Civil servants strike reports

Written by Socialist Party Reporters Tuesday, 09 March 2010 16:32

Members of the PCS civil servants' union took strike action today to oppose the changes to the civil service compensation scheme (redundancy agreement). More reports to follow.

Barking
Management abandoned plans to open to people signing on and opened late for appointments, as most PCS workers stayed away in Barking.

PCS branch secretary Outer East London Dave Spagnol said:
"Thanks to pressure from PCS, management have made a number of concessions to their plans to cut the civil service compensation scheme.

PCS - All out to defend jobs & services

Written by Socialist Party Friday, 05 March 2010 08:30

Defend the Civil Service Compensation Scheme

The decision by PCS members to take industrial action on the 8th and 9th of March and to impose a national overtime ban is a clear message that they will stick together to secure an acceptable settlement that defends their contractual rights under the Civil Service Compensation Scheme.

Unions must fight to defend every job

Written by Daniel Waldron Thursday, 25 February 2010 11:38

At the end of January, Arlene Foster, the Minister responsible for job creation, bickered about the devolution of policing and justice powers to Stormont while 350 manufacturing job losses in Belfast were announced. This was just another demonstration of the complete inability of the main parties to deal with the crisis facing working-class people.

Hughes Christensen, a drill-bit manufacturer which has been based in East Belfast for over 50 years, announced that it would be closing its doors with the loss of 210 jobs. This firm is hugely profitable, with $47 million handed over to shareholders in the last quarter of 2009. The company also received handouts worth over £5million from taxpayers’ pockets through Invest NI.

Nominate Roger Bannister

Written by Roger Bannister Tuesday, 23 February 2010 16:03

Council workers need a fighting union

Roger Bannister is a member of the Unison union's national executive, and campaigning to stand for election as Unison general secretary. Roger says the union must fight the cuts in Birmingham, which are being repeated by councils, health authorities and the education sector nationwide:

"THE PROPOSED culling of jobs, conditions, pay and public services has begun. Dave Prentis, Unison's present general secretary, attacks the Tories who run Birmingham council but Labour councils will make similar cuts. Will he attack them? Why can't the Labour government bail out our public services as they did with the banks?

Trotskyism on Trial

Written by Lynn Walsh, Socialist Party (CWI in England & Wales) Tuesday, 16 February 2010 19:17

Unison union witch-hunt – employment tribunal

Trade union activists expect class bias in the courts and employment tribunals. But rarely has a tribunal delivered such a blatantly biased judgment based on class interest. The employment tribunal judge declared open season for the persecution of Trotskyists, whom he considers "unworthy of protection" in a democratic society.

Billions stolen in unpaid wages

Written by Gary Mulcahy Friday, 05 February 2010 11:19

A shocking new report released by the TUC has uncovered how employers have stolen £27.4 billion last year from workers in the UK by not paying overtime.

Support the Fujitsu workers fight

Written by Mark Pickersgill, Stevenage Socialist Party (England & Wales) Monday, 11 January 2010 00:00

Thousands of Fujitsu workers across Britain and Northern Ireland are involved in a major fight against attacks on pay, pensions and jobs.

On 18th December thousands of workers at multi-national IT firm Fujitsu took part in the first strike in Britain and Northern Ireland in the IT industry. Workers have voted overwhelmingly to fight vicious attacks on jobs, pay and pensions with 75% voting for strike action. Fujitsu workers are forced to take strike action because of plans to sack 1,000 workers, against a pay freeze introduced last year and against the ending of the main final salary pension scheme to future accrual, which will result in a 20% in pay. Workers returned to strike action on 7th January and 8th January after talks broke down before the Xmas break. Fujitsu Services made £200m profits last year, and its parent company raised more than $900m from a share sale, breaking its earnings target