On productivity, living standards and the British economic model – thoughts and reflections
In the wake of the Budget Statement, Joe Sabatini ponders Britain’s productivity puzzle.
Reflections on BiFab
BiFab’s transition from oil-based fabrication to wind illustrates how those skills can be employed in developing a low carbon economy.
Report: work-in by engineers looks to save jobs at BiFab
Pete Cannell and Willie Black report on the battle in defence of workers’ jobs at Scottish engineering firm BiFab.
Battle for BiFab: Scottish renewables factory in occupation
Through the combination of the defiance of an occupying workforce and a vision of a green industrial strategy, the prospect of democratic resistance is possible.
Diversify or Die: a new pamphlet from rs21
UK manufacturing workers must reject a continued dependency on defence contracts in favour of a re-dedication of industry to environmentally and socially beneficial production.
Video: Charlton Park Academy picket line 17th October 2017
Tony Aldis and Colin Revolting speak to GMB members at Charlton Park Academy on strike defending equal sick pay for all staff.
Video: Charlton Park School strike public meeting
Watch a short extract of a public meeting to explain the strike action and to organise support for these workers under attack.
#McStrike: Lively pickets and London rally mark first UK McDonald’s strike
Mitch Mitchell reports from the Cambridge picket lines and London rally of McDonald’s workers taking strike action for the first time.
NEU radicals?
Andrew Stone, Joint Secretary of the Wandsworth branch of the newly formed National Education Union, writes in a personal capacity on prospects for trade unionists in education after the merger of the National Union of Teachers and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers. Numeracy: On 1st September the UK’s fourth biggest trade union was born […]
McDonald’s workers set to strike for first time in UK history
Employees at McDonald’s are taking a stand against bullying, poverty pay and zero-hours contracts writes Lisa Leak Workers at two McDonald’s outlets in Cambridge and Crayford have voted overwhelmingly in favour of taking industrial action for the first time in the history of McDonald’s in the UK. The workers are members of the Bakers’, Food […]
Growing the grassroots in Unite
In April 2017, Ian Allinson stood in the Unite General Secretary election as a grassroots candidate. Recently, warnings have been raised about the long-term decline in trade union membership. At the same time, trade unions continue to show their worth. For instance, the cleaners and support workers at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) […]
Video: Jane McAlevey on unions, strikes and strategies for workplace organising
Jane McAlevey interviewed by Ian Allinson at a Manchester rs21 meeting in April 2017, discussing her new book No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age, strategies for workplace organising today, the difference between ‘organising’ and ‘mobilising’, and how to build successful strikes, amongst many other things. We republish this video courtesy of RealMedia. […]
Agency cleaners score landmark victory over SOAS management
Outsourced cleaners at SOAS have scored a milestone win – and shown that precarious workers can fight and win
Barts cleaners strike against SERCO for a fair pay rise
Rachel Eborall, a Mental Health worker at Mile End Hospital, and ex SERCO employee, writes in solidarity with the striking cleaning workers at Barts NHS trust. In April 2017 SERCO, one of the largest multinationals, took over the cleaning contract of Barts NHS trust. Barts NHS trust is made up of St Bartholomew’s Hospital, The […]
Bank of England strike – “People have had enough of this public sector pay cap!”
Steve Eason reports as striking Bank of England workers were joined by staff from BA and Bart’s hospital on their third day of action. This week bank maintenance, parlours, and security workers who are members of Unite the Union, have been striking at The Bank of England in central London over a below inflation pay […]
Call Centres: Understanding Casualised Labour
Jamie Woodcock’s new book Working the Phones: Control and Resistance in Call Centres is an insider’s account of work in a call centre. Jaswinder Blackwell-Pal spoke to him about the movitations for the book, opportunities for organising casualised employment, and the future of work. A million people in the UK alone now work in call […]
Manchester housing maintenance workers strike
Report from the ongoing Manchester strike for pay parity and against housing maintenance on the cheap
The General Strike of 2017 and the Brazilian political crisis
By Mariana Tamari and Miguel Borba de Sá, militants of the Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL) and post-graduate students in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.1 The General Strike that stopped Brazil on Friday April 28 was the first of its kind for 20 years. According to the Workers Central Trade Union (CUT) 40 million people from […]
‘There are no foreigners here except the bosses’: Precarious workers strike back
Leo Zeilig, author of An Ounce of Practice (Hoperoad, 2017), describes recent precarious workers’ strikes at the University of London. By eight in the morning on Tuesday last week it had already been raining for a few hours. I had turned up early for the strike and stopped on my way to the picket-line in […]
#GE2017: Can Labour deliver security at work?
Unite activist and former General Secretary candidate Ian Allinson examines Labour’s third pledge of ‘Security At Work’.
Interview: The Fight for Fair Pay in Universities
‘Fractionals’ are hourly paid part-time teaching staff in universities who are paid a ‘fraction’ of a full-time salary. An increasing proportion of academics are on these precarious contracts. On 8 May, SOAS Fractionals for Fair Play (FFFP) announced via their Facebook page that, after threatening a mass marking boycott in late March, management had accepted all of […]
Review: An Ounce of Practice
Heike Becker reviews An Ounce of Practice by Leo Zeilig, discussing the themes of love, resilience and pragmatism across a varied theatres of activism.
Unite after the General Secretary election
Unite member Kate Bradley reflects on her experiences campaigning for grassroots socialist Ian Allinson in this year’s Unite General Secretary election.
NUT conference: “This country must have a Government that will invest in education”
Tom Ramplin and Andy Stone report on the NUT conference that took place in Cardiff over the Easter weekend With the government slashing £3 billion a year from school budgets by 2020, the continuation of a seven year pay freeze and burnt out teachers leaving the profession in droves, the National Union of Teachers conference held […]
revolutionary reflections | The Upturn/Downturn Debate: An Introduction
Ian Allinson summarises a debate on the development of capitalism since 1968, and how this has impacted the working class and its struggles, in an attempt to address the question of what revolutionaries should do. This summary was written early in 2015 and is published here for the first time. While pre-dating the failure of […]
On the Picket Line at East Dulwich Picturehouse
At 1pm on Saturday 15 April, staff at East Dulwich Picturehouse walked out of work, demanding the London Living Wage, union recognition, and adequate pay for sickness and parental leave.
Grangemouth: chronicle of a defeat foretold
The union machine has once more been reduced to crying foul and continues to pursue a fatally discredited partnership model of industrial peace and ‘responsible’ trade unionism.
Review: The Battle of Grangemouth: A Worker’s Story
In late October 2013, workers at the Ineos twin plant at Grangemouth, Stirlingshire, suffered an epic defeat, which in terms of the sacking of site stewards, the scrapping of the pension scheme and the imposition of a three year pay freeze and strike ban, represented one of the worst assaults on one of the best […]
Free movement is a workers’ right – Unite must defend it
Lisa Leak argues that defending freedom of movement for migrant workers is the only way forward for British trade unions. On Monday (27 March) Unite members started to vote on who will be their next General Secretary – the centrist incumbent, Len McCluskey; the right-winger, Gerard Coyne; or the socialist, rank-and-file candidate, Ian Allinson. We are currently […]
Beauty and the Beast: why beauty industry workers should campaign for the Living Wage
Belle discusses the need for a campaign for the Living Wage in the beauty industry. In the spring budget speech Phil Hammond split his own party by announcing a rise in national insurance contributions (NICs) for the self-employed. Though he U-turned on the policy for middle and high-earning workers, the policy still threatens to impact […]