Let's not lose sight of how foul the FibDems really are!

When will Sutton get some fighting socialist Labour councillors???

FIGHT UKIP IDEAS - DON'T ECHO THEM!!!

Are these right-wing Labour councillors going to help Labour win an election? (See Corbyn photo)

They're UKIP-lite and running scared!

They claim workers are more concerned about immigration than anything else. Rubbish! What about low wages, zero-hour contracts, high rents, NHS crisis, schools privatisation, social care crisis, poor housing etc etc?!

Only if Labour fails to take up the real issues that workers and young people face, will UKIP be able to pose as the "workers friend"!

Does privately educated, ex-stockbroker, millionaire Farage look like a workers' friend to you? (see other photo below)

SOUTHERN FAIL!

The contempt currently being shown by Southern Rail (and parent company Govia Thameslink) to staff and customers defies belief.

The Company, blaming staff shortages, is now reducing its services on these already crowded commuter lines by 15%. Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) are in dispute with the Company and have staged a number of strikes and walkouts.

Passengers from Sutton who regularly try to travel to and from London Victoria are among the longest suffering travellers in the country.

Services are slow, delayed, crowded and often cancelled without notice. Sometimes, getting home in the same evening as you started out is an achievement – or seems like one.

Southern brought on a dispute with the RMT by proposing to withdraw travel passes and a staff shift swap scheme, both of which they have now reintroduced. They also threatened to remove conductors from trains but have now confirmed these will remain.

Crucially however, they misled the public, blaming train delays and cancellations on staff taking sick days - a claim which has been discredited and is hotly denied. Any employer who shirks their responsibility by blaming their employees has no place running a public service!

The reduction of 341 services, from Monday will leave passengers even more dissatisfied. Their anger will turn on the Company – they know how difficult it is for drivers, conductors and other staff to run a service under these conditions.

Gove Thameslink have proved they are incapable of running a train service. But parent company Go-Ahead reported healthy profits from its rail business. They rose by 30.5 percent to £25.7 million in the year to June.

Chief executive David Brown’s pay package rose to £2.1 million last year.

It’s crucial that thousands of people from Sutton are able to get to vital jobs in London every day.

These Jobs are crucial for the economy. Added to these are the hundredsof thousands from Sussex, Surrey and elsewhere in south London. This is a national issue!

Why should we contemplate massive profits for shareholders and chief officers when passengers pay inflated prices to travel in such conditions?

It is time to call for the national ownership of the railway companies!

Start with the re-nationalisation of Southern Railways!

Will Sutton Labour Party join us in calling for this vital strategy?

SUTTON AND THE EU

At the first of our local discussion meetings we talked about the EU campaign and its importance for workers in Sutton.

Both official campaigns, Remain and Leave, focus mainly on what is good for business and finance - what is good for their profits. Firms with mostly EU contracts, tend towards Remain; those with a more global reach, favour Leave.

The Tory and UKIP Leave campaigns bang on about immigration - scapegoating foreign workers for low wages, job insecurity, homelessness and much else. But these crises are caused not by workers, but by corporate greed and capitalist crisis!

Who caused the closure of BHS (Sutton High Street)? Big business carpetbaggers; not immigrants.

The Remain campaign is also dominated by Tory Etonians. Along with pro-EU Labour politicians and spineless trade union “leaders”, they argue that the EU will help workers!

But workers of Greece, for example, have paid a very heavy price for their continued EU membership - having been betrayed by the false leaders of Syriza. Jobs, wages, working conditions, social services, pensions - have all been slashed! Official unemployment is around 20%. Youth unemployment is higher still.

Is the EU is helping French workers? NO. They are currently striking and demonstrating in their millions against their pro-EU “Socialist” government!

The only pro-worker campaign for Exit is being run by TUSC, and by some left trade unions (eg RMT) and parties like the Socialist Party.

This campaign explains that the EU is a thoroughly pro-corporate organisation. It demands austerity across all EU states. As Dave Nellist said (TUSC national chair), the EU is continent-wide Thatcherism!

The “local” Guardian recently reported how private firms were currently bidding to provide waste collection and related services in Sutton and some adjacent boroughs.

The report failed to say that this is precisely what EU rules demand - that all public services to be privatised.

But privatisation is usually much more expensive than direct labour. Privatisation requires a complex bidding process, an evaluation process, then an ongoing contract management process. The price charged to the council by the successful contractor will also include a comfortable margin for profits. (And once contractors seal the deal, they inevitably find ways of increasing fees over time).

For the contractor's employees, however, there is continual pressure on them to deliver more for less - constant downward pressure on wages, conditions and pensions.

A socialist council would bring these contracts back in house - but to do that we would have to battle hard against EU rules.

Unfortunately, Sutton Labour Party is not a fighting workers' party. No surprise there isn’t a single Labour councillor! And local Labour favours staying in the EU.

In or out of the EU, though, the vast majority of workers and youth will have to continue the fight for a better life and a better future. The Socialist Party will be supporting them.

So we say -
No to the EU
Yes to a voluntary, socialist united states of Europe.

For more discussion about why the EU is bad for workers - click HERE.

CHILD SERVICES BEING CUT IN SUTTON!

This Sutton focused petition campaign says,
"In the latest budget cuts, the borough have chosen to cut severely the budget allocated to child services..."

This is one of the more serious consequences of the council passively passing on Tory budget cuts. We are happy to promote it.

You can sign the petition HERE.

The Socialist Party is setting up a local discussion group in the borough.

Our motivation is that workers here have no political voice. There is no strong focus for socialist work in Sutton.


There are, of course, many excellent campaign groups focusing on issues such as defending St Helier’s. There is also the Merton and Sutton TUC, and parties such as the National Health Action Party, which operate locally.


And there’s Sutton & Croydon TUSC (Trade Unionist & Socialist Coalition). The Socialist Party actively participates in TUSC because by pooling resources, left parties, campaign groups, unions and individuals can more readily build a platform to electorally challenge the mainstream, pro capitalist parties.


But the borough itself needs a political party that consistently stands with workers and young people; that's fight against the domination of big business and fights for democratic socialism.


And, not least, we must begin to challenge the decrepit, "Do It Yourself" Sutton Council!

The posturing LibDem council pretends to be “progressive” and “green", but it is nothing of the sort. Under the LibDems, the fate of the people of Sutton is left to the tender mercies of developers and big business. They are indistinguishable from the Tories.

But what about the local Labour Party. Isn’t that the voice of Sutton's workers?

Despite the “Corbyn surge”, which we wholeheartedly welcome, we regret to say that Sutton Labour seems to be, at least for the time being, a pro-corporate Blairist left-over. Its manifesto (available on its website) is a model of meaningless management-speak. Unsurprisingly, Sutton has not a single Labour councillor!

Initially we are setting up this online presence to provide a commentary on Sutton politics and what we, or perhaps TUSC, could do if elected.

We will soon be selling the party newspaper - The Socialist - most weeks outside Sutton station.

We also plan to organise monthly discussion groups - which will be both educational and practical.

We will work in a friendly and co-operative way with everyone in Sutton - individuals, groups and parties - who believe in challenging austerity politics and big business domination of society.

The Socialist Party has several thousand members across England and Wales. We are part of an international socialist organisation with members in 60 countries. So we learn the lessons of struggles in Greece and throughout Europe, get reports on strikes across Latin America, Africa and Asia, and are encouraged by our electoral successes in Ireland and Seattle (USA).

At present, we are a small force in Sutton but we do have a significant role across London.

Find out more and join the force for Socialist Change.

Contact us at - SocialistPartySutton@gmail.com

The Party's main party website is - www.SocialistParty.org.uk


And no, this is not an April Fool! ;-)