By Dave Stockton THE CONFEDERATION of British Industries (CBI), representing 190,000 companies, warned on 18 October that ‘acute’ labour shortages will spread across more and more industries, from construction and distribution to retail and healthcare. And this crisis could last as long as two years. Though hospitality trades have enjoyed a strong bounce-back, this sector […]

By Tim Nailsea BRITAIN’S ECONOMIC growth has almost stalled because of shortages of labour in parts of industry and of material inputs, due to disruptions in the supply chain, coupled with the effects of Brexit. GDP grew by 0.4% in August but is still 0.8% below where it was in February 2020, before the country […]

‘NEGOTIATIONS ARE about give and take … We are not cowards because we have taken a compromise,’ said the self-styled ‘socialist revolutionary’ Irvin Jim, general secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa). Immediately after, he ordered 155,000 steelworkers back to work, ending their three-week strike. This wasn’t just ‘compromise’; it was […]

By Jeremy Dewar Workers in Britain are being hit by a triple whammy this month: inflation heading towards 5%; a £20 cut to Universal Credit, hitting the unemployed and worst paid workers; and the ending of furlough for 1 million workers, throwing hundreds of thousands out the door. These are not ‘temporary blips’ that will […]

Brexit and pandemic-induced shortages fuel demands for action on pay and conditions

General Secretary candidate Sharon Graham heads up the union's Organising Unit.

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

Teachers take strike action.

Civil Enforecement and hospital workers stage walkouts.

Four candidates will be on the ballot paper.

Workplace activists can lead the fight for 15%.

No candidate is proposing genuine rank and file strategy.

Fighting back against "fire & rehire".

Even more employers will use this tactic to attack terms and conditions.

Manchester buses, school students and British Gas

State surveillance, political trials and blacklisting

The rank and file must take control.

Whats kicking off and where.

Jeremy Dewar recounts how the anti-union laws shackled the unions and calls for defiance

The methods and principles of communist work in the trade unions.