Socialist Appeal

Theory

Greece: March 11 general strike – conclusions and tasks

By Stamatis Karagiannopoulos in Athens
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Last week, on March 11, Greece was shaken by an even bigger general strike than on February 24. As the government announced its third austerity package the mood of Greek workers has become one of growing anger and militancy. All the conditions are there for a massive escalation of the conflict.

Severfield- Reeve Structures Ltd - Fight wage cuts and Union Bashing

By Socialist Appeal reporters
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
The recent period has seen some serious attacks on workers living standards in industry; but its also seen a militant response in some sectors. The workers at Severfield-Reeve Structures Ltd. in Dalton have managed to win trade union recognition and the employers are developing the plant, this puts a different slant on the matter. The fact that the workers have rejected the pay cuts and are now looking at strike action is a sign that things are beginning to change.

Glasgow: End the harassment of asylum seekers!

By Ewan Gibbs
Monday, 15 March 2010
The suicide of three Russian asylum seekers has aroused the indignation of the local community in Springburn. A mother, father and stepson jumped from the fifteenth floor of a tower bloc in the Red Road flats in Springburn, Glasgow. This followed the rejection of their asylum application, with the family having been instructed to leave the flats in Springburn following this.

Women’s struggle and class struggle

By Marie Frederiksen

Friday, 12 March 2010

To mark the hundreth anniversary of International Women's Day this week, we are publishing an article which forms the centre pages of this month's edition of Socialist Appeal. The author is a contributor to a recent book on women's rights and class struggle published by the Danish Marxists around 'Socialistick Standpunk'.

Scotland: 10,000 March Against Cuts

By Rachel Gibbs
Thursday, 11 March 2010
On the 6^thof March around 10,000 teachers, students, parents and political activists took part in a demonstration organised by the main Scottish teaching trade union, the EIS, against proposed cuts to education funding by both the Scottish government and local councils.

PCS strike - North-east region report.

By Gavin Jackson, PCS member.

Thursday, 11 March 2010

Better late than never... Here is a short report on the effect of the PCS strike (held earlier this week) in the North-East of England. Scoll down this page to read more reports.

STOP PRESS: NEXT NATIONAL STRIKE 24 MARCH!

Stop the witch hunts. For a fighting and democratic union

By Unison United Left Press Release
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
A couple of days after four London based Socialist Party activists were banned from office in UNISON. Regional Full Time Officials raided their branch offices seizing computer equipment and records including confidential case files. This Police style raid has nothing in common with the democratic traditions of the Labour and Trade Union Movement and much more in common with the methods of Stalinism, circa 1937

Edinburgh completes Scottish Defense League rout

By Paul (Socialist Appeal Edinburgh)
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
The Scottish Defense League (SDL) was once again run out of a major Scottish city on Saturday the 20^th of February by militant anti-fascist demonstrators. This was the Scottish wing of the English Defense League’s second attempt at staging a march in Scotland, after they had been denied a march and bussed out of town in Glasgow.

PCS Strike: London march and rally

By Steve Jones
Tuesday, 09 March 2010
Today several hundred PCS strikers left their picket lines to join a lunchtime march through the capital city to show the workers of London that the members are angry and won't take no for a answer. The march ended in a rally at a hall next to Westminster Cathedrall.... Socialist Appeal sellers were on hand and a full report with pictures will appear shortly

PCS strike: Report From Norwich

By George Deacon
Tuesday, 09 March 2010
On an extremely cold and windy morning a large gathering of Civil Servants, Fire Brigade workers , the deputy leader of the Green Party and Students from the University gathered outside the Froum in Norwich to hear speakers from PCS and UNISON call for united action of all public sector workers in defence of not only the compensation scheme but also against ongoing cuts and privatisation.

PCS STRIKE: Voices from Coventry

By Darrall Cozens (Coventry Trades Council) Photos: Pat Cowling (Coventry PCS)
Tuesday, 09 March 2010
As was to be expected the propaganda war has already started after the first day of strike action. One the one side is the government claiming that the PCS action had little effect as only 80,000 PCS members took strike action on Monday, March 8^th, as compared to the PCS figure from the front line of over 200,000. This shows that the battle is not only of strike action and resolve but also of words as the government tries to undermine the democratic ballot result of PCS members to defend terms and conditions that were negotiated and settled as far back as 1986. It would seem that the anti-union government of Margaret Thatcher was prepared to agree a deal with the civil servants unions which the present Labour government is now trying to unilaterally rip up in order to save money on future redundancies. Working people are yet again being forced to pay the price for a capitalist crisis that they did not cause.

PCS Strike: Notes from a picket line

By Matt Wells
Tuesday, 09 March 2010
"It was a freezing morning but spirits were high." PCS striker Matt Well reports from a picket line in Cambridge on the first day of the two day strike by civil service workers taking action against government plans to slash redundancy payouts.

Civil Service Workers On Strike!

By Socialist Appeal
Sunday, 07 March 2010
As reported in the current issue of Socialist Appeal, over 250,000 members of the Civil Service union PCS will be taking strike action tomorrow, Monday 8th and Tuesday 9th March. As workers come out in defence of the Civil Service Compensation Scheme which the governments wants to water down, job centres, law courts, government offices and so on will be shut.

The Chinese hate the rich – and rightly so!

By Jorge Martin (www.marxist.com)
Sunday, 07 March 2010
When the process of capitalist restoration in China started, some 30 years ago, Deng Xiaping issued the slogan “to get rich is glorious” and he added “let some get rich first”. And some have certainly gotten themselves obscenely rich. The destruction of the planned economy in China has created a massive and widening gap between rich and poor and at the same time a deep seated hatred against the new rich.

UNISON: Elect Paul Holmes for General Secretary; Campaign Update

By UNISON Socialist Appeal Supporters
Friday, 05 March 2010
UNISON Socialist Appeal Supporters have been active in the campaign to achieve 25 nominations for Paul and their have been some notable successes. The campaign is hotting up now as was shown by the fact that members from several branches attended the Elect Paul Holmes Public Meeting in Newcastle.