THE Scottish Trades Union Congress has resolved to redouble its efforts to defeat hate after praising the efforts of comrades in Erskine and Elgin to counter fascist incursions.
Trades councils, the bodies who have led much of the anti-fascist activity around the country, came together to call on the STUC to demand the nation’s elected representatives “step up a gear to protect us from the right-wing threat to our way of life and the hard-won rights of the working people.”
Calling for support for trades councils in the battles ahead, Tam Kirby of Fife TUC told comrades: “Trades councils have been on the front line in fighting racism and fascism.
“In Elgin it was the trades council, in Erskine it was the trades council, and if necessary we in Fife trades council will lead that fight locally too.”
In Erskine, a battle against misinformation in the local community and harassment of refugees housed in a local hotel lasted more than a year, led by Paisley and District TUC (PTUC) alongside anti-fascist organisations, a myriad refugee solidarity groups, and the neighbouring Clydebank TUC.
PTUC’s Robert Parker, who had himself played a key role in that battle, gave an impassioned speech calling for a wider campaign of political education to inoculate communities against fascist opportunists.
The theme was expanded on in a speech by Clydebank TUC’s Nathan Hennebry, himself a veteran of the Erskine campaign both as a trade unionist and as part of the Young Communist League’s solidarity actions at the site.
He later told the Star: “In Erskine, it was local trade unionists with their fingers on the pulse in the community that made the difference, where politicians were nowhere to be seen.
“That’s the lesson, it’s about the trade union movement intertwining itself with the local community.
“As a movement, historically, we’ve had great success in terms of industrial disputes doing that, such as the historic victory at UCS many years ago secured not only by wider support within the local community, but across Scotland and the world.
“From community councils, to local football teams and knitting groups, we need to be there to educate on the dangers of fascism and racist rhetoric.
“Trade union members know how to expose the lies of the Tories, the Murdoch media, and sometimes the Labour ones as well, on asylum and immigration, and we have a duty to do it.”
