Workers' rights

Empty shelves—nothing super about the market

With shelves staying bare and shortages predicted to get worse, Sophie Squire looks at what’s behind the crisis and pins the blame on production for profit

Blame the huge surge in virus cases, not the app

Notifications from the test and trace app are rising due to coronavirus cases. Sophie Squire investigates the Tory failures that have led to the rises

Bolt drivers strike and protest for pay and safety

“So many trips that I do simply aren’t worth it. I’m making just over £1 per mile sometimes, and that’s before Bolt takes its cut," said a driver

More black women are pushed into zero hours

Black and minority ethnic (BAME) women are almost twice as likely to be on zero hours contracts than white men, and one and a half times more likely than white women.

Peru—a radical history of resistance

Pedro Castillo’s election win in Peru has cheered the left. Sophie Squire looks at the country’s history of struggle but also sounds some warnings for the future

Workers to pay for pandemic

Low paid workers face a jobs “rollercoaster” after the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new report by the Resolution Foundation.

Cab fight continues as union wins Uber deal

01 June 2021
Taxi service Uber has struck a union recognition deal with the GMB union.

Wronged post workers’ convictions overturned

27 April 2021
Post Office bosses should be prosecuted for overseeing an outrageous miscarriage of justice, its victims have said.

The Troublemaker — UPS takes spy in the cab to a whole new exploitative level

27 April 2021
A worker for delivery firm UPS has revealed a hellish new surveillance plan from bosses.

Letters—British Gas workers suffer at hands of selfish bosses

17 April 2021
Over the last five years British Gas has dumped on employees from the highest height with countless business area closures, restructures, shift changes and wage freezes.

Join actions this weekend to kill the Tory police bill

13 April 2021
The second major Kill the Bill day of action on Saturday should be a day of anger, resistance and defiance.

Scotland’s NHS workers deserve more than a 4 percent pay rise

30 March 2021
The battle for greater NHS pay will require building for serious action now, argues Yuri Prasad

Should having no jab mean there’s no job for workers?

29 March 2021
Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi has said the Tories are considering compulsory Covid-19 jabs for NHS staff. In this column from March, we argued for persuasion, not compulsion.

Year one—workers’ lives in the age of Covid

21 March 2021
It’s been a year since Boris Johnson told Britain to “stay at home” on 23 March 2020. Sophie Squire and Sam Ord look at how that year has played out for workers—and how we have not been ‘all in it together’

What’s behind the surge in ‘fire and rehire’ attacks?

16 March 2021
Fire and rehire is a weapon bosses are using to attack workers. Sophie Squire looks at why it’s being used

LETTERS—Smash the capitalist system that causes women’s oppression

13 March 2021
I was not shocked to discover that recent research has found almost all young women in Britain have experienced sexual harassment.

Workers say latest plans are a ‘one way road to an early death’

09 March 2021
Education unions have rightly said the Tories’ “big bang” reopening of schools in England is reckless.

The Troublemaker—For Boris Johnson, charity definitely begins at home

09 March 2021
Boris Johnson hopes to set up a charity to pay to refurbish his flat. Johnson apparently wants multimillionaire Tory peer Lord Brownlow to run it.