National News
Royal Mail Battles
by New Worker correspondent
The first strike in the Communication Workers Union (CWU) 2023 campaign was set for last week. The 24-hour stoppage that was to involve 115,000 postal workers was called off due to legal action by bosses who cited “irregularities”, which the union, acting on advice from its lawyers, decided not to challenge
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Trouble at Sea
by New Worker correspondent
The first strike in the Communication Workers Union (CWU) 2023 campaign was set for last week. The 24-hour stoppage that was to involve 115,000 postal workers was called off due to legal action by bosses who cited “irregularities”, which the union, acting on advice from its lawyers, decided not to challenge.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Trouble at Sea
by New Worker correspondent
Even the North Sea oil and gas industries are showing signs of industrial unrest. Needless to say, workers on the offshore rigs and onshore facilities have not benefited from the dramatic increase in energy prices.
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On the Buses
by New Worker correspondent
Unite the Union has claimed victory in the long-running industrial dispute involving over 1,800 bus drivers employed by Abellio, serving routes in south and west London, which ended after workers accepted a greatly improved pay offer. This is the latest in a number of similar battles, not just in the capital, but up and down the country; it took 20 days of strike action to win.
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Off the Rails
by New Worker correspondent
More train strikes are in the offing after transport union RMT rejected the latest offers from Network Rail and train operating companies.
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…and finally
…{New Worker} readers will be distressed to learn that a group of dedicated workers have had to make do with an imposed below-inflation pay rise that amounts to a maximum of only four per cent. The financially hard-pressed organisation in question has its HQ on London’s Victoria Street and workers up and down the kingdom. Many of them are likely to lose their jobs by the end of next year due to an expected dramatic downturn in the organisation’s fortunes.
Readers should put away their hankies and decline to send solidarity messages because the organisation in question is the Conservative and Unionist Party, whose agents, HQ staff and organisers face a bleak future if the opinion polls are anything to go by. At least they can be happy that their pay rise will not be fuelling inflation.
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The Greens at Work
by our Scottish political affairs correspondent
Normally whenever the SNP Government make a mess of something, or neglect to do anything at all, they blame the Westminster Government for not giving them enough money or powers to so.
Now they have found a new villain on which to pin their shortcomings: Vladimir Putin, who according to Transport Secretary Jenny Gilruth is responsible for the failure of the SNP to fulfil their 2007 manifest promise to convert the A9 to dual carriageway standards. Since then only 11 miles have been duelled, with 77 remaining. Given the number of SNP constituencies affected one would have thought it would be a priority.
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