Socialist Worker

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Bosses are heaping more strain on workers

Workers in Britain have suffered some of the deepest wage cuts across Europe under the Tories. Official figures show that wages fell by 5.5 percent in Britain since autumn 2010.

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International Comment Features Reviews What We Think Other

News

Anger at ongoing injustice of Christopher Alder’s burial

Janet Alder spoke to Annette Mackin about the official delay in deciding whether to prosecute for her brother’s misburial and police spying on her family

Police investigated on sex charges

British police forces are investigating 169 of their own officers and support staff for predatory sexual behaviour.

Bridgwater post workers are in it for the long haul

Some 110 post workers in Bridgwater delivery office, Somerset, have struck for two more days in their continuing dispute. This takes the total to seven.

Rank and file spark Ian Bradley wants action not just words from Unite union

Ian Bradley is standing for the London and Eastern seat on the Unite union’s new Executive Council. 

Thousands join Pride march in Glasgow

Thousands of people joined an LGBT Pride march through Glasgow last Saturday including anti-fascists. Speakers at a rally condemned recent homophobic attacks on LGBT people in Russia and sent solidarity to people resisting homophobia there.

Teachers campaign for refugee Olayinka Olatunde

Teachers in Rochdale NUT union and the refugee organisation Rapar have co-organised a fundraiser for a Nigerian asylum seeker in Rochdale on Sunday of this week. 

Herald staff to reballot for strikes

Journalists at the Herald group of newspapers began a ballot for industrial action over job cuts on Monday of this week.

Local government workers take on council bosses around Britain

The result of Unison’s local government pay ballot in Scotland was due to be announced as Socialist Worker went to press.

Action hits the Boris bikes

Up to 40 pickets surrounded a key Barclays Cycle Hire depot in north London on Monday of this week.

Ballots at Metroline and the Victoria Line

Bus drivers and engineers working for Metroline in London are set to vote on a pay offer.

Low pay must check out of London hotels

Dozens of activists from the Unite union’s London hospitality workers’ branch protested outside the Hilton hotel in central London on Thursday of last week.

Patients and staff stand up for threatened Stafford Hospital

Around 1,500 angry health campaigners and health workers challenged plans to cut services at Stafford Hospital at a public meeting last week.

Reports round-up

Serco workers' struggle takes off at Lincolnshire RAF air bases | Armagh Glass strike halted to vote on new pay offer | PCS protest takes Pickles to court | Stansted baggage handlers to strike on bank holiday | Stop the War meeting backs Bradley Manning

It’s official - the government's to blame for NHS crisis, not workers

A report into NHS patient safety refused to blame health workers for the crisis of care and demanded the government tackle the chaos their policies have created.

Trade unionists say, 'We must take to the streets to show our anger'

People across Britain are gearing up to demonstrate outside the Tory party conference to defend the NHS. Workers and campaigners spoke to Socialist Worker about why it’s important for everyone to be

Activists determined to block East London EDL march

Annette Mackin reports on the growing opposition to the English Defence League in Tower Hamlets

No to Nazis in Manchester

Activists from across the left put on a show unity after fascists attack Socialist Worker paper sale

Benefit changes plunge thousands into poverty

Thousands of people in 40 local authorities had their income slashed on Monday of this week in the final phase of the Tories’ benefit cap.

A-level students have been set up to fail

Hundreds of thousands of students will find out their A-level results this week.

News in brief round-up

Tube offices under closure threat | Met chief knew about Lawrence spying | Tories bail out rich school | Academies pay themselves

Anti-fracking protesters to swoop on West Sussex Cuadrilla test site

Hundreds of anti-fracking activists are set to swoop on the village of Balcombe, West Sussex, this weekend

Statement from the Egyptian Revolutionary Socialists on the massacre in Cairo

This is a bloody dress rehearsal for the liquidation of the Egyptian Revolution. It aims to break the revolutionary will of all Egyptians who are claiming their rights, whether workers, poor, or revolutionary youth, by creating a state of terror

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International

Migrants riot in Greek camp

Appalling conditions and the racist brutality of police guards in Greece’s migrant camps has united immigrants to defend themselves in any way they can, writes Dave Sewell

Sectarianism takes to the streets in Northern Ireland

Flag-waving loyalists took to the streets in Northern Ireland last week. Cops fired 26 plastic bullets and used water cannon at one Unionist protest on Thursday.

Swiss government clamps down on asylum seekers

Apartheid-style new asylum rules in some Swiss towns will bar refugees from specified public places. 

Protests and workers’ strikes put pressure on Egypt’s rulers

Sit-ins in support of ex-president Mohamed Mursi continue and a crackdown on workers have sparked solidarity, says Anne Alexander

Britain is sabre rattling in Gibraltar

Three British warships are sailing for Gibraltar on “routine” exercises apparently unrelated to the current tension between the British and Spanish governments.

Putin’s homophobic laws lie behind a wave of violent attacks across Russia

Russian Nazis are using a social networking site to target young gay men for torture, according to the human rights group Spectrum. 

Egyptian Revolutionary Socialists letter to supporters

The Revolutionary Socialists have issued a letter to their supporters analysing the situation since the recent military crackdown. It is written for activists in Egypt, but because it explains many of the complexities of what has been happening we are reproducing a translation

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Comment

Melting and methane could speed up climate change

The blind pursuit of profit means capitalism is taking us ever faster toward climate catastrophe, says John Parrington

Labour's deafening silence on resisting Tories and racism

In a bid to make a splash above the drone of silly season stories, various bits of Labour decided to throw a few shapes. It was a bit of a mess. 

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Features

Are we all divided by privilege?

An influential theory that divides people with a myriad of ‘privileges’ lets our rulers off the hook—and gets in the way of uniting against oppression, says Esme Choonara

The shocking collusion behind the Marikana miners' massacre

A year after the Marikana massacre, miners’ lawyer Jim Nichol looks at the facts revealed by the inquiry

Workers' revolt in South Africa is a direct challenge to the ANC

South Africa is going through a revolt. It started with the victorious strike at Marikana and a wave of wildcat strikes in the mines.

South Africa's new party of Economic Freedom Fighters

Former ANC youth league leader Julius Malema has launched a new party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). He says we have political freedom, but it’s not enough without economic freedom too.

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Reviews

Anguish and artistry take centre stage at the Edinburgh Fringe

Theatre critic Mark Brown picks his highlights from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe—starting with Nirbhaya, a powerful take on violence against women

Diet vultures get rich by making us hate our bodies

Anyone who’s stared at the bathroom scales in frustration knows how it feels to be manipulated.

Masks of Anarchy

Some 60,000 people protested in Manchester’s St Peter’s Field 194 years ago this Friday. Armed cavalry killed 15.

Alan Partridge - Alpha Papa

Obnoxious broadcaster Alan Partridge (Steve Coogan) claims that “the best siege” was at the Iranian Embassy in 1980. But his own hostage farce borrows more from 1975 Al Pacino hit Dog Day Afternoon.

Marxism and Doctor Who

Pundits couldn’t contain their excitement last week when The Thick Of It actor Peter Capaldi was confirmed as the next Doctor Who.

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What We Think

Unity can beat racism

We face a racist offensive on many fronts—but where it is challenged it has been pushed back.

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Other Categories

Letters

Readers' tales of councils hounding claimants, Tories bashing nurses and mill workers burning buildings

Things they say

‘If we’re talking about girls who go out and just have a good time, then they are to blame’

Tories in shock after finding that other Tories are racist

This week’s reminder that the Tories are racist was brought to us by Jacob Rees-Mogg. 

Britain's 'boom' is small, shaky and built on sand

Simon Basketter finds the claims of economic recovery an unconvincing mix of exaggerated figures, mounting debt and another property bubble brewing

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