National News
London Rail Battle
by New Worker correspondent
Whilst we are on the subject of new railway lines, TSSA members on west to east Elizabeth Line in London are taking industrial action next Wednesday, the first anniversary of its opening.
The operational staff, who are responsible for the safe running voted nine to one in favour of action in due to a long-running pay dispute. TSSA claims that many workers on the Line are paid tens of thousands of pounds less than similar workers on the Transport for London (TfL) network. This follows strike action on 12th January and will be followed by a work to rule from Saturday 27th May to Sunday 4th June.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Railways Beyond the M2
by New Worker correspondent
Beyond London other disputes are also in progress. ASLEF’s driver members are angry that in many cases they have not had a pay rise since 2019. This is despite dividends and bonuses for bosses continuing unabated despite the pandemic.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Trams
by New Worker correspondent
Halfway been trains and roads are trams. In Manchester, the city’s trams system Metrolink is facing strike action with over 600 members of Unite balloting on a poor five per cent pay offer that will last for a whole 15 months. Starting pay rates at Metrolink are very low with inspectors have a starting salary of just £20,000 per annum, whilst drivers start on £22,000 and engineers on £26,000.
Metrolink is operated and maintained by a joint venture company Keolis/Amey, which also runs the London’s Docklands Light Railway (DLR)
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
On the Roads
by New Worker correspondent
There is no shortage of disputes in the road transport industry.
HGV drivers in Warrington, who are employed by GXO to supply City Plumbing and PTS outlets, are about to start indefinite strike action later this month after a Unite rep was sacked on trumped-up charges. Unite claim that due to the just-in-time nature of distribution contracts City Plumbing will soon run out of supplies. Regional officer Kenny Rowe warned: “The strike action will cause huge disruption to City Plumbing and PTS and to plumbers across the UK, but this dispute is entirely of GXO’s own making.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Airport News
by New Worker correspondent
At Glasgow Airport more than 200 ground services crew employed by Menzies (correctly pronounced Ming-is) Aviation have secured an 11 per cent one-year pay deal after voting by 82 per cent in favour of the deal, which will be backdated to January and comes after a 9.1 per cent increase last year. The deal also includes a rise in the overtime rate to time and a half, improved holiday entitlement and an improved sick-pay scheme.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
All at Sea
by New Worker correspondent
There has not been much industrial action on board ships recently but sometimes the dog that doesn’t bark can be important. Nautilus International, the union for ships officers and engineers, is warning that the recent Seafarers’ Wages Act does not provide strong enough protections to prevent other shipping companies from wholesale sacking of workers as happened at P&O Ferries last year. Needless to say the Tory legislation is pitiful inadequate.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Scottish Political News
by our Scottish political affairs correspondent
Sir Keir Starmer may be preparing for power but Labour’s hopes will depend on how well it does in Scotland. Some believe Scottish Labour’s fortunes, currently rock bottom with one seat in the House of Commons, can only go up given the disarray in the nationalist camp following the sudden resignation of Nicola Sturgeon and the slump in Tory support following the loss of confidence in Boris Johnson and the chaotic six weeks of his immediate successor, Liz Truss.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
International News
Truss turns to Taiwan
Global Times
Former Prime Minister Liz Truss is going to Taiwan this week. There she will meet senior administrative officials on the island and give a "keynote speech" that the Mirror says could earn her tens of thousands of pounds.
Although this washed-up politician seeks to make political capital out of the visit to the breakaway province, taking a tough stance against China was Truss's political stance even when she was prime minister and foreign secretary. She made provocative remarks about China in order to win more votes when she was campaigning to become Tory leader and prime minister. After leaving office she continues to spread her hard-line views on China on numerous occasions.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
An Example of South–South co-operation
by María Josefina Arce , Radio Havana Cuba
History, roots, culture and a friendship based on respect and mutual help unite Cuba and Gambia, where for almost three decades Cuban health professionals have been present to help improve the health indexes of the African nation.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Israel's crimes against the Palestinian people
by María Josefina Arce, Radio Havana Cuba
Since the beginning of the year, tension has been escalating in the Middle East due to Israel's constant aggressions against the Palestinian population of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, territories illegally occupied by Zionist troops.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
South Africa reaffirms non-alignment
by Ed Newman, Radio Havana Cuba
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa reiterated on Monday the country's policy of non-alignment, affirming that it will not take sides in a contest between global powers.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Who’s really in charge in Washington?
by Lyuba Lulko, Pravda.ru
US President Biden suffers from progressive dementia. Is he capable of running for a new term in 2024? Is it true that the key issue for the USA about the public debt will be resolved without Biden's participation? Who has been ruling the USA for the last couple of years?
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Features
China: Whole Process People’s Democracy. What does it mean?
by David Cavendish, People’s World (USA )
The expulsion of two African-American representatives from the Tennessee state legislature recently is only the latest in what seems to be a never-ending series of attacks on democracy in the USA. Add to it the endless voter suppression tactics like racist purges of voter rolls, bans on mail-in ballots, restrictive voter ID hurdles, reduced poll hours, and more.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
We don’t need more than one party
by Fidel Castro, Granma
{Excerpts from speech delivered by Fidel Castro on 26th July 1988.}
There is one very essential idea, and that is never to forget where we are situated, which is not in the Black Sea, but in the Caribbean, not 90 miles from Odessa, but 90 miles from Miami, with a border on our own land, in an occupied part of our territory, with imperialism. Our people are in charge in our country; and our Party is responsible for its policy, its line, its defence.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
The Coronation: a reminder of genocide, slavery, and loot
by Prabir Purkayastha, People’s Democracy (India)
Charles III was crowned king of the UK on 6th May 2023, after the sun had decisively set over the British Empire. The ceremony reminded us again of the connection of the British Crown with the colonial loot and slave trade, the foundations of the British Empire. The British monarch was not just the titular head of the empire: the Royal African Company, which held the monopoly of supplying slaves to the Americas, was the direct property of the British Crown and was run by the Duke of York, the brother of the king. The royal monopoly ended when British proponents of ‘free trade’, London, Manchester and other city merchants wanted their share of this lucrative trade. Why am I writing about England's role in the slave trade 300 years ago?
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
DPR Korea: A true people’s health system
by Dermot Hudson
The socialist healthcare system of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has a long history.
On the 1st January 2023, it was 70 years since the DPRK introduced universal, free medical care. On the 1st January 1953, it was introduced in the DPRK according to the provisions of DPRK cabinet decree No 203 “On Enforcing Free Medical Care System for the People”, which had been adopted some weeks earlier on the 13th November 1952 under the guidance of President Kim Il Sung. Prior to that, free medical care for industrial and office workers based on insurance had been introduced in 1946 (two years before the NHS was created in the UK).
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
Understanding China through the lens of a British historian
by Zhou Lin, Beijing Review
Michael Wood is no stranger to the Chinese audience. A famous British historian, broadcaster and author, he has presented lots of well-known TV documentaries from the late 1970s to the present day. His China-themed works – The Story of China, The Story of China’s Reform and Opening-up and Du Fu: China’s Greatest Poet – have all proved to be smash hits in Britain and China.
[Read the complete story in the print edition]
