| A new left alliance? AT A MEETING of twenty activists in Dublin in late July it was argued that the local election results show that there is the basis for a left alliance or a new working class party. |
As politicians restart talks - Sectarian divisions deepen THE MAIN local political parties and the Irish and British governments are once again locked in talks in an attempt to resurrect the Assembly and to re-establish an Executive. Sections of the media are playing up the chances of success, backing up their arguments with selective quotes from Gerry Adams, Peter Robinson and Jeffrey Donaldson. By Ciaran Mulholland |
Siege in Najaf - Iraqi Resistance grows THE SIEGE of Najaf is the latest episode that underlines the fact that neither US Imperialism nor their puppet "Iraqi government" led by Iyad Allawi control Iraq. By Stephen Boyd |
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| Iraq: - Soldier's relative speaks out CAMPAIGNS AGAINST the occupation of Iraq and anti war demonstrations have been spearheaded by the families of military personnel. Socialist Voice spoke to one such family member currently working in Ireland, Wayne Scott Feller, whose brother, Ryan is a reservist serving in Iraq. |
How to take on the racists RACIST ATTACKS are now an almost daily occurrence across the North, many carried out by fascist groups as well as elements of the loyalist paramilitaries, especially in South Belfast. By Larry Cummings |
Pressure Labour and Sinn Fein to kick out tax THE DUBLIN City Council estimates meetings in November and December will be a focus of the anti-bin tax campaigns in the coming months. By Kevin McLoughlin |
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| Venezuela Right-wing referendum defeat FIFTY-EIGHT percent of Venezuelans have voted against the recall of President Chavez in a referendum that was demanded by the right-wing parties and their supporters. Despite the opposition claims of electoral fraud, this result is a clear victory for the reforming government led by Hugo Chavez. By Paul Murphy |
Interview with Venezuelan revolutionary socialist Yasmin, a leading member of the Venezuelan revolutionary socialist organisation Utopia attended the CWI summer school in Belgium and spoke to the Socialist Voice. |
Joe Higgins Column He attended the Australian SP conference in mid August |
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| Stop the pillage of Aer Lingus
AER LINGUS Chief Executive Willie Walsh announces a three-year plan involving the axing of 1,325 jobs from the national airline just weeks after he and his management team stated their wish to buy the company. He should have been immediately removed from his position because of a clear conflict of interest - the fact that he wasn't means he was acting with the knowledge and support of the government. By Councillor Clare Daly and Susan Henry. |
Aer Lingus - NO JOB CUTS!
AER LINGUS is being prepared for the auctioneer's hammer. Management and the government are conspiring to sack workers, outsource its core areas and ditch its international alliances to turn it into a low fares airline for privatisation. By Stephen Boyd |
Urgent action to save postal service AS PART of the new plan to "save" An Post, SDS, the parcel service, is to be closed with the loss of 274 jobs. Staff members learned about these job cuts through the media. The main trade union involved, the CWU, has so far only offered verbal opposition to the closure and complained to the partnership body, the National Implemen-tation Body. However staff at SDS are very angry and feel betrayed by the company. By Terry Kelleher Trustee CPSU |
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| Brinks Allied - Workers lives on the line AFTER BEING locked out by management for three weeks, security workers at Brinks Allied went on strike on 23 August. |
Civil Service Dispute all out to win! THE CIVIL Service pay dispute has reached a critical stage. The government is offering no pay increase for 2003 and only a miserable increase for 2004. NIPSA have rejected this and are recommending that members vote for an all out indefinite strike. By Paul Dale, Civil Service Executive Committee NIPSA (personal capacity) |
Support civil service workers Call a one day public sector strike FIGHT BACK HAS BEGUN THE BLAIR government is declaring war on public services and public service workers. |
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| Irish Cement: Eleventh hour talks avert strike OVER 200 workers at Irish Cement's Platin plant have voted to go on strike. The dispute centres on bonus payments and pensions and has been brewing for over a year. Workers at Platin are represented by several unions with the ATGWU being the largest. Despite only the ATGWU serving strike notice on the company, workers from the other unions have agreed to strike as well. By Mark Hoskins |
Cork: Gurrane residents target City Hall RESIDENTS OF Gurranabra-her on Cork's Northside will march on the 27 September meeting of Cork City Council to demand a comprehensive programme of traffic calming measures for their community. By Anthony Hetherington |
Dessian strike report "The union led me straight to the dole queue!" AFTER EIGHT weeks on strike Dessian workers returned to work at the start of July. The strike began over the sacking of one of the two T&GWU shop stewards by this Belfast firm. |
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| Schools face massive budget cuts THE SOUTH Eastern and Belfast Education and Library Boards have been rocked by a massive cash shortfall, and have submitted accounts that show deficits. By Brian Booth |
Fire Fighters say.. No backtracking on the deal MORE THAN 5,000 members of the Fire Brigades Union are balloting for industrial action following the failure of the Fire Service employers to honour the agreement that ended the firefighters' strike in June 2003. By Tony Maguire |
€10 MINIMUM WAGE NOW! Over the past few years, sweatshop bosses have made a fortune off the backs of young workers. While people like Michael O'Leary, Tony O'Reilly and Michael Smurfit have made millions, the wages and living conditions of young people remain dreadful. |
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| Non-payment threat rattles government IT'S OFFICIAL - the Government has been rocked by the threat of mass non-payment of water charges! By Tommy Black |
TAKING ON LOW PAY BOSSES IN OMAGH MEMBERS OF Omagh Socialist Youth picketed the Supervalu store in the centre of the town at the end of August in protest at the poverty wages paid to young members of staff. By Daniel Waldron, Omagh Socialist Youth |
Swords rezoning - A recipe for disaster PLANS TO rezone huge parts of Swords is causing growing anger and concern amongst local people. Ridgewood/ Rivervalley on one side and Castleview/ Applewood on the other, will see an explosion of thousands of new houses being built on an existing green belt. Swords would grow by almost 25% placing further strain on already inadequate local services. |
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| How we unionised Flextronics FLEXTRONICS, THE multinational semi-conductor manufacturer, has 101 factories in 32 countries. Socialist Voice spoke to a shop steward on how they unionised the Limerick Flextronics factory. |
Privatisation plans leaked REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Minister John Spellar announced in August that from April 2006 the water service would be administered by a new 'GoCo' (government-owned company ). This GoCo is in reality another step towards the privatisation of the water service. By Gary Mulcahy |
Here are earlier editions of Socialist Voice |
