Solidarity 184, 4 November 2010

Tube workers hit bosses with a third day of strike action on November 3, with the stoppage once again severely disrupting services on the London Underground. The company had been assiduously training up managers in between strike days to cover frontline duties; once again, in being prepared to send people with just a day's worth of familiarisation into frontline jobs, LU demonstrates its utter contempt for passenger safety. But moreover, the whole episode has raised another question: if senior managers are so expendable that they can leave their jobs for days at a time to take familiarisation...

After two extremely solid eight-hour strikes on 23 October 23 and November 1, London firefighters have stepped up their campaign against mass sackings by announcing a 47-hour strike over Bonfire Night, the busiest night of the year for firefighters. A barrage of press hostility has inevitably followed, but the belligerence of London Fire & Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) bosses has left the FBU with little choice but to strike on over the period when they will have the most impact. The vitriolic media reaction is a grim reminder of the role that the right-wing press will play in any...

As Solidarity goes to press, the Islamic regime of Iran plans to put Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani to death. The authorities in Tehran have given the go-ahead to Tabriz prison for the execution. More here Another man has already served a prison sentence and is now free for her husband’s murder. Ashtiani’s son Sajjad Ghaderzadeh and her lawyer Houtan Kian have been tortured in order to obtain confessions against Sakineh and themselves since their arrests on 10 October along with two German journalists. Sajjad and Houtan Kian’s only “crime” has been to defend Ashtiani and proclaim her innocence...

Over the course of Saturday 30 October, around 80 people attended the Feminist Fightback event Women at the Cutting Edge. This London event was a discussion about the many ways in which the ConDem cuts will affect women and strategies for resisting. Feminist Fightback is a broad feminist activist organisation of anti-capitalist and socialist feminists. We were a little disappointed with the overall attendance, but it was good to see new faces, different age groups and both men and women at the event. Like other Feminist Fightback events, the day was very accessible with the emphasis put on the...

Hannah MacMillan works as a support worker in the north of England. Tell us a bit about the work you do. I’m a support worker for adults with learning disabilities, for a private “not for profit” company in. I provide one-to-one support to enable people to be as independent as possible and enjoy their lives. This includes helping them to access local government services as well as the wider community. It’s such a brilliant job — not even just in a “rewarding” way, but in an actual “I really enjoy my work” kind of way. Do you and your workmates get the pay and conditions you deserve? Definitely...

On Saturday 30 October around 200 people demonstrated against the closure of five (out of 12) Lewisham libraries. The turn out was good and the response from passers by was positive. However the demonstration also exposed the fault lines in the anti-cuts campaigns. Two Labour MPs and one local Labour councillor were the only speakers at the opening rally. This caused some anger on the demonstration. AWL members and others started a chant of “vote no to the cuts” when the councillor was speaking. Unfortunately the Socialist Party and the local campaign People Before Profit shouted over this...

John McDonnell MP’s Private Member’s Bill, which would have stopped courts ruling out strike ballots on small technicalities, was defeated in Parliament on 22 October. Ed Miliband, when standing for Labour leader, volunteered to back moves to stop judges invalidating strike ballots on the basis of minor errors. But Labour’s front bench refused to back McDonnell’s Bill, and would not mobilise enough Labour MPs to get the Bill on to its next stage. A total of 89 Labour MPs turned up to support the Bill, including two who acted as tellers in a procedural vote of 87 to 27. But the Bill fell into a...

Just 18 months after upheavals for staff at Northcliffe Media, 50 further jobs are threatened. The company had established six “superhubs” handling subbing and other production functions. The company made redundancies, while some staff accepted long commutes and even moved their home to keep jobs. Local newspaper company Archant is proposing to set up a hub in Ilford for some of its titles, axe deputy editor posts, and close its Bethnal Green office. Another key regional press company Newsquest has similar plans for hubs, that will affect titles in Brighton, Southampton and Bournemouth. BBC...

Members of Unite, Britain's biggest union (formed by the merger in 2008 of TGWU and Amicus), are voting to elect the merged union's first General Secretary. The ballot closes on 19 November. There are four candidates: Les Bayliss and Gail Cartmail from the right, and Jerry Hicks and Len McCluskey from the left. Solidarity and Workers' Liberty are backing McCluskey partly because McCluskey is the democratic choice of the (highly imperfect, but actually-existing) Unite United Left while Hicks's is essentially a personal candidacy with little potential to organise a rank-and-file left around it...

Rhondda Cynon Taff council in South Wales has joined Neath and Port Talbot as the second Labour-controlled council to issue Section 188 notices to its workers in an attempt to force through worse terms and conditions. 10,000 workers face dismissal unless they agree to contractual changes that would result in a pay cut. The move was announced unilaterally by the council's HR director, Tony Wilkins. The GMB, which represents many of the workers, has refused to negotiate until the threat of sackings is lifted and has advised all members not to sign any new contracts. The council, which covers the...