Ken Livingstone

Livingstone Should Deliver For Cleaners

Ken Livingstone has a habit of trumpeting his commitment to a decent living wage for Tube cleaners. Problem is, they ... er ... don't get a decent living wage. Ken's excuse? He doesn't have the power to impose decent wages on the cowboys who hold the contracts.

So Tubeworker was intrigued to read...

Organising Tube Cleaners

London Underground cleaners in the RMT continue to organise. About three weeks ago, cleaning staff at Morden Underground depot succeeded in fighting their management's imposition of a new 7-day a week roster, which would have allowed them no days off! The RMT cleaner rep came up with an alternative roster, where the same trains would get cleaned, but over five days rather than seven. The cleaners in the depot were solidly organised, and at a branch meeting, the day before the rosters were due to be implemented, cleaners started to organise to walk out. RMT activists from London Underground...

Al Quds counter-demo

On 7 October, supporters of the Iranian regime are organising an “Al Quds Day” demonstration in London (assembling 12:30 at Marble Arch). This year, the march is backed not only by the Muslim Association of Britain, George Galloway, Yvonne Ridley, Hizb-ut Tahrir, etc., but also by Respect and the 1990 Trust (in which Ken Livingstone's adviser Lee Jasper is prominent). Below is an (abridged) text from the committee which has organised counter-demonstrations against similar marches in Berlin. In 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini called for an annual event on the last Friday of the Islamic fast month of...

Ticket Office carnage delayed

Management have put back the implementation date for the ticket office cuts and closures from March 2008 to 'at least' next Summer. This follows a letter from RMT demanding that unless LUL shelve the plans, the union would be in dispute. Well, if one stiff letter can cause a delay to the plans, then...

Victory for Ken?

Listening to the news, we are told that Ken is secretly cheering that this strike is calling into question the Public Private Partnership. We are told that he opposed PPP from the outset and that his hands are itching to get hold of the Metronet contract.

But Ken has not mounted any form of...

Mealy-Mouthed Mayor

Ken Livingstone's latest newspaper for Londoners carries an article about the Metronet collapse. On first reading, it is a welcome condemnation of PPP and Metronet's management, but a closer read reveals why we can not trust our fat-cat Mayor.

  • The article tells us that the PPP was opposed by Ken...

Dick Whittington's heir —The Truth About Mayor Ken Livingstone

Robbed of the official Labour candidacy by Tony Blair, Ken Livingstone defied the New Labour leaders and in the summer of 2000 was elected Mayor of London. No sooner was Livingstone installed as Mayor than he created a Tory-Liberal-New Labour “popular front” government for London. The most “left-wing” plank in his election platform had been opposition to Blairite plans to privatise London Underground. His record, as distinct from his reputation, for many years, at least, did not identify Livingstone as a leftist. Yet he had the support of many left-wingers in the Labour Party and trade...

Ken 4 Crud

I have reported to blog readers before that I am receiving unsolicited 'spam' email from Jon Cruddas' campaign, who seem to think there is some reason why I might back their man. Me being a principled socialist, there is not.

But just in case I were tempted to back Cruddas, I got another piece of...

Kiley: a verdict on Livingstone's appointments policy

Former London Underground tsar Bob Kiley has told the press "I do very little work for my £737,000". Kiley was appointed as boss of London Underground by Ken Livingstone soon after Livingstone won election as an ostensibly left-wing candidate. After retiring early from the top job, he is now paid £737,000 a year to "work" part-time as a "consultant". Kiley also revealed that he is an alcoholic. His illness is his own affair. That Livingstone appointed him to a non-job at a huge salary is the labour movement's affair. This is what we said about the Kiley appointment in our pamphlet Tunnel...

Left: Ken Livingstone, Respect, SSP

By Amina Saddiq Ken Livingstone’s wonderful world Ken Livingstone, god bless ’im, is holding a conference on 20 January under the title “A World Civilisation or a Clash of Civilisations”. “Some argue that the world is going into an era of conflict and war driven by a ‘clash of civilisations’”, says the blurb for the event. “The Mayor of London’s policies are based on the exact opposite idea – that the multicultural city is part of creating a new concept of world civilisation that corresponds to a globalised world.” The “clash of civilisations”, proposed by Harvard academic Samuel Huntingdon in...

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