On Saturday 15th October, around 100 teaching assistants, along with their friends, family and supporters, were mobilised to take part in a demonstration on in Durham city centre against proposed cuts of up to 23% of their pay. We publish here a report from the Durham and Newcastle Marxist societies, who discuss the struggle being fought by teaching assistants.
Workers at the Ritzy Cinema in Brixton, South London, were back out on strike on Saturday 24th September, taking action to demand decent pay and conditions. Nico reports on the militant mood on display at the picket line, and the potential for this strike to spread.
This year’s delegate meeting of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) has passed largely unnoticed and unreported by the national media. This is a reflection of the hard fact that the TUC has in recent years shied away from taking any real decisions. It is time for the TUC to take the lead in the fight to defend Corbyn and kick out the Tories.
We publish here a recent report from the Green Left Weekly in Australia that highlights the attack on workers in the Carlton United Brewery, a subsidiary of the giant multinational SAB Miller, whose headquarters are based in London. Denis Rogatyuk reports on the solidarity shown by trade unions in Britain towards their comrades in Australia.
Next Monday, 12th September, will see the beginning of a new round of strikes by junior doctors against Tory attacks on their terms and conditions, and in defence of the NHS. These will be the first in a series of monthly five-day strikes. Dr Tomasz Pierscionek, a junior doctor in London, reports on the battle ahead for those fighting to #SaveOurNHS.
Strike action by workers of the delivery firm Deliveroo has been successful in making the bosses reverse a decision that would have seen the couriers’ pay and conditions stripped back. In the process, a valuable lesson has been learnt for workers in precarious employment everywhere about how to fight back.
As we have reported previously, over the past few months a number of Socialist Appeal supporters have been expelled from the Labour Party by the Blairite bureaucracy of the Compliance Unit. We publish here a letter from Tomasz Pierscionek, one of the expelled comrades, who outlines the scandal surrounding these manoeuvres.
From 11 to 15 July, during a vital period for the entire labour movement, Unite the Union’s policy conference met in Brighton. Most significantly was the enormous endorsement given to Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party by this conference – that of Britain’s biggest union, representing 1.5 million members.
This year’s Durham Miners Gala on Saturday 9th July was the most politically charged Gala in many decades. The highlight was the speech by Jeremy Corbyn, who was greeted with an enormous amount of support from the large crowd of over 100,000.
This week, delegates from Unite the Union are assembling in Brighton for the union’s policy conference. Top of the agenda for Unite and all trade unionists must be the question of defending Jeremy Corbyn against the Blairite coup attempts. We publish here a summary by Unite members of the key issues up for debate at this year’s conference.
After months of negotiation interspersed with strike action, junior doctors have now voted to reject the new contract that has been offered by the Tories. The government has gone ahead and said they will impose the contract. Junior doctors have stated that they will continue to fight.
Schools up and down the country have been shut down today, as a result of a one-day strike action by the National Union of Teachers (NUT). Demonstrations in all major cities brought out thousands of teachers onto the streets in protest against the Tory plans for academisation of schools and the cuts to education that have been seen as a result of austerity.