IRAQI ACTIVISTS have dismissed the idea that the elections held in Iraq are any kind of triumph for George Bush and Tony Blair. "The US should not take any comfort from this result," says Sabah Jawad, secretary of Iraqi Democrats against the Occupation.
TWENTY FIVE students and teachers from City and Islington College, north London, protested outside the home office on Tuesday of last week over the threatened deportation of student Abdul Turay.
I HAD been wondering what to do at my workplace, a university in south London, in the run-up to the 19 March anti-war demonstration. I spoke to colleagues and we decided to propose a whole week of events around the theme of "debating war, defending justice".
Scabs break rules in airport strike AIRPORT FIREFIGHTERS in Glasgow are going into their third week of indefinite all-out strike. The bosses are breaking all the rules to keep the airport open, using senior fire officers from all the other British Airport Authority airports to scab on their subordinates.
COUNCIL TENANTS are standing up to bullying and blackmail in Lambeth, south London, and fighting back against proposals to privatise their housing.
WELL OVER 400 delegates attended the annual conference of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) in Perth last weekend. Following the resignation of Tommy Sheridan as SSP convenor three months ago, it was widely felt that the event had successfully drawn a line under what had been a difficult period for the party.
Newly elected SSP convenor Colin Fox spoke to Socialist Worker about his priorities coming out of last weekend’s successful party conference:
Attacks on the BBC and the union’s low pay campaign were two of the issues discussed at an NUJ Left conference held in Manchester. Union general secretary Jeremy Dear said he thought this was the best chance in a decade for the NUJ to win a ballot over strike action to fight a feared 9,000 job cuts at the BBC.
The RMT maritime union has written to ferry operator Caledonian MacBrayne to demand that it assures there will be no worsening of pensions, pay and conditions for its workforce. The company will face a ballot for industrial action otherwise.
ELECTRICIANS IN the EPIU contracting branch are keeping up the pressure on construction bosses in the north west of England. Pickets were out in force at the Arndale site and at The Edge, both in Manchester, on Friday of last week.
This fight is crucial for current public sector workers—but also for future generations. In 20 years’ time, I don’t want to have to answer the question "Why did you let the government wreck our pensions?"
Over the next few weeks, most of the key public sector unions are set to ballot for industrial action.
