Solidarity 029, 1 May 2003

Strikes at GM and Renault plants in Brazil

by Pablo Velasco Last week metalworkers went on indefinite strike at a General Motors (GM) plant and a Renault car factory in Brazil. Some 5,000 workers at GM's Sao Jose dos Campos plant and another 2,500 at Renault's Sao Jose dos Pinhais factory are striking for higher wages to compensate for rising inflation. In addition to a 10% wage increase, GM workers are demanding a cut in their working week from 40 to 36 hours and an "inflation clause" that guarantees a pay raise every time consumer prices jump more than 3%. At the Renault plant, union leaders are pushing for a 14% pay increase. The...

Brukman assault

By Pablo Velasco On Friday 18 April, hundreds of police descended on the Brukman textile factory in Argentina to evict the workers who had been running it for over a year. The factory has been run under workers' control since its bosses abandoned it in December 2001, owing wages to the workers. More than 50 of its 150 workers carried on production and applied to the courts for legal ownership. A judge had ruled in favour of the workers several months ago. Brukman is one of more than 150 factories occupied and run by workers in the aftermath of the Argentine economic collapse. A previous...

Oppose political repression in Cuba

By Joan Trevor In March and April the Cuban government arrested dozens of oppositionists for allegedly working with the US to overthrow Fidel Castro's regime. Many of those arrested were quickly tried and have received long prison sentences. Human rights organisations have protested against the crackdown on these 'dissidents', who range from opposition leaders to grassroots human rights activists. The Campaign for Peace and Democracy, the US based organisation that originally developed the 'No to war, no to Saddam Hussein' statement circulated by the Alliance for Workers' Liberty, has...

Debate: A workers' voice in politics?

Since May 2001, when the Fire Brigades Union voted to consider supporting election candidates closer to union policies and principles against New Labour, trade unionists and socialists have been discussing how to deal with the issue of the unions' political funds. The Alliance for Workers' Liberty has recently been taking stock of what has become a defining issue for the left, and debating how to go forward. This issue we print a contribution from John Bloxam and John O'Mahony ; other contributions from the discussion among AWL activists will follow; and readers are invited to add their own...

Letters on unity

"You are not the only true socialists" - Andrew Berry "The AWL wants unity" - Mark Osborn You are not the only true socialists Re Solidarity 28 editorial. You seem to behave very much like the SWP - "we are the only true socialists", etc. That is arrogant. How can you be sure that every left group was on a different side in the war and did not agree with you? If your idea is that you were the only left group who did not call for "defeat for US/UK" or "defend/victory to Iraq", then you are wrong, as Workers' Action did not either. I hope you read the article in Workers' Action on this issue. I...

Left Unity: How will the Socialist Alliance organise the left?

In recent issues Solidarity has been running a discussion on left unity, opened by a statement in Solidarity 26 . This issue we carry excerpts from two relevant proposals drafted for the Socialist Alliance conference on 10 May. The first is from Alan Thornett and Mandy Baker (associated with the paper Resistance), John Rees, Rob Hoveman and Weyman Bennett of the Socialist Workers Party, and Nick Wrack and Will McMahon (unaffiliated Alliance executive members close to the SWP). This AGM needs to be effectively a relaunch of the Socialist Alliance, or at least a relaunch of the idea behind the...

Industrial notes

You can't kill the spirit 23% with no strings Average pay rises go up What planet? Dublin Rail stikes Pensions You can't kill the spirit Commentators have been predicting the end of the class struggle for over a hundred years. First it was the distraction of football matches, pigeon fancying and whippets. Then, in the Sixties, a washing machine and two weeks in Mablethorpe. In 1987 Labour leader Neil Kinnock was telling Ron Todd of the TGWU that his members-"dockers with holiday homes in Marbella"-weren't interested in the class struggle. Two years later there was a national dock strike...

Fined a thousand a month

For more than twenty years, Glenroy Watson has been a train driver on London Underground. In that time, he has also been an RMT representative, and the most persistent champion of black workers on the Tube. London Underground Ltd (LUL) would love to get rid of him - or, at least, to undermine him and what he stands for. When an incident occurred on the Victoria Line involving Glenroy, LUL saw its chance. Although it was the sort of incident that would usually result in a manager having a quiet word with the driver concerned, the company has disciplined Glenroy and reduced him to the grade of...

Victimised for anti-racist report

By Janine Booth, President, Hackney Trades Union Council On Friday 25 April Hackney Council began its disciplinary hearing against UNISON Equalities Officer John Page. John is accused of "gross misconduct" for allegedly drafting a report which damns the Council's inaction against racism. UNISON Joint Branch Secretary Brian Debus is charged with the lesser offence of "misconduct" for his alleged role in producing the report. The extraordinary thing is that the Council states that no part of its case against John is that the report is untrue! It seems that it does not matter to them whether...

Workers' Memorial Day

By Paul Hampton Nearly 100 people marched through "murder mile" in London to commemorate Workers' Memorial Day on 28 April. Trade unionists and campaigners rallied at Spital Square, where speakers described the worldwide death toll of 2 million workers killed every year by work. Tony O'Brien from the Construction Safety Campaign and Mick Holder from the London Hazards Centre spoke of the deaths in the construction industry, both on the job and from asbestos. Nicola Parsons, whose brother Stephen was killed at work aged 18, spoke of her determination to get changes in the law to prosecute...

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