London bus drivers go for unity
London’s bus drivers are balloting on industrial action to force through one agreement covering all bus companies in the capital.
London’s bus drivers are balloting on industrial action to force through one agreement covering all bus companies in the capital.
14 December 2014
The Greater London Authority’s recent update on poverty in London makes stark reading. Despite being the play bauble of the world’s rich, London remains one of the most deprived areas in Britain.
14 December 2014
Questioned in an online survey, MPs said that the state pension age would need to rise to 70 within 30 years – with many believing that the state pension would disappear altogether.
14 December 2014
A planned strike at the Doncaster plant of Wabtec, where rail engineering staff were set to strike for five days from 15 to 19 December in a fight over pay and conditions, has been suspended following eleventh-hour talks with the employer.
9 December 2014
Like many other cultural institutions, the British Library at St Pancras in London has faced swingeing cuts under this government – and seen its grant cut every year since 2010.
More than a quarter of all local authorities in England have joined forces to use the government’s “localism” legislation to block the clustering of betting shops on high streets that offer unregulated casino-style gambling.
The Law Society has withdrawn its guidance on inheritance under sharia law after a widespread and fierce campaign called it a “gross dereliction of duty” and demanded its removal.
30 November 2014
Today is St Andrew’s Day, and in celebration Google has a new and perhaps ironic logo: a speeding train with the Scottish Saltire on the side.
30 November 2014
Electricians employed by Amey who were outsourced from Sheffield City Council 18 months ago will be on strike tomorrow in a dispute over terms and conditions.
27 November 2014
Under fire for promoting corporate tax evasion, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has come up with a new wheeze: magicking a €315 billion investment programme out of thin air.
26 November 2014
Construction union UCATT is demonstrating in Cambridge against the now-widespread practice of employing staff through “umbrella companies”, which cost workers dear while saving money for employers.
25 November 2014
Eight hundred members of the GMB union are preparing for more strike action in the run up to Christmas at the Jacobs Biscuits factory in Aintree, Liverpool.
24 November 2014
Health workers throughout England walked out on strike this morning (24 November) for four hours in their long-running dispute over pay. The action followed a similar walkout on 13 November.
20 November 2014
Thousands of students from all over Britain demonstrated in London on Wednesday 19 November against the fees charged for university courses. Placards called for the return of free education.
20 November 2014
The Mayor of London has been accused of risking lives with fire brigade response times rising in the wake of 10 station closures and the withdrawal of 13 further engines earlier this year.
14 November 2014
A north London council is looking to turn 9 of its 15 libraries into unstaffed reading rooms, slashing floor space and handing over to volunteer groups. Local residents are fighting back.
14 November 2014
Staff working at the National Gallery in London opened an exhibition of their own artwork last night as part of their continuing fight against privatisation.
12 November 2014
Over a week after Rolls-Royce said it is cutting thousands of aerospace jobs, unions have still not been told where the axe is going to fall – even though local negotiations have begun.
10 November 2014
The Imperial War Museum is threatening to close the library at its main London site and cut its educational programmes at its sites at RAF Duxford in Cambridgeshire as well as HMS Belfast and the Churchill War Rooms in London.
6 November 2014
The National Pensioners Convention launched its Pensioners’ Manifesto yesterday at a rally of hundreds of pensioners in Westminster. There was a curious mood: polite but determined.
4 November 2014
Despite glaring evidence of failure, the government has announced an increase in its programme of school-based teacher training for 2015-16. One result will be a massive switch in funding away from universities.
31 October 2014
Just three days after Ritzy cinema owners Picturehouse accounced that a quarter of the workforce would be sacked, the company has been forced to back down.
30 October 2014
Having failed to deliver Scotland bound and gagged into the hands of the European Union through the “independence” referendum, the Scottish National Party is now trying to ensure that the whole of Britain will be locked forever in to the Brussels embrace.
28 October 2014
The owners of the Ritzy art house cinema in Brixton, announced on 27 October it would sack a quarter of the workforce – to pay for the wage rise won in one of the year’s most imaginative struggles.
26 October 2014
The Secular 2014 conference included a devastating analysis by Pragna Patel of the disturbing influence of fundamentalism in Britain’s legal system by what she calls “shariafication by stealth”.
24 October 2014
An international feast of property speculators visited London for the first time in October – networking, partying, and carving up Britain’s assets.
24 October 2014
A ban on ray fishing in Britain by the EU Marine Management Organisation threatens the end of fishing in North Devon.
24 October 2014
Women in east London are fighting a spirited campaign to stop evictions and to house local people in local estates.
On Monday 13 October the Royal College of Midwives struck for the first time in its long history – a four-hour stoppage.
It is a reflection of the discipline and loyalty of health workers to their unions that despite the low ballot turnout they struck and held out in the face of adversity.