trade unions | Novara Media

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.

Opinion: Teachers Are Rediscovering Their Collective Power

James McAsh

Across the country, in meetings ranging from dozens to thousands, teachers and teaching assistants are standing up for safety and learning that there is power in a union, writes primary school teacher James McAsh.

The Burner: The Burner Episode #236: Tick, Tick, Tick – and Technocracy

Sunak softens his economic instincts: so what does that say about what’s coming? Is organised labour really in a position of strength? Plus – what does the pandemic mean for the future of technocracy?

Report: Tim Roache Resigned Amid Allegations of Sexual Assault, Cover up and a ‘Casting Couch’ Culture at GMB

Charlotte England

Britain’s third largest trade union is accused of having a "longstanding culture of cover up" in a letter detailing an allegation of "serious sexual assault" by former boss Tim Roache.

Long Read: Bernie 2020 and the Challenges of Big Organising

Calum Jacobs

The tactics used in Bernie Sanders' 2020 election campaign have yielded some big wins and a string of losses. In this week's long read, Calum Jacobs looks at Sanders' use of so-called big organising and how it has helped - and hurt - his chances at the Democratic win.

Opinion: From Despair to Where? #McStrike Shows Us Where Labour’s Rebuilding Must Start

Alex Wood

Alex Wood argues that Labour's declining support in former industrial areas should be understood alongside the decline of the trade union movement. Revitalising Labour, he argues, will require a labour movement rooted in post-industrial realities.

Novara FM: The Debrief

James Butler is joined by James Meadway and Adrienne Buller to break down the outcome of Labour Conference: will radical policy translate to radical action?

‘Tantamount to bullying’: Asda Workers March Against ‘Flexible’ Contract Imposition

Craig Gent

Today Asda workers gathered in Leeds for a national demonstration against the imposition of 'flexible' new employment conditions, which they argue will have devastating consequences for workers' lives. Craig Gent reports.

No Shortcuts: Meet UCU’s Radical New General Secretary

Craig Gent

"The idea that we just tolerate a managed decline because we can’t expect any better has just been entirely rejected." Jo Grady, an outsider, rank-and-file candidate, has achieved an unprecedented landslide in the UCU general secretary race. Craig Gent caught up with her at the union's annual congress.

Novara FM: The All-Seeing Algorithm?

James Butler is joined by Novara Media’s own Craig Gent to discuss the rise of the algorithm, the new workplace under algorithmic management, and the scope and practice of workers’ resistance to new techniques of domination.