Solidarity 030, 14 May 2003

London postal workers have voted by a margin of 19,803 to 91 for action to win an increase in London weighting. But the problem is that CWU Deputy General Secretary (Postal) John Keggie is trying to play divide and rule by saying that a decent increase for London will mean no increase for the rest of the country. Good reason to kick him out from the position of DGS(p) and replace him with Dave Ward.

In brief * Unison plans a strike ballot over pay for thousands of nursery nurses in Scotland's local authority-controlled nurseries. * In an outrageous attack on human rights Tony Blair has intervened to alter draft European anti-discrimination legislation to allow religious employers to discriminate against lesbians and gay men. * Remploy, which employs 5,700 disabled workers, could face strike action after workers rejected a pay rise worth £5 per week. They want £20.

The rail and seafarers union RMT has finally won its battle to kick John Prescott out of his union-owned flat. Prescott, who pays a rent of just £200 per week, has been told to get out. The building is to be demolished and will make way for apartments including social housing. The joke at Unity House is that RMT leaders have held a raffle to decide who will drive the bulldozer. The RMT should move next to evicting a few anti-union MPs from their seats.

It is starting to look like the peace and quiet that Tony Blair enjoyed within the Labour Party when the old generation of union leaders - headed by the outgoing Bill Morris of the TGWU - were in place, will soon be gone forever. The newly elected leader of the GMB, Kevin Curran, is refusing to sign a £40 million rescue plan for the Labour Party. He has postponed a decision until next spring by which time the union will have finished a review into its relations with the Labour Party. Curran says Blair's support for the private sector, especially PFI and foundation hospitals, is "tearing the...

An Employment Tribunal has forced South West Trains to give train driver Greg Tucker his old job back, two years after demoting him to ticket inspector on a trumped-up speeding charge. The company has also been forced to repay all Greg's lost earnings and a substantial additional award. Greg's "offence" was a minor speeding violation, which posed no material threat to anybody. But the reason Greg was targeted was because he is a trade union activist and campaigning socialist. The Tribunal said that management witnesses were unbelievable, that their evidence was untrue and that they gave...

By a Central Trains driver Following three days of action, the strikes by the rail union RMT to restore train guards' safety role were due to be stepped up to 48-hour stoppages on 6/7 May. But on 1 May the planned 48-hour strikes were called off. Members got a letter from the union (dated 1 May) saying that the 12 Train Operating Companies (TOCs) in dispute had moved their position in our favour. But behind the calling-off were reports that the union committee which had called the 48 hour actions without consultation was being told that it wasn't a popular move - and talk of some previously...

Tony Woodley is standing in the T&G General Secretary election with the backing of the union's Broad Left. Solidarity supporters in the union have had criticisms of Woodley, particularly his role in the motor industry, where he was the union's chief negotiator for several years. Nevertheless, Woodley is the only candidate with a proven track record of rank and file trade unionism, and who firmly opposes T&G's slide towards business unionism. Addressing a meeting of stewards and activists in Birmingham last week, Woodley outlined his vision of the future, emphasising increasing rank and file...

By a CWU member The Executive of the telecoms section of the post and telecom union CWU has re-entered negotiations on incentive bonus schemes in the BT Customer Service division. Rather than re-ballot members, after the use by BT of the anti union laws to stop industrial action on the issue last month, the executive has conceded that the current SMT ("Self Motivated Teams") scheme will continue. Meanwhile SMT Version 2 is being hammered out in "hothouse" discussions with management under the guise of an "alternative". Branch activists and members are unhappy that the union has begun...

The Socialist Alliance (England) met in conference at Islington Green School, London, on 10 May 2003. Read the AWL briefing distributed at the conference here . Report by Gerry Byrne The tone of the whole Socialist Alliance conference, held in London on 10 May, was set by the first motion. It was an emergency motion which expressed "wholehearted support"" for George Galloway and urged all members and "everyone in the anti-war movement" to raise support for him. Not only the AWL motion questioning Galloway's politico-financial connections, but also a "middle-road" motion for critical support...

An Anti-Capitalist Manifesto by Alex Callinicos, Polity Press If the conclusions of this book were to be accepted, and its programme widely adopted, it would put the socialist project back to the time before Marx. This book is a revival of utopian socialism. Callinicos asks three questions of the anti-capitalist movement: who is the enemy, what strategies are needed to beat this enemy, and what should the goal of the movement be? His answers are: the enemy is capitalism; the goal is socialism, and the strategy is revolution, brought about by fighting for a "transitional programme" of reforms...