UK
Taxpayers spend double on bosses' pensions than public sector workers'
Taxpayers are paying £2.50 for subsidising the pensions of the richest one per cent of the population for every pound spent on paying pensions to retired public servants such as nurses, teachers and civil servants, according to new research published by the TUC.
The findings are revealed in a new campaign pamphlet Decent Pensions for all that says the real pension problem in the UK is not the affordable cost of public sector pensions, but the growth in the number of private sector employees with no pension.
Racist comments spark walkout, sit-in at chicken proccessing plant
Racist comments by security guards have led to wildcat action at Two Sisters Foods in Smethwick, UK.
Workers at a Black Country food processing firm are hailed the success of an unofficial walkout, after management sacked a security guard accused of making racist comments and agreed to come to the negotiating table.
More than 100 staff at Smethwick-based Two Sisters Foods staged a wildcat strike and police were called as their protest threatened to get out of hand.
No War But Class War - Leicester; leaflet March 2003
This leaflet was distributed at two demos in March and April 2003. Contact details and a meeting date were also given.
NO WAR BUT CLASS WAR!
The war between the US and UK, and Iraq, has now officially begun. Thousands will be killed, millions will have their homes and communities devastated.
Fools and their "gold-plated" pensions
Public sector workers have been fools. No more so than private sector workers, for sure, but it has been a breathtaking level of foolishness across the board which has led to the imminent extinction of the entire concept of final salary pensions*.
First they came for the staff of the weakest private sector companies
Then they came for the strong
Mutiny in the RAF: the air force strikes of 1946 - David Duncan
Book documenting a 1946 series of strikes in the British Air Force that spread across much of the British Empire.
Published in the Socialist History Society Occasional Papers Series: No 8, 1998. Taken from the No War But The Class War website.
Reduction of fire hazard: in the event of firefighter strike or war against Iraq - No War But The Class War
A public-service announcement from Her Majesty's No War But The Class War Office on how to respond to a strike of firefighters or the outbreak of war against Iraq.
A guide for employees, passengers and residents
Her Majesty’s No War But The Class War Office
NWBTCW/FP/7/A
The Fire-fighters - No War But The Class War
No War But The Class War leaflet produced at the beginning of the 2002-2003 firefighter's strike.
The fire-fighters are fighting for a 40% pay increase, from £21,00 to £30,000 per year. The ballot was 9 to 1 in favour of strike action, with an 84 % turnout. The Northern Ireland ballot was 97 % in favour of strike action. "This is the biggest national vote, in any union, for strike action since the trade union balloting laws were put in place" [FBU].
Anti-militarism: an anarcho-syndicalist perspective
A discussion document from the Brighton Class Struggle Forum 18/08/09.
More strikes at Royal Mail over job cuts
Workers at Royal Mail have started strikes following a disagreement over cuts to jobs and services. The strikes will run on selected days between 17 and 24 August and have already begun in Coventry, London, Leamington Spa, Nottingham and Stoke-on-Trent and will continue across the UK.
The union says Royal Mail is failing to invest in modernisation and is cutting jobs without agreement. Royal Mail says the union opposes necessary changes.
This phase of strikes comes before the the Communication Workers Union (CWU) aims to issue a national ballot in September on industrial action. It has argued that the reduction in jobs would compromise the quality of services provided.
Private sector pensions under threat in UK
About half the final-salary pension schemes in the private sector will have closed to existing employees within the next three years, a survey by actuarial firm Watson Wyatt suggests.
The firm surveyed more than 250 employers, many of them large, in July about their intentions. While about 75% of all final-salary schemes are shut to new recruits, only about 9% are closed to current staff. But this year has seen a flurry of employers closing their pension schemes to all further contributions.
