From: New Worker Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001 21:13:46 +0100
New Worker Online Digest
Week commencing 14th September, 2001.
1) Editorial - New danger.
2) Lead story - Bush stokes war fears.
3) Feature article - PCS screens strike set to spread.
4) International story - Attacks on the United States.
5) British news item - Privatisation battle deferred.
1) Editorial
New danger.
WE are deeply saddened to learn of the thousands of United States workers
killed and injured in the events of last Tuesday in New York and
Washington. We send our heartfelt sympathy to the many American workers who
are bereaved, to those who are suffering and to those who are working in
dangerous conditions around the clock to rescue others.
At this time it is not known who carried out these attacks on the major
centres of US finance capital and US military power. It is though clear
that the motive was to strike at the heart of US imperialism as a reaction
to US foreign and military policies. Millions of poor and oppressed people
around the world hold the imperialist powers, especially the US,
responsible for widespread poverty, inequality, war and oppression.
There is now a grave new danger emerging. The US Presidency is in the
hands of the most right-wing and reactionary elements of the American
ruling class. The administration's immediate response has been to talk of
punishment and to put the armed forces on alert.
There is talk from American pundits of so-called "rogue states" being
dragged into the frame and racist, anti-Arab sentiments being expressed.
The emotions of this week could be used to justify attacks on any state the
US leadership wants to cuff and the already serious situation in the Middle
East made many times worse.
Progressive Americans are also expressing fears that Bush will now use the
events to infringe the civil rights of many American citizens --
socialists, communists, peace activists, and American Arabs, Muslims,
Latinos, and political activists from the Black communities.
The British government has rightly expressed its condolences to the
American people. Unfortunately it has also talked ofits close alliance with
the US state and is echoing the line coming out of Washington. There is an
urgent need for the labour and peace movements of Britain to speak out
against British involvement or support for US war plans that can only end
in even more civilian casualties and even greater dangers.
*********************
2) Lead story
Bush stokes war fears.
by our Arab afffairs corresponent
AMERICA is reeling from a day of air-terror, which has devastated New York
and left the Pentagon in flames.
While two hijacked planes crashed into New York's World Trade Center, a
third dived down on the Pentagon in Washington -- the hub of US imperialism
s war-machine.
The attacks, which have left thousands dead, sent share prices plummeting
across the world while gold and oil soared.
The United States is only now coming to terms with Tuesday's stunning
assault on the symbols of American wealth and might.
The film of the hijacked aircraft smashing into the 110-storey twin towers
of the World Trade Center and their complete collapse within hours matched
by scenes of the Pentagon ablaze have flashed round the world.
Governments were quick to send their condolences to the United States and
condemn the instigators including virtually all the Arab leaders including
the Palestinians.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat expressed his shock at this
"unbelievable and terrible" attack and the Democratic Front for the
Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) issued repeated denials of involvement
following a bogus claim made to the Arab Gulf media soon after the attacks.
The DFLP and the Popular Front for the Liberation ofPalestine (PFLP) have
made it clear they had no hand in the attacks. DFLP Central Committee
member Ali Badwan said, "Our policy calls for focusing Palestinian efforts
against the Israeli occupation forces and the armed Zionist settlers.
"We are not concerned with any actions outside the Palestinian
territories. Our legitimate struggle is directed against the Israeli enemy
and the settler cliques".
And a PFLP leader said "Naturally the United States' position regarding
our conflict with Israel is totally biased in favour of Israel but we have
nothing to do with these aircraft attacks because our military battle is
against the Zionist enemy".
Maher al Taher, a member of the PFLP Politburo, added "We, as nationalist
Palestinian forces, are launching our struggle on our land against the
Zionist aggressors".
Iraq was the exception. That Arab country faces daily Anglo-American
air-raids and a cruel blockade, which has claimed the lives of over a
million and a half civilians through medical, and food shortages.
"The American rulers... practiced great harshness against humanity until
the situation exploded," was how one front-page editorial of a major daily,
Al Iraq, put it. "The attacks against US Federal buildings were a natural
reaction to the American rulers' hegemony, deception and foolishness" 'This
was echoed in other Iraqi papers and their radio and television.
And on the Arab street, in the slums and the refugee camps, many felt that
the Americans were at last tasting the violence, destruction and death so
long inflicted on them by US imperialism and its regional puppets. Some
took to the streets to rejoice. Others pointed out that the root cause of
the violence was American policies in the Middle East.
Sheikh Yassin, the leader of the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood Hamas told
the press that "no doubt this is a result of the injustice the US practices
against the weak in the world".
And a representative of Islamic Jehad (Holy War) in Gaza said: "What has
happened in the United States today is the consequence of American policies
in this region."
No-one has claimed responsibility for the attacks but Washington is
already pointing the finger at Osama Bin Laden, the Saudi businessman, who
heads a militant Islamic order based in Afghanistan blamed for previous
attacks on US installations.
But the leader of the militant Islamic sect has denied all involvement in
the attacks. According to Iran's Islamic Republican News Agency: "A leading
Pakistani Urdu-language daily quoted him as saying in an exclusive
statement issued to the paper through one of his aides that the attack was
a reaction from the world's oppressed people against their oppressors.
The statement, in Arabic, was read out for the paper by an unnamed
representative of bin Laden.
When told that most of the victims were innocent, bin Laden's aide said,
"Muslims who are being killed in Palestine every day are also innocent. Why
is their innocence not being taken into consideration?"
He said the United States has been supplying arms to Israel against the
Palestinians and that innocent people in Palestine are being killed daily
with missiles provided by the United States.
"The struggling Palestinians are being bombarded with US F-16 planes.
There is no power to hold the United States responsible for this" he said.
He vowed to continue to work to help the suppressed people of Palestine
and rid them of Jewish subjugation.
Osama said that although he did not have atomic bombs and missiles yet his
conviction and resolve is as strong and unshakeable as rocks.
"The United States will not be able to achieve its goal by eliminating me,
because there are hundreds of Osamas now" he was quoted as saying.
The Arab millionaire added that US hostility towards Taliban was not due
to his presence, rather they want to set up their bases in this country and
find Taliban an impediment in their way.
Osama also rejected his involvement in the attack on Afghan commander,
Ahmed Shah Masood, and offered his good offices for reconciliation between
the warring factions of that country.
He said that he was tired of the fighting in Afghanistan. "If this war
comes to an end, we will be in a position to assist our oppressed brethren
in Kashmir and Afghanistan," he added.
Osama bin Laden heads a militant Islamic order, Al-Qaeda (The Base) which
has considerable influence with the Taliban leadership in Afghanistan.
Bin Laden, who made a fortune in the construction industry in Saudi
Arabia, comes from the puritanical, fundamentalist Arabian Islamic
tradition.
In 1980 he went to Afghanistan to support the anti-communist rebels and
set up a militia with CIA support. But he broke with US imperialism after
the Americans sent troops to Saudi Arabia in the prelude to the Gulf War of
1991.
Al Qaeda wants all foreign troops out of Arabia and the Zionists out of
Palestine. The US government says Al Qaeda militants are responsible for
waves of attacks on Americans in recent years.
President Bush is vowing vengeance and no-one knows when US imperialism
will lash out. But the Palestinians fear that they, as usual, will bear the
brunt of imperialism's anger. General Sharon, the Israeli premier, is
posing as chief mourner to stake his claim for more backing in his own
terror war against the Palestinian Arabs.
This week he sent the troops into the Palestinian city of Jenin, in a
foray, which has left more dead on both sides. The timing was clearly aimed
at scuppering any hope of any early meeting between Yasser Arafat and
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.
Resistance is continuing unabated with further bombings deep inside the
Zionist entity and armed clashes between Palestinian guerrillas and Israeli
army and Zionist settler gangs every day.
The "hawks" in Sharon's coalition Cabinet -- virtually all of them as far
as the Palestinians are concerned" -- are pushing for the re-occupation
ofthe autonomous zones to drive Arafat back into exile and smash the
regular Palestinian police and the resistance militias.
It is a recipe for war. The brutal treatment of the Palestinian Arabs and
the denial of their legitimate nghts since 1948 by Israel and its
imperialist masters have been the root-cause of all the tension in the
Middle East.
Imperialism, which plunders the oil riches of the region, believes that
the only way cheap crude oil supplies can be guaranteed is by keeping all
the Arabs weak and divided and the Palestinians in the gutter.
The consequences of this policy has been six major Middle East wars and a
state of almost continuous conflict and most of the victims were Arabs. Now
the conflict is spreading far beyond the parameters set by imperialism and
the confines of the Middle East.
*************************
3) Feature article
PCS screens strike set to spread.
by Daphne Liddle
THE ALL-OUT strike involving civil servants in the Employment Service and
Benefits Agency offices in Brent and Streatham over safety screens is set
to spread to another 50 offices which are currently balloting.
The results should be known within three weeks and then: "This strike will
really be big," PCS Streatham branch secretary Jackie Dutton told the New
Worker.
The dispute concerns Government plans to merge the functions of the
Employment Service which deals with the unemployed seeking work and the
Benefits Agency which deals with benefits for many different kinds of
claimants including single parents and those on Incapacity Benefit.
These "one-stop" offices will be called Jobcentre Plus and the scheme is
to be tested out in the 50 Pathfinder pilot offices. The PCS civil service
union has no problem in supporting the scheme as such. It is the Government
intention to remove safety screens from the staff who deliver benefits and
benefit decisions that has sparked the dispute.
The Government claims that open-plan offices will create a friendlier
atmosphere and reduce the incidence of violence. But, as the union points
out, "The facts show a different picture".
The union says: "We firmly believe that staff will be put at risk if
management plans are introduced.
"The client group will be different -- clients claiming Incapacity Benefit
will make their claims in Jobcentre plus offices.
"The vast majority of these clients pose no threat to our staff. But this
client group contains some of the most desperate in society.
"BA staff report high levels of incidents from members of the public
claiming these benefits. Social Fund Payments -- hardship and other last
resort payments may be made from unscreened offices.
"Again, these affect the most needy and desperate people in society and
therefore increase the risk of assault on our staff.
"There also remain problems with the training available to staff being
inadequate and lack of proper access and escape routes in office design."
At Streatham office early on Monday morning the picket line was active, as
it has been so far for every day of the strike for over a week now.
Very few ordinary members of staff entered the building but a number of
managers, roped in from other nearby offices, swept past in their cars.
They are being offered handsome financial rewards to act as scabs.
Meanwhile the union is conducting a strike support levy of its members to
help with the costs of strike pay.
NCP Central Committee statement on Civil Service strike
THE Central Committee of the New Communist Party of Britain congratulates
the 400 Public and Commercial Service (PCS) union members currently taking
indefinite strike action in the Government's new flagship Department of
Work and Pensions.
The dispute at the Streatham and Brent pilot offices of the new Jobcentre
Plus was triggered by the removal of security screens protecting staff from
assault. Attacks on benefits staff has doubled during the last year to
5,000.
The background to the dispute is the government's proposal to bnng access
to all benefits and programme delivery into one department. This is part of
wider attack on all benefit claimants by which their entitlement to benefit
is reduced whilst at the same time forcing them into low paid employment.
The refurbishment of benefit offices, and the removal of screens, is an
ideological attack on claimants, which gives the impression of a 'caring'
government but at the same time intensifying the attacks on their rights.
The only real solution is the reform of the benefits system, and the
scrapping of the New Deal programme, in favour of benefit entitlement as a
right with no means testing.
Whilst the government continues its attacks on unemployed and disabled
workers then it is correct to support the legitimate demands of benefit and
employment staff for adequate safety measures.
The dispute is intensifying with the PCS union correctly extending the
strike to include another 2,000 workers. A victory in this dispute
concerning health and safety will have far-reaching affects on future
battles with the employer on staffing, grading and pay.
The Central Committee expresses its support and solidarity to those PCS
union members taking action, and encourages all party organisations to
assist their campaign.
Check out the special NCP/PCS strike report page on
www.geocities.com/ncppcs/pcs1.html
*************************
4) International story
Attacks on the United States.
by International Action center - New York
Statement from the International Action Center on Events of
September 11, 2001
This statement was written from New York City.
Everyone here has been deeply affected by today's events. The International
Action Center extends its most heartfelt sympathies and condolences to all
those who have lost loved ones today as well as the thousands of workers
who were in lower Manhattan today.
While at this moment thousands of families are in mourning for the death
and injuries of loved ones, the Bush administration is taking advantage of
the tragic human toll to strengthen the forces of repression while
intensifying the Pentagon's war drive, especially in the Middle East.
Arab and Muslim peoples in the United States are reporting that they are
facing racist harassment in their communities, on their jobs and at
mosques. Anti-Arab racism is a poison that should be repudiated. We call on
all people who oppose racism to stand shoulder to shoulder with the
Arab-American community in the face of this reactionary frenzy.
After the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995, the
U.S. government and media were quick to speculate that Arab and Islamic
organizations were responsible; but as everyone now knows, extreme
right-wing Army veteran Timothy McVeigh was to blame.
New War Danger
The International Action Center urges all anti-war activists and
progressive people to remain on the highest alert in opposing the Bush
administration and the Pentagon's plans to use this crisis as the
springboard for a new round of aggression in the Third World, especially
against the people of the Middle East.
In August 1998, the Pentagon delivered murderous cruise missile air strikes
against a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan without any evidence, supposedly in
retaliation for the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Kenya. The cruise
missiles destroyed the Al Shifa Pharmaceutical factory that provided most
of Sudan's medicines. Thousands of African people perished as a direct
result of the Pentagon's bombing.
President Ronald Reagan ordered the invasion of Grenada in the Caribbean
shortly after a truck bomb exploded at a U.S. Marine Corps base in Lebanon
in 1983. Under Bush senior, over 2,000 Panamanians were killed in the
middle of the night on Christmas Eve in 1989 under the pretext of the war
on drugs.
In 1986, after pointing a finger at Syria, Iran and several Palestinian
organizations for an explosion at a discoth�que in Germany, U.S. aircraft
bombed Tripoli and Benghazi in Libya. Hundreds of civilians, including
children, died in their sleep as the U.S. Air Force carried out this
night-time sneak attack.
We ask activists and the people of this country to be ready to protest new
Pentagon aggression in the coming period.
The Bush administration will use this current crisis as a means to justify
a further expansion of the Pentagon's war budget at the expense of money
for housing, education, health care, jobs and other human needs.
Danger of More State Repression
Throughout the country, the military, FBI and local police authorities are
now sealing off large urban areas, blockading bridges, tunnels and roads,
and mobilizing a massive presence of police and the National Guard. All
this reveals an advanced stage of planning for domestic
repression that can be used against the progressive and labor movements,
and the Black, Latino, Asian, Arab and other oppressed communities.
All the more reason to resist the current efforts to strengthen police
measures under cover of the present crisis.
Build Solidarity
The people of New York City and the country cannot allow the Bush
administration and the Pentagon to play on their genuine feelings of shock
and disbelief to stir reaction and strengthen the forces of repression.
This will not help the working and oppressed people of this or any country.
The only way to respond to today's events is to extend solidarity to the
families and friends of those who perished or who were injured at the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon; build global solidarity with people around
the world struggling against war, poverty and exploitation; and deepen the
movement to protest new Pentagon aggression.
*********************
5) British news item
Privatisation battle deferred.
by Caroline Colebrook
THE TUC conference in Brighten scheduled for this week was abandoned on
Wednesday morning as a mark of respect after the attacks on New York and
Washington on Tuesday.
But in the run-up to the conference and in its opening statements, the
trade unions drew up their battle lines against the rising tide of
privatisation and issued important declarations on other matters like
racism.
On the Monday, trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt received a
very cool reception as she tried to placate the growing opposition to
further privatisation by promising some complex measures which she claimed
would give extra protection to workers whose jobs were transferred from the
public to the private sector.
The delegates sat in silence as she gave an account of her roots as a
party activist and praised former party leaders Neil Kinnock and John Smith.
She described the Labour Party as "pro-business" and declared that there
is no quick fix for the problems of manufacturing. She called on the unions
to solve this problem of capitalism by increasing productivity.
She avoided the contentious topics of private finance in schools and
hospitals.
Then she promised a reform of the Tupe rules, which govern the terms and
conditions of the transfer of jobs from the public sector to the private,
saying that public sector pensions would be better protected.
So far many workers who have been transferred have lost significant
pension entitlement while privateer bosses have plundered pension funds.
This promise cut little ice. Dave Prentis, general secretary of the giant
public sector union Unison, said: "The improvements were welcome but they
don't go far enough. What we want is a categorical assurance that public
sector workers will have mirror-image pensions guaranteeing they will be no
worse off when they reach the end oftheir working lives."
It is thought that much of Blair's speech, which he would have delivered
on Tuesday, would have been placatory, trying to convince the unions that
he is not totally obsessed with privatisation.
Government plans for further privatisations, especially in health and
education, came mider fire from the unions before the conference started
when the GMB general union published the result of a poll conducted for it
by MORI.
It warned that if Labour continued with the policy, its lead in opinion
polls would be cut by 10 points. In an election, this would be likely to
cost Labour some 60 of its most marginal seats, including that of Education
Secretary Estelle Morris.
GMB general secretary John Edmonds warned that the issue is threatening to
"crack the foundations" of the Labour Party.
Health workers belonging to Unison had threatened industrial action over
private finance initiative schemes at three hospitals: Roehampton in
southwest London, Havering in Essex and Stoke Mandeville in Buckinghamshire.
Ancillary workers -- cleaners mainainance and catering staff -- had been
told they would keep their NHS employment contracts even if the services
were transferred to the private sector.
But this condition has deterred bidders for the PFI contracts who know
only too well that their profits are in jeopardy if they have to honour NHS
employment terms and conditions.
Negotiations on these deals are now suspended with a threat of strike
action if the promises to the workers are not kept.
Corporate greed
Another big debate this week would have been an emergency motion over
escalating job losses at the same time that company directors are still
awarding themselves massive pay-offs and bonuses.
The resolution condemned Marconi for its total lack of prior consultation
over 2,000 new redundancies, of which 600 would be in Britain, in addition
to 6,000 announced previously.
It described chairperson Lord Simpson's �1 million pay-off as corporate
greed and it called for immediate intervention by the Department of Trade
and Industry to ensure the survival of Marconi.
Roger Lyons, general secretary of the MSF general union, said: "Lord
Simpson was once a golden boy of British business and reaped rich rewards
for his success.
"Now his shine has tarnished, thousands of skilled people have been
sacrificed for his failure -- he must surely have to share the pain."
He called for Government action to stop executives of failing companies
being awarded "lottery-sized" pay-offs while workers had to face �53 a week
on the dole.
Racism
Bill Morris, general secretary of the Transport and General Workers'
Union, who chaired the TUC conference, used his opening speech at the
weekend to condemn Government policy on asylum seekers.
In particular he attacked thr voucher system. He said: "It is demeaning
and it stigmatises it is an indictment on a society which prides itself on
the principles of social justice."
Delegates unanimously approved a motion condemning Government Ministers
for failing to send out "positive messages" about asylum seekers and
criticising the endemic racism, which blights communities.
The TUC agreed to step up its efforts to block the activities of the
neo-Nazi British National Party, which provoked racist disturbances earlier
this year.
The TUC is changing its own rules, making a requirement for all
affiliates to combat racism in line with the statutory requirements for the
public sector arising from the McPherson report.
And many unions are hurrying to amend their own rules after criticism from
the Commission for Racial Equality that only 40 per cent of unions are
actively implementing race equality policies.
A TUC task force reported that racism and abuse against ethnic minorities
in the workplace are still common.
Equal pay
The TUC condemned the continuing gap between men and women's average pay,
especially in the finance sector where it can be as high as 55 per cent.
A "secretive workplace culture" was blamed for this, which leads to women
in this sector being paid on average �250,000 less than their male
counterparts over their working lifetime, even though they are doing the
same or similar work.
Roger Lyons said: "This is daylight robbery, on a par with the pensions
mis-selling scandal, which has an enormous effect on an individual's
wealth."
He attacked employers for promoting secrecy about pay in the finance
sector. "This lack of openness effectively prevents women from enjoying the
equal pay to which they are entitled under the law.
"Reward systems are deliberately complex and employees are actively
discouraged from discussing their salary and conditions with colleagues."
*********************
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http://www.newcommunistparty.org.uk
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