Archive for February 2008
6 February 2008
PCS Young Members' Forum: The third Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) young member's forum took place over 1-3 February... By Matt Dobson
6 February 2008
France: LCR votes to launch a new party
THE REVOLUTIONARY Communist League (LCR) in France held its 17th congress on 24-27 January and agreed, with a large majority, to initiate a new, broad, anti-capitalist party... By Judy Beishon
6 February 2008
MEMBERS OF Parliament are worried about their tarnished image. And they should be. After the furore over "dodgy donations" from big business came a series...
6 February 2008
How can an alternative to the main political parties be developed?
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Socialism 2007 Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, photo Paul Mattsson |
6 February 2008
Birmingham: Thousands on strike against pay cuts
More than 20,000 Birmingham Council workers were on 24-hour strike on 5 February 2008 over a new pay and grading system and employment contract which will see many lose basic pay... By Clive Walder, Birmingham Socialist Party
6 February 2008
Protests as multinational grabs health centre
AROUND 120 patients, health care workers and members of the public protested at St Paul's Way Medical Centre, the day before the Primary Care Trust (PCT) handed it over to multinational private company Atos Origin... By Liz Cowell
6 February 2008
Rich avoid paying £25 billion tax bill
A NEW report, sponsored by the TUC, accuses companies and rich individuals of using accounting tricks, loopholes and plain tax avoidance to get out of paying a cool £25 billion of tax each year... By Roger Shrives
6 February 2008
LONDON'S MOST expensive set menu is a high-cholesterol, high alcohol £1,000 a head seven course 'non-vegetarian extravaganza' designed for, literally, 'fat-cat' City bankers with huge bonuses....
6 February 2008
Incinerators: Our health at risk!
Seven boroughs are proposing a new plan for rubbish disposal in north London. Different sites are being looked at to build new waste facilities... By Paula Mitchell
6 February 2008
Stop the Anglesey nuclear time-bomb
The pro-nuclear alliance of Anglesey County Council and local Labour MP Albert Owen have launched a new propaganda offensive to win people to the idea of a new nuclear power station at Wylfa on Anglesey... By Iain Dalton
6 February 2008
Kenya: Workers' movement must provide an alternative
TALKS BETWEEN political rivals and foreign diplomats are continuing to try and solve the escalating sectarian bloodbath in Kenya...
6 February 2008
Bush and Brown's Afghan strategy lies in tatters
"MAKE NO mistake, NATO is not winning in Afghanistan." These are the words, not of an anti-war group but of the opening line of a report by think-tank The Atlantic Council of the United States... By Tom Baldwin
6 February 2008
Inspiring victory for Polish workers
FIVE HUNDRED miners who had been occupying the Budryk mine in Poland have reached an agreement with management after spending 46 days 1,000 metres underground (see The Socialist, Issue 516)....
6 February 2008
Victory! Bristol campaign saves library
CAMPAIGNERS celebrated at Bristol's Council cabinet meeting on 3 February when the ruling Labour group announced the withdrawal of their threat... By Robin Clapp, Bedminster Socialist Party and MACA Chair - personal capacity
6 February 2008
Victory! Hull youth workers save jobs
YOUTH WORKERS in Hull are celebrating after taking on hypocritical, incompetent management and winning a battle for their jobs.... By Rob Rooney, Hull Socialist Party
6 February 2008
Protest against university fees
Denham denies debt: Students from Portsmouth, Southampton, Winchester and Oxford gathered in Southampton to lobby John Denham, MP and Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills... By Toby Harris, southern region organiser for Socialist Students
6 February 2008
Refreshing student work in Bangor
Bangor Socialist Students society ran two stalls at Bangor Student Union's re-freshers fair.... By Bangor Socialist, Students
6 February 2008
Shell output is down, but profits hit new record
OIL GIANT Shell, the world's second biggest quoted oil company, has just recorded the largest annual profits in British corporate history...
6 February 2008
SATURDAY 2 February was a good day for Barnsley. For some time reports had been heard that the far right British National Party (BNP) were holding a stall... By Thomas Scott-Chambers
6 February 2008
Prison officers prepare, Fighting unsafe staff cuts, National Shop Stewards Network Meetings Prison Officers Association (POA) members are gearing up to counter major attacks expected in the next few weeks. ... By Keith Dickinson
6 February 2008
MPs' insult to low-paid workers
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TGWU cleaners demonstrating against low pay, photo Molly Cooper |
12 February 2008
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Students from Portsmouth, Southampton, Winchester and Oxford lobby John Denham MP, photo Ben Robinson |
12 February 2008
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The grim reaper - NHS market reforms, photo Paul Mattsson |
US health care shark United Health has just been fined record amounts for refusing health insurance claims, writes Lois Austin.
12 February 2008
Birmingham council workers' biggest strike for decades
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Single status has meant cuts for many. Here, Greenwich council workers lobby the council. Photo Paul Mattsson |
12 February 2008
'Single status' in the West Midlands
Union branches in the West Midlands region are at various stages in the implementation of single status... By Dave Auger, Wolverhampton Unison, personal capacity
12 February 2008
Bosses prepare to force through more cuts
Local government pay: Unison members in local government have hardly finished counting the pittance they received from last year's pay deal in England and Wales and the union has now lodged the 2008 claim... By Glenn Kelly, Unison national executive, personal capacity
12 February 2008
IF BRANSON'S Virgin group succeed in taking over Northern Rock, possibly 1,000 jobs, out of a 6,000 workforce nationally, could be lost...
12 February 2008
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Youth Against the War on the Feb 24 2007 anti-Trident demo, photo Pedro |
NEXT MONTH will see the fifth anniversary of the US-led war against Iraq that started years of bloody, destructive imperialist occupation.
A hellish half decade has seen unending death and destruction for the people of Iraq, writes Niall Mulholland
13 February 2008
100 people pack London world economy meeting
IN RESPONSE to the current global shocks to the world economy, more than 100 people packed the all-London Socialist Party public meeting on 7 February... By Manny Thain
13 February 2008
Comment: Opportunist blunder further splits Church of England
It would be difficult to imagine a greater blunder for Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, than his latest one, writes Roger Bannister
13 February 2008
Land Registry staff vote for action
Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) members in Land Registry, the government department responsible for keeping a record of land ownership in England and Wales, have voted overwhelmingly in a consultation ballot to rej... By A PCS member
13 February 2008
Campaign Against Climate Change trade union conference
Around 500 trade unionists gathered on 9 February for a conference called by the Campaign Against Climate Change... By Tracy Edwards, PCS
13 February 2008
Across our Manchester sky line, numerous tower cranes stand testimony to the billion pound construction industry... By Steve Acheson, EPIU-Unite steward and branch secretary, personal capacity.
13 February 2008
London Underground: Strike ballot in safety row
London Underground: Strike ballot in safety row : The rail union RMT has told London Underground (LUL) that more than 5,500 station staff and train operators are in dispute over a whole raft of safety and staffing issues... By Reg Johnson, RMT
13 February 2008
Shelter staff ballot for action
Shelter staff are now balloting for industrial action in protest at the imposition of new contracts on worse terms and conditions...
13 February 2008
Prison officers: Fighting for trade union rights
The Prison Officers Association (POA) shocked the government by going on a one-day strike on 29 August 2007...
13 February 2008
Building the Campaign for a New Workers' Party
On 9 February, the officers of the Campaign for a New Workers' Party (CNWP) met in central London to discuss the tasks facing the campaign and the way forward over the coming months... By Greg Maughan, CNWP national treasurer
13 February 2008
Millionaire welcomes economic recession!
MICHAEL O'LEARY, cost-cutting, anti-union, multimillionaire boss of 'budget airline' Ryanair, says he would welcome "a good, deep, bloody recession in this country for 12 to 18 months... By Roger Shrives
13 February 2008
Cardiff marches to save schools
SCHOOLS CAMPAIGNERS across Cardiff are marching together on City Hall for the next full council meeting, at 3.30pm on 28 February, in protest at council plans to close, cut back and disrupt eleven schools in the city... By Ross Saunders
13 February 2008
Newham workers angry at councillors
AROUND 100 people met to support Michael Gavan, victimised chair of Newham Unison, at a meeting in Stratford on 11 February. ... By Manny Thain
13 February 2008
Liverpool's tale of two cities
WHILE LIVERPOOL city centre hosts over-priced 'Capital of Culture' events, the vast majority of people in the city have been excluded from celebrations supposedly about 'their' culture...
13 February 2008
Cuts and backlogs cause delays
Off the rails: OVER-RUN OF engineering work is a common reason for delays on the rail system...
13 February 2008
OUTRAGEOUS, SCANDALOUS, disgraceful... are a few of the printable words to describe the government's £2 billion bail-out of Metronet - the failed London... By Simon Carter
13 February 2008
Chad conflict - part of a wider power struggle
BODIES LITTERED the streets of N'Djamena, Chad's capital city, after three days of intense fighting between president Idriss Déby's forces and 1,200 Chadian rebels, earlier this month.... By Dave Carr
13 February 2008
Polish miners gain strike victory due to iron determination
AFTER 46 days on strike the miners of Budryk have won a victory. They have won a 10% wage rise and an equalisation payment for last year. By Florian Nowicki and Wojciech Orowieck, Group for a Workers' Party (GPR - CWI Poland)
13 February 2008
Feature: The great university swindle
Introducing university tuition fees was one of New Labour's first acts in government. Proving their pro-big business and pro-market agenda, they followed up by introducing top-up fees of up to £3,000 a year. But students who are struggling and facing a lifetime of debt must not accept this.
Socialist Students national organiser MATT DOBSON looks at the situation and outlines a programme for fighting for free education.
14 February 2008
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Picket of Tory MP Ann Widdecombe's anti-abortion meeting 6 February 2008, photo Paul Mattsson |
19 February 2008
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Birmingham council workers strike on 5 February 2008. Photo S O'Neill |
19 February 2008
Northern Rock - Labour's reluctant nationalisation
The Socialist Editorial The nationalisation of Northern Rock was met with howls of outrage from some of its shareholders, who screamed about 'theft' and 'immorality'. This was a major blow against the concept of an unfettered market-driven economy...
20 February 2008
Members of the Offshore Industry Liaison Committee (OILC) have voted overwhelmingly to merge with the rail and maritime union RMT...
20 February 2008
Marching against single status
Local government workers in Waltham Forest will march to the London borough's town hall on Thursday 28 February in protest against "single status" pay cuts.... By Bob Severn
20 February 2008
Solidarity with Pakistan workers
Socialists, trade unionists and workers packed into an NUJ meeting in Manchester to discuss press freedom, trade union rights and civil liberties in Pakistan...
20 February 2008
THE NUMBER of homeowners in England fell by a record 83,000 in 2007, according to a survey by leading mortgage lenders Halifax...
20 February 2008
Coventry protests at Widdecombe's attacks
ON 13 February, Anne Widdecombe's 'Not on Your Life' tour arrived at Coventry Cathedral... By Fiona Pashazadeh, Coventry West Socialist Party.
20 February 2008
OVER 80 members of the Committee for a Workers' International* - representing sections in Bolivia, Brazil, Chile and Venezuela and visitors from Europe and the USA - recently met in Sao Paulo, Brazil, for an education school...
20 February 2008
Battle for Shropshire schools goes on
FOLLOWING A recent demonstration of over 1,000 people against school closures in Shrewsbury, local Tory MPs announced that the threat to close 22 rural primary schools had been withdrawn... By Jim Reekie and Jake Moore, Shropshire Socialist Party
20 February 2008
Football: Top of the League for greed
PREMIER LEAGUE football is beamed into 600 million homes in 202 countries. When I was in China on holiday last year, everyone wanted to talk to me about... By John Reid, author of Reclaim the Game (first published 16 years ago at the start of the Premier League)
20 February 2008
Universities in crisis: Fees favour the rich
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Exeter Socialist Students organised a protest outside the office of the university vice-chancellor, photo Exeter Socialist Students |
20 February 2008
Exeter students fight privatisation
EXETER SOCIALIST Students recently organised a protest by 55 students, parents and workers outside the office of university vice-chancellor Steve Smith... By Allan Coote, Exeter Socialist Students
20 February 2008
NOTTINGHAM UNIVERSITY students have formed a "Freedom of speech fighters" group and are demonstrating at the university at midday on 21 February to defend the democratic right to protest....
20 February 2008
Five years since the invasion:
Troops out of Iraq now!
Demonstrate
Saturday 15 March, Assemble 12 noon, Trafalgar Square, London
Called by Stop the War Coalition, CND and BMI
20 February 2008
Science, Marxism and the big bang
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Science, Marxism and the Big Bang |
Science, Marxism and the Big Bang by Peter Mason is written in a style that may not be familiar to the modern reader - that is, of a polemical presentation.
In certain critical reviews this is necessary in order to follow the arguments as laid out by the authors being criticised and to more fully refute and correct them.
20 February 2008
178 train drivers working for London Midland and based at Bletchley are to strike on 28 and 29 February in a dispute about pension payments... By Aslef member
20 February 2008
Victory for council street wardens
Street wardens in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, who are mostly members of Unite (T&G), have won a four-year battle for proper compensation for their anti-social hours.... By Kevin Parslow,
20 February 2008
Collection cuts and bullying equals bin strike!
Brighton bin workers stood up to bullying managers last week after cuts to the city's refuse budget started to impact on already strained services.... By Last November the council slashed thousands of pounds from its own in-house Cityclean budget to spend elsewhere.
20 February 2008
Socialist gains in Unison branch elections
Manchester: Break the Labour link, equal pay without pay cuts and public-sector unity to win this year's pay claim. These were the main demands of Socialist Party member and Manchester Advice senior steward Jim Cessford...
20 February 2008
It's official - Unison launches witch-hunt on Socialist Party
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Onay Kasab, photo Paul Mattsson |
20 February 2008
Fighting back and building a demo
Cambridge: HEALTH ACTIVISTS, trade unionists and campaigners met in Cambridge recently to re-launch the local Keep Our NHS Public (KONP) branch... By Steve Sweeney
20 February 2008
"Not making sufficient profit"
FOUNDATION TRUSTS, nestling within the NHS, are businesses that see profit as their priority rather than patient need. ...
20 February 2008
THE GOVERNMENT has a long-standing promise that all out-patients are treated within four hours of admission to accident and emergency units...
20 February 2008
PRIVATE CLINICS such as the independent sector treatment centres (ISTCs) are able to haul in a guaranteed income even if they treat hardly any patients...
20 February 2008
London's health care under further attack
YOU CAN see what the growing gap between the rich and poor means in life and death terms by looking at health care in London... By Chris Newby
20 February 2008
Prison officers fight Labour's strike ban
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Prison Officers Association protest outside the Royal Court of Justice, joined by Brian Caton, POA general secretary, photo Keith Dickinson |
20 February 2008
Greece: Second general strike in two months
ON 13 February, tens of thousands of workers, pensioners and youth from all over Greece came out for the second time in less than two months in a general strike to defend their pension rights.... By Kyriakos Halaris,
20 February 2008
1918-2008: Clause 4 and nine decades of workers' struggles
CLAUSE IV, part 4, the 'socialist' clause of the Labour Party's constitution enshrining public ownership of industry and finance, was adopted at a party conference in 1918...
20 February 2008
Stop the witch-hunt: Defend the Sheridan seven
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Tommy Sheridan, photo Paul Mattsson |
20 February 2008
Kosovan independence - a dangerous mirage?
AS ALBANIAN Kosovans celebrated in the streets of Pristina with fireworks, angry nationalist Serbs in Belgrade pelted the US embassy with rocks... By Dave Carr
22 February 2008
Urgent Appeal: Victimisation of Trade Union Activist - Suzanne Muna
Protest: Suzanne Muna, elected secretary of the joint trade union representatives at the Housing Corporation, is facing unjustified disciplinary action that could lead to her being sacked...
27 February 2008
Don't let our hospital pay the price for PFI
HUNDREDS OF people from south east London will march through Sidcup on Saturday 1 March to save vital services at Queen Mary's Hospital (QMH)...
27 February 2008
Rich get richer - We pay the bills
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RMT protest against the fat-cats, photo Paul Mattsson |
27 February 2008
Editorial: Stop witch-hunts in Unison - defend those attacked!
As The Socialist reported last week, the witch-hunt against the left in public-sector trade union Unison has reached a new level...
27 February 2008
Trade union activist fights intimidation
Suzanne Muna, elected Staff Side secretary for the Housing Corporation trade unions, is facing unjustified disciplinary action that could lead to her being sacked...
27 February 2008
Members protest at Unison witch-hunt
Anger at the expulsion from Unison of the branch secretary Tony Staunton surfaced at the annual general meeting of the Plymouth branch, writes Rob Rooney, Plymouth Unison member
27 February 2008
Union members at the housing charity Shelter have voted overwhelmingly to take strike action over sweeping cuts to pay and conditions...
27 February 2008
Marching against single status pay cuts
Waltham Forest council trade unions are marching against the effects of the single status deal on 28 February, writes A Waltham Forest Unison member
27 February 2008
Scotland - Vendetta against Tommy Sheridan condemned
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Tommy Sheridan, speaking in 2007 |
27 February 2008
Building the Campaign for a New Workers' Party
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Campaign for a New Workers' Party conference 2007, photo Paul Mattsson |
27 February 2008
BRITISH GAS has announced a 500% rise in profits for last year. This rise is grotesque enough but the announcement, just weeks after they put their prices, writes James Kerr
27 February 2008
Fight Devon and Somerset fire cuts
DEVON AND Somerset Fire Authority are putting pennies before public safety by adopting plans to cut 24 firefighters' jobs from Barnstaple, Exeter and Torquay, writes Jim Lowe, Devon Socialist Party
27 February 2008
ROYAL MAIL group is closing 169 post office branches in London under a fast-track programme...
27 February 2008
Sheffield buses campaign: 'Saving our services'
SHEFFIELD HEELEY Socialist Party members recently interviewed 50 people in Norton Lees on the state of bus services and put together demands to the City Council and Transport Executive to improve services, writes Jeremy Short
27 February 2008
Pakistan elections: Crushing defeat for Musharraf, landslide for opposition parties
THE RESULTS of Pakistan's parliamentary elections came as a big surprise for Musharraf and his allies, writes Khalid Bhatti, Socialist Movement Pakistan (CWI), Lahore
27 February 2008
Student feature: Fighting fees
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Socialist Students in Manchester on the Campaign to Defeat Fees day of action, photo Abby Taylor |
27 February 2008
Miliband's extraordinary apology on rendition
"SORRY FOR letting kidnappers and torturers use our territory". This is what foreign secretary David Miliband should have said in his belated apology, writes Dave Carr
27 February 2008
Sleaze in Northern Ireland: Keeping it in the family
THE RESIGNATION of Ian Paisley junior as a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) minister in the Northern Ireland Executive, follows months of intense speculation over the nature of his relationship with Seymour Sweeney, a milliona, writes Gary Mulcahy, Socialist Party Belfast
27 February 2008
Neither Labour nor Tories will defend public services
Tales from the council chamber: The most significant outcome of the recent Coventry council debate on next year's budget was how little would change whichever of the two main parties ran the council., writes Dave Nellist, Socialist Party Councillor, Coventry
27 February 2008
Journalists battle for union rights
Journalism matters - how can we attain quality journalism in the multimedia age, writes An NUJ member
27 February 2008
PCS members working in the Department for Work and Pensions are to strike on 17 and 18 March, following the collapse of pay negotiations...
27 February 2008
The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) reports that 650 members at the arbitration service Acas in 15 sites across England, Scotland and Wales are balloting for strike action over pay...
27 February 2008
Feature: Fidel Castro's resignation opens up new chapter
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Fidel Castro in his days as a guerrila |
1 March 2008
Consequences of crisis for consciousness worldwide
We do not take a simplistic 'economic determinist' approach to politics. It is not our conception that recession will automatically lead to a mass increase in support for socialist ideas...
1 March 2008
Exactly how severe the crisis in Britain's economy will be, how long it will take to bite, and the precise political effects of it, are not yet clear...
1 March 2008
How consciousness will develop in Britain
Crucial for us are the effects that these economic developments will have on the consciousness of the working class...
1 March 2008
Strike action in public sector
In the immediate period the battle is likely to be concentrated in the public sector...
1 March 2008
Many comparisons can be made between the Brown government and the Callaghan government of 1976-79...
1 March 2008
In addition the right-wing trade union bureaucracy is far more removed from the membership than was the case in the 1970s...
1 March 2008
The struggle to create a mass independent political voice for the working class is the most important task we face in this period...
1 March 2008
War, the environment and social issues
While economic issues are likely to be key to the development of a new party, they are not the only issues which are having a radicalising effect, particularly on young people...
1 March 2008
It is estimated that around 700,000 workers have come to Britain from Eastern Europe since 2004...
1 March 2008
As stated previously, it is still too early to predict the outcome of the next general election...
1 March 2008
We are on the cusp of an end to 15 years of uninterrupted growth, albeit lopsided, in the British economy...
1 March 2008
The 2008 National Congress is taking place against the background of a profound change in the world economy and, flowing from that, the political situation...
14 Oct Cambridgeshire Socialist Party: What is happening in the Middle East, and why?
16 Oct Basingstoke Socialist Party: Uniting and organising workers to defend jobs and wages
16 Oct North London Socialist Party: Stop Turkey's military offensive on the Syrian Kurds!
16 Oct Hackney Socialist Party: Stop Turkey's military offensive on the Syrian Kurds!
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