Headlines such as ‘Agency and temporary workers win rights
deal’ have publicised the agreement brokered by the government between the TUC
and the CBI. Though agency workers and temps have made some gains, the battle
for equal treatment is far from over. There are 1.4 million agency workers in
Britain. They have been getting a raw deal. They have no job security, no
holiday entitlement, no right to sick pay, no right to maternity provision and
no right to overtime rates.

The government claims inflation is ‘under 3%’ but, according to The Independent of Saturday 17th of May, food prices have gone up by 6.6 % but that basic food items have gone up by 20% in the twelve months to May 2008!  Sainsbury’s profits are up 28% to £488million.Tesco profits are up 11.8 % to £2.8 billion and Premier Foods up by 216% to £280 million.  British Gas prices are set to rise by 40% this year when profits have risen by 501% to £570 million. The article says that “the food business insist they are struggling to keep costs […]

Socialist Appeal 163 is out now!

Socialist Appeal is pleased to announce the publication of the first in the new series run of our journal of Marxist theory, the Marxist International Review.

Last year’s 2.5 % pay rise for the police, agreed by the iindependent
arbitration panel, was unilaterally slashed by Home Secretary Jacqui
Smith, to 1.9%, a real wage cut. This interference caused enormous
resentment among the police. Since the 1918 strike, it has been illegal
for the police to strike. Now they are contemplating strike action.

The RMT has balloted more than 17,000 workers in a
dispute with Network Rail. The Union has been negotiating for months for the
harmonisation of terms and conditions for maintenance staff.  Infrastructure workers voted 3 to 1 in favour
of strike action if necessary, though operations staff (such as signallers)
voted against a strike. The vote has brought Network Rail back to the
negotiating table. The talks are continuing.