Workers' Liberty

By a delegate to Labour Party conference

At this year’s Labour Party conference there were major debates on rail renationalisation and extending council housing. Both arose from “minority reports” coming out of the National Policy Forum (NPF).

In an interview due to appear in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Friday 8 October, the senior adviser to Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon has said bluntly that Sharon's plan to withdraw from Gaza — while reinforcing the Israeli presence in the West Bank — is aimed to prevent a Palestinian state.

Congratulations to the sharp-eyed Colin Foster for spotting the existence of the Labour Friends of Iraq (LFIQ) (Solidarity, September). There was indeed a LFIQ website which we withdrew after only a few days. As Colin says, we promise to be back online soon at labourfriendsofiraq.org.uk, and may even be so by the time of your publication. But there Colin’s forensic skills end.

The Labour Party conference at Brighton reflected the political state Britain is in now. The question is: did it offer any way forward for the labour movement and the working class?

The simple answer is: no. The longer-term answer is: maybe.

By Mike Fenwick

A recent Panorama programme exposed the growing concerns over the procedures by which drugs are licensed for use in Britain.

It has been long known that the pharmaceutical industry and medicine have close links. You can’t go into many GP surgeries without noticing the free stationery, calculators, pens, “educational” posters and leaflets adorned with the logo of a particular drug or company.

Former Suharto-era general Bambang Susilo Yudhoyono and former Golkar official Yusuf Kalla have been elected as president and vice-president in the second round of Indonesia’s first direct presidential election. Yudhoyono won 61% of the vote against outgoing President Megawati Sukarnoputri’s 39%.

Mark Osborn reviews The Corporation by Joel Bakan

“The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power” is the subtitle of The Corporation, a new film and book, released in the UK at the end of October.

The book’s author points out that corporations have similar legal rights to human beings and asks: if corporations are like people, what sort of people are they? He concludes that, as they are legally obliged to put the interests of shareholders first, and place profits above all else — a pathological compulsion — the corporation is a psychopath!

Workers’ strikes across Brazil are winning wage rises after years of declining purchasing power.

More than 100,000 metalworkers in ABC, an industrial district in Sao Paulo where major steel, auto and other heavy industry is located, have begun to hold a series of stoppages in companies that refuse to agree to a 9.57% pay rise.

December 2000 saw the first “hamburgrève” in Paris, when the young, mostly casual workers at the McDo (McDonald’s) restaurant on Boulevard Saint-Germain went on strike. The next fast food chain hit by worker unrest was Pizza Hut. A leading figure in these conflicts was Abdel Mabrouki, now aged 31.

He went to work at Pizza Hut as a motorcycle delivery boy, but got demoted to washer-up because of his poor eyesight. From his corner of the kitchen Abdel plotted the way management dealt with their staff, hassling them to work faster, the corners they cut in health and safety, and hygiene. He collected stories from the staff, dispensed advice and finally agreed to be the CGT (Confédération Générale du Travail) union rep. In 1996 he had the honour, he says, to organise the first strike in his workplace. He has been sacked twice by Pizza Hut and won his job back. He still works there, a veteran in a business where workers “don’t make old bones”.

Last month veteran workers’ democracy activist Leung Kwok-Hung was elected to Hong Kong’s Legislative Council — the administrative zone’s quasi-parliament.

More than 1,000 military and other police sent by the Chongqing municipal government stormed a factory occupation on 30 August. The factory was formerly owned by the Chinese army. A young worker was reportedly beaten in the police action and then disappeared.

Hotel workers across the United States and Canada have launched a campaign of industrial action to secure recognition and collective bargaining rights in the industry.

Pat Longman reviews Super Size Me

McDonald’s is having a bad time. UK profits are down by £61 million and have been steadily declining since 2000. The company brand — the famous arches — is in danger of collapsing.

Striking Liverpool social workers are appealing for messages of support and practical solidarity in their struggle against a council which is refusing even to talk to them.

The 163 members of UNISON's Liverpool City branch have been on indefinite strike since 24 August in a dispute over workloads and case allocation.

Paul Berman’s book Terror and Liberalism is a New York Times bestseller. It is an argument from within — broadly speaking — the left in favour of the war on terror, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, etc. Clive Bradley critically examines that argument.

By a UNISON healthworker

The 16,000-strong Society of Radiographers has rejected in a ballot the proposed new pay deal for the NHS, Agenda for Change (AfC). 83% voted no on a 67% turnout. As Solidarity went to press delegates from UNISON health branches were due to meet on 7 October to decide a recommendation for their union’s ballot on the issue. Amicus was also preparing to consult members on the deal.

Lecturers at Hackney Communisty College have voted to take two days of strike action — a one day strike on Tuesday 12 October, followed by another at the beginning of November.

On Saturday 2 October, more than two hundred fifty thousand people marched through Amsterdam against plans of the Dutch government to slash social services and pension rights, as well as its support for the US in Iraq.

The two month long dispute in Swansea Council with Information Technology workers is now set to escalate as UNISON members in the council staff have voted to take strike action over privatisation and redundancies. On a 41% turnout 63% voted yes.

With the benefit of hindsight Rick Grogan’s statement (Solidarity 3/58) that “If the dispute had continued [over privatisation], those workers would have been transferred with no agreements…” does not make sense.

PCS members at Stratford Social Security office, in east London, are currently balloting for indefinite strike action.

Their dispute is over the victimisation of branch secretary, Charlie McDonald, who works at Stratford office.

A planned strike at London Metropolitan University was stopped late in September after a High Court injunction was placed on the lecturers’ union NATFHE.

The union is fighting the imposition of new contracts. Later this month members will discuss whether to hold a new ballot on industrial action.

By Alan Clarke, NUS executive (personal capacity)

According to Barclays, top-up fees will mean average student debt rising from £18,000 for students graduating in 2004 to £34,000 for those graduating in 2010. That estimate was made before universities declare what top-up fee they will charge. According a Guardian survey, two-thirds plan to charge the maximum possible!

By a civil servant


Civil servants should vote “yes” in the ballots being conducted up to 22 October by the PCS trade union for a strike on 5 November. We are facing serious attacks by a ruthless government that plans:

NHS plc, by Allyson M Pollock: Verso, 2004

"When the history of the period following Labour's 1997 election triumph comes to be written," writes Allyson Pollock in this new book, "people will ask with some incredulity how it was that the Labour government managed to dismantle so much of their hard-won welfare state without the public understanding what was happening, and without serious opposition from the government's own party."