Socialist Worker

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After Labour's bedroom tax pledge, now act to stop evictions

Labour leader Ed Miliband has pledged that Labour will scrap the bedroom tax if it wins the 2015 general election. This is a victory for the determined resistance of tenants and the trade unionists who have supported them.

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International Comment Features Reviews What We Think Other

News

Glasgow social work unofficial strike beats bosses

Glasgow social workers unofficial walkout spread across the whole of the city council's Homeless Service to win reinstatement of of suspended colleague

Support council workers’ walkout in Gloucestershire

Workers in South Gloucestershire council Unison are set to strike against the removal of enhanced pay for Saturday working. A massive 92 percent backed strikes in a recent ballot. Union membership has risen dramatically during the campaign for industrial action.

Bus maker strikers call for more cash as company’s profits soar

Some 650 Unite union workers at Alexander Dennis bus manufacturers in Falkirk struck for four days over the last week in a dispute over pay.

Lecturers win over contracts at Liverpool University

Lecturers at the University of Liverpool have scored a victory over management. Bosses had threatened to dismiss 2,803 workers if they refused to sign new contracts. These contracts would allow bosses to call in workers as needed—without giving them any time off in lieu in return.

Cops colluded in illegal blacklisting, admits IPCC

The Independent Police Complaints Commission has admitted the police were involved with the illegal Consulting Association blacklist of trade unionists in the construction industry.

Keep up the campaign against academies

Alasdair Smith reports from Anti Academies Alliance (AAA) steering committee

Unions ballot against higher education pay deal

Ballots are under way across higher education sector

RMT cleaners to strike on East Midlands trains

Train cleaners working for Rentokil Initial on East Midlands Trains were set to begin a 48-hour strike on Friday of this week. The RMT union members want a living wage and better conditions.

Cleaners refuse fingerprint clocking on

Cleaners working for ISS on London Underground are refusing to have their fingerprints scanned to clock into work. The RMT union members began the action on Thursday of last week. They also plan to refuse to work overtime on Friday of this week.

Victoria line tube drivers to strike

Tube drivers on London Underground Victoria Line were set to strike on Tuesday of this week from 9pm to 3am over working conditions. Their RMT union says bosses are making drivers do overtime.

It's already winter for hospitals in cuts crisis

Beds run short and A&Es turn away patients as Tory cuts push the NHS into gridlock, reports Sarah Ensor

Monster march for Scottish independence seethes with working class anger at the Tories

A 25,000-strong march for Scottish independence filled the streets of Edinburgh last Saturday—more than double last year.

Cops faked Marikana inquiry evidence

Newly revealed footage from after the Marikana mine massacre of 2012 shows Brigadier Adriaan Calitz, praising police for a perfectly executed plan. It was Calitz who had ordered the police to open fire on striking miners.

A boost for Merkel—and the left opposition

The CDU party of German chancellor Angela Merkel increased its vote at last Sunday’s German election. But her coalition partner, the neoliberal FDP, lost all its MPs for the first time since 1948. Merkel’s popularity came from the relative stability of the growing economy. 

Abortion protest challenges bigots

The Abortion Rights campaign in Cardiff will hold a counter protest against the anti-abortion 40 Days for Life group each Saturday starting this week. 

Workers could shut down oil supply

More than 1,000 workers are being balloted for industrial action at the Grangemouth oil refinery near Falkirk, Scotland.

Probation protest to stop sell-off

Probation workers held lunchtime protests against privatisation on Thursday of last week. The Tories want to sell contracts for some probation work to private firms. 

Sheffield stands against EDL demo

Some 250 people joined a Unite Against Fascism (UAF) protest in north Sheffield to oppose a rally by the racist English Defence League (EDL). 

Save the Grange campaign gets a result

Campaigning by parents and Unison union activists has forced Salford City Council to postpone a decision on the future of a respite home for autistic children with disabilities.

People's Assembly in Pontypridd

One hundred people attended the Pontypridd People's Assembly last week.

Workers occupy Wallsend Memorial Hall and People's centre

Workers at Wallsend Memorial Hall and People’s Centre in North Tyneside have been in occupation over job losses and unpaid wages since Friday 13 September. 

Ten day strike by Rochdale care workers

Care workers at Future Directions in Rochdale were set to take a further ten days of strikes beginning on Wednesday of this week.

Did Duggan cop plant gun?

A witness into the shooting of Mark Duggan is to tell the inquest into his death that she saw police “plant” a gun near the site of the shooting. Police shot and killed Mark in August 2011. The witness is known as Miss J. She claims that she saw an officer take a gun from a shoebox in a minicab and put it on the grass metres away from where Mark’s body was lying.

In brief

News roundup

Ed Miliband tries to please both sides - with strings attached

Ed Miliband used his speech at the Labour Party conference in Brighton to target the “privileged few”.

Vote to strike against rotten Royal Mail privatisation plan

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) is balloting its members for the first national strike in the post for four years. The ballot runs from 27 September to 16 October.

Greek strike resists Nazis

Outrage at the murder of rapper Pavlos Fyssas is bringing public sector workers out on strike against the fascist Golden Dawn, writes Dave Sewell

Hospital workers lead battle against cuts at Whipps Cross hospital

Nurses from Whipps Cross hospital in east London demonstrated against the cuts last Saturday. Around 350 staff and their supporters marched through Leyton and Walthamstow.

Strike defends firefighters’ right to get a fair pension

Firefighters across England and Wales were set to strike on Wednesday of this week to defend their pensions. Fire Brigades Union (FBU) members will walk out from 12 noon to 4pm. Many are relieved that the union has finally called action—but say more needs to follow if they are to win.

Strike in schools can teach Gove a lesson

Teachers plan to walk out against attacks on their pay, pensions and conditions, writes Sadie Robinson

Firefighters walk out against attacks on their pensions

Sadie Robinson reports on today's 4-hour strike by firefighters in England and Wales

Pictures of FBU strike, Wednesday 25 September

Pictures from picket lines and protests

Greek fascists arrested by police - read statement from Socialist Workers Party in Greece (SEK)

Several fascists were arrested today, including Golden Dawn MPs, following historic strikes against the Nazis and a growing anti-fascist movement. Read the Socialist Workers Party in Greece (SEK) statement.

Thousands march to save Stafford hospital

Up to 15,000 health workers and campaigners marched on Saturday, against Tory cuts at Stafford Hospital.

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International

Rebels take on the regime - and it's 'fifth column' in Syria

The threat of US intervention is opening up divisions in the opposition even as the regime admits it has reached stalemate, warns Simon Assaf

Nairobi shopping mall horror is the high price of war

The roots of the violence in Kenya lie in years of intervention in Somalia, says Ken Olende

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Comment

Recovery plan ties Labour to more cuts

The party conference season often means political themes come in waves. The political consensus previously foresaw a bleak election, dominated by the need for £40 billion of post-election cuts or tax rises to correct Britain’s deficit.

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Features

Workers' action can beat the Tories

Tory attacks on working class people have sparked widespread anger—but we need to get organised to get the kind of resistance that can beat them, writes Julie Sherry

Meet the Hovis workers that beat the bosses over zero hours

When bosses at the Hovis bread factory in Wigan planned to replace long standing staff with workers on zero hours contracts they expected meek agreement. Instead, workers launched a militant strike that has brought management to its knees. Sarah Ensor spoke to strikers

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Reviews

Grand Theft Auto - games don't make you kill, but they do make a killing

Controversy around violent computer games isn’t just misleading. It’s also a handy way for huge firms to get free publicity, argues Simon Basketter

Evolving Arctic Monkeys leave their Sheffield roots behind

The Arctic Monkeys took the charts by storm and put Sheffield back on the musical map with their debut six years ago.

Reviews round-up

Get Happy, Pink Martini | Unity: a concert for Stephen Lawrence

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What We Think

Labour uses prejudice to avoid real change

The media this week is full of politicians and commentators expressing what they call “reasonable” doubts about immigration and immigrants. 

There is a world to win

Every march, protest or picket shows dissatisfaction with the world as it is and a desire for change. The rich and powerful don’t like change. 

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Other Categories

Letters

MPs say that hospitals should put notices up to say how many nurses are working. 

Tories, tasers, Twitter and a pop quiz from Michael Gove

Set in 440 acres of Oxfordshire countryside and built around a striking 18th-century manor sits the Heythrop Park estate. It hardly screams “We’re all in it together”.

Things they say

‘We should try to eliminate things that unnecessarily piss people off’

A racist agenda that tells women what not to wear

Attacks on Muslim women’s right to wear the niqab are about scapegoating—not professional standards and certainly not liberation, argues Judith Orr

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