Solidarity 165, 7 January 2010

Workplace bullying: winning respect at work

“Work is, by its very nature, about violence — to the spirit as well as to the body... It is, above all (or beneath all), about daily humiliations. To survive the day is triumph enough for the walking wounded among the great many of us.” Studs Terkel. Bosses have always used harsh discipline and authoritarian measures to keep their workers in line. In a context of economic crisis, management bullying has intensified as bosses claim that harsher sickness and absence policies, staff cuts and workload increases are all necessary parts of the belt-tightening demanded by the “new austerity”. What...

UNITE General Secretary election: Bayliss makes a right-wing pitch

This year the two million trade unionists in Unite will get to elect a single general secretary who will replace Derek Simpson and Tony Woodley in 2011. So far there are four candidates: Les Bayliss, Simon Dubbins, Len McCluskey and Jerry Hicks. But none of these candidates look as if they will transform the union or respond to rank-and-file-led militancy. A majority of activists in Unite call themselves part of the “left” (although this often means mostly support for the Stalinist regime in Cuba and subscribing to the Morning Star). Consequently all of the candidates bar Simon Dubbins...

London Underground: end of the line for 'Public Private Partnership'?

A decision by the PPP Arbiter in December may prove to be a fatal punch to private infrastructure company Tube Lines and the whole “Public-Private Partnership” set-up on London Underground. The New Labour government imposed the PPP at the very end of 2002, despite widespread opposition. PPP organised the Underground’s infrastructure into three groups of lines, and transferred them to private consortia known as Infracos, two to now-defunct Metronet, one — the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines — to Tube Lines. Metronet collapsed in 2007, and Tube Lines has now hit trouble, falling well...

My life at work: tougher management, divided workers

Patrick Beckford lives in Nottingham and works as a driver for East Midlands Trains. Tell us a little bit about the work you do. I’m a train driver for East Midlands Trains. EMT is part of the Stagecoach Group, which is one of the most significant transport companies in the country. I spend most of my time on inter-city work between Liverpool and Norwich. We start and finish at all times of the day, which can be tiring, but we do only work a four day week. Do you and your workmates get the pay and conditions you deserve? The drivers are well paid, but most other grades — such as ticket guards...

Hospitals: cuts mean filth

Before Christmas there was a lot of fuss in the press about dirty hospitals. The new NHS inspection body, the Care Quality Commission, had highlighted shocking issues at Basildon University Hospital — dirty commodes, curtains, and equipment; blood stains on trays. How common is this experience and why does it happen? Take the ward where I work. We pass all such inspections with flying colours, yet some of the problems highlighted in the CQC report we’ve experienced too. For the most part we have pre-announced inspections. We know what the inspectors are going to look at — the underside of...

Unions should fight for snow-days to be paid

Penny-pinching bosses are contriving a whole range of methods to make sure workers, rather than profits, take the hit during the cold weather. According to the Federation of Small Businesses, British employers are out of pocket to the tune of £600 million as a result of the snow and ice, with up to three million workers thought to have missed at least one day of work. And, according to figures quoted in the Daily Telegraph, more than 2,000 companies could go bankrupt as a result of the conditions. Fortunately for the bosses, they are legally able to either dock pay or holiday time if workers...

Hoon and Hewitt coup attempt: New Labour slips on the ice

Of course the Tory commentators make the most of what they can rake up. But for now they can rake up a lot. On 11 January Bruce Anderson wrote in The Independent: “All of Brown’s Cabinet now want him to lose the next election... If the Labour Cabinet could decide the outcome of the election in a secret ballot, there would be an overwhelming vote for a Cameron-led minority government, which they would hope to overthrow after they had sorted themselves out”. The attempt by ex-ministers Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt on 6 January at a palace coup within the Labour Party left both Gordon Brown and...

British Airways dispute: abolish the anti-union laws!

In early December, cabin crew working for British Airways voted — by a huge majority on a massive turnout — for strike action against job cuts and pay freezes. BA management went to court and, eventually, they got an injunction against the strike. The union has now announced a further strike ballot starting on 21 January. But it is a cumbersome process — the earliest BA workers will be able to strike is from the beginning of March! The December injunction was yet another example of how the law can be blatantly used against workers, squashing their “right” to strike. The BA workers’ union...

Ahmadinejad: murderer! For a secular democratic Iran! Support the workers!

Further street battles between Iranian pro-democracy protestors and the police are expected on 10-12 February, the anniversary of the 1979 revolution. In the latest protests, starting at the beginning of December, nine people were reported killed by the police. Iranian leftists say the real figure is much higher. Future protests could be meet even more violent and bloody repression. The regime has just passed a law enabling political executions to take place within five days. Non-political prisoners have been released from jail to “clear the way” for oppositionists. Will Ahmadinejad's regime...

Daniel Bensaïd dies

The following tribute to Daniel Bensaïd appeared on the website of the New Anticapitalist Party on Tuesday 12th January, 2010. Gravely ill for some months, our comrade Daniel Bensaïd died this morning. A revolutionary militant since his adolescence, he had been one of the founders of the JCR (Revolutionary Communist Youth) in 1966 and then one of the organisers of the Movement of the 22nd of March and and actor in the movement of May 1968 before participating in the creation of the Communist League in April 1969. Daniel Bensaïd spent a long time as a member of the leadership of the LCR...

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