Unions & politics

Trade Unions and politics

Model motion on Pensions White Paper

This --- opposes the Government's proposals in the Pensions White Paper to raise the state pension age to 68 by 2050. We note with regret that Brendan Barber, as general secretary of the TUC, and other union leaders, have welcomed the White Paper, although it fails to meet the TUC's previously-stated benchmarks. The unions should fight for: A decent state pension for all (regardless of contributions record), indexed to earnings. The indexation to earnings should be immediate and restore the relative value of the state pension as of 1980, i.e. raise it from £82.05 to £119 a week. The White...

CWU says no shoo-in for Brown

For the first time, a major union has put down a marker for the forthcoming Labour Party leadership contest. At its conference in Bournemouth on 21-26 May, the Communication Workers’ Union voted to support, in the forthcoming Labour Party leadership election, only candidates who support the principles of trade union rights as outlined in the proposed Trade Union Freedom Bill — and who are committed to keeping the Post Office in 100 per cent public ownership. Proposing the London West End Amalgamated branch motion, London regional secretary John Denton said such a stance was vital if the...

Labour link?

By a CWU conference delegate AT the postal section of the CWU conference (21-6 May) the plans for tackling Allan Leighton’s attempts to push the liberalisation agenda further in Royal Mail were discussed, but at General Conference which deals with the whole union the issue arose in motions on policy and politics. There was a negative motion that called for suspension of payments to Labour if the Government backs Leighton on the issuing of shares to staff. It was carried with the support of the executive as Government intervention on this issue would certainly lead to a review of the CWU-Labour...

European Network for Public Services

Dear friends from the European Network for Public Services, This message is sent to all people registered on the list we made during the last saturday session. The RAS (an activist Host ) is ready to contribute by hosting our collective tool . We propose to name our mailing list "athens-sp@ras.eu.org". We will use it to discuss the Athen's statement, to send informations, to exchange on the public services issue in the future etc. When a message is sent to this adress, all people registered behind it will receive the message. In the same time, we propose to each organization who took part to...

Fight for democracy in the labour movement!

Cassius: Why man, he doth bestride the narrow world Like a Colossus, and we petty men Walk under his huge leggs, and peep about... Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed, That he is grown so great? Age, thou art shamed. William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act I Scene III. AFTER the big Labour losses and Tory gains in last week’s local elections, there is a louder-then-ever clamour in the labour movement and beyond it for Blair to go, and go soon. But Blair refuses! He will, he says, go in his own good time. The most important aspect of this increasingly grotesque Tony Blair saga is the...

Communication Workers vote on Labour leadership

AT this year’s Communication Workers’ Union conference, delegates will have an opportunity to lay down a marker for the next Labour Party leadership election. A motion proposed by London and Manchester branches calls for the CWU to “only nominate, support or encourage members to vote for candidates in the next Labour Party leadership election who support the principles of Trade Union Rights as outlined in the proposed Trade Union Freedom Bill and are also committed to keeping the Post Office in 100% public ownership”. It also calls for CWU-sponsored MPs to nominate a candidate who meets this...

Building a Marxist presence in the trade unions

Motion passed at AWL conference 29-30 April 2006. "The Communists are distinguished from the other working class parties by this only: 1. In the national struggles of the proletarians of the different countries, they point out and bring to the front the common interests of the entire proletariat independently of all nationality. 2. In the various stages of development which the struggle of working class against the bourgeoisie has to pass through, they always and everywhere represent the interests of the movement as a whole." Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, "Manifesto of the Communist Party"...

Workplace bulletins

Workplace bulletins - how to write and produce them (pdf, 64K). Factory bulletins in the 1920s and today - Workers' Liberty 3/3. Workplace bulletins - the political case for them, and some experiences from the history of the revolutionary movement.

The case against state funding

Both New Labour and the Tories depended for their last General Election campaigns on millionaires giving them big loans under the counter. As for the Liberal Democrats, their 2005 accounts show £3.5 million of their £5.2 million income (other than public funds) from corporate donations. They got only slightly less in corporate donations than the Tories did, with £4.2 million. Arithmetical proof that the vote now serves us mostly to choose between different sorts of millionaires’ governments, and leaves no choice for a workers’ government! Blair has fended off the loans crisis by embarrassing...

RMT backs socialist candidate

In the Hackney Central ward in London the AWL is fielding two "Socialist Unity" candidates on 4 May. Janine Booth is chair of the local Aspland and Marcon Estate Tenants’ and Residents’ Association. Charlie MacDonald works in the Jobcentre the ward. Janine works on the London Underground. On Monday, RMT's national executive voted unanimously to back her candidature for Hackney Council. This is the first time that RMT has backed any non-Labour candidate in England (it has backed the SSP in Scotland, and John Marek and Peter Law in Wales). Campaigners for Janine and Charlie are out on the...

This website uses cookies, you can find out more and set your preferences here.
By continuing to use this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.