Workers' Liberty

A fortnight after the Grangemouth oil refinery was shut down by strike action, talks continue between refinery owners (INEOS) and UNITE.

The strike by the 1,200 union members was in defence of the refinery’s final salary pension scheme, inherited by INEOS from the refinery’s previous owners (BP).

A House of Lords Committee headed by former CBI president, Lord Vallance of Tummel, has attacked the government in a report "The Economic Impact of Migration".

Birmingham City Council workers will strike again on 23 and 24 April over the council’s plans to use “single status” negotiations to cut pay and jobs.

In a shocking example of its free-market savagery, the Government is closing 28 of the 83 Remploy factories, which employ disabled workers to make work-wear products in a unionised workplace with unio

The Remploy factories in Aintree and Birkenhead (CCU) are taking strike action on 6th and 7th February.

A public meeting on 10 December 2007 was part of the build-up to the No One is Illegal Trade Union conference against immigration controls.

Javez Lam from the GMB, who has supported Chinese families following the Morcambe Bay cockle pickers disaster, spoke about organising the Chinese workers in Soho.

Civil service workers in the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) will strike on 31 January over pay. They are likely to be joined by workers in HMRC (Revenue and Customs), striking over job losses, and workers in the Home Office (striking over pay).

Remploy workers have vowed to fight the government’s plan to close 28 out of 83 factories in the publicly-subsidised network employing disabled workers. A few weeks ago government minister Peter Hain was promising sincerely to look seriously at the trade unions’ plan to improve the running of the factories in order to stay within their £111 million subsidy.

By Pat Murphy

All the main public-sector unions have now taken some sort of position in favour of united industrial action to force pay rises at least matching inflation and to break the two per cent limit decreed by Gordon Brown for both 2007-8 and 2008-9.

The question now is, who will take the initiative to turn this talk into action?

World Flowers imports cut flowers from around the world, Spain, Morocco, especially Kenya. The company has a annual turnover of over £100 million, delivering 1.5 billion flowers a year, trading with Tesco, Sainsbury and Waitrose. This fast-growing company recently switched to employing migrant workers. Is this — or rather paying minimum wages to workers vulnerable to exploitation — the secret of their success?

The public sector union Unison has announced that it is linking up with the general union GMB over the Labour leadership contest.

By Tom Unterrainer
Unions of teachers, health workers, and civil service workers are all moving towards strikes to challenge Gordon Brown’s decree for pay cuts in the public sector.

By a GMB organiser

The Southampton migrant workers’ branch of the GMB has won union rights at UK’s largest cut flower packer — World Flowers Ltd. This comes after a six month campaign of direct action and sustained pressure on the employer.

309 jobs are to go as Burberry plans to close its plant in Treorchy and relocate to China, where labour costs are cheaper because there are fewer of those pesky legal protections and union rights.

By Heather Shaw

February 14 is synonymous with slushy cards and expensive gifts but this year it has been declared as an International Day Against Burberry.

The prestigious clothing and accessories company have come under fire because of their plan to move their South Wales factory to China, axing 310 jobs. The film awards people BAFTA severed ties with its high profile sponsor under the threat of a black-tie protest outside its annual reception event. Mervyn Burnett, GMB Officer dealing with Burberry in South Wales said;

Defend Mark O’Reilly

STOP press: North/ Northwest London CWU branch has perpetrated a bureaucratic stitch-up against Mark O’Reilly, a postal worker at Finsbury Park depot. Mark decided to challenge the incumbent union rep who has colluded with management over job cuts for over two years. Mark distributed a leaflet to workmates that referred to high work levels over the last Xmas period and demanded to know what the rep had done to alleviate the burden on staff.

London protest, in solidarity with JJB workers and against the sacking of Chris Riley, organised by No Sweat - meet 1pm, Sunday 10 December 2006, outside JJB Sports, 8 The Broadway West, 12 Shopping Centre, London W12 8PP.

By ALAN FRASER, REGIONAL EDUCATION / HEALTH & SAFETY OFFICER, GMB SOUTHERN REGION in a personal capacity

In Southampton on 6th October, the GMB Southern Region made trade union history by setting up the first post war Migrant Workers trade union branch in Britain.

By a GMB member

The GMB called off its planned five-day strike at Asda Wal-Mart depots at the end of June, after getting an agreement on collective bargaining from the firm.

A planned five-day strike by Asda warehouse staff has been called off.

By Gerry Bates

Members of the GMB union working in Asda Wal-Mart depots have voted by three to one to take strike action to win collective bargaining rights at all 20 distribution depots, to ensure the payment of the 2005 bonus and to have safe working practices.

The GMB’s congress has voted overwhelmingly against merger with the TGWU and Amicus to form a new “super union”.

Leaflet from Unison United Left commenting on the local government unions' decision to call off the industrial action, continuing the campaign against pension cuts, due on 25-27 April.

By a TGWU member

The TGWU Broad Left met on 2 April and discussed the proposed “super-union” amalgamation between the TGWU, AMICUS and the GMB.

An official statement from the public services Unison on 30 March condemned the Deputy Prime Minister’s “provocative” action in pressing ahead with cuts in local government pensions.

Snippets from the local government unions’ strike day on 28 March, when over a million workers struck against planned cuts in the local government pension scheme.

By Polly Maclean

It looks as if the construction workers at Cottam power station, near Lincoln, may have won a victory in their brave fight to win union-agreed wages and conditions for the Hungarian workers imported to work alongside them.

By an AMICUS member

While the TGWU has started a process of consultation on the creation of a new super union, developments in the other two unions (AMICUS and GMB) could well undermine the project.