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The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain

Lead story

Cuba is not alone!

by New Worker correspondent

CUBA’S FRIENDS are closing ranks to rush vital supplies to the socialist island, which is battling to stem a fresh wave of the coronavirus plague. Two massive Russian cargo planes packed with medical equipment have landed at Havana airport whilst ships from Mexico, Venezuela and Nicaragua are bringing in much needed fuel, food and medicines to the beleaguered island.

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Fire-and-Rehire Special

by New Worker correspondent

In Nottingham, a one-day strike took place at BCM Fareva (manufacturers of skincare and pharmaceutical products by appointment to Boots the Chemist) last week in a dispute supported by nearly 90 per cent of the USDAW members. BCM Fareva plans to cut terms and conditions of its 700 staff. Workers’ rights to pensions, holiday pay, redundancy pay and sick pay are all at risk under the terms of the new contracts being forced under the threat to fire-and-rehire staff if they do not submit.

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An anti-vaxxer’s pipedream

Review by Ben Soton

THE Pandemic Plot is a novel you are just as likely to see in your local Tesco as in Waterstones or WH Smith; it is, after all, in the Sunday Times’ Top Five best seller list. The title is topical in the current climate, which is why I considered it worth reading.

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Editorial

Pay the Nurses, fund the NHS

NURSES ARE gearing up for a “summer of action” over pay following the Government’s derisory three per cent award that the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said amounts to a cut after inflation is taken into account. The RCN is organising demonstrations across the country and a consultative pay ballot in the run-up to its annual conference in September. Unison and the British Medical Association are also sounding out their members on future industrial action for higher pay.

Whilst the Tories bleat that their award is higher than the initial one per cent they offered in March, it is still well short of the 12.5 per cent demand from nursing staff or the similar demands of the GMB and Unite, who also organise workers in the health sector.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson came under attack this week after he tried to dodge being ‘pinged’ for self-isolation – a day after announcing that so-called vaccine passports would be required for entry to nightclubs, concerts and other large public events from September.

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