Solidarity 503, 17 April 2019

Jackie Walker: the curtain comes down

On 27 March, Jackie Walker was expelled from the Labour Party. Her case had been running for three years, since she was first suspended from the Labour Party in May 2016. Back in 2016, we opposed her suspension – for remarks which surely had antisemitic connotations, but were offhand fragments from social media and meetings – though we supported her removal from the position of vice-chair of the Labour left group Momentum. Walker eventually got her case heard by a National Constitutional Committee panel whose members, on their records, were neither right-wing nor likely to be unreceptive to a...

Four days or 996?

A group of Labour Party members, has launched a campaign to cut the standard working week to four days rather than five, with no loss of pay. It’s a good initiative, at a time when, for almost the first time since the early 19th century, and despite all the talk about new technologies displacing human labour, average work hours per week are now increasing. From 1945 to the early 1980s, workers shortened their average work week at rate of about 20 minutes per year. Then the decrease slowed to five or 10 minutes a year. After 2008 progress stalled, and now it is being reversed, at the same time...

York Deliveroo to strike

York couriers will strike on Friday 19 April, following previous very impactful strikes. They will hold a “flash strike”, a tactic aiming to maximise disruptions while minimising pay lost. They have announced that they will strike between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m., but only three of those five hours, to be announced on the day. Nottingham couriers held another protest on Friday 12 April, demanding higher pay and better working conditions. It was organised by Nottingham Riders' Network - IWGB, and comes as part of national rolling actions and strikes. Nottingham have had multiple previous strikes and...

NEU votes for primary tests boycott

Above: campaigners at the conference At the conference of the National Education Union (NEU: Liverpool, 15-18 April) the left has won a major and hard-fought-for victory to ballot all primary members for a boycott of all high-stakes summative tests in primary. That position has been lost at conference for the last four years in favour of vague promises over surveys and building for a future ballot. The architects and main drivers of this victory have been Workers’ Liberty supporters and the main motion was moved by a Workers’ Liberty member. This is the first conference of the new union...

Labour: stop seeking deal with Tories: No Brexit! New public vote!

More and more Labour activists are demanding that Labour’s leaders break off the talks with the Tories on a Brexit deal. If the last few months of political turmoil have shown anything, it is that no good or acceptable (left alone left-wing) Brexit deal is remotely on the table. In accord with the wishes of the big majority of Labour members and supporters, the electorate should have a chance to end this mess by a new public vote with an option to Remain. But the talks are going on in secret, with no report-back other than brief comments to the media by Labour figures. They have been going on...

Dangerous nonsense: Bower on Corbyn

Every Labour canvasser will have come across him (and, invariably, it is a he). Leering out of his doorway he delivers a deranged tirade about how the country is going to the dogs. Communist-run trade unions. Moscow gold. Economy wrecked by strikes. Scroungers living off the dole. Better off than him, an honest hardworking man. Of course, not a racist. But too many immigrants. Especially Muslims. Bogus asylum-seekers. Should stay in France. Got a council house instead of his daughter. Live off the state. He’s accused of racism for telling the truth. In his own country! And, in the more up-to...

Speaking out on LGBT+ inclusive education

Khakan Qureshi spoke to Gemma Short and Kate Harris about protests against No Outsiders and LGBT+ inclusive education in Birmingham. My name is Khakan Qureshi, I’ve worked in social care for the last 20 years across the spectrum of vulnerable adults, and I currently work with the homeless. I founded the first LGBT+ south Asian support group in Birmingham which is now five years old. I became involved in the situation at Parkfield and Anderton Park schools by tweeting my responses and thoughts on the protests, the BBC invited me onto the Big Questions show to discuss the issue. Andrew Moffat...

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