Take part, take heart
How heartening to be in a united and determined group of workers who successfully resist a move against them or gain an improvement. What could be better?
Who needs the EU? Not the motor industry…
The British motor industry is bucking the trend of decline – even though there are no longer any major British-owned motor manufacturers. It is an industry that thrives outside of the EU and demonstrably would thrive even more without the EU’s destructive restrictions.
Why Britain needs an industrial policy
Britain can’t properly provide for its people without a complex web of manufacture and technology. For all the talk of services, it needs industry.
The facts about what leaving the EU would mean
The EU is an organisation that was formed, and is run, by the employing class for itself. We are for the interests of the working class in Britain.
Tomorrow's doctors?
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has pledged a “new deal” for GPs, boosting their number by 5,000 over five years, along with 7-day access to GP services. In reality GP numbers are set to decline.
A waste of a dispute?
The short dispute among waste collection vehicle drivers in Barking and Dagenham ended with a return to work. One lesson of the setback is that unions must work together.
TTIP: the big myth mauled
A study from an American university puts the claims about TTIP’s benefits to the test – and finds disastrous consequences for jobs, wages and government spending.
UCU ready to fight on pay
As Workers goes to press, the Higher Education Committee of the University and College Union will be meeting to discuss the results of its consultative pay ballot.
Budgeting for decline
Chancellor George Osborne will deliver another government budget on 8 July. Familiarity with the themes of “austerity” and “balancing the books” should not blind us to what is going on behind the figures
Union rights restored
In the week leading up to the general election the London Borough of Wandsworth restored deduction of trade union subscriptions from payroll and returned to the Local Government national agreement they had torn up nearly 35 years ago.
Unison: anyone voting?
The most significant result of Unison's national executive council elections was the turnout – down 25 per centy on the previous elections, and an average turnout of just 5.6 per cent.
'Motorsport valley': a centre of manufacturing excellence
In “Motorsport Valley”, the business cluster near the Silverstone circuit in Northamptonshire, around 4,300 companies employ around 41,000 people and have a combined turnover of around £9 billion a year.
Cuts to shore up PFI
Barts Health, the largest NHS Trust in Britain, has now released its deficit projection for 2016, with massive cuts almost identical to the cost of servicing its PFI debt.
Home working on the rise
22 June 2015
Workwise, which organised the tenth “National Work from Home Day” on 5 June, estimates that there are more than 4.2 million people in Britain working from home. That’s not good news.
Tube workers prepare for action
Tube driver members of ASLEF have voted overwhelmingly in favour of action against London Underground’s attempt to impose new rosters and payments.
Engineers demolish the Industrial Relations Act: 1971 to 1974
The first thing the 1970 Conservative government did was to introduce an anti-trade union bill. The engineering workers’ union led the opposition and finally won out in 1974, a political earthquake that shook the whole country.
Higher education union ballots on 'final' pay offer
16 June 2015
University and College Union members in higher education across Britain are currently being consulted on the “full and final” offer for 2015-16 made to the union by the University and Colleges Employers Association.
Sheffield bakery staff into second day of strike
16 June 2015
Workers in the food industry union BFAWU today enter the second day of their 48-hour strike at Gunstones factory, Sheffield, following the employer’s decision to force through a pay freeze.
Terrorist state removes Cuba from its list
5 June 2015
The US State Department has finally removed Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism – while newly released documents show that the US shipped arms to al Qaeda and ISIS.
TTIP vote in balance
5 June 2015
With the European Parliament scheduled to meet for an important vote on TTIP on 10 June, MEPs are showing signs of panic and switching positions from day to day – as pressure from the peoples of Europe builds.
Rail strike threat draws new offer
2 June 2015
Planned strikes at Network Rail over pay and conditions this week and next have been called off after the rail operator increased its pay offer to 2 per cent this year.
'Massive pain' promised for Tata after huge pensions strike vote
31 May 2015
Members of Community, GMB and Ucatt have voted decisively for strike action in a dispute with Tata Steel over pensions.
New figures show scale of production crisis
29 May 2015
The economy grew by just 0.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2015, said the Office for National Statistics on 28 May, confounding – as ever – predictions from City analysts, who had been expecting higher growth.
EU membership: Britain’s choice
29 May 2015
The paper that won the Institute of Economic Affairs’ 2014 Brexit Prize argues that Britain could thrive outside the EU by improving our links with the rest of the world
Wind and sun power not enough to replace coal
26 May 2015
A well-researched book makes the case for expanding nuclear power and explains why alternatives are not practical.
New Ukrainian laws glorify WW2 fascists
26 May 2015
Seventy years after the defeat of Nazism in the Second World War, the descendants of the treacherous Ukrainian fascists are in power – and seeking revenge.
Globe tour guides prepare fresh action over pay
25 May 2015
Guides at London’s Globe Theatre are preparing for their second day of strike action over pay. The 38 tour guides have been in dispute since 2014, fighting for pay parity with similar prestigious organisations.
National rail strike suspended after improved pay offer
25 May 2015
Rail unions RMT and TSSA suspended a national rail strike scheduled for the Spring Bank Holiday weekend after Network Rail improved its pay offer. It would have been the first national rail strike for two decades.
Wasted spaces
24 May 2015
Nicky Morgan, the new government’s education secretary, has tried to bolster free schools. Her stance should dispel the illusion that she is more approachable and reasonable than her irascible predecessor.
Ferrybridge C power station to close
23 May 2015
The announcement that Ferrybridge C power station will stop generating in 2016 twists the knife in what is left of coal power generation in Britain.