Affirming May Day

The South Tyneside May Day Rally and Celebration to be held on Tuesday, May 1, in South Shields has been the subject of motion of the Labour Party Local Government Committee in South Tyneside, calling on Labour Party members to boycott it. This is because Arthur Scargill, President of the National Union of Mineworkers and Leader of the Socialist Labour Party is to be one of the featured speakers. Arthur Scargill is to stand against the Labour Party candidate in Hartlepool in the forthcoming general election.

The South Tyneside May Day 2000 Committee has condemned this motion as harmful to the workers’ cause, and has called on all workers, Labour Party members or not, to reject the call.

In a statement, the May Day 200 Committee says that its aim has been one of raising the level of politics in the area. The speakers, the statement points out, were not invited because of the election but to celebrate May Day on May 1st. The celebration has been organised by representatives of most of the working class and fighting organisations in the borough and Arthur was invited at the AGM in July 2000 when many delegates from the South Tyneside Labour Party were present who did not take such a sectarian position. To now call for a boycott of the rally is to try to split the unity of the workers in South Tyneside along ideological grounds and place May Day secondary to the interests and programme of New Labour. It appears that they do not want workers to discuss at such important events and have informed views on the Labour Party’s programme which it has been carrying out while in office, nor the views of the President of the National Union of Mineworkers, who is also national leader of the Socialist Labour Party. It seems that the Labour Party leaders do not want workers to have an informed choice in the election.

The statement emphasises that the aim of the May Day 2000 Committee is to organise the May Day rally and celebration on May Day so that workers can celebrate their unity in struggle irrespective of ideological differences. If workers can do this on May Day then they can also openly discuss how to develop their political unity around an agenda that defends their rights and opens the path to the new socialist society for which they declare is also their aim on May Day. Such a prospect should be supported by every fighting organisation of the working class in the borough. What is immediately required is to raise the whole level of political discussion and political culture in the borough and not to extinguish it as the Labour Party leaders are trying to do.

The May Day 2000 Committee statement concludes with a pledge to continue to play its part in raising the political level in South Tyneside in successfully carrying through this and future May Day rallies and celebrations.

Scotland's prison officers of the Prison Officer’s Association of Scotland (POAS) are due to vote on whether to stage a mass walkout over new shift patterns.

The action would affect 14 out of the country's 16 prisons and 4,000 officers, leaving just a skeleton staff on duty.

The Scottish Prison Service has condemned the walkout as illegal.

The POAS said the action was a "last resort" and came after talks broke down on Friday over new shift patterns due to be introduced at one prison on April 23.

Union Issues Warning over Medical Secretaries Strike

Public sector union UNISON has warned that the medical secretaries dispute in Scotland could undermine the government's waiting list initiative.

Jim Devine, Scottish Organiser of Health, said he was writing to the chief executive of the Scottish Health Service to highlight the severity of the situation.

He said that branches in Glasgow and Lanarkshire have made formal requests for an industrial action ballot.

Workers, women, youth and people from many sections of society from across Canada and the Americas converged on Quebec City to say NO to the Summit of the Americas and the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

The actions on April 21 were the culmination of a week of discussions and activities on the theme: "No to the FTAA: Yes, another world is possible." Through banners, placards and slogans they expressed their opposition to the FTAA, and their determination to be the ones to decide whether such a trade deal should be signed and to determine its content.

Police attacks on demonstrators were brutal, with the worst attacks occurring in the period from 6pm to 3am, when many of the trade union buses and others had left the area. Activists who participated in the protests in Seattle, Washington DC and Prague confirmed that the police brutality in Quebec City surpassed previous records.

In the course of the afternoon, demonstrators succeeded in tearing down large portions of the fence. Despite repeated attacks, an estimated 8,000 were still in the area of the perimeter by midnight. The Quebec Legal Collective reported that there had been 430 confirmed arrests, with about 250 occurring during the evening period. About 15 per cent of those arrested were women. Charges include being in a security perimeter, criminal mischief, civil disobedience and "being suspect". Hundreds of protesters were injured from tear gas and pepper spray, while at least five suffered serious injuries from rubber bullets and water cannon sprays.

Throughout the night, demonstrators persisted in opposing the brutal criminalisation of dissent by the police and stood firm in their demand, No to the FTAA! They raised that it is for the people to decide the future of the Americas. A march and vigil at the jail was held on Sunday for those arrested while those inside the jail practised jail solidarity.

It is reported that the US Navy will renew the bombing of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques this Friday, April 27. The Navy say the bombing will last for three days.

A mass mobilisation will take place of activists opposed to the Vieques bombing and twenty members of the Puerto Rican legislature, from all three major political parties, are participating. Many people will go to Vieques on Thursday night to try and enter the firing zone.