New Labour has bought into the myths about pensions. Tony Blair and Gordon Brown argue that the economy cannot afford to pay out pensions for workers who are living much longer.
THE GOVERNMENT wants to implement its plans for the local government pension scheme this year. If it gets away with that, it will be harder for us to resist other attacks.
Over 30 electricians, members of the EPIU union contracting branch, crowd around two banners outside the Arndale construction site in Manchester city centre on a busy Friday afternoon. They are furious — one of their members was sacked a week ago and hasn’t yet been reinstated.
The indefinite all-out strike by Glasgow Airport firefighters, who are in the T&G union, entered its second week on Monday.
Hackney schools protest Students, parents and staff from Haggerston school in Hackney, east London, protested last week at threats to the school from the spread of city academies in the area.
Lecturers in 82 further education colleges were balloting this week for a strike over pay. The dispute is over the failure by 70 percent of colleges to implement the nationally negotiated 2003/4 pay award.
A bail hearing was due this week in the case of Leonard R. He is the trainee maths teacher from Oldham who faces being sent back to torture in Zimbabwe. The bail hearing will decide whether Leonard is released while a judicial review of his case proceeds. He is one of the victims of the government’s decision to restart forced removals to Zimbabwe.
FIVE UNISON union members in Liverpool council are still fighting to overturn suspensions handed out to them by council managers.
Amicus THE NATIONAL executive of the Amicus union was told on Wednesday of last week about plans for a three-way merger with the T&G and GMB unions. Almost every executive member knew about the plans in advance—by reading about them in the newspapers.
Respect kicked off its election campaign in Newham, east London, last weekend with street stalls and a walkabout by Lindsey German and Abdul Khaliq, prospective parliamentary candidates for the borough.Lindsey and Abdul pledged support for the campaign to save Queens Market, which Newham’s New Labour council wants to sell to private developers.
OVER 500 people crammed into the Central Methodist Hall in Manchester last week for a rally organised by the Stop the War Coalition and CND against the occupation of Iraq.
Health workers HEALTH WORKERS are stepping up their opposition to any worsening of their pension rights, in anticipation of such plans being announced when the consultation process for the NHS scheme ends in April.
