Archive for June 2021

2 June 2021

Save jobs, save livelihoods, save GKN Automotive - nationalise the plant!

On 28 January, not even a full month into 2021, over 500 GKN Automotive key workers based at the company's Erdington plant received the devastating news that their jobs and livelihoods are to be axed

2 June 2021

Workplace round-up

Around 1,300 staff at the University of Liverpool began three weeks of strike action on 24 May, in a fight over cuts to jobs in the faculty of health and life sciences, said the University and College Union

2 June 2021

University funding reform: Fight for free, fully funded education for all

Tories plan to attack university arts funding: University students and staff across the country have been left outraged at the Office for Students' proposed cuts to university teaching grants as part of the government's 'reprioritisation' strategy for universities.

2 June 2021

Stop Israeli state terror: solidarity protests continue

After people showed support for the Socialist Party demands on our campaign stall against Israeli state terror, we left some of our posters up so the message would remain visible

2 June 2021

Protests against anti-protest bill

The Socialist Party joined protests against the Tories' new police bill, which will curtail the right to protest if passed.

2 June 2021

Pimlico Academy protest demands elected governors

Parents at Pimlico Academy have picked up the fight against racism after students protested last term

2 June 2021

Colombia: General strikes continue

For over one month, Colombia's workers and poor have taken to the streets against the repressive capitalist government of President Ivan Duque

2 June 2021

Belarus: Lukashenko's desperate attempt to silence opposition

Dramatic recent events saw a Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania forced to land in Belarus. The military operation has been described as an unprecedented 'hijacking', and has seen European Union

2 June 2021

Save our NHS from the Tories

The day of protest on 3 July - the anniversary of the foundation of the NHS - should be the launch of a fight on pay and to save our NHS. Let's build the protests around the country and demand a real fight from trade union leaders.

2 June 2021

Crimes go unpunished

During more than thirty years of campaigning, the families of the 96 killed at Hillsborough and the Hillsborough Justice Campaign uncovered the truth: that 96 football fans were unlawfully killed

2 June 2021

Unite general secretary campaign: Statement from Sharon Graham

The nomination stage of the Unite the Union general secretary election campaign ends on 7 June. The Socialist Party invited the two left candidates, Sharon Graham and Howard Beckett, to outline why they are standing

2 June 2021

Unite general secretary campaign: Statement from Howard Beckett

The nomination stage of the Unite the Union general secretary election campaign ends on 7 June. The Socialist Party invited the two left candidates, Sharon Graham and Howard Beckett, to outline why they standing

2 June 2021

Unite general secretary campaign: Left candidates speak to the Socialist

The two left candidates outline why they are standing

2 June 2021

Cladding danger: Protest 5 June!

The tragic Grenfell Tower fire is approaching its fourth anniversary

2 June 2021

Boycotts - what role can these play in the struggle for a Palestinian state?

2 June 2021

York students demand democratic control of schools

On Wednesday 26 May, York Young Socialists organised a 30-strong protest campaigning for reformation of the school system

2 June 2021

Capitalism's Covid failings

Its workers, not Cummings, who can expose them.
Read what was written in the Socialist, when responding to the crisis during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

2 June 2021

Will Biden's 'green' agenda avert an impending climate change catastrophe?

The US president announced that the US would re-join the Paris agreement on climate change, among other measures

2 June 2021

Raising Fighting Fund in Southern region

Given we spent most of the last year in lockdown, our election campaign was magnificent. The Socialist Party produced hundreds of thousands of leaflets, thousands of posters and dozens of banners.

8 June 2021

'Let's fight to win on NHS pay and funding'

Local protests and demonstrations are being organised on the NHS's birthday, 3 July

9 June 2021

G7 tax deal won't challenge corporate power

Ahead of the G7 summit, the media brought news of a 'historic' plan to impose a global minimum tax rate on large companies

9 June 2021

Dea-John Reid murder: Jobs, homes and services, not racism

14 year-old Dea-John Reid was tragically murdered on the streets of Kingstanding, Birmingham, on the evening of 31 May.

9 June 2021

We're building for 3 July NHS protests

Waltham Forest: Burnt out but fighting back: Burnout among NHS workers - evident before the pandemic and greatly exacerbated during it - underlines the urgency for the national leaderships of the health unions to link up a coordinated response, including strike action

9 June 2021

Goodlord striker speaks out: How we unionised and fought the bosses

A section of workers at property services company Goodlord have been on indefinite strike since 22 February, and were sacked by the company on 19 May

9 June 2021

Revolt against 'social partnership' at Wales Trades Union Congress 2021

Trades councils again played an important role pushing a fighting agenda forward at the Wales Trades Union Congress (TUC)

9 June 2021

Douwe Egberts workers strike against pay cuts of up to £12,000 a year

Socialist Party members witnessed an incredible atmosphere of solidarity visiting the Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE) factory picket line in Banbury on 5 June

9 June 2021

London workers prepare to fight Khan's transport cuts

The Tory government and Transport for London (TfL) have reached a new agreement to implement more savage cuts to the jobs, pay, and terms and conditions of TfL workers, in return for a further £1.08 billion bailout

9 June 2021

The 1971 Upper Clyde Shipbuilders occupation and work-in

Lessons from history: In June 1971, the privately owned shipyards of Upper Clyde Shipbuilders collapsed into receivership. But instead of accepting redundancy, the large workforce occupied the affected sites and began its famous

9 June 2021

Workplace news in brief

Woolwich Ferry workers are walking out over a victimised rep. The Woolwich Ferry, is now run by Transport for London (TfL). The workers have taken seven days action in May and June, with the final date

9 June 2021

Post-Brexit trade deals: Workers' mobilisation needed to stop corporate extortion

Since the UK's departure from the European Union, the Tory government has come under pressure from its backers in big business to establish trade agreements with as many countries as possible

9 June 2021

G7 green hypocrisy

As the G7 summit arrives in Cornwall, it's been found that the group of seven rich capitalist nations has bailed out highly polluting aviation and car industries to the tune of $115 billion.

9 June 2021

New book - coming soon: The Struggle for World Socialism

Thousands of people, especially the young, have taken to the streets across the world in opposition to the naked greed by the ruling elite, and growing impoverishment of the mass of people

9 June 2021

Hundreds march to scrap Silvertown Tunnel project

Chanting 'Hey mayor, we want clean air' and 'Stop the tunnel now', several hundred people marched through Canning Town, in Newham east London, on 5 June, calling for the Silvertown Tunnel project to be scrapped.

9 June 2021

Shame on Clarion - another exploitative landlord

East London Socialist Party and the Social Housing Action Campaign (Shac) attended a London Renters Union demo outside Clarion Housing in London Bridge on 1 June.

9 June 2021

TV review: Mrs Thatcher vs the miners

History as written by the bosses: 'Mrs Thatcher vs The Miners, the Battle for Britain', a documentary recently screened on Channel 5, is a transparent attempt by the bosses to rewrite history

9 June 2021

Readers' Opinion

For the last ten years, the number of people who work, yet are still considered to live in relative poverty has been steadily climbing as working people's wages fail to keep pace with the soaring cost of living

9 June 2021

Palestinian self-determination - is the solution one state or two?

This is the second in a series of articles on Israel-Palestine following last month's brutal war on Gaza by the Israeli regime

9 June 2021

G7 Can't solve poverty, Covid and climate change - join the struggle for Socialism

A lot has happened since the G7, a group of rich capitalist nations including the UK and US, last met in summer 2019

9 June 2021

Tory splits and infighting growing

As society moves out of lockdown, all the pent-up political and economic processes that have accumulated over the last 15 months are starting to be unleashed.

9 June 2021

"Rights are won not given" - London refugee wins housing debt campaign

Lawanya Ramajeyam, an asylum seeker, was unable to make rent on her room

9 June 2021

If unions give a lead, workers are fully prepared to fight and win victories

A year ago, the trade union leaderships collapsed into national unity with the Tory government and the employers.

9 June 2021

Left candidate needed for Unite general secretary election

The nomination period for the Unite general secretary election has closed with all four candidates gaining enough branch nominations

9 June 2021

Fight for a socialist leadership in PCS, build a fighting, democratic union!

PCS annual conference convenes on 13 June

9 June 2021

Fight for the funding our schools and colleges need

The Treasury refused to foot the bill that Kevan Collins deemed necessary

9 June 2021

Cladding safety: Protests took place around the country on 5 June highlighting the cladding crisis

Cladding safety: Protests demand developers and government pay

Cladding safety: Protests took place around the country on 5 June highlighting the cladding crisis

11 June 2021

Right lose control in national executive council election

The election results have been announced for the executive of Unison

15 June 2021

Response to Observer article on China

Peter Taaffe, an executive committee member of the Socialist Party and its former general secretary, wrote the following letter to the Observer on 7 June 2021

16 June 2021

Make vaccine technology public, nationalise big-pharma

G7 vaccine promises fall short: G7 leaders have pledged to donate 1 billion doses of coronavirus vaccine to poorer countries by the end of 2022. Boris Johnson's Tory government, for its part, has pledged 100 million doses.

16 June 2021

Majority of BFAWU members vote to break from Labour

53% of members of the BFAWU bakers' union believe that the union should no longer be affiliated to Labour. Just 7% strongly believe that Labour still represents them.

16 June 2021

Now is the time to fight for the NHS

I first became aware of a problem with our healthcare provision, and the appalling treatment of our NHS workforce, when our 120 year-old hospital was suddenly closed here in Dartmouth in 2017

16 June 2021

Save Leicester General Hospital

Leicestershire NHS bosses have made the decision to close Leicester General Hospital, one of the three main acute hospitals in Leicester, selling off most of the land, and also St Mary's Maternity unit in Melton Mowbray

16 June 2021

Schools need resources to tackle 'routine' sexual harassment

As a student support worker in a secondary school, when I read the reports that Ofsted has found that sexual harassment and abuse is "routine" for school students, I was disgusted, but not surprised.

16 June 2021

Neonatal leave introduced: Unions must fight for extensions and full pay

The birth of any child is an intense and stressful time for most parents, and that applies even more if babies are born prematurely

16 June 2021

Leicester University workers strike against redundancies

UCU staff have been in dispute with their employer for months over compulsory redundancies and academic freedom

16 June 2021

Redbridge school walkout over victimised union rep

Teachers and support staff working at Oaks Park High School in Redbridge have walked out in defence of their union rep who has been sacked and three other workers (including a pregnant woman) who have been told they will not have jobs in September

16 June 2021

Will Biden's new foreign policy change the direction of US imperialism?

Biden's first international meetings and visit to Europe as US president were certainly different from Trump's visits, but how much in substance has really changed?

16 June 2021

Tamil Solidarity asylum victory

Sri Lanka: Political campaigning now grounds for asylum: In a recent landmark ruling, the Upper Tribunal - responsible for judicial reviews of Home Office decisions - has proposed new 'country guidance' used for determining asylum cases of refugees from Sri Lanka

16 June 2021

Beth Roper inquest: Train company failures ignored

Two years and six months ago we tragically lost a brilliant comrade and a wonderful friend, Socialist Party member Bethan Roper

16 June 2021

International solidarity protests

Leeds 'greets' G7: A socially distanced protest calling for global justice, aimed at the G7 meeting in Cornwall, took an unexpected turn on 11 June

16 June 2021

Queues at Socialist Party stall in Cov

The Socialist Party is out campaigning against parking charges at University Hospital Coventry, while promoting the NHS protest on 3 July. We have had a fantastic response from the community.

16 June 2021

Books that inspired me: The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists

"A scathing, humorous and urgent call to arms in the fight for socialism": 'The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists' by Robert Tressell, published in 1914, portrays with compassion the plight of the working class in the early 1900s

16 June 2021

Readers' comments

A truly capitalist donation: The G7's pledge to donate 1 billion vaccine doses isn't as generous as the media is painting it. Truthfully, it makes me sick. The G7 countries have been actively blocking efforts to suspend vaccine

16 June 2021

Who represents the Palestinians?

The eleven-day Israeli air bombardment of the Gaza Strip and retaliatory Hamas rockets fired into Israel, ended with a shaky ceasefire and both sides claiming victory

16 June 2021

Birmingham Clean Air Zone a tax on the poor

We need affordable, publicly owned public transport: In Birmingham a new tax has been forced on the city that will hit the poorest hardest, takes no account of income or ability to pay, and which is causing growing anger among the community

16 June 2021

Johnson's G7 hypocrisy

We may all say things we don't mean when we want to impress our peers in a sun-drenched luxury hotel in Cornwall.

16 June 2021

Pandemic homeless

The so-called eviction ban ended at the end of May. But a legal ban on evictions, even when enforced, did not prevent tens of thousands becoming homeless during the pandemic. Over 130,000 households in

16 June 2021

Women's health matters

The Cumberlege review last year was just one example of the devastating impact of the 'gender health gap'

16 June 2021

Socialist Party to the fore at Unison LG conference

At the conference on 13 June, our region had two motions on the agenda, which I moved.

16 June 2021

National finance meeting

We held a very enthusiastic national online meeting for Socialist Party finance organisers on 13 June, with 50 members taking part

16 June 2021

Left candidate needed for Unite general secretary election

The nomination period for the Unite general secretary election has closed. All four candidates - Steve Turner, Sharon Graham, Howard Beckett and Gerard Coyne - have gained enough branch nominations to

16 June 2021

Enfield byelection: We need councillors prepared to resist

Vote TUSC in Bush Hill Park on 1 July: North London Socialist Party member John Dolan is standing in the by-election in Bush Hill Park in Enfield on 1 July. John is the candidate for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC).

16 June 2021

Underpaid, overworked - NHS workers say: 'Enough is enough'

NHS staff have been on the Covid front line since last March. "As workers, we need to make our voices heard".

16 June 2021

Sparks win victory!

Rank-and-file construction electricians have yet again defeated the deskilling agenda of the big contractors.

16 June 2021

Conference 2021: Divide between union leaders and rank-and-file exposed

The PCS 2021 conference lasted just two days

16 June 2021

Engineers in fourth week of strike action

Management at Brush Electrical Machines is attacking pay, terms and conditions

18 June 2021

Unite general secretary contest: Vote for Sharon Graham

The Socialist Party is supporting Sharon Graham for Unite general secretary. The fighting programme that is much needed can win this election.