The recent election of a Conservative government, with one of the most openly racist Prime Ministers and Cabinet in living memory, the victory of an openly xenophobic and anti-immigrant Leave campaign in the 2016 referendum, and the rise of racist and xenophobic movements in Britain and throughout the world, have all raised questions as to how the working class movement should respond to what appears to be growing support within the working class for restrictions on immigration

Coronavirus is demonstrating the essential basis upon which our society exists: the working class and the necessity of labour. Workers and their unions must take the lead and control this lockdown.

A motion passed by Lambeth Unison's branch committee

In the DWP we should veto work that sanctions or penalises claimants and demand Universal Credit is paid on the first day, in advance, not six weeks in arrears. In the Home Office – end deportations and close the detention centres

To the surprise of many, when CWU leaders Dave Ward and Terry Pullinger announced the ballot result to members on Facebook,[2] they said they would not set dates for a strike, explaining that “it’s not the right moment for us at this particular point to take industrial action”. Since then Terry has said “we’ve got no choice in the matter”, citing the “unprecedented circumstances” of the coronavirus crisis.

In the ballot result announcement on Tuesday, Dave Ward and Terry Pullinger reported on growing anger in the workforce against lack of management action to protect staff against coronavirus. Royal Mail have done little to provide gloves, hand sanitiser or sympathy despite the vulnerability of staff who work among the public every day.

What we do now will determine whether we have jobs and a postal service in the future – vote yes and prepare for the fight of our lives.

Royal Mail's promises don't matter if they succeed in busting the union. That's where 120,000 postal workers come in

Lectures and higher education workers are starting 14 days of strike action to defend pensions, pay and working conditions

Royal Mail is trying to break the union. Postal workers have to defend their jobs by whatever means necessary.

Update: The CWU has announced a ballot for action between 3-17 March ROYAL MAIL bosses promised that if workers in the CWU postal union “delivered Christmas” without the planned strike, they would engage with negotiations in the New Year. But it was a con. On the first day of negotiations on 16 January they turned […]

UNISON members were informed by email on 8 January that “UNISON backs Keir Starmer to be next Labour leader”. This decision was made by the Labour Link committee who decide on the union’s relationship to the Labour Party. The decision taken by that committee (with 14 votes for Starmer, five votes for Rebecca Long Bailey […]

Socialists and trade unionists picket the French Embassy in London in solidarity with the resistance to the Macron government’s attack on pension rights.

Today the High Court granted Royal Mail an injunction to stop postal workers striking. This is an attack on the entire trade union movement. At this crossroads, an unofficial strike with the support of the CWU and the entire Labour and trade union movement points the way to victory.

The CWU leaders have been combative in words, agitating for postal workers to stand strong, but their practical response of monitoring subgroups and possible legal challenges won’t stop Royal Mail. The Postal Executive is not deciding on action till 13 November, five days after mediation ends– why the delay? And there is no preparation for […]

University and College Union (UCU) Higher Education members have voted for industrial action in two ballots over pensions and over pay, casualisation, equality and workloads. In the ballots 53 per cent of members voted, winning 79 per cent and 74 per cent majorities respectively for action. The 43 universities that met the 50 per cent […]

Bosses’ dirty tricks show rank and file organisation is key to winning

Company being restructured to destroy the public service and jobs

Rico Back is pushing a five-year plan called “Journey 2024”, to build Royal Mail Group into a multinational parcel giant. This will go hand in hand with a “relentless focus on efficiency” to hike profits. The Universal Service Obligation that is the final shield legally protecting the public service, customer rights and the workforce itself […]

Labour's conference will debate a motion calling for a major reduction in working hours. URTE MARCH looks at the history and implications for socialist strategy

IT GIANT Fujitsu are the latest company to step up their union-busting campaigns, which have been on the increase – with Grangemouth and Picturehouse disputes just two high-profile examples that saw trade union reps victimised for organising workers. On 12 January Fujitsu Manchester sacked Ian Allinson, chair of Unite At Fujitsu, recent left candidate in […]

NEARLY ONE-THIRD of all Southern Rail’s trains were late or failed to run last year. And 2017 could be even worse, with up to 46 per cent of trains cancelled or delayed in January. Furious season ticket holders and other passengers are claiming compensation, running into thousands of pounds. How can a private company absorb […]

UNITE GENERAL Secretary Len McCluskey has triggered an early election campaign for the position he currently holds. The three candidates, McCluskey, Gerard Coyne and Ian Allinson, have until 17 February to gain an undemocratically high 50 branch nominations to get on the ballot paper. Members then have from 27 March to 19 April to vote. […]

LEN MCCLUSKEY, head of Britain’s biggest union Unite which is also the Labour Party’s biggest donor, has resigned from his post and is standing for re-election. He last did this in 2013, three years into his first five-year term, to avoid embarrassing then Labour leader Ed Miliband with a major union election at the same […]

By Mike Black WORKERS AT the factory that makes Humbug sweets are striking against their Scrooge employer. GMB members at the Tangerine Confectionery site in York are in dispute with their bosses, who have been eroding conditions and making cuts to pension contributions. The 2016 pay offer was a measly 1 per cent increase backdated […]

RAIL UNION Aslef has announced that 87 per cent of its drivers at Southern Rail voted to strike. These strikes will take place in December and January, alongside an immediate and indefinite overtime ban. This is in addition to RMT strikes, on different dates, as guards continue their industrial action. Both unions are protesting the […]

CONSTRUCTION WORKERS at the Crossrail site in Tottenham Court Road took two days of unofficial strike action on 30 November and 1 December to defend Unite steward Terry Wilson. Employers Laing O’Rourke insisted Terry be transferred to another job while refusing to recognise him as a union negotiator. A further protest on 2 December was […]

TEACHING ASSISTANTS employed by Durham County Council have voted overwhelmingly for strike action against the imposition of new contracts that would see some workers lose up to 23 per cent – or £6,000 a year. The Labour led Council in Durham voted in May to dismiss all of the 2,700 teaching assistants employed by the […]

By a UNISON activist THE NEW Tory government is unleashing a new series of attacks on working class people and their trade unions. In the NHS, on the railways, in our schools, union members are fighting back. But they are not struggling on a level playing field. The government, the media and the judges pick on […]

By Jeremy Dewar The boycotts of the ridiculous and cruel tests of children as young as five by parents earlier this year, and the public outcry at the threat by Education Secretary Nicky Morgan to force all schools to become academies prove that families would support action Teachers have delivered an overwhelming mandate to strike […]