Strike Follow

LOW PAID rail workers on Arriva Trains Northern have stuck two fingers up to management. Union reps told Socialist Worker that last week's 48-hour strike by 360 retail and station staff over pay was solid, and strengthened by new recruits to the union. "That's in the face of management intimidation and claims that we are not getting anywhere," said one worker.

BUS DRIVERS working for First Group in Bristol have won their dispute after management conceded to all their demands. The dispute had arisen after management introduced "mystery shoppers", plainclothes inspectors, onto the buses to entrap drivers. At a mass meeting drivers gave management 48 hours to withdraw the mystery shoppers or they would ballot for a strike.

WORKERS on Arriva Trains Northern were due to strike this week in their ongoing battle over pay. Conductors in the RMT union were to strike on Saturday. Retail staff in the RMT and supervisors in the TSSA union were to strike for 48 hours from Wednesday. Workers are furious that Arriva management is trying to blame them for disruption.

TGWU LEADER Bill Morris will be one of the speakers at a rally in support of the sacked Friction Dynamics strikers. Workers went on strike on 30 April last year and were dismissed eight weeks later.

FIREFIGHTERS ARE set to hold a national demonstration in London on Tuesday 11 June as part of their fight over pay. Council workers will then strike across London over pay on the two days following the firefighters' march.

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.

BUS DRIVERS working for First Group in Bristol are threatening to strike over an attack by management. At a mass meeting last weekend the drivers decided to give First Group two days to retreat before beginning a ballot.

THOUSANDS OF council workers marched through central London on Tuesday demanding decent pay. The march was part of a one-day strike by over 50,000 council workers across the capital. Picket lines had been organised in many areas.

THE spiralling cost of finding somewhere to live in London was a key issue behind Tuesday's strike by council workers in the capital. Local councils are effectively blocked from building new homes by New Labour's determination to continue Tory attacks on council housing. So many workers are desperately trying to buy houses.

IN THE wake of the general strike in Italy on 16 April the Partito della Rifondazione Comunista (Communist Refoundation) organised a May Day rally which I was invited to address.

JOURNALISTS AT the Independent and Independent on Sunday start voting this week in a ballot which could see the first strike action on a national newspaper for well over a decade. The journalists' NUJ union has only recently won back union recognition on the papers. It is encouraging members to vote for both a strike and action short of a strike.

THE NATIONAL Union of Teachers has called a London-wide rally to pursue its claim for higher London allowance payments. The rally follows a successful one-day strike in March, and takes place as council workers in London take action over allowance payments.