parade and much more. Thousands of local teachers, university lecturers, hospital workers, civil servants and other local public service workers will be on strike to defend their pensions. Parents, schoolchildren, pensioners and many more will join them at the rally. Many hundreds will assemble in Lancaster city centre to mark this occasion.

As part of the TUC national day of action on Weds 30th November, Lancaster and Morecambe Trades Union Council, along with other trades unions and the TUC is organising a march and rally through Lancaster City Centre.

The march assembles at Dalton Square from 11am onwards. Hundreds of people are expected to parade around Lancaster City Centre and then rally in Lancaster’s Market Square at midday. All are welcome to come and join in these events to mark this historic day of peaceful and family friendly protest. 


Assemble 11am Dalton Square by Lancaster Town Hall.
March      11.30am Lancaster City Centre.
Rally        12.30am Market Square, Lancaster.
Make noise at 1pm. Countrywide.

Prepare for N30! Lancaster Rally at Town Hall. November 17th.

Lancaster Town Hall.7pm

Thursday 17th November. 

All Welcome.
Unite the Resistance!

On November 30th Britain could see millions of workers unite in strike action, in what could be an enormous day of protest, and the largest action against government policy so far. Workers are currently balloting for the action across many different unions and services. Millions of us are angry at being robbed of our pensions - the issue that the unions are striking on. But we are not just loosing our right to a decent retirement - we are  seeing jobs and vital services cut - while our children's dreams are crushed and educational futures betrayed. All this to pay for a crisis caused by billionaire bankers who still get richer. We are the 99% - and are sick of the economic dictatorship of the 1%. Millions of people want a chance to hit back at this government of the rich.

On the last day of action this summer, Lancaster saw over 400 local people fill Market square in a carnival of solidarity and resistance. The throng was made up of striking teachers, joined by parents, schoolkids, community groups and also striking civil servants and lecturers. Other groups such as pensioners, students, disbility campaigners, the self employed and carers also joined in. Local prison officers also walked out on strike and held their own rallies. Amidst banners and balloons, music and speeches the people of Lancaster occupied their city centre for a day, making market square into a peoples assembly.

Next time could be much bigger - as now much larger giant general unions representing many millions of workers are organising action for the 30th November.

Lancaster and Morecambe Trades Union Council, LMATC, local union branches and community groups are planning for November 30th. Join in this historic day.

We will have a mass assembly to prepare for this beforehand. This will be held at:

 Lancaster Town Hall.

7pm

Thursday 17th November. 

All Welcome.

Unite the Resistance!

'The Hardest Hit'. Lancaster Campaigners Join protests against disability benefits cuts.

Protesters on the 'Hardest Hit' campaign in Manchester. Photo thanks  to Simon R.

Oct 22nd. Lancaster campaigners travelled to Manchester to join protests against cuts to disability benefits. Protests took place simultaneously across the country. Disabled people, those with long-term conditions and their families are being hit hard by cuts to the benefits and services they need to live their lives. The Hardest Hit campaign, organised jointly by the Disability Benefits Consortium (DBC) and the UK Disabled People’s Council, brings together individuals and organisations to send a clear message to the Government: stop these cuts. 

http://thehardesthit.wordpress.com/

Oct 2011: Lancaster campaigners join over 35,000 on the streets of Manchester.

As the Tory party conference opened in Manchester, they found the city under siege from over 35,000 trades unionists and anti-cuts campaigners who had come to oppose them. The march, organised by the Trades Union Congress was the largest in Manchester for generations. LMATC, along with Lancaster and Morecambe TUC, local students and pensioners groups and others fighting back against the cuts were out in force, with a coachload and a minibus full leaving Dalton Square while many others took the train. Encouraged by meeting so many other likeminded people on the streets of Manchester, Lancaster campaigners returned determined to step up their struggle.

Passionate battle to Keep NHS Public.

For many months local campaigners in Lancaster and Morecambe have been battling to stop the governments plans for the NHS. These plans threaten the NHS through imposing  a market that welcomes profit-driven international corporations who answer to shareholders, not patients. 

This market will compel hospitals and health professionals, who have traditionally cooperated to deliver healthcare, to compete with each other and with the private sector. Amidst cuts and closures there will be a game of profit and loss and deepening inequality. A market system with winners and losers rather than equal and decent healthcare for all as a human right.

Carnival atmosphere at Lancaster's J30 Strike Day rally.

The centre of Lancaster took on a carnival atmosphere on June 30th, as local people joined hundreds of thousands of public sector workers across Britain united in strike action to defend pensions and public services. In bright sunshine, Market Square was filled with a crowd of over 400 people in a colourful show of resistance, including striking teachers joined by parents, schoolkids and community groups. Numbers were swelled further by striking civil servants and college lecturers. The strikers were joined by many other sections of the community including pensioners, students, carers and others  hit by the cuts. Amidst a sea of bright balloons and banners, hundreds of local people gathered to chat and listen to speeches from campaigners, while children danced to music from a local band. Groups of workers and community groups also united to march around the roads with banners and drums, briefly bringing lancaster to a standstill. 

This was a brief show of strength for some local trades unions and their allies. People came away feeling stronger and more united. Now more groups of workers feel encouraged to join the action - and millions more workers from much bigger unions are now balloting to join the next day of strike action on Nov 30. This public service workers fight is an important battle in the war against cuts, poverty, austerity and economic crisis. 

J30 Strike Solidarity Rally, Market Square.

On 30th June hundreds of thousands of teachers, civil servants and college staff will come out on one days strike together. This is the start of the great battle to save Britain's public services from the cuts and the vandalism imposed by a political system that serves the greed of the international banking system above the needs of the ordinary working people. Public service workers are fighting to defend their pensions - and also the services they work in and jobs for future generations. Join us!


Solidarity Rally. Lancaster Market Square. 
Thurs 30th June.
Events start 11am. Main Lunch-break rally 12:15am.


Speakers from local unions and community groups (NUT,TUC,UCU,PCS, Pensioners campaign, etc).
Live Music!
Street Theatre!
Stalls!
Balloons, Facepainting!
Discussion, solidarity, action!


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Last week over 80 local activists gathered at Lancaster Town Hall to plan and discuss the j30 strike day. The campaign has been super-busy for months now - often too busy to update this blog! We sent a train-load down to the great half-million strong London TUC march at the end of March. Since then we have been fully mobilised in the battle to save local services and keep the NHS public, fighting the Con-Dem governments plans to allow private corporations to leech off the NHS. Hundreds more people have attended dozens of LMATC and related activities. Now we are moving towards mass strike action, as well as other forms of protest action. The strikes by hundreds of thousands of public service workers on the 30th June 2011 will be just the start. We expect millions more to join in the action this autumn. We will not let this government (who no one voted for) sacrifice our public services, jobs and prosperity on the alter of the greed of a failed global financial system. Join the struggle - make history - protect your children's future!