Scottish Socialist Party

Support for No Sweat continues to grow around the country... Lecturers The university lecturers' union, the AUT, passed policy on sweatshops and in support of the No Sweat campaign at its recent conference. The AUT's policy notes that "Production based on the repression of labour, such as that carried on in special export zones, provides an increasing share of the goods consumed in the West. Such goods are being purchased by higher education institutions as well as individuals. "… At present in some North American universities, student and staff demands have secured the adoption of 'no sweat'...

I attended, as a visitor, the RMT SGM on Feb 6th in Glasgow. As you will all be aware the Union rejected the bullying tactics of the LP and upheld the decision of last years AGM to allow the political fund to be used to support other organisations other than the LP. The main argument against the rule change was that support does not mean affiliation even though during the debate at the AGM the word affiliation was used on numerous occasions, this was rejected as nonsense as were other points against the rule change One pro LP delegate finshed his contribution by claiming that this Government...

Put Blair on trial, not the RMT! For pdf of AWL bulletin for the RMT special conference on 06/02/04, click here . The Labour Party will expel the RMT (the rail, Underground workers and seafarers' union) on 7 February unless revokes the union's decision to allow Scottish RMT branches to affiliate to the Scottish Socialist Party. The clash arises from a decision at the RMT's Annual General Meeting last year to let the Executive authorise branches to affiliate to organisations outside the Labour Party. At Labour's National Executive on 27 January all but three delegates - Mark Seddon, Christine...

This is a report of the debate over expelling the RMT at the Labour Party National Executive in January from Ann Black . No official report exists. Note that three members voted against the expulsion, not two as most media reported, and that seven voted for prior talks with the RMT. The member on the NEC from the CWU (which has condemned the expulsion) was absent, but all the trade union reps present, apart from the RMT's own Mick Cash, disgracefully voted for the expulsion. An issue to take up in those unions... In her report Ann Black cites Ian McCartney as claiming a "groundswell" in the...

SSP Research, Policy & Media Unit Press Release: 30/01/04 The Scottish Socialist Party group in the Scottish Parliament today issued a statement giving "complete and unequivocal support" to BBC staff and journalists who had taken action in protest at government attacks on the organisation and laid a motion in the Scottish Parliament attacking the Hutton Report as a cover-up conducted by a handpicked member of the establishment with a track record of covering up the activities of the secret state. The SSP group also attacked Tony Blair for staging a `coup' at the BBC in order to put his own...

By a Tubeworker The Labour Party has written to the rail union RMT warning the union that unless the Executive revokes its decision to allow Scottish RMT branches to affiliate to the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP), we will be outside the rules of the Labour Party. That essentially means our union's expulsion. This clash arises from our Annual General Meeting (AGM) decision in 2003 to allow branches to affiliate to organisations outside the Labour Party. A Special General Meeting (SGM) has been called for 6 February to decide what we do about it. The conference is likely to back the AGM...

SSP Research, Policy & Media Unit Press Release: 17/01/04 The Scottish Socialist Party Parliamentary group today issued a warning to the Scottish Executive that they would be 'dining with despots' if they were to accept an invitation from His Royal Highness Prince Turki Al Faisal for dinner at the Caledonian Hilton Hotel on Monday, 26th January. Scottish Socialist Party National Convenor Tommy Sheridan denounced the visit in the strongest possible terms, saying; "Jack McConnell and his band of tinpot democrats are going to commit an act of breathtaking hypocrisy. "They were cheerleaders for...