JOURNALISTS IN Bradford fighting for better pay and conditions began an indefinite strike last week against their Newsquest bosses. This is the second indefinite strike to be launched by journalists against Newsquest Media Group, and its owner US media giant Gannett, which made £69 million last year.
CORPORATE conscience was switched off once more last week, leaving electricians in Manchester with no alternative but to take industrial action. Employers Crown House & DAF, who hold the lucrative construction contract for Manchester's Piccadilly Gardens and Court House sites, attempted to end a dispute by sacking skilled members of their workforce.
OVER 1,000 brick workers are set to walk out on strike on 9 June in the first of a series of planned one-day strikes. Hanson Bricks employs the workers. They are members of the TGWU, GMB and Amicus unions and work at 14 plants across England and Wales. The workers voted by over 60 percent to take strike action after rejecting the company's revised pay offer of 3.45 percent spread over 15 months.
SOME 288,000 members of the PCS civil servants' union will begin voting for a new national leadership from Friday of this week. This is a key chance to reclaim the union for its members. The socialist Left Unity group is standing alongside the PCS Democrats group as part of a united Democracy slate to defeat the right wing group that has dominated the union.
OVER 100 council tenants took part in the Defend Council Housing national conference in Liverpool on Saturday of last week. They were joined by trade unionists, councillors and MPs to discuss how to step up pressure on the government to stop privatisation and invest in council housing - with no strings attached.
SOME 240 people packed into Willesden Library, north west London, on Thursday of last week to hear George Galloway and others slam the occupation of Iraq. The meeting, called by Brent Stop the War, drew people who had attended protests during the war and newer forces.
IN EVERY debate at last week's CWU conference there was anger about various aspects of New Labour policies. This wasn't just shown over the war on Iraq (see here). CWU delegates condemned New Labour for their treatment of the firefighters during their recent pay dispute.
DEFIANT HEALTH workers took to the picket lines in north Lincolnshire and in east London last week in an inspiring rebellion against low pay. The cleaners, cooks, porters and other staff are taking on the private firms that New Labour is letting rip in the NHS. HAZEL CROFT spoke to some of the strikers.
TUESDAY SAW another huge show of strength by French workers in their fight with the country's Tory government. Strikers shut down much of the country. But the government was gambling on some union leaders now holding back from the all-out action which could bring workers victory.
OPPOSITION TO the war in Iraq goes deep into the union movement. The tone was set this week at the CWU union conference for postal and telecoms workers in Bournemouth. In his opening address general secretary Billy Hayes said, "We can't buy into Bush's plans for the world.
GEORGE BUSH, the butcher of Iraq, is arriving in Europe this weekend. He is flying into Evian in France to meet with his fellow leaders of the "G8" richest industrial countries. He comes determined to hammer home his victory in Iraq - even though every day there are reports of more deaths and killings in the country he claims to have liberated.
A multinational corporation broke the law to try and undermine a strike against poverty pay last week. Cleanaway, part of the giant Brambles corporation, faced a week-long strike by 150 bin workers demanding an increased London weighting allowance. The workers get a basic pay of just £200 a week.
