Action for Rail Campaign
18 August, Waterloo Station: rail unions and the TUC’s Action for Rail Campaign demonstrated against the double attack of fare increases and staff cuts.
News
News
TUC - Lobby call
The Trades Union Congress has announced a national union mobilisation against the government’s Trade Union Bill – starting with a lobby of parliament on Monday 2 November.
Parliament - The glorious rebuild
If it came from local authority leaders or senior NHS managers, the proposal to spend between £5.7 and £7.1 billion restoring the Houses of Parliament over a 40-year period would lead for calls for them to be sectioned.
Death Rates - Highest for a decade
Britain’s death rates for January to July 2015 were 30,000 up on similar figures for 2014 – the highest for a decade.
Courts - Direct action escalates
The direct action reported in Workers in July by criminal lawyers (outside of all the anti-trade union legislation in Britain), which is intended to clog up the criminal legal system in Britain, has now been escalated.
NHS contract challenged
The NHS is facing a legal challenge from private provider Care UK, after four GP-led clinical commissioning groups awarded an elective care contract instead to a local NHS Trust in East London.
Still fighting over the Co-op Bank
The “Save our Bank” campaign – the cooperative and mutualists who have seen the demise of the Co-op Bank and control passing to private equity and hedge fund – is still trying to fight back against the new owners.
Get real! Doctors will need to turn 7-day anger into action
16 August 2015
Last month health secretary Jeremy Hunt told doctors to “get real” over the need for “proper seven-day service” in the NHS. Whether those two small words were a deliberate attempt to antagonise, there is no question about the mood of doctors.
Britain's role in the Saudi attack on Yemen
27 July 2015
Since late March, a coalition led by Saudi Arabia, including Qatar, the UAE and Egypt, and backed by the Obama and Cameron governments, has been attacking Yemen.
RAF pilots join US-inspired bombing in Syria
27 July 2015
RAF pilots have taken part in NATO bombing missions in Syria. This is in breach of the August 2013 Parliamentary vote against any British military involvement in Syria – but in support of US strategy.
Financial Times sold to Japanese company
26 July 2015
Publishing group Pearson is selling the Financial Times Group to Japanese firm Nikkei for £844 million – sending another famous British firm into foreign ownership.
Plans to tighten the euro noose
20 July 2015
Even as negotiations with Greece were continuing in June, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, released a report calling for closer monetary and political union.
Economical with the truth on debt and deficits
15 July 2015
The recent Budget cynically repeated well rehearsed lies masquerading as truths. Fundamentally, there is no financial soundness in the “austerity” regimes.
Why we are striking: Tube workers speak out
10 July 2015
Members of Aslef and RMT picketing on 9 July told cpbml.org.uk why they were on strike. The dispute is about working conditions, not pay, associated with the proposed 24-hour operation of the tube.
Legal aid lawyers take direct action against payments cuts
8 July 2015
Legal aid lawyers who provide advice in criminal cases have embarked on direct action against a further 8.75 per cent cut in legal aid payments for lawyers attending police stations, magistrates courts and Crown Court cases.
Shutdown ahead as Tube workers prepare to walk out
8 July 2015
London’s Tube services are set for a complete shutdown today as all the major unions in London Underground strike for 24 hours from 6pm in a dispute over the introduction of all-night Tube trains.
EasyJet cabin crew ballot over pay
7 July 2015
Cabin crews at the airline easyJet are to be balloted for industrial action by their union, Unite, following a breakdown in negotiations over pay for over 2,000 cabin crew at 11 bases throughout Britain.
Indesit delivery workers ballot on action in fight over pay
6 July 2015
The delivery of thousands of “white goods”, from fridge freezers to kettles, could be severely disrupted if industrial action by more than 200 drivers and warehouse staff at Indesit goes ahead.
Companies in merger frenzy
5 July 2015
The past two years have seen a significant rise in the volume of company mergers and acquisitions across the world – a straw in the wind of the next crash?
Remnants of Primary Care Support Services handed to Capita
2 July 2015
NHS England decided at the end of June to transfer almost a thousand workers involved in the “back office” functions of GP services to private company Capita in September.
RMT to campaign against EU in referendum
29 June 2015
Transport union RMT yesterday at its Annual General Meeting in Newcastle to campaign against continued membership of the EU in the promised referendum.
RMT support solid in Scottish ferry dispute
28 June 2015
Ferry workers halted sailings to islands on the west coast of Scotland, taking action against the threat to wages, standards and jobs arising from an EU-enforced privatisation process.
UCU ready to fight on pay
As Workers goes to press, the Higher Education Committee of the University and College Union will be meeting to discuss the results of its consultative pay ballot.
Budgeting for decline
Chancellor George Osborne will deliver another government budget on 8 July. Familiarity with the themes of “austerity” and “balancing the books” should not blind us to what is going on behind the figures
Union rights restored
In the week leading up to the general election the London Borough of Wandsworth restored deduction of trade union subscriptions from payroll and returned to the Local Government national agreement they had torn up nearly 35 years ago.
Unison: anyone voting?
The most significant result of Unison's national executive council elections was the turnout – down 25 per centy on the previous elections, and an average turnout of just 5.6 per cent.
Cuts to shore up PFI
Barts Health, the largest NHS Trust in Britain, has now released its deficit projection for 2016, with massive cuts almost identical to the cost of servicing its PFI debt.
Home working on the rise
22 June 2015
Workwise, which organised the tenth “National Work from Home Day” on 5 June, estimates that there are more than 4.2 million people in Britain working from home. That’s not good news.
Tube workers prepare for action
Tube driver members of ASLEF have voted overwhelmingly in favour of action against London Underground’s attempt to impose new rosters and payments.
Higher education union ballots on 'final' pay offer
16 June 2015
University and College Union members in higher education across Britain are currently being consulted on the “full and final” offer for 2015-16 made to the union by the University and Colleges Employers Association.