Deutsche Bahn axes British rail jobs
Deutsche Bahn, the German state-owned rail company, has axed nearly 900 jobs, a quarter of its British workforce.
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Unison: no movement on pay claim
Unison’s go-it-alone stance on local government pay has hit the buffers. Its additional pay claim for 2017-18 is not supported by other unions. Employers have refused the claim. New thinking is needed by workers to make progress.
Euro a 'house of cards'
The economic troubles of the EU will not go away, despite the sustained denials by politicians, echoed by some here in Britain. One expert tells a different story, explaining that struggling through crisises cannot go on endlessly.
Cuban organisation beats Hurricane Matthew
Hurricane Matthew reduced a Cuban coastal town to rubble. Yet not one person there lost their life – a testament to the power of organisation and class mobilisation.
A proper merchant navy - or face 'strangulation'
19 October 2016
After decades of decline in the number of British-registered vessels, Britain’s merchant navy is becoming so depleted that our economy could be held to ransom by other nations with stronger shipping industries, according to Nautilus, the maritime union.
Anti-Russia sanctions cost Europe dear
18 October 2016
European countries are extending sanctions against Russia because of the secession of Crimea from Ukraine. This belligerence is causing difficulties in Europe and Britain as well as for Russia.
RMT wins battle for safety and jobs in Scotland – Southern dispute becomes more bitter
11 October 2016
RMT Scotrail members have a victory in their fight for safety. Those working on Southern face the same problem, but their employer has escalted the dispute.
Generation reverse
3 October 2016
Real wages in Britain have fallen by more than 10 per cent in the last ten years according to government figures. The current generation of new workers will be the first since records began to earn less than their parents.
Pensions: later and later [updated]
3 October 2016
A review of the state pension age is due to be released in early 2017. We can expect the media to trail snippets to prepare the ground. But the apparently independent review will simply copy the World Bank and IMF line on how to bust up a country’s state pension system.
Commons committee slams Libya intervention
22 September 2016
The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee report into Britain’s role in the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi is a stunning indictment of the British state’s attack on Libya in March 2011.
French workers oppose labour laws
18 September 2016
Hundreds of thousands of French workers demonstrated in major cities again last week against the imposition of new labour laws.
A different game
18 September 2016
Dave Roberts celebrates the real ethic of British football in a new book, Home & Away, through a grand tour of Britain with a collective of working class non-league supporters.