Pay review sparks outrage [print version]
In mid-December the government announced that the review bodies for public sector workers are awarding rises of 2.8 per cent for 2025.
Government
Government
Pay review sparks outrage
17 December 2024
The government has announced a public sector pay rise of 2.8 per cent for 2025. Unions have denounced this as a cut in real pay. They are gearing up for a fight on pay again.
Change the climate of debate
The new government has shown that all parliamentary parties are essentially the same in their attitude to British workers. This is underlined by the government’s cowardly attack on the living standards of the more vulnerable section of our class.
One era ends in Scotland – time to build a new one
The departure from the political stage of many leading separatists, be it through illness, death, scandal or retreat, marks the end of an era for Scotland and a new opportunity in the quest for a united British nation…
Rally against fuel payment cuts
11 October 2024
Pensioners held rallies in London and Belfast on Monday 7 October for the restoration of the winter fuel payment. As well as the direct financial effect those in fuel poverty will suffer worse health, increasing demand on the NHS
Suit You Sir: a reader writes
11 October 2024
A letter from a reader in Scotland reflects on gifts of clothing to Keir Starmer and others in the Labour leadership and the theme of clothing in Macbeth.
New government – same old problems
We look at some of the proposals from the Labour government. There’s little to benefit workers, and a great deal to cause real concern…
Land grab opposed
26 August 2024
A proposed development in Warwickshire has provoked a challenge to the government’s ideas on planning and development. Villagers in Ansty are opposing a massive warehousing scheme proposed on adjacent green belt land.
Who governs Britain? And how?
Examining the glaring limitations of present-day political arrangements forces us to fathom the best way of confronting the myriad problems surrounding us…
Why are our public services getting worse?
Why are our public services getting worse?
Wednesday 10 July 2024 19:30
Wednesday 10 July 2024, 7.30 pm
Bertrand Russell Room, Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL
Capitalism can’t sustain the health service, education, housing, utilities, policing, and more that a 21st century civilisation needs. How can we ensure our services serve the people?
Come and discuss. All welcome. Free entry.
On the march for the right to strike
8 February 2024
Workers gathered in Cheltenham on 27 January to remind government that they will resist anti-union laws.
Who should govern Britain? And how?
Who should govern Britain? And how?
Wednesday 6 March 2024 19:30
Wednesday 6 March 2024, 7.30 pm
Bertrand Russell Room, Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL
There is a contest underway for the soul of Britain. The ruling class manage stagnation and decay; the working class are challenging for a society that meets their needs.
Come and discuss. All welcome. Free entry.
Britain’s population set to increase sharply
2 February 2024
The Office of National Statistics predicts that the UK population will rise to over 73 million by 2036, an increase of 10 per cent over 2021. This will be overwhelmingly due to immigration.
Student loans: a cost to us all
22 January 2024
Student loans aren’t a good deal for students or taxpayers. A new report highlights the increasing costs for government.
Unions united against law
20 December 2023
The first special Congress of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) for over forty years took place in early December. It considered how trade unions should respond to legal attempts to restrict their activity.
TUC Special congress [print version]
The first special Congress of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) for over 40 years took place in early December. It considered how trade unions should respond to legal attempts to restrict their activity.
Assert the right to strike
Assert the right to strike
Tuesday 6 February 2024 19:00
Capitalism’s response to the successful workers’ action in health and rail is to make such action illegal. The right to strike can only be asserted in practice, not won in argument, or legislated for in parliament.
Come and discuss. Email info@cpbml.org.uk for an invitation
Protect the right to strike
Protect the right to strike
Saturday 27 January 2024 12:00
Cheltenham 27 January 2024
12 noon Montpellier Gardens, Cheltenham GL50 1UL
TUC march and rally against new restrictions on the right to strike, the next stage of the continuing campaign against new anti-stike laws.
This takes place at the home of GCHQ, where 40 years ago Margaret Thatcher banned workers from union membership.
https://www.tuc.org.uk/protectrighttostrike
Strike laws – TUC calls special conference
17 November 2023
The government is trying to stop workers fighting for pay and conditions. A TUC special conference will discuss the trade union response.
Ticket office victory
2 November 2023
The government has scrapped plans to close rail ticket offices in the face of overwhelming opposition from rail workers and passengers – a victory for people power.
HS2 - Sunak condemns Britain's rail to decline
Britain has to continue to modernise, and that means new infrastructure. That is expensive. But the alternative is to allow capitalism’s decline to take the working class with it…
Rail - a crisis created by government
Rail workers should ensure that the strong workplace organisation that has been developed when they built support for their campaigns of industrial action is not dissipated...
Census data concern
25 April 2023
The census should be a valuable source of data for national planning. But there are serious questions about the validity of the latest results.
Autumn statement – no change, no answers
21 November 2022
The Autumn Statement changes nothing for workers, who must take matters into their own hands. Fighting for increased pay is essential, but on its own not enough.
Call this control? A budget for decline
26 September 2022
The new government’s economic policies continue those of the past – with a belief in capitalism as the only possible economic system, whose crises must be paid for by the people of Britain.
Tribunals - Government condemned
Since the government’s reforms of employment tribunal legislation curbing employment rights in 2013, the trade unions have challenged them through a series of judicial reviews.
Valentine's stunt put up against Trade Union Bill
13 January 2016
The Trade Union Bill passed its second reading in the Lords on 11 January. In the face of a seemingly inexorable journey towards the Bill becoming an Act, the TUC’s response is a tepid Valentine’s stunt.
How to defeat the Bill
With the fascistic Trade Union Bill – attacking membership and finances – shortly to become law, we need organisation and clarity of thinking.
No care, no shame
In their election manifesto, the Conservatives said that by April 2016 they would cap charges on residential social care and limit the liability of any individual needing long-term care, along with a rise in the level of personal assets above which people would be ineligible for state help.