Archive for June 2005

2 June 2005

Job losses expose Manchester's 'boom'

AFTER FALLS in sales and profits, the Co-operative group are to cut 600 jobs at their head office...

2 June 2005

FE lecturers fight for pay deal

ON 25 May, lecturers at some further education colleges were on strike, just to get the national pay agreement implemented in their colleges...

2 June 2005

Coventry single status dispute: the stakes are raised

COVENTRY COUNCIL workers are fighting a pay-cutting deal being imposed under a 'Single Status' agreement...

2 June 2005

It is privatisation and it is as we know it

THE GOVERNMENT appears to be supporting plans by Royal Mail to give 51% shares to the workforce, described by some as a John Lewis-style partial privatisation...

2 June 2005

BBC offer must be rejected

ON 23 May thousands of BBC staff, members of three different trade unions, took strike action...

2 June 2005

Striking back at pay-cutting bosses

INDUSTRIAL ACTION by Amicus members at HSBC on 27 May was taken as a result of a pay package which cut bonuses and imposed a below-inflation rise...

2 June 2005

Labour court awards Gama workers €8,000

THE IRISH Labour Court has awarded Gama workers €8,000 per annum for unpaid overtime - a stunning admission of how this construction multinational ripped off its workforce...

2 June 2005

Iraq: coalition plans floundering

SEVERAL WEEKS ago the US and British governments were talking up in the media how Iraq's security situation was improving...

2 June 2005

Germany: Political turmoil after the elections

AS A consequence of the disastrous defeat in the regional state elections in North Rhine Westphalia, the former heartland of the Social Democrats (SPD) in Germany, chancellor Schršder issued a surprise call...

2 June 2005

"Struggle or death" - Pakistan telecoms workers fight privatisation

"THIS IS the biggest challenge to President Musharraf of Pakistan from the trade unions on the question of privatisation since he came to power in 1998."...

2 June 2005

Capitalism can't solve AIDS crisis

Forty million people globally are infected with HIV...

2 June 2005

The campaign for Socialism 2005 begins now

The campaign for Socialism 2005 has begun. Although the event is not taking place until November 12 and 13 all Socialist Party branches are...

2 June 2005

ID cards: £300 for a snooper's card!

THE GOVERNMENT'S plans for compulsory identity (ID) cards are an attack on our democratic rights...

2 June 2005

Defend adult education

IN MID-APRIL, staff of the Community Learning and Skills Service (CLaSS) in Waltham Forest, north east London, were informed that the extremely popular Walthamstow Learning Centre in Greenleaf Road would be cl...

2 June 2005

Why French workers voted 'no' to EU referendum

"WE'RE VOTING no. It is a constitution for the bourgeoisie, for multinationals, for bosses. It is only about the economy, competition,...

2 June 2005

EU constitution defeated

THE FRENCH 'no' to the EU constitution is a massive blow to the pro-big business politicians in France and Europe...

2 June 2005

Say no to the bosses' profit system

MILLIONS OF French workers and young people have said a resounding 'non' to the European bosses' agenda of low wages, job cuts, privatisation and vicious attacks on working conditions, benefits and pub...

9 June 2005

Largest union in Northern Ireland backs fight against water charges

THE FOLLOWING press release from the 'We Won't Pay' campaign, in Northern Ireland, a campaign to organise mass non-payment of water charges (taxes), which the government intends to introduce...

9 June 2005

Netherlands: An overwhelming 'No' vote to EU constitution

LAST WEEK'S vote on the European Constitution was the first time in more than 200 years that Dutch people had a referendum...

9 June 2005

Bolivian workers fight privatisation and imperialism

Bolivian workers have been battling the vicious neo-liberal policies of their government backed by Western imperialism...

9 June 2005

Pakistan: Strike resists Telecom privatisation

ONLY WEEKS before the G8 summit, Pakistan telecom workers, through all-out struggle, have shown how to fight privatisation - one element of the 'neo-liberal' policies promoted by the likes of Bush and Blair...

9 June 2005

NATFHE members prepare for future battles

THIS YEAR'S Annual Conference of lecturers' union NATFHE took place at a time of the greatest offensive by the employers and the government against pay and conditions since the Incorporation (privatisation)...

9 June 2005

Unions must fight Blair and Brown's plans

GORDON BROWN'S speech to the GMB union conference was full of fine words about ending poverty worldwide and investing in "neglected public services"...

9 June 2005

Growing class struggles will increase tensions

DURING THE recent general election, the leaders of some of Britain's biggest trade unions desperately tried to mobilise their members to back Labour...

9 June 2005

Socialist Party gains on UNISON's NEC

THE SOCIALIST Party group on public sector union UNISON's 70-plus ruling National Executive Council (NEC) has been increased from three to five members following the recent elections...

9 June 2005

Socialist students spearheads unionisation campaign in Leicester

With the ending of both the grant and free education by successive Tory and Labour governments more students have to work to be able to afford to get through their degree...

9 June 2005

Fight for the right to organise

THE SOCIALIST previously reported on how basic democratic rights are under attack in Tony Blair's New 'authoritarian' Britain...

9 June 2005

Brown spins but won't end debt

Gordon Brown - arm-in-arm with Oxfam - is proclaiming himself as the new champion of the poor and making his bid to be the next Prime Minister...

9 June 2005

Stop taking liberties!

ONE OF David Blunkett's last acts as Home Secretary was to offer Sheffield as host city to a meeting of G8 Interior and 'in'Justice Ministers...

9 June 2005

Join the G8 protests

TENS OF thousands of people are making plans to travel to Scotland at the beginning of July to demonstrate against world poverty...

16 June 2005

Mugabe tightens his grip on Zimbabwe

FOLLOWING ZIMBABWE'S 31 March general election in which the ruling Zanu-PF party won a "landslide victory," President Robert Mugabe has unleashed armed police against street traders and shanty town...

16 June 2005

Pakistan: Government clamps down on telecom protesters

LAST WEEKEND, the Pakistani government started a crackdown against telecommunications workers, following the refusal of the nine union-strong Action Committee to be bullied into privatisation...

16 June 2005

Saving Royal Mail from the vultures

CWU conference: THE THREATENED privatisation of Royal Mail has dominated this year's Communication Workers' Union (CWU) conference...

16 June 2005

Striking against the two-tier workforce

Liverpool hospital workers: OVER 600 caterers, porters and domestics at Aintree Hospital NHS Trust were on strike on 13 June...

16 June 2005

We won't see you in Courts!

IN A growing international trend, workers' pensions are being subject to cuts and ever-diminishing conditions while executives are receiving astronomical retirement packages...

16 June 2005

On the public sector front line

Civil service union PCS conference: THE PUBLIC and Commercial Services union (PCS) conference meeting last week in Brighton was notable in many ways...

16 June 2005

New Labour's sham democracy exposed

ON SATURDAY 18 June, workers and users from the Walthamstow Learning Centre, local residents and the Walthamstow Socialist Party will be protesting against the proposed closure of the adult education centre...

16 June 2005

Hands off our education!

CAMPAIGNERS IN Nottingham and London have organised protests this weekend against local attacks on education...

16 June 2005

Is nuclear power the solution?

The G8 Summit has been billed as being around the twin global issues of climate change and world poverty...

16 June 2005

Capitalism unbound: the oil industry

The oil industry was born out of modern capitalism and its thirst for "black gold"...

16 June 2005

Come and join 150 young socialists from all over Europe

The campaign to bring young people from England and Wales to our ISR camp in July is steaming ahead...

16 June 2005

G8 debt deal won't end poverty

MOST PEOPLE would have cheered the news that 18 of the world's poorest countries are to have their World Bank and International Monetary Fund debts cancelled...

23 June 2005

Bolivia - after the uprising

THE MASS protest movements against neo-liberal policies that swept Bolivia with strikes and demos have ousted president Carlos Mesa...

23 June 2005

Pakistan Telecom workers' strike ends but opposition to privatisation continues

FOLLOWING ALMOST three weeks of struggle against privatisation most Pakistan Telecommunication (PTCL) workers have returned to work...

23 June 2005

Make Homophobia and Capitalism History!

THIS IS the Socialist Party Lesbian, Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) group message at this year's Pride...

23 June 2005

Fighting the union-busters at Asda/Wal-Mart

PROBLEMS FACED by GMB members in Asda/Wal-Mart distribution depots in the north-west seem to be coming to a head at the Ince, Wigan depot...

23 June 2005

Leadership's wishful thinking at UNISON conference

UNISON'S ANNUAL conference, taking place in Glasgow so soon after Labour has returned to power, is as you would expect, full of self-congratulation by the union leadership...

23 June 2005

Education for the millions, not the millionaires!

No to Blair's academies: NEW LABOUR'S 'flagship' City Academies, schools run by millionaires and private institutions but paid for overwhelmingly by us, are in disarray...

23 June 2005

How imperialism condemns millions to poverty

Crisis in Africa: THE RUN-UP to the G8 summit in Gleneagles has seen repeated attempts by Blair, and his would-be successor Brown, to jump onto the various "make poverty history" campaigns...

23 June 2005

Summit rows intensify EU crisis

THE FAILURE of the EU summit marked a deepening of the crises of the European ruling classes...

23 June 2005

G8 forces occupy Sheffield

They came to the G8 in-Justice Ministers meeting in Sheffield on 15-17 June from all over the country...

23 June 2005

International youth camp

We have booked a 4-star campsite in Strathclyde National Park with toilets, hot showers and cooking facilities...

23 June 2005

Take to the streets! Join the g8 protests

ON 2 July this year tens of thousands of people will march through the streets of Edinburgh to protest at the G8 summit....

30 June 2005

Fiery speeches but bland policy statements

THE SOCIALIST Party's industrial organiser, Bill Mullins, reports from UNISON's annual conference, writes UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis gave a rousing speech to the conference:.

30 June 2005

Organising against the two-tier workforce

SIX HUNDRED caterers, laundry workers and domestics were on strike at Aintree Hospital, Liverpool, on 20 and 21 June. They are members of GMB, TGWU and UNISON, writes Andy Ford, Amicus North Manchester NHS Branch, personal capacity.

30 June 2005

Labour declares war on the NHS

Kick out the private sector parasites: HEALTH SECRETARY Patricia Hewitt, on behalf of the government and the private companies it represents, has declared war on our National Health Service...

30 June 2005

Make Homophobia and Capitalism History!

THIS IS the Socialist Party Lesbian, Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) group message at this year's Pride...

30 June 2005

The struggle for socialism in Scotland

Sinead Daly from International Socialists and a member of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) executive committee looks at the programme and evolution of the SSP...

30 June 2005

ISR - youth on the march

INTERNATIONAL SOCIALIST Resistance (ISR) is an international socialist organisation which is run by and for young people...

30 June 2005

Socialism 2005

Socialism 2005 is an opportunity for anyone who is angry at the poverty and inequality in society to come together to debate socialist ideas...

30 June 2005

Fight for a socialist plan

MORE THAN 20,000 people die each day in the neo-colonial world because of "extreme poverty"...

30 June 2005

How can we change the world?

FEW SCIENCE fiction writers have succeeded in imagining a dystopian society more horrifying than the one we actually live in...

30 June 2005

Iraq sinks deeper into the quagmire

Iraq: NO-ONE believed US vice-president Dick Cheney when he said the Iraqi insurgency was in its "last throes"...

30 June 2005

CWI - who we are - what we fight for

THE COMMITTEE for a Workers' International (CWI) is an international socialist organisation fighting for the interests of working class people and youth across the globe...

30 June 2005

Capitalism means poverty and exploitation

FOR YEARS, the majority of Pakistanis, like many people throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America, have seen their living standards slashed by their government's 'neo-liberal' policies - encouraged by Western imperialism...

30 June 2005

Sri Lanka: The struggle for survival and justice goes on

THE PEOPLE in Sri Lanka who lost everything in the tsunami disaster of 26 December are still left with nothing...

30 June 2005

Workers and poor rise up against poverty

THE G8 countries' debt relief programme is soaked in cynicism and hypocrisy. ...