ACTIVISTS protested outside the Egyptian embassy in central London on Friday of last week against the jailing of five Egyptian anti-war campaigners. Demonstrators were urged to attend the second Cairo conference which has now been arranged for 13 and 14 December.
MERSEYSIDE TUC organised a conference last Saturday to build a campaign against racism and fascism. Some 50 people attended the Merseyside Against Racism and Fascism foundation conference, including representatives of the PCS, Unison, Amicus and TGWU unions. Delegates agreed to launch the Merseyside Coalition Against Racism and Fascism to fight against the Nazi BNP in the area.
HUNDREDS OF cleaners, porters and catering staff at Hairmyres Hospital in East Kilbride are to ballot for strike action. Hairmyres is one of New Labour's flagship PFI hospitals. The workers are fuming at their bosses, ISS Mediclean, and at government ministers. The hospital has been lambasted for having too few beds, sewerage leaks, losing patient records and failing IT systems following privatisation.
Liverpool LIVERPOOL' S CHIEF fire officer has provoked a dispute with members of the FBU firefighters' union by breaking overtime agreements. Brigade secretary Les Sharratt told Socialist Worker, "This is a fundamental attack on our members by the chief fire officer. No negotiations have taken place over this. They are trying it on." Committee members told Socialist Worker that strike action could take place. PAUL SILLETT
OVER 100 people packed a meeting to discuss how the media stokes up "fake" fears of so called Islamic terrorism. The meeting was held on the second anniversary of the 11 September attacks on New York at the headquarters of the NUJ journalists' union.
MEMBERS OF Amicus, the second biggest union in Britain, are getting set for national executive elections that could transform the union. The merger of the MSF and AEEU unions will be completed on 1 January 2004. Right wing leaderships have dominated both unions for years.
WORKERS at IT services company Fujitsu Services, West Gorton, Manchester, took strike action on Monday following the unanimous rejection of management's latest offer at a members' meeting on Thursday. The mood of the strikers was very positive. Many had been angered by provocative e-mails from senior management in the days leading up to the strike. The scare tactics backfired badly.
MEMBERS OF the Association of University Teachers (AUT) in 12 London universities voted last week to support further strike action in their London weighting campaign. The AUT is the main lecturers' union in the old universities. The vote came despite a low-key summer campaign and the union leadership calling off action earlier in the year. In most colleges at least two thirds voted for further action, which surprised the AUT leadership. The results also gave a boost to Unison union members, who have taken five days of strike action over London weighting so far this year.
WORKERS IN the Amicus union at the Cummins factory in Ramsgate voted unanimously on two occasions last week to reject management's offers for pay and conditions. Amicus-MSF rep at the factory Marian Armstrong told Socialist Worker, "It is a pretty powerful statement. The feeling is the same on the shop floor and among staff. No one trusts the management. People are on poor money and have lost overtime. Management wants workers to have banked hours so that they work more hours some weeks, less the other. That means less overtime. I have never seen people so unanimous."
EAMONN McCANN made a rousing speech at a rally in support of Socialist Alliance candidate Brian Butterworth on Monday of this week. The rally was held three days before the Brent East parliamentary election which takes place on Thursday of this week. Over 80 people heard from film director Ken Loach, journalist Paul Foot and local people disillusioned with Blair.
PROTESTERS poured onto the streets of Washington, DC, on the US East Coast last Saturday in the country's biggest anti-war protest so far. Over 300,000 people joined the march, according to independent observers and the march organisers, Act Now to Stop War and End Racism. Up to 200,000 marched in San Francisco, on the US West Coast, and tens of thousands joined protests in other US cities.
EVERY DAY brings more horror for the Iraqi people. US soldiers killed 18 year old Farah Fadhil two weeks ago when they threw a grenade through her window. Her legs were shredded, her hands burnt and punctured by strips of metal. She had been walking to her window to try to plead with soldiers who were spraying bullets at her apartment.
