Britain: Lindsey oil refinery - militancy pays Socialist Appeal interviewed construction workers at Lindsey Oil Refinery during the dispute. Here we publish the interviews. They explain how the strike was not against foreign workers but against undercutting of terms and conditions by companies exploiting EU legislation.
Britain: Gutter press campaign aims to distort union demands The media in Britain and internationally have systematically portrayed the recent Lindsey dispute as being a struggle between “British workers and foreign workers”, when in actual fact it has nothing to do with this. The struggle was about defending wages and conditions as established in hard fought for trade union agreements. Here Rob Sewell points out some of the dirty tricks of the press.
Message of Italian oil workers’ shop-steward to British workers Socialist Appeal interviewed Antonio Recano, an engineering shop steward, who worksin the construction and maintenance of industrial plants, and works for one of the companies operating within the Syracuse oil refinery. He is a member of the FIOM-CGIL (metalworkers' union), on its Syracuse provincial committee and also the Central Committee (national committee) of the FIOM-CGIL.
Britain: Build on the success of Lindsey… All-out National Strike Action Needed! The protest at Lindsey was a victory for the workers involved. It sends out a clear message to the rest of the workers in Britain: militant action pays and shows what can be achieved in the face of attack. The background to this dispute was a deliberate employers’ offensive to undermine the National Agreement for the Engineering Construction Industry (NAECI) and had nothing whatosever to do with racism or xenophobic tendencies. It was the bourgeois media that consciously tried to portary it as such in order to hide the real content.
Kherson, Ukraine: Workers rename occupied factory and continue their struggle The struggle at the Kherson Machine Plant in the Ukraine continues as it gathers support from the local population. The workers have decided to rename the factory after an old Bolshevik leader, revealing that in spite of the disaster of the past 20 years the old traditions are beginning to make a comeback as the Ukrainian economy enters a serious slump.
Ukraine: Kherson workers occupy factory After seeking the payment of several months of wages owed to them the workers at the KNF factory in Kherson, Ukraine, have decided to occupy the plant. Here we provide a brief report sent to us by Russian Marxists.
Ireland: Waterford Occupation, you can’t skin a tiger claw by claw… The workers at Waterford Crystal have occupied the factory in response to the threat of making 480 workers redundant. They have the full backing of working people locally. This struggle is an indication of the growing militant mood of Irish workers.
Ireland: Workers continue occupation of Waterford Crystal On the struggle at Waterford Crystal we also publish this interesting article by éirígí. Also available in Gaelic .
Wildcat strikes sweep Britain Last week industrial action began at the Lindsey refinery in Lincolnshire. Swiftly the strikes spread to Grangemouth in Scotland, Wilton in Cleveland and all over the country. By Friday 3,000 skilled workers were out from 11 plants. On Monday thousands more joined the action. As a news item, the dispute has been highlighted by pictures of workers carrying placards with the slogan, ‘British jobs for British workers.’ However, most of the workers on strike are aware that their enemy is the employer. That, after all, is who they are striking against.
Ireland: IRSP calls for nationalisation of Waterford Crystal We publish the Editorial of the latest edition of The Plough, which reports on the occupation of Waterford Crystal.
Warning from Ireland: "Public service pay cuts will be considered" The Irish government is looking for €2bn worth of cuts and that means pay cuts for public sector workers.
Ireland: Grim reading. Labour must be prepared to fight. In Ireland unemployment is rising at the fastest rate since the records began in 1967. It's now standing at 295,000, having grown by 120,987 in the last year.
Ireland: Waterford Crystal and the sting in the tail from the Celtic Tiger Reports that Waterford Crystal and the Wedgwood China Company were to go into administration will add yet more gloom to the outlook for the Irish economy. [Since this article was written the factory has been occupied]
The “Greek December”: a short balance sheet of a betrayed movement The huge eruption of youth protests in Greece in December have receded. The key element in explaining this was the role played by the leaders of the main workers' parties, who rather than build up the protest and involve the labour movement as a whole, worked to re-establish calm. Here the Greek Marxists explain the background to how this came about, but also stress the generalised mood of protest is simmering below the surface preparing new social explosions.
Ireland: government nationalises Anglo Irish Bank while the country faces the second worst recession in the EU The Irish economy is facing a serious downturn, with bank after bank facing crisis and unemployment shooting up. The government insists on bailing out the banks with public money desperately trying to stave off a recession. But they cannot escape the inescapable.
