Trade Unions
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.
THE BLACKLEG*
Submitted on 2 July, 2009 - 17:40
(Air: "Paddy's Lament")
There's a cuckoo** in our household
And he terrifies our young,
For the habits of the traitor
Have been often told and sung.
Though his feathers flutter softly,
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Rail union calls for full renationalisation
Submitted on 2 July, 2009 - 08:50
Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT rail union, has said: "RMT welcomes today's [1 July] announcement by the Government on the renationalisation of the East Coast route but this shouldn't be a short term, crisis measure.
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Government climbs down on Royal Mail privatisation
Submitted on 30 June, 2009 - 11:26
The Government has climbed down on Royal Mail privatisation, saying that the measure is "postponed".
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School students' struggles in France
Submitted on 29 June, 2009 - 14:53
School of Oriental and African Studies, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H
School students’ struggles in France - a student activist from France’s New Anticapitalist Party speaks in London
A joint Education Not for Sale - London School Students’ Union meeting
The past year has seen huge waves of student resistance to cuts and privatisation. As the economic crisis deepens, public services are facing the brunt of the crisis through cuts and redundancies. Education too is being used for cost cutting, with school and university students facing higher tuition fees, school closures and crippling budget cuts. Throughout Europe, governments have been attacking education, and throughout Europe these attacks have been met by mass, grassroots opposition and resistance from school and university students.
From school walkouts and demonstrations to university occupations, students have defended education, and France has been one of the most inspiring and successful examples of this. These student movements have had many impressive achievements and can provide many important lessons to us in Britain, facing the same threats to our education system.
London School Students’ Union and Education Not for Sale, a student group campaigning for free education, are holding a joint public meeting about this movement. Ameline Shah, a student activist in France’s New Anticapitalist Party, will speak on the youth movements in France and the rest of Europe and her involvement in the French school students’ union.
For more information ring Tali on 07800 921 828 or email londonssu@gmail.com
Facebook event here.
Barnet: a battle lost but who’s winning the war?
Submitted on 27 June, 2009 - 19:06
Despite a lively campaign against the plans, Barnet’s Conservative Cabinet voted on 8 June to axe the borough’s sheltered housing wardens.
They will be replaced with ‘floating support’ — a much reduced number of wardens operating out of a handful of local ‘hubs’. In theory the floating supporters will also serve elderly residents not in sheltered housing schemes. Since the budget for all of this has been cut from £1.4 million to £950,000 it’s clear that services to elderly people in the borough have been reduced.
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Justice for the SOAS 9!
Submitted on 27 June, 2009 - 19:06
Two weeks after nine cleaners at SOAS were taken into detention, campaigners are calling for action for justice for the SOAS 9.
They are also appealing for solidarity with detainees in Yarl’s Wood detention centre who are on hunger strike for demand including freeing children who are detained, adequate access to health care, quality food and real privacy.
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More action needed
Submitted on 27 June, 2009 - 19:06
An activist from the CWU union spoke to Colin Foster about the issues in the post following the London and Edinburgh strikes over job cuts on 19 June
There’s no decision yet made about the next lot of action, but there will have to be further action, because Royal Mail have not moved.
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A fight for jobs and principle
Submitted on 27 June, 2009 - 19:06
Friday 12 June saw hundreds of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) students, staff and supporters march in East London in protest at major cuts to ESOL announced at Tower Hamlets College.
The (overwhelmingly female) student protesters led chants on megaphones, carried placards with their own powerful slogans, and spoke eloquently and emphatically to the national press about what ESOL means to them.
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Tube strike hits hard
Submitted on 27 June, 2009 - 19:06
The two days of strike action on the London Underground over pay, job cuts and management bullying, 9-11 June, were a big success, with management unable to get services running until well into the morning, and then only token shuttles for PR reasons.
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A partial win at SOAS
Submitted on 27 June, 2009 - 19:06
The admin offices of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London were occupied from Monday 15 to Wednesday 17 June, in response to an immigration raid on SOAS cleaners.
The raid was organised by ISS, the contractor for SOAS, and several cleaners were deported.
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Blue skies, zero wages?
Submitted on 26 June, 2009 - 18:45
Whoever it was that said capitalism has reached the limits of ‘innovation’ should be asked to think again. We can be sure that in an effort to reduce the impact of the economic crisis on their own pockets, the capitalist classes and their teams of blue-sky thinkers will be cooking up ways to make workers pay for their excesses.
If proof be needed, just take a look at British Airways.
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Cuts battles will shape an epoch to come
Submitted on 26 June, 2009 - 18:45
If the Government puts out £1100 billion in cash, credit, and guarantees to the banks, as it has done, then someone is going to foot the bill. On current plans, both Tory and New Labour, it is public services and public service workers.
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Is the People’s Charter the answer?
Submitted on 26 June, 2009 - 18:45
The groups involved in the “No2EU” coalition for the Euro-election — the RMT union leadership group around Bob Crow, the Communist Party of Britain (Morning Star), the Socialist Party, and the Alliance for Green Socialism — are due to meet again before 28 June to discuss a “son of No2EU” project for the coming general election.
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Can you have more? Of course you can!
Submitted on 26 June, 2009 - 18:45
Industrial action over pay by the National Union of Teachers was one of the first casualties of the economic crisis.
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How not to reinvent the wheel
Submitted on 26 June, 2009 - 18:45
Martin Donohue recommends The Troublemaker’s Handbook by Labor Notes
Founded in the USA in 1979, Labor Notes is rank and file union organising project and best known for its monthly newsletter. It also organises conferences attracting over 1000 rank and file union stewards, and published pamphlets and books.
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A living wage for cleaners!
Submitted on 26 June, 2009 - 18:45
On Wednesday 17 June, tube cleaners and supporters, including Feminist Fightback, Campaign Against Immigration Controls, and MPs John McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn, demonstrated outside City Hall to demand that London Mayor Boris Johnson keep his promise of a living wage for all tube cleaners.
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Union leaders start to bark, but will they bite?
Submitted on 26 June, 2009 - 18:45
Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB general union, used his speech to the GMB congress in Blackpool (15 June) to call for the Labour Party to select “fresh working-class candidates that people can relate to”.
“Now is the time to select and elect 40 to 50 fresh real people, real trade unionists, people who actually know how much a pint of milk costs, and what it is like to get on a bus, MPs driven by commitment rather than being worried about being driven by a chauffeur”.
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Bus workers speak out
Submitted on 26 June, 2009 - 18:45
It is clear to all that the demands of the majority of Iranian society go far beyond economic demands. During the past few years, we have emphasized that so long as the principle of freedom of organisation and choice is not realized, any talk of social freedom and economic rights is more of a joke as opposed to reality.
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Democracy still the key in Unison
Submitted on 26 June, 2009 - 18:45
In his speech to this year’s conference of the public services union Unison, in Brighton in mid-June, general secretary Dave Prentis called on the “Labour Link” section of the union to stop funding constituency development plans, and to work only with Labour MPs who abide by the union’s values and objectives.
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Victory to the solidarity strikes!
Submitted on 26 June, 2009 - 18:45
Solidarity strikes have spread across Britain to beat the union-busting attempted by oil multinational Total and its contractors on their construction site at the Lindsey Oil Refinery site in Lincolnshire.
Many thousands of workers have struck over a principle, though the immediate bread-and-butter issue concerns just 51 workers.
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AWL bulletin for National Shop Stewards' Network conference 27/06/09
Submitted on 26 June, 2009 - 09:29
Download pdf (see "attachment").
Iraqi port workers in solidarity with Iranian workers
Submitted on 24 June, 2009 - 15:06
From the Justice for Iranian workers website, mobilising for the world day of solidarity with Iranian workers on June 26th (at http://www.justiceforiranianworkers.org/?p=758 ):
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Why would a bunch of environmental activists support workers in an oil refinery?
Submitted on 23 June, 2009 - 23:35
Total, the world’s sixth largest oil multinational sacked 600 workers at the Lindsey oil refinery last week.
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