The government, backed up by howls of anger by those on the right, are threatening to strengthen the anti union laws, warns Jeremy Dewar TORY GRANDEE Francis Maude claims Unison’s 78% YES vote “shows there is extremely limited support for the kind of strike action their union leaders want,” basing his argument on the 29% […]

Is the struggle over pensions limited to an economic issue, or is it a political fight, asks Jeremy Dewar

No matter what they try, nothing seems to work… The world leaders have gathered at the G20, and European leaders are having regular summits, but the economy is just getting worse. Peter Main explains why

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou gives way to a coalition government as the EU leaders attempt to force through more cuts and austerity. But the Greek people are fighting back, writes Martin Suchanek

Since the fall of Mubarak, workers have taken their chance to launch strikes and protests over both political issues and working conditions. There have been strikes of telecoms workers against the management board and demanding the releaase of fellow co-workers, a strike at Egypt’s Misr Cement over wages as well as lawyers locked in a […]

The Egyptian army’s attack on unarmed Coptic demonstrators has not occurred in a vacuum. It takes place in the run-up to parliamentary elections, due to begin on 28 November and end on 10 January; following large protests against the trial of civilians by military courts; and in the midst of controversy around a new “constitutional […]

Violence against Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority, about one-twentieth of its population, is not a new phenomenon. Hosni Mubarak’s regime, and Anwar Sadat’s before it, frequently allowed or enabled “popular” expressions of hostility towards the Copts as a safety-valve for social discontent.

The electricians have a only weeks left until their industry agreement is ripped up, how can the campaign escalate to beat the bosses back? The electricians’ dispute has shown what a well organised rank and file movement can pull off today. From an initial conference in August to weekly protests and now a ballot of […]

Joy Macready, an NUJ member, reports on the continuing struggle at the BBC

MICK DOOLEY, a bricklayer who has been blacklisted and imprisoned for his militant trade union activities on construction sites in the 1990s, has been banned from standing in the building union UCATT’s election for the top post of General Secretary. This outrageous, bureaucratic diktat is an affront to every worker on the sites and every […]

Fifty rank and file union activists, mainly but not exclusively from Unite, gathered in Birmingham on 5 November for the Grass Roots Left’s (GRL) second conference. Held six months after the GRL’s launch in May, it was a much more productive meeting, reaching agreement on a platform and a constitution.

A new anti cuts coalition is being set up in November, it offers a real opportunity for the left, but only if it breaks out of the style of campaigns we have seen before, writes Luke Cooper

The shocking police violence around the eviction of travellers at Dale Farm exposed the racism at the heart of British society, write Natalie Silverstein and Luke Cooper

The Socialist Party organised Jarrow March ended in London in early November, inspired by the 1936 Jarrow crusade, Joy Macready and Dave Stockton look at the historical lessons and what can be learnt today

Despite president Bashar al-Assad’s promises not to shoot protesters, his regime has continued to kill civilians, most recently in Damascus and Homs. The Arab League’s week-long talks to produce a peace plan made his regime hypocritically issue an amnesty for those carrying arms. But the uprising itself remains largely unarmed, while most armed civilians belong […]

The Occupy Lahore Camp started on 22 October at noon in Nasir Bagh park, a regular site for political rallies. More than 500 participated, largely peasant women, factory workers, students and left activists. The camp began with speeches from various participants to show solidarity with international “Occupy” movement, and also bring to the fore the […]

Electricity supply workers took to the streets in Lahore on 1 November to protest at government plans to dissolve the Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO), the privatisation of power distribution companies and the appointment of a private sector Chief Executive in the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO). Mass demonstrations, marches and rallies organised by the […]

With the publication of the International Atomic Energy Agency report on the Iranian nuclear programme this week, it is no surprise we are seeing images of Israeli soldiers preparing for nuclear attacks. Warfare rhetoric is already in place, political commentators are prepared for their interviews and the question that will be replayed across the media […]

Humanity has passed the 7 billion mark, according to the UN, and the usual concerns about ‘over population’ filled the media. But, as Kady Tait argues, the problem is not numbers but an economy where wealth and opportunities are not evenly distributed

The Occupy Wall Street Movement (OWS) has spread like wildfire to hundreds of cities across the USA. Its acknowledged inspirations were Cairo’s Tahrir Square, Madrid’s Puerta del Sol, Barcelona’s Plaça de Catalunya, Athens’ Syntagma Square and the tent city of Rothschild Avenue in Tel Aviv. Then it was the turn of OWS to inspire others. […]

This morning electricians in London took the fight against pay cuts and deskilling to the largest company behind the attack on their terms and conditions – Balfour Beatty. 300 sparks blockaded the entrance to the Balfour Beatty Blackfriars station site, stopping workers and management entering the site, showing their determination to resist attacks on their […]

The global day of indignation against banks and pro-business politicians was an enormous success. A new movement has been born.

Up to 5,000 people rallied to the call to occupy the London Stock Exchange last Saturday. Although police blocked an early attempt to enter the precincts of the temple of Mammon, we quickly settled in around nearby St Paul’s Cathedral. Three days later, a core group of around 250 campers have organised food, shelter and […]

Several minibusses full of construction workers  refused to cross the picket lines at the unfinished Carrington Paper Mill today. This was despite a management organised meeting the day before warning any workers who didn’t come into work that they would face the sack.

Electricians organised another militant protest in their battle over pay and conditions – it shows the kind of attitude we need to win, writes Mark Booth

 An angry meeting of electricians fighting a 35 per cent cut to their pay pledged to escalate their campaign into wildcat strike action on Saturday. Sparks from across the country who have been protesting at the sites of companies attempting to rip up the JIB working agreement piled into an eighty-strong meeting at the Manchester […]

  This morning, Wednesday 28 September, the second London demonstration of electricians and supporters with official backing from Unite the Union took place.  Billy McKean was there

Milton Friedman, the Monetarist economist who inspired Thatcher, once said that you can only carry out lasting change if there is a state of crisis. Well today the politicians are using the economic crisis to carry out lasting structural reforms to the economy. Across Europe that means the destruction of the welfare state and the […]

In the face of a huge crisis many trade union and labour leaders are unwilling to fight back against the rich and the banks. Dave Stockton outlines how we can fight back against the austerity onslaught FOR FIFTEEN years or more it has not just been the Conservative children of Thatcher and Reagan but the […]

THE GREEK economy accounts for only 2 per cent of EU GDP. If the EU were a single economic entity, like the United States, transferring some funds to pay off Greek debts would be no more significant than US federal support for reconstruction in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina being partly paid for by taxes […]