SOME people — although not, I suspect, many who, like you, read and subscribe to the Morning Star — say, “We should keep politics out of… sport, education, whatever.” You know the sort of thing. It’s not possible, of course. Because everything in life that affects us — individually and collectively — is political.

That’s why this general election is so important. The way we vote — individually and collectively — is going to affect each of us, in every aspect of our lives, over the next five years.

And we cannot afford — emotionally, intellectually, financially — another five years of Conservative chaos. Britain deserves better. Much better than anything the Tories — who have targeted workers, as the Morning Star has reported every day for the past 14 years — can or ever will offer.

Train drivers have a special interest in the result of the way this country votes today as the Tories have singled us out, in their very nasty manifesto, for very special attention. 

The last three secretaries of state for transport — Chris “Failing” Grayling, Grant “Three Names” Shapps, and Mark “Where’s Wally?” Harper — have done their level best to ruin Britain’s railways with no investment, because they have little interest in, and no love for, public transport. 

The Tories’ only vision is to grow the private sector through open access which we know — with no growth in capacity — has to come at the expense of existing timetables and freight stagnating.

Their truly interesting idea, though, is that they will “include measures to reform outdated working practices in the rail industry in the Rail Reform Bill.” Remember how Margaret Thatcher targeted the miners? Well, Maggie’s grandchildren are spiteful, deceitful, and coming for us.

So, yes, we have a vested interest — although, of course, all interests are vested — in ensuring that they never get anywhere near destroying us, destroying this country, and destroying the futures of our children and grandchildren.

Even the Spanish Inquisition would not have thought of the bedroom tax, the two-child benefit cap, allowing 4.2 million children to starve outside term time, along with putting 14 million people into poverty. Homelessness is rife, work for many does not pay, the NHS is being destroyed, people are dying younger, and this is the first parliament in history to leave people worse-off.

What price austerity from a government for the few where millionaires become billionaires, and the working-class becomes the working poor?

It started with David Cameron and Victorian values; basically, he was terrified of Ukip, but don’t worry, the rich will use their failure to pay their fair share of tax to be philanthropic, right?

It ended with Rishi Sunak getting to the 1950s and national service. I’m not sure how those on zero-hours contracts or doing several jobs to make ends meet will make this new wheeze of his work? In between we had Theresa May and Windrush; Boris Johnson and “partygate” (as well as numerous other lies and problems); and Liz Truss who almost destroyed the British economy at a stroke one weekend.

Their fallback position — a position echoed by The Sun, Daily Mail, and Daily Telegraph — is that trade unionists want to “go back to the 1970s” when what we want is access to well-paid work, decent and affordable housing, good education, and a thriving NHS and dental sector, as a starting point!

An incoming Labour government, if elected, will not be able to undo, overnight, 14 years of damage by the Conservative governments of Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss, and Sunak, or the damage done before them by Thatcher and Major between 1979 and 1997.

But Labour will renationalise the railways and, within 100 days, repeal the anti-trade union laws; end minimum service levels; end fire and rehire; give workers rights from day one of employment; end zero-hours contracts; raise pay and conditions with no rates based on age; provide new rights for equalities reps; enshrine the right to organise; and offer new protections against blacklisting. This is not, of course, an exhaustive list; just a few things in A New Deal for Working People.

Today we get a chance to throw the Tories out, vote for real change, and protect our futures: today I ask you, please, to vote Labour.
 
Mick Whelan has spent 40 years on the railway, 40 years as an active trade unionist, and most of his adult life as a member of the Labour Party. He was elected general secretary of Aslef in 2011; became chair of the Trade Union & Labour Party Liaison Organisation, now Labour Unions, in 2016; and, in 2017, was elected to the Labour Party’s NEC.