Work and trade unions

Where next for the Royal Mail strikes?

Rank and File update

A CWU Rep  ·  23 September 2022

How can the strikes win – and what would victory look like?

Will this strike wave, the biggest for 30 years, end in victory?

Jeremy Dewar  ·  12 September 2022

Royal Mail strikes must demand nationalisation

It is clear that nothing less than the future of Royal Mail itself is at stake.

A CWU Rep  ·  12 September 2022

Dockers strikes spread from Felixstowe to Liverpool

Five hundred Liverpool dockers at England’s fourth-largest port, employed by MDHC Container Services, are to strike from 19 September to 3 October

Dave Stockton  ·  10 September 2022

Public sector pay ballots: press for co-ordination

Nurses, refuse collectors, youth workers, teachers, lecturers and civil servants are being balloted.

Rebecca Anderson  ·  10 September 2022

When crime doesn’t pay (even the minimum wage)

Criminal Barristers are escalating their action to an all-out strike.

Alex Rutherford  ·  10 September 2022

Interview with a striking barrister: “We will wear them down”

By Alex Rutherford As industrial militancy rises again in Britain for the first time in many years, criminal barristers have joined the strike wave. Workers Power spoke to Saul Brody, a striking barrister from Manchester, to discuss why the strike matters, the problems in the criminal justice system, and the impact of these issues on […]

Alex Rutherford  ·  18 August 2022

Postal bosses gear up for battle – let’s strike back now!

Let's bring the strike forward.

A CWU Rep  ·  08 August 2022

Royal Mail threatens to break up company if workers strike

Postal workers and the public should reject Royal Mail blackmail.

Pete Thompson  ·  20 July 2022

Starmer fails test of elections and strikes

Boris Johnson's government suffered two significant by-election defeats on 23 June.

Rebecca Anderson  ·  13 July 2022

Colleges to strike as UCU re-ballots in HE

UCU members at 33 further education (FE) colleges are taking part in a ballot for industrial action.

Dara O'Cogaidhin  ·  13 July 2022

Building collectivism, organising councils of action

Editorial July-August 2022, No. 395

Andy Yorke  ·  05 July 2022

Mail, post, telecoms: co-ordinate the strikes

By a CWU rep IT IS a sign of the times that workers across the three main sectors organised by the Communications Workers Union—Royal Mail, Post Office and British Telecom—could be striking together. This would be a first for the CWU. Post Office workers led the way earlier this summer, with 1,500 workers taking two […]

Andy Yorke  ·  05 July 2022

1972: When dockers fought the law—and the dockers won

The 1972 dock strike has important lessons for today as we enter a new period of industrial struggle

Bernie McAdam  ·  05 July 2022

Rail workers — escalate to win

By KD Tait THE RAILWAY NETWORK was brought to a standstill as 40,000 rail workers walked out in the first national strike for 30 years. The RMT union is taking action over a 3% pay offer and threats to jobs, pensions, working conditions and the safety of the railways. They were joined in London by […]

KD Tait  ·  22 June 2022

Leeds University workers launch week-long pay strike

By Rebecca Anderson A hundred Unison members picketed Leeds University this morning, an impressive turnout to kick off their week of strike action. Libraries were closed and campus was encircled by a young, angry workforce demanding the university increase its pay offer to meet the spiralling cost of living. Earlier this year, Unison members at […]

Rebecca Anderson  ·  20 June 2022

After the TUC demo: coordinate strikes to beat inflation

By KD Tait ON SATURDAY 18 June, tens of thousands of people marched through central London to demand action to fight the growing cost of living crisis. Protesters gathered from across the country in the first national demonstration called by the TUC since 2018, calling for pay rises to beat inflation, better working conditions, and […]

KD Tait  ·  20 June 2022

Report — TUC lefts urge resistance to cost of living crisis

By Jeremy Dewar “A new deal for working people, a new social settlement for the UK” A LONDON TUC rally for the 18 June national demonstration heard speakers from a variety of disputes and strikes. Rail workers, teachers and lecturers, caterers and cleaners, civil servants were all represented. The eve-of-rally meeting, held at Congress House […]

Jeremy Dewar  ·  14 June 2022

Refuse workers, leadership, and the rank-and-file

Despite all the start-and-stop action, setbacks and limited victories, it is doubtless the case that there is a growing militant mood amongst refuse workers, which Sharon Graham’s new leadership and its organising drive on the bins has built on.

Unite and Fight Bulletin  ·  03 June 2022

Wildcatting Welwyn workers win!

Refuse workers employed by Urbaser at Welwyn Garden City have shown the way to deal with bullying bosses.

Unite and Fight Bulletin  ·  03 June 2022

Bin struggle spreads to other unions

Unite’s organising drive across the industry is spilling over into other unions, inspiring refuse workers in the GMB in particular to join the struggle.

Unite and Fight Bulletin  ·  03 June 2022

Coventry bin workers keep up the fight

HGV drivers striking against Coventry City Council since 31 January remain determined as ever, while the city’s Labour councillors continue strike-breaking tactics.

Unite and Fight Bulletin  ·  03 June 2022

Deliveroo: GMB sweetheart deal delivers bitter aftertaste

By Alex Reynolds and Tim Nailsea FOOD DELIVERY couriers are one of the worst-paid and most precarious sectors of the labour force. This sector has traditionally been ignored by the major trade unions, who have considered the workforce to be too dispersed to be organised. The only unions who have made any attempt to unionise […]

Workers Power  ·  31 May 2022

PCS Conference votes to launch campaign on jobs and pay in the Autumn

By a PCS member WITHOUT WARNING, let alone consultation, Boris Johnson has announced over 90,000 job cuts in the civil service. To add insult to injury he did so through the pages of the virulently anti-worker Daily Mail, while suggesting the resultant savings would be used to cut taxes, benefiting the rich most. One in […]

PCS Activists  ·  31 May 2022

RMT ballot victory can shut down rail network

By Bernie McAdam IN RESPONSE to threats over pay, compulsory redundancies and safety, RMT rail workers have voted in favour of strike action across Network Rail and 13 other train companies in the biggest endorsement of strike action since privatisation. Only at GTR did the vote for action fall short. RMT balloted over 40,000 members, […]

Bernie McAdam  ·  31 May 2022

18 June must be the start of a fightback, not the end

Editorial June 2022, No. 394

KD Tait  ·  31 May 2022

Marxism and the Trade Unions

What are they for?

Jeremy Dewar  ·  31 May 2022

Royal Mail: profits up, pay down as CWU prepares strike ballot

Demand 10% - or prepare to strike

A CWU Rep  ·  31 May 2022

Why Just Eat couriers are striking, and how you can support them

The base rate of pay for deliveries has been reduced by 24%.

Alex Rutherford  ·  29 April 2022

Post Office workers serve up strike

Post Office workers are preparing to strike on 3 May after a massive 97.3% vote for industrial action over pay.

Andy Yorke  ·  27 April 2022

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