Socialist Worker

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Stop Blair’s war machine

This must be the year when the anti-war movement forces an end to the disastrous occupation of Iraq and reverses the direction of government foreign and military strategy.

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International Comment Features Reviews What We Think Other

News

Left prepares for 2007 poll challenge

Respect members in Birmingham have started selecting candidates for the May council elections. In each ward one council seat out of three is up for re-election.

Fighting for jobs and services in the civil service

Around 280,000 members of the PCS civil service workers’ union are receiving ballot papers this week to vote on striking over job cuts, privatisation and unfair pay.

Labour Party faces serious setbacks in Scotland

May 2007 sees the next elections to the Scottish Parliament.

Bethlehem protest in Lewisham

On the week before Christmas, Bethlehem 2006 with its apartheid wall came to the streets of Lewisham in a lively piece of street theatre devised by members of Lewisham Stop the War and South East London Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Journalists win union recognition at Leicester Mercury and Newsquest titles

Journalists in the NUJ union working for Leicester Mercury and Newsquest celebrated winning union recognition before Christmas.

Falkirk joins revolt against single status pay agreement

Around 3,000 council workers in Falkirk struck for one day on Monday 18 December.

Single status round-up

Barking & Dagenham GMB and T&G union members who work for Barking & Dagenham council in east London have voted overwhelmingly in a consultative ballot for strike action over single status and equal pay claims.

Why is single status leading to so much anger and action?

All the disputes on this page are linked to the single status pay agreement.

Wakefield Council compensation letters

Wakefield Council sent letters to thousands of workers before Christmas offering compensation for years of unequal pay.

Coventry cash collectors banking on action

Cash collectors at Coventry City Council struck between Christmas and the New Year over single status. The Unison union members in the exchequer banking took action as part of an ongoing wave of strikes that have hit the council.

Greenwich Unison threatens single status 'new year of discontent'

The Unison union is threatening Greenwich council in south east London with a "new year of discontent" over single status.

Redundancy notices sent to North Tyneside council workers

Thousands of council workers in North Tyneside have been issued with redundancy notices – but then told not to worry about their jobs.

Civil service workers ballot over job cuts

Hundreds of thousands of civil service workers are gearing up for a major battle with the government to stop job losses and defend public services.

Socialist Worker Appeal reaches £131,427

The money is still rolling in for the Socialist Worker appeal. The total so far is £131,427.

Reports round-up

Grosvenor Casinos workers take action Hundreds of casino workers went on strike on New Year’s Eve for 24 hours in a pay dispute. Over 300 members of the T&G union at Grosvenor Casinos in London took action in protest at an imposed 3.5 percent wage increase.

Central trains Christmas strikes

Hundreds of senior train conductors in the RMT rail workers’ union on Central Trains struck twice over the Christmas period forcing the company to cancel more than half of its services.

Action suspended at JJB sports

Industrial action and demonstrations at JJB Sports in Wigan have been suspended.

Nissan workers plan strike after rejecting 2% pay offer

Workers at car maker Nissan look set to go on strike for the first time in a row over pay. Bosses’ offer of a 2 percent rise over two years was rejected by workers at its Sunderland plant last month.

Battle lines being drawn in Royal Mail

Postal workers’ reps in the CWU union will gather for a national briefing next Wednesday. They are facing major challenges.

Surrey council strike wins £1,000

Local government workers across Surrey struck on Thursday 21 December as part of their campaign over pay. The one-day strike was the second organised by the Unison union.

Camden cuts protest

Socialist Worker online in 2007

Since the last issue of Socialist Worker was printed two weeks ago there have been 17 updates to our website.

Fujitsu threatens union activist

Management escalated the dispute between IT services giant Fujitsu and its Manchester staff by walking away from talks with Acas last month.

Iceland depot strike suspended

The strikes planned at Iceland supermarket’s depot at Enfield, north London, were called off at the end of last month. A majority of T&G union members at the plant accepted an offer from DHL, the company that runs the depot, to restart serious talks on 29 December.

British Airways cabin crew ballot for action

Some 11,000 cabin crew at British Airways (BA) are balloting for strike action. The airline could face a series of 24 hour strikes.

Reflections on the Metroline bus strike and struggle

For two days in November along with over 2,000 of my colleagues I withdrew my labour and went on strike for better pay. As London bus drivers working for Metroline we had seen for too long our colleagues in other bus companies in London doing the same job but getting paid more.

Protests build in battle to save our NHS

On Saturday 3 March thousands of people will protest against the health cuts that are causing increasingly bitter demonstrations against government policy.

Health workers fight back across Britain

One of the main hospitals expected to serve the central London Olympics site in 2012 – King George’s in Ilford – is being set up for closure of its front line emergency services as part of a £16 million cuts package being driven through by the Barking, Havering and Redbridge Hospitals Trust.

Victory for SOAS cleaners

Over 60 members of staff and students joined a lively lunchtime demonstration at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London on the last day of term last year in support of low paid cleaners at the university.

Protests mount against school privatisation plans

The new year will see a series of protests by teachers and parents against the implementation of the government plans to ram through privatisation in schools.

Protests against university privatisations

Newcastle University Newcastle University has announced plans to privatise its language centre – despite strong protests from students and the lecturers’ University and College Union (UCU).

Tenants vote no to transfer in Taunton Deane and Tower Hamlets

Tenants in Taunton Deane, Somerset, are celebrating victory after defeating proposals to transfer their council houses in a ballot last month. The results of the ballot showed a clear rejection of the transfer proposals—69 percent voted no on a 69 percent turnout.

New Early Day Motion backs Trade Union Freedom Bill

Exactly a century after parliament ruled that "an action against a trade union… shall not be entertained in any court", trade unions are stepping up the campaign for the restoration of rights through a Trade Union Freedom Bill.

Local government pensions cuts still looming

Negotiations are continuing over local government pensions. There are signs that some unions are willing to accept the latest government proposals, but others seem reluctant to endorse them.

New Labour minister attacks unemployed

Labour’s latest scapegoats are the unemployed. Long-term unemployed people could have their benefits cut – or stopped altogether.

Lauren Booth backs Ugly Rumours’ anti-war single

A group of anti-war musicians have released a cover version of Edwin Starr’s classic War (What Is It Good For?) under the name of Ugly Rumours. They aim to take it to the top of the charts.

More than 500 on Sheffield march against school closures

Over 500 students, parents, staff and governors marched to Sheffield Town Hall on Wednesday of this week.

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International

Ethiopia joins Bush’s imperialist crusade

The recent Ethiopian invasion of Somalia is a direct product of the US-British "war on terror". It threatens to further destabilise a region which has repeatedly been torn apart by war and famine.

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Comment

US war strategy is caught between a rock and a hard place

The imperial project in the Middle East is damaged but not destroyed. It is damaged in part because of the successive blows that have rained down on it from the Iraqi, Afghan, Palestinian and Lebanese resistance since 2002.

Sinn Fein makes peace with police

The prospect of a power sharing government in Northern Ireland led by the veteran Unionist bigot Ian Paisley, and backed by the Republicans of Sinn Fein, took a step closer last month.

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Features

The Black Panthers

A new photographic history of the US Black Panther Party brilliantly depicts a high point in the struggle for black liberation. Yuri Prasad looks back at a period of hope and anger

‘Dual Power’ in our hands

The great revolutionary upheavals of the 20th century were marked by a distinctive pattern. Workers mounted mass strikes that originated as or developed into confrontations with the state.

Fascism is a reactionary force against the workers

Fascism is not just another form of capitalist authoritarian rule, nor can it be reduced to a tool of big business or finance capital.

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Reviews

Ghosts: a haunting portrayal of the Morecambe Bay tragedy

How was it that on a cold and windy night almost three years ago, a group of young Chinese men and women were stranded by incoming tides at Morecambe Bay, with 23 tragically drowning?

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What We Think

Two protests to set our agenda for 2007

Official British politics will revolve round a beauty contest between Gordon Brown and David Cameron in 2007. Yet at the grassroots level two other issues dominate.

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Other Categories

Pat Cain

It is with deep regret and sadness that Hull SWP and Hull Respect have learned of the death of Pat Cain. Pat was a passionate and thoughtful socialist.

Letters

No room at the hospital I would like you all to know my daughter’s personal plight at the hands of the NHS.

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