Manchester Follow

Ballot on action for decent pay LOW PAID health workers in North Manchester and Bury hospitals are planning strike action at the start of April. The porters and domestic staff are employed by private contractor ISS Mediclean. The workers, members of the Unison union, overwhelmingly voted for strike action in their ballot earlier this month. They earn just £4.61 an hour, and want to get £5 an hour. That is what similar workers directly employed by the NHS in the same hospital trust earn.

SOME 2,000 people joined a Stop the War Coalition protest against Blair in Manchester on Saturday. Blair and other ministers had gathered in the city for New Labour's spring conference. Police created a "Red Zone" around the G-Mex complex where the conference took place, setting up special barricades and roadblocks defended by armed police. As the conference began on Friday of last week, anti-war activists held a "Trial of Tony Blair".

THE LAUNCH of Unite Against Fascism in the north west of England made front page news in Manchester last week. The Manchester Evening News, the leading newspaper in Britain's third biggest city, gave headline coverage of Unite's press conference. It was held in Manchester Town Hall on Friday.

CAMPAIGNERS to defend council housing will be in Manchester this weekend to coincide with the Labour Party local government conference. The Defend Council Housing campaign organisation and the Council Housing group of MPs are holding sessions to collect evidence in favour of what has been dubbed "the fourth option-direct investment in council housing".

PORTERS AND domestic staff at Bolton and North Manchester general hospitals (part of the same trust) have voted to strike. They work for ISS Mediclean, a multinational which has profited from the privatisation of the NHS.

ELEVEN electricians in Manchester are continuing their nine-month struggle against their former employer DAF. The workers were sacked last May. They have picketed sites in Manchester ever since in their fight for justice.

PORTERS AND domestic staff at North Manchester General Hospital are balloting for strike action over pay. They are employed by multinational ISS Mediclean, which is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the creeping privatisation of the NHS.

THERE WAS a great response to a Stop the War Coalition stall in central Manchester last Saturday as campaigners petitioned against Hutton and called for an independent inquiry. Activists were also building support for the demonstration at the Labour spring conference at 12 noon, Saturday 13 March, GMEX centre, Manchester.

A BUZZ went around the meeting room as 450 people crammed into Manchester town hall for an anti-racist rally on Thursday of last week.

TRAM DRIVERS in Manchester welcomed in the new year by going on strike for union recognition.

I AM one of a group of electricians working on the Piccadilly No 1 project in Manchester.

AN UNOFFICIAL walkout by over 200 postal workers in Oldham, Greater Manchester, won a victory last week. Members of the CWU union walked out at 7am on Tuesday of last week in a dispute over the handling of a backlog of mail that built up during other recent industrial action.