CRUCIAL DEBATES are going on in the Communication Workers Union about how to respond to the huge attacks postal workers face. At the union's conference last week they discussed what to do about job losses, privatisation and attacks on the union.
A FIREFIGHTERS' rally ended in a militant display of direct action in London last Thursday. Some 1,000 members of the firefighters' FBU union turned out for the rally in support of the national pay claim.
Bury OVER 125 angry people last week packed a Bury council meeting that announced massive cuts in the borough's elderly care homes. The council plans to sell off the homes they close and sell the land. Only some of the money raised from the sales will be used to fund home care. The council cannot guarantee that any money will be made by the sale.
NOT THIS Time: The Story of the Simon Jones Memorial Campaign tells the story of Simon Jones, a student killed on his first day working as a casual labourer. The film will be shown at the Glastonbury festival. A further 20 showings are already organised.
TONY BLAIR used the European Union summit in Seville last weekend to drive through more attacks on asylum seekers. Before the summit Blair announced that he wanted to "force the pace of change" on asylum to make life even harder for desperate refugees. "Tony Blair gets on better with the centre-right leaders than with his comrades on the left," said the Financial Times.
THE WAR against refugees intensified again this week. Home secretary David Blunkett welcomed the election of a Tory government in France because he believes it will crack down on asylum seekers. Tony Blair is meeting European leaders at Seville to organise warships to sink refugee boats. He also wants European states to slash aid to the poor countries that refugees flee from.
THE PENSION scandal gets greater by the day. More and more firms are closing off schemes which give workers a pension linked to their earnings, and instead are forcing them to gamble their future on pensions linked to the stockmarket.
THERE IS a hidden army of workers in Britain today. They travel to work very early in the morning or very late at night, out of sight of opinion formers and politicians. Their lives do not feature in the glossy colour supplements or TV lifestyle programmes.
AN ELECTION begins on Monday whose result is important for every trade unionist in Britain. The vote is for the leader of one of Britain's key unions. And at stake is the fate of Tony Blair's key ally in the trade union movement. Over 700,000 members of the AEEU section of the Amicus union are voting for their general secretary.
