BIRMINGHAM Community Conference has taken the lead the defence of local services and jobs.
Following the Labour Group's meek acceptance of a £45 million cut in the government grant, it organised a lobby of a group meeting, with 150 people. Both events generated substantial press coverage. Both were built with posters, leaflets and street stalls.
And now March 25th has been named as the day for a city centre demonstration with the theme of defending public services and jobs.
The Community Conference will seek to involve the RMT, who are campaigning against rail privatisation.
The shock of the savage cuts ordered by central government seems to have generated a new mood of resistance, at last! increase in workers' workload. There is a lot of talk of industrial action. But we cannot shake off the years of defeatism overnight.
Confidence needs to be carefully built and organised. In particular, many sectors are cautious about going into action on their own.
The role of the Community Conference is to overcome this by uniting the different areas in common activity. So far, the strategy seems to be working. membership.