AFTER BOARDING a Lithuania Airlines aircraft to photograph celebrations marking the country's entry into the European Union (EU), I was absolutely appalled to find three Lithuanian women being deported in shackles. With them were three terrified unaccompanied children. British immigration officials had one child in a neck lock, and one woman in an arm lock-all were screaming in fear and pain.
CARLISLE RMT held a meeting last week and discussed support for Respect. Craig Johnson, the RMT branch secretary, told Socialist Worker, \"We invited in a speaker from Respect. There was a real debate about it. The vote was unanimous to urge all members to support Respect and ask the union's executive council if we can use our political fund to back Respect. I feel we can't continue to attack the Labour Party unless we are prepared to say there is an alternative. I joined the Labour Party when I was 15. I was a Labour councillor for 11 years. Now they are in and it's just awful. I feel robbed. We have to get as many votes as we can for Respect.\"
SHOCKED, YES. Certainly disgusted. But no one, least of all the British and US governments, should be surprised by the revelations of systematic torture of Iraqi detainees. The pictures from Abu Ghraib prison broadcast on US television last week are the latest confirmation of what people in Iraq, human rights organisations and soldiers speaking anonymously have been saying for a year.
\"NOT ONE person has gone back in East Ayrshire over the last two weeks. It shows we have an incredible level of determination and strength.\" That's what striking nursery nurse and union steward Liz McCulloch told Socialist Worker before a mass meeting in East Ayrshire on Wednesday of last week. \"Only four people have gone back in the whole of the last month. That's despite many people facing severe hardship,\" she said.
THE STRIKE in Newham on 22 April shook the council hard, and that's why we were to strike again this week. Over 2,000 Unison members stopped work last time to show the council we will not let them take away our union rights. Now we have to show the council that our action wasn't just for a single day and that we will take further action to defend our union.
MEMBERS OF the National Union of Teachers in Bolton have voted by four to one in an indicative ballot for a one-day strike over government attacks on our pensions. We are now approaching the union's national action committee to sanction an official strike ballot. The 40 percent turnout on what was only a \"mock\" ballot indicates the support for a strike.
GEORGE BUSH Sr, the architect of the first Gulf War, is coming to London to raise money for his son's re-election campaign. He will be the main guest at a dinner party hosted by Republicans Abroad on Tuesday 18 May. Tickets for the event are $1,000 each!
UNITE AGAINST Fascism activists took the anti-fascist message to bank holiday crowds in Brighton and Hove last weekend. On Saturday afternoon, activists leafleted football supporters at the Brighton & Hove Albion game against Notts County.
HUNDREDS OF construction workers stopped work and joined a protest march along the Olympic Way to the new Wembley Stadium construction site on Wednesday of last week. They were joined by trade unionists and campaigners from around the country in this event to mark Workers' Memorial Day.
SCHOOL AND university students from across London braved the weather on Thursday of last week to protest against the occupation of Iraq. Around 300 students from Imperial College, SOAS, London School of Economics and schools across London marched on the US embassy.
I'M OUTRAGED that this programme turned out to be a slur on our members. The vast majority of postal workers are decent, honest, law-abiding people. The trailer and leaflet for the programme were particularly bad, with an actor playing a postal worker stealing money from envelopes. The job is not a picnic. It is frequently stressful and physically demanding. Of course where there is criminal activity we want it rooted out.
BUS DRIVERS in Cumbria have voted for strikes over pay. The workers, employed by Stagecoach, will strike for a day next Wednesday. A TGWU union rep said, \"We have drivers driving 25 people on a bus on £5.40 an hour. Drivers want a decent wage. We don't want to inconvenience people too much. I am sure people will understand that this isn't a frivolous dispute.\"
