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By Socialist Appeal
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Wednesday, 22 March 2006 |
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This morning over 30 trade unionists turned up bright and early with placards and leaflets to stand outside the plush Marriot Hotel at County Hall in London – former headquarters of the GLC – to picket a meeting of the Amicus executive committee. The reason? To protest at the disgraceful sacking of three union employees – Des Heemskerk, Cathy Willis and Jimmy Warne – by the union leadership. |
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By Hands Off Venezuela
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Friday, 10 February 2006 |
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The Amicus North West Regional Council decided to affiliate to the Hands Off Venezuela (HOV) campaign at its February monthly meeting. Great interest was shown for what is happening in Venezuela and a generous donation was made to HOV. |
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By an Amicus member
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Thursday, 02 February 2006 |
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Preparations are going ahead for a merger of three big trade unions in Britain, Amicus, T&GWU and GMB. The bureaucracy is pressing heavily for this. It would potentially be a very powerful union, but past experiences have shown that mergers have tended to reduce the level of internal democracy. The left in Amicus gathered around the Amicus Unity Gazette are not opposed to the merger in principle but are demanding the rank and file have a last say through recall conferences and that they be allowed to decide on the key issue of the rule book. |
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By the Campaign promoter, Phil Willis
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Monday, 12 September 2005 |
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Three Amicus members
of staff have been suspended
from their jobs in the union. All three are leading members of the
broad left that was instrumental in defeating the right wing and
getting Derek Simpson elected as General Secretary. No reason has been
given
for their suspension. It is obviously a politically motivated attack.
Please
take part in the campaign to get the three reinstated. |
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By Jeremy Dear, General Secretary NUJ and TUC General Council (Personal Capacity)
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Monday, 12 September 2005 |
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No
one union alone can successfully fight the present anti-union laws. But imagine
if the TUC were to lead a major protest against the laws in every workplace and
organised on behalf of 7 million union members a direct challenge to those laws
- that would have more effect than any number of seminars and workshops and
would put unions in a stronger position to win. |
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By Hands Off Venezuela
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Monday, 12 September 2005 |
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A leading member of Venezuela's largest union, the National Workers
Union, UNT, will be present at the TUC, having been invited by the
National Union of Journalists and by Hands Off Venezuela. NATFHE will
move a resolution in support of Venezuela and the progressive policies
of the government of president Hugo Chávez, committing the TUC to work
with solidarity campaigns and to build links with Venezuelan trade
unionists. |
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By Kris Lawrie
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Thursday, 01 September 2005 |
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The
dispute that erupted at the Gate Gourmet company in August is symptomatic of
what is really happening in the British labour movement. The strike of the Gate
Gourmet workers received strong support from the workers at British Airways who
paralysed Heathrow Airport and inflicted heavy losses on the company. The
class solidarity expressed in this dispute is an indication of what is to come
throughout the whole of the British labour movement. |
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By Ramon Samblas at the Houses of Parliament, London
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Wednesday, 20 July 2005 |
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The Houses of Parliament cleaners made history by staging their first
walk-out on the morning of 20th July. At 10 am the strikers assembled
outside St. Stephens’ entrance together with some MPs, parliamentary
staff and the media to publicise their demands. The strikers were
chanting slogans like “Low Pay, No Way” while some of them were
brandishing placards and mops. |
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Thursday, 30 June 2005 |
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“Attending this conference and its fringe meetings has indicated a
change in mood. Derek Simpson has said that he wants to return Amicus
to where it belongs that is in the hands of the membership, not as an
extended hand of the multinationals. Activists in the union have to
make sure that this is carried out in practice.” |
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Friday, 03 June 2005 |
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Over the weekend of May 28th to 30th the National Association of
teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE) held its annual
conference in Eastbourne, Britain. |
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Wednesday, 01 June 2005 |
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Over the past weekend the Annual National Conference of the 67,000
strong college and university lecturers union, NATFHE, which took place
in Eastbourne, Britain, unanimously agreed to support the Bolivarian
revolution and the measures that it has taken to help the workers and
poor in Venezuela. |
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Tuesday, 31 May 2005 |
Speaking at a meeting in solidarity with Venezuela in London, Frances
O'Grady, Deputy General Secretary of the British Trade Union Congress,
made clear the opposition of the TUC on US interference in Venezuela. See the article on the Hands off Venezuela website.
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Friday, 13 May 2005 |
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Last week’s FBU conference revealed a militant fighting mood, with Matt
Wrack, the new General Secretary, expressing an equally fighting spirit. |
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By Phil Mitchinson
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Monday, 02 May 2005 |
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We recently published a review of a film shown on the BBC entitled
Faith which wove together the lives of its fictional characters with
the real events of the 1984-85 Miners’ Strike. The result was a moving
drama and an unusually honest account of this great struggle,
sympathetic to the miners and their communities. The film’s director,
David Thacker spoke to us about the making of the film and his own
political views.
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