The Socialist 11 November 2009

Fight for real jobs and free education

End the war in Afghanistan: Bring the troops back now!

Socialism 2009: An excellent weekend!

Postal workers force management back

Unison witch-hunt: Defend the Four campaign gets a boost

RMT conference on political representation

20 years after fall of Berlin Wall, capitalist triumphalism turns rotten

General Motors - no to 'divide and rule' in Germany

Ireland: 90,000 march against government cuts

United Socialist Party congress delegates defy difficult conditions in Sri Lanka

Leeds bin strike - week ten

London bus strike

Strikes force concessions

Steelworkers get organised and score a victory over bonus payments

Fujitsu

College strike

Big business fights for fees: Students must fight back

Internationally young people fight for their rights

Reclaim the game by John Reid

Anti-fascists tactics - What happened in Newport?

Previous issues, etc

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Strikes force concessions

Six days of strike action by 700 South Yorkshire Fire Brigade Union (FBU) members have forced major concessions from the Chief Fire Officer and Labour-controlled fire authority.

Alistair Tice

The threat of mass dismissals has been withdrawn, and the strings previously attached to going to arbitration (ACAS) over proposed shift changes have been dropped. So the FBU has called off further strikes. The union has reiterated its proposal for a change to a ten-hour day and 14-hour night shift system that would have a lot less detrimental impact on parents and carers than the management's 12-hour shifts that they were trying to impose.

A bullying management that sought to impose shift changes by threatening mass sackings and then a lock-out has been forced to retreat by the solidarity of firefighters across South Yorkshire. This was backed by the support of brigades throughout the UK, demonstrated by the 2,000 at the Barnsley rally, and overwhelming public support, despite very biased media reporting.

Similarly, three days of solid strike action by First Bus drivers in Sheffield has forced management at the Olive Grove depot to back down on the five drivers who had unjust disciplinaries against them. Disciplinary action has been overturned, with money owed paid back to them.

Consequently, the Unite union depot committee suspended a planned strike last Saturday, pending more talks on 10 November about outstanding issues, especially the disciplinary procedures. At the time of writing, further strikes on 12 and 15 November will go ahead if talks don't resolve the issues to drivers' satisfaction.

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