National News
No pay for X-rays
THE SOCIETY of Radiographers (SoR) is another unlikely sounding trade union. With about 27,000 members they represent about 90 per cent of the profession in Britain.
They too also expressed disgust with the one per cent offer. SoR Director Dean Rogers said to the bosses that: “If our Trust and Board CEOs support the Government position they should mask up, give up part of their next weekend and talk directly to members coming off 12- or 16-hour shifts covering for absent colleagues, and explain why they think one per cent is good enough. If they can’t bring themselves to do that then they should stand with us and tell the Government how this will also make their jobs harder.”
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
NHS pay discrimination
ON MONDAY, International Women’s Day, another union with workers in the NHS, the GMB, exposed the fact that 80 per cent of workers affected by the NHS one per cent pay proposal are women.
This observation was based upon a Treasury Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) that also demonstrated that Tory Government policies on NHS pay would disproportionately affect women and BAME [Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic] workers.
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Scottish Political News
by our Scottish political affairs correspondent
DESPITE, or because, of her filibuster, sorry, testimony to the Holyrood Committee investigating her Government’s handling of complaints into her predecessor’s behaviour, the incumbent First Minister Nicola Sturgeon remains in office. But she has not come up smelling of roses, except in the eyes of her more devoted followers. At the same time she did not win any converts, only further contempt from the rival nationalist camp.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Election News
by our Scottish political affairs correspondent
Whether or not it had anything to do with the proceedings of the Holyrood Committee, there are signs that the polls are turning against the SNP.
Two recent opinion polls show a decline in support for independence, whilst in real life polls, two much-delayed by-elections in North Lanarkshire saw Labour gain two council seats from the SNP. In both cases incumbent SNP councillors resigned. One had left the party, but then found being an Independent involved too much work. The other had left the council on becoming an MP in 2019.
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Pay the Nurses, stop warmongering!
by Finian Cunningham
BORIS JOHNSON and his Tory government are infuriating the public with their miserly proposal of a one per cent pay rise for nurses and other healthcare workers.
The anger is especially poignant given the courageous dedication of healthcare workers during the past disastrous year of pandemic. Boris Johnson talks about “our heroic” nurses. But he needs to put money where his mouth is and recognise their vital work by giving these brave and selfless workers proper remuneration.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Support London bus drivers!
by New Worker correspondent
LONDON bus drivers took industrial action following the break-down of talks between RATP and Unite the union last week. Drivers working for RATP’s three subsidiary companies, London United, London Sovereign and Quality Line, went on strike over pay and conditions. RATP, a French state-owned transport company, is trying to impose new contracts that would cut drivers’ wages by some £1,500 per year.
The fresh strike action follows a number of strikes held in February in protest at RATP’s “modernising” proposals. In a divide-and-rule approach, RATP is attempting to treat workers in each subsidiary differently and play one set of workers off against the other.
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“Women Belong in the Kitchen” storm
by Daria Bedenko
“WOMEN belong in the kitchen” says Burger King UK on International Women’s Day (IWD), triggering a Twitterquake storm that forced the fast-food chain to apologise and delete the message. The original promotional tweet, considered by many as misogynistic and inappropriate, was deleted by the fast-food company after gaining over half-a-million likes.
Burger King, usually championing provocative or sarcastic adverts, sparked massive outrage with its recent attempt to promote scholarships for female chefs by tweeting “Women belong in the kitchen” on IWD on Monday.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
International News
International Women’s Day 2021
STOP domestic violence against women!
WFTU
On the occasion of the 2021 International Women’s Day on 8th March, the Secretariat of the World Federation of Trade Unions issued the following statement:
THE World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), the oldest trade union international representing 105 million workers in 133 countries on the five continents, offers a warm internationalist greeting to the working woman, the female trade unionist, the female militant of each country and continent on this International Working Women’s Day, 8th March 2021.
The class trade union movement has always stood alongside the just demands of the women of the working class; it has been the one which turned the claims of women into claims of its own; the one which fought by implementing in its ranks the true equality between the male worker and the female worker. In fact, thousands of working women have offered the most valuable thing they possessed, their own lives, to the cause of the true emancipation of the whole society from the chains of capitalist exploitation; the emancipation of both working men and women. WFTU is proud of the women of its affiliates martyred in the struggle for a more just society.
[Read the full statement here ->>] STOP domestic violence against women!
Israel on trial
Radio Havana Cuba
FATOU Bom Bensouda, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), recently reported from the city of The Hague in the Netherlands on the opening of an investigation into the war crimes committed by the Zionist regime of Israel against the Palestinian people.
The ICC has determined since 2019 that there are reasonable grounds to inquire about the crimes committed against the civilian population crowded in the Gaza Strip.
The ICC Chief Prosecutor also said that the court has full jurisdiction to judge human rights violations perpetrated in Palestinian territory, although many are still reluctant to recognise it as an independent state with full sovereignty.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Brazilian judge overturns convictions against Lula
A BRAZILIAN Supreme Court judge overturned on Monday the corruption convictions against former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, clearing the way for him to run in the 2022 presidential election.
Justice Edson Fachin said a court in the southern city of Curitiba had lacked the authority to try Lula on corruption charges and that he must be retried in federal courts in the capital Brasilia.
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The West vs Russia: Churchill’s ‘Iron Curtain’ speech as relevant as ever
by Oleg Artyukov
SEVENTY-FIVE years ago, on 5th March 1946, Winston Churchill delivered his landmark “Iron Curtain” speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. It is believed that the speech marked the beginning of a new stage in world history – the Cold War. At the same time, there was only one paragraph about the “Iron Curtain” in the speech.
At the time, Churchill did not hold any official positions in the British government being the leader of the opposition after the lost parliamentary elections in 1945. Yet his authority as a politician was extremely high. Therefore, when Churchill asked US President Harry Truman to accompany him on his trip to Fulton, he agreed without hesitation.
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Features
The Loyalists homegrown Proud Boys
An Sionnach Fionn
DURING THE DECADES of the so-called Troubles, whilst Unionist terrorists may have pulled the triggers it was Unionist politicians who pointed the guns. Yes, the close institutional link that latterly existed between the military and political wings of the (Provisional) Republican movement did not exist within the pro-union community. But when it came to Loyalist violence, whether it was from gunmen-without-uniform or gunmen-out-of-uniform, the dogs on the streets knew who the militant pro-union gangs were taking inspiration or direction from, either in private or in public.
The author and journalist Susan McKay, noting the coming together in the Six Counties of Brexit-supporting politicians and the representatives of ideologically similar armed groupings, makes much the same point in the Irish Times:
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China: Adapting Islam to local conditions
by Xie Wenting
Over the decades, China has made great efforts to provide care to Muslim citizens and ensure their normal needs are met. Some hostile forces in the West, however, have used every means to smear China’s efforts in protecting Muslims and kept making groundless accusations including accusing China of infringing on Muslims’ religious freedom. What’s the real situation of Muslims in China? What does the government do to protect and improve their life? Global Times reporter Xie Wenting (GT) interviews Yang Faming (Yang), president of the China Islamic Association, to find answers.
GT: How many Muslims now live in China? What efforts has the Chinese government made to ensure the normal needs of Muslims?
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Indian farmers’ struggle at a crossroads?
by B Prasant
THE IMMEDIATE aftermath of the grand rally of the farmers in Delhi on 26th January represented a high point for the kisan (farmers) struggle, now in its fourth month. An angry Modi government reacted by erecting battlements and deep ditches that made the capital impenetrable from the borders of the adjoining states where the movement is increasingly concentrated. The fortifications are reinforced every day. Army drones continue to make low passes over the kisan assemblage.
Internet and telephone lines remain cut off and electricity has not been restored. The farmers have moved into survival mode and have had to improvise. Diesel-run generators have been brought in by the hundreds, the sanitary system has been partly restored, the food kitchens have made a comeback and the deep tube wells are functioning again.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
