Issues

issue2427.txt
Issue - 1791
Dated - 16 Mar 2002
'We can fix low pay- yes, we can'

MEDICAL SECRETARIES in Sunderland were out in numbers on the picket line on Tuesday of this week. They have escalated their action to a four-day strike. The 136 women NHS workers are determined to up the pressure on their trust bosses to put them on a higher grade.

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‘We can fix low pay- yes, we can’

MEDICAL SECRETARIES in Sunderland were out in numbers on the picket line on Tuesday of this week. They have escalated their action to a four-day strike. The 136 women NHS workers are determined to up the pressure on their trust bosses to put them on a higher grade.
16 March 2002
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Protesting at the rich and powerful

ANTI-CAPITALIST protests are back on the agenda. After last month's 70,000-strong gathering in Brazil at the World Social Forum, thousands of protesters were set to hit the streets of Barcelona in Spain this week.
16 March 2002
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Debate sprouts among activists

Around 150 activists from all over Europe met in Brussels, the Belgian capital, last weekend to plan a European Social Forum. This will be modelled on the World Social Forum held in Porto Alegre, Brazil. The World Social Forum was a great gathering of the worldwide movement against global capitalism.
16 March 2002
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Hundreds pack into meetings on campus

Two hundred medical students turned up to a meeting last week to hear George Galloway MP speak out over the war drive against Iraq. It was the first political meeting for years on a site of University College London where medical students at Guy's Hospital, south London, have lectures.
16 March 2002
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Disabled people protest

Up to 100 disabled people from Hackney, east London, held a successful rally and advice meeting on the steps of Hackney Town Hall on Friday of last week. We were protesting about the implementation of new criteria for qualifying for a "freedom pass", which enables disabled people to travel on public transport in London.
16 March 2002
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Left challenge to New Labour

The Socialist Alliance's campaign is taking off across England in the run-up to the local elections in seven weeks on 2 May. The alliance is hoping to stand over 100 candidates in London and over 300 across England. The mood for a socialist alternative to New Labour was seen in Scotland last week. The Scottish Socialist Party, the Socialist Alliance's sister organisation, won 16 percent in a local by-election.
16 March 2002
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Bradford strike electrifies conference

THE ISSUE of pay electrified the first day of the annual conference of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) held in Eastbourne last week. Successful strike action by workers at the Bradford Telegraph and Argus group of papers has been a major boost to the fight against low pay. Conference delegates greeted Sarah Walsh, a leading member of the Bradford NUJ workplace union chapel, with massive applause.
16 March 2002
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Principled and angry action

LECTURERS AND technical support staff in the Natfhe union at Southampton City College struck for the whole of last week over pay and increasing workload. There was bitterness on the picket line towards the college principal, who derecognised the union at her previous college.
16 March 2002
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Round-up

UNISON UNION members in Cardiff council are balloting for action in support of a union activist. Cardiff council sacked worker Charles Faber after he spoke to the BBC about the council's lack of resources in children's services.
16 March 2002
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Civil servants

STRIKERS FROM all over Britain lobbied the national executive meeting of the civil servants' PCS union last week. They were representing 750 people who work in the government's trial Pathfinder scheme which merges job centres and benefits offices. They have been on all-out strike since at least last October.
16 March 2002
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Justice for Palestinians finds echo on the streets

Socialist Worker sellers were out last week campaigning against Sharon's onslaught on the Palestinians. In just three days over 500 copies of Socialist Worker were sold on the streets in central London. In Kensington on a new sale nine sellers (including five new members) received a brilliant reception-160 copies of Socialist Worker were sold and four people joined the SWP.
16 March 2002
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Post Office

LEADERS OF the CWU postal workers' union were set this week to recommend that workers accept a new pay offer in a postal ballot. The deal is a disgrace which will open the way to new assaults on jobs and conditions.
16 March 2002