Trade union issues

Before the emergence of the “Second Wave” women’s movement many feminists, socialists and liberals knew that there was something deeply unfair, disturbing even, about women being restricted to a life of domestic drudgery at home and excluded from economic and public life. Although working-class women had always worked outside the home they were often restricted to domestic service, localised industries and/or highly precarious and marginal jobs. One of the Second Wave’s achievements was to draw attention to the restrictive role of the family in women’s lives, while also showing how the daily...

RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey has published a new article in Tribune, arguing that the disconnection between the working class and the organised left is partly down to the left focusing too heavily on issues such as "gender, race, and climate", which Dempsey argues are the "preoccupations" of "middle-class activists."

Motion passed by Workers' Liberty conference 2025. 1.The 2022-3 strike wave represented a generational high-point of workers’ action. However, coming after years of historically low levels of strikes, the strikes were substantially “from-above” affairs, with demands, strategy, etc., mostly directed by union bureaucracies. 2. As well as seeking to win material improvements in workers’ living conditions, a principal hope for the strikes was that they would lead to some sustained revival in organisation and activity at workplace and union branch level, with younger workers energised by the...

According to the anti-fascist organisation Hope not Hate Tommy Robinson (real name Stephen Lennon) mobilised 20-30,000 people to march in an anti-establishment, populist “patriotic celebration” in London, on Saturday 27 July. Robinson is a former member of the fascist British National Party and a founder of the anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant street-protest movement the English Defence League. Saturday’s short march, from the Royal Courts of Justice down the Strand to Trafalgar Square, was followed by a six-hour rally. Marchers carried English flags, Union Jacks and, occasionally, Trump banners...

City of Glasgow College staff who are members of EIS-FELA (the Further Education section of the Scottish teachers union, EIS) have started off the new academic year with a further wave of strikes. The college management is wanting to cut contact-time with students, increase the number of classes timetabled for lecturers, terminate fixed-term contracts of temporary staff, and impose compulsory redundancies. The college halted the process of selection for redundancy over the summer, but has now recommenced it, timetabling meetings for redundancy "consultations" with the members of staff selected...

When we’re allowed to complete this is unclear, plus no news of the consequences if we don’t “pass”. Coupled with the new directive on “mandatory” body cameras, staff are reacting poorly to being treated like children. Management has benefited plenty from staff goodwill in recent weeks, with delays and infrastructure issues hampering our jobs. Now when they expect us to work extra hours or move stations, they can’t be surprised if staff refuse. Staff struggle with early and late shifts as it is, given the company’s refusal to provide staff transport. There are no parking spaces and engineering...

After the votes (announced 20 March) to accept poor offers on Network Rail and by RCN in Scotland, there is still potential to remobilise and turn the tide. But workers need independent rank-and-file organisation to develop alternative strategies in disputes. RCN (Royal College of Nursing) in Scotland has announced that among its members in Scotland. 53.3% voted to accept the offer, 46.6% voted to reject, on a turnout of just over 50%. The offer is a 6.5% rise in 2023-4 (or for some, fractionally more) for all staff up to and inclusive of Band 8a, plus a one-off pro rata payment of between...

An Inquiry has found a culture of sexism, harassment and bullying in the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA). Helena Kennedy KC reported: “It gave me no pleasure to uncover a series of appalling incidents, alongside leadership and management failings in the TSSA. These incidents included inappropriate and sexual touching, sexual assault, coercive and manipulative behaviour, violent and disrespectful language, humiliation and denigration of members of staff, reps and members of the Executive Committee.” She recommends that none of the current senior staff she calls the “internal...