Food and Drink Additives exposed - Health must come before profit
Solidarity- Scotland’s Socialist Movement today called for the banning of those artificial additives, now proved in a scientific study to cause hyperactivity or to contribute to hyperactivity and ADHD in young children.
The pathetic response of the Food Standards Agency, who have chosen only to give advice rather than use their powers to ban these additives is unacceptable. The FSA is far too close to the food, drink and supermarket industry now dominated by the multi-national corporations. Given the widespread use of these additives, colouring and preservatives in food this is a national health emergency and nothing should be allowed to get in the way of the health and wellbeing of children. Certainly not the drive for profit by the big food producers and supermarkets.
Tommy Sheridan said: “ Not only do we need a ban now on these additives found in the Southampton University study to cause hyperactivity among even those children who previously showed no signs of hyperactivity – we must go further and we need a full study, independent of the food industry, to assess the way in which food additives are affecting the health and behaviour of children and the population generally.
The drive for profit has lead to the massively increased use of preservatives and additives in food generally to prolong their shelf life and their desirability especially toward young children. This cynically marketing must end. This additive industry is a global cash cow now worth £12.4 billion a year and we need to turn the tide now.
Only by ending the link between food and the profit motive can we ensure that our food is nutritious, safe and healthy. That’s why we support public ownership of agri-business and the multinational supermarket industry.”
It’s time to put health and wellbeing before profit.
Conversation on Independence
The Solidarity party has called on the Scottish Executive to take the national conversation about the constitutional future of Scotland into every workplace and every community over the next three years. They say that such a truly innovative and inclusive move will be necessary to involve all of Scotland's citizens in a genuine debate about their future.
Stockline tragedy – This was corporate manslaughter
Solidarity today supported demands from those families who lost loved ones in the Maryhill Stockline explosion of May 11th 2004 for an urgent public inquiry into the events that resulted in the deaths of 9 people.
Tommy Sheridan said: “The revelations that the propane gas pipes at Stockline were severely corroded, had been unsafe for years and were not properly inspected demands a full public inquiry. Moreover, the £400,000 fine imposed on the ICL is disgrace – what these events underline is the need for serious and enforceable corporate manslaughter legislation. This was no accident – it was a product of neglect, greed and a concern for profit above the safety of the workers employed in the factory.
The propane pipes which were laid in 1969 were not wrapped or protected from corrosion in any way – completely against industry guidelines. They were never properly inspected and these companies need to be brought to account – a fine is not enough. These deliberate actions of neglect led directly to death and injury."
Solidarity condemns privatisation rip-off – Stop the PPP scandal
Solidarity – Scotland’s Socialist Movement today described as obscene the colossal levels of public money being squandered by the previous New Labour/Lib Dem Scottish Executive’s ideological fixation with privatisation.
The new Scottish Executive have released figures that show that £22.3 billion in taxpayers money will be handed out to private companies over the next 40 years. The cost of the so-called Public Private Partnerships – deals where private companies are paid billions from the public purse for building schools, hospitals and prisons – has jeopardised public spending and public services for the next 40 years.
Tommy Sheridan – Solidarity co-convener said; “ What these figures prove is that New Labour’s fixation with privatisation is going to cost £4,500 for every Scot and a 40 year millstone around the necks of the Scottish Executive and local authorities. We opposed PPP/PFI policies since their inception because we knew they were a massive rip-off, designed to cut public expenditure and hand over massive public sector contracts to big business. These figures prove that our arguments were correct”
“We are now calling for a complete moratorium on all new PPP contracts both at a Scottish Executive and local authority level. We are calling on the Scottish Executive as a matter of extreme urgency to bring forward a cheaper public sector alternative help to ensure high quality and accountable public services in Scotland.”
City of Edinburgh Council Strike
This Thursday 23 August thousands of Unison members in Edinburgh Council will go on a days strike against the proposed budgets cuts. Management, having overspent their budget by £10 million, want to make staff pay for their mistakes. In particular there is a refusal to rule out compulsory redundancies.
Our Unison branch has had a policy of balloting for strike action when faced with compulsory redundancies and this has successfully prevented compulsory redundancies for many years (decades in fact).
Striking members will assemble at 9.15 am at the City Chambers on the High Street to lobby the full council meeting due to take place.
The one day strike is the start of a programme of action. And union members in Edinburgh Council take heed and heart from the victorious strike of social workers in Glasgow Council. The success of their action has led to a debate whether to adopt the successful tactic of indefinite strike action here.
Luke Henderson, Convenor SfC Department, Personal capacity
Glasgow Social Care Strike
August 2007 saw a very significant victory for 600 Glasgow Social Care Workers. After 20 days of indefinite strike action these workers - members of the Unison trade union - won a decisive victory in their dispute with Glasgow City Council.
Brian Smith the Glasgow Unison Social Work Services secretary reports on the outcome and the lessons of this important strike for all public sector workers in Scotland.
On 13 Aug 2007, the SNP Executive announced a pilot study into RET. Welcome news for island residents and indeed for Solidarity.
Click on Highlands and Islands link for more details.
Time for decisive action on Nigg
The Solidarity party has called for decisive action over the future of the mothballed Nigg yard facility on the eve of Highland Council’s latest Planning, Environment and Development Committee (meets Wednesday 15th August).
Solidarity has called on Highland council and the new Scottish Executive to come together to carry out a compulsory purchase of the so called ‘ransom strip’ owned by the Wakelyn Trust which has held up the sale of the yard, and to throw their weight unequivocally behind Cromarty Firth Port Authority’s bid to take over the yard as a multi-use facility.
Sheridan says Alexander will be a disaster for Labour
Solidarity co-convenor Tommy Sheridan today said farewell to Jack McConnell and predicted Wendy Alexander will prove disastrous for Labour.He said
“I have known Jack McConnell since he was a student politician at Stirling. He ultimately failed as Labour leader in Scotland because he toed the party line and failed to stand up for Scotland against Blair and Brown’s creation - New Labour - and their disastrous policies including the war on Iraq.
Wendy Alexander is much more New Labour than Jack McConnell, she and her brother are protégés of Gordon Brown and before she entered the parliament she was a consultant advising on selling off public services. She may be bright but she will be a disaster for New Labour consigning them to opposition for years to come.
Socialists who are left in the Labour Party must be in despair that they can’t even find a left candidate to stand."
Postal Workers Step up Industrial Action
Postal Workers in Greater Glasgow stepped up their industrial action today as "unofficial" action spread across Central Scotland.
The strike started at the Springburn Mail Centre yesterday (Tuesday) and spread across Central Scotland by the end of the working day. Over a hundred workers at Sighthill in Edinburgh joined the action after four comrades were susopended for refusing to handle mail from the Glasgow Centre that was on strike.
The CWU rolling programme of action contunues this week with the withdrawal of labour in the network from today (Wednesday 1 August) to 3 am tomorrow; on Thursday from 3am, 24 hr strike action at delivery and separate collection hubs; strike action from 19.00 at airports on Friday 3 August until 19.00 on Saturday 4 August; strike action at MDECS from 3 am on Saturday 4 August to 3 am on Sunday 5 August.
Solidarity Councillor in Glasgow, Ruth Black supported the unofficial action today:
"The CWU members are being cornered into these actions by an employer who have shown no regard for the workers contracts and conditions."
Events Calendar
