Right to Work campaign grows ahead of conference of resistance and solidarity

Occupying the CBI’s Scottish headquarters

Student supporters of the Right to Work campaign occupied the Scottish headquarters of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) in Glasgow, taking their anger at cuts in education and services to Britain’s most powerful pro-business group.

The student protest took the CBI off guard, occupying their offices and refusing to leave until they had concrete guarantees on a debate over education funding.

After an hour of talks the director of the CBI in Scotland, Iain McMillan, agreed to such a debate.

Jonathan Shafi

‘Scrooge’ protest at Corus headquarters

Campaigners, including one dressed as Scrooge, staged a protest outside Corus’s headquarters in central London last Friday against the closure of the company’s steel plant in Redcar. They got a warm response from passers-by and workers on their lunch break.

Sit-in at Aberdeen university

Aberdeen university students who staged a sit-in last week will be coming to the Right to Work conference.

The students occupied the university for several hours on Friday of last week against cuts, privatisation and job losses. A banner was dropped from the top of the university’s Cromwell Tower. Meanwhile, 50 students gathered below with placards and music.

The anti-cuts campaign is backed by the student union and the UCU lecturers’ union branch.

More sponsors for conference

Support continues to grow for the Right to Work conference on 30 January.

Some of the latest to sign up include two Leeds bins workers and a Superdrug worker from South Yorkshire.

New union sponsors include UCU Scottish Region, CWU South Central No 1 branch, GMB S38 branch and Sheffield Napo, which voted to send ten delegates.

PCS branches include Ministry of Justice Greater Manchester and DWP North London, who are sending three delegates. Of trades councils, Manchester, Wakefield, Nottingham and Waltham Forest are the latest backers.

A general meeting of LSE students’ union voted to back the conference, as has the Essex university union – which is sending a coachload of students to Manchester.

» www.righttowork.org.uk