All Croydon TUC meetings take place at Ruskin House, 23 Coombe Road, Croydon, CR0 1BD, normally on the 2nd Thursday of each month. The start time is 7.30pm. Premises open from 7pm. All trades union members are welcome to attend, but voting is restricted to delegates from affiliated TU branches.
The Secretary is Roy Aird and the President is Kevin Smith'. Inquiries to Roy on 07941 890756.
The next Croydon General TUC meeting is on Thursday 11th July 2024 at Ruskin House, 23 Coombe Road, CR0 1BD. All trade union members are welcome. New affiliations to Croydon TUC are recommended by the TUC.
Croydon TUC Manifesto for General Election approved 13th June 2024.
Eight Point Manifesto for the General Election on 4 July 2024
The world faces a climate crisis that threatens the future of humanity. We look to
our elected representatives to hold the government to prioritising the necessary
response, which includes keeping fossil fuels in the ground, and implementing
this with a just transition. Within this policy framework, we further call on all
candidates standing in Croydon constituencies at the forthcoming General
Election on 4 July to endorse and publicly declare their support for the following
eight proposals and commit, if elected, to work tirelessly to ensure they are
enacted.
1.Stop arming Israel, recognise Palestine and press for prosecution of
war crimes in Gaza, reparations for its destruction and an end to
illegal Israeli settlement.
2. Repeal all anti-trade union legislation, i.e. most trade union
legislation enacted since 1979 and an end to casualisation, including
phoney self-employment and fire and re-hire.
3. End austerity, tax the rich and promote greater equality by, in
particular, requiring a maximum wage ratio of 20:1 between the
highest-paid executive and the lowest-paid employee.
4. Enshrine in law the need for humane treatment of everyone in the
UK, including immigrants, asylum seekers and those serving prison
sentences.
5. Cancel student loans and reinstate means-tested student grants for
those educated in the state system freed from the tyranny of Ofsted.
6. Prioritise funding the NHS, schools and local government, not
foreign wars and the so-called “nuclear deterrent”.
7. Replace the current totally inadequate Universal Credit, with its
resulting reliance on food banks, with a fair, appropriate and
universal entitlement to social security, with no two child benefit cap.
8. Seriously address the housing crisis –no more pretending it can be
solved by the private sector building more unaffordable homes and
by housing allowances that benefit private landlords. It requires a
major programme of building council houses and social housing for
rent and much enhanced security for private tenants.
President: Kevin Smith
Secretary: Roy Aird
Ruskin House
23 Coombe Road
Croydon CR0 1BD
Croydon TUC Rwanda Policy approved at the Croydon TUC General Meeting held onthe13th June 2024;
At the last attempt by the government to get deportation flights to Rwanda off the ground, mass campaigning, from crucial legal challenges, national days of protest, direct action, and widespread opposition reflected in trending social media campaigns were all part of stopping the flights.
A coalition of anti racists, celebrities and politicians, anti racist organisations, trade unions and the TUC, Care4Calais, Refugee Council, Amnesty International and others came together to say #StopRwanda deportations and offshore detention.
This coalition, and with more supporting organisations and politicians, came together on 30 April to mount the campaign.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is now pledging to get flights taking off in 10-12 weeks, while the government's illegal migration minister Michael Tomlinson's response to the deaths of five more people in the Channel, including a child, was to say that the deterrent will kick in when flights are off the ground.
The passing of the Rwanda Bill, after a long period of flitting back and forth between the Commons and the Lords where it met with opposition and amendments, comes as part of a raft of legislation that is in breach of internationally recognised human rights. From the Nationality and Borders Act to the Illegal Migration Act, the government has acted profoundly to criminalise the vast majority of those who are driven to exercise their human right to seek asylum. It now faces calls from the UN and Council of Europe to reverse the Rwanda Bill.
Campaigners insist that the fight to oppose the Rwanda plan must go hand in hand with the demand for Safe Passage Now. For the vast majority of those seeking asylum, safe and legal routes do not exist.
Croydon TUC notes believes.
a) The passing of this bill does not make Rwanda safe and will not stop the boats. It illustrates a weak government desperate to stir up racism before a general election.
b) This is a dark day in British political history now that the Government has officially overridden the judgement of the UK Supreme Court that Rwanda is not a safe country to send refugees. The Rwanda plan is cruel, inhumane, and racist to its core.
c) The only viable solution is to implement safe routes for asylum seekers as for Ukrainian refugees.
This trades Council resolves
i) To be part of a broad, united and mass campaign to make the Rwanda detentions and deportations unworkable.
ii) To support the campaigns and protests organised by Stand Up `To Racism, Care for Calais and other refugee groups.
iii) To circulate and help publicise to members the national demonstration and march through London on 29 June.
'The Croydon Assembly is an initiative by Croydon TUC to give a democratic voice to the people of Croydon and the surrounding area. Assembly meetings were suspended during the Covid lockdown, they had resumed from Friday, 9 September, 2022,7.30 pm, with a meeting to discuss the climate crisis and what we can do to make our government, national and local, and our organisations, including trade unions, to take positive steps to address the situation. However, there has been a pause and will resume in due course.
Ruskin House is the centre for the Labour and Trade Union Movement in Croydon and across South London.
Croydon TUC is the local Trades Union Council to which local trade union branches are affiliated and which is itself registered with the Trades Union Congress. We are affiliated to the Greater London Association of Trades Union Councils. All local Trade Union branches are requested to affiliate to Croydon TUC.