Solidarity 055, 15 July 2004

Defend civil service union rep!

By a civil servant An important battle to defend trade union rights and stop the victimisation of a trade union rep is shaping up in the Department of Work and Pensions. Charlie MacDonald is a trade union rep in the Stratford social security office in London. In the recent past complaints have been made against him, complaints which relate to incidents that occurred at the beginning of the year during a strike in the DWP. Why have these complaints only just been made? The union, the PCS, feels that they can only be the basis of a concerted attempt by management to get rid of Charlie. The...

Broad Left wins NUT General Secretary election

By Patrick Murphy, Leeds NUT The election for NUT General Secretary was won by Broad Left candidate Steve Sinnott (pictured). Sinnott won around 20,000 of the first preference votes, against about 16,000 for Ian Murch. John Bangs, who stood as the independent of all factions/Doug McAvoy candidate, got 10,000 votes, and Martin Powell-Davies (Socialist Party) 6,400. The combined first preferences of Murch and MPD would have been higher than Sinnott. When the votes of MPD and then Bangs were redistributed, Sinnott had 27,000 and Ian 22,000. This is a pretty strong showing by Murch who entered the...

Ideas for Freedom 2004

This year's Workers' Liberty summer school was held on 3 and 4 July in Archway, north London. Nicole Ashford reports There was a wide range of debates on current issues, as well as discussions on historical topics. Activists Jo Wilding and Ewa Jasiewicz offered eyewitness accounts of the situation in Iraq, from Falluja and Basra respectively. Houzan Mahmoud from the Worker-Communist Party of Iraq gave her perspective on the prospects for solidarity with the Iraqi trade unions. Solidarity editor Cathy Nugent introduced a session on the revolutionary paper and Mick Duncan and Massimo De Angelis...

Workers of the world - Round-up

By Pablo Velasco Support Egyptian asbestos workers Release imprisoned Chinese workers British hypocrisy over the Chagos islands Support Egyptian asbestos workers Workers at the Aura-Misr (Aura-Egypt) Company, a manufacturer of asbestos products, have been on strike since 6 June, in protest over deadly working conditions and their employer's anti-worker policies. In April it was discovered that 46 of the company's 90 shop floor workers had contracted asbestos-related cancer. A decree issued by the Ministry of Manpower in 2002 ordering the company to close the plant pending remedial measures was...

The miners' strike 1984-5

The events 13 July: Government withholds tax refunds to striking miners. 19 July: NUM/NCB talks last three days. Despite NUM willingness to negotiate, the NCB are ordered to stand firm by the government. Some of the NCB officials wanted to settle. They were later sacked or resigned. 31 July: South Wales NUM fined £50,000 and the High Court seizes South Wales NUM funds. The union had defied an injunction against picketing granted to two haulage firms. The Tories are beginning to up the stakes. The miners and the socialists Karen Waddington, speaking at "Ideas for Freedom" When your safe little...

No Sweat news in brief

South West London No Sweat New video available from Banana Link South West London No Sweat Meeting: Monday 2 August, 7.30pm, BWTUC centre, 898 Garratt Lane, Tooting, SW17. "Solidarity with Iraqi workers'. Sunday 15 August: No Sweat "Olympics", Clapham Common. More details: 07941 942907 A new video, Los Alamos, is available from Banana Link. In 9 minutes, it tells the story of Ecuadorian banana workers at the Los Alamos plantation and their fight for decent pay, safe conditions and union rights. Contact Banana Link on 01603 765 670 or email info@bananalink.org.uk

The writing on the wall

Ciao Floods of East Europeans... leave Britain Plus ça change... Comrade racist? Yes, we have bananas Ciao For three weeks they drifted in the Mediterranean because no European country was willing to take them in. Then the 37 men - reportedly Sundanese refugees - made it… to the safety of an Italian concrete shed surrounded by barbed wire. They were brought to land by a German aid agency in their own boat. Originally the Italian authorities had refused to receive the ship, arguing that it ought to have docked at its first port of call, Malta. Under pressure, the Italians caved in. But on their...

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