THOUSANDS of students and workers will be marching from the University of London Union (ULU) to parliament tomorrow, when the Tory-LibDem Coalition government aims to pass a vote raising tuition fees to £9,000.
The march, which assembles at 12 midday in Malet St, is organised by the ULU Students Union and the London Region of the University and College Union (UCU). The National Union of Students (NUS) executive refused to organise it but maintains that it supports it.
The Education Activist Network said yesterday: ‘This government has launched an unprecedented attack on the right to education, with devastating university and college cuts, the rolling out of academies and “free schools” and plans to abolish the Education Maintenance Allowance.
‘On Thursday, Parliament will vote on increasing the cap on university tuition fees to £9,000 a year.’
It adds: ‘The fight against tuition fees is a fight for everyone. Now students are calling on workers to join them in protest on the day of the vote.
‘This Thursday, all roads lead to Parliament.’
MPs and academics have also issued a statement.
It reads: ‘The student movement has inspired all those who wish to defend education for all. If the Coalition government gets away with raising tuition fees and cutting EMA it will deny access to Further and Higher Education making it the preserve of the very wealthy.
‘By taking to the streets in their tens of thousands, students have broken the idea that cuts are inevitable. They have exposed the government as weak, and demonstrated that they can be stopped from wrecking people’s lives.
‘As student placards have stated: “We did not cause this crisis – why should we pay for it?”
‘We are calling upon the trades union movement and community organisations across London to come and join the students fighting for all of our futures.’
Among those who signed the statement are Jeremy Corbyn MP; Caroline Lucas MP; John Hendy QC; Michael Rosen; John Holloway; John Pilger; John McDonnell MP; Paul Mackney (former General Secretary NATFHE now in UCU), Coalition of Resistance Steering Committee; Zita Holbourne, PCS NEC and Joint Chair, Black Activists Rising Against Cuts (BARAC UK); Barry Todman Chairman London Region National Pensioners Convention.
The RMT also confirmed to News Line that it was supporting the demonstration.
The RMT yesterday issued a call for all workers to support the students with action.
It called on the entire trade union movement to get out on the streets this week in full support of the student fees protests and to pile the pressure on Lib Dem MPs as the first signs of major cracks in the Tory-LibDem coalition begin to open up.
The RMT has written to all its branches and is directly emailing and texting members urging them to support the local protests on Wednesday and the national protest on Thursday – the day of the House of Commons vote.
RMT General Secretary Bob Crow, who will be speaking at tomorrow’s 3.00pm rally at the Westminster end of Victoria Embankment, said: ‘Last week students supported our tube members on their picket lines and this week we will be out shoulder to shoulder with the students in their protests over the jacking up of tuition fees.
‘It is essential that the entire Labour and Trade Union Movement gives full support to the student protests – this extraordinary grass roots movement has caught the ConDems on the hop and when your enemy is reeling you don’t give them a chance to regroup, you mobilise the maximum pressure that you can and that’s what RMT is doing right now.
‘The Lib Dem lies don’t just cover their pre-election statements on tuition fees, you can throw their broken promises on rail fare increases, VAT and cuts in jobs and services into the mix as well.’
Joshua Ogunleye, the secretary of the Young Socialist Student Society, told News Line: ‘The time has come to bring down this reactionary coalition with an all-out general strike to bring in a workers’ government that will restore free state education and carry out socialist policies.’