Supporting the Strike

After weeks of lies and condemnation of industrial action by senior figures in the Conservative and Labour Party alike, union members have stayed the course and stood up to this unjustified assault on their pension schemes.

It was clear from the picket lines at Welsh Government buildings in Cathays Park and the Bay that there is a great deal of anger at the way public sector workers are being treated by the Con/Dem Coalition Government. What also stood out was the resolve of union members; a resolve to ensure that the public sector does not become the scapegoat for the casino capitalism that brought the UK finances to the brink.

There has been much condemnation of the public sector in the media in recent weeks as well as attempts to pit private sector workers against public sector workers. It should not be forgotten that it was not teachers, civil servants or any other public sector worker who frittered away billions of pounds on risky investments before having to be bailed out by the tax payer. Why should they accept a substantial hit to their retirement because of the folly of a greedy few in Westminster's square mile and the failure of the UK Labour Government to reign them in?

I am particularly concerned at how these proposed changes will impact upon women. We already know that many women face poverty in retirement for a variety of reasons and are generally being paid less than men for doing the same job. Given the high proportion of women that work in the public sector, this inequity will only be exacerbated if the Tories and Lib Dems in London get their way. This is yet another contradiction of Cameron's mantra that 'we are all in this together.' He says that public sector workers are provided with 'gold-plated' pensions: another fallacy perpetuated to drive a wedge between private sector and public sector workers.

Some teachers entered their profession in acceptance of low-pay and tough conditions in the knowledge their pensions would prevent them from a life of poverty in retirement. Now this is being placed under threat by the UK Government's determination to rip up their terms and conditions. It is theft.

The right to withdraw labour has been a democratic right for a long time and it is staggering to see Labour MPs like Andy Burnham and leader Ed Miliband condemn this strike action. I am pleased to say that Plaid Cymru politicians will not be crossing the picket lines today; not in Cardiff Bay nor Westminster.

I salute the workers that have taken a stand today. Stand united and you should get what you deserve.

Questions for Carwyn

Why has it taken the actions of an anti-wind farm protest group from Powys for you to start publicly asking Westminster for powers over energy projects generating more than 50MW of electricity on land? This unfair restraint on Welsh autonomy – which does not apply in Scotland – has been the case for several years as you know, since you once held the Environment portfolio.

Do you base your demands at the various recent meetings of the four nations on what your counterparts in Scotland and the Six Counties are asking for? Do you have a clear idea as to what powers you want devolved from Westminster to Wales?

Why did your party colleagues rubbish Plaid Cymru’s ambitious plans to make finance available for capital projects, which would provide a buffer against the ConDem cuts and create thousands of jobs with our Build for Wales proposal when your cabinet colleagues are now refusing point blank to rule out seeking funding through the socially destructive Private Finance Initiative? And if the proposal was rubbish, why did Jane Hutt say yesterday that our Build4Wales idea is now being considered by your government as an option?

Why is it that the Welsh Government has yet to outline its position on the public sector services strike planned for next Thursday? I attempted to find out on two separate occasions in plenary this week what will happen but your Finance Minister, Jane Hutt, refused to answer the question both times. Are you afraid of upsetting your party colleagues in Westminster, particularly Ed Balls who shamefully called for the trade unions not to strike in defence of an unparalleled assault on their pensions? As a UNISON member yourself, you really need to make you and your Government’s position clear. This is an issue that is not going to go away anytime soon.

Carwyn, it's ‘time to lead.’

Hungry Nation

Earlier this month I spent the day volunteering with the Rhondda Foodbank at their depot in Ynyshir. This small lock-up garage just off the main road and its contents of food has been instrumental in preventing around 800 people in the Fach and the Fawr from going hungry in less than two years.

The contribution of the foodbank in helping those who are struggling to make ends meet cannot be underestimated. It is unacceptable that adults and children are going hungry in 21st century Wales. I was only too glad to donate my time to pack food parcels during my republican boycott of the royal visit to the Senedd.

The foodbank network relies on volunteers giving up their free time and the generosity of the public at their monthly supermarket food collections. Around half a tonne of non-perishable food is collected on any given day during these collections and this has been enough to sustain the charity’s work to date.

However, due to a combination of word getting around and increased need due to the policies of the Con/Dem Government, more and more demand is being placed on the Rhondda Foodbank. At the beginning of the year in the Rhondda alone they distributed around 300kg of food every month in their parcels designed to last recipients three days. However, this has now jumped to 500kg of food distributed each and every month which means that almost every can collected outside a supermarket is being sent out soon afterwards. It is heartening that so many people who can’t afford to feed themselves are receiving help, but it is clear that more needs to be done to help the foodbank network in the Rhondda.

I saw first-hand the difference this charity is making to people’s lives when a package was delivered to a couple who had experienced a benefit delay. However long it takes the Department of Work and Pensions take to determine their case, the couple will receive no money. Presumably they are expected to live on fresh air?

I therefore urge anyone who can to give as generously as posible if they come across Foodbank volunteers on their collection days. Forthcoming collections will be held on July 9th at Asda in Tonypandy, September 10th at Morrisons in Porth and on October 22nd at Asda in Tonypandy.

For more details you can contact the organisers of the Rhondda Foodbank by visiting their website www.actscommunitychurch.co.uk, by emailing admin@actscommunitychurch.co.uk or by calling 07928 451374.

Let's get cracking

It didn't take Scotland's First Minister long to set out a basic list of expectations to the UK government following national elections at the beginning of May. This week he's managed to secure £2.7 billion worth of borrowing powers while continuing to bang the drum for control over other taxes and the Scottish land and marine holdings of the Crown Estates.

Contrast this energy and dynamism with Wales's First Minister. We've had a few weeks of farcical First Minister's questions with no programme to scrutinise. Question Time has been little more than an opportunity for the First Minister to opposition-bash. A good from of entertainment, no doubt, but isn't it all really a bit pointless? No doubt, the best form of defence is attack when nothing is happening. There have been no committees. There have been no list of demands to Cameron, but it'll all be ok because says he's written a letter about the crisis in Welsh broadcasting, although he's against devolving it, indicating his belief the Welsh media is safer in Cameron/Hunt's hands.

We all know the Welsh economy is weak. Job creation through the creation of new, home-based markets as proposed in the Valleys Greenprint is what is urgently needed and is something we could be getting on with now. Some of the ideas would need legislation, others could be helped by the Assembly having borrowing and other powers. Instead, as Eurfyl ap Gwylim pointed out in the Guardian more than a year ago:

"Because the Welsh government has no taxation or borrowing powers, it will have to take the cuts imposed on them and decide where the axe will fall."

Instead of creating jobs, Wales is losing them fast in the public sector. Instead of planning to stimulate the Welsh economy and standing up for Wales in talks with the UK government, Wales's First Minister seems to be on go-slow.

The deflection strategy can work for only a limited amount of time. I hope in next week's Assembly questions we'll get a clearer picture as to how the Welsh government intends to handle the problems facing Wales over the coming five years, that we'll have a programme to scrutinise. I hope that members get some answers to our fair questions about the government programme, the economy and how Wales's case is being pushed forward with the UK government. I'm not holding too much of my breath.

Boycotting Mrs Windsor

For the third time now, I will not be attending the official opening of the Senedd by the English monarch which is due to take place on Tuesday.

I am a republican. I am a Welsh republican, but as a socialist I support the calls of republicans in other parts of the UK for the abolition of the 'British' monarchy.

Writing shortly after the coronation of the present monarch, DJ Davies wrote:

"We should bear in mind that the Queen is not a symbol as is often claimed, but the personification and incarnation of the English state, its history, its tradition, even its religion...Note how the Queen is surrounded by military pomp, how she is represented as the owner of the armed forces and how she is required to inspect them on all occasions of national or imperial importance."

DJ goes on to argue for a Welsh monarchy - his 1953 article is entitled 'Wales must have a king'. This is where DJ Davies and I part company.

In the modern Wales people should not be subjects, we should be citizens. The monarchy represents a hereditary class system which perpetuates inequality. The royals are an unaccountable, privileged elite allowed and encouraged by government to expand its wealth through the patronage of the civil list, the honours system and the land assets their ancestors pillaged from common people. The income they can expect to make from the Crown Estates land in Wales in future years is money that could be well used by the cash-strapped Welsh government.

Unlike all other spenders of taxpayers money, the royals are under no obligation to hand their accounts over for scrutiny to the National Audit Office and are they are exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.

Deference and sycophancy are expected (what is that bowing all about?) and happily given by most media outlets, while a huge numbers of people are employed in a PR team to promote the 'brand'. After quite a few years of limited success, they seem to have achieved quite a turn around in more recent times.

We like to think we live in a meritocracy. We don't. If we did, all children would be able to aspire to be head of state. Under a monarchal system, they can't. You can only be born into the monarchy. It's random. The democratic argument in favour of republicanism is best summed up by Imran Khan, Human Rights lawyer on the Republic website who says:

"One of the notions of a democracy is that you elect those in power and you can remove them if they abuse it. Fundamentally, it's about accountability."

Since I want her gone, I'll be elsewhere when she comes to open our Senedd.