Teachers action was in the spirit of Bob Crow

The action of the teachers going on strike came at a timely moment, just two days after the funeral of RMT leader Bob Crow. He would have approved.

The teachers were protesting about pay, work overload and having their retirement age extended to 68 and rising. Bob Crow argued consistently for shorter working weeks, better pay and conditions for his members. All of these demands are eminently achievable in a society that is run for the common good of all its people rather than for the benefits of a few bankers and their mates.

Our society is incredibly skewed in favour of an elite that live on the backs of everyone else.

- Why in a country that has 1.5 million young people under 24 without jobs is the retirement age being extended?
-Why in a country of 88 billionaires are more than 500,000 people going to foodbanks?
-Why are efforts not being made to collect in the £42 billion estimated by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs to be the cost of unpaid tax?
-Why is there such a focus on the relatively small amount of money lost through benefit fraud, while the big welfare cheats, like the low wage paying companies, rack renting landlords and non-tax paying multinational companies continue with business as usual?

If our society were ordered more along the lines suggested by Mr Crow and the teaching unions then things would be fairer all round. There would be work for all at decent wages with fewer hours being worked by more people. The rich might get a little poorer but the rest of us would have a much better quality of life. 

* Wanstead and Woodford Guardian - 31/3/2014
Ilford Recorder