News and Analysis

Editorial of the Socialist issue 1350 For anyone still wondering whether the capitalist system can provide a secure and stable world, the start of 2026 has been a brutal reality check. Trump’s kidnapping of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro, and his to-the-point honesty in declaring his actions a defence of the economic and strategic interests of American imperialism – in this ...

By Alec Thraves, Swansea Trades Council and Socialist Party After eight days of strike action, over several weeks, Unite bus workers across South West Wales have voted to accept an improved pay offer from First Cymru whose pay and conditions are amongst some the worst in the transport industry. Whilst still short of the pay parity members were seeking, the ...

By Dave Reid (Cardiff Trades Union Council) Unite members working for Cardiff Labour Council’s Telecare Department, supported by other council workers and Cardiff Trades Council, were out lobbying  the Council against the dangerous situations that the council management are putting them into. Telecare workers are dedicated professionals who provide a vital 24 hour emergency response service for 5,000 vulnerable people ...

By Mark Evans, President Swansea Trades Council and retired unison member On October 9th, I highlighted that Health Care Support Workers (HCSW) felt betrayed by the decision of Swansea Bay University Health Board to renege on a local agreement to upgrade these poorly paid employees from Grade 2 to Grade 3. Following a protest outside Morriston Hospital, they held a lobby ...

By Alec Thraves Unite bus workers have begun a series of planned strikes after overwhelminglyrejecting the company’s measly pay offer, their refusal to honour back pay and toimprove poor working conditions.First Cymru is part of the highly profitable First Group transport network which madeover £200 million profit last year.First Cymru is notorious for paying some of the lowest wages in ...

By Dave Bartlett (Secretary, Cardiff Trades Union Council) Around 250 assembled in Merthyr on 25 October for the first ‘all-Wales gathering’ of Your Party. The meeting was led by Beth Winter (former Labour MP) and Mark Serwotka (former general secretary of PCS) who have been given the leadership of Your Party Wales. This was a Your Party Wales event but ...

By Geraint Thomas (Caerphilly Socialist Party) It was a crushing result for the capitalist establishment parties at the Caerphilly Senedd by-election on 23 October. Labour and the Tories together got a combined 13% of the vote. Together, they won the support of barely over 6.5% of the total electorate. Labour’s vote plummeted by 35.4 percentage points. The turnout, at 50.4%, ...

Conference pledges to support only candidates and parties that will stand up for the working class By Dave Warren, PCS Wales and Swansea Trades Council Over 50 trade unionists from 11 unions attended a conference hosted by Cardiff Trades Council on 18 October. The ‘Wales Trade Union Conference on the Crisis of Political Representation’ was endorsed by five trades councils, ...

By Dave Reid Needed—a real political alternative for the working class The Wales Gathering of Your Party on October 25th in Merthyr is a welcome, if limited, start to building a new workers’ and socialist party. The 31,000 people in Wales who indicated in July they wanted to join shows the huge potential for a mass party to challenge the ...

By Mariam Kamish As Labour leader of Caerphilly Council, Sean Morgan cut 600 jobs last September. Meals on Wheels and Blackwood Miners Institute only escaped Labour’s axe after massive protests organised by trade union Unison. Under his leadership, the council did manage to close the very popular Llancaiach Fawr manor house – an act of historic vandalism. And then they ...