Revolutionary Socialism in the 21st Century
 
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Socialism in the
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Work, unions and strikes

Bin workers on the picket line

Interview | On strike with Birmingham bin workers

A striking bin worker speaks about their fight to protect their pay.

Struggle and Strategy in the Platform Economy

As workers in the platform economy fight back how can sporadic, dispersed strikes be turned into a sustainable movement?

Striking drivers hold a banner that says Fair Pay Now

May Day private hire drivers strike

Private hire drivers around Britain and internationally took strike action on 1 May

Scottish water Van parked by the Joppa Pumping Station

Interview with Scottish Water strikers

Some of the women on the Glasgow picket line spoke to rs21 about their strike

It’s Time for Real Change in UNISON

Elections for UNISON’s leading body are under way – vote for Time for Real Change

Crowd of thousands in Parliament Square

Huge protests condemn Supreme Court attack on trans people

Protests have shown huge support for trans people this weekend – we can fight and we can win!

NEU conference 2025

Three articles produced by rs21 NEU members for distribution at the education union annual conference

Fighting for union recognition in Sheffield

Unite members at the Veolia waste plant in Sheffield have been on strike for eight months for union recognition

UCU pickets outside an entrance to Dundee University

University crisis – Dundee UCU fights back

How the UCU strike in the face of the threat of massive job losses at Dundee University has shifted the agenda

black and white photo of a puppet keir starmer with a sign on him saying "I

Labour – war hawks

Trumpeting the military is a distraction from Labour’s policies to deepen oppression and exploitation.

NHS workers on strike in London. Placard with an acrostic poem reads: 'Needed Undervalued Resigning Short-staffed Exhausted Still saving lives!'

How do we democratise and invigorate our unions?

“Every worker should feel empowered with the tools and confidence to organise.”

Higher education in crisis – what now for UCU?

As massive cuts and redundancies are threatened across the university sector – how can we build the fightback?

Review | Hard Graft

Kika Hendry reviews the Wellcome Collection’s exhibition Hard Graft, which explores the relationship between work and health tracing through histories of exploitation, oppression and resistance.

Migrant farm workers fight for justice in Britain

A report on a migrant farm worker’s protest and the campaign for rights for workers on seasonal visas

What trade unionism? A transport strike case study

A case study of a dispute which illustrates the impact of different models of trade unionism and some of the challenges facing workplace activists.

Greater Manchester mental health early intervention service strike

Video report from the Greater Manchester mental health early intervention service strike picket line

GKN Florence: this is what worker led just transition looks like

After more than 3 years in occupation, the Florence GKN workers’ fight to save jobs and develop alternative production continues

Image of NEU members protesting with a white banner that says 'Value Education! Save our schools'

Teacher and support staff pay deals: the questions we need to ask

The questions we need to ask about the teacher and support staff pay deals in England

Grangemouth – the fight for jobs and climate justice

INEOS’s plans to close Scotland’s only petrol refinery at Grangemouth represent a critical test for both unions and climate campaigners.

Sussex Academy Trust faces strike from angry workforce – UBAT strike report

Lou Hayton reports from one of the picket lines where Sussex NEU members are fighting back against the University of Brighton Academies Trust

Jane McAlevey 1964-2024

Ian Allinson pays tribute to and assesses the work of Jane McAlevey, the US-based organiser and author who popularised many organising concepts and techniques, and who inspired and trained thousands of activists

UNISON conference backs Palestine, organising, strikes and trans rights

rs21 members in UNISON report that the recent National Delegate Conference saw continued progress and highlighted areas for campaigning and reform.

Report from the 2024 UCU Congress

rs21 members in UCU report on the recent Congress of the Further and Higher Education workers union

A man in a wheelchair delivers a speech on stage at a protest. A interpreter stands next to him translating into sign language.

Resist Sunak’s demonisation of disabled people

An analysis of how new governmental measures continue to demonise and punish disabled people.

1974 – an end and a beginning

Willie Black looks back at 1974. A pivotal year both in Britain and across the world – high points of workers’ struggles, but also the beginning of five decades of neo-liberalism

teachers with a banner saying 'Pay Up, Save our schools'

Teachers’ union conference battles over pay strikes

Palestine, pay cuts and protest: NEU activists challenge the union’s bureaucracy in the face of another expected real terms pay cut.

The Courtaulds strike of 1965 – Black workers fighting back

Sue Sparks of the IS History Project uncovers the history of one of the first Black workers’ strikes against racism in the 1960s. 

Here We Go! Forty years on from the outbreak of the Great Strike

Forty years ago today British miners began industrial action in what became the longest and most bitter strike of the twentieth century. Here Brian Parkin, a former Research Officer for the National Union of Mineworkers, gives a brief introduction to this pivotal strike.

The Post Office scandal is typical of today’s Britain

“The light in this darkness is that people are standing up and demanding justice.”

Do workers in the Global North benefit from the exploitation of workers in the South?

Charlie Post argues that imperialism has intensified exploitation across the entire global working class