Right again – in issue 139 we reviewed the privatisation of Qinetiq, which was floated off from the Ministry of Defence and sold to the US Carlyle Group. ‘Daft, or what?’ was our headline. Ten top civil servants put in £540,000 in and saw their stake rise by 20,000% in a day. Caryle put in £42m and saw it rise to £374m on the day of the sale – a 786% profit. Another triumph for the Chancellor of the day, gormless Gordon.
Members of Prospect union in the Science Museum group have been on strike over wages, with minimum hourly rates falling significantly below the real living wage whilst directors’ salaries have grown substantially. Socialist Appeal pledges solidarity!
Are the terms ‘socialism’ and ‘communism’ interchangeable? Thomas Soud from the Warwick Marxists sets out to answer this question.
Running simultaneously and arguably as crucial as the election for
Unite’s General Secretary itself is the BA dispute and a proposal to
‘settle’ it. 12 months ago British Airways cabin crew on an 80% turn
out, voted by a brilliant 92% to take strike action to defend their hard
won terms and conditions. The dispute started as a result of the
imposition and erosion of ‘Terms and Conditions’ but has been diverted
by British Airways and is now being defined by staff travel and the
disciplinary process. But with scores of cabin crew suspended and a
dozen sacked, the proposed ‘deal’ is already unravelling.