> >New Worker Online Digest > >Week commencing 7th April, 2000. > >1) Editorial - Livingstone for London. > >2) Lead story - Labour agenda to end council housing. > >3) Feature article - Commons revolt to restore pensions-earnings link. > >4) International story - Pressure mounts for end to Iraq sanctions. > >5) British news item - Nurses tell Blair time for NHS is short. > > >1) Editorial > >Livingstone for London. > >ON 4 May Londoners will have a chance to elect a new mayor and a Greater >London Assembly to represent the capital for the first time since the >Tories abolished the old Greater London Council in Thatcher's day. > > That, in itself, is significant. But, more importantly, the poll gives >London's workers the opportunity to cast judgement on Blair's whole "New >Labour" programme by rejecting the official Labour candidate in favour of >the Independent challenge of Ken Livingstone. > > Livingstone was the overwhelming choice of individual and union affiliated >members the London Labour Party. His massive lead in the opinion polls >shows that he is also the overwhelming choice of millions of Londoners as a >whole. > > Blair & Co have tried to revive the "loony left" and "Red Ken" tags in a >pathetic attempt to dent Livingstone's popularity. They are now trying to >dig up dirt on Livingstone's business dealings to question his fitness to >run the new London authority -- with little success. It is, after all, >coming from a government which recently restored Peter Mandelson to grace >after a brief period of back-bench exile for failing to declare a £373,000 >loan. > > What Blair and his placeman, Frank Dobson, have singularly failed to do is >address Londoners' demands on the central issue of the election -- public >transport. And that is the one area in which the new mayor will have some >authority. > > Though the Greater London Assembly is but a shadow of the old GLC with >little more than advisory powers the Mayor of London will run a new >transport authority which will cover all aspects of public and private >transport in the capital. > > Dobson's made it clear he'll do whatever Blair tells him, which means the >privatisation of London Underground with all that implies for fares, >service and safety. Livingstone is opposed to any tube sell-off and he's >promised a four year fare freeze as well. > > Livingstone has vowed to root out the "corrupt and racist minority" within >the Metropolitan Police under the new mayor's powers to finance new >independent authorities to finance London's police and fire services. His >campaign has also raised demands for greater control by Londoners over >other services such as education and health -- campaigns which will have to >be fought for by the new assembly and the London labour movement. > > A Livingstone victory will be a slap in the face for Blair and his >right-wing bloc within the Labour Party. It will make it much harder for >them in future to impose candidates over the heads of local Labour parties. >It will mark the first stage in the fight-back against "New Labour" within >the party and the trade union movement. > > Ken Livingstone was formally expelled from the Labour Party this week. >He's vowed to "be back soon". That, of course, will depend on the May >ballot. We have to ensure that he gets the biggest possible vote to become >Mayor of London. > > ************************** > >2) Lead story > >Labour agenda to end council housing. > >by Daphne Liddle > >THE GOVERNMENT'S Green Paper on the future of housing in Britain published >last week is designed to step up the speed at which council homes are >transferred to the private sector. > > Local authorities are barred, by laws passed under the Tory regime, from >borrowing on the market to fund much needed repairs and restoration of >Britain's council housing stock. > > The Tories were openly hostile to all council housing and severely >undermined it with the right to buy and by refusing local authorities funds >for maintenance -- so the best homes were bought into the private market >and the rest left to rot. > > And now the Labour government is effectively continuing this policy. It >will allow for some local authorities to set up 100 per cent public >arms-length companies to take over council estates. > > These companies would be able to borrow money on the open market to do the >long overdue repairs. More than £l0 million is needed for this in the next >four years. That is a flea bite compared to expenditure on other matters >but the Government is clearly deciding against funding this directly for >political reasons. > > Once the estates are in the hands of these companies or housing >associations, rents will be subject to market pressures. The new landlords >can go bankrupt and the tenants no longer have the same secured tenancies. > > It has been estimated that Londoners now need an income of at least >£50,000 a year to be able to get a first time mortgage to buy a home. > If council housing disappears and is replaced by relatively high rent >"social housing", most ordinary workers will no longer be able to afford to >live in big cities. > > Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has recognised this by proposing a >scheme to give those workers in vital jobs -- teachers, health workers and >so on -- special help with Government-funded low cost mortgages. These >mortgages would be administered by local authorities. > > Those who will be eligible have welcomed the idea but it leaves other low >paid workers out in the cold. Only a small proportion of low paid workers >could claim to be vital in the same way that nurses and teachers are. > > Yet big cities also depend on road cleaners, shop assistants, transport >workers and of course factory production workers. > > The House Builders' Federation has warned that this idea could "stoke up >inflation" by increasing the demand for lower cost housing. > > This means the real beneficiaries of the Government subsidy will be >housing speculators. > > It would be far better for councils to offer secure council homes to vital >workers and all other workers -- and for their employers to raise their pay >in recognition of the importance of their work. > > But John Prescott is currently having problems persuading the Treasury to >underwrite this scheme. > > He has also proposed to transfer Housing Benefit into a tax credit, >supposedly as a measure against fraud. > > The Green Paper is unlikely to be able to be framed into a parliamentary >Bill before the next general election. > > This allows us vital time to campaign to protect council housing. It is a >campaign that must be moved to the top of the agenda if we are to resist a >return to the bad old days when workers depended almost entirely on the >private rental market for homes and could expect to be out on the street if >out of a job for too long. > > Even now some 100,000 people in London are threatened with eviction >because greedy landlords have raised rents above levels that are covered by >Housing Benefit. > > This means that tenants who are unwaged or low paid simply cannot afford >to give in these properties. The landlords are not bothered -- there are >better paid workers who will cough up. > > There is more need now for a big new programme of council house building >that at any time since the Second World War. > > ********************* > > >3) Feature article > >Commons revolt to restore pensions-earnings link. > >by Caroline Colebrook > >THE LABOUR government last Monday experienced its third largest revolt of >back bench MPs since coming to power in May 1997 when 41 MPs voted in >favour of an amendment to the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security >Bill. > > The amendment called for the restoration of the link between average male >earnings and the level of the basic state pension. > > This demand has been the focus of campaigning by the pensioners' movement >over the last few years and the size of the revolt is a measure of the >impact the campaign has made. > > The amendment was defeated by 240 votes to 75 but the size of the revolt >has been an embarrassment to the Government. > > The Government policy has been to "target" aid only at the poorest >pensioners -- in other words supplying only means-tested benefits where >pensioners have to go through complicated and humiliating procedures to >prove they are poor. > > Chancellor Gordon Brown last month announced a link between the >pensioners' guaranteed minimum income and earnings -- that means the Income >Support top up on the basic pension for those who have no other income. > > But the basic state pension is being left to wither in value while >pensioners-to-be are being pressured into taking out private pensions. The >whole policy is designed to save the Government money. > > It leaves pensioners at the mercy of the private pensions market with all >the risks involved. And it condemns those who cannot afford a decent >private pension -- women who take time out of work to care for children, >those in casual work, the unemployed, the disabled and so on -- to an old >age of abysmal poverty on a pitiful state pension with an Income Support >top up. > > Social Security Minister Jeff Rooker tried to defend Government policy, >claiming that he himself had voted for the restoration of the link for much >of his time in Parliament but, he said, people had voted against restoring >the link as part of Labour's overall economic package at every election >between 1983 and 1992. > > Tony Benn MP warned the failure to restore the link was leading to >"disillusionment, anger and frustration" among pensioners. > > John McDonnell MP said: "Pensioners feel a sense of betrayal, because they >always looked to the Labour Party as the champion of pensioners." > > Liberal Democrat MP Paul Burstow said the basic state pension is the >"quickest and most effective way" of getting money to the poorest pensioners. > > One campaigning pensioner told the New Worker: "The level of this revolt >is encouraging. It shows our campaign is having an effect. We must step up >our efforts. > > "Tony Blair and his cronies think they have it all sewn up and can get >their New-Labour-Tory policies through no matter what. But things are >starting to come unravelled for them. The left is fighting back." > > Meanwhile British Telecomm last week announced that it is ready to raise >the retirement age to 70 or over because of a growing shortage of >management skills at senior level. > > The official retiring age at BT is 60. > > This will affect only a handful of workers but comes after worrying >proposals that the Government could cut the pensions budget by raising the >official retirement age. > > As things stand now this would simply add to the number of unemployed -- >though unemployment benefit is even lower than the basic state pension. > > Many pensioners are very active, capable and willing to go on making an >economic contribution to society for many years after the official >retirement age. > > Some would welcome the opportunity to carry on working perhaps on a >part-time basis. > > But this should be entirely voluntary and those who feel worn out after a >lifetime of hard work should be entitled to retire on a decent pension that >is enough to enable them to enjoy some years of active leisure. > > The Government last week made an official apology to pensioners after >mistakes by the Department of Social Security over the State Earnings >Related Pension Scheme (Serps). > > Permanent secretary Rachel Lomax offered an apology to the Public Accounts >Committee for the "deplorable" mistakes which left many approaching >retirement badly advised and unaware of impending cuts in the scheme. > > Millions of contributors were misled and costs to the Treasury could >exceed £8 billion. > > ************************* > >4) International story > >Pressure mounts for end to Iraq sanctions. > >By Li Xuejun in Baghdad > >A EUROPEAN aircraft has landed in Baghdad in protest at the decade-long >sanctions against Iraq. The plane, with four passengers including an >Italian MEP and a French priest, touched down at Baghdad's Al-Rashid >military airport Monday evening. All flights to or from Iraq must be >authorised by the UN Sanctions Committee. This flight had no prior approval >from the UN. > > At the airport, Jean-Marie Benjamin, the leader of the group, read out a >demand for the immediate and total lifting ofthe sanctions. > > Benjamin and his companions are among the growing number calling for the >end of the sanetions regime. British Labour MP George Galloway made a >similar flight in 1997. Galloway, now visiting the United Arab Emirates >(UAE) told the press that public opinion in the West has begun to oppose >the continuation of sanctions. > > And over 70 members of the US Congress have written to President Bill >Clinton calling for an end to the humanitarian crisis in Iraq by lifting >sanctions. > > The call of the US Congressmen coincided with the resignation of top UN >officials in Baghdad in protest at the devastating effect of sanctions on >the Iraqi people. > > Hans von Sponeck, who resigned as UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq >last March, has been a vocal critic of sanctions, arguing it has brought >tragedy to Iraq. Sponeck followed the example of his predecessor, Denis >Halliday, who quit his job in mid-1998 after months of voicing similar >views. And so did, Jota Burkhart, who represented the World Food Programme >in Baghdad. > > On the UN Security Council, Russia, People's China and France have been >calling for ending sanctions. In the Gulf, UAE President Sheikh Zayed bin >Sultan al Nahyan is demanding the end to the trade embargo as well. > > Iraqi people, especially children and the elderly, are hardest hit by >sanctions. The Iraqi Health Ministry reports that sanctions have claimed >the lives of over 1.2 million people, a direct result of malnutrition and >medical shortages caused by the sanctions regime. > > A recent report by the International Committee of the Red Cross draws a >grim picture of the people's lives under sanctions. > > "Deteriorating living conditions, inflation and low salaries make people's >everyday lives a continuing struggle," it said. > > But there are signs that the sanctions regime is beginning to erode. >Bahrain, which broke off relations with Iraq in 1990, has now re-opened its >embassy in Baghdad. Two other Gulf states, Qatarand Oman, have made similar >moves. > > There has even been a thaw in relations between Iraq and its traditional >Arab rivals such as Syria and Saudi Arabia, who took part in the US-led >coalition against Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War. > > Iraq has opened an diplomatic interests section in Damascus, the first >formal diplomatic link with Syria in almost 20 years. Lebanon restored >diplomatic relations with Iraq in October 1998 after a four year break. >The volume of trade between Iraq and Saudi Arabia has now topped 100 >million dollars a year. Last August Saudi Arabia released a million >dollars-worth of Iraqi assets frozen in Saudi banks. > > Jordan and Turkey are benefiting from trade with Iraq and many other >countries are vying for a slice of Iraq's lucrative reconstruction market >-- put at 200 billion dollars -- by bidding for contracts under the >food-for-oil programme and hoping to get a firm foothold once the sanctions >are lifted. France, for example, has sent a diplomat and opened up a trade >centre in Baghdad, for the first time since 1990. -- Xinhua > > Paris said on Tuesday that the Baghdad flight did not violate any UN >resolution. The French Foreign Ministry declared that an air embargo >against Iraq had no legal basis, as no UN Security Council resolution calls >specifically for such an embargo against Iraq, unlike those imposed on >Libya and Yugoslavia. Nor are people banned from flying to Iraq as long as >they are not engaged in economic or financial transactions. > > ********************* > >5) British news item > >Nurses tell Blair time for NHS is short. > >CHRISTINE Hancock, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, >warned the Government it has just six months to save the NHS. > > She was opening the union's annual conference in Bournemouth Last Tuesday >and said the NHS could no longer cope with the all-year-round pressures, >which were exacerbated in the winter when patients were left on trolleys in >corridors because there were no beds available. > > She said that immediate action is needed to save the health service from >collapse. > > "The service is at risk. It needs saving. Targets and headlines are all >well and good, but if we see a repeat of this winter's sorry tale of the >NHS on its knees, people will lose faith in the service. > > And it's not just a winter's tale anymore. In some areas the impact of >emergency pressure on patient care is taking its toll throughout the year. > > "We need immediate action. We cannot stand by and let last year's winter >trolley waits occur again." > > The union voted emphatically in favour of changes to the way long-term >healthcare is funded. They agreed that the current system financially >cripples too many elderly patients. > > They voted against means testing for the provision of long-term care. > > The conference also heard of the vital role played by nurses in rural >areas where many patients find it difficult to travel to see their GPs, >especially when they are feeling ill. > > One delegate said that many farming community people see their vet more >often than the doctor and are inclined to talk over health problems with >them. Currently less that one in five rural parishes has a GP. > > ********************* > > >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] ___________________________________
