News and Analysis

By Sarah Sachs-Eldridge There is nothing inevitable about the dire predictions for rising poverty coming to pass. The mass inability to pay energy bills that’s on the cards, with the illness, suffering and even deaths that will bring, must be resisted. Mass workers’ action can change the course of events in the interests of the working class. What is threatened ...

Editorial of the Socialist issue 1190 As more rail and other strikes take place, Tory Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and would-be Tory prime ministers Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss are threatening even more anti-union laws. On the campaign trail to the electorate of just 160,000 Conservative Party members, the candidates are trying to outdo each other in championing further restrictions ...

By John Williams BT and Openreach members took strike action on 29 July and 1 August. This is the first national strike in BT (formerly British Telecom) since 1987. It would have been in EE too if it wasn’t for the Tory anti-union laws, which meant the ballot failed to meet the turnout threshold by just eight votes. There is ...

By Alec Thraves (Socialist Party Wales) Storm clouds are a common feature in this part of South Wales but there has been a permanent economic dark cloud over Port Talbot for several years because of the constant threat of the closure of the Tata Steel plant which employs around 4000 workers and is the beating heart of the town and ...

By Jared Wood (RMT NEC member in a personal capacity) Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers Union (RMT) members are taking further strike action across train operating companies and Network Rail on 27 July, 18 August and 20 August. At the time of writing, the union is also considering further strike dates on London Underground. RMT is in the front line ...

As news broke of the Johnson government’s implosion, delegates at the annual general meeting (AGM – the annual conference) of the RMT transport workers’ union were discussing what political strategy the union should adopt to meet the tests ahead. A reshaping of capitalist political representation is under way in Britain, the outcome of which is far from predictable. As the ...

Tu Senan, Committee For a Workers International Tens of thousands gathered in Sri Lanka again today to make sure that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa finally resigned and was gone. With the help of the military, the president was reported to have fled the country to Maldives in the early morning. Resignation news would only come via the Speaker of the Parliament. ...

Editorial of the Socialist issue 1188 On the morning of Friday 13 December 2019, as the country awoke to find Boris Johnson had been elected Tory prime minister with a landslide majority, the Socialist Party argued that, “the seeming strength of Johnson’s government will be shattered by coming events. In 1987 Margaret Thatcher had a majority of 102. Within twelve ...

A BT worker 30,000 BT Openreach engineers and 9,000 BT call-centre workers in the Communication Workers Union (CWU) have voted by 95.8% and 91.5% respectively to take strike action over pay. “This was a vote of pure anger. BT workers across every part of the group have made it clear they are fed up with the rubbish pay offers, increasing ...

By a CWU member, postal worker Royal Mail workers in the Communication Workers Union, over 150,000 of us up and down the country, are gearing up for a ‘yes’ vote on our strike action ballot, which opens on 28 June. As soon as the announcement was made of a 2% pay offer followed by a further 3.5%, with strings attached ...