Heather Wakefield Read more…
Challenges & Opportunities for Organised Labour in the USA
Colleagues,
I spent last week in the US as part of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Empire State College (ESC) New York and Ruskin College.
The labour studies department of ESC is housed in the Harry Van Arsdale Jr. Centre and is on…Read more…
Wiltshire FBU resonse to the ‘consultation’ on merger
The Wiltshire FBU has written a detailed response to the ‘consultation’ on merger with Dorset Fire Service. It deserves wide circulation. Anybody interested in the impact of central government cuts should read it. You can dowload it here FBU WILTSHIRE RESPONSE DOC Read more…
A Hero No Longer Forgotten
EDWARD RUSHTON (1756-1814)
IT is just a few years since I heard about Edward Rushton, Liverpool’s blind poet, anti-slavery campaigner and radical revolutionary.
Born in John Street, Liverpool, in…Read more…
They shall not pass!
This is the speech I gave today in Trafalgar Square at the demonstration in support of Kobane — part of an international day of action. Comrades and friends, brothers and sisters, good…Read more…
Government ‘economic fairytale’ unravels
In the first 6 months of the financial year, from April 2014, government borrowing was £58 billion. In September alone it was £11.8 billion. Total government debt in September was £100 billion higher than a year earlier, at £1.45 trillion. By the standard of its own aims this shows the failure of…Read more…
How Tory desperation to smear Labour sank the Carr review on unions | Gregor Gall
In its haste to attack unions, the Conservative party has shot itself in the foot and proved the review was just a cynical pre-election stunt
For as long as David Cameron has been leader of the…Read more…
Civil servants to join public sector strike for higher wages
Our pay freeze is actually a 20% pay cut against inflation. That’s why the PCS union will join the mass strike on 10 July
Is it any wonder public sector workers are angry? They have seen executive…Read more…
The tide must continue to turn against the likes of Serco | Mark Serwotka
Let’s see Britain taking public services back from Serco and G4S – so they can be run properly
Serco is a company in trouble. Under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office over the electronic…Read more…
Ineos, Unite and the worrying return of union-busting | Gregor Gall
The escalating dispute at Grangemouth is indicative of an alarming heavy-handedness among major employers
The biggest company you’ve probably never heard of is engaged in a titanic battle with…Read more…
Postal workers’ strike: Royal Mail should expect a battle royal | Gregor Gall
The CWU may have lost the battle on privatisation, but industrial action will send a powerful message on pay and conditions
It’s been a case of third time unlucky for the postal workers’ union (CWU)….Read more…
Firefighters’ strike: a smart, strategic move by the union | Gregor Gall
The way the FBU has gone about calling its four-hour strike provides a lesson for other unions preparing industrial action
The announcement by the firefighters’ union of a four-hour strike next week…Read more…
Ed Miliband’s plan to reform Labour’s link with the unions – panel verdict
Miliband has given a speech outlining how he’d like the relation between Labour and the unions to change. Did he get it right?
It is normally sensible to check the small print beneath politicians’…Read more…
Workers recognise the importance of unions in protecting their rights | Gregor Gall
Despite a rise in unemployment, union membership has also increased, reflecting the need for collective action
Against all the odds, union membership rose in Britain last year for the first time in a…Read more…
Tory equality policy is a sick tribute to the memory of Stephen Lawrence | Mark Serwotka
Twenty years on from Lawrence’s murder, government plans to remove a key equality law would roll back years of progress
Our Tory-led government will today mark the 20th anniversary of the racist…Read more…
Forget Europe – the markets hold the real unaccountable power | Mark Serwotka
An unholy matrimony between finance and politics has undermined democracy: it’s time it was reinforced
Listening to economics being discussed in the media is like being read a fairy story. In any…Read more…
Autumn statement 2012: expert verdict
Our experts give their reaction to George Osborne’s autumn statement on the economy
George Osborne has spoken. But what he said on tax will disappoint most people who listened. Continue reading…Read more…
Slashing and privatising public services: David Cameron’s ‘aspiration nation’ | Mark Serwotka
The Tories’ ideological cuts will hit us all, not just public servants’ jobs. Join the new coalition of the dispossessed to protest
Earlier this week civil servants learned – through a combination of…Read more…
2012: a chance to fight and win on public sector pensions | Mark Serwotka
We must continue to reject the principle that those least culpable should pay the highest price to sustain a broken financial system
With the public sector pensions dispute at a pivotal point, the…Read more…
Why revisit the working time directive? | Gregor Gall
The coalition has carefully chosen to reassess this bugbear of the Tory right in exchange for changes to the Lisbon treaty
Every crisis also provides an opportunity. In exchange for agreeing to the…Read more…