Thanks from Karen as results are out

Thanks for all your support through the campaign.

We got badly squeezed at the end when people thought (rightly) we risked a Tory government and so voted Labour even though they did not like them as they (rightly) thought Liberal Democrats would do a deal with Tories and let the the Tories in

Lots of our ‘definite’ voters changed their minds in last few days .

But we did get to know lots of really good people. We did put argument there is an alternative and we do not need cuts and can fight to defend jobs and services.

We definitely need to build this alliance now Tories look likely and are much better placed after election campaign in Gorton to do this.

Right to work conference in London on 22nd may is one start for this

So thanks again and we will keep in touch.

Election 2010: Manchester Gorton
Qassim Afzal (LD) 12,508
Tim Dobson (PP) 236
Justine Hall (Grn) 1048
Peter Harrison (CP) 254
Caroline Healy (Con) 4224
Gerald Kaufman (Lab) 19,000 plus
Karen Reissman (TUSC) 337
Mohammed Zulfikar (Respect) 507
Turn out 50.7%

‘Thanks’ says Karen as polls close

9.30pm at the campaign ‘picket caravan’ on Heald Place in Rusholme

Karen Reissmann spoke to activists as the polls closed in Manchester.

I must admit I have enjoyed the campaign, its been great! Meeting so many people, all those who have been out helping with the campaign. A big thank you to everyone!

Fighting in elections is part of fighting back. You can be sat at home miserable and frustrated in front of the TV, or be out taking the arguments about fighting back to people on the door steps. That is what is so enjoyable. Whatever the result, our campaign has already been successful. It has brought so many people together. We have met dozens of new people who want to get involved, who want to be part of resisting.

The new government, whoever they are, will bring in cuts that even we will be shocked by. We have seen what the fightback against cuts looks like in Greece. When the cuts come people will remember that one of us knocked on their door and talked about resisting. That is what our campaign was about.

We have not got a national profile like the other parties. This seat has moved from ‘safe’ Labour to a ‘marginal’ and two new arguments have now come up. People say that they agree with what we say about fighting the cuts, but if we get the Lib Dems then they will do a deal with the Tories – and so I am voting Labour to keep the Tories out. The other is that by voting Lib Dem we will get a hung parliament and then proportional representation will help people like us. There are more people who agree with us than will vote for us. People are thanking us for standing.

There is one more thing. Immigration has come up on the door step. We have taken the anti racist arguments head on. You have to put down a marker. It was not good enough for Gordon Brown to shout ‘biggot’. What about the fight for jobs and housing, for that we need to be united.

Manchester Users Election Special Question Time Report

Manchester Users Network

Election Special Question Time for staff, users and the public.

It was a well-organised event held in the friendly venue of The Cleveland in Crumpsall. MUN had invited a number of candidates to attend and it was pleasing to see some had accepted that invite in order to respond to questions about mental health– an area frequently under-prioritised in election campaigning. On the panel were Qassim Afzal, Liberal Democrat PPC for Manchester Gorton, James Edsberg, Conservative PPC for Blackley and Broughton, Caroline Healy, Conservative PPC for Manchester Gorton, Marc Ramsbottom, Liberal Democrat PPC for Manchester Central, Karen Reissmann, Trade Union and Socialist Coalition PPC for Manchester Gorton and Graham Stringer, Labour PPC for Blackley and Broughton.

Would candidates consider holding a local referendum in the cases of sacked health workers who had been ‘honest’ about the NHS?

Trades Union Support for Karen Reissmann

In Greece the trades unions, pensioners and students all united to protest on May Day against the  cuts imposed on them by bankers, speculators and politicains. May Day in Manchester was also about who will pay the price of the deficit.

‘Already in Manchester they have announced a 16% cut in the health budget over the next 4 years. There is no alternative – we have to fight back” asys Karen Reissmann. “Pay, penisons, conditions services all face cuts.’

“When they say – cut back!     We say – fightback!’

Karen Reissmann marched with trades unionists, refugees, anti racist and anti war campaigners on the protest organised by Manchester Trades Council and the refugee support group RAPAR.

Nahella Ashraf, as chair of Manchester Stop the War Coalition, spoke, ‘We all need to stand together and say enough is enough!’   Watch here.

Union support for Karen Reissmann’s election campaign has been growing. The Fire fighters union and the Rail Workers unions, the Civil Servants Union leader have all backed Karen. Read the trades union endorsements. Fire fighters. Rail Workers Civil Servants

Watch Karen’s Election Launch speech here

Karen at street meeting

Karen Reissmann takes the campaign to the streets of Manchester. Hear her explain why she is standing as a candidate for teh Manchester Gorton seat.

speaking out on Market St Manchester

What have you ever done for people round here?

“When my niece and nephew would come to stay we always went to the Gorton Tub, they loved it.”

“Over the last twenty years I have been helping the people in this area.

“As a nurse,  in my trade union, I have always been there for people. Over many years we have campaigned to save the local services. There have been so many protest against war, and we have had to stand together against racism.

“In this election I am carrying on doing what I have always done, Fighting to make things better.

“Every door we knock on we ask people to sign a petition, to get involved with the campaign against the health cuts – £950 million cuts to Manchester NHS have already been announced.

“With all the parties promising cuts after all the election we will need to build a big fight back. Look at what is happening in Greece.

Manchester night shift gives Karen a thumbs up!

“it is the first meeting I have done that started after midnight,’ said nurse Karen, who is standing as the Trades Unionist and Socialist Candidate in the Manchester Gorton constituency. Karen met a group of nine who work nights and have to deal with emergencies that require help through out the night.

‘There was a serious discussion about the cuts, and what we should do in response,’ she said. ‘It was a very positive meeting.’ With public sector workers threatened with cuts Karen’s ‘Make the bankers pay!’ demand provides a practical answer to the deficit threat.

‘We were all excited to be honest. No one has ever been to speak to us!’, said one council worker.

Nick Marched With Nurse Karen

‘I marched with the Manchester nurse Karen Reissmann’.

Nick Clegg tells RCN conference.

‘Though I clearly didn’t make much of an impression as she’s now standing for another party.’

Karen Reissmann is the candidate for the Trades Unionists and Socialist Coalition in the Manchester Gorton Constituency.

After leading strikes that stopped cuts to the NHS, and for speaking out about privatisation of the NHS, Karen was sacked from her job. ‘Thanks to the support I received I am now back working in the NHS.’ says Karen. ‘One reason I decided to stand in this election is to pay back the all people who supported me. The other is to help shape resistance to the cuts. Already Manchester NHS have announced £950 million cuts and the women’s services ward at Hope hospital is to be axed.’

Karen’s election campaign is striking a chord with many who are confused or disillusioned with the main parties – all of whom offer big cuts to the public sector if they win.

‘She is the only one who made any sense’, was the verdict of one mother after hearing Karen speak at hustings in Gorton last night. ‘Karen’s message is simple. She gave a straight answer to the question of what to do about the ‘deficit’.’

‘No cuts – make the bankers pay! Bring the troops home!’

‘Most people agree with us on this’, explained Karen. ‘We are pushing out the message that there is an alternative that is about standing together and fighting back, and that voting can be part of that.’

One nurse involved in Karen’s campaign said, ‘We are getting out the caravan we used in the last strike to act as a base for the election campaign.’

www.votekarenreissmann.org

Outrage as rich list is published

‘At a time when we are all being told to prepare for “tough times ahead” and massive cuts in services, public spending and welfare benefits the richest people in Britain have seen a record boom in their wealth over the past year. Their fortunes have soared by 30%.

‘The figures are astonishing – the 1,000 richest people in this country increased their wealth by £77 billion last year bringing their total wealth to £335.5 billion – a thousand people have amassed wealth equal to more than one-third of the national debt.

‘At a time when the rest of us are told to prepare to “tighten our belts – no matter who wins the general election” – the number of billionaires has risen from 43 to 53, with nine seeing their wealth rise by £1 billion or more during the past 12 months.’

Craig Johnston,
RMT National Executive Member, Manchester and North West England

Craig has endorsed Karen Reissmann as TUSC candidate in Manchester Gorton.

Support the Boycott of SATS! More Teaching – Less Testing!

Support the Headteachers Boycott of the Sats Tests.

Headteachers  have voted to boycott the divisive Sats tests for 11 year olds, which 600,000 students are scheduled to take from 10 May, straight after the general election.

There is deep anger against these tests at the highest levels in schools. Heads in the NAHT, and the National Union of Teachers, are asking for your support in their campaign to scrap these tests.

They say the SATs are bad for children, bad for teachers, bad for education and bad for communities because they:

• are stressful for children, parents and teachers;
• are inaccurate – teacher assessments are more reliable;
• undermine the morale of too many children;
• encourage narrow teaching to the test
• squeeze out time for creative subjects and sports;
• are used to create divisive league tables of schools

More Teaching – Less Testing.
Sats turn children off education by drilling them repeatedly with practice tests. They also distract from the role that poverty and under-funding play in damaging children’s education by blaming individual teachers and children for low scores.

These pointless tests have bored children to distraction and put some under extreme stress. They have weakened the place of creativity, exploration, curiosity and reading for pleasure in our schools.

There are no Sats in Scotland or Wales. There are many other ways to assess children. The Sats should be abolished here too.

Please add your name to the ‘End Sats Petition’ and support the teachers’ boycott.

“Testing and targets have now been brought into the NHS. As a nurse I am interested in the quality of the care I deliver to my patients – not whether I have reached targets set on form filling and the number of patients seen. League tables and targets are just more pressures that undermine our NHS. It is the same in schools. That is why I will be giving my full support to the head teacher’s boycott of the Sats.”

Karen Reissmann. TUSC Candidate for Manchester Gorton