Solidarity 029, 1 May 2003

Corus crisis

Steel makers Corus have announced 1,150 job cuts and that a further 2,200 jobs are at risk. The company - which runs what used to be British Steel - wants to stop steel production at Stocksbridge in South Yorkshire and cut production severely at Tipton in the West Midlands. Other cuts will be made at Llanwern is South Wales and Teeside. The plant at Redcar on Teeside has been hived off from the rest of the company and forced to go it alone. A move which workers see as preparing the ground for eventual closure. Corus employs more than 25,000 workers in the UK. It made huge profits in the 1990s...

Biggest ever left slate in Unison

Unison is in the midst of re-electing its National Executive Council. For the first time, the whole committee is being elected at once, which creates the opportunity for big changes in the shape of the committee, but also creates a dilemma - how to maximise the vote. Traditionally, these elections have attracted a tiny turnout, with often only a couple of hundred votes dividing winners from losers. In the nationally elected seats, this can lead to the odd situation of work in a couple of big branches having a massive impact on the result. This year, the Unison United Left is fielding its...

Striking for £5 an hour

By Kate Ahrens UNISON members in Scunthorpe, Goole and Grimsby have taken strike action against their employers, Carillion, in their fight for a pay rise and improvements in their working conditions. The strikers are asking for a minimum wage of £5.02 per hour - not much for their hard work as cleaners, porters, and other ancilliary staff at the three hospitals - but still higher than Unison nationally was prepared to fight for in their national negotiations with the government over the Agenda for Change pay deal. The strikers at Grimsby, Goole and Scunthorpe have shown again that the lowest...

Is Camfield a left candidate?

By Tom Willis Some people in the TGWU seem to be under the impression that Barry Camfield is the left wing candidate for General Secretary. He is no such thing. Camfield is part of the back scratching, do-nothing clique that control the union executive. They make sure that the union is run as a job club for their buddies rather than as a serious organisation. The GEC clique have no interest whatsoever in doing the hard graft that is required to rebuild the union in the workplace and to confront the employers. Camfield might like to pose as a left-winger in Labour Party terms, but as a trade...

Woodley appeals to shop stewards

By Jim Denham Tony Woodley is one of four candidates standing to replace Bill Morris as General Secretary of the TGWU. Although the political differences between the candidates are not immediately obvious from their election material, their records within the union point to important differences. Tony Woodley is backed by the union's Broad Left and has a record of rank and file activism and opposition to 'business unionism'. His slogan is "If we fight we may not always win, but if we don't fight we will surely lose". Woodley's campaign team has put out the following statement to shop stewards...

FBU dispute

The Fire Brigades Union Executive is due to meet in the week starting 12 May to consider FBU branches' responses to the Burchill proposals on pay, rejected by the employers, backed by the Executive, and condemned by militants in the FBU as scarcely different from the employers' offer already rejected by the branches. If the branches repeat their rejection, or the employers don't budge, then the Exec is mandated to plan new strikes.

PCS can clear out the Mods

By Chris Hickey The PCS, a civil service union and one of the largest TUC affiliates, will soon be holding one of the most critical National Executive (NEC) elections it will ever hold. The election has been called following a big membership vote to return to annual elections and legal action to enable the election to go forward when the NEC majority refused to co-operate with that membership decision. The NEC "Mods" are clearly scared that their days may be numbered, and they have good reason to be so. The Mods' years of dominance have been marked by financial peculiarities, undemocratic...

CWU election: kick out Keggie!

By a postal worker The Communication Workers' Union (CWU) is currently balloting its postal members for the positions of Deputy General Secretary (Postal) and the thirteen members of the Postal Industrial Executive. The election for DGS(P) will be contested between the current incumbent John Keggie, and Dave Ward, who is currently a National Officer on the postal side of the union. In his election address, Keggie defends his record of the last four and a half years. He lists stopping privatisation of the postal industry as among his achievements, yet also lists securing a pay and conditions...

May Day appeal for solidarity: Iraq's workers need trade unions too

By Cathy Nugent Under the barbaric dictatorship of Saddam Hussein the workers of Iraq were afraid to speak, to organise, and certainly to strike. For the regime, the workers existed only to labour. Their labour financed Saddam and his brutal clique in their life of obscene luxury. Even during the period of sanctions, when the UN and Saddam Hussein combined to starve Iraq's people, the workers laboured to build grotesque monuments to the glory of their oppressor. Saddam's regime has gone, but what kind of government are the US invaders installing in its place? A government friendly to the...

Back teachers' fight against cuts

By Patrick Yarker The conference of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) met over Easter as the funding shake-up engineered by Charles Clarke, Secretary of State for education and skills, erupted into a slanging-match between ministers, head teachers and local government officials. Education providers were asking central government: where are the missing millions supposedly due to schools? Why are teachers being made redundant in the middle of a teacher-recruitment crisis? The NUT committed itself to industrial action in the event of compulsory redundancies. Several conference speeches drew...

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