The Socialist 25 October 2002

Stand By The Firefighters

FIREFIGHTERS HAVE resoundingly voted to take strike action despite government and media intimidation. More ...

Fighting for a Living Wage Feature

Stop Bush And Blair's War Plans: George W. Bush has been forced to sound a more cautious note over war with Iraq in an attempt to win over the doubters in the United Nations and because of overwhelming opposition internationally. More...

31 October protest plans

Railworkers Say 'Don't Work In Unsafe Conditions': LONDON UNDERGROUND plans to close 19 stations when the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) takes strike action.

Socialist Councillors Back Firefighters: COUNCILLOR DAVE Nellist, leader of the Socialist Group on Coventry council has sent a public message of support from the group to the city's firefighters' union.

Where Will The Money Come From? ...Do the press ask "where the money comes from" when rich chief executives get a huge pay rise? No....

Government's Pay Policy Undermines Safety: ANDY GILCHRIST, FBU general secretary has already said it is highly questionable whether certain sectors, including the nuclear industry and the railways, could operate safely during a strike.

'Opening The Floodgates' On Public-Sector Pay: ...What has become clear is the government's fear of the effect of a successful pay campaign by the firefighters on other public-sector workers. The Local Government Association declared that settling the firefighters' claim would "open the floodgates"...

Retained Firefighter Answers Media Propaganda: THE PRESS and TV went to town after the Retained Firefighters' Union (RFU) voted to oppose the strike. The impression was given that part-time retained firefighters would not be supporting the whole-timers' strike. John Bramley, station sub-officer at Bolsover spoke to Jon Dale about the real situation.

Fighting for a living wage: "THERE'S 99% support for the strike but we don't want to take strike action. We just don't have any other option. 

Twenty-Five Years Ago: THE LAST time the firefighters' union the FBU had a national strike over pay was in 1977, 25 years ago. 

Firefighters Shift Patterns: THE MAJORITY of firefighters and emergency fire control staff work the following shift pattern:

Editorial: Firefighters' Struggle Is All Workers' Struggle: FIREFIGHTERS ARE fully justified in their claim for £30,000 a year. There is a widespread recognition that a firefighters' job is more skilled than ever before and that they deserve better pay.

Letter of Support: THE SOCIALIST Party has sent a letter to the Fire Brigades Union offering our solidarity, which we print below.

IMPERIAL COLLEGE, part of London university, is spearheading attempts by the elite universities to charge students top-up fees. Sir Richard Sykes, Imperial College's vice-chancellor put proposals to the universities ruling council last week, which would charge annual fees of £10,500.

SINGING THE Internationale (the anthem of revolutionary socialism) thousands of workers marched in over 100 cities and towns as a three million-strong general strike brought Italy to a halt.

Berlusconi Out! Say Angry Workers:  UP TO 15,000 striking workers and youth filled the streets of Catania, Sicily, on 18 October in a show of strength against Berlusconi and his reactionary coalition. Henry Silke, Lotta per il socialismo (CWI, Italy)

'Disobedient' Movement Supports The Workers: THE ITALIAN youth movement - the 'disobedients' (formally known as 'tutti bianchi') took symbolic action over the length and breadth of Italy to coincide with the 18 October general strike.

Feature: 35 years after the Abortion Act: THE 1967 Abortion Act, which legalised abortion on social grounds as well as purely health grounds, was a big step forward in women’s struggle for reproductive rights – for the right to end an unwanted pregnancy.

What The 1967 Act Says….

WHAT WE STAND FOR:

ON 17 October ex-Labour Party member Mike Woolfe was elected as 'independent' mayor of Stoke-on-Trent, pushing Stoke South's Labour MP George Stevenson into second place after second preference votes were counted.

VOTERS IN southern Ireland have passed the Nice treaty by a significant majority - 63% to 37%. Just over a year ago Irish voters rejected the same treaty by 54% to 46%.By Michael Murphy

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Stand By The Firefighters

• Stand firm for the full claim of £30,000 for firefighters and emergency fire control staff with no strings. Pay parity for retained firefighters.

• Any attempts to cross firefighters' picket lines should be met with organised solidarity action from other unions.

• Get a firefighter to speak at your local Socialist Party and trade union branch.

• Build support for the firefighters on local Socialist Party stalls and activities.

• Encourage the setting up of local public-sector alliances of trade unionists who are fighting for better pay and conditions.

FIREFIGHTERS HAVE resoundingly voted to take strike action despite government and media intimidation.

By a margin of nine to one, over 80% of them voted in their ballot for action. Now their union has planned 36 days of strike action, starting on 29 October, in pursuit of a fully justified 40% pay claim

Public support has forced government ministers to concede firefighters' claims for higher pay are justified. But that doesn't stop these same ministers squaring up for a fight.

Can you believe these hypocrites who gave themselves huge pay rises last year - in some cases amounting to more than 40%? And it is these same ministers who could be asking young people in a few weeks to risk their lives in a war for oil against Iraq.

It was also these government ministers who scuppered an earlier 16% offer to firefighters and who only set up a sham review body when it was clear the firefighters were serious about action.

Now the government is said to be seriously worried and is backtracking and pleading for the union to go to review. But the government don't want a genuine review only one that backs up the bosses' minimal offer.

Working-class people throughout Britain will be standing by the firefighters.

Everyone knows the government has been spoiling to take on the firefighters' union and break them, as an example to all those struggling against low pay.

Government ministers know that the last firefighters' strike in 1977 - when a Labour government similarly presided over pay restraint for public-sector workers - led to millions of workers taking strike action to win a decent living wage.

Now, even more than in the 1970s there is a welling up of class anger over the wealth divide in British society.

Working-class people struggling for better pay and conditions have had enough and will be backing the firefighters to strike a blow against Blair's low pay Britain.

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Protest on 31 October

Stop Bush And Blair's War Plans

George W. Bush has been forced to sound a more cautious note over war with Iraq in an attempt to win over the doubters in the United Nations and because of overwhelming opposition internationally.

Responding to public anger, France and Russia in particular have dragged their heels over the precise formulation of the UN resolution.

Ken Douglas

However they would be unable to resist a deal sweetened by access to the Iraqi oil fields which represent 11% of world supply, particularly as continued opposition to Bush's war plans would leave them out in the cold. Russia has $8 billion tied up in Iraq and France is keen to develop trade and win reconstruction contracts.

Despite his caution, Bush's intent is still clear. More US troops are going to the Gulf: 1,400 on a special forces exercise in Jordan, Central command staff to Qatar and HQ personnel and a Marine expeditionary force to Kuwait on exercises. Bush's poodle Blair has ordered the modification of tanks for desert warfare and is preparing to call up reservists.

At the same time the opposition amongst ordinary people continues to grow, as shown by the 400,000-strong demo in Britain, demos in Australia and the US itself.

The bombing of the nightclub in Bali has made people more apprehensive about the consequences of a terrorist backlash following an invasion of Iraq. It also undermines the contention that regime-change in Iraq is a necessary part of the war against terrorism; opposition to the war has grown since the bombing.

The protest on 31 October called by the Stop the War Coalition, which the Socialist Party is an active member of, is another important step in building the anti-war movement in Britain. The scale of the demonstrations worldwide have made Bush and Blair pause in their preparation for war and may still possibly stop them.

However if a war starts it won't just be a case of getting signatures on a petition, or of mobilising for marches.

An active campaign of civil disobedience has to be built and organised which has roots in the workplaces, the communities and the schools and colleges. That is why the proposals put by the Socialist Party of getting pledge sheets and cards filled in are so important.

The anti-war movement must link up with workers' struggles against privatisation and low pay. 31 October is a test run, a preparation for this.

It is vital that we raise the ideas of socialism and the need for a new workers' party within this movement.

A mass party based on socialist policies and committed to fighting for working-class people would not only provide the link between all these struggles but also a real alternative to New Labour's big business policies and its slavish support for US imperialism.

31 October protests:

London:

Walk-out and demonstration - called by Brunel Socialist Students: 'Students against the War'.

Walthamstow college - midday, walk-out and demonstration. 6pm protest - Town Square, Walthamstow.

Lewisham - midday rally of council workers at Town Hall, Catford. Goldsmiths students plan a protest in the afternoon.

All-London rally

5.30 pm, Parliament Sq, march to 10 Downing St to hand in petitions (called by Stop the War Coalition).

Leicester

4pm rally in city centre, 5pm road blockade.

Manchester

1pm protest outside Arts block, Manchester University (called by Anti-War Society) 6pm demo, Manchester Metropolitan University

Mansfield

Lunchtime rally, Market Square

Merseyside

Midday protest - Liverpool Community College and Southport college Street blockade - 6pm, Lime St, city centre.

Public meeting: How to take the anti-war movement forward. 7.30pm, Neptune Room, Blue Coat Chamber, School Lane, Liverpool.

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Fighting for a Living Wage

Railworkers say...

Don't Work In Unsafe Conditions

LONDON UNDERGROUND plans to close 19 stations when the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) takes strike action. They plan to run the rest of the network as normal, despite having no idea how their staff and passengers' safety can be safeguarded.

Bill Johnson, London Underground worker

The Green Goddesses that will provide fire cover won't carry breathing apparatus and troops operating them will have no experience of dealing with emergencies on public transport or in deep tunnels.

Asked what level of training the troops will receive London Underground management just said it would be an "appropriate level". Asked what an appropriate level of training would be they replied that they don't know.

The government can always rely on Underground bosses to do its dirty work. They ignored mounting evidence from the national railways that PPP will be neither safe nor efficient. Now they're ignoring real safety issues posed by a firefighters' strike so the government can claim to be coping with the FBU action.

The executives of the two main rail unions, Aslef and RMT, are due to meet on 25 October to discuss the implications for tube and rail workers.

Both Mick Rix (General Secretary Aslef) and Bob Crow (General Secretary RMT) have made it known they believe workers can refuse to carry out duties in an unsafe environment under existing health and safety laws.

Staff refusing to carry out unsafe duties, such as running trains without fire cover, would not be taking strike action and workers would not accept any disciplinary measures or pay deductions against those involved.

Both unions need to explain this position to members quickly. Some members think they're being asked to take strike action in support of the FBU rather than refusing to operate an unsafe service. Workers also need to be made aware of the totally inadequate arrangements being botched up to provide fire cover during the strikes.

Of course many tubeworkers are very happy to support the FBU in any way possible. When we took our strike action for pay a few weeks ago we were told that the firefighters had a much better case than us.

Now the FBU demand a living wage they're told nurses are more deserving. If the nurses strike no doubt it will be at the expense of porters and cleaners!

All public-sector workers must ensure that public safety is not sacrificed to help Blair's war on the FBU. Every trade unionist and worker must support action, by any group of workers, to force up wages which can only add to pressure for an increase in wages overall.

The FBU dispute comes at the same time as local government workers, teachers and workers across public-sector workplaces, are planning strikes. What is needed now is generalised action.

Individual unions and union leaders must put pressure on the TUC to call a one-day, public sector-wide strike on workers' pay and conditions and to oppose privatisation.

Socialist Councillors Back Firefighters

COUNCILLOR DAVE Nellist, leader of the Socialist Group on Coventry council has sent a public message of support from the group to the city's firefighters' union:

Where Will The Money Come From?

"WE BACK the firefighters' strike, they're worth every penny, but where's the money going to come from?" 

Roger Shrives

Most firefighters and their supporters will hear that argument over the coming weeks, especially when an unsympathetic capitalist press gets to work.

At present, a fully qualified firefighter gets £21,531 a year for a 42-hour week, working shifts around the clock. (See below)

Do the press ask "where the money comes from" when rich chief executives get a huge pay rise? No.

But these bosses' pay went up by an average 89% over the last five years. At least 130 company directors got paid over £1 million each last year.

Tony Blair gave himself a 40% pay rise, shortly after the last general election. The rise, worth about £50,000 a year, was postponed from 1997 when the Senior Salaries Review Board recommended it, but it was still a slap in the face for the rest of the public-sector workforce.

Workers' average earnings grew only 3.4% in 2001 - the lowest rise for 35 years. The present wage offensive is merely catching up on years of underpaying.

We say make big business and the rich pay for our services. Top business corporations used to pay much higher corporation tax on profits and on capital gains.

Despite years of cuts in this taxation, by the year 2000 it accounted for 1.8% of gross domestic product (GDP - broadly Britain's national income). With a GDP of £970 billion it brought around £17.4 billion into government coffers.

Last year, 2001, after even more corporation tax cuts for big business in New Labour budgets, corporation tax only accounted for 0.6% of national income. In other words it brought in only £5.82 billion.

So the government has given £11.64 billion to disgustingly rich businessmen in one year through corporation tax cuts alone.

The cost of meeting the firefighters' pay claim would be £400 million, so bringing corporation tax back up to 33% would very easily pay this and other wage claims.

On top of that, years of high employment have, up to now, given the government higher revenue from tax. Most middle-income earners are paying the same rate of taxation as the super-rich.

This trend has been increased by rises in other more regressive forms of taxation such as National Insurance, which is capped on earnings above £600 a week - so the rich pay less.

The best way to meet the wages bill would be through a socialist society where the working class run society and decide where the money is spent. But even within capitalism there's plenty of money to pay the firefighters.

Government's Pay Policy Undermines Safety

ANDY GILCHRIST, FBU general secretary has already said it is highly questionable whether certain sectors, including the nuclear industry and the railways, could operate safely during a strike.

After the meeting on 21 October with Tony Blair he told the BBC: "If we talk and resolve the issue of pay then there need be no issue about safety or indeed people being put at risk". He said the meeting had showed the government's alternative arrangements for fire and rescue cover were "wholly inadequate".

During a firefighters' strike, workers may be forced to leave unsafe workplaces and the rail unions and other public sector unions like UNISON are considering what to do to ensure their members and the public's safety is protected.

'Opening The Floodgates' On Public-Sector Pay

THE GOVERNMENT is arguing that the firefighters should wait for the fire service review to report before continuing their fight for a living wage. But the FBU's strike bulletin reported how Sir Tony Young, a member of the review body, told FBU officials at the Labour Party conference: "The review team is not going to deliver what you want and the FBU will have to accept that."

What has become clear is the government's fear of the effect of a successful pay campaign by the firefighters on other public-sector workers. The Local Government Association declared that settling the firefighters' claim would "open the floodgates".

Over the last few years the employers, local councils, have been trying to cut costs in the fire service by closing stations and reducing the number of vehicles available.

The union have fought these cuts, sometimes with strike action but it was clear at a press conference on 17 October that the employers still have cuts on the agenda.

They talk about 'modernisation' but what they mean is longer hours, fewer firefighters, fewer control rooms, less fire engines and less fire stations.

Most workers and all public-sector workers will recognise these euphemisms for cuts and privatisation: 'flexibility, contracting- out, sponsors, regional pay, performance-related pay, mixed crewing, multi-tier entry, ring-fence pensions' and more.

Firefighters know that if they do not fight tooth and nail in this pay campaign, they will have to face these cuts in the future.

Retained Firefighter Answers Media Propaganda

THE PRESS and TV went to town after the Retained Firefighters' Union (RFU) voted to oppose the strike. The impression was given that part-time retained firefighters would not be supporting the whole-timers' strike. 

John Bramley, station sub-officer at Bolsover spoke to Jon Dale about the real situation.

"Everybody at this station is a member of the FBU and 100% behind the strike. Whole-timers are worth every penny of the claim and we fully support them. Whatever they get in the final settlement we'll get the same percentage.

"That's why we feel the RFU shouldn't be breaking the strike, because they will benefit from any rise the FBU has won. I'm disappointed that the wrong message has got through about part-timers. People may think that we're not backing the strike when the vast majority of retained are in the FBU.

"In Derbyshire there isn't a full station in the RFU. They may have the odd member here and there but not enough to get a pump out.

"As retained firefighters we're fighting for parity of pay on the fire ground with our whole-time colleagues. That's one of the big things for us.

"At the moment we only get £6.50 an hour when we can be working side-by-side with whole-timers on about £1.50 an hour more, doing the same job. If they end up on £10 an hour we'll get that too."

Fighting for a living wage

Twenty-Five Years Ago

THE LAST time the firefighters' union the FBU had a national strike over pay was in 1977, 25 years ago. 

Since then major incidents like the King's Cross fire and the Bradford football stadium disaster have meant health and safety issues are much higher up society's agenda.

Like 25 years ago, many firefighters with families now have to claim benefits to get by. The old way of determining firefighters' pay means they have fallen further and further behind others such as the police who are on starting salary of £19,842 compared to a salary of £17,000 for a new firefighter.

In 1977, the then Labour government was determined to maintain their 10% pay limit. Many firefighters then, as now, were forced to claim benefits and do second jobs to survive.

During the nine-week strike, the press foamed at the mouth. The Times excelled itself by urging the Labour government to resist the firefighters' claim and ignore other workers' support : "The longer the strike goes on the better reason the government has to be ready to ride out any temporary gusts of public opinion.

"The fireman's wages are not low - certainly not by comparison with farm labourers or some of the soldiers in the green goddesses, their job involves very obvious non-monetary personal rewards."

In contrast, The Militant's (The Socialist's predecessor) editorial in December 1977 said: "If the firefighters win, millions of other workers will benefit. Next in line are one million very low paid local authority workers...

"The firemen must win! The pressure must be increased. The TUC must give every assistance necessary to win the strike. They must call mass demonstrations of all trade unionists in every city to show the support and determination of the rest of the labour movement to see the strike through to victory."

But even before the current strikes begin, the Times is at it again, trying to split them from other workers, using its usual balanced arguments:

"Unlike teachers, firefighters are not under severe pressure throughout their working day. Less than 10 per cent of a firefighter's time on duty is spent attending incidents. Their hours enable them to have two jobs. Unlike London Underground drivers, their work is not repetitive, lonely and boring.

"Unlike nurses, doctors and paramedics, they do not routinely save lives on a daily basis. Their day-to-day personal safety is probably threatened less than that of a patrolling police officer. Firefighters run less risk of serious injury or death than those who work in construction or agriculture."

In spite of the press propaganda, the 1977 strike, with massive public support, resulted in victory and established the current pay formula, based on comparisons with industrial manual workers' pay. That formula is now out of date and firefighters are being forced into their second national strike by an intransigent Labour government.

Firefighters Shift Patterns

THE MAJORITY of firefighters and emergency fire control staff work the following shift pattern:

Monday 9am to 6pm =9 hours

Tuesday 9am to 6pm =9 hours

Wednesday 6pm to 12pm =6 hours

Thursday 12pm to 9am,then 6pm to 12pm =15 hours

Friday 12pm to 9am =9 hours

Saturday and Sunday off

The new week starts again on Tuesday, moving the whole shift system forward by one day a week.

Source: Firefighter, the FBU magazine

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Editorial

Firefighters' Struggle Is All Workers' Struggle

FIREFIGHTERS ARE fully justified in their claim for £30,000 a year. There is a widespread recognition that a firefighters' job is more skilled than ever before and that they deserve better pay.

The firefighters have been pushed in to a corner by the Blair government and have no option but to fight. The overwhelming support they have - 68% agreed that they should be paid more - is recognition from other workers that the firefighters' struggle is their struggle.

Despite this, the New Labour government has mounted a black propaganda spin operation designed to intimidate and undermine the FBU and those practically supporting the firefighters, like Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT railworkers' union.

They fully understand this will be the most important strike since Labour came to power five years ago.

In the Observer on 20 October, Andrew Rawnsley commented: "A few of the more manic New Labourite strategists have always fantasised about a major strike so that they could dress Tony Blair in a blond wig and arm him with a handbag to do a Margaret Thatcher and face down the unions. I recall one conversation with a member of the New Labour high command just before they first came to power. He positively looked forward to a strike by a big union. His face lit up at the prospect of showing the unions - and the voters - who was boss. 'We will crush them,' he smiled.

"I doubt that he is smiling now. Even the most macho members of this Government would not have picked the firefighters as their preferred adversaries."

Tony Blair (salary £171,000) wants to prove to his big business friends that he can "take on the unions" and has condemned the strike as "wrong and dangerous". Nick Raynsford (salary £124,000), the government minister for the fire service, now calls the proposed strike "criminal".

But, it is the government who are criminal in being "prepared to risk lives" not the firefighters. Ministers like John Prescott and Nick Raynsford are prepared to gamble with peoples' lives for their own political ends by allowing the use of antiquated "Green Goddesses", which do not have radios and their hoses will not reach the part of any building above two storeys high.

Behind the government's tough rhetoric, however, lies a deep fear about the support and effectiveness of a firefighters' strike. The government is panic-stricken that the strike could, if successful, open the floodgates for millions of workers angry about their low pay and dreadful conditions to take similar strike action.

Solidarity action

BLAIR'S GOVERNMENT are perhaps now not so keen at the prospect of a firefighters' strike, and, like Thatcher did on more than one occasion, they may still retreat to fight again another day and push for a compromise through some review procedure.

Yet, with them looking at ways of reining in public expenditure, as a world economic recession and crisis bites ever deeper, it still seems more likely they will try and tough it out against the firefighters.

Indeed, it's possible the government could escalate its attacks on the FBU. In turn the union leaders must prepare appropriate solidarity action in response.

The Socialist Party calls on all workers to support the firefighters. If they win then others will also be prepared to take action to defend living standards.

Trade unionists should link up with the local FBU fire stations in a public sector alliance to end poverty pay. Workers should demand from their bosses a proper review of the "risk-assessment" in the workplace during strike days. If it is not satisfactory a legal walk out under the health and safety regulations should be organised.

But it is still astounding, given the government's attacks, that the FBU continues to finance the Labour Party. Why should the unions continue to pay money to a government party that stabs them in the back?

It is time the unions broke from New Labour and launched a new mass workers' party which supports workers and unions in struggle.

THE SOCIALIST Party has sent a letter to the Fire Brigades Union offering our solidarity, which we print below.

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Student fees

"Top" Universities Plan Top-Up Fees

IMPERIAL COLLEGE, part of London university, is spearheading attempts by the elite universities to charge students top-up fees. Sir Richard Sykes, Imperial College's vice-chancellor put proposals to the universities ruling council last week, which would charge annual fees of £10,500.

Kieran Roberts

According to Sykes, this is in advance of moves by the government to remove restrictions on universities charging extra fees, after the inquiry into higher education is published.

Vice- chancellors like Sykes have their eye on the large sums of money which they hope can be gained by charging fees of £10,000 upwards. They say this extra money will make them part of a global elite of prestigious (and rich) universities competing for the 'top' (wealthiest) students from around the world.

But top-up fees completely price working-class students out of these elite universities. Attending a university charging top-up fees would mean taking on thousands more pounds in debt.

And with many of the poorest universities already in crisis due to lack of government funding, this would increase the gulf in facilities, class sizes and services within higher education.

While a rich minority get a 'world-class' education, the majority will get second or third best.

The vice-chancellors of the elite universities or the 'Russell Group' argue that there is no option except charging top-up fees because the government can't fund them adequately. However, New Labour can find the millions needed to go to war and destroy the lives of thousands of Afghanis and possibly Iraqis.

Students must fight for a massive injection of funding in education to ensure all universities can provide the best level of education to students.

We must also fight for the abolition of all fees and for the restoration of a decent grant students can live on, through a campaign of mass non-payment of fees. Only a system of free education can guarantee all students an education, regardless of their background.

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Millions Join Italian General Strike

SINGING THE Internationale (the anthem of revolutionary socialism) thousands of workers marched in over 100 cities and towns as a three million-strong general strike brought Italy to a halt.

The second general strike in six months has again shown the determination Italian workers and youth have to fight back against the hated Berlusconi government.

Milan: the biggest demonstration saw 250,000 workers take to the streets to hear the recently retired secretary of CGIL, Sergio Coferatti, speak. Cofferatti is expected to turn to politics and aim to win the leadership of the ex-communist Democrats of the Left (DS). This would be seen as a significant shift to the left, even though politically, Cofferatti is a firm believer in capitalism.

Turin: 200,000 took to the streets and heard speeches from Fassino, a right-wing leader of the DS and Bertinotti the leader of the Communist Refoundation Party (PRC).

Florence: in the city which will play host to the European Social Forum in November, 200,000 packed the streets. In Rome 150,000 marched. In Bologna 85,000 took to the streets; in Genova 70,000 and in Palermo, 30,000.

The general strike raises again the need for a clear political campaign to bring down the Berlusconi government and replace it with a government of workers and young people. Capitalism offers no future for them; only socialist ideas can provide a real and just solution to unemployment, poverty and inequality.

Socialist Party members are attending the European Social Forum, details tel: 020 8988 8791.

Berlusconi Out! Say Angry Workers

UP TO 15,000 striking workers and youth filled the streets of Catania, Sicily, on 18 October in a show of strength against Berlusconi and his reactionary coalition.

It was one of hundreds of protests in Italy's second general strike in six months. The strike was in defence of article 18, a law that affords workers some small protection from the bosses, and against budget cuts.

It also is in support of the recent strike action by Fiat car workers threatened with 8,100 job cuts.

The CGIL (ex-communist) trade union confederation called the strike despite the CISL and UIL "moderate" unions making a deal with Berlusconi and Confindustria (the bosses' organisation) earlier this year. Workers jeered and whistled as we passed the UIL offices.

For Sicily - a region with high unemployment (120,000 in Palermo alone, 29% of the working population) - article 18 is even more important.

Last year workers at a petrochemical plant in Gela, western Sicily, staged a general strike and semi-insurrection when this small city's main employer was closing down, forcing state intervention. This strike was even more widespread as thousands of Sicilian workers face life on the dole at FIAT.

Thousands of youth from the universities and secondary schools turned out. The students used the general strike to protest against the reforms of education minister Letizia Moratti, Italy's own Margaret Thatcher!

The Catania Social Forum also supported the protest going further than CGIL in calling for article 18 to be extended to all workers. (The article only covers workplaces with more than 15 employees).

Henry Silke, Catania, Sicily.

Lotta per il socialismo (CWI, Italy)

'Disobedient' Movement Supports The Workers

THE ITALIAN youth movement - the 'disobedients' (formally known as 'tutti bianchi') took symbolic action over the length and breadth of Italy to coincide with the 18 October general strike.

Henry Silke, Italy

The three days of action began on 16 October with a national anti-McDonald's day - protesting against McDonald's treatment of its "McWorkers" and the multinational's environmental record.

The youth, who are organised around occupied 'social centres', protested on other anti-globalisation issues such as sweatshops, the environment and the forthcoming Iraq war.

In Bologna, activists occupied a Benetton shop. In Padova and Venice they organised anti-war protests. In Naples they occupied a job centre.

In Milan, an abandoned theatre was occupied. For the general strike itself in Rome they organised a strike parade in support of the workers.

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35 years after the Abortion Act

For A Real Right To Choose

THE 1967 Abortion Act, which legalised abortion on social grounds as well as purely health grounds, was a big step forward in women’s struggle for reproductive rights – for the right to end an unwanted pregnancy. Its introduction is a testament to the determination of women in the labour movement and other campaigners for women’s rights to end the suffering caused by illegal, ‘back street’ abortions.

Eleanor Donne

Opponents of abortion rights talk as if abortion did not happen in this country before 1967 but nothing could be further from the truth. Reliable estimates put the number of abortions in the years leading up to 1967 at 100,000 a year, the same as in 1971, four years after legalisation.

These illegal abortions were usually carried out by unskilled people under unhygienic conditions, and thousands of women each year died or were left with permanent health problems after suffering haemorrhaging or infection from a ‘bodged’ abortion.

Many were too scared to seek medical attention as they risked prison by doing so.

The Abortion Act was introduced at a time of economic boom when women were starting to work outside the home in greater numbers, were growing in confidence and demanding recognition of their role and rights within society.

This same process gave rise to legislation on equal pay and sex discrimination.

Although the wording of the Act itself is pretty restrictive, in practice it allowed abortion on social grounds. In other words, factors such as inadequate housing, domestic violence, poverty and family stress could be taken into account in allowing a woman to terminate her pregnancy.

The Act today is interpreted quite widely, reflecting changes in social attitudes on abortion. In a recent poll 77% of people (81% women and 72% men) supported a woman’s right to choose to end an unwanted pregnancy. But the law as it stands does not give a woman the right to choose whether to continue with her pregnancy. It requires two doctors to certify that a woman can have a termination.

This causes unnecessary delays in obtaining abortions. In Sweden, for example, where abortion is available on any grounds up to the eighteenth week of pregnancy, 95% of terminations are carried out before the twelfth week of pregnancy, whereas in this country only 89% are. Research and statistics show that earlier abortions are safer and less traumatic for women.

Prejudices

The current law also leaves women vulnerable to the personal beliefs/prejudice of the doctors. A recent National Abortion Campaign (NAC) survey found that nearly a quarter of GPs do not think that abortion should be available on the NHS.

The current law should be amended to remove the need for the doctors’ signatures. In reality the doctors are not making a medical decision.

If there are medical reasons why an abortion is not advisable then a doctor’s opinion is relevant. As to whether to continue with a pregnancy the choice should rest with the woman – with support and advice available to her.

This is not a particularly far reaching demand given that 50 countries containing 41% of the world’s population currently allow abortion with no restriction on grounds (reasons) generally up to the 12th week of pregnancy.

But as we know only too well, legal rights are only half the battle. One of the biggest problems of the 1967 Act was that it did not make provision for extra NHS funding or facilities for abortions.

Women seeking a termination face the problem not only of whether their GP is pro or anti-choice, but whether their health authority will fund an abortion. NHS statistics from 1999 (the most recent available) show that 98% of abortions are funded by the NHS in Scotland, 86% in Wales, but only 74% in England.

To put it another way a quarter of women in England have to pay for their abortion. Within England there are wide variations in availability from region to region. London is particularly bad with only 64% of abortions on the NHS.

There should be proper funding and expansion of abortion facilities so that women don’t face the current ‘abortion lottery’ depending on where they live and to ensure that they do not face unnecessary and often traumatic delays due to shortages of staff, beds or facilities.

Women should have the right to choose when and whether to have children. No matter what a woman’s circumstances are, she should have the right to decide whether to continue with her pregnancy.

But having real choice is a wider question. It also means having access to free, safe contraception and advice to prevent pregnancy, as well as fertility treatment on the NHS for those that are unable to have children.

Under the present system too many women do not face a genuine choice. For this right to be a concrete one, society needs to be organised differently so that having a child does not lead to a drop in income, poverty, and social exclusion.

Benefits for children should reflect the real cost of bringing up a child and there should be good quality childcare available not just for work but for some social life, as well as affordable housing. In short, we need the genuinely family-friendly policies contained in our socialist programme.

What The 1967 Act Says….

Abortion can be carried out in England, Scotland and Wales (not Northern Ireland) if two doctors agree that the woman is less than 28 weeks pregnant (amended to less then 24 weeks in 1990 as part of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act) and if continuing with the pregnancy would involve risk to her physical or mental health greater than if the pregnancy was terminated.

There is no time limit if the woman’s life is in danger or there is a risk of grave harm to health or in cases of foetal abnormality.

WHAT WE STAND FOR:

• Free abortion on request.

• For a fully funded, democratically controlled National Health Service.

• Access to free, safe contraception including emergency contraception. A reversal of the cuts in family planning and the establishment of sympathetic youth advisory centres.

• Improved sex education in schools.

• Access to fertility treatment on the NHS for all those who need it.

• Public ownership of the pharmaceutical industry.

• minimum wage of £8 an hour. A minimum income linked to the minimum wage.

• A network of publicly funded, good quality, flexible childcare.

• Maternity and child benefit to reflect the real cost of pregnancy, childbirth and bringing up a child.

• Maternity, paternity and carers’ leave on full pay for all who need it.

• A massive increase in spending on housing, education and other public services.

• A democratically run socialist society, planned to meet social needs rather than the profits of a few.

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Stoke: Racist BNP Pose A Warning To Workers

ON 17 October ex-Labour Party member Mike Woolfe was elected as 'independent' mayor of Stoke-on-Trent, pushing Stoke South's Labour MP George Stevenson into second place after second preference votes were counted.

More worryingly, the racist far right BNP won 8,213 votes (19% of the total) and only 1,143 behind Mike Woolfe in the first round.

For a few hours the spectre of a BNP mayor hung over the city - some talked of packing up and leaving the city: others were adamant we need to fight racism.

The BNP's vote should serve as a serious warning to working people; the BNP will use the vote as a springboard for next May's local elections. On this showing they could win one or more council seats.

The election campaign was very apolitical. None of the candidates put forward a serious strategy to deal with such problems as unemployment, job insecurity, low wages, bad housing, poverty etc.

The BNP have no answers but, by concentrating particularly on the "threat" posed by asylum seekers, they tapped into the anger which many working-class people feel at their betrayal by New Labour.

Many saw voting BNP as the best way to protest against the constant attacks which they suffer. Many BNP voters also voted for the openly gay Mike Woolfe as their second preference which shows the protest character of much of the BNP vote but also some confusion.

Many people were so alienated at the choices on offer, that they correctly felt that nothing would change fundamentally.

Despite having a postal ballot and extensive daily coverage by the local media only 24% bothered to vote. In reality, no candidate offered anything serious to vote for and the BNP provided a vehicle to protest.

New Labour now openly rules for big business and no longer represents working-class people. In effect working people in Britain have no mass political representation.

This result shows how, unfortunately, workers' anger can find an expression through populist slogans of far right racist/fascist parties like the BNP.

This again raises the need to build a new mass party of working-class people based on socialist principles. The potential growth of the BNP, given the political vacuum which currently exists, makes this an even more urgent task.

Ireland's Referendum How The Bosses Got Their Yes Vote

VOTERS IN southern Ireland have passed the Nice treaty by a significant majority - 63% to 37%. Just over a year ago Irish voters rejected the same treaty by 54% to 46%.

Michael Murphy

More voters turned out this year, up from 34% to 49%. However the 'no' vote increased slightly despite the establishment campaign in favour of Nice. A significant percentage of the Irish population are against Nice but also very suspicious of the European project.

There was an incredible bias towards the 'yes' side particularly in the print media. In the last week, most newspapers carried editorials and front-page leaders calling on people to vote yes.

Socialist Party TD (MP) Joe Higgins estimated that up to 80% of newspaper coverage was given to the 'yes' side, who also outspent the 'no' side by 9:1 on campaign literature, posters and advertising.

Lined up on the 'yes' side were the Irish establishment - the government, the main opposition parties Fine Gael and Labour, the trade union bureaucracy, the church, and big business groups. This was a must-win for the government and the Irish ruling class.

Their standing among the EU bureaucrats had taken a battering after last year's rejection of the treaty. Support for the Taoiseach (prime minister) Bertie Ahern and his government has plummeted over the spate of cutbacks since the election and also about new corruption allegations that remain unanswered.

Indeed if Nice had been rejected Ahern's days could have been numbered. The stakes were high for the government so they used doom-laden messages to frighten people into voting yes.

Ireland will lose jobs, they said - foreign investment will dry up, Ireland will be isolated in Europe. However the yes side got across the message that Nice was about enlargement of the EU.

They said that if Ireland voted no they would block the entry of up to ten Eastern Europe states to the EU and it would be selfish not to give them the same "opportunities" that Ireland had once had. This was the key reason why so many people voted yes.

The government also used the developing economic slowdown to their advantage. Irish people know the so called "good times" are over and the economic future looks bleak. Many people worried that a no vote would hasten this process.

Privatisation threat

THE NO campaign had two very different sides. The majority side was the Alliance Against Nice initiated by the Socialist Party but also including Sinn Fein, Green Party and some Independent TDs.

The Socialist Party through Joe Higgins TD had a high profile in this referendum. We organised up to 20 public meetings around the country and participated in many more Alliance Against Nice meetings.

Our party put the vital issue of Article 133 of the Nice Treaty, dealing with liberalisation and privatisation of water, postal services, education etc, on the agenda in this campaign.

The other no campaign, of mainly right-wing Catholic fundamentalists from the anti-abortion campaigns and right-wing academics representing nothing, formed the umbrella No to Nice campaign. The media pushed them as somehow speaking for every one on the no side - a deliberate tactic to split the no vote.

Their campaign focused on issues such as immigration but couldn't make this a fundamental issue. It emerged during the campaign that Justin Barrett, their so-called leader, had spoken at a number of extreme right rallies in Germany. This had a certain impact on the vote. These reactionary people turned off some good people who may have voted no.

The media disgustingly held Barrett up as leader of the No side in the debate despite the Alliance Against Nice having 15 TDs in their ranks. However the no vote in Ireland is far from reactionary and these people had relatively little impact on the overall vote.

The yes victory may temporarily lift the pressure on the government.

However in December's budget huge cuts are planned in public spending and the corruption issue hasn't gone away with a number of Fianna Fail politicians in the dock over their links with businessmen and developers.

Even though the Irish people have voted yes to Nice the battle is only starting. Many Irish people in the coming years will realise that they have been duped by the establishment.

Issues such as the push towards a common EU defence force with an EU army will be on the agenda. So will attacks on public services and privatisations as is already happening in many parts of Europe. This will highlight the lies of the yes side.

The Socialist Party will be the main force that will lead a battle against these attacks on Irish workers. Our members are already involved in many battles that will only be heightened by the yes vote to Nice.

A FUTURE issue of The Socialist will carry an article on the implications of the enlargement of the European Union after the Irish referendum.