by Daphne Liddle
THE NEO-Nazi British Nationalist Party last week were well beaten in local council by-elections in the Becontree ward of Barking and Dagenham in east London and in the Beaumont Leys ward of Leicester.
The BNP in Becontree tried to benefit from stirring up Islamophobia in the wake of the London bombings, using an official election leaflet showing the bombed bus and an illegal hate sticker that used the council’s logo.
But the voters were not taken in and voted overwhelmingly against the BNP.
few willing
The BNP were very short-handed with very few activists willing to turn out. They ran a campaign that seemed intent on confrontation and a gang of them threatened Councillor Jeff Porter and his wife with violence.
Jeff works as a train driver on the London Underground and was driving one of the trains involved in the bombings on the 7th of July. Despite his cab being damaged he managed to lead his passengers to safety and this was covered in the national and international press.
So the BNP threats to him rebounded in the local campaign, making the fascists more unpopular than ever.
Local anti-fascists in the community group Barking and Dagenham Together had leafleted every home in the ward twice over.
On election day the BNP acted aggressively and broke the law by distributing leaflets within the precincts of polling stations.
Labour candidate Alok Agrawal polled 1,171 votes – 59.8 per cent of the total while the BNP candidate won only 378. The Conservative won 283 and UKIP 125.
Angered by their defeat, the BNP became vicious and a female member punched Councillor Val Rush, the Labour election agent and a grandmother.
Several witnesses saw the assault and it was caught on CCTV and charges are expected to follow.
In the Beaumont Leys ward of Leicester Labour candidate Violet Dempster polled 962 votes, the Conservatives 342, the Liberal Democrats 295 and the BNP just 161.
Meanwhile there has been a serious rise in hate attacks on Muslims throughout Britain since the London bombings.
In the worst case, a week ago a Muslim man was beaten to death by racists in Nottingham.
Dev Barrah of the Greenwich Council for racial Equality told the New Worker of a steep rise in attacks, perpetrated by a very small number of racists.
petrol bomb
In one instance a petrol bomb was thrown through the window of a Sikh temple in Belvedere in the London Borough of Bexley, though it failed to ignite. And a Buddhist centre in Deptford has been covered in anti-Islamic graffiti.
The National Front was allowed to conduct an anti-Islamic march in Westminster last Saturday. Anti-fascists are not so surprised at the National Front wanting to perform this thinly veiled incitement to race violence. But we are surprised at the police and the Mayor of London allowing this outrage.
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Labour Representation Conference
by Caroline Colebrook
“DON’T try to tell us that the United States war in Iraq played no part in the London bombings,” said Labour MP John McDonnell, chair of the Labour Representation Committee (LRC) in his opening comments at its annual general meeting and conference in London last Saturday.
The conference, of left Labour Party members, MPs and trade unionists who want to restore the Labour Party to its original socialist roots, began with a minute’s silence in memory of those killed by bombs in London, Baghdad and Fallujah.
The New Communist Party is affiliated to the LRC as an associate organisation and four NCP delegates – Mike Fletcher, Ken Ruddock, Daphne Liddle and Andy Brooks – attended.
The morning session, chaired by LRC vice chair Maria Exall, of the conference dealt with domestic policy as laid out in a policy document with additional motions on defending the Royal Mail from privatisation, fighting civil service job cuts, rail safety and an emergency resolution on the London bombings.
Debate was launched by platform speakers Michael Meacher, National Union of Journalists general secretary Jeremy Dear and Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack.
Michael Meacher spoke on the need for socialist ideology and stressed that a labour government should not be the servant of big business.
Matt Wrack spoke of the need to find a way for those who have left or disaffiliated from the Labour Party to be able to work together with comrades inside the party for common goals.
There were many contributions from the floor and a great sense of general agreement on all the issues being debated. The domestic part of the main policy statement and other motions were all passed unanimously.
One delegate from the RMT warned that the Government is trying to cut down on the number of safety reps on the Tube and reverse the regulations introduced after the Kings Cross fire. Risk assessment will be left to the discretion of station managers “leading to cost-driven corner cutting”.
This session ended with speeches from Katy Clark MP, Paul Mackney of the lecturers’ union Natfhe and PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka.
Paul Mackney attacked tuition fees, introduced by a government that includes many former radicals from the National Union of Students. He said this will lead to the exclusion of the working class from higher education “to the benefit of dimmer and dimmer members of the upper classes”.
The afternoon session covered foreign policy and the structural organisation of the LRC. The session was kicked off by Bob Wareing MP and veteran left Labour politician Tony Benn.
It covered nuclear weapons and Nato, support for Venezuela and the occupation of Iraq and then the LRC organisational statement.
Again, the main policy document, all resolutions and the LRC constitution were endorsed.
New Communist Party delegates made two interventions – on the need for solidarity and respect for the sovereignty of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in face of US aggression and on the need to work in trades councils.
Jeremy Corbyn MP made the final speech and the conference ended with the singing of The Red Flag. Throughout the conference all those attending were addressed as “comrade” and a genuinely comradely atmosphere prevailed.
There was little internal controversy as this new pressure group set itself in motion. Useful contacts were made, views and political papers were exchanged and delegates left having achieved important steps.
“DON’T try to tell us that the United States war in Iraq played no part in the London bombings,” said Labour MP John McDonnell, chair of the Labour Representation Committee (LRC) in his opening comments at its annual general meeting and conference in London last Saturday.
The conference, of left Labour Party members, MPs and trade unionists who want to restore the Labour Party to its original socialist roots, began with a minute’s silence in memory of those killed by bombs in London, Baghdad and Fallujah.
The New Communist Party is affiliated to the LRC as an associate organisation and four NCP delegates – Mike Fletcher, Ken Ruddock, Daphne Liddle and Andy Brooks – attended.
The morning session, chaired by LRC vice chair Maria Exall, of the conference dealt with domestic policy as laid out in a policy document with additional motions on defending the Royal Mail from privatisation, fighting civil service job cuts, rail safety and an emergency resolution on the London bombings.
Debate was launched by platform speakers Michael Meacher, National Union of Journalists general secretary Jeremy Dear and Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack.
Michael Meacher spoke on the need for socialist ideology and stressed that a labour government should not be the servant of big business.
Matt Wrack spoke of the need to find a way for those who have left or disaffiliated from the Labour Party to be able to work together with comrades inside the party for common goals.
There were many contributions from the floor and a great sense of general agreement on all the issues being debated. The domestic part of the main policy statement and other motions were all passed unanimously.
One delegate from the RMT warned that the Government is trying to cut down on the number of safety reps on the Tube and reverse the regulations introduced after the Kings Cross fire. Risk assessment will be left to the discretion of station managers “leading to cost-driven corner cutting”.
This session ended with speeches from Katy Clark MP, Paul Mackney of the lecturers’ union Natfhe and PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka.
Paul Mackney attacked tuition fees, introduced by a government that includes many former radicals from the National Union of Students. He said this will lead to the exclusion of the working class from higher education “to the benefit of dimmer and dimmer members of the upper classes”.
The afternoon session covered foreign policy and the structural organisation of the LRC. The session was kicked off by Bob Wareing MP and veteran left Labour politician Tony Benn.
It covered nuclear weapons and Nato, support for Venezuela and the occupation of Iraq and then the LRC organisational statement.
Again, the main policy document, all resolutions and the LRC constitution were endorsed.
New Communist Party delegates made two interventions – on the need for solidarity and respect for the sovereignty of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in face of US aggression and on the need to work in trades councils.
Jeremy Corbyn MP made the final speech and the conference ended with the singing of The Red Flag. Throughout the conference all those attending were addressed as “comrade” and a genuinely comradely atmosphere prevailed.
There was little internal controversy as this new pressure group set itself in motion. Useful contacts were made, views and political papers were exchanged and delegates left having achieved important steps.
Honouring the International Brigaders
by Robert Laurie
LAST SATURDAY saw many members and supporters of the International Brigade Memorial Trust gather at the memorial in London’s Jubilee Gardens to the British anti-fascist volunteers who fought in the Spanish Civil War.
Only a handful of veterans survive but the numbers attending grow yearly, thanks to the hard work of the trust in keeping the memory of the Brigaders alive.
The ceremony was presided over by Jack Jones, the former general secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union, who remains president of the trust. A roll of honour of recently deceased Brigaders was read before Jack Edwards laid a wreath at the memorial.
Another veteran, Sam Russell spoke movingly of a recent ceremony at the site of the Battle of the Ebro where the Brigaders fought their last major battle. A new memorial, paid for by Unison, to the fallen of the International Brigade has just been erected.
Sam recalled that the ground was so hard that the dead could not be buried. Instead the bodies had to be covered with stones. It is only in recent years that the Spanish government and local authorities have permitted the establishment of memorials to Franco’s opponents.
One welcome feature of the Ebro ceremony was that the British Government sent Madrid and Barcelona-based diplomats thus giving the Brigaders long overdue recognition.
Campaigning journalist John Pilger then gave an excellent speech, which he began by paying tribute to Martha Gellhorn, whose reports from Spain inspired him to follow his chosen career.
Pilger stated that both then and now the most dangerous people were not the strutting uniformed fascists but the “respectable” power-hungry and greedy people behind them.
A rousing rendition of the Internationale concluded the ceremony before veterans and supporters headed off for refreshments and further reminiscences.
LAST SATURDAY saw many members and supporters of the International Brigade Memorial Trust gather at the memorial in London’s Jubilee Gardens to the British anti-fascist volunteers who fought in the Spanish Civil War.
Only a handful of veterans survive but the numbers attending grow yearly, thanks to the hard work of the trust in keeping the memory of the Brigaders alive.
The ceremony was presided over by Jack Jones, the former general secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union, who remains president of the trust. A roll of honour of recently deceased Brigaders was read before Jack Edwards laid a wreath at the memorial.
Another veteran, Sam Russell spoke movingly of a recent ceremony at the site of the Battle of the Ebro where the Brigaders fought their last major battle. A new memorial, paid for by Unison, to the fallen of the International Brigade has just been erected.
Sam recalled that the ground was so hard that the dead could not be buried. Instead the bodies had to be covered with stones. It is only in recent years that the Spanish government and local authorities have permitted the establishment of memorials to Franco’s opponents.
One welcome feature of the Ebro ceremony was that the British Government sent Madrid and Barcelona-based diplomats thus giving the Brigaders long overdue recognition.
Campaigning journalist John Pilger then gave an excellent speech, which he began by paying tribute to Martha Gellhorn, whose reports from Spain inspired him to follow his chosen career.
Pilger stated that both then and now the most dangerous people were not the strutting uniformed fascists but the “respectable” power-hungry and greedy people behind them.
A rousing rendition of the Internationale concluded the ceremony before veterans and supporters headed off for refreshments and further reminiscences.
Their war, our dead!
by Renée Sams
NEARLY 1,000 people gathered in Russell Square last Sunday not far from where the suicide bombers killed over 50 people on 7th July. The gathering was held in the street beside the gardens as Camden Council had refused to permission to hold the speeches in the gardens.
The event was called by the Stop the War Coalition to support the Muslim community and to express condolences to the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives. One minute’s silence was held and many people left flowers.
There was wide support for the meeting from trade unionists in London Amicus, the General Municipal and Boilermakers’ union, Transport and General Workers’ Union, Labour Against the War, Respect and the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), Military Families Against the War, and many ordinary Londoners who were shocked by the horror of the bombs.
not stop
Andrew Murray said that the Stop The War Coalition was proud to work with MAB and he affirmed that: “We will not stop campaigning; we are still going to fight for the withdrawal of the troops.”
Peter Brearly, the father of a soldier killed in Iraq, said that initially he had been proud of his son going to war, but since his death he had thought a lot about it and he is now convinced that we must withdraw the armed forces from Iraq.
“Blair is not going to do anything about the war Iraq” he said, “or tell us the truth about what caused it. We have been told lie after lie and now we have got to have the truth.”
A speaker from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament said, “We stand in solidarity with the Muslim community. Every heart goes out to them.” And she continued: “The Government is now trying to pass the buck to the intelligence community but they are not the root cause behind these terrible incidents.”
The Government will not acknowledge the link between the bombing incidents and their foreign policy of supporting the US and the war in Iraq.
“The only way we can deal with these atrocities,” she said, “is to deal with the causes and demand genuine peace and democracy that is the only way it will be resolved.”
A young Muslim woman from MAB said that she was nervous of getting on buses because she felt the hostility of people who thought that the Muslim community was to blame for the bombing.
She also stressed: “We must be told the truth about Afghanistan and Palestine as well as Iraq.”
A speaker from the TGWU expressed the thanks of many for the wonderful work of the emergency services who have struggled tirelessly to help the injured – and the railway workers who are still endeavouring to restore the underground services in terrible conditions. He made a strong call for the “immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq”.
connection
George Galloway, Respect MP for Bethnal Green condemned the bombing as mass murder and said that he did not believe that these acts of terror have no connection with government foreign policy and their support for Bush and the war in Iraq.
Tony Blair maintains that this is “to preserve our way of life”. George said that, “if this is his way of life, it is not our way of life”. And he added “what they do in our name we will not accept without protest”.
To young Muslim men misled into thinking that their deaths could help the situation, he hoped that they would find that “there are better ways to protest than blowing yourself up”.
increase
He said: “We have argued, as did the security services in this country, that the attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq would increase the threat of terrorist attacks in Britain. Tragically, Londoners have now paid the price of the Government ignoring such warnings.”
He called on the peace movement to redouble its efforts, and in conclusion he called for people to “stand shoulder to shoulder telling the truth because truth is the only way we can get out of this mess”.
NEARLY 1,000 people gathered in Russell Square last Sunday not far from where the suicide bombers killed over 50 people on 7th July. The gathering was held in the street beside the gardens as Camden Council had refused to permission to hold the speeches in the gardens.
The event was called by the Stop the War Coalition to support the Muslim community and to express condolences to the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives. One minute’s silence was held and many people left flowers.
There was wide support for the meeting from trade unionists in London Amicus, the General Municipal and Boilermakers’ union, Transport and General Workers’ Union, Labour Against the War, Respect and the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), Military Families Against the War, and many ordinary Londoners who were shocked by the horror of the bombs.
not stop
Andrew Murray said that the Stop The War Coalition was proud to work with MAB and he affirmed that: “We will not stop campaigning; we are still going to fight for the withdrawal of the troops.”
Peter Brearly, the father of a soldier killed in Iraq, said that initially he had been proud of his son going to war, but since his death he had thought a lot about it and he is now convinced that we must withdraw the armed forces from Iraq.
“Blair is not going to do anything about the war Iraq” he said, “or tell us the truth about what caused it. We have been told lie after lie and now we have got to have the truth.”
A speaker from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament said, “We stand in solidarity with the Muslim community. Every heart goes out to them.” And she continued: “The Government is now trying to pass the buck to the intelligence community but they are not the root cause behind these terrible incidents.”
The Government will not acknowledge the link between the bombing incidents and their foreign policy of supporting the US and the war in Iraq.
“The only way we can deal with these atrocities,” she said, “is to deal with the causes and demand genuine peace and democracy that is the only way it will be resolved.”
A young Muslim woman from MAB said that she was nervous of getting on buses because she felt the hostility of people who thought that the Muslim community was to blame for the bombing.
She also stressed: “We must be told the truth about Afghanistan and Palestine as well as Iraq.”
A speaker from the TGWU expressed the thanks of many for the wonderful work of the emergency services who have struggled tirelessly to help the injured – and the railway workers who are still endeavouring to restore the underground services in terrible conditions. He made a strong call for the “immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq”.
connection
George Galloway, Respect MP for Bethnal Green condemned the bombing as mass murder and said that he did not believe that these acts of terror have no connection with government foreign policy and their support for Bush and the war in Iraq.
Tony Blair maintains that this is “to preserve our way of life”. George said that, “if this is his way of life, it is not our way of life”. And he added “what they do in our name we will not accept without protest”.
To young Muslim men misled into thinking that their deaths could help the situation, he hoped that they would find that “there are better ways to protest than blowing yourself up”.
increase
He said: “We have argued, as did the security services in this country, that the attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq would increase the threat of terrorist attacks in Britain. Tragically, Londoners have now paid the price of the Government ignoring such warnings.”
He called on the peace movement to redouble its efforts, and in conclusion he called for people to “stand shoulder to shoulder telling the truth because truth is the only way we can get out of this mess”.
Thursday, July 14, 2005
NO TO EURO-POLICE STATE
by Daphne Liddle
HOME SECRETARY Charles Clarke last Thursday, a few hours after the bombs that rocked London, admitted that identity cards could not have prevented the tragedy. In the shock of the moment, he was being honest.
But by this Wednesday he was urging the emergency European counter-terrorism summit adopt a plan to compulsorily fingerprint all European Union citizens who have identity cards – bringing their ID card systems up to the biometric detail level of those proposed for Britain.
Tony Blair’s ID card proposals were in deep trouble before the terrorist attacks and losing popularity every day through soaring costs and a growing realisation of the loss of civil liberties involved.
Now, it will be a very brave backbench MP who will stand up to Blair when he insists that, in the light of the attacks, ID cards and other “anti-terrorist” measures are essential.
And recent history has shown we do not have enough very brave backbench MPs.
More to the point, Tory leader Michael Howard has been praising Blair as “calm, resolute and statesmanlike” in the wake of the bombings. There is a possibility that the Tories could drop their opposition to ID cards and the Bill could sail through.
illogical
It hardly matters that Blair’s position is totally illogical if his real aim is to prevent terrorism. A raft of anti-terrorist measures passed in the aftermath of 11th September 2001 led to the imprisonment of innocent men in Belmarsh without charge or trial for over two years. Many of them, though now released are still effectively under house arrest.
In the United States the “war on terror” led to similar breaches of human rights culminating in the setting up of the concentration camp at Guantanamo Bay, the invasion of Afghanistan and eventually to the illegal invasion of Iraq.
None of these “anti-terrorist” measures did anything to end terrorism. They did the opposite. They created fear, anger and desperation in many places that helped the terrorist organisations recruit thousands. They increased the likelihood of terrorism.
The young men who blew themselves up – along with dozens of ordinary Londoners – last Thursday were carrying plenty of things to identify them. They were not trying to hide their identity. If ID cards had been compulsory, they would have had them and it would not have made the slightest difference to what happened.
Blair knows this and so does Clarke. Anti-terrorism is not their real goal – tighter control of the working class is – but they will use the issue of the London bombings as an excuse to force in ID cards and many other breaches of our civil liberties.
package
Last Wednesday Clarke and Blair presented their European Union counterparts with a 10-point anti-terrorism package that includes the retention of email and telephone records for up to three years.
It also includes all ID cards in Europe carrying an electronic fingerprint. A Home Office official explained: “Identity cards are valid travel documents. We cannot afford to have them be a weak link in international travel.
“A really significant amount of travel within Europe is done not on a passport but on an identity card which is just a piece of cardboard with a photograph attached. It is a weak link. We need to have a standard.”
Tony Bunyan of the civil liberties group Statewatch said: “This proposal, with the others, means that everyone living in the EU and their details are held on an EU-wide database.
“At a time of great tragedy it is all the more important that we act with care and do not bequeath to future generations a society where every movement and every communication is under surveillance.”
Just in case other European countries had any doubts about the proposals, Gordon Brown warned a meeting of EU finance ministers that any country that fails to crack down on “terrorist money laundering” will face the threat of sanctions.
Meanwhile Blair is promising a new draft Counter Terrorism Bill for this autumn.
On the other side of the Atlantic, Bush is also preparing to ratchet up “anti-terrorist” measures, further reducing civil liberties in the US.
Some political analysts believe that last Thursday’s bombings have helped Bush and Blair to lift their failing popularity and remove the focus or world attention from the catastrophe of the occupation of Iraq.
It seems likely now that the bombings were carried out by a group linked to Al Qaeda. That organisation was created and fostered by US imperialism to undermine the socialist government of Najibullah in Afghanistan.
It seems that it is still – indirectly and perhaps inadvertently – helping to strengthen US imperialism.
Britain has, in the last week, celebrated the end of the war to defeat Nazi fascism. Britain suffered heavy bombing in that war, far in excess of anything Al Qaeda could manage. But the British people were not asked or expected to surrender their civil liberties for ever in order to defeat Nazism. There is no logical reason to surrender them now.
Call for tolerance after London bombings
by Caroline Colebrook
LONDON Mayor Ken Livingstone last week responded to last Thursday’s bombings, saying: “I want to say one thing to the world specifically today. This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty and the powerful. It was not aimed at presidents or prime ministers.
“It was aimed at ordinary working class Londoners, black and white, Muslim and Christian, Hindu and Jew, young and old.
“It was an indiscriminate attempt to slaughter, irrespective of any considerations for age, for class, for religion or whatever.
“That isn’t an ideology, it isn’t even a perverted faith, it is an indiscriminate attempt at mass murder and we know what the objective is. They seek to turn Londoners against each other.”
He went on to say that Londoners will not be divided by this cowardly attack.
Respect leader George Galloway repeated his call to end the occupation of Iraq in his condemnation of the bombings. The east London MP warned: “The loss of innocent lives, whether in this country or Iraq, is precisely the result of a world that has become a less safe and peaceful place in recent years.
“We have worked without rest to remove the causes of such violence from our world. We argued, as did the security services in this country, that the attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq would increase the threat of terrorist attack in Britain. Tragically Londoners have now paid the price of the Government ignoring such warnings.”
Union leaders also condemned the attacks; TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “These attacks have brought out the best in London’s workforce. Emergency service and transport workers have earned the gratitude and admiration of everyone affected by these outrages.
“We offer our sympathy and condolences to everyone who has suffered in today’s atrocities. They were an indiscriminate attack on the population of one of the world’s most diverse cities.
“We have received messages of support from trade unions around the world including those who have suffered from similar terrorist attacks.
“When the immediate emergency is over, we will look for an opportunity to bring London’s workforce together in all its diversity to show our unity in opposition to terrorism.”
Unison general secretary David Prentis reacted to the explosions in London by saying: “Our sympathy goes out to all those who have lost loved ones in the London transport blasts.
“And our thoughts are with those who have been injured or suffered trauma as a result.
“On behalf of Unison and local communities, our thanks go to all the emergency workers for all they have had to do in London today.
“We pay particular tribute to our health service workers – nurses, paramedics, ambulance workers – who have had to deal with the aftermath of today’s tragic events.”
RMT, London Underground’s biggest union expressed sympathy for the families of the dead and to those injured in today’s explosion and called for a security review of the Tube network.
“These terrible attacks show just how vulnerable commuters and Tube workers are,” RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.
“Tube workers and the emergency services have responded magnificently and there is now a clear need to review security after such an attack,” Bob Crow said.
Tony Woodley, general secretary of the Transport and General Workers’ Union, spoke today following the tragic explosions in central London. The TGWU represents thousands of bus workers and support staff in the emergency services.
“Our sympathy and solidarity is with the families of those who have been killed today, and our thoughts with those who have been injured. It is a terrible and shocking day.
“Bus workers in London should be commended for their work on this difficult day, working with Transport for London and bus operators to take buses off the road safely and professionally after the shocking explosion at Tavistock Square. In the coming days and weeks, the TGWU will play its part in assisting security operations, in particular on public transport.
“These awful events will undoubtedly have a wider social and political impact. We will do all we can, together with the rest of the trade union movement, to respond with strength and solidarity.
“Our response as a nation must be consistent with our culture of tolerance, and we will stand together with all communities to resist any expression of division and intolerance.”
LONDON Mayor Ken Livingstone last week responded to last Thursday’s bombings, saying: “I want to say one thing to the world specifically today. This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty and the powerful. It was not aimed at presidents or prime ministers.
“It was aimed at ordinary working class Londoners, black and white, Muslim and Christian, Hindu and Jew, young and old.
“It was an indiscriminate attempt to slaughter, irrespective of any considerations for age, for class, for religion or whatever.
“That isn’t an ideology, it isn’t even a perverted faith, it is an indiscriminate attempt at mass murder and we know what the objective is. They seek to turn Londoners against each other.”
He went on to say that Londoners will not be divided by this cowardly attack.
Respect leader George Galloway repeated his call to end the occupation of Iraq in his condemnation of the bombings. The east London MP warned: “The loss of innocent lives, whether in this country or Iraq, is precisely the result of a world that has become a less safe and peaceful place in recent years.
“We have worked without rest to remove the causes of such violence from our world. We argued, as did the security services in this country, that the attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq would increase the threat of terrorist attack in Britain. Tragically Londoners have now paid the price of the Government ignoring such warnings.”
Union leaders also condemned the attacks; TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “These attacks have brought out the best in London’s workforce. Emergency service and transport workers have earned the gratitude and admiration of everyone affected by these outrages.
“We offer our sympathy and condolences to everyone who has suffered in today’s atrocities. They were an indiscriminate attack on the population of one of the world’s most diverse cities.
“We have received messages of support from trade unions around the world including those who have suffered from similar terrorist attacks.
“When the immediate emergency is over, we will look for an opportunity to bring London’s workforce together in all its diversity to show our unity in opposition to terrorism.”
Unison general secretary David Prentis reacted to the explosions in London by saying: “Our sympathy goes out to all those who have lost loved ones in the London transport blasts.
“And our thoughts are with those who have been injured or suffered trauma as a result.
“On behalf of Unison and local communities, our thanks go to all the emergency workers for all they have had to do in London today.
“We pay particular tribute to our health service workers – nurses, paramedics, ambulance workers – who have had to deal with the aftermath of today’s tragic events.”
RMT, London Underground’s biggest union expressed sympathy for the families of the dead and to those injured in today’s explosion and called for a security review of the Tube network.
“These terrible attacks show just how vulnerable commuters and Tube workers are,” RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.
“Tube workers and the emergency services have responded magnificently and there is now a clear need to review security after such an attack,” Bob Crow said.
Tony Woodley, general secretary of the Transport and General Workers’ Union, spoke today following the tragic explosions in central London. The TGWU represents thousands of bus workers and support staff in the emergency services.
“Our sympathy and solidarity is with the families of those who have been killed today, and our thoughts with those who have been injured. It is a terrible and shocking day.
“Bus workers in London should be commended for their work on this difficult day, working with Transport for London and bus operators to take buses off the road safely and professionally after the shocking explosion at Tavistock Square. In the coming days and weeks, the TGWU will play its part in assisting security operations, in particular on public transport.
“These awful events will undoubtedly have a wider social and political impact. We will do all we can, together with the rest of the trade union movement, to respond with strength and solidarity.
“Our response as a nation must be consistent with our culture of tolerance, and we will stand together with all communities to resist any expression of division and intolerance.”
Monday, July 11, 2005
Terror in London
London’s transport system was brought to a standstill last Thursday by a wave of terror bombings that killed scores of innocent working people and wounded hundreds more. The New Communist Party of Britain condemns outright the terror bombings of 7th July and expresses its deepest sympathy for all the victims, their families and friends.
No-one knows who was responsible for the terror attack but the Government, from Tony Blair downwards, is assuming it was the work of supporters of Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda movement. If so, the maelstrom of terror that has encompassed the Middle East for decades has now swept Londoners into its path.
Blair and Bush justify Anglo-American imperialism’s offensive against the peoples of the Middle East as a “war against terror”. They claim to be fighting to “root out” the causes of global “terrorism”. But the causes are of their own doing and their names are Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan and Oil.
Last Thursday innocent London workers experienced the terror that has been part of everyday life for millions of Iraqis, Afghans and Palestinians. Blair denies any link between the invasion of Iraq and the London bombings but even he conceded that “old injustices, poverty and the democratic vacuum” in the Middle East had to be addressed if terror was to be countered effectively. He also praised Muslim leaders at home and abroad who have joined in the public condemnation of London bombings and the shadowy movements that incite and plan these acts of terror. But their remarks went much further than those of the Prime Minister.
In a sermon last Friday, Ayatollah Mohamed Emami-Kashani, dismissed Al Qaeda as a “fake version of Islam” but then added: “Has the British Prime Minister forgotten who Al Qaeda’s parents are? I remind him then that the United States is Al Qaeda’s father and Israel is the mother of that illegitimate child…it was you yourselves who created this group in the name of Islam and therefore the conduct of a child whose father is global arrogance and whose mother is the Israeli butchers should not surprise anyone”.
Fifty years ago the Arabs were breaking the chains of colonialism and dreaming of creating modern democratic states built on the vast oil wealth their lands possessed. Imperialism destroyed that vision by working with feudal elements to smash the communist parties and the national democratic movements led by Nasser and the Baath that stood in their way. Imperialism allied itself with the feudal kings and princes and the reactionary movements in the region, rewarding them with a tiny fraction of the vast profits made from the oil industry. Imperialism nursed and succoured reactionary groups like Al Qaeda to destroy the people’s democracy in Afghanistan. Now the carnage has blown back with a vengeance.
Imperialism is not concerned one iota about the “human rights” they claim to defend. Working people are just expendable pawns to be used whether they live in Baghdad or London.
The overwhelming majority of the world’s known oil reserves are in the Middle East and imperialist control and plunder of this vast source of energy has been the root cause of conflict in the region since 1948. This is what it’s all about.
The Government will, no doubt, be using the bombings to justify the introduction of ID cards and other repressive measures in the next few months. Fascists and Zionist elements will be striving to fan the flames of anti-Arab and anti-Islamic sentiment in its wake.
Only when the real root causes of terrorism are dealt with will the cycle of violence end. There must be a just solution to the Palestinian problem; an end to the occupation of Iraq and the recognition of the right of all countries in the Middle East to control their own natural resources
No-one knows who was responsible for the terror attack but the Government, from Tony Blair downwards, is assuming it was the work of supporters of Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda movement. If so, the maelstrom of terror that has encompassed the Middle East for decades has now swept Londoners into its path.
Blair and Bush justify Anglo-American imperialism’s offensive against the peoples of the Middle East as a “war against terror”. They claim to be fighting to “root out” the causes of global “terrorism”. But the causes are of their own doing and their names are Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan and Oil.
Last Thursday innocent London workers experienced the terror that has been part of everyday life for millions of Iraqis, Afghans and Palestinians. Blair denies any link between the invasion of Iraq and the London bombings but even he conceded that “old injustices, poverty and the democratic vacuum” in the Middle East had to be addressed if terror was to be countered effectively. He also praised Muslim leaders at home and abroad who have joined in the public condemnation of London bombings and the shadowy movements that incite and plan these acts of terror. But their remarks went much further than those of the Prime Minister.
In a sermon last Friday, Ayatollah Mohamed Emami-Kashani, dismissed Al Qaeda as a “fake version of Islam” but then added: “Has the British Prime Minister forgotten who Al Qaeda’s parents are? I remind him then that the United States is Al Qaeda’s father and Israel is the mother of that illegitimate child…it was you yourselves who created this group in the name of Islam and therefore the conduct of a child whose father is global arrogance and whose mother is the Israeli butchers should not surprise anyone”.
Fifty years ago the Arabs were breaking the chains of colonialism and dreaming of creating modern democratic states built on the vast oil wealth their lands possessed. Imperialism destroyed that vision by working with feudal elements to smash the communist parties and the national democratic movements led by Nasser and the Baath that stood in their way. Imperialism allied itself with the feudal kings and princes and the reactionary movements in the region, rewarding them with a tiny fraction of the vast profits made from the oil industry. Imperialism nursed and succoured reactionary groups like Al Qaeda to destroy the people’s democracy in Afghanistan. Now the carnage has blown back with a vengeance.
Imperialism is not concerned one iota about the “human rights” they claim to defend. Working people are just expendable pawns to be used whether they live in Baghdad or London.
The overwhelming majority of the world’s known oil reserves are in the Middle East and imperialist control and plunder of this vast source of energy has been the root cause of conflict in the region since 1948. This is what it’s all about.
The Government will, no doubt, be using the bombings to justify the introduction of ID cards and other repressive measures in the next few months. Fascists and Zionist elements will be striving to fan the flames of anti-Arab and anti-Islamic sentiment in its wake.
Only when the real root causes of terrorism are dealt with will the cycle of violence end. There must be a just solution to the Palestinian problem; an end to the occupation of Iraq and the recognition of the right of all countries in the Middle East to control their own natural resources
Thursday, July 07, 2005
Tube firms fined
COMPANIES who were awarded lucrative contracts by the Government to operate the London Underground system and to undertake renovation and renewal of the infrastructure were fined a total of £26.5 million last week for failure to carry out the work.
Tube Lines, which runs the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines was fined £23.32 million. And Metronet BCV, which runs the Bakerloo, Central, Victoria and Waterloo & City lines was fined £11.31 million.
But the total is offset by £9 million in bonuses given to Metronet SSL, which runs the Metropolitan, District, Circle, Hammersmith & City and East London lines.
The fines were revealed by London Mayor Ken Livingstone in answer to a question tabled in the Greater London Assembly.
Liberal Democrat transport spokesperson Geoff Pope said: “the amount clawed back in fines for all the misery tube commuters have suffered is just a drop in the ocean.
“The tube maintenance firms are failing miserably to deliver on the pledged improvements for the Underground and yet the penalties charged are small change compared to the cash given to them to upgrade the Underground.
“All the evidence shows the deal struck by this Labour government was ill-conceived and poorly implemented.
Tube Lines, which runs the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines was fined £23.32 million. And Metronet BCV, which runs the Bakerloo, Central, Victoria and Waterloo & City lines was fined £11.31 million.
But the total is offset by £9 million in bonuses given to Metronet SSL, which runs the Metropolitan, District, Circle, Hammersmith & City and East London lines.
The fines were revealed by London Mayor Ken Livingstone in answer to a question tabled in the Greater London Assembly.
Liberal Democrat transport spokesperson Geoff Pope said: “the amount clawed back in fines for all the misery tube commuters have suffered is just a drop in the ocean.
“The tube maintenance firms are failing miserably to deliver on the pledged improvements for the Underground and yet the penalties charged are small change compared to the cash given to them to upgrade the Underground.
“All the evidence shows the deal struck by this Labour government was ill-conceived and poorly implemented.
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Gestapo Britain
When Labour was swept to power in the first landslide victory in 1997 “Cool Britannia” was the buzz-word of Blair and his cronies. Blair’s spin merchants crowed about the wonders of “New Labour” that would herald a new age for the British people. Now we see what they really mean and what they really want.
Not content with aligned themselves with the most venal, aggressive and reactionary elements within the British ruling class and in the United States the Blair government is now trying to steam-roller the most reactionary domestic legislation seen for a hundred years.
Identity cards were introduced during the Second World War. Then they were just cards that gave you a unique number and later your NHS number and recorded your date of birth. Public distaste led to their withdrawal in 1952.
The proposed new microchip card bears little resemblance to the old or indeed to any currently used in the rest of the European Union. The biometric information contained – fingerprints, iris or facial scans – is an expensive addition that the people are expected to largely fund themselves with talk of a card, renewable every 10 years, costing the citizen between £70 to £90.
The cost has raised public awareness in recent days following the publication of two adverse independent studies but the real threat is the cost to civil liberties. Though the Government claims that people will not be obliged to carry their ID cards on the street, which is the case in some European countries, it is difficult to see how this can be avoided if the ID card is compulsory. The proposed bill included penalties for those who fail to register and if an ID card is compulsory then the police would have every right to demand to see it, when and if they chose.
The rigmarole of registering with the police every time you change your address which is the only way ID card systems can work has not been spelt out. The link with the Government’s other new obsession – black-box car monitors to enable road congestion charging – is obvious but not discussed. But it is clear that if all these schemes come to pass the police and the security forces would be able track everyone in the country.
The Government trots out the old “only the guilty need fear” line when challenged. But in fact it’s the “innocent” who will be in jeopardy not the criminals, “terrorists”, illegal immigrants and international fraudsters, who will easily find ways of circumventing these cards as they clearly do in countries that already have similar schemes.
It is the innocent who may face the unwelcome attentions of a racist or simply bored cop demanding to see “your papers”. It is the militant trade unionist who will find it impossible to avoid the employers’ blacklist when his ID is demanded. It could be anyone in the future who opposes the government of the day.
“If, 10 years ago, I had gone on the radio and said that within a decade a Labour government would try to do away with jury trial, remove Habeas Corpus, eliminate the presumption of innocence, introduce punishment without trial and put house arrest on the statute book, they would have locked me up,” Tory Shadow Home Secretary David Davis declared in the House of Commons Tuesday night. It’s a pity more Labour MPs didn’t join the Tories and Liberal Democrats in kicking this atrocious Identity Card bill out at its first reading.
Some did take the principled stand cutting Labour’s majority from 67 to 31. This proposal can still be stopped. The labour and trade union movement must mobilise now to fight to ensure that this loathsome proposal never becomes law.
Not content with aligned themselves with the most venal, aggressive and reactionary elements within the British ruling class and in the United States the Blair government is now trying to steam-roller the most reactionary domestic legislation seen for a hundred years.
Identity cards were introduced during the Second World War. Then they were just cards that gave you a unique number and later your NHS number and recorded your date of birth. Public distaste led to their withdrawal in 1952.
The proposed new microchip card bears little resemblance to the old or indeed to any currently used in the rest of the European Union. The biometric information contained – fingerprints, iris or facial scans – is an expensive addition that the people are expected to largely fund themselves with talk of a card, renewable every 10 years, costing the citizen between £70 to £90.
The cost has raised public awareness in recent days following the publication of two adverse independent studies but the real threat is the cost to civil liberties. Though the Government claims that people will not be obliged to carry their ID cards on the street, which is the case in some European countries, it is difficult to see how this can be avoided if the ID card is compulsory. The proposed bill included penalties for those who fail to register and if an ID card is compulsory then the police would have every right to demand to see it, when and if they chose.
The rigmarole of registering with the police every time you change your address which is the only way ID card systems can work has not been spelt out. The link with the Government’s other new obsession – black-box car monitors to enable road congestion charging – is obvious but not discussed. But it is clear that if all these schemes come to pass the police and the security forces would be able track everyone in the country.
The Government trots out the old “only the guilty need fear” line when challenged. But in fact it’s the “innocent” who will be in jeopardy not the criminals, “terrorists”, illegal immigrants and international fraudsters, who will easily find ways of circumventing these cards as they clearly do in countries that already have similar schemes.
It is the innocent who may face the unwelcome attentions of a racist or simply bored cop demanding to see “your papers”. It is the militant trade unionist who will find it impossible to avoid the employers’ blacklist when his ID is demanded. It could be anyone in the future who opposes the government of the day.
“If, 10 years ago, I had gone on the radio and said that within a decade a Labour government would try to do away with jury trial, remove Habeas Corpus, eliminate the presumption of innocence, introduce punishment without trial and put house arrest on the statute book, they would have locked me up,” Tory Shadow Home Secretary David Davis declared in the House of Commons Tuesday night. It’s a pity more Labour MPs didn’t join the Tories and Liberal Democrats in kicking this atrocious Identity Card bill out at its first reading.
Some did take the principled stand cutting Labour’s majority from 67 to 31. This proposal can still be stopped. The labour and trade union movement must mobilise now to fight to ensure that this loathsome proposal never becomes law.
BNP lose Dagenham seat
THE NEO-Nazi British National Party last Thursday lost its only London council seat in the Goresbrook ward of the London Borough of Dagenham & Barking after their councillor, Daniel Kelley, resigned, leading to a by-election.
He resigned because he had found himself totally out of his depth at council meetings; unable to understand what was going on and unable to participate, he had stopped attending.
“There’s meetings that go right over my head,” he said, “and there’s little point in me being there. I’m wasting my time.”
Labour Party candidate Warren Northover won the seat after a campaign in which the Liberal Democrats and Greens stood down in order not to split the anti-fascist vote.
Northover won 1,227 votes while the BNP got 791. The United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) took 216 votes while the Tories came fourth with 167. There was a 33 per cent turn out.
In the run-up to the election the local community organisation Barking and Dagenham Together distributed thousands of leaflets against the BNP candidate, Laurence Rustem.
exposed
The leaflet exposed the BNP alarmist lies about an alleged “Africans for Essex” programme and quoted local war hero George Heighinton DFC, who wrote: “I was in Germany in 1935, the year of the famous Nuremburg laws. I saw Nazi rallies in Munich and Nuremburg; I soon realised Germany was in the grip of an unspeakable evil.
“What I had seen in Hitler’s Germany spurred me to volunteer as soon as I was old enough to fight. I served in 111 Squadron RAF flying Spitfires.
won’t forget
“I feel a chill when I see the BNP stand here. The phraseology might be different, but the message is the same one I heard in Hitler’s Germany. Thousands of my generation won’t forget their sacrifice.”
The musician Billy Bragg staged an impromptu concert for the anti-fascist leaflet distributors on Saturday 17th June at the Dagenham Labour Club, playing numbers from Woody Guthrie and other left-wing and union songs.
He reminded his audience that Woody Guthrie had spent his life giving similar performances throughout the United States, not to formal concerts but to groups of workers and political activists in “draughty halls” and meeting places, while they were engaged in campaigning. And he remembered that Guthrie had written: “This machine kills fascists” on his guitar.
The anti-fascist distributors were from many different political parties: Labour, Liberal Democrat, Green, Respect and New Communist Party as well as from trade unions GMB, TGWU, Unison and many others.
“Political parties come and go but unions remain the same. They look after their members and they look after their communities,” said Bragg. And he pointed out that this struggle was personal for him. He was a Dagenham boy – born and bred – and he took the BNP incursion into his home territory as a personal affront.
The latest issue of the London Worker is now out. Send a sae to: London Worker, PO Box 73, London SW11 2PQ for your free copy.
He resigned because he had found himself totally out of his depth at council meetings; unable to understand what was going on and unable to participate, he had stopped attending.
“There’s meetings that go right over my head,” he said, “and there’s little point in me being there. I’m wasting my time.”
Labour Party candidate Warren Northover won the seat after a campaign in which the Liberal Democrats and Greens stood down in order not to split the anti-fascist vote.
Northover won 1,227 votes while the BNP got 791. The United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) took 216 votes while the Tories came fourth with 167. There was a 33 per cent turn out.
In the run-up to the election the local community organisation Barking and Dagenham Together distributed thousands of leaflets against the BNP candidate, Laurence Rustem.
exposed
The leaflet exposed the BNP alarmist lies about an alleged “Africans for Essex” programme and quoted local war hero George Heighinton DFC, who wrote: “I was in Germany in 1935, the year of the famous Nuremburg laws. I saw Nazi rallies in Munich and Nuremburg; I soon realised Germany was in the grip of an unspeakable evil.
“What I had seen in Hitler’s Germany spurred me to volunteer as soon as I was old enough to fight. I served in 111 Squadron RAF flying Spitfires.
won’t forget
“I feel a chill when I see the BNP stand here. The phraseology might be different, but the message is the same one I heard in Hitler’s Germany. Thousands of my generation won’t forget their sacrifice.”
The musician Billy Bragg staged an impromptu concert for the anti-fascist leaflet distributors on Saturday 17th June at the Dagenham Labour Club, playing numbers from Woody Guthrie and other left-wing and union songs.
He reminded his audience that Woody Guthrie had spent his life giving similar performances throughout the United States, not to formal concerts but to groups of workers and political activists in “draughty halls” and meeting places, while they were engaged in campaigning. And he remembered that Guthrie had written: “This machine kills fascists” on his guitar.
The anti-fascist distributors were from many different political parties: Labour, Liberal Democrat, Green, Respect and New Communist Party as well as from trade unions GMB, TGWU, Unison and many others.
“Political parties come and go but unions remain the same. They look after their members and they look after their communities,” said Bragg. And he pointed out that this struggle was personal for him. He was a Dagenham boy – born and bred – and he took the BNP incursion into his home territory as a personal affront.
The latest issue of the London Worker is now out. Send a sae to: London Worker, PO Box 73, London SW11 2PQ for your free copy.
Thursday, June 16, 2005
The New Worker on sale in London
The New Worker is available in London at:
* Bookmarks, 1 Bloomsbury Street WC1
* Centerprise Bookshop, 136 Kingsland High Street E8
* Housemans Peace Bookshop, 5 Caledonian Road N1
* Index Bookcentre, 16 Electric Avenue SW9
* West London Trade Union Club, 33-35 High Street Acton W3
* The Westminster Bookshop, 8 Artillery Row SW1.
* Bookmarks, 1 Bloomsbury Street WC1
* Centerprise Bookshop, 136 Kingsland High Street E8
* Housemans Peace Bookshop, 5 Caledonian Road N1
* Index Bookcentre, 16 Electric Avenue SW9
* West London Trade Union Club, 33-35 High Street Acton W3
* The Westminster Bookshop, 8 Artillery Row SW1.
Fares Fair – not road pricing
If Blair’s new ID card wasn’t bad enough the Government is now considering a road pricing scheme that would enable the police to monitor everyone who uses a car.
A hidden agenda lies behind this proposal that is clearly linked to the identity card and that is to give the police and security forces ultimate surveillance powers.
Alistair Darling, the Transport Minister, has detailed proposals to replace the current road tax and fuel duties with a high-tech system that is allegedly intended to deal with the growing problem of road congestion. But it can only work if every car is fitted with an electronic satellite tracking device to record every trip made and that is precisely what is intended.
Anyone who lives in any of our major cities knows that congestion is a growing problem though not so much in London, where it has always existed apart from a comparatively brief period following the decline of horse power in the early part of the 20th century. Anyone who uses our motorways knows that the volume of traffic has soared over the past two decades despite the construction of new roads and by-passes over the same period. And increased public awareness of the threat to health and the environment has led to more research into eco-friendly forms of transport that London’s congestion charge scheme favours.
The Darling plan addresses none of these points nor does it seek to solve them except through a scheme that would reduce the volume of traffic by simply making it much more expensive to use the car. Though there’s talk of abolishing the existing road fund license and the colossal tax on fuel there is no firm commitment in the plan floated last week. Even if they were abolished the overall anticipated income from road pricing would have to be far greater to deter motorists. That, after-all, is the declared objective of a plan that would make our road system the exclusive preserve of the rich and add more costs to goods transported by road -- virtually everything these days – which would send prices soaring when the extra charges are passed on to the consumer.
The obvious answer is to get more people and goods onto public transport. Unfortunately that service is no longer “public” but in the hands of grasping private owners concerned only to squeeze the last penny out of people who have no alternative but to use their dubious networks. According to the Department of Transport statistics for 2003 bus and coach fares were 34 per cent higher and rail fares 36 per cent higher in real terms than in 1980 when most of these services were still in public or municipal ownership. In practice people are forced to use their cars because the alternatives are much more expensive and increasingly unreliable.
In 1981 the newly elected Greater London Council under the leadership of Ken Livingstone implemented the “Fares Fair” scheme that made the capital the environmental model for Europe. Bus and Underground fares were cut by a third and it was paid for by a modest increase in the rates. Following the example of Paris London was divided into two zones and season tickets replaced by travel cards that covered all public transport in greater London. Within a year car use in London had dropped by ten per cent. London Transport’s revenue went up by £48 million. Tube usage went up by 44 per cent and bus usage by 14 per cent.
Tory councils moved to kill the experiment in the courts and they succeeded in December 1981. The Thatcher government brought in more controls in 1984 to make sure it never happened again.
“Fares Fair” proved that cutting fares reduces traffic. The re-nationalisation of our rail and road transport companies and the introduction of a new fares fair scheme across the country could easily reduce the problems on our roads and be considerably cheaper than the billions earmarked for the Darling scheme.
A hidden agenda lies behind this proposal that is clearly linked to the identity card and that is to give the police and security forces ultimate surveillance powers.
Alistair Darling, the Transport Minister, has detailed proposals to replace the current road tax and fuel duties with a high-tech system that is allegedly intended to deal with the growing problem of road congestion. But it can only work if every car is fitted with an electronic satellite tracking device to record every trip made and that is precisely what is intended.
Anyone who lives in any of our major cities knows that congestion is a growing problem though not so much in London, where it has always existed apart from a comparatively brief period following the decline of horse power in the early part of the 20th century. Anyone who uses our motorways knows that the volume of traffic has soared over the past two decades despite the construction of new roads and by-passes over the same period. And increased public awareness of the threat to health and the environment has led to more research into eco-friendly forms of transport that London’s congestion charge scheme favours.
The Darling plan addresses none of these points nor does it seek to solve them except through a scheme that would reduce the volume of traffic by simply making it much more expensive to use the car. Though there’s talk of abolishing the existing road fund license and the colossal tax on fuel there is no firm commitment in the plan floated last week. Even if they were abolished the overall anticipated income from road pricing would have to be far greater to deter motorists. That, after-all, is the declared objective of a plan that would make our road system the exclusive preserve of the rich and add more costs to goods transported by road -- virtually everything these days – which would send prices soaring when the extra charges are passed on to the consumer.
The obvious answer is to get more people and goods onto public transport. Unfortunately that service is no longer “public” but in the hands of grasping private owners concerned only to squeeze the last penny out of people who have no alternative but to use their dubious networks. According to the Department of Transport statistics for 2003 bus and coach fares were 34 per cent higher and rail fares 36 per cent higher in real terms than in 1980 when most of these services were still in public or municipal ownership. In practice people are forced to use their cars because the alternatives are much more expensive and increasingly unreliable.
In 1981 the newly elected Greater London Council under the leadership of Ken Livingstone implemented the “Fares Fair” scheme that made the capital the environmental model for Europe. Bus and Underground fares were cut by a third and it was paid for by a modest increase in the rates. Following the example of Paris London was divided into two zones and season tickets replaced by travel cards that covered all public transport in greater London. Within a year car use in London had dropped by ten per cent. London Transport’s revenue went up by £48 million. Tube usage went up by 44 per cent and bus usage by 14 per cent.
Tory councils moved to kill the experiment in the courts and they succeeded in December 1981. The Thatcher government brought in more controls in 1984 to make sure it never happened again.
“Fares Fair” proved that cutting fares reduces traffic. The re-nationalisation of our rail and road transport companies and the introduction of a new fares fair scheme across the country could easily reduce the problems on our roads and be considerably cheaper than the billions earmarked for the Darling scheme.
Sunday, June 12, 2005
Police who shot Harry Stanley arrested
TWO SCOTLAND Yard firearms officers were arrested last week on suspicion of the murder or manslaughter of Harry Stanley in 1999 and attempting to prevent the course of justice.
Harry Stanley, a father of three from Scotland, died after leaving a pub in Hackney carrying a table leg that had just been repaired in a plastic bag. An unknown person had made a call to the police from the pub, claiming he had seen an Irishman carrying a sawn-off shotgun wrapped in a plastic bag.
At the time Harry Stanley was recovering from major abdominal surgery and was unable to move or turn quickly.
The arrests of Chief Inspector Neil Sharman and PC Kevin Fagan follow new forensic evidence which contradicts the evidence given by the two officers about the circumstances of the shooting.
The officers claim they opened fire after shouting: “Stop, armed police”. They had approached Mr Stanley from behind, carrying their weapons drawn.
They said he had turned round and faced them and raised the object they believed to be a gun in a classic gunshot pose.
PC Fagan told the second inquest into the death that he has shouted “drop it” to Mr Stanley but that Stanley then confronted them in a “boxer’s stance”.
Fagan then shot Stanley in the hand while Sharman shot him in the head. A first inquest in June 2002 returned an open verdict.
The second inquest in October last year returned a verdict of unlawful killing, which sparked a fresh investigation into the case by Surrey Police.
The new forensic evidence concerns the positions of the entry and exit wounds, which contradict the account given by the two officers but could strengthen claims by Harry Staley’s family that they believe he was shot in the back.
The family have campaigned since his death for a full investigation and for justice.
Harry Stanley, a father of three from Scotland, died after leaving a pub in Hackney carrying a table leg that had just been repaired in a plastic bag. An unknown person had made a call to the police from the pub, claiming he had seen an Irishman carrying a sawn-off shotgun wrapped in a plastic bag.
At the time Harry Stanley was recovering from major abdominal surgery and was unable to move or turn quickly.
The arrests of Chief Inspector Neil Sharman and PC Kevin Fagan follow new forensic evidence which contradicts the evidence given by the two officers about the circumstances of the shooting.
The officers claim they opened fire after shouting: “Stop, armed police”. They had approached Mr Stanley from behind, carrying their weapons drawn.
They said he had turned round and faced them and raised the object they believed to be a gun in a classic gunshot pose.
PC Fagan told the second inquest into the death that he has shouted “drop it” to Mr Stanley but that Stanley then confronted them in a “boxer’s stance”.
Fagan then shot Stanley in the hand while Sharman shot him in the head. A first inquest in June 2002 returned an open verdict.
The second inquest in October last year returned a verdict of unlawful killing, which sparked a fresh investigation into the case by Surrey Police.
The new forensic evidence concerns the positions of the entry and exit wounds, which contradict the account given by the two officers but could strengthen claims by Harry Staley’s family that they believe he was shot in the back.
The family have campaigned since his death for a full investigation and for justice.
Thursday, June 02, 2005
Bank workers strike over peanuts
AROUND 3,000 members of the union Amicus employed by the HSBC bank took strike action last Friday in protest over a pay deal that left 10 per cent of staff with no pay rise and another 45 per cent with below-inflation rises.
The union picketed the annual shareholders’ meeting in London on the day of the strike, handing out peanuts to those attending to express their feelings about the pay – and warned there would be further industrial action.
Shareholders turning up at the meeting were offered peanuts by protesting staff, highlighting the derogatory pay deal that has been imposed on them despite record profits of £9.6 billion.
Shouts of “HSBC pays peanuts!” filled the air as Amicus members did all they could to raise awareness of their employer’s actions.
The response from shareholders was varied but many understood the need to reward staff for their hard work.
The shareholders’ meeting challenged HSBC chairperson Sir John Bond about his £3.6 million pay packet. One shareholder said this was like “winning the lottery at the weekend as well as during the week”.
One of the striking members of staff was also a shareholder. He told the meeting: “I hope you [Sir John Bond] can sleep at night because I know people who can’t sleep at night because they can’t pay their bills.”
Among the comments made by various shareholders to the picketing strikers were: “The staff should be paid more and they [HSBC] should also employ more staff in the branches; they’ve made enough money.”
“Staff should definitely receive at least the rate of inflation; they are the ones who make the money.”
“Of course I support the staff, totally.”
Rob O’Neill, Amicus national secretary for HSBC was there to show his support. He spoke out about the impending strike action. “It has become very clear that further strikes could go ahead, we are very reluctant to take this action but we have been left with no other option. The staff work hard for their employers and this deserves to be recognised. The only way to resolve this dispute is through negotiation and so far HSBC have refused to do this.”
The bank tried to play down the impact of the strike, claiming that only 1,471 had taken part in the strike and then in a slip admitted that “thousands” had walked out.
The bank also claimed that none of its branches or processing centres had been closed while Amicus said that a processing centre in Birmingham had been closed, along with branches in Liverpool, Preston, Grantham and parts of Scotland had been closed.
And clearly HSBC was concerned about the strength of the strike because immediately after the shareholders’ meeting Michael Geoghegan, the head of retail operations in Britain, raced to Manchester to talk up morale in local branches.
Other senior staff left to carry out the same mission in South Wales and other areas of union militancy
The union picketed the annual shareholders’ meeting in London on the day of the strike, handing out peanuts to those attending to express their feelings about the pay – and warned there would be further industrial action.
Shareholders turning up at the meeting were offered peanuts by protesting staff, highlighting the derogatory pay deal that has been imposed on them despite record profits of £9.6 billion.
Shouts of “HSBC pays peanuts!” filled the air as Amicus members did all they could to raise awareness of their employer’s actions.
The response from shareholders was varied but many understood the need to reward staff for their hard work.
The shareholders’ meeting challenged HSBC chairperson Sir John Bond about his £3.6 million pay packet. One shareholder said this was like “winning the lottery at the weekend as well as during the week”.
One of the striking members of staff was also a shareholder. He told the meeting: “I hope you [Sir John Bond] can sleep at night because I know people who can’t sleep at night because they can’t pay their bills.”
Among the comments made by various shareholders to the picketing strikers were: “The staff should be paid more and they [HSBC] should also employ more staff in the branches; they’ve made enough money.”
“Staff should definitely receive at least the rate of inflation; they are the ones who make the money.”
“Of course I support the staff, totally.”
Rob O’Neill, Amicus national secretary for HSBC was there to show his support. He spoke out about the impending strike action. “It has become very clear that further strikes could go ahead, we are very reluctant to take this action but we have been left with no other option. The staff work hard for their employers and this deserves to be recognised. The only way to resolve this dispute is through negotiation and so far HSBC have refused to do this.”
The bank tried to play down the impact of the strike, claiming that only 1,471 had taken part in the strike and then in a slip admitted that “thousands” had walked out.
The bank also claimed that none of its branches or processing centres had been closed while Amicus said that a processing centre in Birmingham had been closed, along with branches in Liverpool, Preston, Grantham and parts of Scotland had been closed.
And clearly HSBC was concerned about the strength of the strike because immediately after the shareholders’ meeting Michael Geoghegan, the head of retail operations in Britain, raced to Manchester to talk up morale in local branches.
Other senior staff left to carry out the same mission in South Wales and other areas of union militancy
Liberty challenges Richmond child curfew
THE CIVIL rights pressure group Liberty is supporting the case of an unnamed 15-year-old boy who is challenging a Metropolitan Police curfew imposed on all children under 16 in two areas of Richmond-upon-Thames.
The boy, who lives in one of the areas, claims the curfews make it impossible for him to attend band practice, take the dog for a walk or run errands for his mother.
The Met has designated the areas as “child dispersal areas”, where any unaccompanied child under 16 who ventures into the areas after 9pm is liable to be arrested and escorted home, whether or not they have misbehaved.
The areas cover parks, bus stops, cinemas, railway stations and other public places.
The court was told that more than 400 dispersal areas have been set up in England and Wales under the 2003 Anti-Social Behaviour Act, giving police sweeping powers to disperse troublemakers and force them to go home.
The boy told the court, in a written statement: “I resent being taken home because I feel I am old enough to be independent. I’m worried about being picked up and taken home by police when I’ve done nothing wrong. I’m also worried that if I am taken home by police other people will see me and think I have done something wrong.”
Javan Herberg, the lawyer representing the boy, said the effect was to create curfew zones which violated the human rights of innocent young people and were an abuse of common law.
Liberty’s legal officer, Alex Gask, said: “There is a real danger of sweeping ‘anti-yob powers’ demonising an entire generation of mostly decent kids.”
Meanwhile probation officers warn that anti-social behaviour orders (Asbos) are increasingly being used against prostitutes as a “quick fix” way of clearing them off the streets.
They say that the Asbos have effectively reintroduced jail sentences for offences such as loitering and soliciting – which have not been imprisonable offences for more than a decade. Breaching an Asbo can lead to a five-year sentence.
The boy, who lives in one of the areas, claims the curfews make it impossible for him to attend band practice, take the dog for a walk or run errands for his mother.
The Met has designated the areas as “child dispersal areas”, where any unaccompanied child under 16 who ventures into the areas after 9pm is liable to be arrested and escorted home, whether or not they have misbehaved.
The areas cover parks, bus stops, cinemas, railway stations and other public places.
The court was told that more than 400 dispersal areas have been set up in England and Wales under the 2003 Anti-Social Behaviour Act, giving police sweeping powers to disperse troublemakers and force them to go home.
The boy told the court, in a written statement: “I resent being taken home because I feel I am old enough to be independent. I’m worried about being picked up and taken home by police when I’ve done nothing wrong. I’m also worried that if I am taken home by police other people will see me and think I have done something wrong.”
Javan Herberg, the lawyer representing the boy, said the effect was to create curfew zones which violated the human rights of innocent young people and were an abuse of common law.
Liberty’s legal officer, Alex Gask, said: “There is a real danger of sweeping ‘anti-yob powers’ demonising an entire generation of mostly decent kids.”
Meanwhile probation officers warn that anti-social behaviour orders (Asbos) are increasingly being used against prostitutes as a “quick fix” way of clearing them off the streets.
They say that the Asbos have effectively reintroduced jail sentences for offences such as loitering and soliciting – which have not been imprisonable offences for more than a decade. Breaching an Asbo can lead to a five-year sentence.
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Defeat the BNP in Dagenham
Goresbrook, Dagenham by-election 23 June 2005
Anti-BNP campaign activities
The BNP is fighting to retain its only council seat in London in a by-election caused by the resignation of Dan Kelley, 11 days after the BNP’s failure at the general election. Barking and Dagenham Together is mounting an active campaign to ensure that the residents of Goresbrook will not be failed again by the BNP.
Kelley won the seat with 51 per cent of the vote last September but, confronted by a well organised and ongoing community campaign against his party, he threw in the towel citing ill health. In his short term of office he distinguished himself only for telling a journalist that he hadn’t got a clue about what he was doing. “There’s meetings that go right over my head and there’s little point in me being there,” he said. “I’m wasting my time.”
The BNP’s new candidate will be Lawrence Rustem, a man notoriously disliked and distrusted by his fellow party members, because he is a half Turkish Muslim. Nevertheless he polled high percentages in by-elections in Village and Valence wards, Dagenham, last year. His campaign in Village ward used leaflets full of lies in a bid to stoke up fear and resentment in the community.
A failure by the BNP to retain Goresbrook would represent a major blow to the party’s plans to fight most of the seats on Barking and Dagenham council next May and any other by-elections that come up across London.
This by-election is very important and we need the help of as many people as possible. Please pass this notice on to all your contacts.
Saturday 4 June and Saturday 18 June
Mass leaflet distribution, from 10.30am
Tuesday 21 June
Targeted distribution of election material, from 6.00pm
Meet at The Labour Hall, Junction of Tenterden Road and Green Lane, Dagenham.
(nearest stations Dagenham Heathway and Chadwell Heath,
buses 5, 87, 103, 150, 173, 175 pass nearby)
Please bring cars wherever possible (especially on 21 June) for transport to designated streets in the ward.
Anti-BNP campaign activities
The BNP is fighting to retain its only council seat in London in a by-election caused by the resignation of Dan Kelley, 11 days after the BNP’s failure at the general election. Barking and Dagenham Together is mounting an active campaign to ensure that the residents of Goresbrook will not be failed again by the BNP.
Kelley won the seat with 51 per cent of the vote last September but, confronted by a well organised and ongoing community campaign against his party, he threw in the towel citing ill health. In his short term of office he distinguished himself only for telling a journalist that he hadn’t got a clue about what he was doing. “There’s meetings that go right over my head and there’s little point in me being there,” he said. “I’m wasting my time.”
The BNP’s new candidate will be Lawrence Rustem, a man notoriously disliked and distrusted by his fellow party members, because he is a half Turkish Muslim. Nevertheless he polled high percentages in by-elections in Village and Valence wards, Dagenham, last year. His campaign in Village ward used leaflets full of lies in a bid to stoke up fear and resentment in the community.
A failure by the BNP to retain Goresbrook would represent a major blow to the party’s plans to fight most of the seats on Barking and Dagenham council next May and any other by-elections that come up across London.
This by-election is very important and we need the help of as many people as possible. Please pass this notice on to all your contacts.
Saturday 4 June and Saturday 18 June
Mass leaflet distribution, from 10.30am
Tuesday 21 June
Targeted distribution of election material, from 6.00pm
Meet at The Labour Hall, Junction of Tenterden Road and Green Lane, Dagenham.
(nearest stations Dagenham Heathway and Chadwell Heath,
buses 5, 87, 103, 150, 173, 175 pass nearby)
Please bring cars wherever possible (especially on 21 June) for transport to designated streets in the ward.
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Barking council workers furious
STAFF employed by the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham are outraged at a decision by the council’s assembly on 18th May to agree on the nod the removal of the right of appeal for the whole workforce.
More than 100 council employees had attended the meeting to lobby their employers only to see the draconian measure passed swiftly without debate or even acknowledgement of the presence of the workers.
One worker, a member of the GMB general union, wrote to the councillors: “I was one of the Barking and Dagenham council employees (and a ratepayer) who attended the full council assembly meeting on Wednesday 18th May.
“I attended in the hope of being able to address councillors before they voted to take away employees’ right to appeal to them concerning work-related matters.
“I have to say I am disgusted at the way we were completely ignored and the vote went through without any discussion with the employees that this matter concerns.
“In fact before the vote it wasn’t even mentioned by title what they were voting on and the vote went ahead and passed on what seemed like a nod, not even a show of hands.
“The assembly’s failure to even address the staff has led to a petition that has collected over 1,000 signatures in the first four days.”
Tony Morris, Transport and General Workers’ Union convenor at Barking and Dagenham, said: “Rob Whiteman, chief executive, has managed to earn himself a bad reputation among council staff.”
Sandra Vincent, APEX/GMB convenor at Barking and Dagenham council said: “At the moment, if any council employee is put under disciplinary action or has a grievance against the council, including accusations of bullying, harassment and discrimination and the grading of jobs, they have the right of appeal to councillors.
“As a result of the assembly’s failure to tackle the new chief executive Rob Whitman over his disgraceful proposal, the staff will lose that right as from the 1st of June this year.”
Unison branch secretary Tony Browne said: “If the council thinks that by pretending its workforce don’t exist, this issue will just go away, they’d better think again, and quickly. We’ll be back at the next assembly with a petition signed by thousands of the workforce, and we’ll keep coming back until we are acknowledged and listened to.”
More than 100 council employees had attended the meeting to lobby their employers only to see the draconian measure passed swiftly without debate or even acknowledgement of the presence of the workers.
One worker, a member of the GMB general union, wrote to the councillors: “I was one of the Barking and Dagenham council employees (and a ratepayer) who attended the full council assembly meeting on Wednesday 18th May.
“I attended in the hope of being able to address councillors before they voted to take away employees’ right to appeal to them concerning work-related matters.
“I have to say I am disgusted at the way we were completely ignored and the vote went through without any discussion with the employees that this matter concerns.
“In fact before the vote it wasn’t even mentioned by title what they were voting on and the vote went ahead and passed on what seemed like a nod, not even a show of hands.
“The assembly’s failure to even address the staff has led to a petition that has collected over 1,000 signatures in the first four days.”
Tony Morris, Transport and General Workers’ Union convenor at Barking and Dagenham, said: “Rob Whiteman, chief executive, has managed to earn himself a bad reputation among council staff.”
Sandra Vincent, APEX/GMB convenor at Barking and Dagenham council said: “At the moment, if any council employee is put under disciplinary action or has a grievance against the council, including accusations of bullying, harassment and discrimination and the grading of jobs, they have the right of appeal to councillors.
“As a result of the assembly’s failure to tackle the new chief executive Rob Whitman over his disgraceful proposal, the staff will lose that right as from the 1st of June this year.”
Unison branch secretary Tony Browne said: “If the council thinks that by pretending its workforce don’t exist, this issue will just go away, they’d better think again, and quickly. We’ll be back at the next assembly with a petition signed by thousands of the workforce, and we’ll keep coming back until we are acknowledged and listened to.”
Racist cop trapped by mobile phone record
A KURDISH youth who faced outrageous racist abuse from a Metropolitan Police constable secretly recorded the tirade on his mobile phone and now the constable faces the sack within weeks.
PC David Yates is currently suspended from duty and facing a criminal investigation after a court heard a recording in which he allegedly told the youth, during an arrest, that he would “smash his fucking Arab head in”.
Yates had gone to court last Friday to testify against the youth, who had been charged with a public order offence and who was arrested by Yates.
The case against the youth was thrown out of court as the judge ruled that Yates’s evidence was unreliable.
Yates had arrested the 16-year-old previously on suspicion of rape but the boy had been cleared in court.
The conversation recorded on the youth’s mobile phone featured obscenities, racist abuse and a threat to frame the boy.
Now the Police Complaints Authority is looking into the incident.
Arzu Pesman of the Kurdish Federation in Britain said her community faced routine prejudice. “Police are looking at people’s faces and considering they are criminals,” she said.
And she added that the focus on immigration during the recent election campaign had added to the abuse faced by Kurds.
PC David Yates is currently suspended from duty and facing a criminal investigation after a court heard a recording in which he allegedly told the youth, during an arrest, that he would “smash his fucking Arab head in”.
Yates had gone to court last Friday to testify against the youth, who had been charged with a public order offence and who was arrested by Yates.
The case against the youth was thrown out of court as the judge ruled that Yates’s evidence was unreliable.
Yates had arrested the 16-year-old previously on suspicion of rape but the boy had been cleared in court.
The conversation recorded on the youth’s mobile phone featured obscenities, racist abuse and a threat to frame the boy.
Now the Police Complaints Authority is looking into the incident.
Arzu Pesman of the Kurdish Federation in Britain said her community faced routine prejudice. “Police are looking at people’s faces and considering they are criminals,” she said.
And she added that the focus on immigration during the recent election campaign had added to the abuse faced by Kurds.
Thousands march for Palestine in London
SEVERAL thousand workers last Saturday assembled on London’s Victoria Embankment for a short but noisy and colourful march to Trafalgar Square in support of the demands of the Palestinian people for Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories and the right to return for all displaced Palestinian refugees and their families.
There were many Palestinian organisations on the march, along with trade unions, political parties and many other progressive groups who marched on regardless of several sudden and heavy showers.
There were also several Jewish groups, including the Jewish Socialist Group and Torah Jewry who were there to express solidarity with the Palestinians and to remind the world that the imperialist Zionist Sharon government in no way represents all Jews.
The demonstration is held annually on the weekend nearest to 15th May, the anniversary of the end of the British colonial mandate in Palestine in 1948 and the violent birth of the modern state of Israel, which led to the expulsion of over a million Palestinians from their homes and the Deir Yassin Massacre.
Speakers at the Trafalgar Square rally included many representatives of Palestinian organisations and regulars like Islington North Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn, peace campaign veteran Bruce Kent and Tony Benn.
Also present, recently returned from his headline grabbing trip to Washington was George Galloway, the newly-elected Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow.
He had lost none of his articulacy as he lambasted the deed, carried out “in that House of criminals just down the road” (Parliament) where Balfour betrayed the Palestinian Arabs and gave their land – over which he had no rightful authority – away to a third party, resulting in the state of Israel.
He also had some very harsh words for the corrupt Arab princes who time and again betray the Palestinians in order to pander to the American and British imperialists.
“The Arab peoples will never be free until they deal with them,” he told the crowd.
There were many Palestinian organisations on the march, along with trade unions, political parties and many other progressive groups who marched on regardless of several sudden and heavy showers.
There were also several Jewish groups, including the Jewish Socialist Group and Torah Jewry who were there to express solidarity with the Palestinians and to remind the world that the imperialist Zionist Sharon government in no way represents all Jews.
The demonstration is held annually on the weekend nearest to 15th May, the anniversary of the end of the British colonial mandate in Palestine in 1948 and the violent birth of the modern state of Israel, which led to the expulsion of over a million Palestinians from their homes and the Deir Yassin Massacre.
Speakers at the Trafalgar Square rally included many representatives of Palestinian organisations and regulars like Islington North Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn, peace campaign veteran Bruce Kent and Tony Benn.
Also present, recently returned from his headline grabbing trip to Washington was George Galloway, the newly-elected Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow.
He had lost none of his articulacy as he lambasted the deed, carried out “in that House of criminals just down the road” (Parliament) where Balfour betrayed the Palestinian Arabs and gave their land – over which he had no rightful authority – away to a third party, resulting in the state of Israel.
He also had some very harsh words for the corrupt Arab princes who time and again betray the Palestinians in order to pander to the American and British imperialists.
“The Arab peoples will never be free until they deal with them,” he told the crowd.
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Barking workers defend union rights
TRADE UNIONISTS gathered outside a councillors’ assembly meeting on Wednesday, 18th May in Barking Town Hall to protest at a proposal to remove the right of appeal from the borough’s 6,000 council workers if they have a problem at work.
The joint trade unions, including the GMB, the Transport and General Workers’ Union and Unison, applied to address the assembly.
Currently, if any council employee is put under disciplinary action or has a grievance against the council, including accusations of bullying, harassment and discrimination and the grading of jobs, they have the right of appeal.
But if the council’s new chief executive, Rob Whiteman, has his way, that right will be removed.
GMB convenor Sandra Vincent said: “Councillors are being told that this change is necessary because, apparently, in some other councils where there is no final appeal to councillors, staff morale is allegedly higher than in Barking and Dagenham!
“This is of course nonsense. Staff morale will be made worse if directors and managers are no longer accountable to councillors at appeals for their decisions on matters like sex discrimination, bullying and harassment.”
Unison branch secretary Tony Browne said: “Our experiences show that the other councils who have done similar have had huge increases in legal costs as workers go to court seeking justice denied them locally. As usual the local ratepayer foots the bill.”
TGWU convenor Tony Morris said: “If the right of appeal is taken away from Baking and Dagenham’s employees then a vital safety net will be removed from all council employees and a serious wedge put between the workforce and the employer. This is all about taking power from elected councillors and giving it to unelected managers.”
The joint trade unions, including the GMB, the Transport and General Workers’ Union and Unison, applied to address the assembly.
Currently, if any council employee is put under disciplinary action or has a grievance against the council, including accusations of bullying, harassment and discrimination and the grading of jobs, they have the right of appeal.
But if the council’s new chief executive, Rob Whiteman, has his way, that right will be removed.
GMB convenor Sandra Vincent said: “Councillors are being told that this change is necessary because, apparently, in some other councils where there is no final appeal to councillors, staff morale is allegedly higher than in Barking and Dagenham!
“This is of course nonsense. Staff morale will be made worse if directors and managers are no longer accountable to councillors at appeals for their decisions on matters like sex discrimination, bullying and harassment.”
Unison branch secretary Tony Browne said: “Our experiences show that the other councils who have done similar have had huge increases in legal costs as workers go to court seeking justice denied them locally. As usual the local ratepayer foots the bill.”
TGWU convenor Tony Morris said: “If the right of appeal is taken away from Baking and Dagenham’s employees then a vital safety net will be removed from all council employees and a serious wedge put between the workforce and the employer. This is all about taking power from elected councillors and giving it to unelected managers.”
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