Solidarity 188, 12 January 2011

PCS members are balloting against Coalition threats to the Civil Service Compensation Scheme, defended from the Labour government with strike action as recently as March 2010. The ballot period ends on January 14. This is not a ballot for industrial action; it is merely a ballot to reaffirm support for the union’s existing opposition to Government plans. This is hardly the approach one might hope for from what is allegedly one of Britain’s “fighting unions.” AWL and Independent Left are voting yes, but are critical of the Left Unity leadership’s slack attitude to the “NUVOS” pension scheme...

The tabloid press is outraged at the possibility that there might be some strikes at the same time as the Royal Wedding in April. Both the Evening Standard and Daily Mail have run stories about strikers “targeting” the wedding. The substance is that ongoing disputes involving drivers on the London Underground (members of ASLEF) and British Airways cabin crew (members of Unite) may be balloting around that time. But the underlying political message is clear: “know your place.” We should be deferential forelock-tuggers who should be thankful for the opportunity to marvel at the opulent wealth of...

Earlier this month anti-corporate-tax-dodging activist group UK Uncut promoted an action celebrating “mutual” companies and co-operatives. Not small-scale, localist workers’ coops but corporate behemoths such as John Lewis. The aim of the protest was to “raise awareness among the public” that “another financial world is possible” — i.e. that instead of straightforward selling off of Royal Mail and Northern Rock to the highest bidder, alternatives such as co-operatisation have legs. Radical legs, it would seem, if UK Uncut is on board. The first thing that struck me as odd is the strange...

I’ve always been fascinated by Peter Mandelson. Those who thought Blair was a decent bloke, good for winning elections, right-wing only because he was led astray by the likes of Mandelson, were wrong. I personally found Blair repellent: shallow, self-obsessed and, actually, not very bright. These are all impressions unintentionally confirmed in this book. Mandelson, on the other hand, always appeared a much more stylish scumbag: intelligent, and with a genuine understanding of the Labour Party and how to move it rightwards. New Labour is his achievement. His autobiography is interesting for...

Last year’s Bafta and Oscar awards (and the various others which run up to the Oscars, such as the Golden Globes) were dominated by the special-effects extravaganza Avatar and the supposedly more “indie” Hurt Locker (a contest given extra frisson by the fact the rival directors used to be married). This year, sadly, there is no such obvious head-to-head that I can see, and no background gossip to liven things up. The big-hitters — Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island, for instance — have underperformed. Of course, awards go to various categories — best film, best director, best original screenplay...

Former Scottish Socialist Party leader Tommy Sheridan is likely to face several years jail, after being found guilty of perjury on 23 December. He will be sentenced on 26 January. This is the latest in a long and sad story. In 2004 the News of the World published allegations about Sheridan’s private life. The News of the World was, and is, a foul right-wing scandal rag. The Murdoch press was after Sheridan because of his activity on the Scottish left. Sheridan won a libel action against the News of the World in 2006. Then, very unusually, the police launched a perjury investigation into the...

Since the financial crisis began in 2007 “the cuts” have figured in the consciousness of labour movement activists as something we knew were coming and that we must fight against, but had yet to affect our day-to-day lives. But now, with the Tories and Lib Dems in power, “the cuts” are becoming a more formidable reality. As the new year begins, Darren Bedford surveys where and how the cuts are biting. Health The key cuts figure for the NHS is £20 billion (euphemistically couched as an “efficiency saving”). This will be made worse by a vast market-based restructuring of the system - called...

With the new government, the bosses’ offensive against our class is accelerating. Unemployment will be 2.7 million by the end of 2011, as 120,000 public and 80,000 private sector jobs are scrapped. Billions are being cut from public services. VAT is up. Wages will rise, well below every measure of inflation, slashing thousands of most workers’ incomes. University applications are up 20 percent, as young people scramble to avoid higher fees and the dole queue, but one in three — a quarter of a million — will get no place. All this unless we do something to stop it! With the student protests and...

Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the civil service union PCS, announced his “April Thesis” in an article in the Guardian on 30 December and an interview with the Times the same day. His plan is that “by March 26, the date of the big TUC march with a million people on the streets... unions [will] have balloted or [be] balloting for industrial action... followed by mass industrial action” around the time of the royal wedding at the end of April. Although “a general strike is illegal”, said Serwotka, there is no legal ban on unions coordinating action for the same day. The train drivers’ union...

In the next four years, the Coalition government plans to cut £18 billion from benefits and £16 billion from education and other local services. The Tories and Lib Dems say this is unavoidable. Yet in 2009-10 the richest thousand individuals increased their wealth by £77 billion. Bank profits were £15.5 billion for the first half of 2010, so probably about £30 billion for the full year. The loot is much bigger than the cuts. Maybe £7 billion will be paid out in bonuses. The government’s minimal — essentially cosmetic — bank levy will raise just £2.5 billion a year. After a period of “talking...