Strike Follow

Why is the post strike's victory so important? IT IS the first time since the Fleet Street electricians' strike in 1983 that unofficial action has spread so militantly and won a clear victory.

ONE FACTOR that helped the post workers win their recent strike was the existence of a network of rank and file activists grouped around the paper Post Worker.

HUNDREDS OF members of the public sector workers' Unison union across 12 London boroughs began a week-long strike on Monday. The strike is the latest phase of their long-running battle over London weighting.

OVER 2,000 workers at the Sellafield nuclear plant were set to strike on Friday of this week.

OVER 430 members of the Amicus union were on strike at the Royal Mint in Llantrisant, South Wales, on Thursday of last week. Some 70 workers picketed the plant.

AROUND 1,000 TGWU members at Swissport UK and Cargo were set to hold their second 48-hour strike on Friday and Saturday.

REMEMBER THE postal workers! That should be the response whenever someone says it is impossible to beat the employers or the anti-union laws. We can all learn from the way the strike won.

AS THE brilliant post strike spread around the country Socialist Worker readers were visiting picket lines and organising collections in support.

AROUND 1,000 workers at Swissport UK and Swissport Cargo staged a 48-hour strike at Heathrow airport last Sunday and Monday. The workers are members of the TGWU union. Early on a wet and windy Sunday morning on the picket line, they told Socialist Worker why they were out: "We have been pushed from pillar to post. Our work load has increased dramatically. You don't get time to wipe your arse any more. A few years ago we moved around 100 tonnes per shift. Now its more like 225 tonnes," said one picket at the cargo depot. "We are under so much pressure," added another. "We want a pay rise. But it's about more than money."

LECTURERS AT Sunderland University have voted by 61 percent for strike action against redundancies. In June, 46 lecturers received letters saying that they were in a pool from which 12 would be made redundant.

CIVIL SERVANTS are gearing up for their battle with the government over pay. Members of the PCS civil servants' union are set to ballot for strike action in a number of government departments. The union has organised a series of rallies to build support for their campaign. All meetings are at 12 noon unless otherwise specified:

SOME 2,400 workers at the Sellafield nuclear plant have voted overwhelmingly for strike action. Their employer, BNFL, promised in 1999 to equalise pay between blue collar and white collar workers at the plant by April 2004. But BNFL now say that the £2,000 pay gap will remain until April 2009.