Unione Sindicale di Base
This afternoon the ship the Asiatic Island is due to arrive at the port of Liverno. Thanks to reports from the Collettivo Autonomo Lavaoratori Portuai di Genova (Autonomous Port Workers Collective of Genoa) and Weapon Watch we know that the ship contains weapons and explosives bound for the Israeli port of Ashdod. Weapons and explosives that will be used to murder the Palestinian population already hit by severe attacks overnight with hundreds of civilian victims, including numerous children.
We don’t know yet if weapons and explosives will be loaded in our port, but it certainly wouldn’t be the first time. Through unionised port workers, we are looking for information to confirm this. Just yesterday, we did receive a report of the presence, at Molo Italia, of dozens of armoured military vehicles ready to be loaded.
In addition to the issue of war, there is also an objective security problem for the workers and the local population. On this issue, we have sent urgent reports to the Port Authority, the Habour Master, and ASL Occupational Health, asking them to carry out the appropriate checks immediately.
L’Unione Sindacale di Base will also be on the streets in Livorno tomorrow in solidarity with the Palestinian people and to demand an immediate halt to the bombing of Gaza and the ‘expropriation’ of Palestinian homes that have been living under military occupation for years.
At the same time, we have launched an awareness campaign with port workers in Livorno to bring the courageous example from the Port of Genoa to our territory. This work is important, especially in these times, but this cannot make us close our eyes or worse make us complicit in the continuing massacre of the civilian population.
Already the backsliding begins. ITV news is reporting that the Government has changed one point in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. They have accepted that academies will retain their ‘freedom’ to set their own pay scales for teachers. So the criteria in the School Teachers Pay and Conditions document will only apply to teachers in Local Authority schools. Why have the Government climbed down on this issue? It’s not as if this is a major financial problem for academies. But what will be the next change/climb down by the Government? Will academies be exempt from the National Curriculum? Will Local Authorities be able to build schools according to the needs of their communities or will all new schools, as at present, have to be academies?