Strike Follow

WORKERS ACROSS Northern Ireland have given a marvellous glimpse of how to defeat bigotry and sectarianism. Protestants and Catholics struck together, marched together and stood united against sectarianism on Friday of last week.

A REVOLT over pay and the disastrous impact of privatisation is spreading across the rail industry. Everyone who wants to see a better transport system should get behind the rail workers and their unions as they stand up to the private rail companies. Over 600 guards and conductors on Arriva Northern were set to strike on Thursday and Friday of this week.

Ambulance workers in Liverpool are voting on whether to strike after two paramedics in the Ambulance Service Union were suspended for alleged gross misconduct.

WORKERS AT the Caterpillar factory in Peterlee, County Durham, staged their third one-day strike on Tuesday. They are fighting a plan by the US multinational to freeze their pay, impose flexible shift patterns and undermine other longstanding agreements.

Some 150,000 postal workers started a national strike ballot this week over pay. They are fighting management's attempt to hold down pay and to squeeze even more work out of fewer people.

Tens of thousands of civil servants are set to strike next Monday and Tuesday. The workers are PCS union members in benefits offices and job centres. They are striking against New Labour's plans to remove safety screens in the amalgamated benefit agencies and job centres being set up.

DO YOU think there's going to be a Winter of Discontent? I THINK there is a real possibility. Before the attacks in New York on 11 September we saw a rising mood of bitterness in the trade unions over privatisation, and discussions about breaking the link between the unions and New Labour. That was beheaded on 11 September. When the TUC conference was called off, so was the debate over privatisation. Blair got away scot free.

AROUND 150,000 Royal Mail workers are voting on a national strike over pay. At present their basic pay is around £250 a week before tax. Royal Mail bosses want them to accept a pay deal worth just 2 percent. Hard-working people, many working outdoors in all weathers and early in the morning, have been offered just £5 a week.

CIVIL SERVANTS who work in Britain's job centres and benefits offices are preparing for their next round of strikes on Monday 28 and Tuesday 29 January. The action, by members of the PCS union, is a great opportunity to turn up the heat on New Labour and civil service management. New Labour increased its intimidation of strikers last weekend with the threat that people will not receive promised promotions if they continue to strike. "The decision makes clear the contempt in which management holds members' concerns," said Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary elect.

THE FIRST strike for over 20 years hit the Caterpillar plant in Peterlee, County Durham, last week. Workers at the US multinational owned firm walked out for a day over a pay freeze and attacks on conditions.

NATIONAL UNION of Journalists members at a series of Bradford-based papers have voted to take strike action. The journalists, who have only recently won union recognition, planned to strike on three days this month.

ACTIVISTS IN the PCS civil servants' union who work in job centres and benefits offices are gearing up for their next major strike for safety at the end of this month. Around 40,000 civil servants struck in December against the removal of safety screens.