Socialist Worker

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Workers fight Tory push for unsafe schools return

The battle is on to stop the Tories forcing an unsafe reopening of schools from 1 June.

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International Comment Features Reviews What We Think Other

News

Tories float massive cuts and renewed austerity to bail out the bosses

The Tories have their sights on making ordinary people pay for the Covid-19 crisis.

Workers say Rishi Sunak’s furlough scheme changes leave them poor and at risk

Workers fear they will be made to pay the price after Tory chancellor Rishi Sunak announced changes to the job retention scheme on Tuesday.

Race and class at root of garden divide in Britain

A new study emphasises how class divisions and racism in Britain are having an impact during the pandemic.

Tories are still leaving care home residents to die

Government coronavirus failures in social care continue to endanger the lives of hundreds of thousands of service users and workers.

Royal Mail boss Rico Back bows out - but fight to defend workers is not over

Royal Mail’s hated chief executive Rico Back suddenly resigned on Friday—two weeks after workers delivered him a humiliating blow.

Protests over coronavirus safety rattle the Tories - we need more of them

The mood against the Tories is beginning to be seen more strongly on the streets. A number of cavalcades, stunts and socially-distanced protests took place on Thursday.

Changes in Momentum won’t solve problems for Labour left

Left wing Labour MPs and prominent activists have called for a “renewal” of Momentum, the organisation founded to support former party leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Workers pushed to poverty by furlough failures

Empty Tory promises and greedy bosses are leaving many workers struggling to survive, reports Tomáš Tengely-Evans

Tories slash emergency funding for homeless

Homeless people across England could be thrown back onto the streets after the Tories cut funding for an emergency scheme.

Transport services increase, alight here for intensive care

The Tory drive to reopen the economy has forced droves of people into dangerous buses and trains.

Transform the streets and tackle climate chaos, says Extinction Rebellion

Extinction Rebellion (XR) vowed there will be “No going back” to the way that the Tories ignored the climate crisis before coronavirus.

Media feast on tiny turnouts of right wingers on protests

Very small numbers of right wing protesters came out last weekend—and achieved massive publicity from the media.

If it’s not safe Asos workers must walk

A suspected coronavirus outbreak at an Asos retail warehouse has sparked calls for the site to be closed while a deep clean is carried out.

Protests over racist attacks

Supporters of Stand Up To Racism (SUTR) in Leicester and Lowestoft have organised socially-distanced protests after racist attacks.

It will take a fight to save hundreds of jobs at JCB

Digger maker JCB has said that up to 950 jobs are at risk at its ten plants in Staffordshire, Derbyshire, and Wrexham in north Wales.

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International

Health workers in France lead challenge to Macron

Moves to end the lockdown in France are releasing suppressed bitterness and anger against president Emmanuel Macron

Migrants are at the forefront of unofficial safety strikes in the US

Unofficial strikes have spread across the US as a result of unsafe conditions and unfair dismissals during the coronavirus outbreak

New coronavirus outbreaks across Germany

Germany is facing fresh coronavirus outbreaks following the easing of lockdown restrictions

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Comment

Bosses will use debt crisis against poorest

On the other side of the pandemic, many fear there will be a debt crisis. This fear is mainly motivated by the huge amounts of money governments are spending to prop up companies and subsidise wages.

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Features

How the Spanish flu spread—and why the second wave was worse

What lay behind the horror of a past pandemic?

Race—a capitalist invention

Scientists are struggling to understand how Covid-19 affects people differently. Socialist Worker shows that the construct of race has more basis in exploitation than biology

‘We can teach the Tories a lesson’—school workers, parents and students speak out over unsafe return to school

The battle over reopening schools could make or break the Tory drive to get people back to work before it’s safe.

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Reviews

Deerhoof’s new album is a return to experimental roots

Future Teenage Cave Artists is a tilt back to the earlier work of this veteran indie band

A chance to see some Japanese classics

The BFI’s Japan 2020 film festival launched on Monday of last week

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What We Think

Defend migrants against racist Tory bill

The vote for the racist Immigration Bill underlines the need for a movement that defends all migrants. MPs supported the Tories’ proposed legislation by 351 to 252 votes on Monday night.

Keep fighting for Palestine

After almost five years, someone has finally been convicted for the horrific murder of Palestinian toddler Ali Dawabsheh. But his murderers have still got what they wanted.

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Other Categories

Letters—we must end the housing crisis before lockdown’s over

We cannot go back to the same old housing crisis—something has to change

Patel’s pretend praise for NHS migrant workers is so pitiful

Just a few short weeks ago home secretary Priti Patel was showering praise on migrants working in health and social care. Their “extraordinary ­contribution” would be recognised she said while ­hinting that the huge fees they must pay to use the NHS would be “reviewed”.

Report exposes shocking call centre conditions for workers

Call centre workers are risking their lives on a “dangerous frontline” in the coronavirus crisis. A new report says that, “Without exaggeration the severity of the hazards from Covid-19 and the effects on these workers make for shocking reading.”

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