Monthly Archives: October 2013

By: Clare Sambrook First published in Our Kingdom WHAT is the government really doing to protect immigration detainees from their guards? In Parliament on Tuesday 15...

IT is clear from Unite leader McCluskey’s article in the Guardian yesterday that he has learnt nothing from the struggles of the 1970s...

WORKERS employed by privateer Carillion at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon have voted 98.3% in favour of industrial action over job losses, pay...

IN A LANDMARK decision yesterday, the Supreme Court upheld the Court of Appeal ruling of last February that the Regulations governing the government’s ‘Back...

JUST as preparations were being made for the launch of a campaign to call for the release of Huber Ballesteros and the other several...

THE Court of Appeal’s ruling yesterday that Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt did not have legal power to implement cuts at Lewisham Hospital in south-east...

THE Court of Appeal yesterday upheld the decision of a Judicial Review not to proceed with the reconfiguration of Lewisham hospital, meaning that the...

US PRESIDENT Barack Obama was personally informed of phone tapping against German Chancellor Angela Merkel, which may have begun as early as 2002, German...

THE news that allegations that forced injections and electric shocks were used on prisoners at a South African prison run by the UK-owned G4S,...

THE DISASTROUS Universal Credit scheme was rolled out in Hammersmith and Fulham yesterday, prompting the GMB union to demand that it ‘should be withdrawn’...

A THOUSAND local residents, health and other workers, trade unionists and youth participated in a very powerful North East London Council of Action march...

THE ‘row’ that left an Afghan officer cadet dead and three NATO troops injured at the UK-established ‘Sandhurst in the Sand’ in Helmand province...

THE BMA yesterday published a paper on seven-day services which supports calls for more NHS services to be available for patients throughout the week. Commenting...

KINGS Science Academy in Bradford, one of the government’s flagship free schools, has been accused of serious financial mismanagement. An Education Funding Agency (EFA) report...

BOTH ASLEF train drivers union and the FBU firefighters’ union announced strike dates yesterday. ASLEF has called two 24-hour strikes on the TransPennine Express on...

UK economic output rose by 0.8% between July and September, official GDP figures show. The data adds to a 0.7% GDP rise in the...

FBU General Secretary Matt Wrack wrote a letter on Wednesday to all FBU members about pensions. He wrote: ‘There have been a number of developments...

CALLUM MacLean, Ineos Grangemouth chairman, was exultant yesterday as he told the media that Unite the union had agreed to a three-year pay freeze,...

The AFL-CIO unions have issued a warning to the Democrats about proposed Medicare cuts, telling them, ‘Don’t try it ... we will never forget.’ As...

WITH the appointment of Simon Stevens as the new head of NHS England, the Tory-led coalition have put in charge of the day-to-day running...

UNITE general secretary Len McCluskey yesterday said the union had decided to ‘embrace’ a survival plan at Grangemouth put forward by owner Ineos, ‘warts...

THE GLOBAL president of US private health giant United Health, Simon Stevens, has been appointed to head NHS England. Stevens will be employed by the...

SIPTU members and officials took part in a protest rally outside the Dáil on Tuesday organised by the Irish Senior Citizens Parliament and other...

THE petrochemical plant at the giant Grangemouth complex in central Scotland is to close with the loss of over 800 jobs, owner Ineos announced...

GRANGEMOUTH’S owner Ineos announced yesterday the closure of its petrochemical plant, while also keeping the oil refinery closed and perhaps re-opening it if a...

IN A speech in Gaza to mark on the second anniversary of the prisoner swap deal between Hamas and Israel, Hamas leader Ismail Haniya,...

THE people of Scotland will be watching tomorrow and expecting you to ‘fire up Grangemouth’ was the message from Unite to Jim Ratcliffe and...

HEALTH professionals yesterday condemned coalition government moves to bar immigrants from access to healthcare, and charge overseas visitors a £200 fee to qualify...

THE French interior minister, Manuel Valls, reacted with shock and horror at the revelations in the French newspaper Le Monde that the US spy...

ADMINISTRATION workers at eight Greek universities are continuing their strike for the seventh consecutive week against the government’s plan to sack some 1,500 of...

UNISON yesterday slammed Npower’s ‘scandalous’ 10.4% energy hike that will ‘bring misery to millions of households this winter’. While the TUC said that energy prices...

THE AFL-CIO labour federation has released the following statement on the 16-day shutdown and threatened default by the US government: ‘Adults took over Washington, DC,...

LAST Wednesday postal workers delivered a massive vote in favour of strike action to defend their jobs, terms and conditions, and for a pay...

FOURTEEN-hundred workers at the Grangemouth oil refinery in Scotland face the sack at 6pm today if they refuse to sign a wage- and conditions-cutting...

‘GOVE must go!’ shouted angry striking teachers on a 15,000-strong march through central London to rally in Westminster on Thursday. They were taking part in...

TENS of thousands of French youth walked out of their classes and lectures and joined marches on Thursday protesting over the removal of two...

UNITE has urged Grangemouth workers not to give in to Ineos’ ‘menacing’ tactics to sign away their rights, saying it was looking to take...

‘WE SHOULD pool together and name the day for a General Strike and bring this government down’, Prison Officer’s Association (POA) General Secretary Steve...

THE deal pushed through Washington late Wednesday night to raise the US debt ceiling – at present standing at a massive $16.7 trillion –...

‘GOVE must go!’ was the common chant of tens of thousands of teachers taking part in a second series of joint NUT-NASUWT regional strikes...

UNISON leader Dave Prentis has warned that the massive 10 per cent price hike announced by the British Gas energy privateer yesterday will lead...

UK jobless officially fell to 2.49m in the latest government figures, for the three months to August, showing a slight fall of 18,000, not...

POSTAL workers in Royal Mail yesterday voted by 4 to 1 (78%) in favour of strike action in a move to protect their jobs,...

OVER 4,000 firefighters marched through central London yesterday against attacks on their pensions and cuts to the fire service. The front banner read: ‘We Rescue...