The need to help the people of Ukraine should not blind us to the fact that there is no such thing as a just war. There are only wars in which ruling elites use ordinary people like pawns to be sacrificed to meet their immediate interests.
WHAT IS GOING ON?
The University and College Union (UCU) is on strike at your institution from Monday the 28th to Wednesday the 2nd. The National Union of Students (NUS) has also called a student strike on the 2nd.
The strikes need your support. The best way to help us win is to stay out of university today.
WHY SHOULD I SUPPORT THE STRIKE?
Teachers’ working conditions are your learning conditions. Many of us will go on to work in education too, so this is directly in our interests.
Lecturers’ pay has fallen by 20%.
One third of academic staff are on precarious, short-term contracts.
Women university workers are still paid less than men, and more likely to be on these precarious contracts.
Non-white staff are also paid less than their white counterparts, and face similar issues.
Yesterday there were two demonstrations in Manchester. Firstly an anti-war Demo and a save the NHS demo
Unite has suspended today’s strike by First Manchester bus drivers after the company made an improved offer in the dispute over pay.
Action planned for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday have also been suspended while Unite ballots its 300+ members on the new offer. If it is accepted the dispute will have ended. If members reject the offer then strikes already scheduled for February 15, 17, 18, 21 and 25 will go ahead as planned.
Strike action began last month in the dispute over low rates of pay. The strike action was highly effective causing considerable disruption to bus services across Greater Manchester.
While bumbling Boris continues to lie through his teeth in a desperate attempt to cling to his job, the reality behind all his triumphalist talk has yet again been exposed in a new report by the Resolution Foundation.
Over the last few weeks, Johnson has repeatedly claimed that, thanks to his efforts, unemployment is now lower than before the start of the pandemic. The study by the Resolution Foundation did support Johnson's claim that unemployment levels were slightly lower but as ever with Johnson it is only half the story. The report also found that many young workers were made unemployed during the lockdown and once lockdown rules were relaxed, they could only find work in insecure jobs.
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