20 articles from the Socialist, issue 434
6 April 2006
‘We’re fighting back’
Labour axes 5,000+ NHS jobs: NHS ‘BUTCHER’ Patricia Hewitt was forced to meet with 12 representatives of the North Staffs NHS SOS campaign at the University Hospital North Staffs on 4 April…
NEW LABOUR health ministers have announced that DHL/Novation had been awarded the £700 million privatisation/outsourcing of NHS Logistics (NHSLA), the non-profit body that provides medical equipment, food and blankets to hundreds of hospitals and clinics daily, an NHSLA steward writes.
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WHAT HAPPENS when your pension scheme goes into deficit?
If you’re a private pensioner it may mean your employer closes the whole scheme down and throws you onto an inferior one.
This is even if the bosses have caused the deficit in the first place by having pension “holidays”. Or they may even declare themselves bankrupt so you get nothing at all.
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Scotland: one million-strong strike for pension rights |
Scotland: THE MAGNIFICENT one million-strong strike for pension rights took place as we were going to press last week. The strike, of members of the Local Government Pension Scheme, showed how workers are prepared to fight for their hard-won…
Support grows for campaign for new workers’ party
WORKERS ARE looking for a political alternative. That was the message from the 28 March picket lines as members of eleven trade unions took strike action in defence of their pensions. At Salford city council, 34 workers signed up in support of the declaration of the Campaign for a New Workers’ Party, writes Roger Bannister, National secretary CNWP.
Socialist Party councillors make a difference
Council elections 2006: THE SOCIALIST Party has six local councillors at present in England and Wales. Three of these councillors have spoken to the socialist about what they have been able to achieve and how they differ from councillors from the pro-capitalist…
Fight for jobs at Manchester Airport
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OVER 150 jobs are to go at Manchester Airport. Part-owned by the very same councils who are hiking the council tax which built up the airport, they’re now announcing these job losses, writes Lynn Worthington, Socialist Alternative candidate, Baguley ward, Manchester (pictured left).
Coventry – re-elect Rob Windsor!
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We are focusing in Coventry on getting Rob Windsor (pictured left) re-elected and regaining our third seat on the council, writes Lindsay Currie, Coventry…
Haggerston school keeps on fighting
AROUND 200 pupils, parents and teachers gathered outside Haggerston girls’ school’s gates recently to show Hackney’s Schools Organising Committee (SOC) what they thought of plans to make Haggerston a mixed-sex school, writes Suzanne Beishon.
YET AGAIN, delegates to National Union of Students (NUS) conference were treated to round after round of discussion on essentially meaningless motions…
Public services not private profit
THE CAMPAIGN "Public Services Not Private Profit" was instigated by civil service union PCS and involves 14 other unions . It was launched in the House of Commons on 29 March, where speeches from trade union general secretaries…
When the generals prepared to seize power in Britain
The Plot Against Harold Wilson, BBC2: “Tanks on the streets. The Prime Minister toppled. The Cabinet imprisoned on the QE2. Fiction? No. Thirty years ago a secret cabal of generals, aristocrats and businessmen really did plot to oust Harold Wilson and seize power.”
Mass protests continue in France but what next?
THE 4 April "day of strikes and protests" saw renewed mass action and demonstrations across France. As we go to press these protests, in around 200 towns and cities, seem to be either the same size or bigger than those, writes Robert Bechert, Committee for a Workers’ International.
When Jack met Condi, thousands protested
LIVERPOOL WAS swamped by police and American security personnel on 31 March as US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice visited Liverpool and Blackburn, writes Alex Waterville.
ALMOST COINCIDING with the third anniversary of the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s regime, US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and British foreign secretary Jack Straw, flew to Baghdad last week try and resolve Iraq’s political impasse…
United Socialist Party wins election seat
IN THE council and provincial elections which took place on Thursday, 30 March, the United Socialist Party (CWI in Sri Lanka) won one seat and massively improved its vote in many other areas, writes Clare Doyle, CWI.
Brazil: Successful Socialismo Revolucionario congress
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"SOCIALISMO REVOLUCIONARIO, the Brazilian section of the CWI, made a leap forward during the last year. The growth in membership and branches, the new branches, like Rio de Janeiro, the interventions amongst students, in…
Sharon’s policies without Sharon
KADIMA – THE new party formed by the comatose former prime minister Ariel Sharon from the previously governing right-wing Likud coalition – emerged as the largest party in Israel’s general election last week…
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ON SATURDAY 25 March the World Social Forum (WSF) began in Karachi, Pakistan, with some 5,000 to 8,000 present, CWI reporters in Karachi write.
Message from the Parti Sosialis Malaysia
We are calling on all socialists for solidarity and support in our struggle for the right to exist as a party…
