Big British public sector strike tomorrow, on 30 November 2011. International solidarity with that British strike: here.
British Unilever workers will strike: here.
The nurses’ union, and other workers, in the USA have rallies in support of the big strike in Britain of 30 November 2011: here.
Daily The Guardian in Britain’s coverage of the strike: here. Socialist Worker coverage: here.
Massive strikes in UK protest government austerity. Ari Berman reports: here.
Media and the strike: here.
Women in Britain today are fed up and that really isn’t good news for the government. The economy is declining, yet the cost of living is rising. And it’s women who are feeling the pinch become tighter and tighter in the rise in household bills, food prices, and increases for those that use public transport and petrol for those that drive: here.
Dear Kitty. Some blog 
Clarkson faces more criticism over comments
Sunday 04 December 2011
by Rory MacKinnon at Congress House
State-sponsored killings of workers are no joke, a visiting Colombian activist warned BBC bigot Jeremy Clarkson at the weekend.
The Top Gear presenter triggered a massive public outcry last week when he goaded striking public servants on national television, saying they should be murdered in front of their families.
“I would have them all shot,” he told the One Show’s hosts.
“I would take them outside and execute them in front of their families.
“I mean how dare they go on strike when they have these gilt-edged pensions that are going to be guaranteed, while the rest of us have to work for a living.”
The BBC has received a whopping 21,000 complaints over the outburst.
But visiting Colombian trade unionist Rosalba Gaviria said on Saturday that she had a special message for Mr Clarkson.
Speaking at the TUC’s Latin America conference, Ms Gaviria invited the millionaire broadcaster to visit her homeland and see what trade unions had to deal with.
An organiser for agricultural workers’ union Fensuagro, Ms Gaviria was released from a Colombian jail in June after two years’ imprisonment without trial for “rebellion.”
Many union activists had been “disappeared,” tortured and killed for fighting the same battles as British unions, she said.
“We face assassination, imprisonment and harassment just for carrying on our struggle, for trade unions and students to be able to do that.”
It was important for people in the media and the international community to visit Colombia and understand their plight, she said – especially given Britain’s involvement with Colombian free trade agreements and military aid.
TUC chairwoman Frances O’Grady backed Ms Gaviria’s call, saying Mr Clarkson’s comments were “no laughing matter for anyone who knows anything about the history of our movement.”
Colombia was still the most dangerous country in the world for trade unionists, Ms O’Grady said, noting that Colombian military and clandestine death squads had murdered at least 186 trade unionists between 2007 and 2010, with a further 30 killed between January and May this year – “and virtually no-one – no-one – is ever brought to justice for these crimes.”
She said it was vital that Britain’s trade unions and groups such as Justice For Colombia should continue to expose the Colombian government’s crimes, on the principle that “an injury to one is an injury to all.”
http://morningstaronline.co.uk/
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06/12/2011 @ 22:23:53
Latin American groups salute N30 struggle
Workers around the world were watching the 30 November public sector strikes in Britain. Several Latin American organisations sent solidarity messages to strikers.
The international seminar of Brazil’s Party of Socialism and Liberation (PSOL) passed a motion sending “greetings and solidarity to British public sector workers” taking on the Tories.
“Best of luck in your struggles—your victory is our victory,” the motion added.
Bolivia’s COB union federation issued a statement “saluting the struggle” of strikers in Britain.
“It is time for the workers of the world to unite our forces and lay the foundations of a dignified future for our families,” the Bolivians added.
Lawas is an association for Latin American workers in Britain.
It asked its supporters to back the 30 November strikes.
“This struggle is part of a bigger, more fundamental one,” it wrote.
“We call on the community to support this mobilisation by joining picket lines and the march if you can.
“As Latin Americans, we learned that the only way to get governments to respect our right to fair wages, decent work and decent pensions is by taking to the streets in protest.”
Roger Cox, north London
How dare they say we’re gold-plated
I have to admit to a hollow laugh every time I hear some Tory talk about “gold-plated” public sector pensions.
My late wife was a primary school teacher and member of Inner London NUT. She gave up in 1996 due to contracting breast cancer.
Her “gold-plated” pension started at about £240 per month, rising to about £300 per month just before she died last year.
Because of a “technicality” she was done out of her added years bonus.
A few years ago, I worked for the comedian Mark Thomas. One of his stunts involved going to Laings, the builders, to look at the pay and benefits directors there got.
I discovered that their petrol allowance was more than my wife was receiving.
Gold-plated? Don’t make me laugh!
Mitch Mitchell, March, Cambridgeshire
They say we’re all living longer. But life expectancy for people in working class jobs is hardly increasing at all.
My dad was a manual worker. He paid all his pension contributions, all his life.
But he died before he picked up any of his pension.
Dave Hughes, Birmingham
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=26910
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Monday 05 December 2011
May I suggest that the inspiring photograph of textile workers in Bangladesh marching in support of British public-sector workers on November 30 be reproduced in the journals of every trade union with members who were out on strike that day.
It would do a lot of good.
Gerrard Sables
Barnstaple
http://morningstaronline.co.uk/
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16 July 2015
PM accidentally reveals true reasons behind hated Trade Union Bill
DAVID CAMERON unintentionally came clean about Tory attempts to ban dissent by working people yesterday when he admitted the Trade Union Bill amounted to “anti-strike laws.”
Government ministers had insisted the Bill was not an attack on trade union rights, but the Prime Minister revealed its real intention just hours after the proposals were published.
Labour MP Ian Lavery told the Star it was clear the Bill represented “the greatest attack on working people in 30 years.”
Mr Cameron made the Freudian slip at Prime Minister’s Questions as he came under pressure from acting Labour leader Harriet Harman.
Ms Harman said plans to restrict strikes — that breach international labour law — showed he was “just governing in the interests of the Tory Party.”
The red-faced PM responded by going on the attack, claiming her question showed Labour was “going off to the left.”
And in a flurry of right-wing rhetoric, he blurted out: “What have we heard from them? They oppose every single one of our anti-strike laws.”
A 50 per cent turnout threshold will be imposed on all strike ballots if the Trade Union Bill, which will receive its first reading next week, is passed.
Despite the Tories’ refusal to consider secure online ballots to boost turnout, workers in “essential public services” face even greater restrictions.
Strikes in health, education, fire, transport, border security and energy will be banned unless 40 per cent of all union members eligible to vote approve action.
Even when unions overcome those barriers, bosses will be able to break strikes by bussing in agency workers.
Workers could also face criminal charges simply for standing on a picket line with more than six people.
Asked by the Star whether Mr Cameron’s outburst confirmed the proposals amounted to “anti-strike laws,” a spokesman for the PM said: “No. It doesn’t … the right to strike remains” — despite the PM’s comments completely contradicting the government’s official line.
Skills Minister Nick Boles attempted to play down the Bill’s effect when quizzed on Radio 4’s Today programme yesterday.
Asked whether it was an attack on the right to strike, he said: “No, not at all. The right to strike is absolutely something we must maintain.”
He attempted to reassure listeners that “all we’re trying to do is strike a fair balance between the interests of unions and the public.”
Mr Lavery, chairman of Labour’s trade union group of MPs, described the Bill as a “catalogue of limitations to trade union freedoms and civil liberties.”
He said: “What we have seen today proves more than ever that the Tories have their sights set firmly on Britain’s six million trade unionists.
“Instead of fighting to better the lives of working people — who have been hit by the Tories’ own policies — they have chosen to undermine their rights at work.
“Put simply, this Bill is the latest in a long line of restrictive measures designed to crack down on our democratic rights and should be opposed at every turn.”
http://morningstaronline.co.uk/a-d58b-CAMERON-ADMITS-THIS-BILL-IS-AN-ANTI-STRIKE-LAW#.VadUsPl5UdU
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