Industrial news

June 30th: Around the country, in towns, villages and cities, marches
and rallies have been taking place in support of those public sector
workers striking to defense of their pensions. Members of the teaching
unions and civil servants on strike were joined in solidarity by members
of other unions, pensioners, school  and students – all ready to make a
stand against what this bosses government is doing. The mood could be
summed up in two words: Angry, Determined. In Chelmsford, in deepest
Essex, several hundred trade unionists and others marched through the
town centre to a packed rally in a nearby centre.

The
announcement that Progress, the Blairite Right Wing group inside the Labour
Party, is to publish something called ‘The Purple Book’ later this year is just
the latest development of the so-called Blue Labour project.

500,000 march against the cuts, against the coalition, against big business. Here are the images of the day.

The magnificent 500,000-strong
demonstration on 26 March – the biggest trade union demonstration in the
history of the British labour movement – was a marvellous response to
the Coalition’s austerity measures. It sends out a clear message: the
workers of this country are not prepared to take the government’s
austerity measures lying down.

We are now just six weeks away from the March 26th demo called by the TUC to oppose the cuts. It now seems certain that this will be the biggest protest in London since the marches against the Iraq war. Over 300,000 are expect. Read on for full details, transport etc…

On Saturday December 4th in freezing weather around 400 trade
unionists, students and youth marched from Coventry City Council House
to a rally in Millennium Square outside the world famous transport
museum to protest against the cuts and the rise in tuition fees. The
event was jointly organised by the Unison and Unite trade unions from
the city council and the Coventry Trades Union Council (CTUC) campaign
Coventry Against the Cuts (CAthC).

On Saturday 27^th November 2010, Worcester Trades
Union Council chair Steve Martin welcomed over 40 trade union and political
activists to the conference called by the Trades Council to seek a co-ordinate
campaign of resistance to the Coalition plans to cut public expenditure.

It has been said by rank and file trade unionists for many years that a blacklist has been used by employers in the construction industry. Now after intense lobbying by the rank and file forcing their unions to raise the issue in Parliament, it has been proved that there is a blacklist of 3,200 construction workers.

On Thursday April 24th teachers, lecturers and
public sector workers staged a one-day strike. Teachers were out on official strike
for the first time for 21 years. They were joined by Further Education (FE)
lecturers organised in UCU and public sector workers from the PCS union who are
faced with a government imposed 2% pay rise limit. At last workers in the
public sector were taking organised, coordinated and united strike action
against pay offers that represent a cut in their standard of living.