Weekly Worker 129 Thursday February 8 1996
In brief
The great ticket robbery
The Tories and their friends were left with egg on their faces this week. Sunday should have been their day of triumph, when for the first time in 50 years private passenger trains were due to leave the station.
LTS’s takeover of the London, Tilbury and Southend line was dramatically halted at the last minute, as allegations about systematic ticket fraud came to light. In the end, only South Western Trains and Great Western Trains got moving.
It appears that London Transport has been defrauded of up to £45,000 in revenue over the past six weeks.
Sir George Young, the Transport Secretary, insisted that Sunday was “a momentous day for the railways”. Michael Heseltine was even bolder, telling the Breakfast With Frost show that the LTS fiasco was “a triumph for the system”.
Yes, a triumph for the crooks and fraudsters who can parade their corruption so brazenly - yet condemn so-called ‘benefit cheats’ for claiming an extra £5 per week, so they can (barely) afford to eat.
Eddie Ford
Fire fighters ballot for more strikes
The Fire Brigades Union executive has authorised strike ballots for London, Essex, Surrey and Tyne and Wear. These brigades are faced with massive job losses due to underfunding in the coming financial year.
Meanwhile Merseyside FBU representatives have returned to talks at Acas. The talks broke down last week when budget figures were released by Merseyside Fire Authority. A leaked report showed an expected surplus of £1,999 million for the financial year. The chief officer, backed by the Labour fire authority, had claimed that the brigade would be in deficit without the cuts in jobs and annual leave. This was shown to be false.
The fire authority and chief officer are hiding behind the excuse that central government is to blame for the financial crisis. But the immediate cause of the dispute has been a financial crisis manufactured by deliberate manipulation of the 1995/6 budget.
The claim made by Labour councillor, Bill Craig, that it wants to break the FBU is chillingly backed up by the revelations. If the authority does not now climb down firefighters will take heart from the figures, which show a net cost after saving on wages of £800 per hour. This means the strikes will cost the authority by March the £750,000 that the cut in jobs was set to save.
Chris Jones
Refugee centre
A network of refugee organisations, church groups, squatters and supporters have occupied the old magistrates court on Stoke Newington High Street, Hackney as an emergency night shelter/refugee centre. The building has been left unoccupied for years and is being made habitable by a team of local volunteers.
Legislation which took effect on February 5 means that thousands of asylum seekers will lose their rights to all benefits. People seeking asylum are often escaping torture and persecution. They are fleeing oppressive regimes such as in Nigeria, Turkey, Algeria - dictatorships supported politically and economically by the British government. These people have a genuine fear of deportation, yet increasingly, they are being harassed and criminalised and face imprisonment in detention centre and jails.
However, this is not simply an attack on refugees. The government is currently attacking all benefits and services - for the young, the disabled, the unemployed, single parents and all workers.
Colin Roach Centre
Contact 0181-533 7111 for information on the campaign against the Asylum and Immigration Bill
