Archive for May 2013
1 May 2013
1 May 2013
Video: Tony Mulhearn - Liverpool Militant 30 years on
"LIVERPOOL - a Socialist council", said the signs that were once tacked to the sides of city public buildings or hung from the fences surrounding the recreation grounds, writes From the Liverpool Echo.
1 May 2013
Local government: fight for decent pay, terms and conditions
Unison Local Government strike 16-17 July in London, photo Paul Mattsson
Local government employers have come back with their so-called final offer for this year's pay deal - a miserable 1%, writes Glenn Kelly.
1 May 2013
On 3 May, after nearly six years of a tortuous fight with the Unison bureaucracy, an employment tribunal remedy hearing is to be held...
1 May 2013
Swansea RMT: Train managers working for First Great Western were on strike on 26 April over the sacking of a guard...
1 May 2013
Time for plan S: Changes to the benefit system and recent welfare reforms are forcing a growing number of people to use food banks...
1 May 2013
Cyprus economic meltdown: Build a socialist alternative to austerity
Although the media circus has moved on, the economic situation facing the population of Greek-speaking Cyprus is now even more dire...
1 May 2013
Saying no to blacklisting in Southampton
Unite activists from the Southampton area came together on 25 April to join the growing voice of workers across the country speaking out against the illegal practices of employers blacklisting union activists from employment...
1 May 2013
Land Registry: Fight Con-Dems' privatisation plans
As well as trying to sell off Royal Mail, the government apparently has its eyes on Companies House, the Land Registry, the Met Office and Ordnance Survey
1 May 2013
Scotland: Anti-bedroom tax federation launched
On Saturday 27 April over 250 delegates and visitors from across Scotland attended the conference to found the All Scottish Anti-Bedroom Tax Federation
1 May 2013
Council Tax: Con-Dems turn screw on poorest
For the first time this April, hundreds of thousands of the poorest in society received a shock with their post - for the first time, they will have received a bill for their council tax
1 May 2013
Doncaster: For a mayor that would really stop the bedroom tax!
Mary Jackson speaking at the excellent pre-election rally attended by 55 people, many at their first TUSc meeting, 29 April 2013, photo by Mary4Mayor
On Saturday 27 April, Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition supporters were out campaigning for 'Mary4Mayor' in Doncaster
1 May 2013
Rally marks 30 years since election of socialist council
Almost 500 people attended a tumultuous public meeting to mark the 1980s achievements of the '47'
1 May 2013
Fight to rebuild the NHS!: Unison's Health Care conference took place at a time of unprecedented attacks
1 May 2013
Labour council leader quits under anti-cuts pressure
Southampton's council leader dramatically resigned, walking out of a meeting
1 May 2013
Bangladesh building collapse - casualties of a rotten profit system
It is said that where labour is cheap, life is cheap. This is never more so than in the recent horrific deaths of over 400 garment workers crushed in a collapsed building in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh...
1 May 2013
Education civil servants' walkout this afternoon
Civil servants in the Department for Education are walking out on strike at 3pm this afternoon, 1st May, in opposition to the closure of half of the department's 12 offices in England...
1 May 2013
Jarrow March 2011: Jarrow March for Jobs arrives in London, photo Paul Mattsson
April 2013 will be remembered as the month when the government trampled millions of people at the bottom of British society into the dirt while millionaires got a £100,000 a year tax cut, writes Hannah Sell, Socialist Party deputy general secretary
1 May 2013
Millions of workers around the world will be marking May Day today (1st May) and over the next few days
1 May 2013
The 'precariat': fighting for real jobs
Youth Fight for Jobs Workfare protest Feb 2012
'Get a job!' is the constant refrain of privileged Tory ministers and vicious right-wing tabloids. A million unemployed young people are the subject of a relentless campaign of smears and lies
1 May 2013
Around 700 anti-war campaigners marched from Lincoln to RAF Waddington on Saturday
1 May 2013
IDS' 'wealthy pensioners' smoke screen
Reasons for a 24-hour general strike: Iain Duncan Smith's proposal that "wealthier pensioners" should pay back universal benefits is a cover for a full blooded attack on pensions and benefits
3 May 2013
Airport cleaners strike while construction workers protest
Cleaners at Manchester airport took solid strike action on 3rd May against a drastic worsening of their conditions
3 May 2013
Middleton anti-bedroom tax meeting
A packed meeting in Middleton, Greater Manchester, launched Middleton and Rochdale Against the Bedroom Tax on Thursday 2nd May...
3 May 2013
3 May 2013
4 May 2013
TUSC Doncaster Mayor candidate wins 1,900 votes in Ed Miliband's backyard
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidate Mary Jackson polled 1,916 votes, coming in ahead of the Lib Dems
5 May 2013
2013 Local Elections: The TUSC results in full
A COMPREHENSIVE account of the TUSC results from Thursday's local elections is now available on the TUSC website...
7 May 2013
North-West construction trade unionists organise
About 40 trade unionists in the construction industry came to a north-west 'rank and file' meeting in Warrington
8 May 2013
DWP contact centre workers strike to support PCS rep
Over 200 PCS members in the Sheffield DWP contact centre took a day of strike action to support unfairly sacked union rep Lee Rock
8 May 2013
The Palestinian struggle - How can a state be realised?
As Israeli governments have progressively increased the number of Jewish settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, eating into the Palestinian territories, more and more people are questioning whether a viable Palestinian state next to Israel is now possible
8 May 2013
Bee, photo by USDA Photo by Jack Dykinga
The Con-Dem government has been accused of bowing to the agrochemical industry, supporting bad science, and threatening food production around the world, writes Pete Mason.
8 May 2013
Hotel nursery: When thousands of people are worrying about paying the bedroom tax, the Grosvenor House hotel in London has shown the way forward for the better off family...
8 May 2013
Food banks and fighting austerity
Time to get political: In the last six months an extra 100,000 people have been added to the food bank queues. Attendance at food banks seems to be one of the few growth areas of the economy, writes Nancy Taaffe.
8 May 2013
One in five borrow to buy food
Five million families in Britain are struggling to pay for food and are reaching "breaking point" according to a 'Which?' survey...
8 May 2013
Portugal: Government in disarray... Left must seize the opportunity
The situation in Portugal is explosive. The decision of the Constitutional Court (CC) to declare four measures of the state budget illegal, amounting to a value of €1.3 billion, only confirmed what many had already said ...
8 May 2013
May Day - fighting capitalist oppression internationally
CWI members, often in difficult circumstances, organised and participated in May Day events around the world. Here are a few short reports..
8 May 2013
Greece: Challenging the Golden Dawn
In the elections of June 2012, the neo-fascist party Golden Dawn (GD) got 7% of the votes and entered the Greek parliament for the first time, with 18 MPs
8 May 2013
Salford - two-faced attack on mental health
Manchester mental health workers on strike, photo Christian Bunke
Salford council still aims to 'reorganise' mental health services, despite acknowledging the "strong opposition" of service users...
8 May 2013
Defend Liverpool's jobs and services - then and now
Liverpool 47 rally, 27.4.13 on 30th Anniversary: Left to right: Len McCluskie,Tony Benn, Paul Astbury, Tony Mulhearn and Dave Walsh, photo Harry Smith
My old mate Derek Hatton, interviewed in the Liverpool Daily Post, laudably defends the historic 47 councillors from 1983 to 1987, but justifies the savage cuts policy of Liverpool's present day mayor Anderson and his council...
8 May 2013
Trade unions recommend more cuts in Neath/Port Talbot
After lengthy discussions the trade unions Unison, GMB, Unite and Ucatt in Neath/Port Talbot council have announced an agreement which they claim will protect jobs while allowing the Labour council to make cuts due to the £21 million financial gap in its funding...
8 May 2013
Airport strike: Cleaners at Manchester Airport took solid strike action on 3 May against a drastic worsening of their conditions...
8 May 2013
NUT protest outside the Department of Education by teachers and parents opposed to the GCSE regrading in August 2012, photo Neil Cafferky
Education secretary Michael Gove's announcement that he plans to attack our holidays and conditions, on top of his attacks on pay, have angered teachers right across the country, writes Martin Powell-Davies, Member of the NUT executive.
8 May 2013
CWU supports 24-hour general strike
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) conference on 21 and 22 April was held against the backdrop of the constant threat of wholesale postal privatisation and unprecedented attacks, union busting and sackings of CWU members across Royal Mail, BT and the communications industry
8 May 2013
Hull protest against the Bedroom Tax , photo by Lash
While people struggling to survive on low incomes are being hammered by pay cuts, bedroom tax, cuts in council tax support and other benefits, George Osborne recently slashed the top rate of income tax for himself and his millionaire chums
8 May 2013
Capitalist parties rejected: Time for a new mass workers' party
TUSC protest outside Camden town hall, March 2013, photo Neil Cafferky
The results of the county council elections on 2 May marked a new low for all three major parties. For the first time ever not one of them got 30% or more of the vote; another illustration of the hollowing out of their base of support
8 May 2013
NHS WARNING! Privatisation puts patients at risk
Save our local hospital services (SOLHS) demonstration, held on Saturday 20 April 2013 in Dewsbury. , photo Dawn Wheelhouse
BMI Healthcare runs 65 private hospitals in Britain where it is the biggest private health firm. It usually gets an easy ride from the media, but less so recently, writes Roger Shrives.
8 May 2013
If you attended this year's shopworkers' union annual delegate meeting you would have been forgiven for thinking you had walked into a Labour rally
10 May 2013
11 May 2013
Socialist Party meeting against cuts
Greater Manchester Socialist Party called a meeting to discuss how trade unionists, community activists and students can unite to beat the cuts and the Bedroom Tax
13 May 2013
Parliament's security staff striking tomorrow
Up to 300 security staff at the Houses of Parliament in the PCS union will strike on 14 May over imposed shift patterns...
13 May 2013
Stop the cruel, ruthless bedroom tax!
On Sunday 12 May the suicide was reported of a 53 year old woman, Stephanie Bottrill, who killed herself because of the bedroom tax. This is a tragedy made in Westminster by a government that wants to make working class people pay for the crisis of the bankers, the super-rich and the capitalist system they represent.
15 May 2013
London march to save the NHS, 18.5.13, photo Dave Carr
Condition critical: Cuts in NHS staffing levels as a result of 'efficiency savings', and the drive to achieve Foundation Trust status, mean that patient care is at unsafe levels, writes Simon Carter.
15 May 2013
Fat cat tax-dodging: 200 lorry loads of lolly!
Con-Dems benefit fact fraud - tax, avoided, evaded and uncollected, photo Socialist Party
Anger is rising at the companies and millionaires who pay little or no tax in Britain. They're very happy to make money exploiting people's hard work - but less keen to put anything back, writes Tom Baldwin.
15 May 2013
Wales TUC: no fight against austerity
There is a myth put out by the leaders of Labour-affiliated trade unions that the Welsh government is protecting Welsh workers from the worst of the cuts, writes Ronnie Job.
15 May 2013
Unison leader 'gets it wrong' over action on pay
Unison health workers in Mid Yorks on strike, photo by Iain Dalton
Local government workers have had three years of pay freeze, as well as facing cuts in pay and conditions of service and massive job losses...
15 May 2013
Unite the Union has formally notified One Housing Group (OHG) of its intention to ballot its members over pay cuts and downgrading...
15 May 2013
Fighting blacklisting: Workers in GMB and Unite at Runcorn Thermal Power Station walked out unofficially on 13 May to support laggers...
15 May 2013
Swansea's food bank for students
Swansea Metropolitan University's student union has been running a food bank since April so its own students can get enough to eat...
15 May 2013
Striking back at greedy bosses: One hundred years ago, mill workers in Yeadon and Guiseley, West Yorkshire, took heroic strike action over pay and working hours, writes Iain Dalton, Yorkshire Socialist Party.
15 May 2013
British government supports murderous Sri Lankan regime
International workers' solidarity needed: Prime Minister David Cameron's decision to lead Britain's delegation to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting is a kick in the teeth to Tamil-speaking people...
15 May 2013
PCS strike on budget day, 20 March 2013 with NSSN 24 hour general strike placard , photo by Paul Mattsson
Campaigning works - Action gets results: The re-election of the Democracy Alliance national executive committee is a real blow to the government's attempt to break PCS members' resolve, writes John McInally
15 May 2013
Letter to the Tories who tell me to 'work hard and strive'
My five brothers and sisters and I worked harder in our first 16 years of life than you have your whole life through, writes Teresa Stuart to the Tory government
15 May 2013
Bedroom tax non-implementation
Axe the killer tax - end the bedroom tax now, photo Socialist Party
Only mass action can defeat it: Some disabled workers have raised the idea of urging civil servants and local authority workers to refuse to participate in administering these new laws
15 May 2013
Capitalist crisis: 'Desperate times call for desperate measures': On 4 April the new governor of the Bank of Japan, Haruhiko Kuroda, took the world of finance completely by surprise when he launched an unprecedented stimulus package cash injection
15 May 2013
A survey carried out by the TUC earlier this year revealed that people believe, on average, that 27% of the welfare budget is claimed fraudulently, writes Ben Golightly.
15 May 2013
Axe the killer tax: End the bedroom tax now
On the march in Bootle against the Bedroom Tax, May 2013, photo Socialist Party
The death of Stephanie Bottrill, who couldn't afford the bedroom tax, is a tragedy made in Westminster by a government that wants to make working class people pay for the economic crisis
15 May 2013
Unison staff at Pinderfields hospital strike, photo Iain Dalton
Trade union-led national action on NHS needed now: The chair of the NHS regulator has warned that pressure on A&E units is "out of control... [and] totally unsustainable"
15 May 2013
Brighton bin workers fight pay cuts - this time from the Greens
Staff at Hollingdean bin depot staged a two day sit-in last week in protest against cuts to their allowances
15 May 2013
TUSC builds support in Leicester byelection
After more than a month's dedicated campaigning for TUSC, the Abbey ward byelection was held on 9 May
15 May 2013
When mass action defeated Thatcher's poll tax
Poll Tax demonstration 1990
Launching the battle in Scotland: Margaret Thatcher was dubbed the Iron Lady. She wore this description with pride as, like her successors today, she ruthlessly tried to solve British capitalism's difficulties by launching brutal attacks...
15 May 2013
We've been hearing this rubbish for years - British workers are lazy - and now Eton-educated Tory London mayor Boris 'the bankers' friend' Johnson has stepped in, accusing British workers of sloth
15 May 2013
Gloves off in Mid Yorks hospital battle
As the government continues to dismantle and privatise the NHS, workers' pay and conditions are under constant threat
15 May 2013
Protesters demand councils reject blacklisting companies
Unite the union took its blacklisting campaign to the Waltham Forest on 15 May
15 May 2013
Coventry Against The Bedroom Tax - Bekir's Story
Coventry Against The Bedroom Tax have posted a video to their website: www.coventryagainstthebedroomtax.wordpress.com.
16 May 2013
Blacklisting protester badly injured by hit-and-run driver
George Tapp, 64, a retired electrician and Unite activist who lives in Salford, was seriously injured by a hit-and-run driver yesterday outside the offices of construction firm BAM in Manchester...
16 May 2013
University backs down: students and workers win!
Maintenance and support staff at University of Birmingham are celebrating near-total victory as university management has abandoned restructuring plans
20 May 2013
PCS members at the British Library went on strike for a two-day programme of action on 16th and 17th May
20 May 2013
Sacked Tesco drivers on the march again
Around 100 of the Tesco drivers sacked earlier this year and their families marched through Doncaster
21 May 2013
Teachers strike to defend education and assistants' jobs
In a marvelous show of solidarity, teachers at a Leicester school have taken strike action to defend children's education and the jobs of teaching assistants
21 May 2013
PCS plans further strikes against cuts
The PCS union's annual conference has agreed to step up opposition to cuts to pay, pensions, jobs and working conditions
22 May 2013
London Socialist Party regional conference
Fighting for the 99% in the city with most millionaires: Seventy Socialist Party members attended the London regional conference on 19 May, writes Michael Wrack, Tower Hamlets Socialist Party.
22 May 2013
Decent jobs not slave wages: We hear all the time about the numbers of jobs created in the private sector under the Con-Dem government
22 May 2013
Firefighters prepare for pensions battle
London firefighters rally against service cuts, photo by Ben Robinson
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) met on 15-17 May in the teeth of enormous attacks on firefighters and on the life-saving service they provide, writes Claire Laker-Mansfield.
22 May 2013
PCS members fight Land Registry privatisation
It was reported in the Socialist on 1 May that the Land Registry, the government body that maintains a register of freehold and leasehold land across England and Wales, was considering new private sector business models
22 May 2013
Support Carling brewery workers at Burton-on-Trent
Brewery workers in Burton-on-Trent are balloting for strike action as workers face a vicious assault from their employers Molson Coors
22 May 2013
Fighting back pays off: Thera East Midlands forced to make concessions
After very successful strike action, support workers employed by Thera East Midlands have won some important concessions
22 May 2013
NUT vice president election: Socialist Party member Martin Powell-Davies is to stand for election as national vice-president of the teachers' union NUT
22 May 2013
Anti-bedroom tax federation launched in Merseyside
Around 40 delegates gathered at the Unite union building in Liverpool on 18 May to set up a federation to coordinate anti-bedroom tax groups across Merseyside, writes Andy Ford.
22 May 2013
The government's hated workfare schemes suffered another setback recently when a judge ruled that the names of those taking part must be made public
22 May 2013
Sri Lanka: Isolate the murderous Rajapaksa regime
Prime Minister David Cameron's decision to lead Britain's delegation to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting is a kick in the teeth to all Tamil-speaking people, writes Manny Thain.
22 May 2013
Bedroom tax campaigning in Leytonstone, Birmingham and Newham
Diary of a bedroom tax campaigner: Ian Pattison, Waltham Forest Socialist Party and Waltham Forest Anti-Cuts Union describes a week of campaigning against the bedroom tax
22 May 2013
The Tories are thrashing around in ever-deeper water on the issue of Europe. Over half of Tory backbenchers voted against the Queen's speech - their own government's legislative agenda
22 May 2013
The NHS is under the cosh, having been instructed by the government to make savings of £20 billion. This has driven a relentless assault upon the terms and conditions of thousands of employees
22 May 2013
MPs' pay rise: £65,738 a year basic salary just isn't enough for our MPs. Not to mention their infamous expenses.
22 May 2013
South African economy: Mass sacking threat demands mass action
The Workers and Socialist Party (WASP) has denounced Amplats' (Anglo American - the world's largest platinum producer) cold-blooded plans to slash 6,000 jobs
22 May 2013
Caerphilly march to save the A&E, photo Becky Davis
Wales faces a bleak future on the basis of capitalism unless the working class can defend public services and the welfare state
22 May 2013
Anti-blacklisting campaigner run over
George Tapp, who has stood as a TUSC candidate in council elections in Salford, has been hospitalised after being hit by a car while taking part in a protest against blacklisting
22 May 2013
Support for Mid Yorkshire Health struggle in the Mirror
Unison staff at Pinderfields hospital strike, photo Iain Dalton
On 17 May, the Daily Mirror carried an excellent column by Paul Routledge about the important struggle taking place in Mid Yorkshire Health Trust.
22 May 2013
A demonstration outside parliament is being held on 22 May against the Con-Dems' proposals to further cut legal aid
22 May 2013
Cuts kill: Con-Dem benefit 'reforms', mental health and suicide
Hardest Hit Protest: Disabled people and their families protest in central London against government spending cuts, photo Paul Mattsson
Steven Bottrill, whose disabled mum Stephanie killed herself because of the bedroom tax, said: "Hopefully now someone will listen. Someone will realise what has gone on and change things"
22 May 2013
POA conference - Prisons should not be run for profit
In May the prison officers' union POA met for their national conference in Southport. POA is increasingly at the centre of the battle against austerity
22 May 2013
At this year's G8 summit in Fermanagh, Northern Ireland on 17-18 June, heads of the largest capitalist economies will discuss how they can further the interests of the super-rich, big business and the bankers.
22 May 2013
Several thousand health campaigners, trade unionists and socialists marched from Waterloo to Downing Street, central London, on 18 May against the government's attacks on the National Health Service (NHS)
22 May 2013
Labour non-answers show why real anti-cuts councillors are needed: TUSC candidate Sue Atkins challenges Labour councillor
22 May 2013
Leeds anti-bedroom tax demonstration 21 April 2013, photo Mid Shelley
'How can the person responsible for driving through this evil bedroom tax look at himself in the mirror every day?', writes Tony Mulhearn, Liverpool Socialist Party.
22 May 2013
Big business tax avoidance scandal
We are the 99% - Take the wealth off the 1% Socialist Party placard, photo Paul Mattsson
Make the corporate fat cats pay! We've been robbed! Every day big corporations are stealing millions from us; millions that could be used to employ doctors and nurses, to build desperately needed houses and to reverse the massive cuts
23 May 2013
No to terrorism! No to racism! No to war!
Statement from Greenwich Socialist Party on the Woolwich killing:The unprovoked and barbaric murder of an unarmed soldier in Woolwich was a horrific event and an appalling tragedy for the victim, and the victim's family and friends.
23 May 2013
Kazakhstan - solidarity needed
Police raids were carried out yesterday on houses and hostels in Astana, where housing justice protesters from across Kazakhstan were being accommodated
23 May 2013
Fifth post office strike on Tuesday
A fifth round of strike action will be taken by Crown post office workers on Tuesday 28th May as the dispute over jobs, closures and pay continues
28 May 2013
Audio: Liverpool - a city that dared to fight - Peter Taaffe
Interview with Peter Taaffe on Militant, the Labour Party and the struggle of the socialist led council 1983-87 in Liverpool.
28 May 2013
Large turnout at regional Socialist Party conference
Members and supporters from 19 towns and cities heard Socialist Party deputy secretary Hannah Sell speak on the volatile situation unfolding in Britain and Europe
28 May 2013
Socialist Students initiate a fight back
On 23rd May, Salford Socialist Students assembled outside the Student Union calling for all members of the university to stand defiant against the 12th proposed round of cuts in 18 months
28 May 2013
No future with Future Directions
North West Unison activists descended on Rochdale on the Bank Holiday weekend to support Unison members at 'social care' company Future Directions
29 May 2013
97% vote for strike action at Carling brewery
Brewery workers in Burton-on-Trent have voted for strike action against a vicious assault on pay and conditions
29 May 2013
Salford Socialist Students help lead fightback against job and course cuts
Socialist Students plus UCU and Unison activists, Salford university protest, 23.5.13 , photo by Salford Socialist Party
On 23 May, Salford Socialist Students assembled outside the student union calling for all members of the university to stand defiant with them against the 12th proposed round of cuts in 18 months
29 May 2013
This is what's 'not to like' about Free Schools, Boris
Tory London mayor Boris Johnson, writing in the London Evening Standard, attempted to portray opposition to 'Free Schools' as some kind of 'left-wing conspiracy', writes Martin Powell-Davies, National Union of Teachers executive (personal capacity).
29 May 2013
London students fight union closure plan
Around 100 students gathered outside University of London Union (ULU) on 22 May in protest against the closure of the facility, writes Helen Pattison.
29 May 2013
Fund the fightback in the SP collectathon
Socialist Party members are preparing to launch a fundraising collectathon fortnight between 8 and 23 June
29 May 2013
Boosting South West Wales paper sales
Swansea Socialist Party had one of its most successful paper sales in the week that the Socialist's editor Sarah Sachs-Eldridge visited South West Wales to discuss 'the year of the paper'
29 May 2013
Haringey TUSC: trade unions and communities prepare for 2014
Sixty people attended the launch of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition's (TUSC) anti-cuts electoral challenge for next year's local elections in the London borough of Haringey, writes Paul Kershaw.
29 May 2013
Oppose Kazakhstan regime's latest campaign clampdown
On 22 May police, in a dawn raid, entered houses and hostels in Astana where housing justice protesters from across Kazakhstan were being accommodated, writes CWI reporters.
29 May 2013
Socialist Party youth organisers meeting Sunday 30 June, 10.30am-4.30pm, London
Come help Marxist CWI comedian Anti-Duhring Battalion get through to the second round of 'So You Think You're Funny' on Sunday 2 June, 8.30pm at Crack Comedy, The Grey Horse, 46 Richmond Road, Kingston, KT2 5EE, writes Email clairelaker@sociaistparty.org.uk or phone 020 8988 8777 for details.
29 May 2013
In Lewisham, New Cross and Downham fire stations are threatened with closure, writes Lewisham 'ready for a fight'Lewisham 'ready for a fight'.
29 May 2013
Sri Lanka: Working class beginning to move forward
A one-day protest general strike held on 21 May was a significant step forward for the working class in Sri Lanka, writes Srinath Perera.
29 May 2013
PCS Land Registry delegates commit to action
Delegates representing PCS members from all Land Registry (LR) offices met in Brighton 20-21 May
29 May 2013
University management made their "final offer" of a 1% pay rise to workers on 21 May. The offer, a laughable improvement on the 0.8% second offer, falls short of workers' demands for an above-inflation
29 May 2013
Strike action needed to save Royal Mail
A gigantic battle is currently underway at Royal Mail as to who should run this 497 year old service, writes Robert McArdle.
29 May 2013
Rotten greedy banks still threaten crisis
On 15 September 2008, the big city bank Lehman Brothers went bust. Within days, lending between banks dried up. Andy Beadle reviews the BBC2 series Bankers.
29 May 2013
Riots expose inequality in Sweden
Sweden, portrayed as an egalitarian and equal society, has witnessed unprecedented rioting by youth in a predominately immigrant area of Stockholm. From Offensiv, paper of Rättvisepartiet Socialisterna (RS - CWI Sweden).
29 May 2013
Wales TUC conference - a missed opportunity
Wales TUC conference used to be an annual event lasting three days. Recently it was decided, wrongly, to reduce the conference to a two-yearly event, with a one-day conference organised in the interim
29 May 2013
Even the cutters say cuts aren't working!
Chancellor George Osborne has been warned: his austerity package is "playing with fire". Working class people know all too well the effects of the cuts - the painful slashing of our living standards
29 May 2013
Campaign to stop bedroom tax evictions!
Feature: Less than two months after being introduced, the bedroom tax is already causing the chaos campaigners predicted it would
29 May 2013
South Africa: Eye-witness to the developing struggle
Over the past several months, the South African affiliate of the Committee for a Workers' International, the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM), has been working with others to launch the Workers and Socialist Party (WASP) as a broad party of the working class aiming to unite the struggles of work, writes South Africa:.
29 May 2013
Nasty party exposed by equal marriage bill
When MPs decided to debate amendments to the Con-Dems' 'gay marriage' bill, most people probably braced themselves for a bit of homophobia disguised as concern over religion, writes Michael Johnson.
29 May 2013
Stop the NHS privatisation rip-off
Privatisation of the NHS is demoralising NHS staff as terms and conditions are attacked and staff are ground down by an ever increasing workload, writes Steve Harbord.
29 May 2013
'Brilliant' South West conference sees record turnout
Building the Socialist Party: "It was amazing to learn from some brilliant and thinking people yesterday. It was inspiring. Capitalism must end and I'd like to learn a lot more about how I can go about bringing about that change."
29 May 2013
Evict this millionaires' government
Leeds anti-bedroom tax demonstration 21 April 2013 , photo Mid Shelley
Scrap the bedroom tax: New data shows that greedy Con-Dem MPs in the cruel cuts Coalition made over £7 million doing outside jobs. Not content with creaming off their expenses they take on directorships in profiteering companies too.
29 May 2013
PCS conference sends defiant message to the government
PCS national strike, 20 March 2013, pickets in Maidstone, Kent, photo Kent SP
PCS conference sends defiant message to the government PCS union delegates met in Brighton for their annual conference last week to review the union's resistance to the Con-Dems' vicious austerity attacks, writes Rob Williams (chair, NSSN)
29 May 2013
Working class unity is needed to end austerity: Aghast, millions of people watched the shaky amateur footage of the brutal killing of a young soldier, Lee Rigby, in Woolwich, south east London
29 May 2013
No to terrorism! No to racism! No to war!
The unprovoked and vicious killing of an unarmed soldier in Woolwich was an horrific event which must have been profoundly traumatic for the people who witnessed it, and, of course, an appalling tragedy for the victim, and the victim's family and friends
30 May 2013
PCS long weekend of strike action
Strikes today (30th May) at some of the UK's most prestigious museums and galleries kick off a long weekend of action over imposed government cuts by the PCS
17 Jul Hackney Socialist Party: Barking fire - two years after Grenfell
18 Jul Caerphilly Socialist Party: For a socialist programme to transform society
18 Jul East London Socialist Party: The importance of finance to a revolutionary party
18 Jul West London Socialist Party: Marxism & Identity Politics
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1999
Platform setting: = No platform choice
V3