MILLIONS OF pensioners won't get payments they are entitled to - that's the assumption underlying New Labour's alternative to the state pension. The Pension Credit is due to come in this October. The government's "planning assumption" is that only 73 percent of pensioners will take up the means-tested alternative to benefits by 2006. And that is without breakdowns in the system and computer technology which have dogged similar schemes.
THE EDUCATION funding crisis is set to bite again in September as a survey reveals one in five schools have spent their cash reserves. Education secretary Charles Clarke claimed the budget crisis that hit schools this year would not be repeated in September.
THE PCS civil servants' union conference in Blackpool last week revealed the depth of anger that the people who are forced to implement government policy feel towards New Labour.
THOUSANDS OF people attended the biggest Durham Miners Gala in over a decade on Saturday of last week. The event was co-sponsored by the National Union of Mineworkers and the Unison union. It attracted the support of many other trade unions, including the RMT, Aslef and Usdaw.
OVER 70 pickets were out on Monday morning at Royal Bolton Hospital as workers began their latest three-day strike over pay. The 150 workers are fighting for £5.60 an hour minimum for porters and £5 for domestics. They are employed by ISS Mediclean, one of the biggest NHS contractors.
MEMBERS OF Leeds NUT union were set to strike on Thursday of this week after an 81 percent ballot in favour of action over the threat of compulsory redundancies. Some schools will be closing as a result of the action and picket lines are being planned across the city.
PROTESTERS from Camden Stop the War Coalition staged a picket outside Alastair Campbell's Camden house last week. It was in response to the publication of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee report, which cleared Tony Blair and Alastair Campbell of any involvement in "sexing up" the evidence to justify war in Iraq.
WORK ON a "wall" in Manchester to symbolise the wall of silence in the West over Palestinian rights started at 11am in front of the town hall last Saturday. Cardboard boxes were collected, banners were made and declarations, photos and Palestinian flags stuck onto the boxes. The demonstration started at 2pm. We carried the boxes to the square in front of Manchester town hall. Together we built the wall.
THE WORKERS at Remploy, the government-aided company that mainly employs disabled workers, have given Remploy's final wage offer a massive 70 percent rejection. This comes after underhand bully-boy tactics from the board. The 5,700 workers are members of several unions - the biggest is the GMB, but some are in the TGWU, GPMU and KFAT.
LOVE MUSIC Hate Racism has organised a tour to raise awareness about the need to stand up to the divisive poison of the Nazi BNP. The inaugural tour features three young bands, Miss Black America, Antihero, and Cultural Ice Age.
