National News
Union Recognition
by New Worker correspondent
Battles for the basic requirement of trade union recognition have of necessity, continued. There was a comparatively small one at La Retraite, a Roman Catholic Girls School in South London where cleaners and other support workers, when faced with a £150 annual pay cut, secured not just the London Living Wage and parity with other workers at the school, but also recognition for their street union, the United Voices of the World (UVW).
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Basic Statistics
by New Worker correspondent
On a positive note, in late May a small but welcome increase in trade union membership was recorded in official figures.
The latest membership figures showed a rise of 118,000 to 6.6 million in the course of 2020, which at first glance is welcome, but this was due to an increase of 228,000 public sector workers who account for almost two-thirds of trade unionists. This was offset by a fall of 110,000 workers in the private sector, where only 12.9 per cent are in unions compared with just over half in the public sector. Density is still lower than in 2015.
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Changing of the Guard
by New Worker correspondent
Four major unions had elections for their General Secretaries, which are a useful means of measuring the political temperature and levels of activity.
The two largest unions, Unite and Unison, both held elections that were the natural generational process of passing the baton.
The two other contests had less edifying causes. GMB’s contest was sparked by an incumbent not behaving as a proper gentleman towards his staff, and RMT’s leader was so tired of factional fighting that he threw in the towel in disgust.
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Protection from the Bug
by New Worker correspondent
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) at Swansea is the site of a long-running battle between the civil service union PCS and the Government over its failure to make, now standard, COVID‑19 precautions in the office and forcing most of its 2,000 workers to return to the office despite 600 workers testing positive for the coronavirus, and one dying. Management refused to reduce capacity by 300 desks, resulting in strike action by workers who said they could work from home. A final round of strike action was aborted however, as the union could not meet the threshold for the ballot to take effect.
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In the Courts
by New Worker correspondent
Some battles have been fought in the courts rather than on the picket line. One of the most important was the case taken-up by Unison against Mencap, the mental health charity, concerning the case of a woman who claimed she was entitled to be paid the national minimum wage for every hour of her night-shifts when she was sleeping because she was required to keep an eye on her charges at all times. The Supreme Court ruled definitively that although the minimum had to be paid for working hours, the time spent sleeping did not have to be paid for. This has implications for travel time for workers between different jobs. At the time, Mencap claimed it had only taken the legal action because it would be bankrupted by the size of the possible back-pay liabilities, which could have amounted to £400 million.
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Comings and Goings
by New Worker correspondent
Sadly we must say farewell to the Association of Trade Union Political and Public Sector Staff, whose last activity was reporting to the Registrar of Trade Unions that it had five members in June 2018.
On a more positive note, two new unions arrived on the scene in 2021. One was Yoga Teachers Union, a branch of the IWGB. Yoga teachers rarely have any security, sick pay, paid leave or pensions, but do have uncertain hours, poverty pay and bullying bosses who think it is ‘unyogic’ to ask for decent pay.
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Scottish Political News
by our Scottish political affairs correspondent
IN THE days of hallowed antiquity our ancestors would gaze at the stars or examine the entrails of sacrificial animals to see what fate the gods had in store for them in the future. These days we have to make do with opinion polls, which are an inexact science.
This week a new poll, that predictably put the Scottish nationalists well ahead of their rivals, suggested that the SNP would gain 11 more seats if a Westminster election were to be held tomorrow, including the one currently held by Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross.
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Dramatic Events
by our Scottish political affairs correspondent
There have been two recent major developments in Scottish politics, but it is difficult to decide which is the most exciting.
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Green News
by our Scottish political affairs correspondent
As the SNP have been holding the reins of office since 2007 it might be appropriate to take a look at their environmental record in that period, particularly now that they have formally brought the Greens on board so that they can be relied upon to vote for SNP policies without so much tiresome negotiation every time.
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Unite slashes money for Labour
by Svetlana Ekimenko
THE LABOUR Party is facing a significant cut to its funding as Unite the Union has announced it will slash political donations to the party it has long supported. According to Unite’s general secretary, Sharon Graham, interviewed by the Guardian, the money will now be funnelled into union campaigns. Len McCluskey, the previous leader of Unite and a staunch supporter of Jeremy Corbyn, had already cut donations to Labour following Sir Keir Starmer’s victory in the party’s leadership elections in the spring of 2020.
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Remembering a great Korean leader
by New Worker correspondent
ANDY BROOKS paid tribute to Korean leader Kim Jong Il, who died at his post in December 2011. Speaking at a meeting in central London last weekend called by the Korean Friendship Association the NCP leader spoke about Kim Jong Il’s life-long service to the communist movement and the Korean people – from his early days in guiding art and culture, especially the cinema, to steering The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea through a difficult period that followed the passing of great leader Kim Il Sung in 1994.
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Dangerous Grounds
review by Mícheál Mac Donncha
On Dangerous Ground - a Memoir of the Irish Revolution by Máire Comerford. Lilliput Press, Dublin, 2021. Paperback,
192pp, £18:00.
I CAN’T remember the last time I read a book so quickly or enjoyed one so much as this. The words of Máire Comerford’s revolutionary memoirs leap off the page, and in its vivid recollection and emotional charge this book ranks with the writings of Ernie O’Malley and Tom Barry.
“For many years her name has been famous as that of probably the most daring woman working for the Republican cause.” So said the Daily Mail in January 1923. Daring she certainly was in all her many activities in unswerving pursuit of her goal – the Irish Republic of 1916 and the fulfilment of its promise politically, economically, socially and culturally.
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International News
Bolsonaro must go!
by María Josefina Arce
AGITATED, controversial and widely questioned has been the mandate of Jair Bolsonaro since he assumed the presidency of Brazil in January 2019.
In recent times there has been a constant demand from a large part of the citizenry for him to leave office due to his dismal management before COVID‑19, his irresponsible actions and statements on the subject, and his environmental, economic and social policies.
Last weekend Brazil was once again the scene of demonstrations against the president. “Out with Bolsonaro” is a cry that has been repeated and has been going around Brazil for months.
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Afghan children robbed of their future
Xinhua
“MANY of those killed in Afghanistan during the American war were fathers. Today, children like me can’t go to school due to extreme poverty. We have to work on streets to survive,” says 12-year-old Padshah.
Padshah’s family are from the northern province of Baghlan. They moved to Kabul three months ago in search of a better living. Working on the streets, Padshah never earns as much as a dollar a day.
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American summit for division and hatred
Xinhua
AT A TIME when the world craves unity, the US-sponsored “Summit for Democracy” is breeding division, estrangement and hatred.
The gathering, with a stated goal of “setting forth an affirmative agenda for democratic renewal”, has nothing to do with genuine democracy.
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London loses another pearl in the Caribbean
by Roberto Morejón
IN A memorable, even daring gesture, Barbados put an end to the British monarchy on 30th November and officially became an independent republic, amidst the celebration of its people.
Coinciding with the 55th anniversary of the emancipation from colonial rule, the Caribbean island ceased to have Queen Elizabeth II as head of state, removing the British Crown and becoming the most fledgling republic on the planet.
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Honduras: another loss for US imperialism
by Jim Byrne
IN THE early hours of 28th June 2009, Honduran soldiers snatched President Manuel ‘Mel’ Zelaya from his home and removed him from power in a coup d’état with tacit support from the USA. What followed was a brutal dictatorship that murdered, disappeared and oppressed Hondurans.
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Features
Our homeland: when Yugoslavia was Red
by Ivan Stoiljkovic
On 29th November 1943, in the midst of the Second World War, a beautiful, big and strong socialist Yugoslavia was established in the town of Jajce in central Bosnia. It was established by the Anti-fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia (AVNOJ) at its second session, as a state of equal nations and peoples and as a republic that will not be presided over by a monarch nor by their bourgeois cohort of thieves and exploiters.
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Long-ignored Thanksgiving truths
by Ed Newman
EVERY YEAR, on the fourth Thursday of November, the USA celebrates Thanksgiving. The national holiday – one of the busiest travel periods in America – is a time for families across the country to gather for a traditional meal of roasted turkey, squash, corn, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie.
In popular legend, the Thanksgiving feast can be traced back to a friendly gathering about 400 years ago between English Pilgrims – settlers who travelled on board the Mayflower ship – and Native Americans at Plymouth, in present-day Massachusetts.
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