BRITAIN'S BOSSES were under siege at their annual conference in Manchester this week. Hundreds of anti-war and anti-capitalist protesters stormed the conference centre on Sunday. That was just one of a wave of protests that greeted the conference. The fat cats of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) gathered in Manchester's plush GMEX centre.
SHOW YOUR support for those who defended their community against racists rampaging in Burnley last June. Some of the Asian men were given harsh jail sentences. You can write to them: Tariq Saddique, prison number GK 8480, HMP Risley, Risley, Warrington, Cheshire WA3 6BP. Tariq was sentenced to three years. Mohammed Maroof Bashir, prison number GK 8481, HMP Risley, Risley, Warrington, Cheshire WA3 6BP. Maroof was sentenced to two and half years. Abdul Rahim Kayani, prison number JA 6670, Unit 3, HMYOI Thorn Cross, Arley Road, Appleton Thorn, Warrington, Cheshire WA4 4RL. Rahim was sentenced to 18 months. Abdul K
I TOOK part in a two-day tour of aerospace factories two weeks ago with Derek Simpson, who defeated Sir Ken Jackson to become general secretary of the AEEU section of the Amicus union.
"SHOCKED". "DISGUSTED". "Horrified". Those were the reactions of many people on the streets of Blackburn last weekend. The Nazi British National Party won a council by-election in the Lancashire town that is the parliamentary seat of New Labour foreign secretary Jack Straw. The Nazi candidate was elected by a 16-vote margin in the town's Mill Hill ward on Thursday of last week.
TONY BLAIR and chancellor Gordon Brown are united in their determination to curb workers' pay. That's why they have attacked the firefighters' claim. But the real pay scandal is the record payouts to the fat cats. The boss of drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline got £7 million last year. He is after a further rise even though the company's share price has collapsed.
CHANCELLOR Gordon Brown laid into workers who are in need of decent pay in his speech in parliament on Monday. He claimed that if firefighters and all public sector workers got a 16 percent rise it would cost £16 billion. New Labour could easily raise £29 billion a year by taking some simple steps.
SOME 50,000 pensioners had their income cut by 20 percent last week. The announcement came from one of Britain's biggest insurance companies, Equitable Life. Yet New Labour still wants to make us all rely on private pensions. The average Equitable pension, built up by people saving for many years, is £6,000 a year.
"TOP-UP" fees for university students, floated by New Labour, are causing widespread anger. Even 120 Labour MPs have now signed motions against the idea. Margaret Hodge, the minister for higher education, has tried to sell "top-up" fees by claiming New Labour wants to end a system where "the dustman subsidises the doctor".
THE FIRST joint strike in higher education in the London area was held on Thursday of last week. Two unions, the AUT and Natfhe, represent lecturers in the old universities and the "new" universities (ex polytechnics). They joined with members of two other unions representing support staff, Unison and Amicus, to strike for an increase in the London weighting allowance. The demand is for £4,000 a year.
"WE WANT to stay with the council." That's the message from Luton's council tenants, who have voted by an overwhelming majority (nearly 90 percent of some 2,000 residents who voted) to keep the council as their landlord.
OVER 3,000 postal workers were on the verge of strikes against privatisation as Socialist Worker went to press. Strikes will go ahead unless Royal Mail managers back off completely from their plan to hand the Cash Handling and Distribution (CHD) section over to Securicor. Talks between management and the CWU union were planned to take place this week. On a 67 percent turnout CHD members voted by a remarkable 95 percent for action. Immediately after the vote Royal Mail and Securicor announced they were dropping their original privatisation plan.
WORKERS FROM the Amicus-AEEU press and paintline section at Raven Manufacturing on Altham Industrial Estate near Burnley remain defiant as they enter their eighth week of strike action. They are fighting for a 3 percent pay claim.
