Revolutionary Socialism in the 21st Century
 
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Socialism in the
21st Century

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strikes

Photo shows a view of Croydon High School, one of the schools in the Girls Day School Trust (GDST) which is currently balloting for strike action over pensions.

Private sector teachers fight back against fire & rehire

Over a thousand NEU members have voted to strike in an indicative ballot over an attack on pensions in 23 private schools.

Photo of Birkbeck UCU members picket line during December 2021 UCU strikes.

The Difference is Striking in Higher Education

Thousands of UCU members took three days of strike action last week in a resumption of long-standing disputes with employers. Nick Cimini reports on what the other higher education trade unions are doing.

Placards. Chalk on wall reads: staff deserve fair pay & pensions

Strikes coming in Higher Education?

Grant Buttars discusses the UCU ballot results and prospects for action.

The power to change the system

With COP26 just around the corner, a wave of industrial action in Scotland is demonstrating the huge opportunity of linking workers’ struggle with climate organising.

Refuse workers on strike picket their depot in Brighton with GMB flags - the Brighton refuse workers strike 2021

Brighton bin workers out on strike

Drivers are angry because changing rounds arbitrarily means more stress and a worse service to local residents. 

Strikers and supporters in the Royal Parks industrial dispute hold banners and flags representing the unions UVW and PCS, and a large banner that reads 'Art workers support UVW & PCS'

Outsourced Staff take strike action at the Royal Parks

Picketing Royal Parks staff are part of an industrial struggle backed by two trade unions, Tom Schofield reports.

Crowd of strikers with End Fire & Rehire banner

Back the sacked Goodlord strikers

The dispute in the referencing department of East London property services company Goodlord has entered a new phase after the firm sacked strikers in their 13th week of industrial action.

Crowd with flags and 'end fire and rehire' banner

Video | Interviews with Go North West bus strikers

The day after ending their successful 12-week strike against #FireAndRehire, Manchester bus strikers spoke to Ian Allinson about the dispute and what comes next.

March with banners reading 'end fire & rehire' and 'Unite Queen's Road branch'

Ongoing Manchester bus strike defeats fire and rehire

The longest bus strike in British history is poised to win after a campaign involving an indefinite strike, community solidarity and a leverage strategy.

Image shows red graffiti on the wall of a train track reading 'QMUL No Evictions!'

Queen Mary University of London – stop evicting students now!

A statement from the QMUL Rent Strike Campaign from early April 2021 opposing evictions from Queen Mary University of London student accommodation.

Queen's Road bus garage with pickets and flags

Indefinite bus strike in Manchester against #FireAndRehire

Around 400 Unite members at a bus garage in north Manchester have been on indefinite strike since 28 February against fire and rehire. Ian Allinson explains what is going on and the strike’s wider significance.

Image shows picketing workers at Go North West with a anner that reads Our Key Workers Deserve Better.

Ten strikes that need your solidarity

As strike activity ramps up again, rs21 brings together ten strikes you should know about this month. At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic there was a short period where no strikes happened anywhere in the UK, perhaps for the first time in decades. This was due to several factors: balloting companies were unavailable, there […]

Image shows a row of workers in Ritzy Strikes Back shirts holding bright yellow and red flags and banners on the picket line.

Tactics of resistance: what’s the point of pickets?

In part two of a series looking at differing tactics for winning battles in the workplace, Derek Fraser looks at picketing, and how it can be used successfully in the current context.

Norway priests church strike

‘Rewards in heaven won’t pay the bills’: priests strike in Norway

‘Rewards in heaven won’t pay the bills’: Norwegian priests are on strike over the Christmas period over a threatened pay cut at the Church or Norway.

RMT members and supporters pose with banners at a picket in Longsite depot, Manchester.

Video: Rail workers strike over pay freeze

Rail maintenance workers went on strike against a pay freeze. rs21 interviewed RMT members and officials Conor Price, Clayton Clive, Michelle Rodgers and Daren Ireland at the Manchester Longsight picket line.

Tactics of resistance: occupations and sit-ins

In part one of a series looking at differing tactics for winning battles in the workplace, Bob Carter explains workplace occupations and how to make them successful.

Image is an aerial view of a pro-choice rally in Poland, showing thousands of people filling a crossroads, in 2020.

Poland’s feminist uprising

Women in Poland are making their own cause for hope by taking the streets. rs21 spoke with several feminist activists in Polish union Inicjatywa Pracownicza about the recent wave of feminist strikes and protests.

UNISON flags. Keywords: UNISON general secretary election

Back Paul Holmes for UNISON general secretary

UNISON members need to turn the page on a decade of inaction in the face of Tory austerity. Paul Holmes’ rank-and-file candidacy is a chance to put this argument front and centre

A red wedge piercing a coronavirus cell

Building power in a crisis

Covid-19 is a medical crisis, but also a social one. Amid the devastating social impacts of the crisis, we’re also seeing determined new initiatives of resistance.

a colour-edited photo of a block of flats

Covid on campus: rent strike at Bristol university

Universities have brought students back to expensive accommodation and subjected them to inhumane living conditions, with Covid-19 still a risk on campus. rs21 spoke to Connor Nicol, a first-year student involved in organising the Bristol University rent strike.

Neoliberal ‘Omnibus Law’ sparks rebellion in Indonesia

Indonesia’s neoliberal regime is using the pandemic to attack workers’ rights and environmental protections. Workers and students have other ideas.

Popular Uprisings in Lebanon and Belarus

Video: Popular Uprisings from Belarus to Lebanon

Mass movements around the world are continuing to upset the status quo. We were joined by activists from Belarus and Lebanon to learn more about the struggles unfolding in both states.

NHS workers demonstrating over pay

Video: Fighting back and building power during the Covid crisis

Three separate activists draw lessons from fights to defend working-class lives and livelihoods inside and outside the workplace.

Eviction ban ends: how can renters fight back?

The government is trying to restart evictions just as a second wave of Covid-19 is arriving. We need to escalate our organising against evictions, rent debt and homelessness.

Protests in Minsk

Interview: Organised and disorganised labour in the Belarus uprising

Siarhei Biareishyk speaks to rs21 about the uprising in Belarus following the falsified re-election of Aliaksandr Lukashenka on 9 August 2020.

Nurses protest over pay in London

Thousands march in first move of NHS pay battle

A wave of actions by NHS workers opens the door for a major struggle against austerity and poverty pay

Resisting the onslaught on higher education

We need a national campaign to confront the attacks on higher education workers precipitated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rent strike in the Covid conjuncture?

As the knock-on effects of the Covid-19 pandemic make it impossible for many workers to pay rent while meeting their own basic needs, Allan Struthers examines the prospects for large-scale rent strikes in Britain

Hong Kong: the democratic movement re-emerges

The movement for democracy in Hong Kong is back. Since the coronavirus outbreak, activists have continued organising. Now they are preparing to confront new attacks from Beijing.

Postal workers in the COVID-19 crisis

Postal workers have been let down again by the suspension of strike action, and by the inadequate protection from coronavirus. The example of workers who have walked out on safety grounds should be generalised.