NOTTINGHAM council's plans for privatisation were knocked back last week after workers held protests and threatened strike action. Some 500 council workers joined a lobby of the ruling Labour group on Wednesday of last week over privatisation.
OVER 100 Anti Nazi League supporters lobbied Burnley council's meeting on Thursday of last week, which the three newly elected British National Party (BNP) councillors attended for the first time. This was the meeting where the council leader was elected and councillors were selected for committees.
BOSSES AT Manchester airport have used threats of sacking to force through new contracts on security workers. Pay cuts of up to 40 percent, job cuts and increased working hours were imposed overnight. Many have left the job rather than accept the new contract.
THE TSSA rail workers' conference took place with the Potters Bar crash very much in the delegates' minds. An emergency motion was carried which stated that the horrific accident was at least in part due to the contractual system of rail maintenance. It indicated the inherent lack of safety in the privatised rail industry.
THE PENSIONERS' Parliament began in Blackpool last week with the biggest ever pensioners' demonstration of around 3,000 people. The parliament ended with a rousing, angry speech from Tony Booth, Blair's son in law, who berated the government and previous ones for their injustice against pensioners.
THE FUTURE of the political fund and the relationship between trade unions and the Labour Party were major issues at three union conferences last week. Debates at conferences of the TSSA rail union, the civil servants' PCS union and the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) showed the continuing mood of anger with New Labour.
MOST newspapers printed claims by rail privateer Jarvis that "sabotage" was responsible for the Potters Bar crash. The Guardian ran the front page headline last weekend, "Sabotage-Rail Firm's Crash Theory".
LECTURERS HAVE voted to walk out of further education (FE) colleges across England and Wales on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. The vote was two to one for strikes in a ballot with a 44 percent turnout. The lecturers, who are members of the Natfhe union, are incensed at the 1.5 percent pay rise being offered by their employers, the Association of Colleges. It is below the level of inflation and amounts to a pay cut.
