Archive for April, 2009
Fat cat bosses go for broke on rail bonuses
By Tribune Web Editor /Thursday, April 30th, 2009by Keith Richmond
RAIL unions demanded a moratorium on job cuts, a freeze on shareholder dividends and a strategy to ensure Britain’s railways are managed in a way that “mitigates rather than exacerbates” the effects of the recession in crisis talks with Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon this week.
Tribune Comment: Don’t let equality plan gather dust
By Tribune Web Editor /Thursday, April 30th, 2009“RETURN to Class War”, screamed the Daily Telegraph front-page headline. It might be argued that they and their most ardently devoted readers have never abandoned it. But it was not a call to arms. It was the newspaper’s take on the Budget, in which respect Tribune’s verdict last week clearly under-rated Alistair Darling’s intentions.
CWU conference to test Labour link
By Tribune Web Editor /Thursday, April 30th, 2009by René Lavanchy
ANGER over the Government’s planned part-privatisation of Royal Mail will make itself felt this summer, as the Communication Workers’ Union debates the future of their funding of the Labour Party at annual conference.
Equality Bill prompts calls for more business openness
By Tribune Web Editor /Thursday, April 30th, 2009by René Lavanchy
BUSINESSES have escaped any new legal obligation to promote equality in the workplace under the Equality Bill unveiled by equality minister Harriet Harman this week.
Revolution on march as Correa makes history
By Tribune Web Editor /Thursday, April 30th, 2009by Enrico Tortolano
PRESIDENT Rafael Correa of Ecuador received an emphatic endorsement of his socialist policies last Sunday by winning more than 50 per cent of the vote in an eight-candidate contest – enough to give him a majority in the national assembly.
Westminster Watch: Better deal for serfs would be an added bonus
By Tribune Web Editor /Thursday, April 30th, 2009LABOUR MPs have been in a fractious mood, to say the least, over the expenses plans put forward by Gordon Brown and voted on only after he was forced into a humiliating climbdown on the introduction of a daily allowance. Part of their concern was the Prime Minister’s bizarre appearance on YouTube to announce his plans for reforming the system of bath plug and porn allowances.
Unite forces AutoLogic into U-turn over anti-union threat
By Tribune Web Editor /Thursday, April 30th, 2009by René Lavanchy
A COMPANY threatened its staff with losing their jobs if they did not agree to tear up a union bargaining agreement has been forced to back down following defiance from its staff.
Uribe silent on drugs baron’s funding claim
By Tribune Web Editor /Thursday, April 30th, 2009by René Lavanchy
COLOMBIAN President Alvaro Uribe was maintaining his silence this week after being accused of taking money from a paramilitary drugs baron to finance his presidential election campaign. Diego Murillo, alias Don Berna, alleged last week that he and the right-wing terrorist group the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia had contributed “large sums of money” to Mr Uribe’s campaign in 2002. The allegation came in a statement from his lawyer in a New York courtroom last week, just before he was jailed for drug trafficking.
Ministers urged to act as pleural plaques bill advances
By Tribune Web Editor /Thursday, April 30th, 2009by René Lavanchy
LABOUR MP Andrew Dismore this week called on the Government to “take seriously” the issue of pleural plaques, after his bill allowing workers to claim compensation for the asbestos-related disease passed its first hurdle in Parliament.