Right to Work Conference

The Right to Work conference is gathering steam. Organisers report: 'Over 350 individual bookings are now in for the conference on 30 January, in addition to around 100 booked through union delegations. A whole new swathe of union branches and activists have signed up in the last fortnight (see HERE for details).

There are now almost 50 union bodies supporting the conference. RtW also welcomes very much the decision last weekend by the National Shop Stewards Network to back the conference, and for its secretary Dave Chapple to speak at it. We hope the conference will be a focus for fighting unity which can involve NSSN supporters, People’s Charter supporters etc as well as those who have backed RtW from the start.'

The potential is clearly there for a serious and nationwide Right to Work Campaign that brings together the unions with other activists and the wider community. This can be the framework for connecting a range of political and economic issues, and mobilising a broad-based response to the impact of the crisis. Job losses should be a major focus, but a RTWC built systematically can also strengthen a more general left-wing political challenge to the system's priorities.