Analysis: Union Visibility is Up, But Membership is Still Low. Why?
Tom Williams
If the labour movement is to succeed, we need to take a long hard look at its recent failings, writes Tom Williams.
Tag: trade unions
Report: Pub Workers Launch Fresh Strikes Despite Union Busting From ‘Out of Control’ Landlords
Simon Childs
Bar staff at the Saint James Tavern in Brighton have been suspended after a landlord allegedly said: “I’ll be getting rid of them. They won’t be working for me if they’ve taken action.”
Explainers: The Establishment’s Plan to Deal With Inflation
As inflation rises the establishment has a solution: we all need to get poorer. The alternative is for profits to fall – but that is unacceptable to the powerful. Aaron Bastani on how only unions can save us.
Analysis: The Media Needs More Labour Correspondents
Sam Bright
Mick Lynch has badly exposed the lack of specialist labour reporters in mainstream media. But it wasn’t always like this, Sam Bright writes.
Analysis: A Court Just Took Away the Right to Strike – But a Union is Fighting to Win It Back
Callum Cant
In placing an injunction on striking security guards at Great Ormond Street Hospital, a court has made standard picketing practices illegal. We must resist this fundamental attack on the right to strike, writes Callum Cant - it’s part of a Tory slide to authoritarianism.
Ash Wednesday: What About the White Working Class?
Has the idpol-loving left abandoned the white working class? The answer is a bit more complicated than the Tories would have you think.
Opinion: Unite’s Leadership Race is About More Than Just the Labour Party
Karl Lieberman
If the right win control of Unite the Union, there will no doubt be a huge impact on the Labour party. But there’s arguably an even more important question to consider: what happens to the radical potential of workers if trade unions refuse to provide an outlet for it?
Analysis: How We Win: The Movements
James Schneider
Arguments are won with actions, not words. If socialist ideas are to become reality, we need power, and to generate it, we need movements, writes Momentum co-founder James Schneider.
Report: General Strike: Workers Take on the Military in Myanmar
Htar Nwe
Trade unions in Myanmar called for a nationwide strike on Monday, as the country entered its sixth week of mass protest since the military coup. Novara Media spoke to organiser Htar Nwe.
Novara FM: I Am Not My Work
Why are we told we should love our work? Sarah Jaffe joins James Butler to explain why work will never, and can never, love us back.
Opinion: It’s Not Enough to Defend the Five-Day Week – We Must Demand Four
Aidan Harper
Overworked Britons breathed a sigh of relief when the Tories abandoned rumoured plans to remove the 48-hour cap on the working week. This scare should shock us out of our complacency about working hours, writes Aidan Harper, and restart the fight for a 32-hour week.
Opinion: Christina McAnea’s Unison Victory is a Lesson for the Left
Charlie M
Continuity-candidate Christina McAnea has won Unison’s general secretary election - a disappointing result for the left. Charlie Macnamara argues that in order to transform the union, it’s time for the left to get organised.
Opinion: To Bring About a Just Transition, Unions and the Climate Movement Must Work Together
Chris Saltmarsh
Right now, trade unions and climate organisations have neither the radical politics nor militant strategies needed for a just energy transition. Chris Saltmarsh spoke to union activists about where we're going wrong.
Analysis: Organising in Supermarkets Means Overcoming Barriers in the Sector – and in the Trade Unions
Max O'Donnell Savage
The future of supermarkets is both the future of a socially necessary service and the future of around 1m workers in the UK today. But overcoming the barriers to organising in the sector means getting to grips with its complexities - and accounting for the failures of unions like Usdaw. Max O'Donnell Savage writes.
Opinion: The Government Scrimped on School Safety. Now Students and Staff Are Paying the Price
James McAsh
Just over a week since schools reopened, coronavirus outbreaks are forcing hundreds of pupils across the UK back home. Primary teacher and trade unionist James McAsh reports on an avoidable crisis.
Report: Coronavirus Has Made Things Even Worse for Migrant Workers on Spain’s Fruit Farms
Nic Murray
Most strawberries sold in British supermarkets are grown in southern Spain, on fruit farms run by multinational companies that exploit migrant labour. Coronavirus has left fewer workers under pressure to meet high export targets, without PPE or cleaning products. Nic Murray reports.
The Burner: The Burner Episode #243: Ease Off, Second Wave + Talking Teachers
James Butler asks what the government ease-off in regulations is really about – should we expect a second wave? Plus, as teachers are pressed back to work, we hear from one trade unionist about what’s really going on in schools.
Long Read: Detained Migrants Are Workers. They Belong in the Trade Union Movement
Isaac Ricca-Richardson and Franck Magennis
With detained migrants encouraged to work for slave wages, rather than treating them as victims devoid of agency, trade unions must instead bring them into the movement, write Isaac Ricca-Richardson and Franck Magennis.