Solidarity 256, 12 September 2012

Solidarity 256

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Stop deportations at London Metropolitan University

Late on the evening of Wednesday 29 August, the UK Border Agency (UKBA) announced that London Metropolitan University was losing its “highly trusted sponsor” status. This means that in the eyes of UKBA, being a London Met student no longer makes you eligible to stay in Britain on a student visa. The right of the 2,600 non-EU students at London Met to remain in country has been stripped away with the stroke of a pen — the single biggest expulsion since Edward I's Edict of Expulsion which kicked out the Jews in 1290. The basic drive behind this unprecedented assault on international students in...

Save the Women's Library!

The fight save the Women’s Library based at London Met is stepping up. The fate of the collection will be decided at a meeting on 13 September. Institutions have been asked to bid for the collection. That decision will be ratified by the London Met Board of Governors on 27 September. The campaign demands: 1. Keep this unique collection in its historic and purpose built home in East London 2. The collection stays intact and accessible to all 3. The library must retain its expert workers. The Women’s Library is not just an archive. It also does a huge amount of excellent community outreach...

Chicago teachers strike

Teachers in Chicago, Illinois have launched their first strike for 25 years as they take on city mayor Rahm Emanuel over a raft of issues including potential job losses, changes to healthcare benefits, pay and classroom conditions. The first day of the strike, on Monday 10 September, saw 434 of the city’s 578 schools shut completely, with the remaining 144 only opening for part of the day. The teachers’ union, the Chicago Teachers’ Union (CTU), is led by the Caucus of Rank-and-File Educators (CORE), a radical rank-and-file body which has fought for union democracy and militant industrial...

TUC conference says: take over the banks!

TUC Congress passed a resolution calling for the public ownership of the banking system — the first sign of politics at the otherwise consensual gathering. The resolution, proposed by the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), argued that the chaos created by the major banks and financial institutions “should be ended through full public ownership of the sector and the creation of a publicly owned banking service, democratically and accountably managed”. Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary told Congress: “The failure of the banks is not simply about regulation, or lack of regulation. The problem is with...

Industrial news in brief

Cleaning workers on East Coast and London Midland rail routes became the latest cleaners to launch strikes for higher pay when they walked out on Monday 10 September. The cleaners work for contractor ISS, and are paid marginally above the minimum wage (between 42p and £1.42 more). Cleaners at depots in Northampton, Bletchley, and King’s Heath (which are all operated by London Midland) have already struck for 24 hours. The workers have not received a pay increase for three years, and are demanding a living wage. Bob Crow, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime, and Transport workers union (RMT...

Teachers' unions launch joint fight

On Friday 7 September, the National Union of Teachers announced the result of its ballot on industrial action over a whole range of attacks on including excessive workload, pay and cuts. There was a 93% vote for action short of strike action and a 83.4% vote for strikes. The aim is to force the government to end its pay freeze, abandon regional pay, and agree an acceptable contract which reduces teacher workload. On Monday 10 September, the union announced that the action short of strike action will start on 26 September. The campaign is being conducted jointly with the NASUWT, the other large...

Grandizo Munis: key ally of Trotsky in Spain

Grandizo Munis (1912-1989) was one of the earliest Spanish Trotskyists. Born Manuel Fernandez Grandizo in Larena, Estremadura, Munis joined Izquierda Comunista (ICE), the Spanish section of Trotsky’s International Left Opposition at its conference in Liege in Belgium in February 1930. The majority in ICE, led by Andrés Nin, soon came into conflict with Trotsky over the section’s semi-detached relationship with the rest of the International Left Opposition (ILO) and its positive attitude towards the “Right Oppositionist” Workers’ and Peasants’ Bloc (BOC). These differences erupted into a full...

A discussion among Marxists

Workers’ Liberty has recently begun discussions with a Marxist group active in Turkey, Marksist Tutum [Marxist Attitude]. We made contact with Marksist Tutum thanks to the help of the Iranian Revolutionary Marxists’ Tendency. Martin Thomas reviews their political literature. The Marksist Tutum website was started in 2002; the journal has been published since 2005. Since 2006 its supporters have been active in developing a wider workers’ association in Turkey called UID-DER (the Association of International Workers’ Solidarity). The “pre-history” of Marksist Tutum is longer. It goes back to the...

The real reason Clare Daly left the Socialist Party?

On 31 August sitting Socialist Party (SP) TD (Irish MP) Clare Daly resigned from the organisation. She will keep her seat as a member of the United Left Alliance (ULA). In a statement posted on its website, the SP is adamant that Daly’s public support for tax-cheat TD Mick Wallace was at the centre of their differences. Daly, on the other hand, cited political differences with the SP, announcing that “the potential of the ULA has not been fully realised and it is now time that the component organisations prioritised the building of the ULA”. Daly’s criticism that there has been a lack of...

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