FIREFIGHTERS AND control room operators enter the new year with the stakes in their pay dispute higher than ever. The government has rammed home its determination to impose the swingeing attacks on conditions, jobs and fire cover contained in the Bain review. The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) is committed to talks with the employers, beginning next week, and to two 48-hour strikes from 28 January and 1 February should those talks fail.
URGENT SUPPORT is needed for three branch officers of the Unison union in Hackney, east London, who have been suspended by council management. The disciplinary action raises crucial questions for the union movement about racism and union rights.
CONDUCTORS ON Arriva Trains Northern struck three times over the Christmas period on 21, 24 and 31 December. The RMT members' fight over pay at Arriva has been running for almost a year. Strikers' spirits were high on the picket line at Carlisle the Saturday before Christmas. Some 20 pickets, out of a small depot, were there in Santa hats. "Being prepared to lose money at this time of year shows just how determined people are," one RMT striker told Socialist Worker.
THE FIGHT for an increase in London weighting for council workers across the capital has reached a crucial phase. The employers have dug their heels in and refused to make any offer. The unions need to respond with more action.
ON THE last Saturday before Christmas an anti-war demonstration of over 60 people marched though the small Wiltshire town of Marlborough. They were cheered by market traders and shoppers. The event was organised by the newly formed Marlborough Peace Group, who intend to organise a coach from the town to the 15 February demo in London.
AROUND 50 people, black and white, gathered in the week before Christmas to show their horror and anger at a racist attack in Hackney, east London. Ahmed Ali, a man of Somali origin, was attacked by three white men who beat him with a metal bar. He was badly wounded and lost the sight of one eye. The protest brought together local trade unionists, members of the community and Somali groups to show their total opposition to racism.
BILLIONS OF people around the world want peace. Opinion polls show the majority of people in every country apart from the US are against war on Iraq. Yet George Bush is out for blood. Bush has already rubbished the dossier on weapons that Iraq produced. He's ready to order the thousands of US troops in the Gulf state of Qatar to kill and maim ordinary people in Iraq.
MILLIONS OF people will be brought face to face with the transport crisis under New Labour in the coming week. Going to visit friends and family over the Christmas period will be a nightmare for many.
TWO DISGUSTING attacks this week brought home the reality of what the "racial problem" is in Britain. It isn't the failure of immigrants and refugees to "fit in". It's the racism and violence they face.
A MOB rioted around parliament on Monday night. Rioters hurled fireworks and scaled the gates of the House of Commons. The crowd burned an effigy of Tony Blair, sat in the road, climbed traffic lights and tried to smash their way through police lines. Imagine the uproar if this had been an anti-war protest, a May Day march, a group of strikers or Asian youth defending themselves in Bradford, Oldham or Burnley.
THE GOVERNMENT is sending a naval task force to the Gulf to prepare for a murderous attack on Iraq. The fleet includes a submarine, a destroyer and an aircraft carrier. Officially the ships are heading for a training event off Malaysia. But one senior official called the exercise "a very convenient cover".
NEW LABOUR'S education secretary Charles Clarke rejoices in the nickname "Biggles". He is now calling in the army to help run local schools. Soldiers will take tutorials with pupils. Government officials claim that soldiers are good role models, especially for boys.
