Menu
Super exploited but fighting back

Super exploited but fighting back

‘So far, we have observed the drive towards the extension
of the working day, and the werewolf-like hunger for surplus labour, in an area
where capital’s monstrous outrages, unsurpassed, according to an English
bourgeois economist, by the cruelties of the Spaniards to the American
red-skins.’ Karl Marx Capital Vol. 1

Ethnic minorities make up a big part of the migrant work
force and often fill low paid, low skill or temporary positions, despite often
being educated and substantially skilled workers like teachers and accountants
in their country of origin. They come here for many reasons but low wages, high
unemployment and scarce job opportunities in their country of origin are the
usual culprits.

Unprovoked brutality of the police at anti-G20 protests

Unprovoked brutality of the police at anti-G20 protests

,

The media has been trying – not too convincingly – to claim
that the brutal response of the police in London of the past few days was a
necessary response to violent anti-G20 demonstrators. All those who
participated in the events saw a different picture, a police force intent on
provoking violence. This is clearly part of a plan to portray the peaceful
protestors as "violent", in effect an attempt to criminalise ordinary people
protesting. Here is an eyewitness account.

G20 doing nothing about environmental catastrophe in Bangladesh

G20 doing nothing about environmental catastrophe in Bangladesh

One of the issues confronting the G20, and one the official communiqué is likely to duck, is the threat of climate change making parts of the globe uninhabitable. Nowhere is the peril more present and manifest than Bangladesh, home to more than 130 million people. The G20 leaders may smile for the cameras as their conflab closes, but the working people of Bangladesh are at the sharp end of capitalism’s failure to deal with threat of climate change

G20 fiddles while poor starve

G20 fiddles while poor starve

The G20 is in process as we go to print. Yet we can already make predictions as to the outcome of the talks. The poor will gain nothing from the summit. The Global Monitoring Report from Unesco estimates that as a result of the slump the 390 million poorest Africans will see their income drop by around 20% – far more than in the developed world.

Marching against the G20 summit in London

Marching against the G20 summit in London

,

Around 35 thousand people packed into central London on Saturday 28th of March in a militant protest at the upcoming G20 summit.Under the slogan of “Put people first” the demonstrators aimed to bring world leaders to heel over the economic crisis.

Visteon workers occupy!

Visteon workers occupy!

Visteon workers in Enfield and Basildon have joined with Belfast workers in occupying their plants.Management has put the firm into administration. Belfast workers have been defending their occupation by staying in overnight. The workers are taking action because they have to. They were just brutally kicked off the premises without any notice. If management get away with this, 600 workers at the three plants will be sacked and left on the minimum statutory redundancy pay.

G20: Capitalism means war

G20: Capitalism means war

As the leaders of the ‘free world’ at the G20 summit sit down to champagne, caviar and the grand task of ‘solving the economic crisis’, the last thing likely to be on their minds are the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The new administration in Washington triumphantly tells us that Iraq is stabilising and that the conflict in Afghanistan is ‘winnable’. Two shattered countries with no infrastructure and over one million dead and they tell us that ‘the objectives have nearly been achieved’!

G20: capitalism has failed

G20: capitalism has failed

Today, April 1st 2009, leaders of the G20 nations meet in London. The G20 covers two thirds of the world’s population, 80% of all trade and collectively produces 90% of the world’s income. Their leaders will dine well, enjoy fine wines and strut the public stage. They are here to discuss the world economic crisis and how to solve it. We confidently predict they will achieve nothing.

Ireland: Trade union bosses talk – workers ready to fight on

Ireland: Trade union bosses talk – workers ready to fight on

If anyone had suggested a few years ago, that Ireland would be in a deep recession, that Waterford Crystal would be occupied, that Labour would be ahead of Fianna Fáil in the polls and that we would be more or less on the brink of a one day general strike,  they would have been told to go and put some water in the glass to help wash down the whiskey. The whole place was booming, houses popping up everywhere, more motorways than spaghetti junction and thousands of people returning home from abroad to join the boom.

King’s College London decides not to pay its staff!

King’s College London decides not to pay its staff!

,

Workers across all industries are feeling the squeeze as the bosses try to pass on the costs of the recession to them. Some workers are getting below-inflation pay-rises. Others are getting no pay rise at all. However, most would take for-granted that, if they remain in work, they will be paid something for their labour. But at King’s College London they are advertising a post which pays nothing at all.The post is voluntary! The college ‘generously’ offers to reimburse expenses!

Does Work Work for You?

Does Work Work for You?

In one sense we welcome the TUC’s new pamphlet Does Work Work for you? A Young Worker’s Guide to their Rights and Trade Union Membership. A  key factor in favour of capitalists over workers is the fact that each new generation of workers often has the relearn the lessons of its ancestors, and as such each new worker generally enters the work place feeling isolated and overwhelmed. The employer can get away with a great deal that has already been made illegal as a result of previous worker’s struggles, without many workers realising. Therefore this pamphlet could be very useful, in that it explains the rights of workers in areas such as the minimum wage, working hours and breaks and agency work.

«‹ 636 637 638 639›»