Articles
Tuesday, October 4, 2022
The cuts to peoples’ living standards are so dire that workers have been forced to strike for pay increases to ensure their survival. The battles that are happening are immense and unprecedented in recent decades. They represent a new self-confidence in the working class which can provide a basis for building class consciousness. Union membership is growing and inroads are being made into smaller private sector enterprises and with self-employed contractors in the gig economy.
Saturday, October 1, 2022
Special Economic Zones (SEZs) exist across the world, where national laws and rights are suspended and companies operating in them are more or less free to do as they please. SEZs – sometimes referred to as ‘open zones’ – take different forms; freeports and charter cities are both forms of SEZ. All this means bigger profits for the companies operating in these zones and worse conditions for workers.
Friday, September 30, 2022
In 1972, after a national strike, building workers achieved the largest single pay increase ever negotiated in the building industry: an immediate pay increase of £6 per week for craftsmen and £5 per week for labourers. This was on a previous national minimum rate of just £20 for a skilled worker and £17 for a labourer. It was a magnificent victory for the workers and their trade unions. In achieving this victory, however, leaders of the strike were imprisoned on trumped up charges with the state intervening on the side of the employers.
Thursday, September 29, 2022
Unsafe working conditions and a lack of safety reps have led to accidents among construction workers on the HS2 rail project. with some success, trade unions have fought to gain recognition against determined opposition from employers.
Monday, May 30, 2022
While people at home face a horrendous cost of living crisis the UK government is pouring arms into Ukraine as well providing training to its armed forces. This includes British military personnel being present in Ukraine itself. This is not entirely new, however, and is an extension of long term collaboration between the two countries.
Tuesday, May 24, 2022
P&O has admitted that it broke the law in failing to consult with staff over sacking 800 workers done by video link. No consequences have followed from this. Yet if the worker's union had broken the law then the full weight of the state would swiftly have been brought to bear with funds seized, officials in court and an attempt to destroy the organisation.
Saturday, March 26, 2022
While people in Britain face numerous assaults on their living standards - inflation, soaring energy prices and cuts to benefits to name a few, workers in the garment industry face particularly bad conditions. Servicing the cut-throat fast fashion industry, they are virtually hidden from view in unsafe sweatshops or homeworking and earning much less than the minimum wage. Legislation is ineffective in improving workers conditions and trade unions find it hard to organise due to the vulnerability of workers who fear for their livelihoods. Such is the real world for a section of the working class in Britain today.
Monday, March 21, 2022
As Boris Johnson hangs on to his premiership, courtesy of the war in Ukraine, the manoeuvering round his fate sheds a light on the workings of the state and the media manipulation of the political agenda as different factions of the Tory Party fight it out. Meanwhile Labour leader, Keir Starmer is failing to offer an alternative, whilst eagerly embracing war-mongering and attacking the peace movement and the left.