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Last year 4 million people signed Britain's
biggest ever petition to defend their local post office. Yet 2,500 local post
offices will close by the end of 2009. The selling-off of the Post Office is a continuation of privatisation policies begun under the Conservative government. 

The aim is to destroy a major public
asset in the interests of big business. This is what capitalism
calls progress.

The proposed
terms for the T&G-Amicus merger removes the election of Officials rule that Amicus achieved. Tony Woodley and
Derek Simpson have used the argument that a new union will be able to more
effectively fight for members. But this proposed
Instrument of Amalgamation will instead serve to create a giant monolithic
bureaucracy that will further prevent members from challenging the leadership.

Earlier this month construction workers demonstrated in Liverpool. They called for the enforcement of national agreements and an end to the undermining of pay and conditions by bosses cynically using employment agencies and the exploitation of migrant labour.

Growing trade union participationat Nissan is giving workers a real chance to demand better working conditions, which if rejected by management may lead to strike action unprecedented in the Sunderland factory's 20-year history.

The pay claim put
forward this year on behalf of 1.25 million UNISON, Amicus, TGWU and GMB members working for local councils
could be a significant challenge to the Labour Government. This includes a number of service
conditions improvements: an additional day's leave, a 35 hour week, a major
improvement in night pay and a near
doubling of the "sleep-in" allowance to £60.

Members of the Public and Commercial Services union working in the civil service are gearing up to take strike action. Now is the time for civil servants to stand together to defend jobs, pay and public services. If all PCS members join this strike action it will show the government we stand united and are prepared for a fight.

Andrew Glyn is an economist at Oxford University. In his new book, Capitalism Unleashed, Glyn attempts to explain how capitalism moved from the crisis of the 1970s to recovery in the 1980s and 1990s. However, although full of interesting information, the book fails to provide an overall analysis and misses some essential aspects of Marxist theory.

John McDonnell's decision to stand
for the leadership of the Labour Party is undoubtedly welcomed by all trade
unionists: that is, by those who know he is standing! It is shameful is that
the union leaders have either ignored or deliberately sabotaged John's
campaign. A straw pole at TUC conference showed over 60% of those members asked
said they supported McDonnell. 

Wellred
is proud to announce the republication of the 'Dialectics of Nature'.
Ever since Engels' arrival in London in 1870, he was keen to write a
comprehensive work on science and dialectical materialism. The notes
and studies for such a work make up the present volume, originally
published in 1925. It is an essential read for all those who want to
develop a deeper understanding of Marxist philosophy. Wellred is offering the book for a special price of £9.99 (list price £14.99).

Hayden Phillips' inquiry into political party funding which was leaked last
week aims to impose a cap of £50,000 on donations to political parties. Hidden
behind this proposal is an attempt to stop the trade unions funding the Labour
Party in a big way and thus break the influence of the labour movement as a
whole over the party.

While no money is available for spending on healthcare,
education, pensions, etc., billions of dollars are spent on building up massive
security systems. Each terror scare adds to the profit margins of the big
security companies. It is an indication of the sickness of the society we live
in.

New Labour has thrown down the gauntlet to civil servants, of which over 300,000 are organised in the PCS, Britain's sixth largest union. The PCS's national executive needs to take a clear lead on the issues that affect all members; job cuts, pay and privatisation. One-off protest strikes are not enough.