Solidarity 261, 17 October 2012

Bob Carnegie, community protest organiser in the Queensland Children's Hospital dispute in Brisbane, is being sued on 54 separate counts by the main contractor, Abigroup. Change.org | Free Online Petitions Click here for more on the defence campaign On Wednesday 7 November, Bob received court papers for another prosecution, this one under the Fair Work Australia law and the tort of nuisance. The CFMEU, ETU, and CEPU (plumbers') unions are also involved. The case is due to be heard in July 2013. Abigroup is seeking damages on the grounds that Bob defied a court order which they got, instructing...

ATOS, the private company notorious for its treatment of sick and disabled people claiming Employment Support Allowance, is outsourcing one of its contracts for assessing entitlement to Personal Independence Payments (PIPs), the benefit replacing Disability Living Allowance. Lanarkshire NHS will receive £22 million of the £400 million ATOS is being paid for PIPs testing. As a civil servant in the Department for Work and Pensions and then a ESA claimant, I've seen the way ATOS treats sick and disabled people. The so-called medical assessments consist of ticking boxes on a computer screen and...

The Government has ordered all departments within the civil service to undertake an urgent review of terms and conditions. Departments have been told that “This is our opportunity to tackle those terms and conditions where we have been less responsive in the past as well those that have left the Civil Service open to ridicule”. We know that privilege days will be in the scope of the review; though not the one associated with the Queen’s Birthday (obviously the Tories devotion to Queen outstrips their determination to worsen conditions for public sector workers). According to the Guardian, who...

On 7 March 2012, the U.N. Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, delivered a historic speech to the Human Rights Council in Geneva asking countries around the world to decriminalize consensual same-sex relationships and end discrimination against LGBT people. In response, a handful of Council delegates stormed out of the meeting in protest. But in spite of this, he declared that a historic shift is underway to tackle the violence against LGBT people, ban discrimination and educate the public. He called on all people of conscience to come together to make this happen. Homosexuality is illegal in 76...