What’s next for workers?
No worker really thinks that one year’s success ends the necessity for future defence of pay. Yet perpetual, unending strikes are not the answer either…
Unions
Unions
Rail - a crisis created by government
Rail workers should ensure that the strong workplace organisation that has been developed when they built support for their campaigns of industrial action is not dissipated...
Rolls-Royce claim stalled [print version]
Workers at aerospace and defence company Rolls-Royce plc recently rejected the company’s pay offer in response to the workers’ cost of living claim made on 2 February this year.
Teachers reject pay offer in fight for education
The well crafted and deliberate attacks on education by government are now being resisted by workers, who believe this is a critical point in the struggle to arrest decline…
Creating class control in practice
Control is the power of directing what happens in a country, or an industry. We say workers must take control, but that has quite a different meaning for workers than for capitalists…
Trade union laws: a brake on workers' action
Workers have always organised to defend their interests, governments have always used the law to oppose them, but struggle does not stop…
Anti-union law: a brief history
As workers began to challenge the power of capital and employers at the start of the industrial revolution, trade unions were simply made illegal by the Combination Acts of 1799 and 1800.
Nurses escalate action [print version]
From 1 to 3 March Royal College of Nursing members at every employer in England with a strike mandate will be taking action including on night shifts.
No answers on govt rail failure [print version]
Mark Harper, prime minister Rishi Sunak’s new Secretary of State for Transport, failed to give any real indication to those working in rail or to passengers that he will in any way adequately address the industry’s current problems.
Teachers on strike for pay [print version]
On 1 February, teachers in the National Education Union (NEU) joined other public sector workers on strike, the first of six days of national and regional strike action throughout England and Wales.
Universities - UCU pay progress [print version]
Following significant progress in negotiations with university employers on pay, working conditions and pensions, the university staff’s union, the UCU, is suspending for two weeks the remaining seven days of its planned 18 days of strike action.
On the right track
The railway industry and its workforce enter 2023 with uncertain futures. So far rail workers have shown they are prepared to stand and fight for their interests, together with those of the industry…
Government sabotages rail deal [print version]
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch has slammed the government for scuppering a deal which could have prevented rail strikes in the run-up to Christmas.
New year, new spirit
In many ways the situation facing workers in Britain is as dire as it has been at any time since the Second World War. But there is a shining light: the army of the working class is on the move.
Resistance breeds oppression
When a strike takes place, when workers withdraw their labour, they and their employers are confronted with the truth: workers are essential to capitalism.
Unions: be ruthless, seize the right to rule
The working class and their trade unions know that capitalism isn’t working. At least not for us. But it seems to be doing a grand job for the capitalists…
1974-1978: the Social Contract [print version]
Heightened class struggle in the early 1970s was neutered by a Labour government and trade union establishment working in tandem…
Some honest thinking, at last
The TUC congress met in Brighton from 18 to 20 October. Much of the agenda was routine and predictable, but some unions are thinking honestly and hard about the future of their industries and of Britain.
1974–78: the Social Contract, trade unions and the Labour government
27 October 2022
Struggles erupted in the early 1970s, notably the engineering union’s destruction of the 1971 Industrial Relations Act and the miners’ fight over pay. The new Labour government preached class conciliation in exchange for moderation of wages.
RMT digs in for long battle [print version]
The rail disputes are now nearly six months old, and railway workers and their unions – led by RMT – are now resigned to a long-drawn-out campaign...
1926: the General Strike
Given the siren calls for similar action often heard now, it’s vital to recognise what actually happened the last time a general strike was held…
The state of the trade union movement
The state of the trade union movement
Tuesday 6 September 2022 19:00
Pay fights are breaking out across the country, but are our unions up to the challenges facing workers in Britain? Are they strong enough, or clear enough? And if not, what is to be done?
Email info@cpbml.org.uk for an invitation.
Trade Unions - Membership drops
Bad news on trade union membership: the proportion of the workforce belonging to a union is at its lowest level since the current method of calculation began in 1995.
Oppose the government attack on rail unions
24 May 2022
The government plans laws to make rail strikes illegal unless minimum staff levels are maintained. This aims to make industrial action ineffective – and will not stop with rail workers.
Inflation and pay
28 November 2021
Inflation is at its highest in a decade and prices continue to rise. Trade unions are beginning to respond, but there’s opportunity for doing more.
Strike wave greets COP26 [updated]
Road closures and police cordons reminded people in Glasgow of the reality of hosting the city’s biggest ever gathering, the COP26 climate conference.
Teachers win reinstatement battle
11 May 2021
Louise Lewis, the suspended National Education Union rep at North Huddersfield Trust School, has finally been reinstated after a seven-month battle by her fellow union members.
Full backing for rail strikes
Four separate days of strike action have been solidly supported by RMT members who work as conductors and ticket examiners for ScotRail...
1941: Seven against the state
During World War Two, the government prosecuted seven workers because they defended their union convenor. It did not turn out how they expected…
BT staff yes to action vote
Communications Workers Union BT Group membership responded to a consultative ballot on industrial action in defence of job security and terms and conditions with a huge 97.9 per cent yes vote.