The Socialist 11 May 2011

Fight for the NHS

Fight for the NHS

PCS conference: prepare for united action on 30 June

Crucial time for Saltend dispute

Defending trade unionism on London Underground

Poverty minimum wage

Library cuts hit staff and users: time for action against the cuts

Workplace news in brief

Students occupy against cuts at London Met

For sale: university places

Government Con-Demned at ballot box

TUSC shows alternative to Con-Dem and Labour cuts

Labour wins Welsh Assembly election -

SNP landslide – but it will be a government of savage cuts

Defend independent living rights

Con-Dems put squeeze on democratic rights

Bahrain repression: Muted criticism of West's ally

Suffolk Tories in retreat?

News in brief

UN report on Sri Lanka war crimes

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists

Review: Panorama on housing: The human impact of the crisis

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Crucial time for Saltend dispute

Alistair Tice

On 6 May, a mass meeting of the Redhall engineering construction workers, 400 of whom have been locked out for eight weeks from working on the bio-ethanol plant at BP Saltend near Hull, voted again to reject an increased financial settlement in order to continue the fight for their jobs.

At the meeting, Socialist Party member Keith Gibson, on behalf of the lockout committee, described the COT3 collective bargaining agreement as an "employers' charter" which if signed up to by the trade unions would have prevented any worker from taking any legal action, employment tribunal or further protest against BP/Vivergo.

The meeting also agreed to call on the industry national shop stewards' forum to support a rolling programme of weekly national strikes in support of the locked-out workers.

Redhall workers lobbied the national stewards' meeting in Leeds on 9 May. The previous emergency meeting held two weeks earlier had unanimously agreed to call a national day of action if the dispute had not been settled by this scheduled next meeting.

Unfortunately, the stewards voted 27 to 10 against taking any industrial action in support of the locked-out workers. This was due to the pressure of the trade union bureaucracy who don't support unofficial and illegal strike action.

There is also a fear of job losses, and a refusal to acknowledge the industry-wide implications of this employers' attack on the trade unions, the TUPE transfer agreement and the NAECI national agreement. Whilst the stewards did pledge financial support, this will not win the dispute.

The Redhall workers have struggled heroically for over two months against financial hardship, company lies and a media black-out, heavy-handed policing and use of Section 14 of the Public Order Act. The workers will be discussing how to proceed with this dispute at report back meetings this week, in the light of the national stewards' refusal to give meaningful support.

In this issue

Socialist Party NHS campaign

Fight for the NHS