This statement stands out for me: “Who is representing the volunteer sector as it faces slash after slash? Who speaks up for ethnic minorities, the homeless, the unemployed, people with additional needs or tenant’s associations?”

In short, trade unions.

Many people in the volunteer, or third, sector are members of trade unions. The unions these people belong to are defending their jobs and the services they provide. Whenever there are antiracist or antifascist activities taking place a large amount, often the majority, of the funding comes from the unions. Trade union activists are always involved in these activities. Many unions do make donations to homeless charities and advocacy groups. Without union donations and trade unionists volunteering their time places like the Unemployed Workers’ Centres would cease to exist almost over night, leaving thousands of people with nowhere to turn to if their benefits are stopped are reduced, which would mean even more people being made homeless as they lose their housing benefit. In Tory wards the unemployed workers centres receive no state funding whatsoever – they rely on donations, by far the biggest coming from the unions. The unemployed workers centres do a fantastic job of representing people with additional needs, whether it be giving advice, obtaining grants for special equipment that enables them to do a job or facilitating campaigns against benefits cuts etc. Trade unions make donations to organisations like Defend Council Housing and I have never known a tenants association that didn’t have at least one trade unionist performing and essential role. Unions fund special educational facilities that give people who for whatever reason cannot succeed in conventional institutes, a chance of an education. In addition, although the official reason for the 30/11 strikes is pensions, if you were to ask a union activist, they would probably tell you that they are striking in order to protect far more than their own pension; they are striking to protect the services everyone, especially the vulnerable groups you mention, depends on. But because of the anti-union laws in this country the official justification for strike action must, by law, be a specific dispute between its members and their employer.

Union leaderships can often be next to useless, but that doesn’t mean unions are. It’s not the unions’ fault that people feel powerless and ignored – if we blame this on the unions, part of the 99%, we let the real villains, the 1%, off the hook. The trade unions are probably the most powerful tool at our disposal in the fight against the 1% but they cannot be expected to do everything. When criticising the unions it is important to be constructive and to remember where we would be without them – up the proverbial creak without a paddle.

Of course we should criticise the unions when they get it wrong, but we must also make sure our criticisms are valid and articulated in the spirit of fraternity.

The labour movement has been born out of a tradition of working class unity through unions and political relationships, and still retain huge amounts of working class members. Anti-cuts groups like the Sheffield Anti Cuts Alliance have also build huge links between workers facing cuts, and sought to bring working class people together to resist the cuts.

Look back at the history of capitalism you can see that unions and other political forums are some of the only outlets for the oppressed.

All this political exclusivity and sectarianism risks the 99% quickly becoming the 1%…

If people want representation in the anticuts activities I suggest they speak up at their meetings – to stand by, do nothing then moan is not helpful and does your issue no good at all.