London
A review of Joe Jacob's "Out of the Ghetto" - Red and Black Notes
Review of Out of the Ghetto Joe Jacobs, London: Phoenix Press, 1991 (originally published in 1977). For a review of this book by Al Richardson, see here - http://libcom.org/library/review-joe-jacobs-out-ghetto-al-richardson. A chapter from Out of the Ghetto is here - http://libcom.org/library/battle-cable-st-1936-joe-jacobs
It might seem curious to be reviewing a book that was posthumously published more than twenty years ago. Curiouser still, that in this age of the dismissal of the working class as a force for change this book deals exclusively with working class, predominately Jewish, life in the East End of London in the years between the first and second world wars.
London Underground make new pay offer to tube staff
London Underground Ltd (LUL) has made what it claims is a final offer in an attempt to end a pay and jobs row which led to a 48-hour strike last month.
The two-year deal would see a 1.5% rise in the first year followed by RPI plus 0.5% the next year. LU's offer did not assure jobs, a main demand of a union. The RMT said it hoped to make "positive progress" on the issue of no job cuts.
The union went on strike as LUL failed to meet its promise of no compulsory redundancies as well as those on pay and management bullying.
Picket line interview with striking tube worker - June 2009
Brief interview from the picket line of the Tube strike that lasted from June 9 - June 11 2009.
“If popularity won pay rises, then nurses would be millionaires and politicians would be begging on street corners!”
- From the RMT strike support website
London postal workers strike set for Friday, other regions to be balloted
Royal Mail is braced for further industrial unrest, with unions expected to ballot more regions for strike action as early as this week. It follows the vote last week by postal workers in London to stage a 24-hour walkout this Friday.
With plans to privatise the state-owned group in disarray, Jonathan DeCarteret, from the consultancy Post-Switch, is predicting that the London vote will prove to be the "starting pistol in a long summer of industrial strike action".
Tube strike goes ahead as lawyers scrap deal
Thousands of London Underground workers have launched a 48 hour strike against pay and job cuts.
Talks took place today, Tuesday 9 June, to avert industrial action but a proposed deal was withdrawn:
Report and reflections on the UK Ford-Visteon dispute 2009 - a post-Fordist struggle
A detailed account and analysis of the struggle of Ford-Visteon car manufacturing workers who occupied and picketed their plants after being sacked when their employers declared themselves bankrupt.
In June 2000 Ford Motor Company outsourced the production of certain component parts to a new company called Visteon - in reality a spin off company of Ford and in which Ford retained a 60% holding. Visteon runs factories all over the globe: in America, Europe and Asia, for example.
1989-1990: Opposition to the Poll Tax
A short account of the agitation against the introduction of the community charge in Britain. Widespread protests and a highly successful campaign of non-payment eventually forced the government to scrap the poll tax and played a large part in the eventual downfall of Margaret Thatcher.
In 1989 the Conservative government realised their long-held objective of introducing a flat-rate poll tax in Britain. The abolition of the rating system had appeared as part of the party's manifesto for the 1979 general election, and the proposal for the introduction of a poll tax was made explicit in their manifesto for the 1987 election.
Olympic site demonstration met with solidarity strike
Workers at the Total refinery at Lindsay have undertaken strike action in support of a demonstration in London for direct employment and against undercutting and subcontracting on construction projects.
Hundreds of building workers, electricians and workers in related trades assembled outside the Olympic construction site on Wednesday to call for jobs to be available to those in the local community, through direct employment on a PAYE basis and in line with agreed pay and conditions.
Parents occupy school in Greenwich to protest closure
Parents have occupied the Charlotte Turner Primary School in Greenwich to oppose its closure.
Parents at Charlotte Turner School, Benbow Street, Greenwich, SE8 3DH, have occupied their school to oppose its planned closure in September by the council.
They released this statement this evening;
Lewisham Bridge school occupation
Parents have occupied the roof of a South London primary school in a bid to keep it open.
On the morning of April 23rd, parents of children at Lewisham Bridge Primary School, Elmira Street, Lewisham, occupied the roof of the school buildings. They are protesting against Lewisham Council's decision to demolish the school and replace it with a new school run by a private company for ages 3 through to 16.
