FIRE BRIGADES Union (FBU) members are outraged at the employers' response to their pay claim. The body representing the employers last week rejected the union's call for a new pay formula that would increase the pay of firefighters to £30,000, with comparable increases for control room staff.
JOURNALISTS AT the Rotherham Advertiser are the latest to vote for a strike ballot over pay. The NUJ union members decided to ballot after rejecting a 2.3 percent offer. The Liverpool Post and Echo Weekly group is meeting this week to decide whether to hold a strike ballot.
WORKERS AT West Ferry printers in east London were in a confident mood this week after winning a 2 percent pay increase. The giant plant prints a large section of Britain's national newspapers, including the Guardian, Observer, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, Financial Times, Express and more.
AROUND 100 people attended an excellent meeting called by a Cambridge peace group which took place last Friday night. The meeting, entitled "Middle East crisis-what should Britain do?", was addressed by George Galloway MP and Cambridge academic Dominic Jenkin.
AN APPEAL court decision has given a big boost to the justice campaign for scores of young men given long sentences following last year's disturbances in Bradford.
THE FUTURE of Tony Blair's favourite union general secretary hung in the balance this week. On the first count of votes Sir Ken Jackson was in front of the left challenger, Derek Simpson, by 89,300 to 88,500 for the leadership of the giant Amicus engineering, electrical and manufacturing union. But a recount then put Derek Simpson ahead. Further recounts were taking place as Socialist Worker went to press.
THE ATTEMPT by the right wing leadership in the PCS civil servants' union to overthrow democracy has entered a crucial week. The court case between elected general secretary and socialist Mark Serwotka and outgoing general secretary Barry Reamsbottom began on Tuesday of this week. It will decide who runs the union.
UP TO 1.2 million workers plan to strike next Wednesday in what will be the biggest strike action since Tony Blair was first elected in 1997. The strike is by workers in almost 500 local councils across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The workers are fighting against low pay. It is a battle everyone should support.
A CHAOTIC privatised air traffic control system caused last week's tragic midair collision in southern Germany, not pilot error. Swiss authorities attempted to blame the pilot of the Russian plane which crashed into a cargo plane, killing 71 people-52 of them children. Air traffic control in Switzerland was privatised this year and handed to the Skyguide company.
SHOCK IS spreading through Bradford and beyond as more and more young Asian men are given long prison sentences after defending themselves against a racist onslaught last year. Some 300 people attended a meeting on Thursday of last week to set up a campaign to defend over 200 men charged with riot.
