Joint Britain-Spain Communiqué on Gibraltar

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Joint Britain-Spain Communiqué on Gibraltar

Workers' Movement News:
National Post Strike Almost Inevitable
Co-ordinated Rail Workers Strike Action
Police Ballot over Pay
Mobile Phone Workers to Lose Jobs
Union Accuses Dyson of Betraying Workers
Stressed Workers Lose Payouts
TGWU Concerned over Pakistani Textile Imports

Over One Million European Workers Lose Jobs

In the Midst of an International Economic Crisis:
Experts to Debate Development Alternatives

On February 4, the British and Spanish governments issued a joint communiqué on the future of Gibraltar, following a meeting between the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, and his Spanish counterpart, Josep Pique.

Gibraltar, which is described by the Foreign Office as bordering the Strait of Gibraltar on the southern coast of Spain, was conquered from that country in 1704 and then ceded to Britain by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Since that time Spanish governments have made numerous attempts to recover what they consider to be Spanish territory. Gibraltar has remained important for its strategic position and as a military base. It became a Crown Colony in 1830 and although now referred to as a "UK Overseas Territory", is still ruled by a British Governor, although locally elected ministers also have some governmental responsibilities. Since 1984 the British and Spanish governments have been discussing Gibraltar’s future under the so-called "Brussels Process" and a new round of meetings began in July last year. British governments have hitherto always refused to recognise Spain’s sovereignty, claiming that they cannot act against the wishes of Gibraltarians.

The joint communiqué stated that the aim of both governments is to "conclude a comprehensive agreement before the summer, covering all outstanding issues including cooperation and sovereignty". In a statement in parliament Jack Straw explained that there are four aspects to the government’s approach to the future of Gibraltar which he described as "preserving Gibraltar’s unique way of life", greater internal self government, "practical benefits through co-operation and putting the long-running dispute about sovereignty to rest".

Although the government is attempting to present this approach as in the interests of all concerned, the British and Spanish governments and the Gibraltarians, it is clear that its main concern is the fact that the current situation is damaging its relations with Spain. As the Foreign Office Minster, Peter Hain, put it, the situation is "blocking British objectives in the EU, and undermining Britain’s wider interests". But what is also clear is that the government refuses to recognise that maintaining colonial possessions and colonial rule is an anachronism in the 21st century for which there can be no justification.

National Post Strike Almost Inevitable

A national postal strike by Royal Mail's 150,000 workers is now almost inevitable, union sources said on Wednesday. The Communication Workers Union (CWU) is refusing to backtrack over demands for a five per cent pay increase.

The CWU has observed a no-strike agreement in recent months in an attempt to improve performances, particularly in London, where up to one in five first-class letters are late in many areas.

However, Consignia has announced that up to 30,000 workers are to lose their jobs as part of what Consignia says is a £1.2 billion cost-cutting measure.

Co-ordinated Rail Workers Strike Action

Union leaders are planning a co-ordinated train strike across the country at the end of this month in an escalation of the dispute over pay.

The rail industry is already suffering the worst wave of industrial unrest since privatisation. More than 1,000 trains were cancelled by Arriva Trains Northern on Tuesday as the latest 48-hour strike by the Rail, Maritime and Transport union began. The union is staggering its next strikes on South West Trains over four days next week to achieve maximum effect.

In the next two weeks the RMT will receive the results of strike ballots at Silverlink, London Underground and the Docklands Light Railway. The union has said it is prepared to hold strike ballots at every other company where the pay gap between drivers and other staff has widened. The ballots declared so far have all been strongly in favour of strikes.

Alex Gordon, an RMT executive member, said that the union did not want the dispute to drag on and was "prepared to escalate it" to secure victory. "Once we have the ballot results we will obviously have the option of concentrating minds by calling strikes on the same days," he said. "The decision would be taken by the executive under the new general secretary who will want to have a big input into that decision." He said the first co-ordinated strike could be held "by the end of February".

Police Ballot over Pay

Police officers in England and Wales are taking part in a historic ballot over a new package of pay and conditions. Officers in Scotland and Northern Ireland are voting by post on the government's proposals, which would mean cuts in overtime but increases in basic rates of pay. The ballot is the first to have been arranged on such a scale on an issue of national policy. Polling booths have been set up at police stations and training centres. All of the 126,000 police federation members are eligible to vote.

Police officers are prevented by law from taking any form of strike action. Ballot slips contain one question, asking officers if they believe the federation should support or oppose the pay package.

Home Secretary David Blunkett has said a "no" vote would be a disaster for the police and the public.

Glen Smyth, chairman of the Met federation, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme, "The fact that at meetings up and down the country officers are angrily calling for industrial action and the right to strike is an indication of the depth of anger and disillusionment they all feel."

The results of the poll will be announced on 25 February.

Mobile Phone Workers to Lose Jobs

The pan-European mobiles group mmO2 said on Tuesday it would cut the jobs of 1,400 workers in Britain – about 500 from the closure of 133 BT Cellnet outlets and the balance from the loss of administrative and management jobs in Leeds and Slough. This is one fifth of its British workforce and comes just three months after its demerger from BT.

The Communication Workers Union and Connect, which represents professional staff, immediately threatened industrial action against mmO2 if it used compulsory redundancies to meet its targets.

MmO2 will also cut 500 jobs in Germany in a plan to reduce costs by £70 million a year, at a one-off exceptional loss of £110 million this year. The company, which has operations in the Republic of Ireland and The Netherlands, has cut capital expenditure budgets to less than £8 billion over the next five years. The move follows similar cuts by rivals Vodafone and One2One last year.

Adrian Askew, deputy general secretary at Connect, said the unions were "extremely disappointed" but would work with mmO2 to ensure redundancies were voluntary. He added: "This is precisely what we said would happen when mmO2 demerged from BT because it simply would not have the infrastructure to continue on the same cost base that it had before."

Jeannie Drake, deputy general secretary of the Communications Workers' Union, says the union will not agree to compulsory redundancies. She says if that means they have to have industrial action, then they will do so. "We obviously want to work with the company to deliver a successful business, but I worry that this is a knee-jerk reaction to the City," she states.

In Leeds, 600 workers are to be axed. BT Cellnet – which employs an estimated 3,000 people in the city – will make the cuts in the next three months. Union officials branded the move a disgrace.

Glynis Winestein of the Communication Workers' Union, said: "They led workers by the nose saying it was going to be wonderful only to do this. It's just plain dishonest."

Hilary Benn, MP for Central Leeds, said he had written to the firm's parent company – mmO2 – just a few months ago expressing concern at the possible effect on Leeds of mmO2's split from BT. "The senior vice president wrote back saying the city was a vitally important location for them and there were no plans to change that," he said. "Now we have this announcement."

Union Accuses Dyson of Betraying Workers

Roger Lyons, general secretary of Amicus, has spoken out after Dyson announced it was switching production of vacuum cleaners to Malaysia. Roger Lyons said: "Dyson has betrayed the 800 people whose jobs are being shipped out and hundreds more jobs from supply chain companies. He has betrayed British manufacturing and British consumers who have put him and his product where it is today. It's not good enough that the first his employees and customers knew of the cuts was as he waved them goodbye from the steps of a plane taking his and their jobs to Malaysia."

About 800 workers at the company's factory in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, are expected to lose their jobs. James Dyson says jobs will start to go in May, with the remaining posts removed by November.

The Amicus general secretary is calling on the Department of Trade and Industry to intervene to try to save the jobs.

Stressed Workers Lose Payouts

Three workers who won almost £200,000 between them for job stress have lost the money on appeal in a landmark decision. The Court of Appeal ruled that signs of stress in a worker must be obvious to their managers before the company can be taken to court for negligence. Three appeals by employers were allowed, and a fourth dismissed.

Graham Clayton, senior solicitor for the National Union of Teachers, said the union would be considering taking the two cases to the House of Lords. He said: "We are naturally disappointed that the decision to award damages has been reversed but the Court of Appeal has now given very clear guidelines of the standards expected of employers. They are standards above those currently being carried out by many local authorities and we hope it will lead to the employment of procedures within local authorities to tackle the serious problem of teacher stress."

In another case, involving Melvyn Bishop, who worked at Baker Refractories until his dismissal in 1997, the judges ruled that the job had not been over-demanding – but that Mr Bishop, who had already suffered a breakdown and suicide attempt, was unable to cope with it. He had been awarded £7,000, but this judgement was overturned.

However, the judgement said that employers should be allowed to take what their workers say at face value and not to have to make searching enquiries about the state of their health.

TUC senior health and safety officer Owen Tudor said: "Unions will certainly make sure that employers know they must assess the risks of stressful occupations."

TGWU Concerned over Pakistani Textile Imports

The Transport and General Workers' Union is seeking an urgent meeting with Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt about the impact on jobs of the EU's decision to grant Pakistan duty-free access for made textile and clothing products.

The T&G's national organiser for manufacturing Peter Booth said the union is concerned about reports from a number of companies that lower-priced goods from Pakistan now pose a serious threat to UK jobs. The EU granted Pakistan duty-free access for its made textile and clothing products in return for its support in the "war against terrorism" in Afghanistan.

Over One Million European Workers Lose Jobs

Some 1.4 million jobs were lost in Europe in 2001 as a result of nearly 200,000 firms going bankrupt, according to figures recently published by Creditreform, a European economic data agency.

This represented a 5.9% rise from 2000 as compared to a rise of 2.3% in 2000. Sectors of the economy which were particularly hard hit were services, accounting for 37.8% of bankruptcies, retail and wholesale 28% and construction 20%. Germany, Europe’s largest economy, was particularly hard hit with bankruptcies rising by 18.7% in 2001 and resulting in a loss of some 500, 000 jobs. Creditreform predicted that the bankruptcy rate in Europe would continue to rise with an end of year figure of some 210,000 firms going bust.

• 4th Conference on Globalisation and Problems of Development, February 11-15

Reprinted from Granma International, February 6, 2002

WITH the advent of the first capitalist crisis of the new millennium, when the three major centres of economic power (the United States, Japan and Europe) are in recession, economic and social scientists representing various schools of thought and international agencies plan to meet in Havana to debate different alternatives for equitable development.

Participants in this meeting in Havana’s International Conference Centre, scheduled for February 11-15, include three Nobel laureates in economics – US Joseph Stiglitz (2001), James Hechman (2000) and Robert Mundell (1999) – along with more than 400 delegates and guests from 50 countries and regional and international organisations.

For the first time, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced its attendance at the 4th Conference on Globalisation and Problems of Development. Claudio Loser, the IMF’s director for the Western hemisphere, plans to present a paper entitled "Prospects for Latin America and the Caribbean in the New International Context".

Representatives from the UN, the World Trade Organisation, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Latin American Integration Association (ALADI), the Centre for Latin American Studies (CELA), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and the Andean Community will participate in this encounter.

"The context in which this event is taking place is distinct from previous conferences," noted Esther Aguilera Morató, chairwoman of its academic committee, "because many things have occurred in this last period, like the sharpening of the international economic crisis, the terrible attacks of September 11 in the United States, as well as the annexationist threat of the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)".

"Moreover, Argentina, the third largest Latin American economy, is experiencing an unprecedented economic and social crisis, which calls the neo-liberal model into question, as it was that nation that applied that model with the greatest discipline," commented Aguilera, who is also vice president of the National Association of Economists of Cuba (ANEC).

The conference will meet in commission sessions in the morning, and plenary and panel discussions in the afternoon and evening. The latter will cover the militarised economic crisis and military spending, alternatives to the FTAA and the current Argentine crisis.

The commissions will focus on monetary and financial issues, international trade relations, integration and co-operation, science and technology aimed at development, human resources and labour markets, and socio-economic agents for development.

On the afternoon of February 12, Guillermo Terry, vice president of the World Bank, is scheduled to present a report entitled "Globalisation, Growth and Poverty: Building an Inclusive World Economy".

The Association of Economists of Latin America and the Caribbean, which organises these events in conjunction with ANEC, plans to meet during the conference, and on February 14 there will be an International Students’ Encounter.