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Despite their small numbers, the Mitie cleaners are punching
well above their weight. Every Friday at 1pm they gather in front of the
offices of Willis insurance brokers in the heart of London’s business district,
and with the help of a megaphone kindly donated by the Clerkenwell and St
Pancras branch of Unite, they begin their protest. The cleaners and their
supporters don flourescent vests, blow whistles and shout slogans demanding the
reinstatement of the unfairly sacked cleaners.

Alan Greenspan has just turned 83 years old.  He was Chairman of the US Federal Reserve Bank for over 19 years before he stepped down in January 2006, just before the great boom turned into the awful credit crunch and brought global capitalism to its knees. Greenspan presided over the biggest credit boom in capitalist history and the largest rise in property prices that the US had ever seen.  He was praised to the heights during those years and as the helmsman of capitalist success globally and in America.  Bob Woodward, one of the journalists who exposed the Nixon Watergate scandal back in the 1970s, wrote a book about Greenspan in the year 2000, in which he described him as ‘the maestro’. 

I have been an active trade union member of Unite the union in its various forms since 1986 when I first joined EEPTU. I was first properly involved in rank and file activity in 1988 on a site in London where I was an elected safety rep. A few weeks ago, I managed to obtain my file from the Information Commissioner’s Office, which clearly proved that a blacklist was in operation for many years. It was an 18 page document containing allegations that I was a “trouble maker” and much more besides.

Over the past decade, Latin America has been in the forefront of the struggle against capitalism and its evil effects upon the lives of working class people.  Nowhere has been the case more than in Venezuela, where Chavez, President for the past ten years, proudly proclaims himself a socialist. Latin America of course has long been a victim of capitalism and imperialism. In Venezuela the capitalist class have often simply abandoned their factories as unprofitable, leaving the workers to rot. These workers have indignantly stood up for their rights. For years past they have struggled to occupy these factories as a way of maintaining their livelihoods. They are ahead of us in Britain and the rest of Europe. We should learn the lessons.

The leader of the attempted occupation of the Visteon plant at Basildon (component supplier to Ford) speaks to Socialist Appeal. After the ending of the occupation, the workers have maintained a twenty-four hour picket on the factory. Belfast and Enfield remain occupied. These are the first factory occupations in Britain for more than 30 years. It is an inspiring new stage in working class struggle.

As Easter approaches, Ireland stands once again in crisis. It is unlikely this year that we will be treated to the sight of a farcical show of strength from the Irish military or the twenty six county state government attempting to cash in on the legacy of the famous rebellion against British rule. Despite being regarded as a central point in Irish history and an event that is widely recognised as pivotal to the traditions of republicanism little of the events of 1916 are retained in their popular representation as they have been surrounded by a systematic campaign of distortion almost since they took place.

It’s a shame that halfpennies were abolished twenty or so years ago, because that’s all that the Local Government employers think we are worth. That’s right 0.5% or a halfpenny in the pound, that’s what hundreds of thousands of UNISON members are to be offered in this year’s pay round. But as though that wasn’t enough, we are reliably informed that they intend to withdraw the offer if we don’t agree to it by June 1st.

WORKERS DUE TO BE EVICTED

YOUR SUPPORT IS URGENTLY NEEDED

RALLY AT ENFIELD FACTORY

Tomorrow Thursday 9th April at 11am sharp!

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan and the Fianna Fáil led coalition have set out their stall. This was a bosses’ budget that takes €837 out of the economy for every man, woman and child in Ireland. Worse still, if you happen to be an unemployed school leaver under the age of 20 your dole is being cut in half. RTÉ’s headline states that the “most severe budget in decades is revealed”.

The recent wave of student occupations in solidarity with Gaza has highlighted a renewed political consciousness among students, and the success that can be achieved through direct action. The spontaneous and independent basis of the occupations also revealed the potential for mobilisation through grass-roots organising in channels outside of the National Union of Students. In the midst of such developments, a referendum among students on the University of Sussex’s affiliation to the National Union of Students was held last month. Those who voted ‘yes’ to affiliation won by a staggering 87.4%.

‘So far, we have observed the drive towards the extension
of the working day, and the werewolf-like hunger for surplus labour, in an area
where capital’s monstrous outrages, unsurpassed, according to an English
bourgeois economist, by the cruelties of the Spaniards to the American
red-skins.’ Karl Marx Capital Vol. 1

Ethnic minorities make up a big part of the migrant work
force and often fill low paid, low skill or temporary positions, despite often
being educated and substantially skilled workers like teachers and accountants
in their country of origin. They come here for many reasons but low wages, high
unemployment and scarce job opportunities in their country of origin are the
usual culprits.

The April edition of Socialist Appeal is now available!