The New Worker

The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain

Week commencing 10th April 2009

Interested in reading more from the pages of the The New Worker? Listed below are are the lead paragraphs from the various news items and features that appear in the printed version. Unless linked externally, you will need to subscribe to read further.

Home News

No sweat at Primark?

THE CAMPAIGN group,No Sweat, last week staged a demonstration outside the London flagship shop of Primark, the high-street clothing chain, as part of a protest at sweatshop labour used in making the discount garments.

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Housing workers fight

MEMBERS of the GMB general union employed by a south London housing association are being balloted for industrial action after their employer reneged on a three-year pay deal and is trying to withdraw recognition from the union.

[Full article appears only in the print edition]

RBS to cut 9,000 jobs

THE ROYAL Bank of Scotland has announced that it is to cut another 9,000 jobs, around half of them within Britain; this is addition to 2,700 jobs cuts announced earlier this year and amounts to one fifth of the total workforce.

[Full article appears only in the print edition]

Battle against long hours

TUC LEADERS have expressed disappointment that the Government is still defending excessive working time.

[Full article appears only in the print edition]

Tory attack on nurse's pay

THE PUBLIC sector union Unison last week called Shadow Chancellor George Osborne's comments on public sector pay a disgrace.

[Full article appears only in the print edition]

Oxfam calls for action for poor

THE FAMINE relief charity Oxfam is calling for Government action on behalf_the fifth of Britain's population likely to suffer as the recession increases levels of poverty.

[Full article appears only in the print edition]

Rally for Glasgow schools sit-in

SCOTTISH parents, pupils and supporters last week took part in a major demonstration in Glasgow in support of more than 20 parents who have occupied two local primary schools that are threatened with closure.

[Full article appears only in the print edition]

Concern over probation service cuts

TRADE unions have expressed concern over the impact of the 20 per cent budget cut now facing the Probation Service, to be implemented over the next three years.

[Full article appears only in the print edition]

School children under pressure

THE ASSOCIATION of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) last week published a survey showing that 70 per cent of teachers think that their pupils are now under more pressure than they were 10 years ago

[Full article appears only in the print edition]

Features

Martin Luther King's legacy of struggle lives on

“So far we may have killed a million of them -- mostly children. They wander into the towns and see thousands of the children, homeless, without clothes, running in packs on the streets like animals.” Dr Martin Luther King speaking on the US war in Vietnam, 1967.

THE FOURTH April marks the 41st anniversary of the martyrdom of the Rev Dr Martin Luther King in Memphis, Tennessee.

[Full article appears only in the print edition]

Vietnamese cinema comes of age

Film director Nguyen Thanh Van talks to the Vietnamese media about his views on Vietnam's cinema scene

Kim Il Sung: a life dedicated to the people

by Andy Brooks General Secretary NCP

IT HAS LONG BEEN a Marxist tradition to elevate the lives of comrades whose daily work was an example to others, developed and advanced Marxist-Leninist theory or led the struggle for liberation. Kim Il Sung was all of these. A fighter, a thinker and a leader, Kim Il Sung was an outstanding communist of the 20'h century whose name will forever be remembered as the founder of the modern Korean communist movement that began amongst the patriotic youth of Korea when he was a student in the 1920s.

[Full article appears only in the print edition]

International News

Raul ready for talks with America

CUBAN President Raul Castro reiterated on Monday his country's willingness to carry out respectful dialogue with the United States on any issue.

[Full article appears only in the print edition]

Democratic Korea joins the space race

THE DEMOCRATIC People's Republic of Korea successfully launched an experimental communications satellite on 5th April to promote scientific research into the peaceful use of outer space. Democratic Korean leader Kim Jong Il who watched the launch at Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground, thanked the scientists and technicians fort their tremendous work.

[Full article appears only in the print edition]

Czech anti-war militants cheer Czech PM's ouster

WHEN Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek resigned, opponents of the us anti-missile radar base cheered. Topolanek's right wing government lost a 24th March parliamentary no-confidence vote following his controversial comments about US-style economic stimulus plans being "the road to hell".

[Full article appears only in the print edition]

Livni slams Tel Aviv's new leaders

Former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni says that the way the new government in Tel Aviv is talking shows it will not be a partner for peace with the Palestinians. Livni's criticism follows the rejection by her successor as foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, of recent US – backed efforts towards a peace deal.

[Full article appears only in the print edition]

Iraq: 'Maliki reqime in its last gasps'

by our Arab Affairs correspondent

IT'S BEEN a busy week in Baghdad. The American president made a flying visit to the Iraqi capital on Tuesday. The under-ground Baathist resistance renewed calls for the overthrow of the puppet regime and lraq's major Sunni Muslim council has condemned the latest round of sectarian bombings.

[Full article appears only in the print edition]