Junior doctors (picture caption)
Junior doctors demonstrating in Walthamstow, northeast London, on 6 April. As Workers went to press, they were due to walk out again on 26 and 27 April.
Workers May/June 2016
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Economy: EU-driven decline
The UK’s overall balance of payments – now known as the current account deficit – deteriorated sharply last year.
Bankers: Voting with their snouts
No wonder the City of London and the banking mafia in Canary Wharf in their multitude of banking skyscrapers shriek so loudly about the “dangers” of Britain leaving the EU.
Their profit, our loss
This issue we review two books which show clearly where the wealth that workers create is going…
The American origins of the EU
In its early years European integration proceeded without revealing its real, political, purpose. Now we know better…
Tata: the folly of foreign control
Tata was not able to take a long-term view on steel production in the UK.
Maintain steelmaking in Britain
The steel industry is strategically important to the British economy
Steel: the figures
Speciality steel products from Britain are highly regarded.
The challenge of steel
All steel-producing countries are cutting back on production. But only in Britain is it considered feasible to eradicate crude steel production entirely – though it is essential to any modern economy…
Are we witnessing the slow death of the EU?
Those in favour of staying in the European Union claim it is a force for stability. Nothing could be further from the truth – the EU is falling apart before our eyes…
EU Directive threatens investigatory journalism
Another directive, another threat. This time it’s journalists at the receiving end…
Work longer hours, retire later
The fight for lower hours didn’t begin with the EU. It certainly hasn’t ended with the Working Time Directive – the number of hours we are working is climbing steadily…
Into battle for the BBC
The upcoming renewal of the BBC’s charter is an opportunity to expose ‘austerity’ and demand the funding to make a great institution even greater…
The Shrewsbury 24
One of the many pay disputes in 1972 was in the construction industry, the first national strike by building workers.
Agencies for capital
The EU’s Agency Workers Directive hasn’t protected us – just encouraged the massive growth of casualisation…
Oversubscribed - and no way of coping
The crisis in school places is already a huge problem, especially in primaries, due mainly to local large spikes in population (it will hit the secondaries very soon).
Academies: brute force and ignorance
Thanks to George Osborne, ably supported by Education Secretary Nicky Morgan, a new word is gaining currency – “academisation”, the forcible conversion of schools into unaccountable academies…
Britain and the world
Barack Obama is not the first US president to lecture Britain about its place in the world. But he certainly chose a bizarre way to threaten the people of this country.
Private ambulance chaos
Patients relying on Sussex ambulances for transport to and from appointments have been left stranded after the contract went to a private company.
Social care: children's report hidden
Two years after it was published the government is still refusing to publish a report it commissioned into children’s social care services.
Poverty: food banks on the rise
The Trussell Trust announced in April that 1.1 million people in Britain are now using food banks to obtain emergency food supplies.
Health bursaries scrapped
The government has confirmed it will push student nurses and other health care students into debts of at least £50,000 each by scrapping the NHS bursary.
Local government pay in disarray
Pay strategies in local government are now in disarray. Unison, the largest union in local government, has come to a standstill as the members reject the union’s direction of travel.
A vote for a future
We have said that the fight to ditch the EU is the “decisive confrontation” facing the working class this year. During the referendum campaign, the battle lines have been drawn ever more sharply.