AMICUS UNION members at Raven Manufacturing near Burnley struck over pay for the fourth Monday in a row this week. Their original claim was for 3 percent and a catch-up rise for low paid assembly line workers, with a shift allowance, sick pay and a pension scheme. Striking press and paintline workers are furious about the management's offer of 1.5 percent, putting them on just £5.80 an hour.
REFUSE WORKERS in Trowbridge, West Wiltshire, last week told management where to shove their pay offer until all workers are put on the same contracts. The 45 GMB union members have been privatised by the council and now work for the Cleanaway contractor.
MEMBERS OF the PCS civil servants' union in DEFRA, the merged departments of agriculture and the environment, were surprised to be told on Wednesday of last week that the strike set for Friday had been called off. A pay offer had been made to the core department, but no matching offer had been made to the Rural Payments Agency.
ACTION BY selective groups of workers across London councils was continuing this week in pursuit of their £4,000 London weighting claim. In previous weeks parking attendants were out on strike for a week in many boroughs. Last week action hit telephone switchboards and internal post.
WE LIVE in a military economy that relies on huge defence spending, massive arms production companies employing thousands, and billions of pounds worth of arms sales. The war machine is big business with a big influence on the politics of Western nations.
GLOUCESTER council has been forced to back down over its plan to privatise the city's archaeology unit. This was after we held a 100-strong lobby on Wednesday of last week. We now have a firm commitment to keep the unit open.
AN INTERNATIONAL protest against the closure of the Sangatte Red Cross refugee camp and the detention of refugees in Europe took place last Saturday. Beginning in Dover, delegations from Britain, France and Belgium crossed the Channel to protest outside the Sangatte camp.
HEALTH WORKERS in Swansea look to have forced giant private contractors ISS Mediclean into offering at least some staff better pay. The workers' Unison union postponed a week-long strike which was due to begin on Monday of this week. Over 500 low paid health workers working for ISS Mediclean have already taken three days of strike action.
RAIL SERVICES across the north of England ground to a halt at the weekend as rail workers on Arriva Trains Northern and First North Western struck over our long-running pay claims. Despite freezing weather over 50 striking guards and retail staff on Arriva Trains Northern joined a mass picket at Skipton station, North Yorkshire. Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT rail union, joined them and spoke at a lively meeting after.
SOME 350 social workers in Leeds, members of Unison, held three days of strike action over pay last week. This follows a one-day strike in September and ongoing industrial action where workers refused to take on any new cases.
