Monthly Archives: December 2022
STRIKING postal workers took part in a 17,000-strong Communication Workers Union (CWU) national rally in Parliament Square, central London, on Friday afternoon. News Line spoke to some of the strikers as they assembled. CWU member Liz, from Chesham Delivery Office, Buckinghamshire, said: ‘We’ve been striking for five months. ‘This is not just...
NURSES are to strike on Thursday 15th and Tuesday 20th December. At the same time CWU postal and RMT and ASLEF rail workers are taking part in strike actions to secure their jobs and to win wage rises that at the least equal the galloping inflation rate that is...
‘THOMPSON out!’ chanted 17,000 striking Royal Mail postal workers at a rally in Parliament Square yesterday afternoon. They were expressing their anger at the company’s CEO over the savage attack on their jobs, pay, and terms and conditions, Addressing the mass rally, Communication Workers Union (CWU) general secretary Dave Ward said:...
THE GOVERNMENT has announced what it says is one of the biggest bonfires of financial regulations to allow the City of London to rule without any restraints – as the working class and middle class are savaged by rampant inflation and policed by planned draconian anti-union laws. A package of...
THE RCN (Royal College of Nursing) has called on the Health Secretary to open negotiations on NHS pay as new research shows the UK is the ‘sick man of Europe’ again when it comes to nursing pay. Data published this week by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)...
The United States has opposed Al Jazeera’s efforts to have the Israeli regime prosecuted at the International Criminal Court (ICC) over Tel Aviv’s murder of the Qatari news network’s veteran journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. ‘We oppose it in this case,’ US State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters on Tuesday...
AT prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, Rishi Sunak told MPs that he was planning ‘tough’ legislation to outlaw strikes completely. However, the right wing press are increasingly turning against the Sunak government, denouncing it as weak in the face of the unprecedented wave of strikes across both public and private...
AT PRIME Minister’s Questions (PMQs) in the House of Commons yesterday PM Sunak sought to divert questions away from the developing Tory PPE procurement scandal by challenging Labour leader Starmer over whether he will back new anti-union laws the Tories are preparing to be used against striking public sector...
AGAINST a background of rolling blackouts, rising poverty and an out-of-control cost of living crisis, the South African government of Cyril Ramaphosa now faces a huge political crisis, with demands for him to be impeached and resign. The crisis is tearing the ruling ANC apart, with COSATU-affiliated unions fighting over...
TWENTY-FIVE people have been arrested in raids across Germany on suspicion of plotting to overthrow the government. The group of fascists and far right military figures planned to mimic Hitler by storming the parliament building, the Reichstag, and seizing power. The ringleaders have now been arrested across 11 German states. An...
AMBULANCE worker members of the GMB, Unite and Unison unions will take national strike action on 21st December, with paramedics, emergency care assistants, call handlers and other staff walking out. Announcing the action, Rachel Harrison, GMB National Secretary, said: ‘After twelve years of Conservative cuts to the service and their...
THE UAW (United Auto Workers) union has been leading a strike involving some 48,000 academic workers in ten University of California cities — including Berkeley, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. The strike, believed to be the biggest organised labour action in the US this year and the biggest in history...
THE BANK for International Settlements (BIS) – dubbed the bank for central banks – issued a dire warning in its latest quarterly review that crucial parts of the global financial system are at risk from the drive by central banks to end the era of cheap money by pushing...
YESTERDAY’S 8.00am Unite mass protest at the Port of Felixstowe to end bullying management culture and to defend union reps was postponed at the last minute, following further company threats. CK Hutchison Holdings, which owns Felixstowe Port in Suffolk, has suspended seven port workers, most of whom are Unite union...
MOSCOW has condemned the so-called ‘price cap’ on Russian oil, insisting that it will continue to sell its oil in markets outside Europe. ‘Starting from this year Europe will live without Russian oil,’ Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s Permanent Representative to International Organisations in Vienna, tweeted on Saturday.
‘Moscow has already made it...
YESTERDAY an embargo on seaborne Russian oil exports came into force, a move that will drive up the price of oil internationally and add yet more fuel to the cost-of-living crisis raging throughout Europe and Britain. Included in these latest sanctions is a price cap which sets a maximum price...
NHS TRADE unions, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), Unison and Unite condemned Tory Party Chairman Nadhim Zahawi’s announcement yesterday morning that he is mobilising the British army to break their strikes this month. Appearing on the Sophie Ridge Show on Sky News, Zahawi first accused Russian President Putin of...
RUSSIAN Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has accused the West of becoming directly involved in the Ukraine war by supplying the country with weapons and training its soldiers. ‘You shouldn’t say that the US and NATO aren’t taking part in this war. You are directly participating in it,’ Lavrov said during...
THE DEEPENING crisis of British capitalism sees the UK ruling class at least 100 times more interested in provoking regime change in Russia through its massive, no limits, multi-billion pound support for the right wing Ukrainian regime than dealing with the massive inflation in the UK, that has smashed...
A PALESTINIAN-FRENCH human rights lawyer whom Israel has stripped of his Jerusalem residency is at imminent risk of deportation, an Israeli group says. The HaMoked Human Rights Organisation said it had been informed that Salah Hammouri’s detention without charge would not be renewed. It comes after Israel’s Supreme Court rejected an...
DOCTORS have raised the alarm on the misery of the nation’s poor health caused by years of Tory government neglect and funding cuts! In a BMA report, published on Wednesday, doctors across the UK have shared their experiences of the impact of appalling health inequalities the country is suffering.
The BMA...
LAST week the FBU said it would formally issue notice of ballot if ‘a substantial pay increase that takes into account the current level of inflation and the cost of living crisis’ was not received by yesterday, after pay discussions had ‘failed to reach any resolution’. No such pay offer has been...
UCU MEMBERS were out on strike on Wednesday with historic numbers this week over stagnant pay, miserable working conditions and casualisation of academic work. In the morning, UCU pickets were supported by other workers in solidarity including RMT members, Unite, National Education Union members as well as 6th form college...
A ONE-day strike was called yesterday by Palestinians in the city of Jenin following the murder of two Palestinians by Israeli troops in a raid on the city and a refugee camp. The two victims were killed by Israeli gunfire and at least four Palestinians were arrested in a confrontation...
‘WITH more than 13,000 patients a day stuck in hospitals because the community and social care they need to be safely discharged is unavailable, it’s easy to see why health and care is at breaking point,’ RCN Director for England, Patricia Marquis, said yesterday. The Royal College of Nursing was...
CHINESE President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday that China is ready to work with Russia to forge a closer partnership in energy cooperation. Energy cooperation is an important cornerstone of practical cooperation between China and Russia, and also a positive force for maintaining global energy security, Xi said in a...
THERE was a hardened determination on the striking postal workers picket lines yesterday morning, as Communication Workers Union (CWU) members defiantly rebutted the Royal Mail plans to smash up their service and jobs. The CWU sounded the alarm over the huge numbers of parcels and deliveries stacking up in every...
THE UCU (University and College Union) lecturers union held a national rally at the front of Kings Cross Station yesterday, completely taking over the busy central London junction, with thousands of striking members from all over the country converging on the capital. The rally featured prominent speakers from trade unions...
YESTERDAY saw major unions taking national strike action across the country in one of the biggest walkouts of workers on the same day. Three main unions were out, including the Communication Workers Union (CWU) representing postal workers with over 110,000 Royal Mail staff on strike again today and with a...