IMF: Spain to be hit hard by recession
A recent forecast by the IMF predicts Spain will enter recession next year and will be “harder-hit than other countries.”
•Keith Lee, Paul Bond
Keith Lee
Britain: Union seeks to suppress postal workers’ opposition to Royal Mail attacks
In the months since the end of last year’s strike, Royal Mail has stepped up its attacks on postal workers. It has altered their terms and conditions, ended the final salary pension scheme and started to close thousands of local post offices and dozens of mail delivery centres.
•Keith Lee, Paul Mitchell
Spain: Prime Minister Zapatero lashes out at European Central Bank
Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has lashed out at the European Central Bank (ECB) and its president Jean Claude Trichet.
•Keith Lee
Britain: Labour prepares ground for privatisation of postal service
A supposedly independent inquiry set up by the Labour government, under the chairmanship of Richard Hooper, is preparing the privatisation of the Royal Mail postal service.
•Keith Lee, Paul Mitchell
Housing slump hits Spain
The clearest indication of the impact of the global credit crunch is the sharp slowdown in the housing sector. The housing slump in Spain is particularly sharp.
•Keith Lee
Britain: Postal unions push through attack on pensions
UK postal workers are currently voting on pension reforms demanded by Royal Mail. Both the Communication Workers Union (CWU) and Unite, which represents postal managers, are balloting their members following the end of the company’s consultation period.
•Keith Lee
US steps in to prevent collapse of gas pipeline project
The United States has stepped in to prevent the collapse of the first project to construct a natural gas pipeline that will bypass Russia. It is pressuring the European Union (EU) and Central Asian countries to complete plans for the construction of the Nabucco pipeline, which is intended to link up with the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum and planned TransCaspian networks. It will bring gas 3,300 kilometres from Central Asia under the Caspian Sea to Turkey, through Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary to Austria.
•Keith Lee
Spanish economy dominates election
With the Spanish election just under two months away, the two main political parties have made the economy central to their election manifestoes.
•Keith Lee
Britain: “Liar loans” drive hundreds of thousands into debt
A recent report from the UK Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) has revealed that hundreds of thousands of people are being driven into debt, end up in court and face the loss of their homes because of irresponsible lending practices, bad advice and downright fraud. For people who have longed to buy their own home their dream has turned into a nightmare.
•Keith Lee
Britain: Gifted young footballer fights deportation
Alhassan Bangura, a gifted 19-year-old footballer who plays for Watford Football Club near London, is fighting attempts by the Labour government to deport him back to his birthplace in the west African country of Sierra Leone. Bangura claimed asylum when he came to the UK at the age of 15, but the Home Office insists the rules say his “right to remain” expired when he reached the age of 18.
•Keith Lee, Paul Mitchell
European Union clears final hurdle to postal privatisation
The European Union has cleared the final hurdle to full competition in the 88 billion euro postal market by 2011. The agreement amongst Europe’s postal carriers will allow any private operator to carry mail under 50 grams. Only three countries—Sweden, Finland and the United Kingdom—have been fully liberalised.
•Keith Lee
Britain: Post union calls strike over paltry wage offer at Royal Mail
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•Paul Stuart, Keith Lee
British SWP covers for sell-out of postal workers strike
On August 9, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) announced that it was suspending further strike action in Britain’s postal service. Without any explanation to its members, the CWU declared it was entering negotiations with Royal Mail in an attempt to reach an agreement by September 4. A national demonstration planned for August 21 was cancelled.
•Keith Lee, Paul Stuart
Britain: Postal workers set for first national strike in 11 years
Britain’s postal workers are set to hold their first national strike in 11 years on June 29. The strike was called by the CWU (Communication Workers Union) after pay talks between the union and management at Royal Mail collapsed.
•Keith Lee
Spanish property boom ends amidst share panic
Spanish property values took a massive hammering recently, as fears grew that the market boom had ended. Amidst panic amongst investors and property developers, some companies saw large percentages of their share price wiped out in a few hours.
•Keith Lee
London: The rich get so much richer under Blair
The last ten years of a Labour government has seen a significant increase in the number of billionaires living in London. According to Forbes magazine, London is home to 23 of the 54 billionaires that are resident in Britain, 11 of whom are foreigners.
•Keith Lee
Britain: SAS military forces unit to be permanently stationed in London
A unit of Britain’s elite military force, the Special Air Service (SAS), is to be permanently based in London. Its team of assassins, surveillance specialists and bomb-disposal experts will be on 24-hour alert. The Ministry of Defence has requested that the location of the unit be kept secret.
•Keith Lee
Britain: Employment tribunal rules Gate Gourmet strike illegal
An employment tribunal ruled last month that the strike by Gate Gourmet airline catering workers at Heathrow airport in August 2005 was illegal.
•Keith Lee, Paul Mitchell
Britain: Asylum seekers protest treatment at detention centres
Asylum seekers, refugees and undocumented workers seeking to remain in Britain last week staged a protest in response to their treatment at Harmondsworth detention centre near Heathrow, London.
•Keith Lee
Spain: Government seeks European clampdown on Canary Islands boat people
The Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) government is answering the plight of the impoverished boat people sailing from Africa to the Canary Islands with more repressive measures. Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s government is demanding the European Union (EU) help increase surveillance and naval patrols to intercept the boat people and pressuring African leaders to agree to their repatriation.
•Paul Mitchell, Keith Lee