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North - Socialist Youth News
 No CIA torture flights here - End the occupation now
By Cassie McKeever, Belfast Socialist Youth

Socilaist Youth are planning to protest outside Belfast International Airport following evidence that it and Derry City Airport have been used by the CIA in "renditions flights".

These flights - through a questionable legal loophole which allows the transportation of terror suspects to countries where they may be tortured in special "prison camps" - have passed through British and Irish air-space a total of 281 times since January 2001. Five of these have travelled through Aldergrove and Derry.

Among the planes that have passed through Aldergrove is the "Gulfstream", which has made over 200 trips to the notorious Guantánamo Bay torture camp.

Bush and Blair cited Saddam Hussein’s violation of UN resolutions to justify invading Iraq. Yet they are now in violation of the UN Convention Against Torture.

The torture carried out by the US at Guantanamo has been well documented. In allowing facilities here and in the South to be used to transport prisoners to this hell hole, the British and Irish governments are both in breach of Article Four of the UN Convention which makes complicity in torture an offence.

Bush decided to invade Iraq in order to seize its oil resources and protect US economic interests. The ongoing occupation is being conducted under the banner of a "war on terror". In reality this has been a war of terror conducted against the Iraqi people. Up to 100,000 Iraqis have died and the country is now descending into the nightmare of civil war.

We call for an immediate end to the disastrous occupation of Iraq, the closure of US-sponsored torture camps like Guantánamo Bay, and an end to all covert detentions of those suspected of terror crimes.

As socialists we are opposed to terrorist attacks such as the sectarian attacks that are now a regular occurrence in Iraq. But Bush’s so called "war on terror" is no alternative. The US sponsored Iraqi "security" forces are operating death squads of their own, conducting their own sectarian war by murdering Sunnis who are opposed to the invasion.

It is the working class and the oppressed people of Iraq who must come together both to end the occupation and to prevent a bloody civil war.

We must oppose the use of airports here to assist the US in the shifting of prisoners to US torture centres like Guantanamo.

- No CIA flights through Aldergrove or City of Derry
- End the occupation
- For a socialist Iraq
North - Socialist Youth News
 Fighback! exposes exploiataion in Burger King
The Socialist

Socialist Youth’s Fightback! campaign is exposing how young people in the North are ripped off and exploited at work. A young worker tells what it’s like to work at Burger King:

“At Burger King it’s hard work all the time and for ridiculously low wages. I get four pounds an hour. If the tills are down, they have a system of “petty pay” where they take the money out of your wages. We work hard for very little pay as it is and then can have money deducted for something that may not be our fault.

“We get a half hour break and a fifteen minute break during our shift but sometimes, they make us take the half hour at the beginning of our shift so that we might end up working for more than seven hours with only a 15 minute break.

“The only alternative for young people like me who leave school at 16 is to go to tech and go on the Jobskills programme. This means working nine hours a day, four days a week on a placement for a training allowance of £40.

“How can young people be expected to survive on £1 an hour. Like me, many leave and opt for full time work instead. With few qualifications the only jobs on offer are in places like Burger King

“That’s why I support the Fightback! campaign and its demand for a decent minimum wage for all, with no youth exemption and for proper training at decent wages. We will only get these basic rights if we stand up and fight for them!”

JOIN SOCIALIST YOUTH! FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHTS!

BELFAST – (028) 90232962
DUBLIN – (01) 677 2592

South - Socialist Youth News
 Young workers speak out
By members of the Organise! campaign

Organise! the campaign for young workers’ rights, has started campaigning across the South against the exploitation of young people.

We interviewed a number of young workers experiencing low pay, bullying bosses, no notice of their hours and overtime without extra pay. If you’re experiencing similar problems in your own job, don’t just put up with it, contact Organise! on (086) 1688050 and we can assist you to fightback!.

Call Centre Worker: "I’ve been working in the call centre of one of Ireland’s biggest bookmakers for the last six months. On a busy day, the place is like a human chicken coop, with 120 operators packed into the centre, making it difficult to even move from your seat. There are many “compulsory workdays” during busy times in the industry, to be sick on these days is treated as breaking your contract and can lead to being sacked. One of these periods is a week before most college students sit exams, we are expected to abandon studying and work for the week.

"The bonus scheme at the end of the year is based on hours worked. But now they have decided that sick days will be docked from your bonus - for every day you’re sick you lose ten points, as well as the points lost for missing your hours while sick. It penalises us twice for being sick.

"We are given two days notice of our hours for the following week. You could be rostered to work anyday until 1 am which means that you end up planning your life around when they want you to work."

Distribution Centre Worker: "I work in Whelan’s Transport, unloading and loading trailers, doing the storage and distribution for Dunnes Stores. I work eight ‘till half four, with a half hour main break. There is a level of discrimination against the Polish and Lithuanian workers, who are sort of seen as robots who will do as they’re told.

"There’s also a situation where if you’re told you have to do overtime you do it. People were working 19 and 20 hour shifts at Christmas seven days a week. One worker had one day off in seven weeks at Christmas!

"For people unloading trailers, basically it means working in a metal box for eight hours a day with only a halogen lamp, no sunlight, and it can be dusty. In the winter it’s freezing cold, and in the summer it’s stifling hot."

Bar worker: "I work as a barman and get paid €8 an hour. The pay is only a tiny bit over minimum wage, but you work unsociable hours, and have huge responsibilities. You have to count all the money, make sure the float and take is alright, you’re constantly handling money.

"There’s no guarantee when you’ll finish work, it’s whenever you manage to kick everyone out. You have to do everything there, you have to serve drinks and be a bouncer at the same time and if something gets broken, you have to fix it.

"You get rung on a Thursday with your hours for that weekend and you might or might not be working. I went in for work one Sunday after I’d been working there for a year, and they told me I’d be getting no hours for a while. I wasn’t on the roster again for a month, with no real reason!

"The manager is OK, but sometimes the owner, who doesn’t have a clue how to run the place, comes in with his wife, and tries to boss people around."
North - Socialist Youth News
 Discussing the legacy of James Connolly
By James Gunn

On 3 May the Socialist Society of Queen’s University held a public meeting on the topic of "James Connolly: Nationalist or socialist?".

Given that this month marks the 90th anniversary of Connolly’s death we saw this as an opportune time to express our views on his teachings as well as engage the opinions of others.

The meeting began with a well prepared outline of Connolly’s life and works and from this emanated a healthy debate. Issues discussed included his involvement in working-class struggles and the Easter Rising as well as the relevance of his teachings to present-day society and political life.
North - Socialist Youth News
 Why I Joined
By Conor O'Kane, Belfast

I have been interested in politics for quite some time and always knew I was positioned on the left of the political spectrum. Through studying politics at school I began to realise that none of the main parties represent the interests of working class people.

I began searching on the internet for Marxist material to read and after a few months considered joining a party. This also took a bit of time as I looked into several parties and movements in order to find one that suited me and generally matched my political outlook.

What really brought me to the Socialist Party was the fact that they were visible on the ground, whether it be in the city centre at stalls or through the many posters I saw highlighting various events.

A friend of mine joined first and told me about meetings of the Socialist Party and it wasn’t long until I attended a few with him. From the discussions at the meetings and the plans for the ‘We Won’t Pay Campaign’ it was clear to see that the Socialist Party was a serious outfit and took a pro-active role in defending working class interests from government attacks while the big parties continued with their sectarian squabbling.