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From The Socialist newspaper, 26 January 2022
Somers 'slaughterhouse' Forge
Somers Forge (Click to enlarge)
The articles concerning the Somers Forge strike (see socialistparty.org.uk) in Halesowen were interesting to learn that the company has the same disregard for its workers as it had in the 1930s. It was then Walter Somers Ltd, known locally as 'Somers slaughterhouse', because of the number of industrial accidents and deaths.
My late father, Tom Cartwright, worked there as a young man, and witnessed at least two fatalities, one so gruesome it gave him nightmares for years. What he experienced turned him into an active trade unionist for life.
He was an overhead crane driver at GEC Coventry. Despite threats from the management, he would refuse to pick up and transport a load until he was convinced it was safely secured.
Workers in today's workplaces owe it to past and future generations, as well as themselves, to never compromise on a safe working environment, and to ensure they are protected by being a member of a trade union.
Mary Medd, Coventry Socialist Party
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In The Socialist 26 January 2022:
What we think
We need a workers' alternative to big business Tories and Labour
News
Lords reject parts of anti-protest bill
Social care providers put profit before residents' needs - nationalise care now
Cost of living
Trade unions and the cuts
Trade unions and the fight against council cuts
Workplace news
Sheffield Just Eat strikers step up action and hold mass rally
Oaks Park School: valiant strike exposed state of schools
Education: Workload and inflation goes up, incomes fall
DWP reps demand action from PCS leadership
10,000 tube workers vote to strike - don't make workers pay for TfL funding crisis
Strike action by Carmarthenshire winter gritters wins concessions from council
Universities: Strike action at 68 in two disputes
Worksop Wincanton logistics workers begin ninth week of strike action
International news
Trade unionists in the USA fighting back
Campaigns news
Hundreds protest to save St Mary's Leisure Centre in Southampton
Wakefield TUSC - Fighting for low-paid workers and NHS
Eviction resistance on the march in Waltham Forest
This is students' chance to fight back - help build 2 March NUS walkout
Environment
Britain's waterways choked with a 'chemical cocktail'
Readers' opinion
War in Yemen, made in Harlow, profit for rich
UK Covid-19 mortality similar to Spanish Flu
It's my party, and I'll lie if I want to
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