AN ASIAN man working for British Airways was the target of death threats from racists but his plight was ignored by BA bosses, a tribunal heard last week.
OXFORD: Workers at the mail centre walked out on Tuesday night. We were proud to be one of the first offices to offer solidarity to those who have been bravely battling at Greenford, Dartford and elsewhere.
MEMBERS OF the Amicus union at the Royal Mint in Llantrisant, South Wales, struck for the second time on Wednesday of last week. Around 500 manual workers at the plant, which produces all of Britain's coins, are fighting for a decent pay rise.
THERE IS a stereotype of civil servants which says they are well paid, wear bowler hats and carry briefcases. The reality is rather different. Today the civil service employs huge swathes of low paid workers doing essential work-finding jobs for people, delivering benefits, advising on consumer and workplace rights, running museums and art galleries, making sure roads are safe and drivers tested and licensed, and working in ports and airports.
AROUND 1,000 workers at Swissport UK and Swissport Cargo staged a 48-hour strike at Heathrow airport last Sunday and Monday. The workers are members of the TGWU union. Early on a wet and windy Sunday morning on the picket line, they told Socialist Worker why they were out: "We have been pushed from pillar to post. Our work load has increased dramatically. You don't get time to wipe your arse any more. A few years ago we moved around 100 tonnes per shift. Now its more like 225 tonnes," said one picket at the cargo depot. "We are under so much pressure," added another. "We want a pay rise. But it's about more than money."
LECTURERS AT Sunderland University have voted by 61 percent for strike action against redundancies. In June, 46 lecturers received letters saying that they were in a pool from which 12 would be made redundant.
About 100 people attended a march round Bicester town centre on Saturday after the Bicester Refugee Support Group called a demonstration against racism and fascism. The demonstration was called after the National Front intimidated people not to shop at a French farmers market.
AROUND A third of the undergraduates at King's College, Cambridge University, are expected to withhold their rent. This is despite the scare tactics used by the head of the college (who stood as a Tory in the 1997 parliamentary elections) and the college bursar (who was a key figure in the privatisation of the railways).
THE RISE of the awkward squad of left wing trade union leaders has transformed the leadership of most trade unions in Britain.
THE EUROPEAN Social Forum (ESF) next week will see at least 100,000 gather in Paris for an event that will concentrate the militant mood building up across the continent. The ESF is the body that met in Florence, Italy, last year.
