Trade Unions
Sean Matgamna reflects on 50 years in the socialist movement. Workers' Liberty 3/26
Submitted on 15 December, 2009 - 10:50
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- How and why the AWL tendency started in 1966
- Finding my way to Trotskyism, part 1: the "manacles" of nation and class
- Part 2: from "communism" to "orthodox Trotskyism"
- How the dockers won solidarity, and how they lost it
- The AWL: from "orthodox Trotskyism" to the "Third Camp"
- Debating theories of the USSR
- The dilemmas of "communism"
- Sean Matgamna: would my 18 year old self say to me now: "you are on ‘the far right of the far left’"?
- Working Class Life in Ennis in the Mid-Twentieth Century: Sean Matgamna Examines His Own "Roots and Branches"
- What is to be done?
Workers' Liberty 3/23: debate on the unions and Labour Party
Submitted on 9 July, 2009 - 02:48
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Fantasy Union of Rail and Transport Workers
Submitted on 3 July, 2008 - 08:31
What kind of union do we need? There are strengths and weaknesses in our current union set-up. Union officials will often have you believe that things can only be done the way they are done, because ... well, because they have always been done that way.
We do not agree. We have several criticisms of the existing rail unions, so it is only fair that we set out in more positive terms what our ideal union might look like. Let's call it the Fantasy Union of Rail and Transport Workers (FURT).
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How to organise young workers
Submitted on 11 January, 2008 - 16:44
One of the most visible impacts of capitalist globalisation has been the massive expansion of low-paid (and often semi-casual) jobs in the service sector.
Solidarity yes, boycott no leaflet for TGWU conference starting 2 July 2007
Submitted on 1 July, 2007 - 16:08
AWL bulletin for Unison local government conference 2007
Submitted on 17 June, 2007 - 22:38
Pay; single status; pensions; solidarity yes, boycott no.
Agitate, Educate, Organise!
Submitted on 25 March, 2006 - 12:23
“Is it necessary to recall that Marxism not only interprets the world but also teaches how to change it? The will is the motor force in the domain of knowledge too. The moment Marxism loses its will to transform in a revolutionary way political reality, at that moment it loses the ability to correctly understand political reality. A Marxist who, for one secondary consideration or another, does not draw his conclusions to the end betrays Marxism.”
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Iraq Union Solidarity campaign
Submitted on 28 May, 2005 - 16:22
Information about the labour movement in Iraq, and about what's being done in the British labour movement to raise solidarity.
National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts
Submitted on 8 February, 2010 - 22:35- Login or register to post comments
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Higher Education cuts: the fightback begins
Submitted on 5 February, 2010 - 22:09
On Monday 1 February the higher education funding body, the HEFCE have announced the details of how the budget cuts imposed by Peter Mandelson back in December 2009 will fall. The headline cuts is one in the universities' teaching budgets — £215m in the acedemic year 2010-11.
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Temporary and agency workers: defend and extend new rights
Submitted on 5 February, 2010 - 20:57
New legislation giving rights to Britain’s 1.8 million temporary workers should be in place by April this year, but will not be enforced until 2011.
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Strikes promised to fight civil service cuts
Submitted on 5 February, 2010 - 14:04
Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) leader Mark Serwotka has promised a strike campaign in the run-up to the general election aimed at causing “the most disruption possible” to the government.
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UNISON General Secretary election: a chance to build the union we need
Submitted on 5 February, 2010 - 13:32
The snap election for General Secretary of Unison, called on 20 January, has caught many by surprise. Dave Prentis, the incumbent, got the National Executive to nod through his personal timetable for the ballot.
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National Union of Teachers: left win, now build the rank-and-file campaign
Submitted on 5 February, 2010 - 13:16
The three-way contest for Deputy General Secretary of the largest teachers union, the NUT, resulted in a major victory for the left. Kevin Courtney, the Camden NUT secretary and leading light in the Socialist Teachers’ Alliance (STA), was elected after an impressive campaign which maximised his support amongst activists and local branch officers of the union.
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British Airways: fighting to save their jobs
Submitted on 5 February, 2010 - 13:10Members of the BASSA branch of the Unite union, which represents cabin crew working for British Airways, began re-balloting for strike action over pay freezes and job cuts on 25 January, with results due back on 22 February.
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New struggles and old issues in construction engineering
Submitted on 5 February, 2010 - 13:06An audit demanded by Unite and GMB unions into the pay of workers building a new gas turbine power station at Staythorpe in Nottinghamshire has showed that a sub-contractor (Somi) is paying its Italian workers less than UK rates for the job —by an average of 1,300 euros a month.
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Glasgow: unions and activists unite
Submitted on 5 February, 2010 - 12:37
Around a hundred trade union and community activists attended an anti-cuts meeting organised on Saturday 23 January by Glasgow City Unison branch. Trade unions and community organisations have come together into a single campaign against council cuts in jobs and services.
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My life at work
Submitted on 5 February, 2010 - 11:06
Juliette Chamberlain lives in Sheffield and works as a paramedic.
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Defend Alberto Durango! Hands Off Our Union!
Submitted on 4 February, 2010 - 17:43
MASS DEMONSTRATION
1-2pm, Friday 12 February 2010
UBS, 100 Liverpool Street, London EC2M 2RH
Sponsoring organisations:
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Defend Alberto Durango! Hands Off Our Union!
Submitted on 4 February, 2010 - 17:39
UBS, 21 Lombard Street, London EC3 9AH
MASS DEMONSTRATION
Sponsoring organisations:
Latin American Workers Association; The Commune; Colombia Solidarity Campaign; Permanent Revolution; National Shop Stewards' Network; Alliance for Workers' Liberty
Individuals:
John McDonnell MP; Steve Hedley RMT (LUL) Regional Organiser; Professor Gregor Gall, Research Professor of Industrial Relations, University of Hertfordshire; Pete Firmin, Labour Representation Committee co-National Secretary; George Binette, Camden UNISON Branch Secretary (pc).
Please add your name and organisation to the sponsors.
Facebook event here.
WHY ARE WE PROTESTING?
In an act of vindictive union busting Alberto Durango, a leading activist in the campaign to achieve justice for cleaners in London, is facing the sack. Alberto, a leader of the Latin American Workers Association and member of UNITE, has been in the forefront of a series of campaigns to organise mainly migrant workers to challenge the exploitation and dire working conditions amongst cleaners.
Following a campaign at Schroeders bank the company Lancaster (part of Rentokil Initial) singled out Alberto for victimisation. He worked for Lancaster for over a decade: only when he became a union activist did they target him. A series of allegations were thrown at Alberto, they orchestrated his arrest by the Home Office based on misleading and false claims. He was released without charge. Having failed in their efforts Lancaster sacked Alberto regardless claiming he never worked for them under his true identity. After his dismissal the company then admitted following a union appeal that he had in fact worked for them in his true identity after all.
Alberto found new employment with the company MITIE at the Swiss bank UBS, he helped organise these workplaces and he is the elected shop-steward. However the contract has been transferred to Lancaster (Rentokil). Immediately on taking over the contract Lancaster have ignored the protections afforded by TUPE and set out to attack the terms and conditions of the workforce. They have suspended the UNITE rep Alberto and are intent on sacking him. Despite an ongoing Tribunal they have based this suspension on the reasons given when Alberto previously worked for this company. This is blatant persecution of a union activist. Just as in the building industry we are seeing these employers are operating a blacklist against trade unionists.
The City banks and the cleaning companies they hire to service their buildings’ are out to create a climate of fear that will deter workers from becoming reps and organising into unions. This is not an issue only for the migrant workers it is an attack on every member of the labour movement, it is the cutting edge of the agenda for cuts in pay and jobs. The workers at UBS deserve our solidarity – we must not let then succeed in victimising Alberto. It is time to stop these companies from engaging in discrimination, bullying and victimisation.
New struggles — and old issues — in construction engineering
Submitted on 29 January, 2010 - 12:33Workers and union officials in the engineering construction industry long suspected it, but now they have proof.
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Tubeworker 26/1/10
Submitted on 26 January, 2010 - 20:52
The new issue of Tubeworker celebrates a 'triple whammy', as Underground workers fight back on Alstom, Signals, and against the five pound minimum Oyster top-up.
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Unison: Prentis calls snap election to secure position
Submitted on 24 January, 2010 - 22:38
The snap General Secretary election called last Wednesday has exposed the current weaknesses of the left in Unison.
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The 'Loftus affair' and the left in the unions
Submitted on 14 January, 2010 - 14:16
The behaviour of Britain’s two biggest revolutionary socialist organisations where they have trade-union positions is coming to resemble more that of the old Communist Party than any of the best elements of the Trotskyist tradition both the SWP and SP claim affinity with.
Workplace bullying: winning respect at work
Submitted on 14 January, 2010 - 11:23
“Work is, by its very nature, about violence — to the spirit as well as to the body... It is, above all (or beneath all), about daily humiliations. To survive the day is triumph enough for the walking wounded among the great many of us.” Studs Terkel.
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UNITE General Secretary election: Bayliss makes a right-wing pitch
Submitted on 14 January, 2010 - 11:12This year the two million trade unionists in Unite will get to elect a single general secretary who will replace Derek Simpson and Tony Woodley in 2011.
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London Underground: end of the line for 'Public Private Partnership'?
Submitted on 14 January, 2010 - 11:03
A decision by the PPP Arbiter in December may prove to be a fatal punch to private infrastructure company Tube Lines and the whole “Public-Private Partnership” set-up on London Underground.
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My life at work: tougher management, divided workers
Submitted on 14 January, 2010 - 10:49
Patrick Beckford lives in Nottingham and works as a driver for East Midlands Trains.
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