Archive for March 2001

2 March 2001

HANDS OFF JOBS AND SERVICES

Hackney council strike 7 March: HACKNEY COUNCIL managing director, Max Caller has sent a ninety-day notice letter to all staff to change our terms and conditions, writes Brian Debus, chair Hackney UNISON.

2 March 2001

Plain sailing for Blair?

OPINION POLLS suggest New Labour are on course for another election "landslide". A Mori poll for the Times put Labour on 50% - 20% ahead of the Tories and almost exactly the same as before the last election.

2 March 2001

Foot and mouth disease: another crisis for agribusiness

THE RECENT outbreak of the highly infectious viral "foot and mouth disease" has discredited British farming and agribusiness once again, writes Amrita Huggins.

2 March 2001

Victory for term-time workers

FOLLOWING A marvellous campaign sustained over two years, the Northern Ireland term-time workers have won an historic victory, writes Mike Forster Joint Chief Education Steward, UNISON (personal capacity).

2 March 2001

The decline of Britain's manufacturing industry

A terminal sickness? FIFTEEN YEARS ago, eight million people worked in Britain's factorie; now this has fallen to below four million for the first time ever...

2 March 2001

Preston councillor joins Socialist Party

LANCASHIRE SOCIALIST Party are celebrating the recruitment of Preston Councillor Paul Malliband, writes Max Neil, Preston Socialist Party.

2 March 2001

Militancy and solidarity can win

A SIX-MONTH battle in the mining city of Sudbury, Canada, drew to an end last week as Mine Mill/Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) local 598 (union branch) ratified a collective agreement with Falconbridge Ltd, writes Andy Lehrer, Socialist Alternative, CWI - Canada.

2 March 2001

Cough Up The Cash Gordon

GORDON BROWN'S election war chest is overflowing. He's got a budget surplus of at least £18.9 billion to add to the £22.5 billion from the auction of mobile phone licences...

9 March 2001

Students mobilise to stop tuition fees

THE SUCCESSFUL protests that took place in many Universities where Socialist Student members organised interventions on last Thursday's NUS shutdown, shows the desire to fight against fees and for the restoration of the grant amongst many students, writes Kieran Roberts, Save Free Education (SFE), with reports from The Socialist newspaper.

9 March 2001

Foot and Mouth Disease: Government policy driven by agribusiness profits

The Government forms a 'war cabinet'; passenger checks at Channel ports; sporting events cancelled; public access to the countryside restricted...has the country gone to war?...

9 March 2001

The Socialist Challenge to Labour

THE SOCIALIST Party will play a crucial part in what is potentially the biggest Left challenge to Labour at a general election for over 50 years...

9 March 2001

Teachers vote for action

IN LONDON and Doncaster, both the main teacher unions, the NUT and NASUWT, have voted. by over 90% to refuse to cover for staff shortages from 12 March, writes Martin Powell-Davies.

9 March 2001

We're worth more than £4.10 an hour

Low Paid Say: AN ELECTION is definitely in the offing. New Labour's Stephen Byers has announced that the national minimum wage will go up by 10% this October. Welcome as any rise will be for the lowest-paid workers,...

16 March 2001

New Rail Safety Crisis: Renationalise now! Stop the tube sell-off

ANOTHER WEEK, another train crash. Fortunately, this time a crash in south London avoided fatalities through prompt action by drivers, writes Ken Smith.

16 March 2001

Mexico - when Zapatista resistance came to town

LIKE A touring rock band the Zapatista motorised cavalcade arrived in Mexico city last weekend, having set out from their base in the southern state of Chiapas...

16 March 2001

Hayes and Harlington: Great start to Socialist campaign

THE SOCIALIST Party's first general election meeting in Hayes and Harlington constituency attracted nearly 100 people to hear our candidate, Wally Kennedy, writes Roddy Keenan, UNISON senior steward (personal capacity).

16 March 2001

Coventry needs socialist MPs

"THINGS CAN only get better," was the New Labour message four years ago. But things only got worse here, writes Stephen Spreadborough.

16 March 2001

Budget: After the drought, a few drops of rain

GORDON BROWN'S budget was framed to guarantee a New Labour victory without scaring the big business horses says KEVIN PARSLOW...

16 March 2001

US Economy Heading for intensive care

AN ECONOMIC storm is brewing over the USA that threatens to sweep across the Atlantic bringing mayhem and destruction in its wake, writes Jared Wood.

16 March 2001

Ukraine - caught between a rock and a hard place

THE UKRAINIAN capital Kiev has been rocked by the biggest protest movement since 1991, triggered by the murder of a journalist...

16 March 2001

Brown's Breadline Britain

Poverty Grows Under New Labour: NEW LABOUR faces a political crisis over foot-and-mouth. They can see the global turmoil in share prices. They obviously hope to hold an election soon, before things get even worse...

23 March 2001

Restore Free Education

STUDENTS IN all forms of education from schools to universities saw Gordon Brown's Budget pass them by, writes Amrita Huggins, Save Free Education.

23 March 2001

Another match in the Balkan tinderbox

What We Think: THE FIGHTING that raged between Albanian guerrillas and government troops last week showed once again that imperialism has no solution to the problems that beset the Balkans...

23 March 2001

Foot and mouth crisis: A 'plague' made by big business

TONY BLAIR's government is increasingly turning to desperate measures to eradicate foot and mouth disease (FMD) and allow their planned May election to proceed...

23 March 2001

Students need union leaders to oppose New Labour

National Union of Students conference: SINCE NEW Labour were elected to office in 1997, they have consistently carried through policies against the interests of students, writes Kieran Roberts, Save Free Education (SFE) campaign.

23 March 2001

Trust Me: I'm A Scientist

SCIENTISTS - IMPARTIAL seekers after the secrets of the universe or hired guns for world capitalism? GEOFF JONES looks at the massive change of attitude towards scientists and science in general over the...

23 March 2001

Blair's Hated Policies

*72% oppose privatisation of National Air Traffic Service
*76% demand renationalisation of railways
*52% oppose Labour's handling of foot and mouth outbreak

30 March 2001

vCJD - the real health threat

THE REPORT on the cluster of vCJD cases in the Leicestershire village of Queniborough reinstates this killer disease - not foot and mouth - as the major health threat in Britain...

30 March 2001

29 March Tube Strike

AS WE go to press, London Underground (LUL) are attempting to stop the tube strike on 29 March. But rather than negotiate seriously, during earlier negotiations with rail union RMT, they threatened to...

30 March 2001

Frenzied speculators enter the deflationary spiral

IT WAS panic on the financial streets of London, New York, Tokyo, Paris and other world financial centres last week as stock markets went into simultaneous freefall...

30 March 2001

Labour fiddles while countryside burns

NEW LABOUR set their hearts on a 3 May general election over a year ago, but their chosen timetable is increasingly hard to stick to under the pressure of events, writes Hannah Sell.

30 March 2001

Teachers must stand firm

THE TEACHER shortage has brought many schools near to breaking point. Many teachers now work on average a 52-hour week, writes Linda Taaffe, National Union of Teachers (NUT) executive member, personal capacity.

30 March 2001

The deadly power of agri-business

THE GOVERNMENT'S 'Operation Cobra' policy to eradicate foot and mouth disease (FMD) is a failure. Parts of the countryside are knee-deep in slaughtered animal carcasses yet the disease shows no sign...

30 March 2001

Asylum Seekers: Fact and Fiction

THE LABOUR Party's 600-page policy 'war book' of advice to campaign organisers thinks that the issue of the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers could be vital during the election. The Socialist here answers some of the myths surrounding this issue.

30 March 2001

Building the Socialist Party

THE SOCIALIST Party's special drive for new members this month is going very well. Interest in our ideas and party are reaching new levels each week, writes Judy Beishon, Socialist Party membership campaign organiser.

30 March 2001

Foot And Mouth Crisis: Labour's Criminal Failings

BLAIR IS stepping in and taking 'personal control' of the foot and mouth crisis. It's belated recognition that the government's 'Operation Cobra' to eradicate foot and mouth disease (FMD) is a failure.