Solidarity 574, 2 December 2020

Alstom workers strike to smash pay freeze

Alstom workers have launched a series of strikes, aiming to smash a pandemic pay freeze imposed by penny-pinching bosses.

The workers, who perform maintenance on rolling stock, struck at depots on Alstom's West Coast contract on 29-30 November, and will strike again on 3-4, 8-9, 13-14, 17-18, and...

The classic mining film

The report in Solidarity 573 regarding the Ukrainian miners’ victory prompted me to think of a mining film. Kameradschaft (“Comradeship”, 1931, directed by G. W. Pabst) depicts a gas explosion which traps a number of French miners underground. It is based on events surrounding the terrible 1906 Courriès disaster in France, when 1,099 died. The mine straddles the Franco-German border. When the German miners hear the news they rush to give assistance, and during the rescue operation the miners symbolically dismantle the iron gate separating “French” from “German” coal. When the rescue is...

Frozen for years? (John Moloney's column)

We’re now hearing rumours that the public sector pay freeze may be for several years, across the whole sector. If that’s true, that reinforces the need for unions to work together and build coordinated action as soon as possible, aimed at breaking the freeze before it becomes a “fact-on-the-ground” over a long period. The wider the coordination, the more impactful the action will be. Having said this, aiming for coordination can’t be allowed to hold back those unions, or groups of workers within unions, from taking action when they’re ready. If PCS needs to act alone, or in coordination with a...

Strikes at Heathrow

Workers at Heathrow Airport, Britain’s biggest single-site workplace, will strike on 1, 14, 17, and 18 December. Airport bosses plan to sack up to 4,000 workers en masse, and rehire them on worse terms and conditions. Some workers could lose up to £8,000 per year. 3% of all workers will have their pay cut by 20%. Workers affected include baggage handlers, security workers, airport firefighters, and others. Passenger flights, which are expected to resume after the lockdown in England ends on 2 December, will be affected by the strikes on 14, 17, and 18 December. A statement from the Unite union...

Win isolation pay, win social solidarity

Over 60% of those applying for the Government’s meagre and ill-advertised £500-per-fortnight isolation pay are being refused in some areas, like Yorkshire and Humber, so the Guardian reported on 1 December. Back in August, research found that fewer than 20% of those with confirmed Covid symptoms were self-isolating properly, and scarcely 10% of those who knew they were contacts of infected people. No-one knows about those due to self-isolate after travelling, or those who should stay home to look after self-isolating young children. Isolation pay isn’t the only factor here, but it’s an...

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