Solidarity 489, 12 December 2018

Since Esmail Bakhshi, one of their elected representatives, was arrested on 18 November, the main demand of the workers of the Haft Tappeh sugar cane complex in south-west Iran has been his release. They are also demanding the immediate and unconditional release of Sepideh Gholian, a journalist and social rights activist, and Ali Nejati, one of the union’s former reps. The workers have been adamant that they will not end the strike until all three have been freed and “Haft Tappeh is completely in the hands of the workers … [and their] council”, or the government takes it over “[with all its]...

Its announcement in July that it would evict asylum seekers in Glasgow by simply changing the locks on their doors without going through due legal process triggered a wave of protests. For the time being at least Serco has backed down. Not least amongst those who raised their voices in righteous anger were Glasgow City Council officials and members of the ruling SNP Group. Media reports referred to “distraught council officials” who complained that “they had been given no meaningful warning” by Serco. SNP councillor Jennifer Layden, the Council’s equality and human rights spokesperson, said...

Clive Lewis spoke to Solidarity One thing that hasn’t been talked about much around Brexit is how that relates to environmental issues. How do you see that connection? Clive Lewis: Leaving Europe will mean that we will have less input into one of the biggest economic blocks in the world, and probably one of the most progressive, although that comes with some large caveats. This limits the amount of influence that we as people who are concerned about climate and economic justice can have on it. That can’t be a good thing. If we can in any way prevent that, while still respecting the terms and...

When the Minimum Wage was introduced, the bottom scale of local government pay was well above it. Now each time the Minimum Wage is increased, a couple of points at the bottom of the local government pay scales have to be removed because they’re now below that Minimum Wage. One reason why the decline in local government services is not so noticeable is that there’s been a huge hit to the pay of what was always mostly a low-paid workforce. Productivity figures are usually dubious — on the standard measures, real estate is reckoned to have the highest labour productivity of any sector — but it...

In the closing speech at the Another Europe Is Possible conference on 8 December, Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle recommended Best for Britain as the group with which AEIP should combine to form a joint campaign in a new public vote on Brexit. Because the speech was right at the end of the conference, no one had a chance to point out that an amendment passed earlier in the day, moved by Ben Towse and insisting that AEIP must above all voice an independent left-wing line, contradicted this proposal. But it did. Events the next day (9 December) dramatised the argument. AEIP, rightly, was on the...

Student Left Network member and Workers’ Liberty supporter Justine Canady launched her campaign for National Union of Students (NUS) President on Friday 7 December. She is running as part of the Student Left Network’s campaign of no confidence in current NUS President Shakira Martin. More candidates on the Student Left Network slate will be announced soon. Martin has given unelected student union CEOs and staff unchecked control over the NUS's response to its financial deficit, a response which will severely curtail democracy and campaigning. Students are to have no control over decision...

Michelle Rodgers has been elected president of the National Union of Rail, Maritime, and Transport workers (RMT), becoming the first woman president in the union’s history. She won a comprehensive victory, with 7,198 votes; her two opponents, Steve Shaw and Jamie Nickles, took 4,598 and 443 votes respectively. Michelle works for Arriva Rail North at Manchester Piccadilly, where she is a local union rep, and has previously served on the union’s National Executive Committee. She is also the secretary of her RMT branch, Manchester South. The national presidential position is the RMT’s most senior...

Click here for longer version of this article. In November, the PCS Independent Left (PCS IL) selected John Moloney, a genuine rank and file PCS activist with an outstanding campaigning and negotiating record, to contest the 2019 PCS election for Assistant General Secretary (AGS). Nominations open on 17 January, and voting will run from 16 April to 9 May. PCS’s dominant Left Unity (LU) faction has been divided since May into two warring camps, each backing a different member of the current PCS leadership to be the LU AGS candidate. The Socialist Party (SP) had chosen Chris Baugh, SP member...