Palestine: No Justice – No Peace!

 by New Worker correspondent

London comrades got a warm welcome when they joined hundreds of thousands who marched through London on Saturday in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Friends, old and new, were pleased to see us back on the street and NCP leader Andy Brooks was interviewed by Lebanese TV at the start of the demonstration.
    Some 250,000 people took part in the biggest demonstration of support for the Palestinian cause seen so far on the streets of Britain. The march, called by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the Friends of Al Aqsa, ended in a rally in Hyde Park. There, amongst a sea of Palestinian flags and placards, left Labour MP John McDonnell and other speakers denounced Israeli aggression and call for justice for the Palestinian Arabs.
    McDonnell welcomed the current ceasefire that ended the bombing of Gaza, adding: “But let’s be clear, there will be no ceasefire in our campaign to boycott, disinvest and sanction the Israeli apartheid state.
    “The message is clear; we will not cease our campaign in solidarity until there is justice. So let’s make it clear, no justice, no peace”.

Stand by Gaza now!

by New Worker correspondent

Over 150,000 people marched in support of the Palestinians in central London on Saturday 15th May. The march was organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) in what was one of the biggest demonstrations seen in the capital for many years,
    A spokesperson for the organisers, that included the PSC, Friends of Al-Aqsa, Palestinian Forum in Britain, Stop The War Coalition, CND and the Muslim Association of Britain, said: “It is vital that the UK government takes immediate action. It must stop allowing Israel's brutal violence against and oppression of the Palestinian people to go unpunished”.
    Protests against Israeli aggression took place in cities and towns throughout the world over the weekend calling for justice for the Palestinians and an end to Zionist violence.
    But Tory MP Michael Fabricant has come under fire for calling demonstrators “primitives” last week. The Tory MP for Lichfield shared a video of some of the demonstrators clashing with police outside the diplomatic mission embassy, tweeting that “primitives are trying to bring to London what they do in the Middle East”.
     ​The Tory backbencher was slammed by the anti-racist Hope Not Hate campaign, which urged the Conservative Party to suspend the politician for “hateful racism that stirs up division”.
    While Fabricant deleted the message after the backlash it triggered, Hope Not Hate said “The tense situation requires steady leadership from people who want to bring communities together, not hateful racism that stirs up division. The Conservatives must suspend Michael Fabricant for this disgraceful comment”.
    Meanwhile four people taking part in a Palestine solidarity motorcade in north London have been arrested for yelling anti-semitic abuse from their car as the convoy drove through a largely Jewish area of the capital.
    The Palestine Solidarity Campaign condemned the incident saying: “The vile anti-Semitism shouted today from a convoy of cars has no place in the Palestine solidarity movement. We condemn it and all anti-Semitism, on its own account and also as it serves to undermine the anti-racist struggle for Palestinian rights”.

Victory Day: We remember them

at the Errol airfield monument

By New Worker correspondent

The Russian ex-pat community has long marked Victory Day for solemn ceremonies in London and other parts of the UK. Though this year’s commemorations were sadly muted due to the ongoing coronavirus restrictions the sacrifice of the millions who gave their lives in the struggle against the Nazis in the Second World War was not forgotten at events in London and northern Scotland.
    In Scotland a ceremony was held on the site of a secret air-base where Soviet pilots and crews were trained to fly British military transports destined for the eastern front.
    Russian diplomats and Scottish officials laid wreaths at the Soviet monument erected in 2020 on the site of the old Errol airfield located near the cities of Perth and Dundee. A huge red stone was shipped from Russia as a gift to mark the co-operation between the Soviet airmen and the RAF during the Second World War.
    The block of rare crimson quartzite was mined in Karelia in the north west of Russia. It is the same type of stone with which the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the wall of the Moscow Kremlin is lined.
    Back in London the Russian ambassador along with diplomats from other former Soviet republics took part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Soviet War Memorial in south London on 9th May.
    The commemorative event in the gardens of the Imperial War Museum was attended by Southwark mayor Sasek Hargrove and Russian Ambassador Andrey Kelin along with diplomats from the embassies of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The ceremony was organised by the Soviet Military Memorial Foundation with the support of the Russian House in London (Rossotrudnichestvo).
    Later that day members of London’s Russian community took part in a modest lockdown compliant “Immortal Regiment” and St George’s Ribbon commemoration held in Trafalgar Sqaure.

 

Solidarity with the Palestinian people

 

Statement of the Secretariat of the European Communist Initiative

Solidarity with the Palestinian people

We denounce the intensifying Israeli aggression against the heroic Palestinian people and the new murderous attack that led to dozens of dead and injured people.

We denounce the heavy responsibilities of the USA and the EU, which support the ongoing oppression and massacre of the Palestinian people in various ways.

We demand:

• The end of the massacre and occupation by Israel.

• The immediate liberation of all Palestinian and other political prisoners in Israeli prisons.

• The creation of a unified independent Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, in the borders of 1967, and the people masters in their own land.

• The right of all Palestinian refugees to return to their homes, based on the relevant UN resolutions.

• The immediate recognition of the Palestinian state.

 

 

On the High Seas

by New Worker correspondent

Once again workers who man the Woolwich Ferry which has been taking people across the lower Thames since the 14th century are taking strike action. Two years ago they went on strike seeking a pay rise and over safety concerns when the new operators cut staff numbers and set new shift patterns after acquiring new ships.
      Last year the workers won a good deal when they won 100 per cent furlough pay from then operator Briggs Marine Contractors. Now the enemy is Transport for London (TfL). The cause of the latest action is the victimisation of a union rep. The lower Thames ferry’s 57 Unite the union members voted by 97 per cent on favour of eight days of strike action on Fridays and Mondays, this month and next.
     The Union say that the latest episode has been dubbed a ‘Groundhog Day’ dispute as the same problems keep coming up. Apart from the victimisation matter, workers are angry at TfL’s failure to agree a new pay and reward scheme; the excessive use of agency staff; and the failure to provide adequate health and safety training to new employees.
     Unite regional officer Onay Kasab sorrowfully said: “It is a sad indictment of the TfL bosses that they seem to be following the same course as Briggs Marine Contractors which meted out some appalling employment practices to the workforce in the recent past.
    “Our members have returned an overwhelming mandate for strike action at the Woolwich Ferry in support of their victimised shop steward and over a myriad of other employment issues.
     “Hopefully, the ballot result will be a light bulb moment for TfL and the management can get employment relations back on an even keel before strike action begins. To that end, Unite’s door is open 24/7 for constructive talks to resolve all the outstanding issues”. He concluded by warning that “The strikes will cause disruption to car drivers and foot passengers as ferry traffic picks up with commuters returning to their workplaces in the capital following the easing of lockdown.”

...and on dry land

In nearby Greenwich teachers at the John Roan School have taken strike action in defence of Kirstie Paton, a psychology teacher and National Education Union (NEU) rep who faces the sack for mentioning alleged improper use of Covid tests. They walked out just before a disciplinary hearing last Friday and will be balloting for further strike action.
     Her crime was to publish, in December last year, on the NEU Inner London Facebook page complaints about the school being used for pilot testing of Lateral Flow Tests (LFTs) for Covid-19. These tests, which were being supported by the Department for Education (DfE) were to be carried out by school staff. These tests have now been discontinued as they gave too many false negatives. The school was initially keen on LFTs serial testing to replace self-isolation protocols in its schools, but now the DfE has instructed schools not to use LFTs.
     The John Roan School is now one of the United Learning academies, Paton’s opposition to it becoming an academy has obviously not gone unremembered.
     The NEU say that they have been “left with no choice” but to defend their rep. Tim Woodcock, the NEU rep for Greenwich, said they had no choice but to defend their rep for speaking out, or else leave every other rep vulnerable and scared to speak out.
    "UL want to victimise Kirstie so they can intimidate staff into silence and deprive our members of an effective and dedicated union rep”.

Fight for the NHS!

Corbyn says Centene out!

by New Worker correspondent

Jeremy Corbyn joined a protest against GP practices being taken over by a US health insurance company last week. The former Labour leader, along with East London MP Apsana Begum, joined demonstrators outside the London headquarters in Westminster of Operose Health – a subsidiary of the giant Centene corporation –to protest against NHS privatisation.
    Corbyn told the crowd to “fight for the NHS until hell freezes over” at the protest called by Doctors in Unite (DiU), a campaign led by the biggest union in the country.
    Unite, with 100,000 members in the health service, has hit out at “a culture of Tory cronyism that is rapidly enveloping the NHS”, and called for an urgent independent inquiry into the ever-expanding lobbying scandal engulfing the NHS and its impact on the accelerating pace of health service privatisation.
    The call for an inquiry – with its recommendations cemented into law – follows on from the revelation that Tory health secretary Matt Hancock met former prime minister David Cameron and financier Lex Greensill for a private drink in 2019 to discuss a new payment scheme for the NHS.
    Doctors in Unite chair Jackie Applebee said: “Ministers and senior NHS executives have repeatedly mouthed the mantra that the NHS is not being privatised.
    “But now we have the case of a huge swathe of English general practice, including the data of nearly half a million patients, being handed over to US health insurance giant Centene – with a breath-taking lack of transparency and openness.
    “Tory politicians and their outriders in the media roll out the tired old trope that all general practices are private, but this is disingenuous and they know it.
    “There is a world of difference between a multinational corporation that operates to make a profit, often by cutting staff and services, so that it can pay dividends to shareholders, and local GPs who are very much part of the NHS ‘family’ and provide services from a budget fixed by the Treasury.
    “The public needs to wake-up to the fact the NHS that they so value and which has been the lynchpin of the successful vaccination programme is being steadily sold off to profit-hungry healthcare companies – in this case one whose headquarters is in America.
    “This is another prime example of the accelerating privatisation of the NHS by stealth and Unite is spot-on to call for an independent inquiry into the wider lobbying scandal engulfing the NHS which emanates from a desire by profiteers to get their hands on lucrative health service contracts.
    “Now is a time to draw a line in the sand to preserve and cherish the NHS as an organisation free at the point of delivery to all those in need. If we are not vigilant, these founding principles of the NHS in 1948 will become pale shadows of themselves.”

Corbyn joins housing protest

 by New Worker correspondent

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was one of 30 campaigners who took part in a protest outside Pentonville Prison last week. The protest targeted a Ministry of Justice (MoJ) decision to sell off two blocks of 28 flats formerly used to house prison staff.
    In his capacity as the local MP, he said: “The Ministry of Justice is selling off a group of properties at the back of Pentonville Prison. The council, quite correctly, tried to buy them in order to house local people in housing need.”
    Their particular objection is that the developer, LGP Wellington Mews Ltd, has submitted several applications for a Certificates of Lawfulness for Existing Use or Development (CLEUD), which would excuse it meeting a target of 50 per cent of the homes on the site being rented at so-called affordable rates.
    Islington Council was close to a deal with the MoJ in 2019 to acquire the flats, used as temporary accommodation for those in desperate need of homes, but this fell through. Now Corbyn says: “The Ministry of Justice upped the price and prevented Islington from doing that. So what are we doing? We’re demonstrating outside those places to say to the MoJ and everybody else: let us solve the housing crisis by filling the empty homes with people that need them.”
    Unsurprisingly this claim was rejected by the MoJ, who insisted they were put out on the open market and that they were not trying to blackmail the council.
    Private ‘affordable housing’ is of course nothing of the sort. On Monday, a search of local estate agents for one-bedroom flats had nothing under £500,000.

A subbotnik for the Soviet memorial

by New Worker correspondent

Russian expats returned to the gardens of the Imperial War Museum in London on Saturday to give the Soviet War Memorial a spring clean as part of an international subbotnik in honour of the 80th anniversary of the Great Patriotic War when Hitler’s hordes attacked the Soviet Union in 1941.
     Members of the Victory Volunteers movement and volunteers from the Russian House cultural centre spruced up the monument in south-east London that commemorates all those from the countries of the Former Soviet Union who died during the Second World War, also known as the Great Patriotic War in much of the former Soviet Union. Funded by public subscription in Britain and the Russian Federation, the memorial has become a focal point for people from all over the former USSR and the UK. Unveiled in 1999 the bronze abstract figure, designed by Sergei Sheherbakov, holds aloft a bell which will forever remain silent in memory of those who died.

Pickets out in force in London!

By New Worker correspondent

Pickets were out in force at RATP’s London United bus depot in Harlesden last week after peace talks broke down over proposed attacks on conditions and real terms pay cuts.
    The London United dispute is a result of RATP seeking to use the coronavirus pandemic as cover to slash the pay and conditions of drivers. Following four days of negotiations Management made an offer for the outstanding pay increases for 2019 and 2020 and also sought to introduce new contract clauses. The pay offer fell well below the expectations of members and the proposed changes to conditions had not been previously discussed, and as such Unite was unable to propose the offer to members at this stage.
     London United is owned by RATP which is Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens, a French state owned company which has branched out from running most of the public transport in the Greater Paris area where it carried about 3.3 billion passengers per year before the pandemic.
     It presently operates in 13 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the United States, notably Texas, with 64,000 people, claiming to be the world’s fourth largest public transport company. Despite claiming that last year was one of successive crises the company’s turnover was £4,700 million. Christine Chardon, the chief executive of their London based operation, saw her pay dramatically increased from £196,000 to £363,000. Three cheers for equal pay!
     Originally both Stamford Brook and Hounslow Heath depots heavily voted for industrial action but turnout was too low to legally join the action already underway at London United’s five other depots at Fulwell, Hounslow, Park Royal, Shepherd’s Bush and Tolworth garages. These five depots were on strike on Wednesday and will be joined on the 16th by the two latest recruits. As a consequence they had to be re-balloted.
     Unite the union say negotiations broke down last week when the company’s proposed pay offers to resolve the 2019 and 2020 pay claims were well below expectations and at the same time Management also attempted to alter drivers’ contracts.
     Unite regional officer Michelle Braveboy welcomed the result saying: “This is a significant and welcome development, the strike action will now intensify.
     “The drivers who have been considered key workers throughout the dispute are rightly asking how on earth RATP believes it is acceptable to cut drivers' pay in real terms and undermine their conditions, when they have gone above and beyond the call of duty to keep London moving”.
     She concluding by lobbing the ball into RATP’s court by saying “If increasing disruption to bus services is to be avoided then RATP must make a significantly improved pay offer and end its attempts to undermine its workers’ conditions”.
     Other RATP subsidiaries such as London Sovereign have seen drivers reluctantly voting to accept a pay rise of 1.25 percent and a one-off payment of £500 which is only 0.5 per cent bigger than the first offer. Over at Quality Line drivers voted in favour of a pathetic one per cent pay rise. Why does Unite not coordinate its action across the whole of London or better still across the country?

 

The deadly cost of austerity in the Royal Borough of Grenfell

Jeremy Corbyn with Emma Dent Coad

By Theo Russell

Former Labour MP for Kensington from 2017 to 2019 Emma Dent Coad, known locally as "the people's MP", was the star speaker at the online AGM of the Hammersmith, Fulham, Kensington & Chelsea Trades Council last week. There she spoke of the massive inequality in the borough and the many unanswered questions about Kensington & Chelsea council's £50 million Grenfell Recovery Fund.
    The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea (RBKC) has now pledged to produce a report on its Grenfell-related spending for the first time since the fire in June 2017 in which 72 people died.
    Dent Coad, who is also a current RBKC councillor and a member of the Audit and Transparency Committee, said it was “hugely frustrating that it has taken so long” to have these details made public.
    The Grenfell survivors and bereaved have so far seen very little of the funds, with many still not rehoused nearly four years later, and very little to show of the support services promised to them.
    In 2019-20, almost 60 per cent of the £4.5 million Grenfell budget for the year was staff and council property costs. Last year a council spokesperson told the London Evening Standard that £601,000 was spent on two managers - now denied by the council.
Dent Coad said people involved in the disaster regularly stop her in the street to express their frustration     with the distribution of recovery money and the lack of transparency. “I get asked about it all the time, it's not just that people are angry about it - people are hurt by it”.
    She said that “there is no leadership in the council” and described the current Tory MP Felicity Buchan as “appalling” and “a nodding dog for Boris Johnson who never stands up for her residents”.
    Current and former members and officers of the council, including the council leader, will be appearing before the Grenfell Inquiry in April, and Dent Coad said huge sums had been spent on legal advice and preparation.
    The inquiry is due to finish in spring 2022 “after which the police investigation, which has been ongoing, will spring into action - we hope”.
    “We expect to see arrests, but not to see anyone go to prison. The police can't afford to make mistakes, so they're going to be super careful”.
    Dent Coad recalled that “on the day of the fire two senior Tory councillors were overheard on an ITV report saying 'We offered them sprinklers and they refused' - a completely false claim”.
    The former Labour MP also spoke about the report by Kensington Labour Party Research Unit published last autumn, The most unequal borough in Britain, which she said had “changed the perception of Kensington and Chelsea as a playboy princes' playground”.
    `"RBKC", the report says, "the borough of princes, Sultans, plutocrats and billionaires, was our beautiful borough 'the most unequal borough in Britain'?
    ` How, in what one Councillor called “the richest borough in the universe”, with three billion pounds in reserves, could 72 people burn to death in a fire which, even in the earliest days, was blamed on 'cheap cladding'?"
    The borough has the highest life expectancy in the country, but across the borough the gap in years lived is a massive 27 years. Even more shocking, since 2010 - when a decade of austerity began to pay for the 2008 banking crash - average life expectancy in Golborne Ward fell by six years, the worst decline in the country.
    So a Moroccan man on the Wornington Green estate in North Kensington can expect to live to 64, while a white British born man near Harrods can expect to live to 91.
    This is the real impact of a decade of austerity and low pay on peoples' lives, while in London, across Britain and indeed the whole capitalist world, the rich accumulate ever more wealth, year after year.
    The report shows that by 2020 inequality was far worse than in 2014. In England's richest borough, according to Trust for London, in 2020 38 per cent of children lived in poverty, higher than the London average of 37 per cent! So the borough sees Britain's greatest concentration of the rich, side by side with its worst levels of child poverty.
    While some households have an annual income of £1.8m, while a few miles away whole communities are getting by on £18,000.
    We are not talking about the unemployed: three quarters of poor children have working parents, either full time or with at least two part-time jobs. What we're talking about here is low pay, insecure employment, daily worry and stress.
    Emma Dent Coad lost the December 2019 Westminster election by just 130 votes, after winning by 20 votes in 2017 after three recounts. But she has no intention of giving up the fight for the Grenfell community and for social justice. And despite the current difficulties and divisions in the Labour Party under Starmer's leadership, she stressed the need for a united opposition to take those struggles forward.

Support London bus drivers!

Picket of Park Royal garage

 by New Worker correspondent

London bus drivers took industrial action following the break-down of talks between RATP and Unite the union last week. Drivers working for RATP’s three subsidiary companies, London United, London Sovereign and Quality Line, went on strike over pay and conditions. RATP, a French state-owned transport company, is trying to impose new contracts that would cut drivers’ wages by some £1,500 a year.
    The fresh strike action follows a number of strikes held in February in protest at RATP’s “modernising” proposals. In a divide and rule approach, RATP is attempting to treat workers in each subsidiary differently and play one set of workers off against the other.
    Directors and shareholders line their own pockets while expecting their workers to take pay cuts lying down. Picket placards point out that the company’s highest paid director got £363,000 last year (an increase of £167,000 from the previous year), and £1,800,000 in dividends were paid out to shareholders.
    Support for the strike is solid in London United’s depots. With only nine out of 200 buses in operation, they are causing significant disruption. They’re also receiving lots of support from the community and notably from Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary Jim McMahon.
    Unite regional officer Michelle Braveboy said: “Bus drivers at RATP are resolved that attacks on their pay and conditions will be abandoned and that they will secure a meaningful pay rise.
     “It is simply disgraceful that RATP is using the cover of Covid-19 to try to force through these cuts.
     “London’s bus drivers have kept the city moving through successive lockdowns but have also suffered a terrible penalty, through very high numbers of Covid deaths, as a result of their dedication and sacrifice.
     “This strike action is being taken as a last resort. This dispute is a direct result of RATP failing to treat its workers reasonably and fairly.
     “RATP is attempting to boost its profits by cutting workers’ pay, either directly or in real terms. Further strike action can still be avoided and Unite is prepared to enter into negotiations to resolve this dispute at any time”.

 

Putting the boot in

by New Worker correspondent

One of Britain’s oldest and most effective trade unions recently secured an important legal victory which could pave the way for workers they represent securing huge pay rises. The ruling overturns an attempt by the bosses to impose caps on workers’ earnings.
The issue in question was actually that which led to the creation of the union in 1907. For the union is the 4,000 strong TUC affiliated Professional Footballers' Association.
    Originally founded as the Association Football Players’ and Trainers’ Union (AFPTU) in Manchester’s Imperial Hotel it succeeded a short lived Association Footballers’ Union (AFU) formed in 1898 and dissolved in 1901. The AFU had tried and failed to relax restrictions on players moving from one club to another and to prevent bosses introducing a maximum wage of £4 per week for players in the Football League.
    Two years after its foundation, bosses, in the shape of the Football Association (FA) withdrew recognition of the Union, a threat of strike action in response was met by the FA banning altogether players belonging to the union. Membership fell as players put their jobs before their union card, but Manchester United players stood firm, forcing the cancellation of a 1909 match. A prominent player, Tim Coleman of Everton gave his support shaming the FA, which encouraged members to return to the union and forced the FA to allow bonus payments.However, a later botched court case on the transfer question nearly broke the union.
    During the slump in 1922 clubs arbitrarily cut the maximum wage from £9 to £8, a move successfully opposed by the union. But major successes had to wait until the 1950s.
    When Jimmy Hill, footballer and later commentator became secretary of the Players' Union in 1956, it became the PFA. In 1957, the League’s maximum wage of £20 was scrapped, and the first £100 a-week player came in 1961. The age of footballers making the front pages for their drunken antics in sunny climes and tumbling out of nightclubs at 4 am finally dawned.
    In 1963 the PFA won a High Court case which declared that the “retain and transfer” system was an unreasonable restraint of trade. The commercialisation of sport clearly has its downsides, but unions are primarily there to get good deals for their members.
    Never very militant the union registered under the Industrial Relations Act 1971, which caused its departure from the TUC, but it returned in 1995. In the late 1990s it found itself in court for banning a woman football agent from its annual dinner. The case eventually cost £200,000.To compensate it now actively promotes women footballers so that they can in future misbehave in posh hotels just like the men.
In the same spirit of promoting inclusion, last month the PFA pointed out that although Asian and Asian British people make up almost 7.5 per cent of the British population, in the 2019/2020 season just eight players made first-team appearances across the Premier. To remedy this it launched its Asian Inclusion Mentoring Scheme (AIMS).
    In November 2018 the PFA had a revolt from its members over its management practices,which is presently unresolved with the much complained about CEO still in post.
    On the matter of the present dispute PFA’s CEO, Gordon Taylor OBE no less, said: “We were disappointed that the EFL decided to introduce salary cap proposals, which were voted through without the proper consideration or consultation with the PFNCC. As a result, in August 2020, the PFA served a Notice of Arbitration on the EFL stating the introduction of the new rules were in breach of obligations under the constitution of the PFNCC. We are pleased the panel upheld the PFA’s claim".
Needless to say not all players are in the multi-millionaire category. Comparatively minor injury can end a playing career, which in the best cases comes to an end decades before the pension age. To help get non-playing players it funds several education programmes for ex and current players. One is a physiotherapy degree course at Salford University. Media-savvy footballers can even be taught to be sports journalists.
    In line with ancient trade union practice it provides medical care including paying for injured players to attend the Lilleshall Sports Injury Rehabilitation centre in Shropshire for physiotherapy and sports injury.
    PFA is also a campaigning union. Recently it took up the problem of racist abuse directed at black players. Unfortunately some football fans are like Trotskyites and SNP supporters in the level of abuse they hurl at their enemies. Writing to the CEOs of Facebook and Twitter it pointed out that “The language used is debasing, often threatening and illegal. It causes distress to the recipients and the vast majority of people who abhor racism, sexism and discrimination of any kind. We have had many meetings with your executives over the years but the reality is your platforms remain havens for abuse”.
    PFA demands that the social media giants block racist or discriminatory material with an approved verification process for users and they urge co-operating properly with the police in such matters.
    It is also demanded more research into neurodegenerative disorders as the affect footballers, an a issue recently highlighted by the fact that many prominent footballers from the 1960s and 70s have been diagnosed with dementia, perhaps caused by frequent heading of footballs which were much heavier than now. The PFA is now funding such research.

Stand by Ukraine anti-fascists!

By New Worker correspondent

Local supporters of the Ukrainian resistance held a lightning picket outside the Ukraine embassy in West London on Sunday. They paid tribute to those that fell resisting the fascist mobs who overthrew the legitimate Ukrainian government in February 2014.
    The puppet Kiev regime serves Anglo-American and Franco-German imperialism and elevates Stepan Bandera, a war-time Nazi collaborator who fled to West Germany following Hitler’s defeat, who was assassinated in 1959. But anti-fascist uprisings soon led to the establishment of the Donbas people’s republics and the underground resistance in the rest of Ukraine.
    London solidarity campaigners include members of the Labour Party, NCP and Socialist Fight as well as supporters of the Stop the War coalition.

• Report in the Donbas communist media
  

Year of the Ox in London!

By New Worker correspondent

Nelson’s Column was lit up red in the run-up to the Chinese Lunar New Year last week. The dazzling display in Trafalgar Square began on Wednesday 10th February to celebrate the Year of the Ox which started the following Friday.
    The London Chinatown Chinese Association (LCCA), with the support from the Mayor of London, organised the display to celebrate the start of the Chinese New Year, which is also known as the Spring Festival. This is the most important festival in China. Celebrations begin about a week in advance and end with the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the New Year.
    The London Mayor Sadiq Khan tweeted: “Very special to see Trafalgar Square lit up for Chinese New Year this Friday. East and South East Asian Londoners have made immense contributions to our city for generations. As we mark the Year of the Ox, I'd like to wish you much success and happiness for the year ahead”.
    He added that many Londoners will be celebrating this Lunar New Year very differently this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
    “Some will be away from their family, friends and communities for the first time as we all continue to protect each other from COVID-19. Thank you for everything you're doing to keep our city safe,” he said.

London care workers keep up the fight

 by New Worker correspondent

Care workers and cleaners at the Sage Nursing Home in Golders Green North London walked out in a second wave of strike action from the 4th to 8th February last week.The key workers, who previously went on a three-day strike back in January, are demanding a living wage of £12 per hour, trade union recognition and full pay sick pay and annual leave in line with NHS rates.
    The workers taking action are members of United Voices of the World (UVW), a street union that represents low-paid, predominantly migrant workers in Britain. They’re now also one step closer to trade union recognition with the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) ruling in favour of the workers’ proposed bargaining unit.
     The latest round of strike action came just three weeks after the first, which saw workers host a virtual picket, which was supported by over 400 attendees consisting of union members, officials, care workers and Members of Parliament, all of whom expressed support for the workers’ demands and which was followed up by a lively physical picket outside the care home that same weekend.
    UVW officials have stated the dispute is not only about pay and terms and conditions, but also about the refusal of Sage’s trustees to willingly recognise the union and to adequately deal with grievances relating to discrimination, victimisation and health and safety concerns. The workers’ recent victory at the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC), the government body which regulates and rules on applications for trade union recognition, saw the CAC rule in favour of the workers’ proposed bargaining unit. Meaning the workers are one step closer to achieving recognition.
    The CAC ruling, coupled with the promise of further strike action, has seen Sage’s trustees begin to buckle, agreeing for the first time to attend a meeting with the workers to hear the unaddressed grievances.
    Molly de Dios Fisher, a UVW organiser, said: “Despite the arrogant tone in their letter offering a meeting to hear the workers’ concerns, we are hopeful Sage’s trustees will see sense and start fixing the problems at the home. The majority of care workers in the private sector earn below the real living wage, and London, along with the North of England, is the worst place for underpayment. So all eyes are on this dispute. Care workers and their unions know that a win for the Sage Nursing Home workers could be the catalyst needed for a sea change across the sector”.

Russian-British film festival opens this week

By New Worker correspondent

Russian films are routinely ignored by the mainstream media with screenings usually confined to niche slots on streaming services or independent cinemas that have been closed along with the rest of the entertainment industry under the current lockdown. But the internet has provided an alternative outlet to explore some of the best that Russian cinema has to offer to the world.
    The Sochi International Film Festival (SIFFA) opened its online British programme with film screenings and creative meetings this week.
    "As you know, 10th February is Diplomacy Day in Russia and around the world. Our Russo-British Music and Film Festival can be called the most diplomatic film festival, as it was created to build bridges between Russia and the UK through the power of film and music. Despite all obstacles, we will open the doors of our virtual cinema hall SIFFA in the UK on 10th February with the support of our partner, the Embassy of the Russian Federation in the UK," says festival president Lyubov Balagova.
The film festival is keeping up with the times by creating its own Siffa Online platform for film screenings and all of the creative zoom-ins will be posted on the festival's YouTube channel.
    "This might be a good time to explore Russian cinema, speak to exceptional individuals and get an insight into everything on their list for 2021, as well as talk to those who have achieved a lot and can motivate or just inspire us," say the film festival organisers.
SIFFA UK will feature films by Karen Shakhnazarov, Vladimir Khotinenko, Anatoly Balchev and Natalia Ivanova including Vysotsky.'Odessa Notebook, White Tiger, Muslim, No Strangers and others. Each film will be followed by a Q&A session and the programme can easily be accessed by going straight to the Sochi Film Awards website: https://siffarussuk.com/
     Natalya Bondarchuk will come to the virtual meeting to share the memories of her father, film director and Oscar winner Sergey Bondarchuk and talk about her life and work as an actress and film director.
    "I invite everyone to join us. You may not get a second chance to see our unique programme, so plan your days so as to have an unforgettable time with us," the president of the film festival said in an appeal to all film lovers and connoisseurs.

Chinese ambassador bids farewell

 Liu Xiaoming and Madame Hu Pinghua say goodbye

By New Worker correspondent

Chinese ambassador Liu Xiaoming has retired after a ground-breaking eleven years at his post in London. At an online farewell reception in January the Ambassador said it had been an honour for him to have worked and lived in the UK for eleven years and to become the longest-serving Chinese Ambassador both in the history of China-UK relations and of all Chinese ambassadors of all time, which he will cherish for the rest of his life.
    `    “These eleven years have seen tremendous changes in both China and the world, during which he has witnessed the historic leaps in China’s development, a new era for socialism with Chinese characteristics, historic changes in the relations between China and the rest of the world, and the ups and downs, and twists and turns in China-UK relations” Liu Xiaoming said at the event attended by over 500 guests including representatives of the British government, diplomats, businessmen and members of the Chinese community in Britain.
        Ambassador Liu expressed his sincere thanks to all the friends who have cared for and supported China’s development and China-UK friendship, and who have provided support and assistance to the Chinese Embassy and his work, and his appreciation to colleagues in the Chinese Embassy in the UK for their dedication and efficiency. He hoped that “China-UK friendship will last forever, China-UK cooperation will become deeper and wider, and China-UK relations will go steady and go far”.

Deaths at Work

By New Worker correspondent

Last week saw the release of figures from the Office of National Statistics relating to Covid-19 fatalities. These, said transport union RMT showed that male bus and coach drivers and taxi drivers are two of the occupational groups with the highest rates of Covid-19 deaths.
     Mick Cash, the union’s departing General Secretary said: “Bus workers and taxi drivers have kept vital connections running throughout the pandemic for other key workers and essential travellers, and we need an industry-wide approach which ensures their safety and takes action to address the threats from the new Covid variant.
     “RMT is reiterating its calls for the Government to ensure that transport workers, are classified as a priority group for Covid-19 vaccination. This will save lives and maintain the resilience of the UK’s transport networks.”
     With regard to the situation on the rails the union also warns that “a complacent and callous approach to the increased threat from Covid-19 is leading to a surge in deaths and illness of transport workers”.
     Members report that since November the number of deaths and illnesses due to coronavirus amongst rail workers have at least doubled. At the same time Department for Transport figures also show that rail use is three times higher when compared to the last national lockdown.
    The union blames a “creeping complacency and a callous refusal by transport bosses to mandate a nationwide overhaul of risk assessments to take into account the heightened risk of the new virus has caused the surge”.
     Mick Cash deplored the Government’s laxity in dealing with “a lethal cocktail threatening rail workers … But instead of responding to our call for a urgent national review of all risk assessments we are being told its business as usual – this is as callous as it is complacent.
    “We are advising our members of their right to stop working if their safety is threatened and I will be seeking an urgent meeting with Grant Shapps asking that he intervenes to take speedy action to address the new threat and also to prioritise transport workers for the vaccine”.
     At one bus depot, that of Bannockburn First Bus, operations are still ongoing and bosses are only reducing services despite having 28 positive cases of Covid-19 which represents over half the workforce at the depot.
     Graeme Turnbull, a Unite industrial officer, demanding the temporary closure of the depot saying: “This is a timely reminder of the considerable risk and sacrifice that our members and all transport workers undertake on a daily basis to ensure key workers and our communities function in these challenging times. It is also vitally important that the company conducts an immediate investigation to understand how the virus has been able to take hold and spread across the workforce.”

In the departure lounge

by New Worker correspondent

Another seasonal strike is taking place at Heathrow Airport, where Cargo workers employed by British Airways voted almost unanimously for nine days of strike action starting on Christmas Day and ending on the first Saturday of the New Year.
    The 840 workers belonging to Unite agreed to the action in protest at BA’s attempts to fire and rehire the workforce, a move which would result in pay cuts of between 20–25 per cent, in addition to substantial cuts to terms and conditions.
    Being very reasonable people, Unite delayed announcing strike dates to allow BA a final opportunity to come forward with a meaningful offer – but as might be expected, BA were less reasonable and failed to respond.
    Despite the pandemic, the airport is very busy as a result of the manufactured no-deal Brexit panic that has affected the ports. Given the huge reduction in passenger numbers, it is the one part of the airport business that has remained profitable throughout the pandemic.
    Unite assistant general secretary and wannabe-General Secretary Howard Beckett declared that: “Unite has bent over backwards to give British Airways the opportunity to make a fair offer to its cargo workers and it has failed to do so. As a consequence Unite has no option but to announce strike action. Our members are taking this action as a last resort. They are aware that it will cause severe disruption to air freight entering the UK but they simply can’t afford to lose a quarter of their pay.”
    Although Unite has reached agreement with BA in all the other sections of the company, the managers of the cargo workers have proved a tougher nut to crack.
    On Monday, 4,000 workers directly employed by Heathrow Airport Limited (HAL) started a strike on similar issues. A car-based rally and socially distanced picket lines took place around the airport. Local Labour MP John McDonnell told a rally: “HAL management disgracefully saw COVID as an opportunity to cut pay, jobs and conditions. What they are trying to do is to use a temporary crisis to achieve permanent savings. It is exploitation. We need to draw a line in the sand.”
    Many workers have come round to the view that a more co-ordinated approach is needed. The strike continues on Thursday and is timed to coincide with the pre-Christmas getaway.
    Unite regional co-ordinating officer Wayne King said: “The airport's success was built on its workforce, who have continued to ensure it operates throughout the pandemic, on occasion risking their health. HAL has repaid them by conducting the most brutal fire and rehire operation ever seen in the UK.”
    The airport has suffered an 84 per cent fall in passenger numbers and lost its place as Europe’s busiest airport to Paris Charles de Gaulle. Last Friday HAL announced that because of low passenger traffic its Terminal 4 will remain closed until the end of 2021.

Cuts on the campus

by New Worker correspondent

A dispute is bubbling away at the University of East London (UEL) where the University and College Union has warned of industrial action against the university’s plan to impose compulsory job cuts.
     Balloting it presently underway. The issue is over ten compulsory job cuts, including seven academic posts, and the effects of the additional workload which remaining staff would face. Last July the university said it needed to make 134 people redundant due to an expected decline in student numbers due to Covid-19, but the now the university is forecasting higher student enrollments than last year. These cuts would mean 92 jobs would go in total, after 82 staff agreed on voluntary redundancy. The latest cuts target senior academics in the social sciences and the university’s architecture departments.
     The union said it sent a worrying message to students that the university was cutting almost 100 jobs despite the university forecasting an increase in student enrollments, and with staff workloads already at unbearable levels.
     In addition UCU argues UEL is acting unlawfully and is considering a legal challenge on grounds of lack of meaningful consultation, unfair selection, unfair dismissal, victimisation and discrimination. Six of the seven academics facing the sack are over 50 years old, five are of black and minority ethnic heritage, and five are female. This, said UCU makes the university’s pious claims of commitment to equality and diversity “ring hollow when it treats staff like this”.
     By a strange coincidence no less than four of the seven academics facing the sack are also UCU activists, including the branch chair and vice-chair.
     The university claimed it has been acting properly stating that “Following an extensive consultation, that commenced at the beginning of July, at the end of both the legal process and then a further nine weeks of consultation with at-risk individuals – demonstrating the university’s commitment to seek all reasonable alternatives to compulsory redundancy – eight roles remain at risk and efforts are continuing to identify suitable redeployment opportunities for those people.
    Evidently unconvinced UCU regional support official Amanda Sackur said: “UEL staff are reporting unmanageable workloads but the university is insisting on more cuts. The decision to sack another 10 staff on top of the 82 who have already accepted redundancy this year is completely unjustified”, adding that “Most of the academic staff the university is trying to sack have protected characteristics, and we believe UEL has deliberately tried to get rid of UCU activists. It is outrageous that the university trumpets its commitment to diversity and equality and then attacks staff in this way. UEL now needs to step back from the brink, limit any further damage to its reputation, drop these disastrous cuts and engage meaningfully with us in finding alternate solutions”.
     On the same campus teachers at the London Design & Engineering College (LDE) are taking strike action over the dismissal of a National Education Union rep. This is one of those free schools where the headmaster is a law unto himself.
     Squashed into a corner of the UEL, it is far too small for the number of pupils and even lacks a playground. After a NEU rep raised health and safety concerns during the pandemic, the Head promptly sacked the rep saying she had no rights because she had been employed for less than two years.
     Even after a judge found the sacking was unjustified and instructed LDE management to reinstate her the bosses reneged on their promise to do so and another person was appointed in her place. The rep said she was unaware of any investigation and simply had a dismissal pack sent to her house.