Dundee

Unions Pledge to Fight For Dundee Michelin Jobs

by Ken Ferguson

The news that tyre company Michelin are to close their Dundee plant with the loss of 850 jobs is a tremendous blow offsetting much of the optimistic economic talk around the recent opening of the V and A in the city

Commenting on the announcement STUC General Secretary Grahame Smith said:

‘This announcement is a devastating blow to the workforce and to Dundee. However, they have faced this situation before and overcome it due to their commitment and resilience.”

“We will give the workforce and their union Unite every possible support to do so again and to ensure that Michelin continues to operate in Dundee”.

“The company needs to meet its obligation to explore with the union every avenue to retain activity and jobs at the plant and both the Scottish and UK Governments and their agencies need to work all out with the union to put in place an alternative plan that will retain Michelin in Dundee and secure the jobs at risk.

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Podcast: TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE TORIES

In today’s podcast (on the day Scotland saw an eclipse of the sun!): Allan Grogan, co-founder of Labour For Independence and now SSP, talking about how the SNP majority council through in Dundee is now letting down the majority working class yes voters; Ron Mackay on the increasing danger of nuclear war; Calum Martin on how Scottish Politics were changed by the French revolution; Beinn Irbhinn on splitting the Yes vote and Hollie Cameron on how social media and the main stream media may be putting off powerful political women from coming to the fore.

We have music from Scottish bands The Cundeez and Button Up, Joe Solo and Lead Belly.

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DEFY ALL CUTS: there IS an alternative!

richieby Richie Venton 

The councillors of Scotland are poised to vote YES to another bout of municipal butchery. Council budgets are about to be set across the country, for the next 1-3 years. The common thread in all 32 council areas is cuts: cuts to jobs, cuts to vital services, cuts to the conditions of the workforce.

Tens of millions of pounds are being slashed off local public spending – despite us all being told there’s an economic recovery.

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SSP puts living wage at centre of general election campaign

Next week the Scottish Socialist Party will announce the seats we will contest in May’s General Election. Each of our candidates will be standing on an unashamedly socialist and pro-working class platform. We will be campaigning for a £10/hour living wage and an end to zero hour contracts, an end to the austerity that see working class people penalised for debts run up by reckless, greedy bankers and support for an independent socialist Scotland which goes hand in hand with our belief in a modern democratic republic.

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A Time for Peace

With the Iraq war inquiry underway the evidence heard confirms that it was based on lies and deception.

Even the most naïve voter must now understand that the creepily sanctimonious Blair said his prayers in private and lied about WMD to the public.

According to some reports this meant that the planning for the Iraq war was so secret that major problems about equipment and supplies meant that one unit went to war with 5 bullets each and another received a container load of skis.

Such stories have their funny side but the imperialist aggression launched by Bush and Blair was no joke as it killed thousands and devasted much of Iraq and sparked a large scale insurgency.

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