>New Worker Online Digest > >Week commencing 17th March, 2000. > >1) Editorial - Alright for some. > >2) Lead story - Rover jobs in the balance. > >3) Feature article - Superheads quit problem schools. > >4) International story - Galloway angry at relief flight ban. > >5) British news item - Blair drags out damage to Irish peace process. > > >1) Editorial > >Alright for some. > >LAST week two people shared a paper fortune of £llO million when the >internet company they had founded was floated on the stock market. The >company, which has still to show a profit, ended its first day of trading >valued at £133 million. > > Investors in the enterprise, Lastminute.com, are effectively gambling that >this and other new internet businesses will become highly successful and >rake them in huge profits. Of course they could just as easily be flops. > > In the same week we heard that German car giant BMW may be preparing to >sell off its Rover arm, either in part or totally. If this happens 10,000 >workers could lose their jobs at Longbridge, 2,000 jobs could go at Cowley >in Oxford, another 5,000 could be lost at Solihull plus many thousands of >other jobs in the supporting industries. > > The workers, as usual, are among the last people to know what is going on >and have had no say in the decision-making at all. If the worst happens the >knock-on effect will be enormous and particularly devastating for the >Midlands as a whole. > > The threatened disaster for Rover and the cork-popping success for >Lastminute.com show that it is indeed true that capitalism throws up both >multi-millionaires on the one hand and the scourge of unemployment and >hardship on the other. But most significantly it shows that in relative >terms only a tiny handful become millionaires while many millions get to >experience job insecurity and hardship. > > The two events also highlight the fact that real power -- state power -- >in a capitalist country lies with the capitalist class and not with the >elected government of the day. Virtually all of the economy is in private >hands and this is only ever subjected to a paltry taxation system and >minimal regulations such as health and safety laws (which workers have >fought for) and rules largely designed to stop the rich from openly >cheating each other. > > Though the working class creates all the wealth in the world it has no say >in a capitalist society as to where investment is made, what work is needed >by the people nor how the wealth is distributed. > > When wealth is expressed in terms of money it's relationship to work >becomes harder to see. The capitalist class, who owes everything it has to >the labour of others, is at pains to hide this fact from sight. The rich >pretend they have earned their wealth -- even though they produce nothing >at all and serve no one but themselves. This implies of course that the >rest of us deserve all we get and should, like them, work harder. > > Yet everyone knows that the thousands of car workers waiting to hear if >they have a job tomorrow are worried sick. They want to work. It is not >their fault that BMW might decide to throw them out of work. And it will >not be the fault of workers in subsidiary industries if their jobs go down >the drain as well. > > The fault lies with the system itself -- a system that is anti-human and >solely concerned with making ever-rising profits for a privileged few. > > In this dog-eat-dog system every boss wants to pay as little as possible >in wages, taxes and social benefits. This way they get to keep more. for >themselves and this in turn helps them outdo their rivals. They also of >course want to sell their company's goods or services to as many people as >possible for as much money as possible. But of course the customers are >also the same people whose wages are kept low and who have little to spend. >The result is a crisis of over-production. > > Some firms will then go bust because they can't sell enough goods. The >workers from those firms go on the dole where they are paid even less money >and can afford to buy even less. This makes the whole situation worse. >Billions of people across the world suffer from this global crisis. > > But the biggest capitalists can still laugh their way to the bank because >they can buy up the folded companies, make themselves even bigger and call >the shots in the marketplace. > > Governments make feeble efforts to deal with the situation. Sometimes they >try to encourage cheap credit -- getting workers to spend tomorrow's wages >as well as today's. Sometimes they prop up low wages with social security >benefits for low income families. None of it solves the problem or makes >the crisis go away. > > Capitalism has had it's day and has to go. Only a socialist society in >which the working class holds the reins of power can bring these dreadful >crises to an end and provide a secure and hopeful future to the world. This >is the task of our time! > > ************************** > >2) Lead story > >Rover jobs in the balance. > >by Daphne Liddle > >AROUND 50,000 manufacturing jobs are at risk as we go to press after the >German BMW car company last week announced it was reconsidering the future >of Rover cars. > > This comes just 16 months after a package was agreed between BMW, the >British government and trade unions at the Rover plants at Longbridge and >Cowley. > > The Rover plants had been losing money for some time and BMW decided it >must either close it down or make drastic changes. > > In December 1998, a deal was worked out for BMW to invest in a complete >restructuring of the Longbridge plant, helped by a £150 million support >package from the Government. > > BMW said it would produce the new Millennium Mini at Longbridge. > > The workers had to accept 2,500 job cuts -- in addition to 1,500 that had >already gone that year -- and the introduction of new working practices. > > This was a bitter pill but swallowed in preference to seeing the plant >closed down. > > BMW also conducted a big shake up of its own board of directors with chief >Bernd Pischetsrieder and his possible successor Wolfgang Reitzie both >quitting in 1999. > > Joachim Milberg was then appointed to lead the company and he confirmed >the package and plans to build a new medium sized car at Longbridge. > > The company did not give any guarantee the new package would work or would >solve the crisis at the plant in the long term. > > Since then, European Union red tape has held up the Government grant and >Rover cars are still not selling as well as they should. > > The cars have been very highly praised but they do not sell well. > > The truth is that all car companies are struggling to sell in a market >that is more than over supplied. > > BMW bosses had promised to allow Rover until 2002 to break even. But >losses for 1999 ballooned to £lOO million from £600 million the year before. > > The delay in the EU decision on the government grant is causing real >problems and Trade and Industry Secretary Stephen Byers has pledged to meet >European competition commissioner Mario Monti to urge a quick decision. > > BMW is to discuss the future of Rover this Thursday and has promised an >announcement on Friday. There is speculation it may sell Rover, the brand >name and the Longbridge plant to an unknown buyer. > > Speculators say this may be a British-American consortium not so far >associated with big motor manufacturers. > > They also say that BMW may keep the Landrover production at Cowley and the >Millennium Mini and sell the rest. > > Workers at the plant are dismayed at this new threat to their future -- >over the past two years they have gone from one crisis to another. > > Tony Woodley, speaking for the Transport and General Workers' Union, said: >"Selling off Rover would be unacceptable to the workforce and no doubt the >Government." > > Sir Ken Jackson, general secretary of the AEEU engineering union, accused >BMW of impatience and not allowing enough time for a turn around in the >profitability of Rover. > > This demonstrates that no amount of worker compliance with bosses' demands >can protect jobs. The capitalist system of unplanned production, that >produces surpluses of commodities that no one can afford to buy is >inexorable and inevitably leads to cycles of boom and bust. > > Around 9,000 workers are employed at Longbridge but, indirectly a total of >50,000 jobs depend on the Rover plants at Cowley and Longbridge. > > ********************* > > >3) Feature article > >Superheads quit problem schools. > >by Caroline Colebrook > >EDUCATION Secretary David Blunkett last week Faced a major setback to the >government policy For improving schools in trouble when two "superhead" >teachers, brought in to turn round schools that had been "named and >shamed", quit within a few days of each other. > > The first was Torsten Friedag, brought in on £70,000 a year to create a >new school out of the "failed" George Orwell Comprehensive in Islington, >north London, renamed as the Islington Arts and Media School. > > Just six months after taking on the task, he has resigned. > > When he Look over the publicity attracted 400 applications for 50 teaching >posts and some local middle class parents decided to send their children >there. > > David Blunkett re-opened the school saying: "This school is committed to >ensuring that the life chances of children here can match those who can buy >private education or those who live in catchment areas where schools have >been working well for years. > > Before Mr Friedag had taken over, fewer than ten per cent of pupils >achieved five GCSE at levels between A and C. > > Many children were refugees or in care and they spoke a total of 25 >different languages. The buildings were in a poor state. > > Furthermore the school had been "named and shamed". Children and teachers >were demoralised. > > Mr Friedag said his fist instinct was to close the school for a year for >major structural repairs but this was impractical. This meant that during >the first year as a new school children and teachers had to work with >scaffolding, drilling and other building work going on around them. > > The new school had been promised a lot including a radio studio and >support from local business, including new technology companies. > > Disillusion set in quickly with high levels of violent and disruptive >behaviour from pupils. > > It was not long before Mr Friedag was getting the same treatment as his >predecessors and local Liberal Democrat councillors were saying he had lost >his grip. > > Two weeks ago a troubleshooter was sent in, John Leovald, a former Acton >High School head. > > Then earlier this week, Caroline McAlpine announced she would quit >Firfield School in Newcastle upon Tyne -- formerly known as Blakelaw -- >where she had been brought in, also at £70,000 a year, to give a fresh >start to the "named and shamed" school. > > She began by trying to tackle high levels of truancy. She persuaded some >parents to educate persistent non-attenders at home and bribed others with >£80 bonuses for 15 and 16-year-olds meeting behaviour and attendance targets. > > The school nearly faced a strike at the new year as teachers refused to >teach some disruptive pupils. > > The Newcastle Education Authority commented: "Improvements have been made >to the learning environment in a very short period". But it added that >urgent problems still remained, standards of numeracy were low and there >was "inconsistency" in the quality of lessons and attendance. > > The school's reputation remained low and it failed to attract new pupils. >Extra funding depended on more pupils and that target was missed, meaning >the school was doomed to lose more staff. > > After 18 months, Ms McAlpine decided her prospects were better as head of >an education action zone in Great Yarmouth. > > These two cases illustrate plainly that the problems faced by inner city >schools cannot be solved by quick fixes or superteachers. > > There was probably nothing wrong with the original teachers except low pay >and low morale in the face of impossible problems. > > The problems go far widerand deeper. In both areas the children come from >homes facing enormous economic disadvantages. > > Newcastle was once an industrial area with coal-mining, ship building and >so on. Now it has nothing to offer in the way of prospects for growing >children. > > Two decades of cuts in local government spending have seen schools >throughout Britain deprived of special needs teachers who could help those >disruptive pupils in small groups. > > Funding for pupils who needed English as a second language was withdrawn. >When pupils cannot fully understand their lessons it is not surprising they >become frustrated, bored and disruptive. > > A few disruptive pupils in a large class can make it impossible to teach >and soon the other pupils have no incentive to behave or make an effort. > > These schools need more teachers, not more cuts. They do not need the bad >publicity of being labelled as failing. > > Nigel de Gruchy, general secretary of the National Association of >Schoolmasters and Union of Women Teachers, said: "The reality is becoming >clear that even with brilliant heads and staff, these schools do not succeed". > > David Blunkett must heed the warning that the quick fix approach does not >work -- this is the philosophy behind the "education action zones". > > These will bring yet more disappointment and failure. Private enterprise >will get involved to reap profits but run a mile when things are going badly. > > These children need time, effort, more teachers, smaller classes but above >all they need a socialist society that can guarantee them prospects of >decent jobs and a reason to want to learn. > > * David Blunkett last week reneged on the Labour promise to end selection >at 11 in education and declared arguments about selection as "past agenda". > > His remark followed a ballot victory by pro-selection campaigners in >Ripen, Yorkshire. > > * As we go to press a third "superhead" has quit. Tony Garwood, appointed >principal of the East Brighton College of Media Arts to rescue pupils from >indiscipline and under-achievement, has announced his resignation. > > The secondary school near Roedean has long-term problems. Mr Garwood's >decision to leave came after an emergency staff meeting at which teachers >complained that he and the chair of governors, Frieda Warman-Brown, >suppressed a letter from the local education authority expressing grave >concerns about the school. > > A senior teacher at the school has reported that 18 staff have quit in >less than rwo terms, forcing the employment of 58 supply teachers and said: >"The situation at the school is a hundred times worse than last year" > > ************************* > >4) International story > >Galloway angry at relief flight ban. > >by Our Middle East Affairs correspondent > >CAMPAIGNING Labour MP George Galloway is in Jordan supervising the delivery >of three tons of vital vaccines and medicines for beleaguered Iraq >collected by the Mariam Appeal charity. > > But he's furious at the manouevres of the British govemment which blocked >attempts to get the shipment flown directly to Baghdad. The mercy flight >has had to halt at the Jordanian capital of Amman and its vital cargo for >the people of Iraq must now take the thousand mile desert route by lorry to >Baghdad. > > "I am bitter and angry because we should be in Iraq by now," George told >the Arab media on Monday as he prepared for the overland trip. > > "The medicine is arriving tomorrow by plane and includes expensive and >sensitive medicine, such as vaccines for rabies, diptheria and typhoid," >Galloway said. "It is the first time that the British government has given >permission for the export of such medicine to Iraq". > > The Labour MP had harsh words for the obstructions put in the way of the >mercy flight by the Blair government despite earlier indications that it >would receive a sympathetic response. The request was eventually referred >to the Anglo-American dominated UN Sanctions Committee -- where it was >predictably blocked. > > The Mariam Appeal had chartered a plane to take 209 supporters, >journalists, aid workers and doctors along with the medical aid directly to >Baghdad. After British government objections this was scaled down to 29. >Even this was too much for the Foreign Office to swallow. The government >swiftly referred it to the notorious sanctions committee which imposed a >virtual veto on the flight. > > The sanctions committee demanded precise details on the purpose of every >single person travelling on board this mercy flight -- giving Galloway just >three hours to comply with the request. > > As the majority of the 29 passengers left were journalists the Marian >Appeal saw this "as a wrecking manoeuvre designed to ensure media exposure >of the suffering in Iraq remains beyond the gaze of the general public". > > George has filed a high court action requesting a judicial review of >whether the government had acted lawfully in referring the request to the >Sanctions Committee. > > >illogical > > "We are confident we will win the case because it is totally illogical to >allow trips to Iraq by ship or car and to ban flights there" Galloway >declared. > > On Friday 10 March a leading London peace activist started a death-fast in >protest at the continuing blockade o fIraq. Richard Crump, a leading member >of Voices in the Wilderness and Ex-Services CND said: " I don't want to >die. But I am willing to risk my health and my life. A fresh millennium has >dawned, with a good deal of hype, flashing lights, etc. But the wickedness >continues re: Iraq, as it has done for the past ten years. Crippling >sanctions continue to cause death and privation and the bombing of that >country by British and American aircraft is so commonplace as to be >un-newsworthy. My feeling is that we are entering a new era of barbarism". > > Iraq is giving 10 million dollars-worth of crude oil to Vietnam to help >the country overcome the aftermath of the tragic floods which hit the >country's central provinces in November and December 1999. The aid is >outside the oil-for-food programme organised by the United Nations. > > ********************* > >5) British news item > >Blair drags out damage to Irish peace process. > >by Steve Lawton > >SUSPENDING the Northern Ireland Assembly dealt a serious blow to the Irish >peace process, which the British government -- following last weeks >inconciusive talks -- shows no sign of rectifying. Consequently, Sinn Fein >are mobilising for the struggle to regain their rights. > > The destabilising Unionist tactic of insisting the IRA begin >decommissioning its weapons, in breach of the Good Friday Agreement, has >been bolstered by the failure of British demilitarisation of its occupation >forces and apparatus to date. > > Martin McGuinness MP, Sinn Fein's chief negotiator, said last Monday that >that puts the British government itself in breach of the Good Friday >Agreement: "It is almost six years since the IRA cessation, yet we still >have military bases on top of people's homes in Belfast." > > On Tuesday Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams made it clear that the 22nd May >deadline for decommissioning no longer exists because the voters' mandate >has been made "conditional upon armed groups decommissioning their weapons, >and to do so in a certain way, in certain conditions and by a certain time, >have totally and absolutely confused and subverted the entire process." > > Since suspension the northern Ireland secretary Peter Mandelson has been >making a central point of decommissioning, albeit couched in terms of all >paramiiitary weapons. He said at Hillsborough Castle, County Down on Monday >that retaining weapons is blocking progress. > > The language of "secret plans" and guns that can be pulled at any moment >clearly ignores the reason why the peace process is taking place and why >there is a long, deep conflict that has divided Ireland. Persisting on that >line means the British government is disowning its responsibility for the >past that necessitated a solution and the present of actually working it out. > > Consequently, the political vacuum widens. Concerns of tension are rising >again as the forthcoming Orange Parades loom, particularly Garvaghy Road >and Lower Ormeau Road. Hard line unionism aims to strengthen its position >at the UUP annual conference Saturday week. That prospect ought to be a >deadline for the British government to consider bringing unionism in line >with the Good Friday Agreement. > > The British government has within it's grasp the capacity to take the heat >out of unionist intransigence. Mandelson said on Monday that one >"confidence building measure after another" needs to be set in train on >decommissioning. > > Strange that he didn't think that applied to British military occupation. >Where's the confidence in crudely severed towns with demarcation walls, >watchtowers and spymasts over Catholic and nationalist homes and menacing >patrols, quite apart from the RUC? > > In Melbourne, Australia the Irish Premier Bertie Ahern conceded that the >presence of British Army forces in south Armagh is the root of "harassment >and annoyance". > > Addressing the Australia-Ireland Fund, he said: "It would make an immense >contribution to confidence-building if the public could feel assured that >every organisation was involved in the northern Ireland conflict and >accepts that a return to an armed campaign is not an option." > > And this, he pointed out, "includes de-scaling of military dispositions by >the [British] security forces as provided in the [Good Friday Agreement." >He said Republicans have "suffered greatly from coercion." > > The South Armagh Farmers & Residents Committee (SAFRC) explained: "People >are becoming more vocal [against] the continued military build-up and are >demanding the immediate withdrawal of all the British and RUC paraphernalia." > > While talks between the British and Irish governments and the key parties >continues, Gerry Adams put out a call for grassroots action. Speaking last >Sunday to thousands gathered on the Falls Road, West Belfast he urged them >to take ownership of the struggle and to join Sinn Fein. He told them: "The >Orange card was played and the British caved in." > > Demonstrations were organised by the Party in the north last weekend in >Randalstown, Country Antrim and Derry. In Belfast protesters converged on >the huge British Divis Tower and spy centre from several locations. "There >is anger within republicanism that once again we get a situation that >Ireland votes and Britain vetoes," Gerry Adams said. > > He warned: "What Peter Mandelson has to learn is that you people will not >and cannot be taken for granted." He said this was nothing to do with >decommissioning, this is "about change, the necessity for change and the >resistance to change." Some wanted to stop change, other unionists to >fashion it to their own design. > > At one time unionists "didn't want to see Catholics about the place. Now >they are prepared to see some Catholics about the place but provided that >you know your place and you keep to your place." Gerry Adams said "those >days are over." > > Calling on Republicans to make the 1916 Rising commemoration the largest >ever, he declared: "Tell those that are trying to deny us our rightful >place of a free Ireland that they are not going to win." > > ********************* > > >New Communist Party of Britain Homepage > >http://www.newcommunistparty.org.uk > >A news service for the Working Class! > >Workers of all countries Unite! __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
