Solidarity 093, 11 May 2006

by Mike Southerden ROYAL Mail's latest drive to slash jobs is continuing apace, but is meeting with rank and file resistance in some areas. Management (with the collusion of union officials) are deploying every method of bullying and bribery to try and get staff to agree to “efficiency savings” by the end of May. Delivery workers at Mount Pleasant were told by CWU officials to expect about 50 job cuts (mostly on nights). If they were agreed, the remaining staff would be receiving 40% of the savings. If they voted “no”, the cuts would be implemented anyway and they would get nothing. Some...

At this year's Communication Workers’ Union conference (Bournemouth, from 21 May), there is an issue that will not go away - the proposed privatisation of Royal Mail in the form of share options for staff. Royal Mail boss Allan Leighton has sent a semi-legal letter to all staff asking them to register an interest in share issues. This is despite no final decision being taken by the Government and the necessity of an act of Parliament in order for shares to be issued at all. Over 200 Labour MPs have signed an Early Day Motion opposing the sellng off of any part of Royal Mail. The CWU has been...

Charlie McDonald, Public and Commercial Services union DWP Group Executive (personal capacity) TENS of thousands of Public and Commercial Services union members in the government’s biggest department, Work and Pensions, struck on 2 and 3 May against Gordon Brown’s job cuts. The cuts started with the 2004 Comprehensive Spending Review. 30,000 posts were to be cut over a three-year period. Management have openly admitted that they are making significant progress towards this target. In a letter to all staff prior to the strike, permanent secretary Leigh Lewis stated: “We are also now nearly 60%...

By a rail worker THE biggest rail strike for eighty years moved a step closer at the start of May with the unions setting a date for balloting workers across the industry. RMT, ASLEF, TSSA and engineering union CSEU gave notice of the strike ballot after the employers failed to agree the unions' four-point plan to avert a pensions crisis. Balloting will start on 17 May, with the results expected from the first week of June. If it's a yes, tens of thousands of workers from train drivers to ticket staff, on all the main rail companies including Eurostar, will take part in the first national rail...

By Reshma Stephens The revolt of the Nepalese people against their country’s autocratic monarchy demands our support and solidarity. The mass strikes and demonstrations which forced king Gyanendra to restore parliamentary government last month are the classic forms of a deep popular revolution, with neither the ruling class able to maintain the old system of domination any longer nor the ruled willing to tolerate it. Equally, our solidarity demands that we warn against the co-option and denaturing of this revolutionary movement, whether by the bourgeois “constitutional” opposition parties...

The BNP “won” its first seat on Birmingham City Council due to a mistake which led to tellers counting BNP votes twice in Kingstanding ward. The mistake only came to light after the returning officer had declared BNPer Sharon Ebanks the winner. Amazingly, under election law a candidate is legally elected once a returning officer announces the fact, even if a mistake has been made. So, despite the fact that the seat was really won by Labour, Ebanks has taken her seat on the council and will be claiming her £15,000 per year allowance. Protests have already been organised outside the Council...

By Dave Landau In most parts of the country the BNP’s results are disappointing (for them). For all their efforts in the West Midlands — where they put up 86 candidates — they had a small handful of gains. In the North West they made a gain in Burnley and in Pendle, failing yet again to make it in Oldham. In Yorkshire they did badly in Bradford, but did make a gain for the first time in Leeds. Whilst the gains they have made are of concern, this is certainly not the result which they hoped would place them on the map as a serious electoral contender. You would not think this from the way the...

By Mike Rowley Detainees at Colnbrook maximum security removal centre have alleged racist abuse against hunger-striking detainees by private security guards. The trial has begun of three men charged with murder and GBH following an attack on Black man Isiah Young Sam who died after being stabbed following disturbances in Birmingham. An Asian taxi driver was racially abused and punched after picking up five people in Colne, Lancashire. The attack is the latest in a series of racist attacks on taxi drivers in the area. Robert Torto, 32, has been charged with three counts of arson with intent to...

By Jim Byagua In another show of strength, the opposition to proposed immigration legislation was powerfully demonstrated in many cities across the US on May Day. The “Day without Immigrants”, included a national boycott, strike, and student walkout, and was organized on 1 May to emphasise the role played within the US economy by immigrants. With more than a million people across the nation marching for immigrant workers’ rights, May Day has been reclaimed. The marches were dominated by a self-conscious, militant Latino working class demanding an end to laws that force many of them into the...