WORKERS IN the press and paintline section at Raven Manufacturing near Burnley are continuing their series of one-day strikes over pay. Pay levels are appalling, with this group of engineering workers on just £5.80 an hour.
Lecturers and support staff in London universities are now set to strike on Thursday 14 November over allowances for working in the capital. A meeting of the London region of the Natfhe union, which represents lecturers in the former polytechnics, decided the strike date last Saturday. The AUT union, which has members in the "old" universities, is balloting for a strike on the same day.
THE LONDON pay strikes mean that a meeting for union activists called by the Public Sector Alliance on Monday of next week takes on added importance. The alliance draws together representatives of the London regions of the main public sector unions.
AN EMOTIONAL meeting of over 100 people in a Nottingham school celebrated a rare victory over David Blunkett and the Home Office last week. An Iraqi family seeking asylum in Britain, Jamil and Sara Daoud, and their four children, Majid (age 11), Hoda (nine), Mostafa (six) and Marwa (four), have beaten back a threat of deportation and are back in Nottingham.
ROLLING STRIKE action by council workers in London continued last week as finance staff in nine London boroughs walked out. The selective action is part of the workers' fight for an increased London weighting allowance.
A MAJOR demonstration and rally are planned in Newcastle upon Tyne in suppport of public services and against privatisation. GMB union general secretary John Edmonds and CWU union general secretary Billy Hayes are among the speakers.
Probation officers have backed a plan to strike over staff shortages and workloads. Delegates at the probation officers' Napo union conference in Eastbourne, East Sussex, last week overwhelmingly agreed on a one-day strike, boycotts and work to rule action.
AROUND 60 people attended the Unity Conference called by Ealing National Union of Teachers (NUT) last Saturday and heard an inspiring set of speakers. The conference was introduced by Christine Blower, secretary of Hammersmith and Fulham NUT, and ex-president of the NUT.
STRIKES BY drivers in the Aslef rail union on First North Western last weekend were solid again. The Aslef union is asking all drivers to put £5 into a FNW disputes fund. Drivers on the Merseyrail company have offered to put in £10 each. More drivers are discussing escalating the dispute.
AROUND 200 European activists gathered in Barcelona two weekends ago to make final preparations for the European Social Forum (ESF) in Florence from 6 to 9 November. The ESF will be a festival of resistance. Every aspect of the new movements will be debated out at huge meetings, self organised seminars and workshops. The assembly in Barcelona agreed that the main demonstration in Florence on Saturday 9 November should focus against an attack on Iraq.
MORE THAN 500 protesters marched against war and nuclear weapons in Plymouth last Saturday. The protest was called by the Nuclear Free Coalition in Plymouth and included a mass sit-down blockade of the main gate into the nuclear dockyard in the city. Devonport dockyard services Britain's nuclear fleet, including those carrying Trident nuclear missiles.
LONDON firefighters are in explosive mood. Firefighters across east London only took 999 calls on Tuesday of last week. They were defending the FBU's policy of not cooperating with the government's so called independent inquiry into firefighters' pay.
