Manchester Follow

The year is 1819, and the working class of Britain is in revolt. The year is to end with the bloody Peterloo massacre of unarmed radical demonstrators in Manchester by sabre-wielding guardsmen.

NEW LABOUR immigration minister Des Browne MP was confronted by the human reality of his policies when the Aftab family stopped him at an integration conference in Manchester last week.

TRAFFIC wardens in Manchester stopped work unofficially on Friday of last week after they were told they had to continue to wear their ties and jackets in the stiflingly hot weather.

THE UNITE Against Fascism Manchester carnival came to Liverpool on Sunday 30 May. Despite Manchester police's best efforts to stop the event, and with only three days to build it, nearly 3,000 people turned up.

VIV FROM Manchester told me how Socialist Worker went down with the firefighters who took unofficial action against the government's "modernisation" plans last week. "We got a really good response from all the stations we visited. Over two days we went to some 20 stations and we sold copies of the paper at every one. We also sold 15 at the firefighters' mass meeting. They really liked the coverage of their dispute in the paper, but they weren't just interested in their own dispute. The troops out of Iraq petition went down well and the firefighters were really interested in Respect."

MANCHESTER HAS suffered at the hands of those who would deprive our thriving multicultural, multi-ethnic and multi-faith city of an anti-racism festival on institutionally racist and inexcusable grounds. I do not want to live in a city which cannot celebrate its diversity openly and honestly.

THE GOVERNMENT'S clampdown on public sector pay has reignited last year's fire dispute. It has led management in the Manchester brigade to slash fire cover by sending firefighters home. The danger firefighters face in their work was tragically seen over the weekend when Cardiff firefighter Richard Jenkins was killed in a fire during the early hours of the morning.

THE STENCH of institutional racism across the police was obvious last week after two incidents in Manchester and north London. Local people in Camden are furious at the death of Kebba Jobe, originally from Gambia, on Saturday 12 May. He died after officers stopped him at Camden Lock. Around 300 people joined an angry march through Camden last Saturday demanding a full investigation of how he died.

\"MAN U Suicide Bomb Plot\" screamed the Sun two weeks ago. \"It was our tireless police and security service who foiled a terrorist plot to blow up\" Manchester United's Old Trafford ground the following Saturday, ran the editorial.

THOUSANDS OF civil servants have defied anti-union laws to unofficially walk out of work in the last two weeks against a management offensive. The action was sparked by management suspending 28 union members for refusing to carry out a performance-related pay assessment scheme. The one-day walkouts took place in Scarborough, the Glasgow Appeals Service and Sheffield on Thursday of last week, and Manchester Rusholme social security office on Friday.

MORE THAN 40 delegates and guests attending the annual RMT union station grades conference in Manchester last week were treated to a first hand introduction to the politics of Respect. A fringe meeting was held at a nearby hotel at the conclusion of the first day's business.

A HUNDRED catering crew workers, based in the Manchester depot of Virgin Trains, are holding a series of strikes against the imposition of new rosters. They struck on Tuesday of last week, when many strikers joined the picket line, and were due out again this Thursday. "We are not prepared to put up with new shifts being imposed on us," says RMT union rep James Davis. The participation on the picket line shows the strength of feeling. That has grown as management have sent out insulting and intimidatory memos to staff. The catering grades conference of our union backed us last weekend and we feel we can win. This action we are taking isn't just for Manchester, but for all rail workers