Rank and file movement

Left win control of Unison’s executive – now the fight begins

Branch activists must now co-ordinate real change from below.

Simon Hannah  ·  11 July 2021

The politics of the Unite general secretary election

Howard Beckett is the sole candidate not advocating a retreat from the struggle over the political leadership of the Labour Party.

KD Tait  ·  12 June 2021

Unite General Secretary Election – for a single left candidate

Four candidates will be on the ballot paper.

Tim Nailsea  ·  09 June 2021

General Secretary election: which way forward for Unite?

No candidate is proposing genuine rank and file strategy.

Tim Nailsea  ·  01 June 2021

Bus strikes can lead fight against fire-and-rehire

The rank and file must take control.

Joe Crathorne  ·  25 March 2021

CWU-Royal Mail Deal: The price of not fighting

The new CWU-Royal Mail deal sells our conditions too cheaply.

A CWU Rep  ·  20 January 2021

Fight for workers’ control of the lockdown

The teachers' initiative is a model for workers to follow

KD Tait  ·  05 January 2021

Vote Paul Holmes – but organise the rank and file!

Unison General Secretary election.

Jeremy Dewar  ·  23 November 2020

All change at Unison?

Vote Paul Homles for Unison General Secretary

Jeremy Dewar  ·  08 October 2020

Should workers accept cuts if Royal Mail is losing money?

Smokescreen of financial difficulties.

Pete Thompson  ·  24 September 2020

CWU leadership talks out the ballot

Postal workers being lined up for a defeat

A CWU Rep  ·  21 September 2020

From hero to zero: how the UK has shown gratitude to their most essential workers during the pandemic

NHS workers campaign for a pay rise.

Hywel Matthews  ·  07 September 2020

British Gas threaten to “fire and re-hire” 20,000 workers

GMB must press ahead with strike ballot.

George Banks  ·  03 September 2020

Unite leaders recommend surrender

Say no to shoddy British Airways deal!

Tim Nailsea  ·  01 September 2020

Grassroots Fight for 15% can Win by Escalating Action

Rallies and demonstrations are due to take place across the country, as part of a growing grassroots revolt by nurses and health workers excluded from a recent public sector pay rise

KD Tait  ·  26 August 2020

United Left Divided

The divide in Unite's dominant faction deepens.

Tim Nailsea  ·  23 August 2020

Nationalise Royal Mail, defend the USO!

Royal Mail is in the red - our answer must be renationalisation

Pete Thompson  ·  14 July 2020

The great jobs massacre has begun

As unemployment rockets, union rank & file and unemployed must launch fightback.

Jeremy Dewar  ·  14 July 2020

Union makes concessions as talks begin with Royal Mail

The answer to a Royal Mail in the red is renationalisation not cuts

A CWU Rep  ·  14 July 2020

Threat of mass walkouts foils Royal Mail bosses’ sneak attack

Royal Mail's attempt to cut the postal service has been thwarted by the threat of walkouts.

A CWU Rep  ·  04 May 2020

Covid-19 and the PCS: from workers’ rights to workers’ control

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

PCS Activists  ·  22 March 2020

Postal workers smash reballot – but should the coronavirus crisis block action?

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.

Pete Thompson  ·  20 March 2020

Royal Mail Wins a Battle, but Postal Workers Can Win the War

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.

Pete Thompson  ·  13 November 2019

Reject Corbyn’s pro-Brexit policy

The ‘deal’ agreed between the leader’s office and the trade unions is another stitch-up organised behind the backs of members, who should reject this unworkable policy

Workers Power  ·  21 September 2019

PCS: Rank and File or Broad Left?

Differences within Left Unity, the ruling faction of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), have prompted the Socialist Party to launch a faction within that faction, the Broad Left Network. At the same time, the PCS Rank and File Network is being launched. This raises the question of how best to organise in the unions – rank and file or broad left?

Workers Power  ·  06 September 2019

How Britain’s biggest union undermines migrant workers’ rights

Over the past seven years cleaners and security guards at London’s most prestigious universities have been fighting a relentless and courageous struggle for basic rights: the London Living Wage, sickness, holiday and maternity pay, workplace conditions, and end to contracting out and union recognition.

Workers Power  ·  09 July 2019

Tory anti-union attack – organise to kill the bill

July 15 witnessed the first reading of the Tories’ new anti-union bill – effectively a series of amendments to the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act (1992). The Trade Union Bill aims to make what Tony Blair once called “the most draconian anti-union laws in Europe”, harsher still. David Cameron’s “slip of the tongue,” […]

Workers Power  ·  16 July 2015

Which way forward for the unions?

As the Autumn’s coordinated strike action stalls, Jeremy Dewar reviews the unions’ record and asks how we can stop the retreat Up to 150,000 marched in London, Glasgow and Belfast in October in response to the TUC’s call, “Britain needs a pay rise”. There was wild applause in Hyde Park for our leaders’ speeches, none […]

Workers Power  ·  06 November 2014

Organise the rank and file

Over the past year or two the failure of the union leaders – left as well as right – to call the escalating and united action they have promised at the TUC and union conferences, and the catastrophic retreat without a fight at Grangemouth, underline the importance of not relying on, or waiting for these […]

Workers Power  ·  02 October 2014

Is independent rank and file organisation the key to unlocking trade union potential?

  In the last issue of Workers Power, Tim Nelson of the International Socialist Network (ISN) wrote an article in favour of building a rank and file movement. Andrew Bebbington, also of the ISN, has provided a thought-provoking response. This is just the sort of debate on vital questions of revolutionary programme and tactics that […]

Workers Power  ·  10 March 2014

Subscribe to the newsletter

Receive our class struggle bulletin every week