Public

Election time and Labour is on a spending spree, using our money in order to advertise the many benefits workers have won under Labour. The expensive gloss includes an advert advising us of our new rights to four weeks paid holiday. Before rushing into management to claim your new holiday entitlement, we would urge a note of caution. In deregulated Britain job insecurity is widespread, and still spreading wildly. In such times, claiming your rights may just end up with you taking a permanent holiday - sacked and on the dole.

Strange goings on within the rail union RMT. The union leadership decided to close down the special annual conference on the grounds that they did not like the way delegates were voting.

To the shock and bemusement of delegates, the Assistant General Secretary, the President and a number of the National Executive members closed the recent RMT Conference and walked out. The move was well-orchestrated, and followed an overwhelming vote to remove the President from the chair of the conference. This grossly unconstitutional act is the latest move in a vindictive campaign against the perceived ‘left' within the union. So far, it has included ballot rigging in order to get a preferred candidate on the national executive, and the suspension of union activists from holding office within the union.

The London Metropolitan Police force led the way on May Day - in taking every chance they could to screw overtime pay.

Following weeks of press and police harrassment, May day protests went ahead as planned. Niketown in Oxford Street didn't do a lot of business on May 1st. Meanwhile, doctors called a day of action over lack of resources and understaffing.

Elsewhere, demonstrations against capitalism and for workers were assaulted by massed ranks of police determined to clear the unwashed masses from the streets so that New Labour can keep the cash registers ringing all the way to the election.

Bad news for them - the New Labour honeymoon is long-over, and any feelgood factor is rapidly evaporating as the latest ‘economic downturn' begins to establish itself in the London Stock Exchange.

The CSL3 were shop-stewards in London Borough of Newham's privatised Housing Benefits section. They were sacked for allegedly leaking information about CSL's terrible record to the disastrous nature of the organisation's activities to “Inside Housing” magazine, but the real reason was that they were doing their job well and CSL wanted rid of them (see February issue of Catalyst).

The sacked workers have taken a Tribunal case against CSL, which was due to start in October. However, CSL requested and were granted an adjournment until the new year. Coincidentally, CSL have now lost their contract with Newham Borough over inefficiencies – exactly the issue the CSL3 were trying to bring to everyone's attention!