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.

Chinese medical team lands in London

by New Worker 

correspondent

landing at Heathrow

A group of Chinese medical workers arrived at Heathrow Airport in London last weekend to help Britain fight the coronavirus plague. The 15-member delegation from Shandong province in eastern China includes six medical experts specialising in disease prevention and control, traditional Chinese medicine, Western medicine and psychological counselling, among others. The team brought medical supplies which will be donated to local hospitals and Chinese communities. They will also provide health consultancy to the Chinese communities in Britain.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday told British Prime Minister Boris Johnson via telephone that the Chinese government attaches great importance to protecting the health and safety of Chinese citizens overseas, hoping that Britain will take concrete and effective measures in safeguarding the health, safety and legitimate rights of Chinese nationals on its soil, particularly those studying here.

The Chinese embassy in Britain has been supplying Chinese students studying here with health packs containing an anti-epidemic guide and medical kits. During an online speech on Monday, Chinese Ambassador to Britain Liu Xiaoming told representatives of the students from regions across Britain that the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government have always been concerned about their safety and health.

Saying that Britain is now at a key point in containing the spread of coronavirus, Liu called on Chinese students in the country to combat the disease in a rational and scientific manner, reduce long-distance travel, avoid cross-infection and properly arrange studies and future plans from a long-term perspective.

China attaches great importance to its cooperation with Britain in the fight against the virus, said Liu.

Since the outbreak, the Chinese embassy and consulates in Britain have maintained close communication with the police and relative departments such as the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Home Office and Department for Education.

Chinese diplomats have held talks with the British side on reported discrimination against Chinese citizens and the embassy has issued a series of consular reminders and opened an emergency helpline said Liu.

“We have also established contacts with more than 150 universities with Chinese students in Britain to respond to your needs as soon as possible. We tie the safety and life situation of each student to our hearts and leave no one behind,” said Liu.

The student representatives, for their part, told Liu that since the outbreak earlier this year, many Chinese students have actively donated money and medical supplies to their motherland.

The Chinese Students and Scholars Association in Britain will continue to take active measures to unite students studying here and help each other in combating the outbreak, they said.

Global warming: Are we the last generation?

protesting across London last week

By New Worker correspondent

On Good Friday around 15 youths – all aged under 17 years old – held a large banner with the words “Are we the last generation” on the pavement outside Heathrow airport in London. A heavy police presence stopped the teenagers from standing on the road.

“I’m Felix, I’m 14 years old. I’m doing this because when I have children I want to be able to tell them I did everything I could to protect their futures.”

“I’m Samar Faraj, I’m 14, and I’m doing this because there are things that need doing that aren’t being done, and in 30 years time, I don’t want to be looking back on this and regretting not doing everything I could do to help prevent the disasters we’re facing.”

Extinction Rebellion Youth is a network for everyone born after 1990: “We are a generation that have never known a stable climate and that will be defined by how the world responds to the climate and ecological crisis.”

“I’m Mia, I’m 13. I’m doing this because something has to change, I’m being told to make decisions about my future when it can’t even be guaranteed the Earth has one.”

“I’m Maya Rivett-Martinez, I’m 15, and the constant fear for my future is what gives me the need for change.”

The campaigning teenagers at London airport were part of the wave of climate change protests that paralysed parts of central London last week in demonstrations called by the Extinction Rebellion movement to attract attention to the ecological catastrophe they believe is imminent if nothing is done to halt it.

The global aviation industry produces two per cent of all human-induced carbon dioxide emissions. If global aviation was a country, it would rank in the top 10 emitters. Unfortunately, the emissions from this industry continue to increase at a truly alarming rate. Parliament has approved a policy for airport expansion. The Government is moving in completely the wrong direction.

Last week the godfather of climate science Dr James Hansen, the American space scientist who first alerted the world to the dangers of climate change more than 30 years ago, sent an open letter to the British people: “I write in recognition that citizens throughout the UK, led increasingly by the young – those who stand to lose most – now are rising to demand that national leaders develop and adhere to a viable path away from calamitous global warming.”

To every parent, and every grandparent, “I urge you in particular to take a stand, so as to not let the full burden of responsibility befall our children. Arm yourself with information of the highest quality, think for yourself, and then exercise your full intellectual and moral capacity to help your nation and our planet survive.

“I have no doubt that the era of fossil fuels is drawing to a close. But questions remain as to the speed of the coming transition and, in direct consequence of that speed, the nature of what will be left in its wake. I cannot answer, in particular, whether our civilisation will survive in any recognisable form the assault on nature and the human dislocation attending loss of our planet’s great coastal cities that we of necessity will confront with continued unarrested climate change.”

In his letter Hansen sets out the truth about the ecological emergency: “The foregoing, accordingly, constitutes my best brief effort to explain our present, serious, global, climate crisis. I will have failed if, upon its review, the reader decides to shirk his or her fundamental responsibility. Now, more than before, we need to bring to bear our full acumen, time, and resources so as to demand and forge a viable future.”

This week, the words of the world’s most respected climate scientist were echoed by wild-life broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough: “If we have not taken dramatic action within the next decade we could face irreversible damage to the natural world and the collapse of our societies. What happens now and in these next few years will profoundly affect the next few thousand years.”