This year’s Armistice Day was probably the most meaningful I have experienced. Trade union sisters and brothers from Canada, the USA, Ireland and the UK silently marked the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month at the Workers Uniting first Congress.
The event brought together activists from the United Steelworkers Union and Unite and was an uplifting experience.
It is shameful that blame has shifted from the rich and powerful who created the global economic meltdown to workers who are now being asked to pay with wage and pension cuts, their jobs and homes.
During the silence my mind turned to the courage of ordinary men and women who stood by democracy and fought fascism in Spain and defended Britain. After ‘demob’ my family moved into a council house, saw the birth of the NHS and my dad got a job with a pension.
All these social and economic advances are under attack. That is why it was so wonderful to learn of successes from member to member contact and getting better outcomes through solidarity actions. Good men and women standing shoulder to shoulder against global bosses who want to screw them for every penny, dime or cent.
And while we stood together the fascist English Defence League were rounded up and moved away from the Cenotaph. We neglect to counter the far right at our peril, although I fear democracy is under attack again across Europe not from the far right but from unelected technocrats.
In Greece and Italy these technocrats will attempt to push forward austerity measures on an unprecedented scale. So it is great news that the European Public Service Union has called for workers across its constituency to hold a Day of Protest on 30 November 2011.
Cabinet Minister Frances Maude suggests a 15 minute gesture protest on 30 November 2011 with the threat of even worse anti-union law if unions don’t comply. The statement is shameful, laughable and contemptible in equal measure and will strengthen our resolve to make this first Day of Action a day to remember.
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