Over 75,000 workers in job centres and benefit offices are being balloted to join a strike by 2,500 fellow workers across the country. It could be the biggest challenge from public sector workers that New Labour has faced since 1997.
Pretence of 'smart' bombs abandoned Now they just blast the lot The US began carpet-bombing Afghanistan with B-52 bombers last week. It is a tactic straight out of the US war on Vietnam over 30 years ago. It exposes Bush and Blair's claims that this war would be different, using "smart" bombs.
Socialist Worker supporters raised £10,453 last week towards our appeal for funds. The total is now £119,662, over halfway towards our target of £200,000. That money is vital to continuing our anti-war coverage.
Over 5,000 people marched through London last Saturday in protest at the way the world trade system works against poor people and the environment. The demonstration was young-about half were under 30 and a significant number under 20. It was also very lively and angry. Sara Henderson, a 17 year old from Walthamstow in London, told Socialist Worker:
Major mobilisations against the war were due to take place across the world this weekend and next. In Italy three days of action described by the Il Manifesto newspaper as "against the war and the World Trade Organisation" were planned, culminating in a national march in Rome.
Strikers in the government's new Pathfinder job centre and Benefits Agency offices are continuing their determined action. New Labour has launched attempts at strikebreaking and union busting. Around 2,500 civil servants in the PCS union are on all-out strike against the government's plans to remove screens in the new amalgamated offices. Screens are important for staff supplying benefits because of the increased harshness of the government's system.
Postal workers across much of east London poured out in an angry unofficial strike on Tuesday. By midday workers at the giant EDO mail centre in Whitechapel, and at offices in Bethnal Green, Hackney, Homerton, Bow, Clapton, Poplar and elsewhere, were out in a brilliant act of solidarity with strikers at South Woodford.
Council workers in Newcastle have been boosted in their fight to beat off threats of privatisation. One of the key companies involved in the privatisation has pulled out.
Up to 150 members of the UNISON public sector workers' union met in Manchester last weekend to launch UNISON United Left. The organisation brings together all those on the left within the union, and represents a significant step forward. There were speakers from Sefton, where union members have won a victory in a fight over care home closures, and from the Glasgow medical secretaries' strike.
Stewards reject deal Shop stewards at Scottish Power have rejected management's latest offer. However, the new offer will be put to a ballot of union members. The workers, who are members of the AEEU, GMB and TGWU unions, have been fighting management's plans to transfer workers in the "wire business" to a new company.
Furious medical secretaries in Glasgow have walked out again on indefinite strike action after management reneged on their recent offer. The 300 secretaries, all low paid women workers, had unanimously voted to suspend their strike two weeks ago.
Anger is bubbling among Stagecoach bus workers, who face long hours and low pay while the company reported an operating profit of £197.8 million earlier this year. Over 100 Stagecoach workers in Hastings went on a one-day strike on Friday of last week to fight a management-imposed 3 percent pay rise. The workers, members of the TGWU union, had demanded a 10 percent rise and a reduction in shift hours.
