Reply to 'the silence of unions and students in the face of ruthless governance'

This letter to Nation.Cymru, submitted 15 April 2025, was not published.

Dear editor,

I am writing regarding the opinion piece published on your website, “the silence of unions and students in the face of ruthless governance”, by Agit Ceviz.

Agit is correct to say that the UK Labour government has “waged war on pensioners, disabled people, and the working class.” He laments the timidity of today’s trade union and student movements, and asks where they are.

Not that long ago, trade unions and students fought in colossal battles, particularly in the 2010 student protests against fees, and in the 2011 “J30” and “N30” strikes of 750,000 and two-million public-sector workers.

Unfortunately, these were defeated by rotten betrayals. The Liberal Democrats broke their promise on tuition fees. The trade union leader Brendan Barber earned a knighthood for “services to employment relations” and his colleague Dave Prentis is now ‘Barron Prentis of Leeds’.

Blocked on the industrial front, people looked for an electoral road. Many had illusions that under a Labour government things would change. There was massive enthusiasm for Corbyn’s policies, until his own party destroyed him. Some held out hope that even a Starmer government would be better than the Tories. That hope was soon dashed, too.

However, no defeat is forever. We should be wise and learn the lessons of previous defeats. There are important electoral battles currently being fought inside the trade unions.

More recently, at protests organised by Disabled People Against Cuts, we have received significant and important support from trade union organisations. Trade unions have publicly, and very strongly, condemned the attacks on disabled people and carers.

Disabled people know that we are not the only ones targeted by the government, as Reeves and Starmer take the hatchet to jobs, pay, and services everywhere.

The fact that a so-called Labour party could act this way should spark an urgent debate about political representation. I would suggest that we need a new workers’ party, democratically controlled, backed by the trade unions, and involving communities and disabled people at the heart of everything it does.

Agit raises the inspiring example of the recent protests in Turkey against Erdoğan - over a million in the streets of Istanbul. All these struggles are linked - the problem is capitalism. Let’s make sure that this time, we win.