Workers' Liberty

UNITE to ballot workers at Shelter

04 Jan 2008 |

A TGWU member

TGWU/Unite members in the homelessness charity Shelter have voted by an overwhelming 87% to reject a raft of proposed cuts to pay and conditions, in favour of a strike ballot. To summarise the worst of what the organisation's management are proposing: Immediate downgrading of one third of frontline advice posts by £3k Removal of pay increments currently worth around £2.5k over three years Extenstion of the working week from 35 hours to 37.5 hours Introduction of new, disastrous, working practices which would effectively create a two or three-tier workforce of housing advisers doing the same...

Protest: Metronet Crisis --> Scrap PPP

25 Jul 2007 | Blog post

As Metronet goes into administration, the abject failure of PPP is laid bare. There's only one solution - re-integrate the Tube under public ownership! Don't let Gordon Brown and Ken Livingstone cook up a deal to re-privatise the infrastructure.

RMT has called a protest at Downing Street on Th...

Metronet goes under

24 Jul 2007

By a tube worker As we go to press it appears that Metronet, the London Underground “Infraco” is going into administration. The Public Private Partnership Arbiter has indicated that he will not agree to the company’s demand that London Underground pay for its incompetence, and LUL will “only” have to pay Metronet an additional £121 million rather than the £551 million it had asked for. That’s not a one-off, that’s the four-weekly Infrastructure Service Charge. The prospect of administration presents immediate concerns for the workforce, the first of which is whether they will be paid. The next...

Keep Estate Cleaning Public!

21 Jun 2007 | Blog post

Hackney Council is carrying out an appraisal for estate cleaning and ground maintenance services, and are considering three options:

Full outsourcing of contractors for both services across Hackney Homes.
Bringing all estate cleaning services back in-house as the external contract elapses.
Entry an...

Defending Labor Rights in Haiti

14 May 2007

By Ben Terrall - HaitiAnalysis.com New legislation in Washington D.C., under the acronym H.O.P.E. – short for “ the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act,” has the goal of promoting the garment industry in Haiti. But the legislation falls noticeably short in protecting labor rights or promoting long-term sustainable economic development that will benefit the poor as well as the rich. The Washington Post editorialized about the bill: “After 15 years of political turmoil, violent unrest and economic mismanagement, this looks like a rare opportunity to consolidate...

QANTAS and the spivs

29 Apr 2007

Bryan Sketchley A consortium of investors (APA) wanted 100% Qantas so they could take it private. If they manage to acquire 90% of shares, they can compulsorily acquire the rest of the shares. If the buy out is successful then the assets directly secure the lenders money and they can do their asset stripping away from public scrutiny. APA has only been able to raise 70% of the necessary funds and subsequently two large shareholders (with over 10% between them) decided not to sell. APA hope that the two big hold outs will not want to be locked in as minorities, and thus, ironically, lowering...

NHS Logistics workers: strike against privatisation

24 Sep 2006

By AWL health workers In a magnificent show of defiance over the last two weeks, hundreds of NHS workers in the supply service NHS Logistics have taken the first national strike action in the NHS for 18 years. The one-day strikes mark an end to the “phony war” between the unions and the Government over NHS privatisation, and could spark a national fightback against the selling off of the NHS. NHS Logistics workers are at the sharp end of the Government’s agenda for the NHS, but what is happening to them now could happen to every NHS worker sooner or later. That’s why it is so important that...

NHS Logistics: strike to stop privatisation!

07 Sep 2006

Government ministers showed contempt for NHS Logistics workers this week by choosing to announce the signing of a deal to outsource or privatise the agency to the corporate giant DHL in the week that UNISON members within NHS Logistics are voting over strike action against the proposal. With only a few days left before the UNISON ballot for industrial action closes, all NHS Logistics workers should be making sure their colleagues have voted YES to action. All the signs are that there will be a big turn-out and a strong vote in favour of industrial action, but the Government are clearly intent...

Pensioner Wins GP Privatisation Battle at Court of Appeal

23 Aug 2006 | Blog post

The press release below contains good news indeed - a spoke firmly in the wheel of the government's ridiculous and dangerous plans to allow profiteering private companies to run GP surgeries.

I generally try not to be the annoying person who rains on every parade, but it would be irresponsible not...

Pa Ka Tann Operation calls for reinstatement of Persecuted Haitian Civil Servants

31 Jul 2006

Hilaire Prophete, Spokesman for Pa Ka Tann Operation (OPK), reiterates the demands for the reinstatement of former public administration employees, thousands of who were laid off for political reasons by the Interim government of Gerald Latortue (2004-2006). The Latortue government worked closely with IMF and World Bank bureaucrats to lay off workers hired under the Aristide government, which drastically hurt the ability of the Haitian state to provide the limited services it had prior. Many of the laid off workers supported the constitutional government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide (2001-2004)...