CRANE DRIVERS stopped work at sites across Britain on Monday to hold protest meetings about their pay and conditions. Some 80 drivers attended in Wembley, London, and meetings took place at another five sites including Manchester and Glasgow.
THE NAZI British National Party got 519 votes in the Downham ward by-election in Lewisham, south east London, on Thursday of last week. This alarming number of votes gave the BNP third place with 20 percent of the total vote in the ward. The Liberal Democrats won the council seat with 998 votes. Labour came second with 769. The BNP is cashing in on the atmosphere created by home secretary David Blunkett.
PICKETS WERE out in force at social security offices across central and north west London on Monday and Tuesday. Over 1,000 strikers in the PCS civil servants' union were defending union activists Chris Ford and Phil Henry.
WORKERS IN Rhyl in North Wales ended their six-day occupation of their factory on Tuesday of last week. The 35 women workers sat-in at the Fineline Cymru factory after it was placed into receivership. The company announced that all the workers would be sacked, and refused to pay the women wages owed to them.
THE GOVERNMENT is on the back foot over privatisation of council housing. Sheffield council has just announced it is officially calling off its transfer, and ministers now acknowledge that stock transfer will be rejected by tenants in most areas.
ARRIVA TRAINS Northern has lost the franchise to run the TransPennine service. The decision by the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) last week comes after Arriva lost the franchise for Mersey Rail. The move boosted RMT members on Arriva, who are engaged in a long-running pay battle with the company.
US Stealth bombers to fly from Britain... Blair calls up 10,000 reservists... Thousands of marines head to Gulf
THOUSAND-strong British delegation - from union leaders to students. Up to 20,000 expected in all. Hundreds of debates and forums every day. First ever Europe-wide anti-war demonstration on Saturday.
THE BRITISH government this week plans to issue a rarely seen Queen's Order to enforce the mobilisation of up to 10,000 armed forces reservists for war on Iraq. The procedure has not been used since the Korean War in the 1950s, and gives the government massive extra powers to call up reservists.
THREE YEARS in jail. That is the shocking sentence Judge Boulton handed to 28 year old Tariq Saddique, who acted in self defence against a racist mob in Burnley in June last year. He was sentenced in Preston on Monday of this week, along with Mohammed Maroof Bashir who got two and a half years, a 17 year old who got a 12-month sentence, and Asif Kahn who got two years.
WORKERS AT a swimwear factory in North Wales began an occupation last week in protest at the company's refusal to pay wages owed to them. The mainly women workers are fighting Fineline Cymru in Rhyl. Elaine Round is one of 30 workers who began the occupation on Thursday of last week.
