Solidarity 072, 28 April 2005

On 22 April, the Association of University Teachers (AUT), at its conference, voted to impose an academic boycott on two Israeli universities. The decision has led to legal objections, on grounds of which the AUT has told its members to hold off from any action until they receive guidelines from the union; and to demands by some AUT members for a special conference to reconsider. Leading supporters of the 22 April decision have long argued for a complete academic boycott of all Israeli universities. David Hirsh , a sociology lecturer at Goldsmiths College London, coordinated a letter to the...

By Jim Denham In the end the MG Rover plant at Longbridge closed not with a bang, but a whimper. The factory that in the 1960s and 70s had been a byword for militancy, just lay down and died. Even in 2000, when the previous owners BMW pulled out, there had been angry mass meetings and a huge demonstration through the centre of Birmingham. The few token protests that occurred in April 2005 were pathetic affairs, more like wakes than any sort of serious resistance. A large part of the blame must be put at the feet of the national union leaders, who had backed the John Towers/Phoenix takeover in...

Industrial action ballot papers have just been sent out to BBC workers. The ballot, being run in protest at plans for thousands of job cuts and further privatisation of the BBC, covers members of BECTU, NUJ, and Amicus. Voting ends on May 11, and representatives from all three unions are due to meet on the following day to lay plans for a strike, if members accept the recommendation of negotiators and vote in favour of industrial action. Legal restrictions on industrial action ballots require several separate votes within the BBC. Each union has to poll its own members in the BBC, and in the...

In Solidarity 3/71 we wrote about an anti-semitic leaflet issued by an Islamist member of the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS). GUPS have dissociated themselves from this leaflet. Their statement: The General Union of Palestine Students (GUPS) is highly concerned at recent accusations of anti-semitism by the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) on the basis of a leaflet available at NUS Conference 2005. GUPS disassociates itself from the leaflet (Zionism) which does not represent GUPS' views in any way. Once GUPS became aware of the existence of the leaflet, it was removed from the stall...

Lecturers at Hackney Community College have taken strike action over planned redundancies. The college has a £1.6 million deficit, and has been threatening job cuts for some time - they had said, through voluntary severance. Now compulsory redundancies have been announced. The job cuts affect many college departments, including teacher training, special needs, adult literacy, ceramics and pottery, and sign language courses. Some courses - such as art, dance and drama -will be made full-fee, making them unaffordable to many in the local community. As a result of the strike, the college...

By Martin Thomas After the uproar created by Jamie Oliver's television series "School Dinners", the Government promised an extra £280 million to improve school meals in England. Many schools, however, are stuck with their existing junk food for years to come, because of Private Finance Initiative contracts. If the schools withdraw from the contracts, they will be legally liable to penalties equal to the profits that the junk-food contractor would have made on the remaining years of the contract. Private Finance Initiative contracts - under which private companies build and provide services for...

Twenty-five student activists met in London on 23 April to discuss and plan the development of a major new student campaign, Students Against Sweatshops. Participants included reps from People and Planet and Speak. Plans were made to stage a seminar at the G8 counter summit in Edinburgh in July, and set up initial organisational structures. The conception of the campaign is to bring together individuals and existing groups to work against sweatshops. While it might be necessary to set up new anti-sweatshop clubs in some areas, much work can be done through already-existing student unions and...

One thing is certain about the General Election. The new government after 5 May will be one that most working-class people regard as arrogant, unresponsive, accountable, and one that is attuned more to the drives of global capital than to the wants and needs of most voters. A third Blair-Labour regime, a Labour/ Lib-Dem coalition, or a Tory/ Lib-Dem coalition - those are about the only possibilities, and none look good. The established mainstream political parties have a huge "force of inertia" - money, support from one section or another of the billionaire-controlled media, and organisational...