Archive for November 2007
1 November 2007
Respect in crisis - what lessons for socialists?
The transformation of Labour into a thoroughgoing party of big-business has left the working class effectively disenfranchised...
1 November 2007
Countering the race to the bottom
Comment: Having been born (1958) and brought up in one of the most cosmopolitan areas of Britain, Crumpsall/Cheetham in Manchester, I have known from an early age never to judge a person by the colour of their skin, religion, spelling... By Colin Trousdale
1 November 2007
Targets take their toll on cleaners
A domestic team supervisor at an East Midlands hospital told the socialist what lies behind the headlines in today's NHS....
1 November 2007
Feature: NHS - Time to fight for a national strike
The health service is being attacked in a piecemeal way - one hospital forced to close wards here, community services cut there - but these attacks are part of the government's national policies, which need to be challenged ...
1 November 2007
Editorial: NHS campaigning - national strategy needed
There have been protests all over the country to defend the NHS. The latest, in Haywards Heath and Chichester, were both over 10,000 strong. This shows...
1 November 2007
CWU executive member calls for a 'no' vote
Royal Mail deal: Jane James interviewed Dave Warren, a member of the CWU's postal executive. Dave is the only member of the executive to speak out against the deal.
1 November 2007
Unison local government ballot result ignored
Unison's national joint committee voted by 24-3 on 29 October, not to go for industrial action over local government pay... By Bill Mullins
1 November 2007
System change to stop climate change
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Demonstration against climate change in 2005, photo Paul Mattsson |
1 November 2007
Countering the race to the bottom
comment: Having been born (1958) and brought up in one of the most cosmopolitan areas of Britain, Crumpsall/Cheetham in Manchester, I have known from an early age never to judge a person by the colour of their skin, religion, spelling... By Colin Trousdale, Manchester trade unionist
1 November 2007
Neil Cafferky spoke to Sadiq Abakar, an asylum seeker from Darfur, after a Save Sadiq protest against his deportation outside the UK Home Office.
1 November 2007
Nigeria: Day of action protest march in Osogbo
AS PART of the ongoing international campaign to free the detained student leaders from Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) and Education Rights Campaign (ERC) organised a protes... By a correspondent in Nigeria
1 November 2007
Switzerland: Racism dominates election campaign
THE RESULTS of the recent general election in Switzerland reflect a highly polarised society, with the far-right Swiss People's Party (SVP) securing a 29% vote and 62 seats in the 200 seat assembly and the left-leaning Green... By Simon Carter
1 November 2007
Poland: Right-wing populist government defeated
'Terrible twins' suffer election defeat: POLAND'S RIGHT-wing populist government headed by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, twin brother of the Polish President, has been ousted following last Sunday's snap parliamentary elections... By Paul Newbery, CWI Poland
1 November 2007
Wales shop stewards' network conference
About 50 shop stewards and union reps from all over Wales gathered in Cardiff for the founding conference of the Wales Shop Stewards' Network... By Dave Reid
1 November 2007
London and South East regional conference
Over 70 trade unionists and activists gathered in London on 21 October to further build upon the recent successful national launch of the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN)... By Annoesjka Valent, steering committee NSSN
1 November 2007
Bolton care workers' dispute: Workers' determination yields first signs of success
Since the beginning of October care workers in Bolton have been involved in industrial action to defend terms and conditions of employment which had supposedly been agreed on a national level.... By Robert Mitchell
1 November 2007
Vote Martin Powell-Davies for NUT vice president
Socialist Party member Martin Powell-Davies is standing for election as the teachers' union NUT vice-president....
1 November 2007
Journalists: Fight low pay and long hours
"Press freedom is the freedom of 200 rich people to express their opinion" one German conservative newspaper owner commented decades ago... By Christian Bunke
1 November 2007
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1 November 2007
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The PUSH NHS demonstration in 2006 called for a national demonstration, photo Sarah Sachs-Eldridge |
8 November 2007
Build the left in the public-sector trade unions
Editorial: The situation in the public sector over pay has many lessons for the left in the trade unions...
8 November 2007
Martial law imposed in Pakistan
ON SATURDAY 3 November, General Musharraf imposed martial law across Pakistan... By Khalid Bhatti, Socialist Movement Pakistan (SMP), Lahore
8 November 2007
PCS backs further strike action
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PCS on strike 1 May 2007, photo Paul Mattsson |
8 November 2007
Education, Education, Education
Education for the rich: TONY BLAIR'S rallying cry of the 1997 general election was for "education, education, education", a call that chimed with the aspirations of ordinary people to have the opportunity to learn, develop ideas and understanding...
8 November 2007
Corporate crime: Sign of an out-of-control economy
Comment: THE CAPITALIST press expressed shock and condemnation recently as three businessmen, directors of Independent Insurance which collapsed in 2001, were facing prison sentences for conspiracy to defraud... By Iain Dalton
8 November 2007
New schools but not enough rooms
ON THE same day that a Financial Times article complained about Private Finance Initiative-funded schools being built as "unimpressive brick boxes with tiny windows and mean corridors" I was called by a Lewisham NUT school ... By Martin Powell-Davies, Lewisham National Union of Teachers
8 November 2007
NUT elections: "What are we waiting for?"
Socialist Party member Martin Powell-Davies is standing for election as vice-president of the National Union of Teachers (NUT)...
8 November 2007
AT THE Yarl's Wood detention centre near Milton Keynes 22 female asylum seekers have signed a letter calling for an independent investigation into detainees' treatment at the centre.... By Bob Severn
8 November 2007
Israel: Café waiters' strike victory
THIRTY-SIX employees of the Coffee To Go Café in Ramat Aviv have won a strike for union recognition and against the violation of their labour rights... By Amnon Cohen, CWI
8 November 2007
'Competition' dominated by a few giants
Supermarkets report: THE 'BIG four' supermarkets and their so-called 'competition' are making the headlines again... By Sean Figg
8 November 2007
Jean Charles de Menezes: Unanswered questions after court case
AT LAST, the grieving family of Brazilian migrant worker, Jean Charles de Menezes, have received partial justice of a sort after the successful prosecution of the Metropolitan Police under health and safety laws... By Rob McDonald and Steve Nally
8 November 2007
Why Prince of mortgages resigned
CHARLES PRINCE, chairman and chief executive of the world's biggest bank, Citigroup, has resigned... By Dave Carr
8 November 2007
ONLY ONE in every 400 'stop and searches' leads to arrest, official figures reveal... By Sarah Sachs-Eldridge
8 November 2007
Free detained Nigerian students
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Protest at the UK Nigerian embassy, photo Marc Vallee |
8 November 2007
Don't just 'celebrate' the NHS - fight back
NHS demonstration 3 November: OVER 7,000 people took to London's streets on 3 November for the long-awaited trade union-called national NHS demonstration... By Liz Cowell, district nurse
8 November 2007
Staff shortages cause stress and anger
Hospital domestic workers: "A SUPERVISOR on a ward, serving meals to 36 patients, got bleeped. 'Can you come to Suite 1? We've got a flood.' She said: 'Do you want me to serve... By A domestic worker at a Midlands hospital spoke to the socialist
8 November 2007
Support strikers at Northern General Hospital
ELEVEN BULK stores staff at Sheffield's Northern General Hospital (NGH), all Unison members, have now taken ten days of strike action against management plans to impose 20% wage cuts through axing their bonus scheme....
8 November 2007
Health workers strike against sacking
Manchester Community and Mental Health Trust bosses sacked Unison rep Karen Reissman on 5 November... By Hugh Caffrey, Manchester
8 November 2007
Fight Royal Mail victimisation
In the "deal" reached by Royal Mail and the CWU Postal Executive there is no mention of suspended or sacked workers.
8 November 2007
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Socialism 2007 |
14 November 2007
Editorial: Shattering confidence in world economy
Earlier this year, capitalist leaders were boasting of record growth in the world economy, around 5% a year for over five years...
14 November 2007
PAKISTAN'S GENERAL Musharraf has defended the imposition of martial law saying it would continue indefinitely, although in a bid to keep the US and British governments on board he indicated that parliamentary elections will ... By Dave Carr
14 November 2007
Taking their fight to a new level German train drivers are this week holding the biggest strike in their history, stopping all freight traffic for two and a half days and all passenger trains for 48 hours.
14 November 2007
Release Nigerian students now!
Three Nigerian student activists from Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife, are still in jail on made up charges.
14 November 2007
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Ucatt members demonstrate against deaths on building sites |
14 November 2007
NHS: Step up the struggle against privatisation
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Marching through Swansea to save NHS services, photo M Kamish |
14 November 2007
Tales from the council chamber
COVENTRY'S SOCIALIST councillors nearly got a motion passed through Coventry's Tory majority council... By Rob Windsor, Coventry Socialist Party councillor
14 November 2007
USA: Enthusiastic response to socialist policies
ON 6 November over 6.5% of those who voted in Boston's city (USA) council election cast their ballots for Matt Geary, the candidate of Socialist Alternative [the Socialist Party's US counterpart].... By Bryan Koulouris, Socialist Alternative (CWI, USA), Boston
14 November 2007
Egypt's workers flex their industrial muscle
AFTER A one-week strike and occupation in September 2007, 27,000 workers at Ghazl al-Mahalla textile mill in northern Egypt scored a spectacular victory... By Jon Dale
14 November 2007
Belgium: Fighting attacks on education
As Socialist Students national organiser I spent a week working with Linkse Socialistiche Partij (LSP) / Mouvement pour une Alternative Socialiste (MAS), the Belgian section of the Committee for a Workers International (CWI),... By Matt Dobson
14 November 2007
Review: Handsworth Revolution - Steel Pulse (1978)
Socialism 2007 will feature a session on the politics of reggae. To coincide with the event Dave Gorton reviews this important album and describes the...
14 November 2007
Royal Mail's deal: Not good enough - Vote NO!
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Postal workers on strike in 2007 |
14 November 2007
Why you should read, write for and sell the socialist
Fighting for the low-paid: The successful strike action of Unison Whipps Cross Hospital domestics, porters and switchboard staff against contractor Initial Hospital Services last year was a magnificent example of how determination and unity in action c... By Len Hockey, Joint Branch Secretary, Whipps Cross Hospital Unison (personal capacity)
14 November 2007
Manchester health workers: Over 150 mental health community nurses are continuing indefinite strike action, to win reinstatement of Unison activist Karen Reissman, sacked earlier this month... By Hugh Caffrey and Christian Bunke, Manchester
14 November 2007
Cadbury's closure: Workers vote for action
The fight to save 500 jobs at Cadbury's Keynsham plant near Bristol continues... By Domenico Hill and Robin Clapp, Bristol Socialist Party
14 November 2007
In brief: Members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) working in the Department for Work and pensions (DWP) are balloting for strike action over pay...
14 November 2007
BEFORE THE election that never was, back in September, employment minister Peter Hain backed down on the closure of 43 Remploy factories... By Mariam Kamish
14 November 2007
Campaigners say: No Post Office closures!
NEXT YEAR 2,500 post offices face closure nationally. Opponents of this attack are organising a protest outside the national Post Office administrative...
14 November 2007
Green activists seek solutions
LAST WEEK 700 people, mainly environmental activists, met to build support for the 8 December Climate Change demonstration... By Pete Dickenson
14 November 2007
THE STATED aim of Aim, the Alternative Investment Market, is to create a junior stock market for 'smaller, growing companies'...
14 November 2007
World economy: Bosses' crisis, workers pay
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Bubbles: Socialism Today, May 2007, anticiapted the c rash. Cartoon by Suz |
14 November 2007
Birmingham council workers fight pay cuts
On 7 November Birmingham city council workers held a demonstration outside the council house in Birmingham city centre in protest against the council's plans to force through its gender pay equalisation plans which will mean... By Ted Smith, Birmingham Socialist Party
19 November 2007
800 attend rally to discuss 'Which way forward for the left in Britain?'
Press release: Left union General Secretaries give their views on defending their members and breaking the unions from Labour : 800 trade unionists, activists and Socialists gathered in central London on Saturday night to hear fighting speeches from general secretaries of Britain's most combatative trade unions...
22 November 2007
Nationalise Northern Rock permanently to safeguard workers' interests
Editorial: WHEN THE Northern Rock bank went into crisis in September, the socialist unequivocally called for its nationalisation...
22 November 2007
France: massive public sector workers' strike
MOBILISED TO defend public-sector jobs and pay, hundreds of thousands of workers went on strike in France on Tuesday 20 November. ... By Karl Debbaut, Committee for a Workers' International (CWI)
22 November 2007
SNP budget will not satisfy expectations
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Glasgow Social Workers on strike , photo Duncan Brown |
22 November 2007
Detention without trial: Defend civil rights
THE BIZARRE and scandalous auction over how long police should be allowed to detain terrorism suspects without charge continues... By Naomi Byron
22 November 2007
New attacks on incapacity benefits
WORKS AND Pensions (DWP) minister Peter Hain has announced new medical 'tests' from next October for people with disabilities to make it harder to qualify for incapacity benefit...
22 November 2007
Defend Karen Reissman: Defend free speech and trade union rights
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Manchester mental health workers on strike, photo Christian Bunke |
22 November 2007
'Cheap and nasty' Camden council to shut deaf school
On Wednesday 21 November staff, parents and pupils will be marching to stop Camden council deciding to close Frank Barnes primary school for deaf children... By Hugo Pierre, Camden Unison convener
22 November 2007
Support the Northern Ireland classroom assistants
CLASSROOM ASSISTANTS in Northern Ireland are continuing their strike action against attacks on their pay and conditions...
22 November 2007
Cardiff schools: Parents march against closure threats
IN THE latest stage of Cardiff Liberal council's outrageous school closures programme, Lansdowne Primary School is threatened with closure... By Ross Saunders, Cardiff Socialist Party
22 November 2007
Socialism 2007: Inspired by past victories, preparing for future struggles
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Socialism 2007 - Rally, photo Paul Mattsson |
22 November 2007
Rail transport: Overpriced, overcrowded, underinvested
THE NEW, fast, Eurostar rail service between St Pancras international station and Paris opened on 14 November...
22 November 2007
Labour's pensions - a social time-bomb
EX-PRIME Minister Tony Blair recently shored up his personal retirement plans by £250,000 or more, while the government he used to lead was undermining the future prospects of a secure retirement for millions.... By Ray Murphy
22 November 2007
Train drivers strike in Germany
LAST WEEK 10,300 train drivers of the rail union GDL took strike action for 62 hours... By Anne Engelhardt, Sozialistische Alternative (SAV), CWI Germany
22 November 2007
Denmark general election: Socialist People's Party doubles its MPs
THE RECENT Danish general election results confirmed a political trend in recent European elections ie a decline in support for the traditional conservative and social-democratic establishment parties and an increase in votes...
22 November 2007
The twin parties of big business offer no solutions for working-class people: ELECTIONS CAN pose important questions in the minds of workers and youth. With a growing anti-war mood in the US, further signs of a looming recession... By James Kerr
22 November 2007
GM, Chrysler, and Ford's 'race to the bottom'
WITH THEIR industry caught in a deep crisis of overcapacity, the 'Big Three' auto companies demanded brutal concessions on all fronts, and the United Auto Workers' (UAW) union leadership delivered... By Ty Moore, Socialist Alternative, USA
22 November 2007
Postal workers campaign against "MacMail"
Western Counties branch of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) have called for a 'no' vote in the ballot over the Royal Mail pay deal... By Sean Brogan, Devon Socialist Party
22 November 2007
Doncaster Hospital workers on strike for £9,000 back pay
Skilled maintenance workers at the Doncaster and Bassetlaw hospitals trust were on strike on 19 November in a row over pay....
22 November 2007
National Union of Journalists: Standing up against the robber barons
"I'd rather die." These were comments reportedly made by one newspaper employer outside his hotel in Manchester, when asked whether he wanted to take an National Union of Journalists (NUJ) leaflet about the NUJ "stand up ... By Christian Bunke
22 November 2007
Unfair pack: THE GOVERNMENT has underwritten Northern Rock by billions of pounds. But up to 150,000 low income people who are owed money after last year's collapse...
22 November 2007
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Climate change cartoon |
27 November 2007
SOLIDARITY APPEAL: Defend Tukwila Teachers Threatened with Termination for Antiwar Student Walkout
On November 16th, over 1,000 students in Washington State walked out to protest the war in Iraq and the presence of military recruiters in public schools. Students at Foster High School in Tukwila, Washington organized and 150 walked out, saying "Money for Schools, Not War."
28 November 2007
Our Programme: Socialist Women - Who We Are
Socialist Women - Who We Are: Socialist Women holds national, regional and local meetings to discuss issues of concern to women...Fighting for Women - Rights and Socialism
29 November 2007
THE CAMPAIGN continues to defend the detained Nigerian student activists, Olatunde Dairo, Taiwo Hassan Soweto and Akinola Sakuri...
29 November 2007
Communication Workers Union ballot
STOP PRESS: The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has announced the result of the ballot on the Royal Mail pay and modernisation agreement 2007-8, which the CWU leadership recommended to end the postal workers' strikes...
29 November 2007
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Climate change demo 2005, photo Paul Mattsson |
29 November 2007
Mass scrutiny needed to protect our rights and privacy
What we think: "A MASS movement is needed to tackle the state's snoopers" read a headline in the Observer newspaper...
29 November 2007
Data loss - no surprise to HMRC staff
ON 18 October, two discs containing the personal details of 25 million people were lost by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)... By A PCS union member in HMRC
29 November 2007
Brazil: An explosive brew in land of contrasts
DURING OCTOBER PETER TAAFFE visited Brazil for discussions with Marxists and socialists, along with LINDA TAAFFE, who visited schools and also discussed with teacher union activists in the struggle...
29 November 2007
NHS - new 'surplus' but problems continue
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On the 3 November Save the NHS march, photo Paul Mattsson |
29 November 2007
QinetiQ sell-off: THE TEN most senior managers of QinetiQ, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) research firm, made an almost 20,000 per cent return at the taxpayer's expense out of the firm's part-privatisation... By Roger Shrives
29 November 2007
Students protest at Griffin and Irving
OXFORD UNION, the upper-crust student debating society, invited Nick Griffin, leader of the far-right, racist BNP and holocaust denier David Irving to a debate on free speech on 26 November...
29 November 2007
Exeter students gain anti-fascist victory
A victory for the forces of anti-fascism took place on 23 November when 200 students, union representatives and staff of Exeter University at a guild (students union) general meeting voted overwhelmingly for a policy of 'no ... By Robert Edwards, Exeter Socialist Students
29 November 2007
Kick the BNP out of Northumbria
The national leader of the BNP's youth section, Joseph Finnon, is a student at Northumbria University...By Paul Phillips
29 November 2007
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Students demonstrating in 2006, photo Dave Carr |
29 November 2007
Defend students from victimisation
Paul Murphy has written the following appeal asking for emails and phone calls of protest:...
29 November 2007
To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the death of Che Guevara, the Brighton branch of the Socialist Party held a public meeting.... By Katt Jayawant
29 November 2007
Preparing a revolution and its party
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Lenin making a speech |
29 November 2007
Australia: Howard disappears under a Labor party landslide
THE SOCIALIST Party [Australia] is delighted to see the back of John Howard and the federal Coalition government led by the Liberals... By Socialist Party reporters
29 November 2007
France: Transport strikes suspended
AFTER TAKING nine days of strike action, the longest for 12 years, French national SNCF rail and Paris urban transport workers called off their action on 23 November... By Judy Beishon
29 November 2007
Scotland: Solidarity conference
SOLIDARITY'S NATIONAL conference took place on 10-11 November in Glasgow. Attended by around 120 members on Saturday and 70 on Sunday, the conference...
29 November 2007
Demo shows support for victimised nurse
They call it the city of rain and Manchester did itself proud on 24 November... By Christian Bunke
29 November 2007
Teachers need a fighting union leadership
Thank you to everyone who supported my campaign in the election for a vice president of the National Union of Teachers (NUT)... By Martin Powell-Davies
29 November 2007
Construction bosses found guilty
Trainee scaffolder Steven Burke was 17 years old when he died working on unsafe scaffolding at Davyhulme waste-water treatment plant... By Hugh Caffrey, Manchester
29 November 2007
Defend Eddie Fleming: On 22 November, Eddie Fleming was sacked on trumped-up charges. Eddie is the branch chair of the PCS branch at the Child Support Agency (CSA) in Hastings....
29 November 2007
In brief: Who safeguards safety?
THE COURTS disqualify company directors who risk cash hundreds of times more often than directors who risk people's health and safety, says the Health and Safety Executive...
29 November 2007
Northern Rock scandal: Nationalise the banks!
NORTHERN ROCK, the UK's fifth biggest mortgage lender, went into financial meltdown when it was forced to call on emergency funding from the Bank of England in September... By Elaine Brunskill, Newcastle Socialist Party
26 Jan Caerphilly & RCT Socialist Party: Should Wales be independent?
27 Jan Bristol North Socialist Party: Open discussion
28 Jan West London Socialist Party: The Socialist newspaper in the age of lockdowns
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