AROUND 70 people attended a lively Beating Racism forum in Hackney, east London, last week. The meeting was called by Hackney Trades Council and supported by local union branches.
"IF YOU keep fucking around we are going to kill you all." That threat was made by the Colombian army to workers at the EMCALI public utilities firm this week. The workers, based in the city of Cali in the South American country, are occupying offices and plants against the threat of privatisation. A year ago they beat off privatisation after an occupation.
THE SOCIALIST Alliance received 4.5 percent of the vote in the local council by-election which took place in Tottenham Hale in Haringey, north London, last week.
March to defend education THREE MORE schools in Hackney, east London, have voted in an indicative ballot to take strike action in solidarity with sacked union rep Indro Sen. Teachers at Kingsland School took one day's strike action in support of Sen two weeks ago.
FIREFIGHTERS and staff in control rooms cheered this week when news came through that their FBU union executive had refused to bow to New Labour's bullying and was going ahead with planned strikes. Rank and file feeling outweighed heavy pressure on the executive members to end all the action and get trapped in talks that were going nowhere fast.
RAIL WORKERS in Motherwell, near Glasgow, have underlined why they refused to move a train carrying ammunition for use against Iraq last week. Their action should be an inspiration to everyone who opposes war. At a meeting of their Aslef union branch Motherwell train drivers discussed the stance taken by drivers working for the EWS rail company. The meeting agreed a statement which began:
THE MOST right wing and privileged forces in society are trying to create hysteria over people fleeing persecution to come to this country. They are even trying to turn the death of a policeman in Manchester into a campaign against asylum seekers. The logic is barking. The fact that the three suspects arrested at the Manchester house had claimed asylum says nothing about the overwhelming majority of asylum seekers.
NEW LABOUR'S plans to introduce top-up fees for university courses will exclude more working class people from higher education. All universities will be able to charge up to £3,000 for courses. Students will be expected to pay back their fees after they have left university. Even the poorest students will have to pay the fees.
"WORLD AGAINST the War". That was the front-page headline of the Independent on Sunday after protests against Bush's planned war on Iraq swept the world last weekend. As well as in the US (see page 5), there were protests in many other countries.
THE FIRST schools built under the government's flagship Private Finance Initiative (PFI) were "significantly worse" than other new schools in England, says a public spending watchdog. PFI allows private companies to build schools and lease them back to local education authorities for a profit.
THE Hertfordshire branch of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) has launched a nationwide campaign against the government's regime of compulsory testing for all seven, 11 and 14 year olds. These tests-SATs-have become a curse for pupils, parents and teachers alike. Too many primary schools have become production lines for test results which New Labour wants to use for the obscenity of school league tables.
