news analysis - turkey's stand against terrorism
[WORKERS, DECEMBER 2003]
In response to a call from trade unions, peace protests were held on 22 November in major Turkish cities including Istanbul, Ankara, Antalya and Batman. The protests expressed revulsion at the horrific suicide bombings in the Turkish capital Istanbul, four in one week, which tore through two synagogues, the British consulate and HSBC bank.
...[more]
nuclear industry - strike at sellafield
[WORKERS, DECEMBER 2003]
Over 500 GMB and AMICUS members struck at the end of October at the Sellafield nuclear recycling plant
...[more]
cuba - united states condemned
[WORKERS, DECEMBER 2003]
The United Nations General Assembly has yet again condemned the US blockade of Cuba and called for the lifting of all economic, financial and political blockade sanctions at its annual vote on 4 November.
...[more]
government wages crackdown
[WORKERS, DECEMBER 2003]
The government is looking to make workers pay for its re-election. The Chancellor, Gordon Brown, will present his pre-budget statement on 10 December, but civil servants in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) already know that headline spending plans will come at a cost to them.
...[more]
engineering - pay fight at merloni
[WORKERS, DECEMBER 2003]
In late October, 700 Amicus/AEEU and GMB members at Merloni UK imposed a work to rule and overtime ban in pursuit of better pay.
...[more]
mining - grim future
[WORKERS, DECEMBER 2003]
The 4,500 miners left in Britain are facing a grim future. Government support to the industry over the next 3 years will be £60 million. A modest figure of £140 million has been identified by UK Coal, Coalfield Communities Campaign, mining unions and other business analysts as being a realistic figure.
...[more]
nursing - regulating the regulators
[WORKERS, DECEMBER 2003]
NURSING AND MIDWIFERY unions recently overturned proposals from the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) that every nurse and midwife should take out personal indemnity in case they were personally sued.
...[more]
inside the postal dispute
[WORKERS, DECEMBER 2003]
Northampton was deeply involved in the postal workers' recent pay ballot and unofficial action. Workers spoke to one postal worker from the town to hear their side of the story.
...[more]
christmas lights?
[WORKERS, DECEMBER 2003]
APPARENTLY UNBELIEVABLE comments from US power companies operating in Britain that Britain would face power cuts by 2004 have been reinforced. The US companies forecast power cuts because the rate of return on their profit was being restricted by government regulation. Now British Energy is teetering on bankruptcy - administration is coming near again as debts reach £1.3 billion...and still rising at the last count.
...[more]
engineering - train manufacture
[WORKERS, DECEMBER 2003]
5000 jobs are under threat at the train builders, Bombardier. Manufacturing and engineering jobs in Derby, Crewe, Doncaster, Wakefield and numerous other traditional bastions of train building in Britain are faced with extinction. The crisis stems from the time delay in the replacement of trains for London Underground - scheduled for 2008 - and Connex South Eastern trains.
...[more]
news analysis - school meals
[WORKERS, NOVEMBER 2003]
IF YOU can't kick a dog, kick a school meals worker. School meals are often criticised for being of poor quality, made on the cheap for profit. Much of the criticism is ill informed, like that of the Soil Association, whose spokesman recently compared the cost of a school meal with a prison meal (adults' portions!) Hardly comparing like with like.
...[more]
shipbuilding - occupation at appledore
[WORKERS, NOVEMBER 2003]
Workers at Appledore Shipbuilders in North Devon have occupied their yard in a fight to save 550 jobs. The company has been put into the hands of receivers and the yard is up for sale.
...[more]
workers shake bolivia
[WORKERS, NOVEMBER 2003]
The Bolivian people have overthrown the 'butcher' president 'Goni' Gonzalo Sanchez Lozada. He resigned at the end of a month-long struggle which grew in strength despite extensive military suppression which took 77 lives and left over 400 injured.
...[more]
universities - decision time over agreement
[WORKERS, NOVEMBER 2003]
Universities want to restructure pay for their 300,000 workers, with greater emphasis on local bargaining. Five of the seven unions involved are likely to accept the deal, but two - representing the lecturers - have yet to be convinced.
...[more]
contracting - jarvis jumps the rails
[WORKERS, NOVEMBER 2003]
Jarvis has pulled out of its contracts to maintain the railways in three areas, including the East Coast Main Line. The staff will transfer to Network Rail early in 2004, with the work being done in house.
...[more]
letter - rail maintenance
[WORKERS, NOVEMBER 2003]
Dear Editor
Your article entitled "Rail: Where's the maintenance?" in the June issue seemed to portray a bleak picture.
...[more]
manufacture - union on the march
[WORKERS, NOVEMBER 2003]
Amicus, the trade union representing manufacturing workers, has called for a Minister of Industry to be appointed to ensure that industry is given focus in the coming years. But with the government's previous record on engineering and manufacturing this may get watered down to a mere initiative through the Department for Trade and Industry.
...[more]
merger hits pensions scheme
[WORKERS, NOVEMBER 2003]
A merger of two major polymer (rubber) processing companies in Britain has triggered a pensions crisis for the workers involved. In yet another move in the relentless rationalisation of this industry, Trelleborg (14 sites in Britain) and the Polymer Sealing Solutions (PSS) division of Smiths Industries (10 sites in Britain) became one entity on 1 October. Trelleborg is a company listed on the Swedish stock exchange and the purchase of the PSS will take its global workforce to 21,000, operating in 40 countries.
...[more]
postal workers strike - photo
[WORKERS, NOVEMBER 2003]
Postal workers on the picket line at the Royal Mail Delivery Office in Leyton, north east London, on Thursday 16 October. Members of the Communication Workers Union were staging a second one-day strike in their dispute over London Allowances for postal workers.
...[more]
post office - walkout over racist comments
[WORKERS, NOVEMBER 2003]
Wolverhampton postal workers walked out from the sorting depot last month in protest at anonymous racist comments placed on the staff notice board. Like all messages for the board, it had been vetted by management, but they only edited the swear words not the racist comments.
...[more]
schools rocked by budget cuts
[WORKERS, NOVEMBER 2003]
A UNIVERSITY OF Liverpool report published last month confirms that this year's budget deficit in schools, dismissed by the government as insignificant, is in fact worse than thought. The report is a direct challenge to Blair and his education department, which claims that the number of "loser" schools is a minority. It concludes that between 14,000 and 15,000 of the country's state schools had a budget cut. As a consequence, some 8,800 teaching jobs and over 12,000 support staff are estimated to be lost.
...[more]
education - anger over unqualified support
[WORKERS, NOVEMBER 2003]
TEACHERS in a Lancashire school where support staff - "learning managers" - are being used for periods of up to 10 days to cover for absent teachers have voted to take industrial action to force the school to employ qualified teachers.
...[more]
news analysis - manufacture in london
[WORKERS, OCTOBER 2003]
Manufacturers and unions in London have joined together to put manufacturing back on the government's agenda by publishing The Case for Manufacturing in London: A Blueprint for Action.
...[more]
engineering - investing in britain
[WORKERS, OCTOBER 2003]
The engineering firm Bamfords are taking on 200 extra workers in Staffordshire. They will be working on new diesel engines, 4 and 6-litre power plants for the famous JCB diggers.
...[more]
forensic science - up for sale
[WORKERS, OCTOBER 2003]
The trade Unions Prospect and PCS are resisting Home Office proposals to privatise the forensic science service. The 1300 scientists and staff are to be 'put on the market for sale', not because the service is inefficient or financially unsound, but because the government is obsessed with meeting EU private finance initiatives.
...[more]
green light for foundation trusts
[WORKERS, OCTOBER 2003]
Despite resistance, the green light has gone on to permit the implementation of foundation trusts in the NHS. Health care workers in those trusts and in the NHS in England (foundation trusts are not Scottish or Welsh policy) now have to decide what to do.
...[more]
horse racing - mobile warfare
[WORKERS, OCTOBER 2003]
Horse Racing - the 'Sport of Kings' - has seen a fascinating dispute emerge over the use of mobile phones by jockeys. Racing at Sandown Park was recently boycotted and abandoned.
...[more]
referendum - the mood in sedgefield
[WORKERS, OCTOBER 2003]
AN OPINION POLL published by ICM concludes that just 10% of prime minister Tony Blair's Sedgefield constituents agree with him when he says that there is no need for the British people to vote in a referendum on the proposed European constitution. And 87% of them want a referendum on this matter.
...[more]
no vote in post office ballot
[WORKERS, OCTOBER 2003]
Post Office workers voted by the narrow margin of less than 1% against taking national action over pay on a high turnout. Meanwhile, London postal workers did vote convincingly to take action over the London Weighting allowance.
...[more]
special branch - spooks surge
[WORKERS, OCTOBER 2003]
Government figures show that the number of Special Branch officers has increased from 2,200 in 1990 to over 4,247 in 2003. This doubling is set against the end of the Cold War and the Northern Ireland Peace Process. Though the US 'war on terrorism' has given the excuse for the government to increase spying and snooping, it also reflects EU initiatives to develop Europe-wide policing.
...[more]
world trade talks collapse
[WORKERS, OCTOBER 2003]
The collapse of the international trade negotiations has been seen as a massive defeat for the European Union - and has left many wondering if the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has any real future.
...[more]
nhs - private treatment
[WORKERS, OCTOBER 2003]
UNISON and other healthcare unions have slammed the government's decision to set up new diagnostic and treatment centres. While it is tempting to see this as a positive move to reduce waiting lists, the long-term effects on the NHS could be devastating.
...[more]
wake-up call to britain
[WORKERS, OCTOBER 2003]
Two fringe meetings at this year's TUC in Brighton began the wake-up call to workers to demand a referendum on the EU Constitution and to demand a no vote in it.
...[more]
brussels - goodbye to the veto...
[WORKERS, OCTOBER 2003]
On 17 September the European Commission announced that it is time to abandon the existing national vetoes on budgetary matters - that is, on all decisions about taxing and spending. It wants instead to install a system of majority voting.
...[more]
news analysis - work till you drop
[WORKERS, SEPTEMBER 2003]
THE BRITISH culture of long working hours and short holidays will be a major topic at the TUC this year and will form the focus for Work-Life Balance Week 2003, which will run from 1 to 5 September. The Work-Life Balance Trust, which is coordinating the event, says that over two million workers from some of Britain's largest employers will be taking part in events.
...[more]
automobiles - depressed by the euro
[WORKERS, SEPTEMBER 2003]
Suppliers of components to the automotive assembly plants across Europe experienced a common theme during the summer months. The relative strength of the euro has been having an adverse effect on manufacturing in this sector.
...[more]
automobiles - aston martin strike
[WORKERS, SEPTEMBER 2003]
The first ever strike in the 80 year history of Aston Martin luxury cars, occurred in early August. The strike, by Transport and General members, affected production at both Aston Martin plants in Newport Pagnell and Bloxham.
...[more]
chemicals - strikes over pensions
[WORKERS, SEPTEMBER 2003]
Workers at Rhoda, a French-owned chemical company, have begun a series of rolling strikes over plans to scrap the final salary scheme for new employees. The company's plan comes after it has taken substantial and lengthy "pensions holidays" (where the employer makes no or reduced contributions) over a number of years. GMB and Amicus members are taking action at plants in Widnes, Cheshire and Oldbury.
...[more]
euro - stewards' survey
[WORKERS, SEPTEMBER 2003]
An internal union survey over attitudes towards the euro involving 1252 GMB stewards has resulted in a 67% return hostile to the single currency.
...[more]
finance - delivering nightmares
[WORKERS, SEPTEMBER 2003]
The accountancy group KPMG International and the think-tank CREATE have produced a report on how the British fund management business operated in the 1990s, its present state and its future direction. Entitled Revolutionary shifts, evolutionary responses: global investment management in the 2000s, it is based on the views of the senior executives of 185 investment management firms from 20 countries.
...[more]
aerospace - major contract goes to britain
[WORKERS, SEPTEMBER 2003]
In a victory for British industry, the government has awarded BAE Systems the £800 million contract to build up to 48 Hawk training jets for the RAF.
...[more]
health - beware statistics
[WORKERS, SEPTEMBER 2003]
Along with many justified criticisms of our National Health Service we often hear comments about too much money being spent on administration and not enough on "front line services". A recent incident illustrates the need to be cautious about such comments - and official statistics.
...[more]
victory at heathrow
[WORKERS, SEPTEMBER 2003]
Heathrow Airport check-in staff, mostly women, won a significant victory in August when they walked out in protest at the imposition of a swipe-card clocking on system as part of a 3% pay deal.
...[more]
two-year deal for higher ed
[WORKERS, SEPTEMBER 2003]
Employers in higher education, represented by the University and College Employers' Association (UCEA), have offered a two-year agreement for all staff in the sector as part of a complex "Framework" package which also includes a new pay spine, new grades and job evaluation.
...[more]
investment - steepest fall for manufacture
[WORKERS, SEPTEMBER 2003]
In August 2003, investment collapsed to its lowest level since early 1998. Manufacturing investment fell by an astounding 10.1%, the steepest drop since records began in 1994. This failure wrecks the prospects for future growth. Low interest rates have brought not more investment, but only ever rising levels of household debt (£880 billion - £15,000 per man, woman and child, July 2003 figures) and of public sector debt.
...[more]
post office - ballot on pay
[WORKERS, SEPTEMBER 2003]
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) is balloting its members after the Post Office management effectively collapsed the talks by refusing to discuss union proposals or move above the current offer of 4.5% over 18 months, paid in two stages.
...[more]
bringing power to its knees
[WORKERS, SEPTEMBER 2003]
Drax, Britain's largest coal-fired power station, has been bankrupt for over 12 months with debts of over £1.3 billion. It has been brought to its knees by a combination of factors, including the insolvency of its previous owners, TXU Power, the uncertainty caused by bids and counterbids, and EU-driven government energy policy.
...[more]
news analysis - GPs agree a new contract
[WORKERS, JULY 2003]
Family doctors have voted overwhelmingly to accept the new national GP contract. In a ballot of general practitioners throughout Britain and Northern Ireland, 79.4% said "yes" to the question: Do you wish to see the proposed new GMS (General Medical Services) contract implemented? But that does not mean that everyone is happy about all of the agreement.
...[more]
aerospace - outsourced to the eu
[WORKERS, JULY 2003]
Early in June, the Blair government tore up its agreement with BAE Systems to supply the RAF with 30 new Hawk training aircraft, the only fixed-wing plane designed, developed and built in Britain. It ordered the work to be put out to foreign tender, in line with EU policy. BAE has already spent £30 million on the work.
...[more]
transport - action on yorkshire buses
[WORKERS, JULY 2003]
Bus workers in Sheffield and the surrounding area began a series of escalating strikes over pay on Saturday 7 June. They are challenging their employer's failure to end low pay for drivers.
...[more]
computers down - workers out
[WORKERS, JULY 2003]
Government workers have expressed frustration at unreliable computer systems over the past few weeks. Civil servants in the Home Office and the Inland Revenue have walked out as a result of poorly implemented systems, the product of private IT partners.
...[more]
cuba - anniversary of attack
[WORKERS, JULY 2003]
On 26 July 1953 Cuban revolutionaries, led by Fidel Castro, launched an armed attack on the Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba's second city in Eastern Cuba. A military coup the previous year had brought the fascist dictator Batista to power, leaving little option but armed struggle for Cuban revolutionaries.
...[more]
lecturers - unity against divisive bosses
[WORKERS, JULY 2003]
The further and higher education union NATFHE has endorsed a statement which commits the union to work closely with the Association of University Teachers ( AUT). Three weeks earlier the AUT had also endorsed a similar statement.
...[more]
miners - ballot for action over pay
[WORKERS, JULY 2003]
The national Union of Mineworkers is balloting for industrial action over pay in the few remaining deep mines operated by UK Coal. The NUM is looking for a 25% wage increase over three years. The employers are offering an inflation-linked cost of living award.
...[more]
energy - nuclear meltdown
[WORKERS, JULY 2003]
British Energy (BE) has announced a loss of £3 billion together with £2.7 billion 'exceptional costs' - a 50% reduction in the value of its assets (its power stations). Not a bad track record for privatisation and the private market economy.
...[more]
miners - more pensions won back
[WORKERS, JULY 2003]
A further 150 miners sacked by British Coal during the 1984-1985 miners' strike are to receive their pensions. This is a great achievement for the NUM and its unceasing campaign to ensure justice for these men. Over 1,000 miners were sacked during the dispute - all denied jobs and re-employment.
...[more]
potteries - exported to china
[WORKERS, JULY 2003]
A further 1,000 jobs are to be lost at Wedgwood potteries at Stoke on Trent. This follows the 1,400 jobs lost in 2001. Now fewer than 2,000 jobs remain. Wedgwood is shipping production to China.
...[more]
late lessons from potters bar
[WORKERS, JULY 2003]
The Health and Safety Executive's third "interim" report on last year's rail crash at Potters Bar has put the blame squarely on the poor maintenance practices and procedures which exist in the fragmented and privately owned railway industry. Notably, it is clear from the report that there was no negligence on the part of the railway workers involved.
...[more]
unison votes for change
[WORKERS, JULY 2003]
The government's proposed new pay determination system for all NHS workers (Agenda for Change) took a step closer to implementation as delegates at the Harrogate Unison health conference in April voted overwhelmingly to support the executive position of a two-ballot approach.
...[more]
health - whipps cross hospital
[WORKERS, JULY 2003]
Unison members working for the private contractor ISS Mediclean at Whipps Cross hospital in Leytonstone, north east London, have taken strike action for the second time in a month. Following a two-day strike in May, they held a three-day strike on 18-20 of June to support their demand for equal pay.
...[more]
disappearing steel
[WORKERS, JUNE 2003]
The Commons Trade and Industry Select Committee, examining the debacle associated with the steel industry, has heard conflicting views as to the future.
...[more]
secrecy - they're watching you ...
[WORKERS, JUNE 2003]
Evidence published by Statewatch (www.statewatch.org/news) demonstrates how secret treaty negotiations are being advanced between the EU and USA over extradition, circumvention of data protection and civil liberties, joint EU-US surveillance through Europe, circumvention of the International Criminal Justice Court, use of US Special Courts (Military Tribunals) etc.
...[more]
education - action against sats
[WORKERS, JUNE 2003]
The National Union of Teachers (NUT) in Northampton has begun a campaign to gather support from parents, teachers and students to scrap the SATs tests children take at 7, 11 and 14.
...[more]
rail - where's the maintenance?
[WORKERS, JUNE 2003]
The results of the break-up and privatisation of railway maintenance work are a near doubling of costs and increasing problems and complaints due to poor standards.
...[more]
return of the journalists
[WORKERS, JUNE 2003]
Regional press journalists in the north of England are engaged in a series of long-running disputes about pay with their US-based owners. National Union of Journalists members working on the Telegraph & Argus and other Newsquest Bradford area titles will begin an indefinite strike on 26 May, after 31 days of stoppages this year.
...[more]
post offices - northampton campaign
[WORKERS, JUNE 2003]
A campaign by Northampton Public Sector Alliance against the closure of a Post Office in Northampton has won wide support from local residents.
...[more]
executive pay - shareholders call time
[WORKERS, JUNE 2003]
GlaxoSmithKline shareholders have voted against the excessive executive pay plans at the company's AGM.
...[more]
information technology - the labour trade
[WORKERS, JUNE 2003]
Information technology workers are often thought to be immune from recession and changes in the job market. The image is that there is always someone else ready to hire skilled people. That was probably never true, but insecurity has increased recently. As well as the export of jobs, IT workers are threatened by inward migration.
...[more]
fisheries - caught in the eu net
[WORKERS, JUNE 2003]
After the European Union's Common Fisheries Plan — essentially the hijacking of Britain's fishing grounds for the EU — even landlocked Austria got a claim on the North Sea — comes the Common Fisheries Agency.
...[more]
engineering - alstom slashes jobs
[WORKERS, JUNE 2003]
Alstom, the international engineering power generator builder, is to cut 450 jobs at its plants in Knutsford, Rugby and Whetstone.
...[more]
eastern europe - alliance against the eu
[WORKERS, JUNE 2003]
In a unique coming-together Polish Communists and the Solidarity organisation have both denounced the entry of Poland into the European Union as the "colonisation of Poland". Both see the handover of Polish agriculture and provision of cheap industrial labour as being on par with Hitler's "Lebensraum" — living space at the expense of the Polish people.
...[more]
congress rejects constitution
[WORKERS, JUNE 2003]
The ninth Congress for Democracy met on Friday 16 May 2003 at Church House, Westminster — and either as a consequence or as a coincidence it took place against a rising tide of concern about the draft European constitution.
...[more]
news analysis - the dangers of not vaccinating
[WORKERS, JUNE 2003]
The introduction of combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into Britain's childhood immunisation schedules from 1988 markedly reduced, initially, the incidence of all three diseases. In between 88% and 100% of cases, the protective antibodies are established after the first dose, and all recipients have protective levels following the second.
...[more]
telecoms: union-busting backfires
[WORKERS, MAY 2003]
T-mobile's attempt to stop union recognition by hiring the American union-busting firm TGB has backfired badly.
...[more]
scottish tuc: against the euro
[WORKERS, MAY 2003]
APRIL'S ANNUAL CONFERENCE of the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) in Inverness at last saw opposition to the euro raised to a
level where it can never be ignored again – indeed,
condemnation of the whole euro project has become accepted as part of
mainstream union thinking.
...[more]
steel: adding insult to injury
[WORKERS, MAY 2003]
Corus, the Anglo-Dutch company formed from privatised British Steel, has added insult to injury for more than 3,000 British steel
workers facing redundancy.
...[more]
sign language: official at last
[WORKERS, MAY 2003]
ON 18 MARCH, after a campaign by Deaf people lasting over 20 years, the government finally announced official recognition of
British Sign Language (BSL).
...[more]
pensions: tuc challenge over figures
[WORKERS, MAY 2003]
The CBI and the TUC have clashed over the cost to employers of providing compulsory contributions to staff pension schemes.
...[more]
housing: privatisation costs
[WORKERS, MAY 2003]
The cost of transferring housing stock from local authority control has been exposed by government's own National Audit Office.
...[more]
furniture: south, then east
[WORKERS, MAY 2003]
SOME 800 workers who produce beds and furniture are being made redundant as Silentnight relocate to the new neocolonies of Eastern
Europe – Poland and Lithuania.
...[more]
european union: growing pains
[WORKERS, MAY 2003]
The 15 foreign ministers of the EU have cleared the way to 10 new members, though the accession treaties have yet to be voted on in
most candidate countries and then be ratified by existing members.
...[more]
pharmacies: facing high street ruin
[WORKERS, MAY 2003]
The government has just introduced legislation that will mean pharmacists will prescribe, not just sell medicines, in the next few
years. This is said to be part of the government's modernisation drive, but many pharmacists are concerned that they might not be around to deliver that service.
...[more]
call centres: anger over shift to india
[WORKERS, MAY 2003]
Both the Communications Workers Union (CWU) and Amicus are threatening industrial action over proposals to shift call centre
jobs from Britain to India.
...[more]
health: bma fury at imposed contract
[WORKERS, MAY 2003]
BRITAIN'S SENIOR doctors are considering industrial action afterthe government announced last month that it would impose the contract
that consultants rejected by two to one in a ballot in October.
...[more]
news analysis: international action over asbestos
[WORKERS, MAY 2003]
TRULY INTERNATIONAL ACTION by South African Trade Unions (the National Union of Mineworkers and the National Union of
Metalworkers), Britain's leading labour lawyers (Thompsons Solicitors) and trade unionists seconded from Unison plus links with US trade unionists, have secured a compensatory award for South
African asbestos miners.
...[more]
agriculture: poverty for farm workers
[WORKERS, MAY 2003]
FARM WORKERS are still among the lowest paid in the country, despite increasing mechanisation and productivity.
...[more]
iraq: worldwide opposition to war
[WORKERS, APRIL 2003]
WORLDWIDE OPPOSITION erupted after the outbreak of US and British hostilities against Iraq
...[more]
coal: with support like this...
[WORKERS, APRIL 2003]
AHEAD OF THE GOVERNMENT’S White Paper on Energy the government announced a £60 million support package to the coal mining industry
...[more]
steel: jobs slashed as debts mount
[WORKERS, APRIL 2003]
THE 1999 SHOTGUN MARRIAGE between British Steel and the Dutch Hoogovens metals conglomerate to create Corus now moves towards bloody divorce
...[more]
cywu: youth workers look out, and up
[WORKERS, APRIL 2003]
THE COMMUNITY AND YOUTH Workers Union (CYWU) will be holding their National Conference 3-6 from April at Rhegged, Penrith. The CYWU has been and still is at the forefront of the trade unions opposing the single currency
...[more]
news analysis: no to euro gets regional boost
[WORKERS, APRIL 2003]
ADVERTISED AS GROUNDBREAKING, the gathering in Exeter in late February of regional opponents of the euro was businesslike and progressive. It sought to bring together representatives of all political persuasions
...[more]
north sea oil: shell cuts back
[WORKERS, APRIL 2003]
SHELL UK, which employs nearly 1500 workers in its North Sea oil operations, has announced that it is to sack 350 of them – leading union representatives to angry protests and warning of safety being jeopardised
...[more]
opera: a striking chorus line
[WORKERS, APRIL 2003]
SHELL AT THE START of this year, 30 members of the 70 choristers making up the English National Opera (ENO) were being asked to resign to cut costs
...[more]
local government: new code of practice
[WORKERS, APRIL 2003]
SHELL AT UNISON has brokered a Code of Practice on workforce matters in local government which will set the ground rules for starting to end the "two-tier workforce" practices in public services which are contracted out, out-sourced or privatised
...[more]
manufacturing: output falls again
[WORKERS, APRIL 2003]
INVESTMENT IN BRITAIN’S manufacturing industry fell by 18% in 2002, by 7.9% in the last three months alone, an accelerating rate of decline
...[more]
iraq: workers on the march
[WORKERS, MARCH 2003]
ON 15 FEBRUARY the working class came from all over Britain to take over the capital, saying no to war against Iraq. The vast numbers filled the streets
...[more]
water - move to a single company
[WORKERS, MARCH 2003]
THE MOVE TOWARDS one single water company in Britain, irrespective of the protests from the regulator and government, looks set to continue with another round of de-mergers, take-overs and consolidation of business interests
...[more]
further education: the fight for pay
[WORKERS, MARCH 2003]
WITH LAST November lecturers and support staff at colleges all over the country joined forces and took industrial action in the form of a strike. The strike affected over 250 further education colleges, catering between them for nearly 4 million students.
...[more]
probation service: new workload agreements
[WORKERS, MARCH 2003]
WITH INDUSTRIAL ACTION BY NAPO, the union for probation officers, has resulted in new workload agreements in 34 out of 42 probation areas nationally. Negotiations have been going on for three years, but the ‘short sharp shock’ of industrial action has forced the employers into meaningful discussions
...[more]
education: damning verdict on pfi
[WORKERS, MARCH 2003]
WITH RESEARCH PUBLISHED by the Audit Commission on the role of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) in the provision of schools is damning in its critique of government policy
...[more]
news analysis: union recognition
[WORKERS, MARCH 2003]
WITH UNIONS ARE coming back into the workplace across Britain, according to the TUC’s annual survey of recognition, covering deals up to October 2002. But the going is getting tougher now that deals with more receptive employers have been done, leaving the more resistant ones still to crack.
...[more]
airlines: cut-throat competition
[WORKERS, MARCH 2003]
WITH RYANAIR HAS BOUGHT Buzz Air (formerly the low-cost arm of KLM). Ryanair’s chief executive immediately told Buzz staff and trade unions that any opposition would be met with total closure – 100 job losses out of 500 staff are represented as a necessary "hard" management stance
...[more]
manufacture: more meltdown
[WORKERS, MARCH 2003]
WITH JOB LOSSES IN MANUFACTURING industry are haemorrhaging at a rate of some 10,000 a month. This is almost double the worst period under Thatcher. Bankruptcies are at a 20-year high
...[more]
european union: an island no longer
[WORKERS, MARCH 2003]
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION has declared that Britain is no longer an island. EU statisticians have dismissed its physical geography as being unworthy of statistical or economic analysis
...[more]