Union organising

A recent survey of workers at Lambeth Council, south London, conducted by the Unison union uncovered high levels overwork, stress and anxiety among staff, following years of job cuts. The survey found that 56% of staff do not feel that they can continue at the council unless workloads improve. Unison is launching an indicative ballot asking members if they’d be willing to take industrial action around workload and job losses. Ruth Cashman, Unison branch secretary explained; “Lambeth Council has lost thousands of jobs but people still need our services so we are left with workers doing two...

For a response to this article by the anarchist blogger "Cautiously Pessimistic", click here . For a further response from Daniel Randall, click here . Plan C comrades have told us they also plan a collective response, which we will link to once it is published. Recent strikes by Deliveroo and UberEats drivers are profoundly significant. They explode the myth, peddled by some on both left and right, that workers in the so-called "gig economy" can't organise, and that the proliferation of those types of work is in the process of rendering labour organising historically redundant. Some on the...

On Wednesday 20th July, library workers in Lewisham took their third strike day to defend our libraries. In the evening the workers, service users and community activists held a lively lobby of Lewisham council. The council wants to make £1 million of cuts to the library service. They propose taking staff from four libraries, hoping that local voluntary organisations will take over the running of these libraries. This would leave only three full libraries open in the borough. The library workers’ union, Unison and the local community has mounted a vigorous campaign against these cuts. There...

Mike Ashley, the Chief Executive of Sports Direct, has admitted to paying workers less than minimum wage. The admission came while he was being questioned by MPs on the Business, Innovation and Skills House of Commons select committee. He recognised that for a ″specific time″ workers were effectively paid less than minimum wage due to the practice of keeping workers after their shift to be searched before they were allowed to leave. He is now saying he will pay back pay to those workers effected. This is a huge win for an energetic campaign by the union Unite and others, and campaign which...

On Saturday 14 May the BMA held a junior doctors′ conference, followed by a meeting of the junior doctors′ committee on the next day. It was hoped that these meetings would have heard the outcome of renewed negotiations held between the government and the BMA between 9-13 May. However a last minute agreement (brokered by Brendan Barber of all people!) to extend the talks for another week meant that junior doctors did not get a chance to give judgement on any proposed deal. An announcement from the negotiations is expected on Wednesday 18 May; at the moment it is impossible to tell what the...

Thursday 14 April was the third annual #FastFoodGlobal day Of action. Workers in fast food, coffee shops and cafes across the world took part in rallies, stunts, marches and other creative actions for higher pay, better conditions and the right of unions to organise. The Fast Food Rights blog reports that actions took place in over 40 countries, including France, Japan, Argentina, and the UK, with fast food strikes happening in 300 cities across the US. At many protests workers carried signs in different languages, with strikers in the US organising solidarity pictures with French fast food...

The Maritime Union of Australia has launched a campaign about employment in coastal shipping following the removal of the Australian crew from MV Portland. Bob Carnegie, Secretary of Queensland MUA, has written to the national MUA about the presentation of the campaign. Dear Comrades, congratulations on the start of what I hope is a successful campaign. However, I have immense concerns of the title of the campaign “Sacked for being an Australian: Sacked for being an Australian unionist... yes. Sacked for being an Australian seafarer... yes. Sacked for being an Australian MUA member... yes...

Lancashire County Council is on the verge of making sweeping cuts. The cuts include over 2,500 job losses (compulsory and voluntary). Around 40 of the 75 libraries in Lancashire will close, as will 5 out of the 10 council run museums, all subsidised bus routes, and numerous other front line services will be cut. Since 2008 local Lancashire services have been repeatedly cut. Between January 2014 and October 2015 1,100 jobs have gone. In February cuts of £152 million over three years were announced. In November the council revised up the level of cuts as the Tory government announced the...

Putting my finger on exactly when or how I became a socialist is far from easy. I grew up in a working class family. My dad was a printer, and he worked long weeks at the printing press, for many years rotating between day-shifts, late-shifts and night-shifts. He hated his job. As I got older, I began to pay more attention and realised quite how exhausting and onerous the work he did was. When he was made redundant I was in my late teens, and was very aware that losing his sense of security and purpose was hugely damaging to his self-esteem and sense of self-worth. I also grew up in quite a...

It was interesting to read the latest in the exchange between Daniel Randall and John Cunningham ( Solidarity 367). Over the last few years it has often seemed to me that exhortations to rethink our fundamental ideas have come from many quarters and not resulted in much. They are in a similar vein to the person who sits in the campaign planning meeting saying “we need to be more creative,” but when you drill down into what they actually mean it doesn’t go much further than “have a Twitter” or “sit in a shop for a bit.” There is a real historical crisis of political social democracy which is...