Archive for December 2005

1 December 2005

LSP/MAS mobilises against neo-fascists

LAST SATURDAY in Ghent, Belgium, over 700 people including the LSP/MAS (CWI, Belgium) and the anti-fascist youth organisation Blokbuster, marched to protest against the far-right Valaams Belang (formerly Vla...

1 December 2005

Exploited workers in Middle East fight back

Qatar: MIGRANT WORKERS in the Middle East, including CWI members, are fighting against their slave-like conditions and the non-payment of their salaries...

1 December 2005

USA - Lame duck president George Bush waddles on

BUSH IS no longer the invincible, '9/11 president'. His appeals for "unity" against the enemy and for the US to "stay the course"...

1 December 2005

Workers fight introduction of cheap labour

A DISPUTE over the replacement of British and Irish crews with cheap Eastern European labour, mostly from Latvia, by Irish Ferries has led to an escalation of action between the unions and the company over t...

1 December 2005

Weakness invites aggression

THE TGWU is under threat of its funds being "sequestrated" as a result of the strike by baggage handlers in support of Gate Gourmet workers last August...

1 December 2005

Hidden - the effects of term-time working

UNIVERSITY VICE-chancellors hid vital research on student debt to avoid criticising the government's higher education policies before this year's general election...

1 December 2005

Fight for a political voice for young people!

International Socialist Resistance: Blair has claimed that young people are apathetic towards politics. He claims this in the face of more and more young people participating...

1 December 2005

Campaign for a New Workers' Party

Support grows for an alternative: The support for the Campaign for a New Workers' Party is growing with the number of signatories to the declaration steadily increasing...

1 December 2005

NHS feature: Bring the campaigns together

EVERY WEEK the socialist receives reports of campaigns to stop the closure or privatisation of NHS facilities, usually threatened because of financial 'deficits'...

1 December 2005

'Free market' threatens cold weather crisis

ON THE brink of a cold winter, Britain faces a real threat of gas shortages...

1 December 2005

Don't let the profit system cost us the earth!

TONY BLAIR recently claimed that tackling climate change is a priority...

1 December 2005

Pensions struggles still loom

FOR THE best part of two decades, big business has slashed and burned its way through the pension funds and entitlements of working people...

1 December 2005

Attack on pensions: We won't work till we drop!

Digby Jones of the bosses' organisation the CBI, Chancellor Gordon Brown and other cabinet ministers and Adair Turner chairman of the Pensions Commission all have gilt-edged pensions...

8 December 2005

PCS Left Unity conference backs union leadership on pensions

NORMALLY A meeting of a union broad left would be of interest mainly to left activists in that particular union but last Saturday's 150-strong national conference of the PCS broad left (Left Unity) was...

8 December 2005

Sixth week of caretakers' strike

THE STRIKE over pay by caretakers at Huddersfield College is now entering its sixth week...

8 December 2005

Victory for Andy Beadle as he wins his job back

BUS DRIVER Andy Beadle won his job back, with full back pay, at his appeal last week...

8 December 2005

Solidarity with Irish Ferries workers

AROUND SIXTY Welsh trade unionists showed their support and solidarity with Irish Ferries workers at a rally in Pembroke Dock, called by the Wales TUC and International Transport Workers Federation (ITF)...

8 December 2005

Brazil: Growing crisis over Lula government's corruption scandal

André Ferrari of Socialismo Revolucionario (CWI, Brazil) and a leading activist on the Executive Committee of P-SOL - the country's new left-wing party - recently spoke to Sociali...

8 December 2005

Now working class and poor must build real socialism

HUGO CHÁVEZ has won his eleventh election victory since becoming president of Venezuela in 1998...

8 December 2005

Tories elect 'Blair-lite' leader

NEW LABOUR has been stealing Tory policies for well over a decade but for the last few months the Tories have been cloning copies of Tony Blair to choose yet another new leader...

8 December 2005

George Best

GEORGE BEST's funeral took place on 3 December in Belfast. Tens of thousands lined the streets to show their appreciation of his talent,...

8 December 2005

Domestic violence: Change in sentencing guidelines a step forward

The government has finally issued new guidelines to judges and courts on sentencing for manslaughter...

8 December 2005

Brown's low growth, low wage budget

IN THIS week's pre-Budget statement, Chancellor Gordon Brown was forced to admit that economic growth would be far lower than he predicted in his April Budget...

8 December 2005

Sign up to the campaign

Campaign for a new workers' party: THIS WEEK, eight members of the National Executive Committee of NATFHE (the further and higher education union) have signed up to the declaration in support of the Campaign for a New Workers' Party...

8 December 2005

Is there a pensions crisis?

THE GOVERNMENT have launched an all-out attack on pensions. Whilst they sit on one of the best public-sector pensions schemes available,...

8 December 2005

Strike back at Labour's attacks

Local government workers' pensions: LAST WEEK the government announced more attacks on the local government pensions scheme...

8 December 2005

Save our NHS!

THIS GOVERNMENT'S health policies are threatening hospital and ward closures and privatisations of NHS services around Britain...

15 December 2005

Rail workers fight bosses' offensive

THE RAIL industry remains, despite privatisation, a stronghold of trade unionism...

15 December 2005

Media giants attack journalists

NATIONAL UNION of Journalists (NUJ) members are organising against devastating cuts and job losses...

15 December 2005

Confusion over pensions at NATFHE executive

NATFHE, THE college lecturers' union, voted at its December national executive to reject the public-sector pensions framework agreement, which has been agreed by other unions including NUT, UNISON and PCS...

15 December 2005

Stop the job cuts

THE DEPARTMENT for Work and Pensions (DWP) is a service in crisis. It is not alone - new figures have been released that show 120 million...

15 December 2005

Massive support for Irish Ferries' workers

OVER 100,000 workers marched across cities and towns in Southern Ireland on 9 December...

15 December 2005

Portuguese workers strike against Blairite cuts

COUNCIL AND local government workers in Portugal are striking on 13 and 14 December against the Blairite 'socialist' government's vicious attacks on their rights, working conditions and living standards...

15 December 2005

Ukraine's Orange revolution - one year on

One year ago huge street demonstrations convulsed Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, for weeks in protest at rigged presidential elections...

15 December 2005

Montreal conference - Little change on climate change

TONY BLAIR hailed the recent United Nations Montreal conference on climate change as a "vital next step in tackling climate." Green pressure group, Friends of the Earth said it was an "histori...

15 December 2005

Building a voice for Iraq's workers

HASSAN JUMA'A AWAD - president of the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions (previously known as the General Union of Oil Employees) spoke to Zena Awad of the socialist...

15 December 2005

Campaign for a new workers' party

The campaign is gaining support with signatures from workers, trade unionists, students and community activists...

15 December 2005

Huddersfield's big demo

NHS in Crisis: "WE'LL MAKE you listen" shouted the front page of the Huddersfield Examiner as it reported on Saturday's 'Big Demo'...

15 December 2005

NHS in crisis

ANOTHER WEEK goes by and another set of revelations about the financial crisis in the NHS. This time The Observer quotes a leaked email from the Department of Health telling officials to ignore ministers' promises on spending.