THE FROZEN bodies of 19 asylum seekers were found last week buried under snowdrifts in the remote mountains of south east Turkey. The unidentified refugees included nine children found next to their mothers. All died for the hope of a better life in another country. There will be more tragic deaths if New Labour's home secretary David Blunkett gets his way.
FILTHY RICH parasites-that is who we are supposed to celebrate this weekend. Most people will enjoy a few days off work this weekend. Those at the top of society want us to spend it doffing our caps and showing our gratitude for 50 years of the queen's reign.
THE RIGHT in the PCS civil servants' union have launched one of the most disgusting assaults on union democracy for years. They have carried out a coup and sacked the elected general secretary of the union. In December 2000 socialist candidate Mark Serwotka received 40,740 votes to win the election for PCS general secretary. He beat Blairite candidate Hugh Lanning by 7,000 votes.
ABOUT HALF the 210 children at Christopher Hatton Primary School do not have English as their mother tongue.
BUS DRIVERS working for First Group in Bristol have won their dispute after management conceded to all their demands. The dispute had arisen after management introduced "mystery shoppers", plainclothes inspectors, onto the buses to entrap drivers. At a mass meeting drivers gave management 48 hours to withdraw the mystery shoppers or they would ballot for a strike.
WORKERS on Arriva Trains Northern were due to strike this week in their ongoing battle over pay. Conductors in the RMT union were to strike on Saturday. Retail staff in the RMT and supervisors in the TSSA union were to strike for 48 hours from Wednesday. Workers are furious that Arriva management is trying to blame them for disruption.
TGWU LEADER Bill Morris will be one of the speakers at a rally in support of the sacked Friction Dynamics strikers. Workers went on strike on 30 April last year and were dismissed eight weeks later.
"I'M INSULTED. We've got wishy-washy people telling us things we already know." That was the reaction of Jo Arrowsmith, a teacher at Fortismere School in north London, to a farcical rally on Wednesday of last week called by the teachers' NUT union.
