Barristers: Indefinite strike
After nearly two months of intermittent industrial action, criminal barristers in England and Wales have voted to escalate to uninterrupted, indefinite strikes.
Medical training capped again
A month after praising Guy’s and St Thomas’s Hospital as “amazing” for the treatment his wife had received, Education Secretary James Cleverly has re-imposed the cap on medical training places.
Reach journalists take to the picket lines
23 August 2022
Around 1,000 journalists across Britain and Ireland working for the Reach group start four days of strike action on Friday 26 August after rejecting a pay increase of 3 per cent.
Bus services in England slashed [updated]
Massive cuts in bus services across England are under way as the government cuts financial support. This is deliberate and avoidable government policy.
Telecoms workers fighting for pay
21 August 2022
BT Group and Openreach telecoms workers will hold further strikes at the end of August. They are fighting against below inflation pay increases – in effect, wage cuts.
Post Office pay – more strikes likely
21 August 2022
Post Office workers are continuing industrial action in their ongoing pay dispute. Like other workers their employer has offered a pay increase well below inflation.
Counting the cost of ‘net zero carbon’
20 August 2022
None of the politicians – least of all those vying for the Conservative leadership – will talk about the daily damage caused by adherence to the mantra of net zero carbon by 2050.
Liverpool dock strikes imminent
17 August 2022
Liverpool port workers are preparing to start strikes after an inadequate pay offer. A ballot of Unite members overwhelmingly supported taking action.
Felixstowe Port workers strike over pay [updated]
Felixstowe’s container port ground to a halt on 21 August as Unite members there walked out on an eight-day strike over pay..
Red Funnel workers in dispute
15 August 2022
Ferry Workers on Red Funnel Isle of Wight routes are fighting for better pay with a series strikes throughout August.
Libraries lose purpose
4 August 2022
A controversial series of children’s story readings are only part of the underlying tale of the decline of children’s library services in Britain.
River pollution: challenge to water companies
17 July 2022
Sewage pollution of rivers and canals has become a serious public health concern. It's so bad that the Environment Agency wants to jail offending water company CEOs.
Student loan burden grows
17 July 2022
British students pay heavily for their loans because of high interest rates and flat wages meaning graduates don't make substantial repayments.
Switzerland tilts towards NATO
17 July 2022
NATO is rapidly expanding its influence in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Switzerland, legally a neutral country, is one of those being drawn into NATO influence.
Brewing pay fight
15 July 2022
Workers at Budweiser’s Samlesbury brewery are in a continuing dispute over pay. They are strking again in response to an offer well below inflation.
Barristers walk out over legal aid pay
29 June 2022
Hundreds of criminal barristers began a series of strikes on 27 June over unacceptable pay rates for legal aid cases. The action has already led to eight out of ten crown court hearings being postponed.
What is working class democracy?
Democracy literally means “rule by the people”. That’s not what our current parliamentary democracy does. It’s not fit for purpose and it does not represent the people of Britain…
Public transport: the battle unfolds
There is surely now no doubt about the government’s hatred of public transport and the highly unionised workers that provide Britain’s train, bus and tram services…
Vaccines plan in tatters
During the pandemic the government promised strategic investment. Now it’s walking away from it…
Unequal access to GPs: a radical solution needed
Across Britain people are finding it harder and harder to access primary health services. It should not be a battle just to see your GP. Health service workers must take the lead in sorting this out…
Housing for people, not for profit
Everyone needs somewhere decent to live – and to be able to pay for it. But housing in Britain has been in crisis for so long that it seems there’s no answer. It need not be that way…
Britain - the brains behind NATO
NATO may owe much of its military muscle to the US, but it was the brainchild of a Labour government. And now Boris Johnson is using it to further British imperialism’s global ambitions…
No to the war machine!
Our current prime minister doesn’t know if he’ll still be in office by the end of the summer. But he does claim to know that the war in Ukraine will drag on for years.
The inexorable road to World War One
22 June 2022
World War One scarred the twentieth century with over 16 million dead and millions more injured, brought about by competition between great imperialst powers. It's lessons are relevant still.
Time to fight for pay
As inflation spirals upwards, more workers are lodging and fighting for pay claims. But too many are not...
Trade Unions - Membership drops
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.
SNP opts for division as workers unite in action
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s announcement of plans for a second referendum in an attempt to break Scotland away from Britain (and back into the European Union) must be rejected by trade unions…
Vaccines – lessons from the front
Two of the Oxford scientists responsible for the AstraZeneca vaccine have documented how it was developed – and sound a warning about the future…
Shameful overseas nurse recruitment continues
16 June 2022
Britain continues to recruit nurses and other health staff from countries also short of health staff.
SNP tries to block gene editing progress
The Scottish government intends to block the deployment of gene-edited crops even if the proposed new legislation on gene editing applies to the whole of the UK.