Solidarity 155, 9 July 2009

No trust in the Goldsmiths Trust! Defend accountable, state education!

Campaigners in Lewisham, south London, are organising to prevent a planned super-trust involving Deptford Green and Addeys and Standhope schools, Crossways Sixth Form and Goldsmiths University. The plans have gone out to initial consultation, ending 21 July, with a view to a fuller consultation in September. Campaigners have held a well-attended public meeting and are leafleting outside schools. They oppose the Trust plan because it could involve private “partners” in the running of schools. The Trust would become the employer of teachers, not the council, and could set its own admissions...

Education White Paper: the teacher’s MOT

According to the Teacher Development Agency (a quango overseeing teacher recruitment and training), over 50% of all newly qualified teachers will have left the job within three years. And this does not reveal the real drop-out rate from teacher-training. Substantial numbers leave before completing their courses, and yet more finish training and then decide against a career in teaching. How do the government’s latest education proposals propose to deal with this? Bizarrely, they have decided to make it even more difficult to retain teachers and even more likely that people will decide to leave...

More houses for all, not “locals” vs migrants!

Among the Labour government’s new announcements is that it will “enable local authorities to give more priority to local people” on council-house waiting lists. This populist ploy echoes the notorious “sons and daughters” policy of the Liberal council in Tower Hamlets in the 1990s, which solves no housing problems but served only to point the finger of blame for mammoth waiting lists at immigrants. It is doubly dangerous at a time when the BNP and UKIP are growing. As the “Defend Council Housing” campaign says, “A massive programme of new councing housing is the answer... not to pit those on...

Brown “re-positions” Labour

If Gordon Brown wanted to find measures which would increase Labour support, but would not worsen the Government's huge budget-deficit problems, there are a few obvious ones. He could have undertaken to repeal the anti-union laws carried forward from the Thatcher government, and replace them by a charter of workers' rights. He could have cancelled the Trident replacement, and withdrawn troops from Afghanistan. He could have have stopped the vast pay-outs from central government on contracts for private “management consultants”. In April such contracts advertised for tender totalled £4 billion...

BNP plans to celebrate - Join the protest

The election of two British National Party fascists to the European Parliament was not just a symbolic victory for reactionary ideas and organisation in this country. The victories of Nick Griffin and Andrew Brons have given a massive boost in confidence, prestige and — importantly — money to the BNP. Nationwide the BNP won 943,598 votes or 6.2% of the vote. Election after election, the BNP are winning more support, more votes at the ballot box. Add on the votes for other parties to the right of the Tories (UKIP, for example) and the total “far right” vote increases to around 23% — or almost a...

California's socialists call for fightback

The Peace and Freedom Party of California - which is the only socialist party on the ballot, with 60,000 registered members - has called a conference on 1 August to try to form a new socialist and working-class alternative across the USA in 2010. With the economic crisis, and now the state budget crisis in California, I think the bubble around Obama is being burst. It's a good time to present a socialist programme. California state governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, is paying the state's bills with IOUs, saying that the state has run out of dollars, and has forced state employees to take three...

Vestas workers – Up for a fight!

On Friday 3 July, Workers’ Climate Action and the Cowes Trades Council held a public meeting attended by around 100 people, to oppose the closure of the Vestas plant, Britain’s only wind turbine factory, on the Isle of Wight. Two months ago, Vestas announced over 500 job cuts. It is seeking to move production to the USA. The room was packed with workers from the factory, as well as people from the wider community. By the end of the meeting, there were people seriously discussing the tactic of a factory occupation to save jobs and force much-needed investment in wind energy. How did this come...

Postal workers call day of action for 17 July

Postal workers in the CWU post and telecom union will strike in London on 8-10 July over job cuts. CWU says: "Strike action is spread over three days with a rolling 24 hour set of strikes on Wednesday 8th, Thursday 9th and Friday 10th July. Delivery workers will be striking on Wednesday, distribution and logistics staff will be out on Thursday, and mail centres will be striking on Friday". Dave Ward, CWU deputy general secretary, added: "We'll be holding a national day of action on Friday 17th July which will combine industrial action and demonstrations". A CWU activist told Solidarity:...

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