The government has announced that it hopes to introduce 7,000 apprenticeships for the construction industry. That sounds great, but there could be many pitfalls, such as school leavers being used as cheap labour by unscrupulous employers. I was an apprentice electrician myself, having left school at 16 in 1983.

We learned recently that Corus (ex-British Steel) and other “free market, risk-taking” manufacturers have begged Brown for taxpayers’ money to bail these profiteers out.  As the “Scunthorpe Telegraph” reported, Corus` conglomerate Tata announced profits of £2.47bn in 6 months to September - up 144%. Meanwhile steel production cuts of 20% were increased to 30% in November. Corus-Tata`s hypocrisy might be thought insufferable.

A Message from Jerry Hicks

It is with great pleasure and pride that I am able to say that we have secured more than enough branch and workplace reps nominations to be on the ballot paper for the election of General Secretary Amicus Section scheduled for February and March...

At an emergency meeting of the National Executive of the Unite union in October a decision was made to postpone the implementation of the Unite Rulebook until May 2008 and to call an election for a twelve month period of office for a Unite-Amicus section General Secretary. The decision, supported by both current Joint General Secretaries of Unite, Tony Woodley and Derek Simpson, was made as a result of the legal challenge by former Bristol Rolls Royce convenor Jerry Hicks over the extension of office of Derek Simpson without election until December 2010. The Instrument of amalgamation voted for last year by members of the Amicus & TGWU provided for the new union rulebook to be in place by the 1st November this year.

65 electricians, all Unite members, took unofficial strike action on 17th November for two days at Fiddler’s Ferry Power Station in Warrington. This was over false redundancies.

At the very last minute on the 7th November the National Executive Committee of PCS decided to suspend the national strike due on the 10th. This difficult decision was taken after talks were offered from Sir Gus O’Donnell, head of the civil service. In a letter to general secretary Mark Serwotka he agreed that discussions should take place to address the concerns that form the basis of the national pay campaign.

Dave Prentis, UNISON's General Secretary, recently circulated an important NEC document that gives a clear analysis of some of the main threats and problems that the public sector faces as a consequence of the financial and economic crisis. UNISON Socialist Appeal Supporters welcome the call for branches to discuss the situation, We think its publication reflects a significant development reflecting the huge pressure that the UNISON leadership are under. After all the UNISON bureaucracy has fought hard to "hold the line" for New Labour over the past period.