CAMPAIGNERS HANDED out about 600,000 leaflets against the British National Party (BNP) during the Unite Against Fascism day of action last weekend. "It was a tremendous step in getting the message out that we are going to stop the BNP making headway in the elections on 10 June," says Weyman Bennett, joint secretary of Unite Against Fascism (UAF). Everywhere we heard reports of people joining Unite in significant numbers and many more delighted to see the campaign taking off. It is a springboard to mass leafleting on 1 May, when we are aiming to hand out not hundreds of thousands, but millions of leaflets. We are going to build on last weekend to get even more people involved."
A HUNDRED catering crew workers, based in the Manchester depot of Virgin Trains, are holding a series of strikes against the imposition of new rosters. They struck on Tuesday of last week, when many strikers joined the picket line, and were due out again this Thursday. "We are not prepared to put up with new shifts being imposed on us," says RMT union rep James Davis. The participation on the picket line shows the strength of feeling. That has grown as management have sent out insulting and intimidatory memos to staff. The catering grades conference of our union backed us last weekend and we feel we can win. This action we are taking isn't just for Manchester, but for all rail workers
PARENTS, CARERS and children from Craven Park primary school in Hackney held a brilliant protest last week against the closure of our school (see picture below). It was Hackney at its best-200 black, white and Asian people united. It was a mix of young and old in the battle for a decent education at a local school. The Learning Trust, the body which runs Hackney schools, says that closure is its "preferred option" for Craven Park.
THE "COUNCIL housing" group of MPs are organising an inquiry into the government's housing policy. They are inviting activists, council tenants and trade unionists, to come to parliament on Wednesday 12 May contribute evidence to support the "fourth option" of direct investment in council housing.
COUNCIL WORKERS in Newham, east London, have voted by 86 percent for strikes to defend their Unison union branch. The New Labour council wants to axe the union facility time for elected branch officers and evict the union branch from its office in a council building. Unison chair Michael Gavan told Socialist Worker,
AROUND 100 people attended a meeting in Birmingham organised by the Guantanamo Human Rights Commission on Wednesday of last week. Speakers included Azmat Begg, father of Moazzam Begg who is currently being detained at Camp Delta in Guantanamo Bay, Natalia Garcia, a human rights lawyer representing those being held in Woodhill and Belmarsh prisons under current anti-terrorism legislation, John Hemming, the Liberal Democrat leader of Birmingham City Council and Corin Redgrave of the Guantanamo Human Rights Commission.
POSTAL WORKERS in Oxford stopped work on Tuesday of last week and were still out as Socialist Worker went to press. They are taking action against a gang of bullies who are terrorising workers at the city's main mail depot. Around 450 workers are involved in the protest which has brought the mail centre to a halt.
THE TUC has called a national demonstration to demand that the government and employers "pay up for pensions". Pensioners are outraged at the low level at which the basic state pension has been set by the government-forcing many retired workers to live in poverty. And in recent years there have been a number of scandals where bosses have pillaged company pension funds, or when such funds have collapsed leaving workers with nothing.
A CONSULTATIVE ballot of Fire Brigades Union (FBU) members was believed to have delivered a vote backing the leadership's negotiating position as Socialist Worker went to press. But it also seemed that the turnout in the poll was very low-particularly by the standards of FBU ballots.
TRADE UNIONS organised a march and rally against job losses in Newcastle last weekend. Some 500 protesters marched through the city to oppose job cuts in manufacturing industry. TGWU union leader Tony Woodley spoke at the rally, telling protesters that his union would fight to save manufacturing jobs.
