They Get Paid 1 1/2 Nurses Don’t You You Know… ;)

Whenever I attend an independence march, I often hear the refrain “Tory, Tory, Tory, out, out, out!” and it signals to me a strong rejection of the Tory mentality, not only of British nationalism/unionism, but of their entire ethos. In the independence movement we have championed the idea that an independent Scotland can be a better, fairer and more open nation, where we have a more socialist outlook. Where we respect workers rights and where the people who work can hope to have a level of job security, good pay and fair wage rises when the economy demands it. So why is it that I am seeing and hearing such Tory-style sentiment from the independence movement towards train drivers? While Grant Shapps is seeking to limit rail workers right to strike I am seeing some of my fellow independence supporters demand that the Scottish Government go further and simply sack them all and replace them with non-union staff! This is utterly outrageous and gives me great cause for concern. In the main this attitude stems from the fact that for many years now there has been a widely held misconception that the trade unions are in the pocket of the Labour Party, and now that the Scottish Government have taken over the Scotrail franchise, Labour are manipulating the trade unions in a fiendish plot to bring down the SNP government. This is patently absurd, when we see that companies across the entire UK are being balloted for action after a two year industry-wide pay freeze. As a point of fact, London Transport are going on strike on 6^th June and are calling on Mayor Sadiq Khan to intervene there. Mr Khan is, in case anyone needs reminding, Labour. The trade unions do not pull their punches just because it is a Labour administration there.

It seems to me that a great deal of the anger being directed at train drivers arises from the fact that First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and other ministers have been labouring the point that train drivers often earn £50,000 plus. This has generated a wave of abuse at train drivers. How dare they ask for more when they are paid more than nurses, who seem to be the new benchmark for whether someone should or should not get a pay rise. So we have the bizarre situation where someone who is paid the equivalent of 4 nurses is telling us that she want’s everyone to get round the table and talk, and by the way, don’t you know that drivers get paid 1 ½ nurses? Nudge, nudge, wink, wink…

It might have gone unnoticed by the First Minister, and perhaps the wider population, but train drivers might work in a small driving cab, but that hasn’t insulated them from the rising prices and costs which everyone else experiences. Every one of them has their own personal circumstances, some may support large families, some may have partners who used to work but now do not. It is not for us to know, but what we do know is that there has been a 2 year UK Government imposed pay freeze, inflation is running at around 10% and they are being offered a rise vastly below that. They have the right to take action to try to get nearer the deal they want, and a ban on overtime working seems a fairly reasonable step, and is indeed short of all out strike action. Yet we have a huge swathe of people, significantly SNP supporters, saying this is outrageous and demanding they return to working the huge amounts of overtime it takes to keep their company operational. The most bizarre statement I have observed came from Chris McCusker of the SNP Trade Union Group, self-styled “Nicola’s No1 Comrade”, who basically stated on Twitter that if drivers can afford to turn down overtime then they don’t need a payrise in the first place! No worker likes to go on strike, and everyone knows that they will take a financial hit in the process, in the hope of achieving better pay and conditions in the long term. As a socialist and a trade unionist Mr McCusker should know better than to make statement that I would expect to hear from a Tory.

No worker has gone untouched by the last two years, and every worker has the right to protect their current pay and conditions, and to try to obtain better ones. The fact that the Scottish Government now have control of the Scotrail franchise must not blind us to the realities of the situation. It’s time many independence supporters reminded themselves of that, and to perhaps do their research before shouting down every single worker who will be taking action over the coming months. Otherwise, when it’s your turn to fight for your pay, or for your job, who will be at your side? Guy few if we keep going like this.

Scotland’s Stupidest Elections

Tory Airdrie Central candidate Trevor Douglas- campaigning anywhere but Airdrie.

It’s that time again, when the elections which have the most effect on your day to day living are voted on by an underwhelming amount of the electorate. At the last local authority election in 2017 only 46% of the electorate voted across Scotland. In Airdrie Central the turnout was a miserable 39%, and saw the election of Tory councillor Trevor Douglas on a mere 793 First Preference (FP) votes who has turned out to be Airdrie’s version of the invisible man: no mean feat. In this election Mr Douglas hasn’t been seen locally, although he has been pictured campaigning closer to home, in Motherwell.

At the time of writing, only two days before polling opens, I’ve received no SNP leaflets, a local leaflet for Jim Logue and Chris Costello, a leaflet for local Alba candidate Julie Marshall, and a generic “Stop the SNP” leaflet from the Tories.

In the last election Jim Logue ran with Michael McBride as his second, and while Mr Logue picked up 1336 FP votes, Mr McBride picked up a paltry 341 votes, which paved the way for Councillor Douglas to take his seat, and his £18,000 annual paycheck. His total outlay on election expenses? Wait for it… £67.64.

Yes, Scottish democracy really is that cheap.

The 2017 election in North Lanarkshire saw the SNP shade it in terms of seats won, but they were unable to form an administration. Labour were able to do so however, and joined with the Tories to form a Unionist coalition. Given the calibre of many of the SNP councillors I view this as a lucky escape anyway, as many were there not on merit or ability, and would have harmed the SNP and by extension the independence movement. Incidentally the Tories, who claim to be the best placed party to beat the SNP based on by-election results lost every by-election in North Lanarkshire between 2017 and today – as did the SNP.

There has been some effort by shady unionist groups to get unionists in Airdrie to vote Tory as their first preference, despite Labour fielding two hardline Orange Order candidates, and this could throw up some interesting results if voters vote on constitutional lines.

Of course this isn’t a constitutional election. It’s about who delivers local services, yet you wouldn’t think it. All the main parties appear to be campaigning for or against independence, when in reality it’s about bins, roads, education, local health services, housing – it’s about our communities. In Glasgow Anas Sarwar is promising an end to the additional uplift fees for rubbish due to Glasgow’s rat problem. Yet in Labour run North Lanarkshire there’s no such undertaking – despite OUR streets being awash with rubbish and NLC having to scrap pest control fees due to rat infestation! They must think we are mugs – and to a great extent we are because we accept this garbage!

At the 2017 election the SNP ran a highly inept campaign which delivered two ineffective councillors. So bad was their campaign that the incumbent David Stocks came second to his own running partner who was No2 on their election literature! Having received no SNP material I am in the dark as to the qualities of their new candidates – as will be the case for most people in the area.

Local elections should be about local issues, and should be fought on local, not national lines. North Lanarkshire Council, like most other Scottish local authorities is too big and too remote from the people it represents. The present system needs scrapped and we should return to smaller local councils, drawn from the communities, responsible to the people who they see on the street and live alongside. If people are stupid enough to vote for paper candidates who aren’t from or interested in their community then frankly they deserve the inept and out of touch local government they get.

What I feel the system should be has no bearing on the reality of the situation. In Airdrie Central we have 6 candidates, 2 Labour, 2 SNP, 1 Alba and 1 Tory, and they are what matters on Thursday. On the basis of traditional low turnout, misunderstanding of the ranking system, and voting on national rather than local issues, I think that Thursday’s outcome could see a surprise. Whether that is the invisible Tory creeping in on the Orange Order vote, or the Alba candidate taking a seat at the expense of either Labour’s relatively unknown 2nd candidate or either one of the SNP’s unknown candidates I do not know. With most of the SNP’s experienced activists switching to Alba there’s a chance that they might just make it.

With all that in mind, remember to vote until you boak, and rank the Tory last. On Thursday, let’s make Tories history.