Birmingham Socialist Party
About Us
Welcome to the website for the Birmingham branch of the Socialist Party. We are a local branch made up of people who live in Birmingham, and campaign on local, national and international issues, defending working-class people. This includes fighting cuts, closures and privatisation of public services such as the NHS, and participating in the struggle against low pay such as the dispute Birmingham city council workers are currently involved in against a 'single status' equal pay agreement that is cutting pay in order to make it equal. Or in opposing the present-day imperialist ventures of Britain with, for example, the invasion and occupation of Iraq (the Socialist Party is part of the Stop the War Coalition), and resisting environmental destruction that comes part and parcel with the short-term, greed-based capitalist way of running society. Please peruse our website to find out more about us and do not hesitate to get in touch if you would be interested in getting involved.
Latest News
Fujitsu Workers Strike
Fujitsu workers took part in 12 hours of solid strike action at the company’s factory in Birmingham on Monday (June 9th). The workers were protesting against the planned offshoring of jobs to the US which will result in up to 150 of the 700 workers employed at the site being sacked.
Communication Workers Union (CWU) deputy general secretary Bill McClory said: "This is a factory that [in March] was praised by Gordon Brown and that is performing as well as the Fujitsu plants in Japan and the US. Under these circumstances, the company must reconsider its decision." CWU members voted unanimously for action short of strike (non-cooperation and an overtime ban) and by 68 to 1 for strike action.
On the picket line a CWU spokesperson said: “I’m really proud of my members. Most of them have never taken strike action before. They’re devastated at the prospect of losing their jobs but are determined to keep on fighting.”
Another striking worker mentioned that workers have made a number of concessions over recent years: “We’ve accepted annualised hours to save jobs from being cut. The management are determined to sack us so they can move the work to Texas, a largely non-unionised state where they’ll use low paid immigrant labour.”
The anger of the workers was such that within 24 hours of the strike being called 42 workers had volunteered to help organise picket lines.
Fujitsu has a history of poor industrial relations. Workers struck at the company’s Manchester plant in November 2006 and January last year over pay, pension rights and union recognition. The union AMICUS has previously described the company as “anti-union”.The CWU official added: “We’re still in talks with Fujitsu but so far the only alternatives offered have come from the union.”
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Wednesday 20th August
Is Immigration A Problem?