>New Worker Online Digest > >Week commencing 17th November, 2000. > >1) Editorial - Big deal! > >2) Lead story - RUC report "gutted" - Prof Shearing. > >3) Feature article - Hospital hit by super-bug ignored union warning. > >4) International story - Palestine ablaze. > >5) British news item - Anger at inaction after McPherson. > > >1) Editorial > >Big deal! > >AFTER weeks of delays and cancellations on Britain's railways, Railtrack is >offering �150 million to the affected train companies so they can pass on >the compensation to Britain's long suffering rail passengers. > > At the same time Railtrack's shareholders have been told their fat incomes >are safe and the good times will continue. > > This promise to shareholders has had to be made in order for the company >to continue attracting investors -- a necessity in a capitalist >market-place where the money always follows the companies offering the >highest return with the least risk. > > We have all seen the result of giving a vital part of the country's >infrastructure to the private sector where it has to produce competitive >profits and still try to maintain a safe and efficient service. > > The scandalous disasters of recent years show that this has not been >achieved and it is clear that the demands of profit-making mean Railtrack >cannot provide both safety and efficiency. > > It is obvious that the railways should never have been privatised in the >first place, that the government should have increased subsidies over the >years, at least in line with other European countries, and that the lessons >should now be learnt and the railways returned to public ownership and >control. > > But these are only minimum demands. The interests of the working class >need to be projected into the debates going on about transport policies. >After all most daily journeys are made by people going to and from their >place of work -- journeys which workers have to make and which they pay for >themselves out of their wages. > > In fact public transport is, and always has been, a system designed to >suit the bosses -- a means of getting raw materials and workers to the >point of production and finished goods and workers out again. > > This is why the "services" are scaled down once the normal working day has >ended. Even the capital city cannot boast a 24-hour service (apart from >infrequent night buses) and getting around during the Christmas and New >Year holidays requires a degree in strategic planning -- most people just >forego the party drinks and take the car. > > This of course has implications for the environment and efforts to reduce >the number of car journeys and consequent levels of polluting car fumes. >People cannot use buses, tubes and trains when they are not running at all >or when it is hard to guess when the next one will come along. > > Privatisation has, as promised, produced a multitude of different >companies all trying to get their snouts in the trough. But this has not >given passengers any more choice or any of the supposed benefits of >competition. A disgruntled passenger going to work on Connex trains can't >choose to travel by Virgin or Anglia because each company is specific to >each region -- the rail network has not been improved by rivalry but has >simply been carved up and served to the City of London on a plate. > > Nor can workers vote with their feet by boycotting the most rotten >services -- after all we are travelling in order to earn our bread and >butter, not going off each day for a jolly at the seaside or a posh lunch >in town. > > We need changes that go far beyond any of John Prescott's current ideas -- >we need to look at the fact that Britain has the lowest direct taxation on >incomes and riches in western Europe. The private owners and shareholders >of Britain benefit from its infrastructure and should therefore be made to >contribute proportionately through the raising of top level income taxes. > > If higher taxes on the rich were to be used for increased public spending, >including bigger subsidies to public transport, it is also only right that >all profits should come back to the people and not be sucked away in >private fortunes for a few as happens under privatisation. > > We say, put safety before profits, renationalise all public services and >utilities, make the rich pay -- raise direct taxes on high incomes and wealth. > > ********************* > >2) Lead story > >RUC report "gutted" - Prof Shearing. > >by Daphne Liddle > >THE GOVERNMENT'S Police (Northern Ireland) Bill has been "gutted" according >to Professor Clifford Shearing, a senior member of the Patten commission. > > Last Tuesday, in a statement to a national newspaper, Shearing took the >Bill apart line by line to show that it bears little relationship to the >recommendations of Chris Patten's report. > > That report itself was a dilution of the commitment made by the British >government when it signed the Good Friday Agreement. The original >commitment was to abolish the Royal Ulster Constabulary - so tainted was it >with bias against the nationalist community in the occupied counties of the >north of Ireland. > > Professor Shearing, who is the director of the Centre of Criminology at >the University of Toronto, said: "The Patten report has not been cherry >picked, it has been gutted." > > He said the Bill, which faced its third reading in the House of Lords >during the week, had had its fundamentals dismantled in some key areas. > > He said it watered down the report's recommendation for a powerful board >by limiting is funding and powers to investigate police wrong doing. > > "The Bill completely eviscerates these proposals," he said. > > The Bill also cut the powers of district policing partnerships which were >supposed to involve local councils. Sinn Fein has expressed great concern >that the Bill will keep these partnerships dependent on the Government for >funding. > > And the Bill ignores the wider policing aspects covered by the Patten >report, abandoning the "core project" of the Patten report to improve >security in the widersense. > > Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson reacted by defending the Bill, >saying: "I fundamentally disagree with his [Shearing's] analysis. Everyone >has to live in the real world and that includes former members of the >Patten commission." > > Sinn Fein spokesperson Gerry Kelly supported Shearing's views: "It >underlines exactly a Sinn Fein has been saying for a number of months. It >shows the lie Peter Mandelson has been purveying - that the Patten report >has been implemented fully and faithfully." > > As we go to press the Bill -- weak as it is -- faces strong opposition >from Tory and Ulster Unionist peers who will try to postpone or wreck the >Bill altogether. > > Meanwhile the inquiry into he Bloody Sunday massacre of 1972 has resumed >with dramatic reports of the paratroopers who took part in the killings >tortured and murdered a man and dumped his body in a loyalist area of Belfast. > > The accusation was made by a former paratrooper, known as 027. In a >written statement forwarded to the inquiry, he described an operation in >the nationalist Divis flats in which two soldiers "ran a man bent double >into the plating of a pig [armoured personnel carrier]. > > "He was knocked out but then revived and was thrown into the back of the >pig where he was electrocuted in some way, castrated, sliced in the face >with a knife and generally kicked and beaten." The statement goes on to say >the victim's body was "taken to the Shankhill and dumped to await his fate." > > ********************** > >3) Feature article > >Hospital hit by super-bug ignored union warning. > >by Caroline Colebrook > >STOBHILL Hospital, Glasgow, has been hit by an outbreak of the infection >known as Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), which is >resistant to antibiotics, in spite of a warning given by the health >workers' union Unison that this could happen if the cleaning budget was cut. > > Seven gynaecology patients have contracted the infection and the ward has >been closed. Patients referred to the hospital are being admitted to other >wards. > > The North Glasgow Hospitals Trust says that none of the seven women is in >serious danger -- MRSA is usually only fatal to elderly or weak victims -- >but the infection could cause abscesses and delay healing. > > The Stobhill Hospital is far from unique. MRSA costs the NHS millions >every year by delaying patients being fit for discharge -- apart from the >discomfort and misery caused to the sufferers. > > Unison warned last August when the trust made cuts to its portering and >cleaning services budget that hygiene standards would fall and called for >the cleaning contract to be brought back in-house. > > The trust ignored this warning and extended the contract of Bateman >Healthcare for another year. > > Unison branch secretary Carolyn Leckie said: "There is an ongoing problem >with this company. They have had an extension of their contract for a year. > > "We have been campaigning for the contract to be brought back in-house but >the trust hadn't been monitoring the contract, so it couldn't get rid of them. > > "We believe the hospital is a lot dirtier. There has been a reduction in >cleaning standards. There is still a dispute over what constitutes a >non-clinical area. Nursing duty rooms were deemed to be non-clinical but >nurses are coming in and out of them all the time, possibly taking germs >with them. > > "They are used by clinical people. There is also a dispute over whether or >not the company is responsible for scrubbing corridors. We used to scrub >them once a month but we don't do it at all now. > > "It is no surprise. The staff have been halved since Bateman took over. >More and more work is being put on to people. They change work practices on >a day-to-day basis to get things covered. They just can't do it. It is >physically impossible to keep the place clean. > > "We have asked Bateman to tell us their staffing establishment but they >won't tell us. We are suspicious that staffing levels have been reduced >significantly. The trust cannot be absolved of blame. They are trying to >reduce costs because they have a deficit." > > The Scottish health organiser for Unison, Jim Devine, said: "We are >approaching the trust te express our concerns about the private company >that provider the cleaning in this hospital. "There has not been the >standard of monitoring or follow-up that we would like to see. Our members >working there have expressed concern about staffing levels and the >provision of cleaning materials. > > "We don't believe it is coincidence that privatisation and staff >reductions have been followed by an increase in MRSA. > > "We have had reports of staff bringing in their own cleaning equipment >because of shortages, of uniforms not being replaced. The reports we have >had about the company have been a matter of concern." > > Earlier this year the Auditor General for Scotland, Robert Black, revealed >that cleaning hospitals costs the NHS in Scotland about �54 million a year >but treating patients for infections picked up in hospitals costs double that. > > He admitted that in practice minmum standards for frequency of cleaning >have been reduced because the work was being done by outside contractors >and the hospital mangements did not know how often cleaning was carried out. > > * London hospitals are on the verge of an emergency beds crisis according >to figures released last week. Mote than 80 patients had to be ferried from >one hospital to another last month for specialist care. The Emergency Beds >Service dealth with 141 enquiries. > > Geoff Martin, speaking on behalf of the pressure group London Health >Emergency, said: "If we have difficulty in October on the edge of the busy >winter period, it demonstrates that there are still massive gaps in the >service in London. > > "The bottom line is, if there is severe pressure on the service during the >winter, these gaps will show. It shows there is no coherent approach to >tackling these problems." > > ************************* > >4) International story > >Palestine ablaze. > >by Our Middle East correspondent > >FIGHTING continues throughout occupied Palestine despite continuing >diplomatic efforts to broker a cease-fire. Israeli troops are now >blockading all the towns and villages in the "autonomous" areas of the West >Bank and the Gaza Strip, allowing only food and medicine to enter. > > The Israeli army is threatening to escalate the violence while their >government bleats on about "peace" to the outside world. > > Four Palestinian youths were shot dead last Tuesday by Israeli troops >pushing the death toll since the uprising began to 231 nearly all >Palestinian Arabs -- 194 from the occupied territories and 13 "Israeli" >Arabs. But 24 Israeli soldiers and settlers have also been killed as the >resistance grows. Four were killed on Tuesday in drive-by shootings by >guerrilla units. > > On the diplomatic front the Americans are still trying to organise a >three-way summit with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, Israeli premier >Ehud Barak and outgoing US President Bill Clinton. But, as usual, Clinton >has nothing to offer the Arabs except the usual platitudes about "peace" >which in the past have meant just accepting everything Tel Aviv wants. > > Arafat is now busy trying to mend his fences with the Islamic resistance. >Some Hamas prisoners held in Palestinian jails have been freed and on the >ground there is growing co-operation between Arafat's own Fateh resistance >movement and the Muslim militants. > > This week Arafat held talks with a senior Hamas leader Khaled Meshal, >while both were at the Islamic summit in Qatar. This was the first meeting >between the two leaders for five years and it reflects the growing >grass-roots demand for a united front to confront the Israeli occupation >head on. > > Inside Israel Barak's Labour led coalition is coming under increasing >pressure from the peace movement and its own left-wing to stop kow-towing >to the Zionist fanatics and the settler lobby. > > Yossi Sarid, leader of the left social-democratic Mereti Party made this >clear to Zionist settlers from the Gaza Strip who had come to the Israeli >parliament to call for extra protection. > > He said "We think the settlement programme is the most foolish thing ever >carried out by the Zionist enterprise. The settlements that are currently >in the eye of the storm endanger, first and foremost their own residents >but also endanger soldiers. We think that these settlements, despite the >discomfort, need to be uprooted immediately". > > * Over 7,000 South African Muslims have volunteered to join the >Palestinian resistance following a call in Cape Town from the Union of >Islamic Organisations. > > ********************* > >5) British news item > >Anger at inaction after McPherson. > >by Renee Sams > >YOUNG people at a London conference last Saturday expressed their anger at >he racist attitudes they continually find in this society. They had hoped >the McPherson report after the inquiry in the death of Stephen Lawrence >would be a landmark and hat surely changes would be on the way but they >have been very disappointed. > > Milena Buyun from the National Black Alliance said: "The Lawrence inquiry >is the only positive thing this Government has done on racism. It is now >two years on and not one thing has been implemented. We have not seen any >visible change." > > The conference Milena was addressing was part of the newly established >"Speak Out Against Racism -- Defend Asylum-Seekers" campaign, a broad >coalition involving refugee organisations, churches, trade unions and >anti-racists. > > It was one of a series of events planned in the run-up to the general >election in May 2001 against the use of immigration and asylum-seekers as >an issue to gain votes by political parties. > > On Saturday 4 November they had organised the successful "Hands Around >the Home Office" protest which was attended by over 500 people. > > "The Lawrence inquiry forced back the boundaries of the law," Milena >continued, "but things are still happening. Since then there have been many >more racist attacks and black people killed in prison. Police still stop >and search four or five times as many black people as white an the racist >attitude of the police is still just the same." > > She said she "could hardly contain" her anger when new London police >chief John Stephens commented on the compensation granted to the Lawrence >family for the way in which the police had let them down. He had said: "The >Met is not an insurance company". > > Milena said that just changing one police chief for another is not enough. >"There needs to be far reaching changes in the attitudes of police officers >and Government must take responsibility in combating institutional racism. > > "No amount of money can compensate for the suffering of bereaved parents >Neville and Doreen Lawrence." That suffering was made a thousand times >worse by police racism and incompetence. "If only they had done their job >properly, the murderers of Stephen would have been charged." > > Also on the platform was Delroy Lindo who has suffered endless police >harassment. This started when he began to campaign on behalf of Winston >Silcott who was framed for the murder of PC Blakelock in the 1980s during >the Broadwater Farm incident. > > It was not long before Delroy was arrested and police made great efforts >to frame him to stop the campaign. Over the years he has been arrested many >times, stopped and searched, victimised and picked up. He was even followed >and harassed while taking his daughter to school. > > "Police have been waging an all-out war against our family," Delroy >explained. "It is never ending. In 1966 we decided to take action against >the police and in a few weeks time a report will be finished. There were 18 >charges against he police and we have won all of them." > > Fazil Kawani from the Refugee Council spoke of the important role of young >people in the fight against racism which affects us all. He was >particularly incensed about the voucher system that asylum-seekers have to >endure and "the way the media have tried to change the public perception of >asylum-seekers" > > "They do not come here," he said, "for vouchers or money. They come >because they need help and protection. People do no leave their friends, >relations, their culture for nothing. They come because they are victimised >and threatened, sometimes frightened for their lives. > > "It is important for those in the majority to find out how the minorities >feel, fleeing from persecution. They need protection from violations of >human rights." > > Dr Richard Stone from the Jewish Council for Racial Equality and a member >of the Lawrence inquiry team recalled that the Prime Minister had admitted >that there is institutional racism in this country. "And," he added, "we >should make use of this statement. > > "The term 'institutional racism' is often taken personally by people in >government and in the police. They cannot see the problems caused by long >traditions of racist thinking in this country that go back to the days of >colonialism. > > "The police blamed the inquiry for causing low morale in the police force, >making it difficult for them to carry out heir duties. > > "This problem could be solved quite easily," said Dr Stone, "One of the >recommendations ofthe McPherson report is that a written reason be given. >All that is needed is for the officer to say why he stopped any particular >person. At present they do no have to give any reason and they do not even >have to record it as a 'stop and search'." > > He recognised the crucial importance of young people being involved in >the anti-racist struggle and advised them "to harness their anger and focus >it on an anti-racist campaign." > > ********************* > > >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 _______________________________________________________ Kominform list for general information. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Anti-Imperialism list for anti-imperialist news. 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