Privatisation Follow

NINE THOUSAND London Underground workers are to vote on industrial action. The RMT union ordered a strike ballot over safety and privatisation as the Labour government's moves to sell off London Underground suddenly moved forward last week. Despite earlier talk of the process being tangled up in legal manoeuvres till next year, maintenance workers now face privatisation at the end of this month. RMT members are to be balloted from 14 June. Voting will end on 24 June.

STEPHEN BYERS' resignation has struck right at the heart of New Labour. He was one of Blair's closest ministers. As trade secretary and then transport secretary he was at the centre of this government's obsession with privatisation and policies for big business.

IT'S NOT only on the railways that privatisation has been a disaster. The computer failure at the new air traffic control centre at Swanwick on Friday of last week meant that the number of flights was cut by half, and tens of thousands of passengers were stranded. This is the third failure of National Air Traffic Services (NATS) computers in three months.

NOTTINGHAM council's plans for privatisation were knocked back last week after workers held protests and threatened strike action. Some 500 council workers joined a lobby of the ruling Labour group on Wednesday of last week over privatisation.

SEVEN MORE victims of rail privatisation. They died last week at Potters Bar, just five miles from Hatfield where another crash killed four people 18 months ago. A rail worker warned his managers of loose bolts and unstable track at Potters Bar just three weeks ago.

RAIL PRIVATISATION has led to a catastrophic collapse in safety standards. Nowhere is this clearer than in the maintenance of the infrastructure-track, signalling, tunnels, bridges, and so on. There were wholesale sackings of experienced rail workers in the run-up to privatisation in 1996.

THE FILM The Navigators by socialist film director Ken Loach has just been released on video. It was written by a former rail worker, and exposes the impact of privatisation on the lives of rail workers. Some workers take a gamble by opting for redundancy money and life as casual workers.

EDINBURGH: 1,000 people marched for international solidarity and socialism through the streets of Edinburgh to a rally in Princes Street Gardens on Saturday. Palestinian flags flew among trade union and socialist banners as the chants rang out against privatisation and for freedom for Palestine.

HEALTH WORKERS last week ripped a hole in the government's strategy to force Private Finance Initiative (PFI) schemes through in the NHS. The government's plans for the NHS, including those announced in last month's budget, are based on a massive increase in PFI privatisation projects across the health service.

THERE WERE some results the media totally ignored—the significant votes for socialist candidates offering an alternative to the pro-privatisation, pro-business policies of all the mainstream parties.

A SECOND group of council tenants have rejected north London's Haringey council's plans for the privatisation of their homes. Some 86 of the 105 tenants on the Leven Drive estate in Waltham Cross took part in the ballot. The result was 57 against and 29 for the transfer to the Aldwyck Housing Association.

SOCIALISTS argue for people to break with the Labour Party. Yet at the same time they spend a lot of time seeking to work alongside Labour Party members. Why should we campaign with Labour Party MPs and councillors to defend council housing when it is the Labour Party that is attempting to push through privatisation?