UK: Second round of strikes at DVLA over safety at Covid-19 hotspot
On Tuesday administration workers at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) headquarters in Swansea, South Wales walked out for a second round of four-day strike action over Covid-19 safety concerns at the government run agency.
It follows the four days of strike action in the second week of April by 1,400 workers at the DVLA headquarters following a ballot of its members by the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) which returned a mandate in favour of 71.6 percent in favour in a 50.3 percent turnout.
The DVLA employs around 6,000 staff at its headquarters and call centre in the city.
By Michael W. Chapman | May 5, 2021 | 4:19pm EDT
Photos of some of the victims of the 1988 Iranian Massacre. (Screenshot, Iran International)
(CNS News) On May 3, more than 150 former U.N. officials, human rights activists, and legal experts sent an open letter to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights requesting that a Commission of Inquiry into the 1988 mass extrajudicial executions and forced disappearances in Iran be established.
The letter notes that the 1988 killings of thousands of political prisoners across Iran, mostly of supporters of the People s Mujahedin of Iran, may have constituted crimes against humanity.
Family members of the victims and survivors are today the “subject of persistent threats, harassment, intimidation and attacks because of their attempts to seek information on the fate and whereabouts of the individuals and their demands for justice, according to the letter.
Heathrow Workers Newsletter No.5
What’s been going on?!
If you’ve been a worker at Heathrow over the last year, chances are, you’ve either been through a redundancy process, seen your pay and conditions attacked, lost all your overtime, been on furlough, or all of the above. It has been a unique experience. Previous aviation crises, like the fallout from the 9/11 attacks in 2001 and the financial crisis of 2008, while severe, are dwarfed by the sheer scale of the current disruption. It has been draining, both emotionally and financially. As is the case with situations like this, we have seen the best and the worst of people. We tend to show our true colours when faced with this level of adversity. We’ve witnessed workmates throw others under the bus to save their own jobs, bullying, harassment and snivelling to management of the highest order. But, many people have shown a lot of courage and decency. Workers have been striking to protect their colleagues pay and condition
By Michael W. Chapman | May 5, 2021 | 4:19pm EDT
Photos of some of the victims of the 1988 Iranian Massacre. (Screenshot, Iran International)
(CNS News) On May 3, more than 150 former U.N. officials, human rights activists, and legal experts sent an open letter to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights requesting that a Commission of Inquiry into the 1988 mass extrajudicial executions and forced disappearances in Iran be established.
The letter notes that the 1988 killings of thousands of political prisoners across Iran, mostly of supporters of the People s Mujahedin of Iran, may have constituted crimes against humanity.
Family members of the victims and survivors are today the “subject of persistent threats, harassment, intimidation and attacks because of their attempts to seek information on the fate and whereabouts of the individuals and their demands for justice, according to the letter.
Boris Johnson, social murder and the struggle against the Labour and trade union bureaucracy
The following report was delivered by Chris Marsden to the 2021 International May Day Online Rally held by the World Socialist Web Site and the International Committee of the Fourth International on May 1. Marsden is the national secretary of the Socialist Equality Party in Britain
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The call by the International Committee of the Fourth International for an International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees will resonate in every country. What our statement says accurately reflects the life experiences of the world working class.
Chris Marsden
Firstly, on the deadly cost of the pandemic, the murderous indifference of the ruling elite, how the capitalist class is using the crisis to rob us, ramp up exploitation and destroy lives and livelihoods.