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.
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.
The rail disputes are now nearly six months old, and railway workers and their unions – led by RMT – are now resigned to a long-drawn-out campaign...
Given the siren calls for similar action often heard now, it’s vital to recognise what actually happened the last time a general strike was held…
The state of the trade union movement
Pay fights are breaking out across the country, but are our unions up to the challenges facing workers in Britain? Are they strong enough, or clear enough? And if not, what is to be done?
Email info@cpbml.org.uk for an invitation.
Bad news on trade union membership: the proportion of the workforce belonging to a union is at its lowest level since the current method of calculation began in 1995.
24 May 2022
The government plans laws to make rail strikes illegal unless minimum staff levels are maintained. This aims to make industrial action ineffective – and will not stop with rail workers.
28 November 2021
Inflation is at its highest in a decade and prices continue to rise. Trade unions are beginning to respond, but there’s opportunity for doing more.
Road closures and police cordons reminded people in Glasgow of the reality of hosting the city’s biggest ever gathering, the COP26 climate conference.
11 May 2021
Louise Lewis, the suspended National Education Union rep at North Huddersfield Trust School, has finally been reinstated after a seven-month battle by her fellow union members.
Four separate days of strike action have been solidly supported by RMT members who work as conductors and ticket examiners for ScotRail...
During World War Two, the government prosecuted seven workers because they defended their union convenor. It did not turn out how they expected…
Communications Workers Union BT Group membership responded to a consultative ballot on industrial action in defence of job security and terms and conditions with a huge 97.9 per cent yes vote.
The dominance of finance capital has dragged Britain deep into debt, even before Covid-19. Rebuilding the economy after the ravages of the pandemic will require a completely different approach…
At the University of Glasgow the university and the union have reached a joint agreement about coping with the new situation.
Unions representing nurses, midwives and allied healthcare professionals are calling on the government to improve support during their training.
Media descriptions of “health heroes” often stops at doctors and nurses. At the front of the front line, though, are the ambulance services.
14 April 2020
London’s ambulance service has been under heavy strain. But it has not buckled. Key to its resilience has been the acceptance of responsibility by the main trade union, Unison.
30 March 2020
Unions are rapidly reaching agreements to protect workers and maintain vital services in the face of the coronavirus epidemic.
10 January 2020
The Labour Party is a walking corpse. And unless the established trade unions change tack, they will follow it to irrelevance. The time is ripe for de-coupling trade unions from the Labour Party.
Workers magazine talks to young person just starting out as a union rep for Unite in a large, prestigious manufacturing company based in Britain but with facilities in more than 50 countries.
1 September 2019
A pro-Brexit RMT activist has been “no-platformed” by two prominent journalists, who are among the darlings of so-called "left" EU supporters.
In an atmosphere similar to McCarthyism, a trade union officer has been hounded out of office after expressing support for Brexit.
Members of several unions gathered at the Scottish Parliament on 12 December to protest against that day’s annual budget announcement from the minority SNP administration.
13 September 2018
Instead of calling for – effectively – a second referendum, TUC unions should follow the RMT’s lead and assert their own sovereignty against the employers.
Britain’s trade unions will meet this year in Manchester, where the TUC was founded at the city’s Mechanics Institute 150 years ago. But there’s little to celebrate…
3 July 2018
Despite a recent annual congress with no motion on a second Brexit referendum, academics’ union leader Sally Hunt has started a consultation on the question.
As our working class fought to survive, organisation began locally and grew organically, not relying on outside help…
The British working class was the first proletariat in the world to emerge out of the land. It had to make a stand or go under…
Unison, GMB and Unite are currently considering a pay offer to local government and schools staff from local government employers of 2 per cent a year over two years from April.
