Cumbria coal mine goes ahead
9 December 2022
The government has finally given the go-ahead for a coal mine in Cumbria which provide high-grade coal for steelmaking. It needs to stick with the decision.
Government sabotages potential rail deal
9 December 2022
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch has slammed the government for scuppering a deal which could have prevented rail strikes in the run-up to Christmas.
Nurses to strike – a big step
8 December 2022
Nurses are about to take strike action for better pay. This is a significant step and the first time the Royal College of Nursing has called a national strike.
Vaccines strategy obliterated as Catalent halts Oxford construction
29 November 2022
The joined-up thinking in Britain’s immediate response to the need for a Covid-19 vaccine in 2020 is now absent – despite its success protecting Brtain's population.
Semiconductor industry left hanging after sale order
29 November 2022
The government has failed to protect Newport Wafer Fab, Britain’s biggest silicon chip maker, putting a vital part of our technological infrastructure at risk.
Unprecedented strike action sweeps universities
27 November 2022
Three days of strike action are hitting virtually every university in the country, with action on 24, 25 and 30 November in the biggest walkout that the University and College Union has ever taken.
Rail strikes resume as government blocks settlement
27 November 2022
Striking train drivers in 11 passenger rail companies brought most of England’s rail services to a standstill again on Saturday 26 November 2022.
Instituto Cervantes workers strike
22 November 2022
Administrative staff at the Instituto Cervantes centres in Britain – the Spanish government’s cultural centre abroad – took strike action for better pay and conditions on Friday 18 November.
No going back!
21 November 2022
This government is toying with reversing the referendum vote to leave the European Union. That will get as far as it thinks the people will allow it to go.
Autumn statement – no change, no answers
21 November 2022
The Autumn Statement changes nothing for workers, who must take matters into their own hands. Fighting for increased pay is essential, but on its own not enough.
RMT fight on
17 November 2022
Rail workers, members of RMT, have voted overwhelmingly to continue industrial action to defend their living standards, jobs and working conditions.
Why is immigration at record levels?
The never-ending rise in the number of people migrating to Britain provides the clearest evidence that Brexit is being hollowed out from within, including by people who appeared to be in favour of it…
Drax - more at stake than burning wood
Burning wood to generate electricity is no solution for Britain’s tenuous energy supply – and claims it is “carbon neutral” are flawed…
Wake up to the causes of food insecurity
Food shortages and rising food prices have hit Britain. It need not have been that way – governments have squandered the opportunities in front of them…
Unions: be ruthless, seize the right to rule
The working class and their trade unions know that capitalism isn’t working. At least not for us. But it seems to be doing a grand job for the capitalists…
London: workers need to take control
London can either be a huge force for progress in an independent Britain, or a colossal hindrance instead. Which one it will be depends on everyone in the country, not just in the capital…
Who holds the chips?
Government inaction has inflicted an uncertain future on Britain’s largest producer of silicon chips…
SNP record condemned as strikes grow
Despite all the other current problems, Scottish nationalists continue to pursue their aim of disuniting Britain. Yet in Scotland workers are more worried about the economy and the standard of living – worries shared across Britain…
Taxes, taxes, everywhere
Now in paperback, an account of taxation and government spending over the past three centuries casts an interesting light on the nation’s development…
Living on borrowed time
Another month, another prime minister. And yet underneath nothing has changed at all. British capitalism, the oldest in the world and arguably the most cunning, is out of ideas and out of time.
Some honest thinking, at last
The TUC congress met in Brighton from 18 to 20 October. Much of the agenda was routine and predictable, but some unions are thinking honestly and hard about the future of their industries and of Britain.
Redundancy blow at Meggit
Workers at Parker Meggitt found out in mid-October that around 200 jobs will go by the end of the year – only weeks after being taken over by a US rival…
Flooring workers continue pay battle
27 October 2022
Workers in Bury at flooring manufacturer Polyflor are renewing their strike for better pay. The company’s improved offer is still below the level of inflation.
Defence: Priority call
Unite has called on the government to prioritise British jobs and industries when tendering for defence contracts.
Imported politics spark riots
Violence broke out in Leicester in September – the unwelcome result of Indian sub-continent politics coming to Britain in a city where immigrants have settled and lived for decades, for the most part peacefully.
Dairy Products: Drivers strike
Around 70 HGV drivers and shunters at Muller’s Stonehouse factory in Gloucestershire are to escalate their dispute...
1974–78: the Social Contract, trade unions and the Labour government
27 October 2022
Struggles erupted in the early 1970s, notably the engineering union’s destruction of the 1971 Industrial Relations Act and the miners’ fight over pay. The new Labour government preached class conciliation in exchange for moderation of wages.
Barristers: Offer accepted
Criminal barristers voted in October to accept an improved pay offer from the government...
Docks: Liverpool walkouts
Nearly 600 workers at the Port of Liverpool decided to walk out from 24 October to 7 November over pay and job security.
Biomass: EU blow to forests
On 13 September, the European Parliament voted to keep the definition of woody biomass as renewable energy.