National News
Redundancy battle starts
by New Worker correspondent
THE Communication Workers Union (CWU) also has a battle on its hands with its other major employer, British Telecommunications (BT).
Some 367 employees in BT’s Enterprise division have been placed formally ‘at risk’ of compulsory redundancies.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Lack of facilities
by New Worker correspondent
THIS IS another of these stories which should not be read over the breakfast table. Tuesday was World Toilet Day. To mark the day Unite the Union published research demonstrating that many workers in the transport sector are being routinely denied access to toilets, which is creating health issues and in some cases forcing workers to leave their jobs.
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Highway robbery
PROSPECT members at Highways England (HE) have voted overwhelmingly for industrial action over pay after the HE organisation imposed a one per cent award on its staff.
The imposed deal represents a further real-terms cut to pay following on from many years of below-inflation pay awards for most staff. Some staff have not had a pay increase for five years, which also means no increase to their pensionable pay.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Apathy wins
by New Worker correspondent
TWO trade unions have recently held elections for their General Secretaries. In both cases the incumbents won by respectable margins.
In the first, the Prison Officers Association (POA), Steve Gillan retained his job in a three-cornered contest with 55 per cent of the vote. In the other contest, Tim Roach remains at the helm of the General Municipal and Boilermakers (GMB) union after winning 61 per cent of the vote in a two-sided contest.
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Health News
by our Scottish political affairs correspondent
The SNP must be hopeful that its management of the health service in Scotland does not become an election issue. If it did logic would dictate they would lose all their deposits.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Police launch inquiry into Farage ‘Tory bribes’ claims
Sputnik
THE DECEMBER general election is slowly descending into a campaign of mud-slinging between the main parties. New allegations by the Brexit Party could prove to be somewhat of a nightmare for Boris Johnson however, as he tries to convince the electorate that he’s the man to steer Britain out of the European Union.
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Caribbean comrade remembered
by New Worker correspondent
COMRADES gathered at the Sid French library at the NCP Centre in south London last weekend to hear David Horsley talk about the life of the Jamaican communist, Billy Strachan, who did so much to help the Caribbean community in London after the Second World War.
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Animal Magic?
TV REVIEW
by Ben Soton
His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman. BBC1 at 8pm on Sundays from 3rd November.
BBC1’s latest Sunday night drama, His Dark Materials, is now on its fourth episode. An adaptation of Philip Pullman’s trilogy consisting of The Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass, this is a fantasy set in a strange alternative reality; a dystopia ruled over by an authoritarian regime called the Magisterium, with analogies to the Catholic church or any system of domination and thought control.
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International News
Chilean communists call for new constitution
by Ed Newman
GUILLERMO TEILLIER, President of the Communist Party of Chile (PCC), stressed last week that citizens had to play an important role in the process of writing a new Constitution.
The communists have refused to sign an agreement accepted by 11 other opposition parties on the way forward; but Teillier nevertheless welcomed a referendum as “an undeniable step forward” to define the mechanism that will allow drafting a new Constitution.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Western hypocrisy worsens problem
by Shi Tian
IT IS widely believed that the 39 bodies found dead in Essex were stowaways involved in human trafficking.
No matter which countries they were from — Vietnam, China or any other country — this tragedy is a warning to the entire world. It is time for all countries to address human trafficking and crack down on smugglers. In particular, some Western countries should abandon their double standards and shoulder their responsibilities.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
S Koreans reject US demands
Sputnik
THE second day of defence talks between the US and South Korea came to a screeching halt this week after officials were unable to see eye-to-eye on Washington’s financial demands concerning Seoul’s hosting of tens of thousands of US troops.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday that Washington and Seoul’s negotiations on the shared costs of hosting some 28,500 US troops in south Korea were placed on the back-burner over the USA’s alleged demand for $5 billion in stationing costs.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Havana’s historic Chinatown
by Roberto F Campos
ONE OF the most important actions conducted in the Cuban capital for its 500th anniversary on 16th November has been the renovation of Havana’s Chinatown, a symbolic and colourful area that is visited by tourists from all over the world.
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Meet the woman running across Vietnam for charity
by Peter Cowan
EVERY YEAR, hordes of backpackers and expats alike drive motorbikes from Hànội to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) or vice versa for a unique adventure and to experience the wonderful sights Việtnam has to offer.
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Features
Unbiased?
by Rob Gowland
THERE WAS a time, not so long ago actually, when right-wing politicians were wont to complain about what they called the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s “left-wing bias”. They maintained that the national broadcaster had to be “even-handed, unbiased and fair”. In practice that meant avoiding taking any position that could be considered as even remotely pro-working class because that would provoke scandalised complaints from Liberal Party politicians.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
India’s communist history: MN Roy
People’s Democracy (India)
MANABENDRA Nath Roy, popularly known as MN Roy, was an important figure in the early days of the Communist movement in India. Roy was the initiator of the formation of the Communist Party in Tashkent in October 1920. He played a pioneering role in spreading Marxist ideas and the role of a Communist Party amongst the fledgling Communist groups that emerged in India from 1921 onwards.
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Gender Violence: Orange the World!
by Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey
TIME TO START getting ready for a 16-day, multi-year campaign beginning on 25th November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
The theme for this year’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women is Orange the World: Generation Equality Stands Against Rape. Starting on 25th November, the campaign will last for 16 days and will conclude this year on Human Rights Day, 10th December.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
