|
Trade Unions
|
New Book - 'Reformism or Revolution' - now available
Latest International NewsLatest British NewsLatest Trade Union NewsWellred featured books
Send us reports!Send us your letters, articles or workplace and trade union reports! Please get in touch and wherever possible we will publish submitted articles on our website or in our monthly paper Socialist Appeal. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
We republish this article from Socialist Appeal April 1995 on proportionality as part of the ongoing discussion in the labour movement about reserve places as a means of overcoming discrimination. Since its original publication it has become more evident that proportionality and reserved seats have been used to undermine democracy in the trade union movement, while not resolving the issues of discrimination.
Pat Macdonald gives a report on Hands off Venezuela at this years T.U.C in Brighton. To a filled room of trade union
activists, Rob Sewell gave a speech on the importance of events in Venezuela,
followed by John McDonnell MP, who praised the work of Hands off Venezuela and
its founders. NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear and FBU vice president Alan
McLean also spoke at the meeting.
The tube workers' strike, the strike of prison
officers in August, the call by rank and file police to be granted the right to
strike, and other similar disputes mark an important change in Britain. The
workers of this country have had enough and they are starting to fight back.
The Grunwick strike was the first dispute where
a majority of strikers who were from ethnic minorities received widespread
support from the labour movement. This pamphlet and DVD should be seen by those
who did not live through the event. The strike also gives a
different twist to the current debate about multiculturalism - there was no
doubt in those days that the strikers at Grunwick belonged in the trades union
movement, regardless of their ethnic background or culture. Workers from all
different cultures were united at Grunwicks. 
With inflation running at
well over 4% for the last 6 months conditions couldn't have been better for
public sector trade unions to challenge the Government's 2% public sector pay
limit. Many staff are already angry
over cuts, NHS redundancies and job evaluation, so a real pay cut of 2 - 3% has
provoked a strong response.
In May 2004, we reported Scotland's worst ever industrial disaster when the
Stockline plastics factory in Glasgow exploded leaving 9 dead and 40 injured.
It was another searing indictment of breaches in Health & Safety
legislation, now a matter of course in Britain. Ex-employees told journalists
they had been sacked after raising concerns about safety. The 2 companies jointly responsible, ICL Tech and
ICL Plastics, faced only charges relating to Health & Safety, for which they have now been
fined a measly £400,000.
The following is a short letter from a Postal Worker from Oxford, giving his impressions in his own humorous words of his experience on the picket line. For many of us, it is a grassroots view we can identify with.
The Hands Off Venezuela campaign has sought
to take the message of the Venezuelan Revolution to as many trade
unionists as possible. As a result of our work, resolutions supporting
the revolution have been passed at a large number of trade union
national conferences, the bulk of which have affiliated to
the national campaign. All in all, this means that trade unions numbering nearly six million members have shown support in one form or other for HOV.
The fight is on. Postal workers organised by the Communication Workers Union (CWU) are staging a series of national strikes
following a 77% yes vote to defend jobs and conditions - in fact the very service
itself. Post office management have spent the last few years running the post
service down and down and then complaining about lost income!
More than 600 workers at Rosyth naval dockyard in Fife walked out in a
wildcat strike on June 21 over an attack on their pensions. The
former Royal navy base was privatised in 1987 under Thatcher's Tories and is
now owned by Babcock International. The situation as it stands means workers
who paid into the company pension scheme can expect on average a reduction
of around £60-£70 a week on the expected return.
Monday was a red letter day for the Hands Off Venezuela
campaign. Amicus/Unity, the second biggest union in Britain, voted practically
unanimously to affiliate to the HOV campaign.
This represents a great step forward for the campaign in the trade union
field.
London
Underground has announced plans to close 40 main ticket offices, various
secondary offices and restrict opening times on many others.
On Tuesday 15th
May Hands off Venezuela travelled to Brighton to attend the annual PCS
conference. The intervention was a success, helping to raise awareness of the process taking place in Venezuela, particuarly the plight of the workers of Sanitarios Maracay.
Bullying Tesco bosses have plumbed new depths sacking 65 drivers involved in
a lawful, official trade union dispute. The 150 drivers at the Tesco
distribution centre in West Lothian will be on strike from midnight tonight.
Taxi's arrived at drivers homes on Monday night with letters telling the men
they were sacked.
