Lead story

Unions declare for Corbyn

by Daphne Liddle

BALLOT papers for the Labour leadership contest were sent out last week and leaders of seven major unions that have nominated Jeremy Corbyn in the current leadership contest last Wednesday wrote to the Guardian to explain their position.

Mick Whelan general secretary, ASLEF, Ronnie Draper general secretary, BFAWU, Dave Ward general secretary, CWU, Matt Wrack general secretary, FBU, Manuel Cortes general secretary, TSSA, Brian Rye Acting general secretary, Ucatt, and Len McCluskey general secretary, Unite, said:

“As general secretaries of unions that have nominated Jeremy Corbyn to remain as leader of the Labour party, we are writing to explain why the millions of members in our unions and the millions of workers beyond should vote for Jeremy.

Read the full story here >>

Unions declare for Corbyn

New cuts to Bristol council services

SWINGEING government cuts will devastate council services in Bristol, local government unions warned last Monday.

Care for older and vulnerable adults, and support for children and families are amongst the services under threat as the city council wrestles with an imposed funding cut of £60 million by 2020, starting in April 2017.

In addition to these pending cuts, the council has revealed a shortfall in the savings that should have been achieved between 2014 and 2017 of £43 million.

To balance the books, the council will make around 1,000 employees redundant. The council’s total workforce is 6,500.

This will save only £29 million from the shortfall of £43 million. The unions are pressing for voluntary severance as the preferred option.

Read the full story here >>

New cuts to Bristol council services

Editorial

The Wings of War

THE GREEDY eyes of the imperialists are once again focusing on Syria. Turkish tanks, backed by US war-planes, have crossed the border allegedly to drive ISIS out of the Syrian town of Jarablus. Meanwhile the American general in command of US operations in Iraq and Syria warns the Syrian and Russian air-force to stay clear of the Kurdish militia controlled parts of the north of the country that are infested with US special forces and military “advisers”.

Turkey and the United States both claim that they are only moving in to drive ISIS out. The Americans say that they are helping their new Kurdish friends. The Turks are determined to destroy them along with ISIS, which until recently was receiving less than covert military and financial assistance from the Americans and the Turks.

No one seriously believes that the Americans or the Turks have any interest in the welfare of any of the Syrian militias fighting the Syrian government. Their common ground is simply the lust to get their greedy paws on Syria’s land and assets once President Assad is pushed aside and the country partitioned á la Libya into feuding sectarian statelets dependent on Washington and its local lackeys in the region.

Read the full editorial here >>

The Wings of War