The Socialist 28 May 2008

Build a new workers' party

Build A New Workers' Party

Crewe and Nantwich 'no-win' by-election: Why New Labour lost

I told my union: "We need a new workers' party"

Westminster parties are remote from life

Campaign for a new workers' party: conference 2008

MPs' expensive expenses

Tax the rich not the poor!

Exeter bomb explosion: Workers' unity needed against terrorism, war and deprivation

Johnson's Prince of Darkness

Them & Us

Greenwich - save our centres

Women welcome abortion rights victory: Now fight to extend rights

Home secretary: "Tough on crime"...but not the causes

'Youth justice': repressive measures do not work

'Counter-terrorism' legislation threatens our democratic rights

South Africa: Attacks on refugees and migrants reveal capitalism's barbaric underbelly

The Wire - Reviewed by Michael Wrack

PCS conference: More battles ahead on pay and jobs

Usdaw general secretary election: Members want democratic debate

Industrial news in brief

Previous issues, etc

Print this issue




Link to this page: http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/535/4163

Google search the site	Printable version	email to friend

Home | The Socialist 28 May 2008 | Join the Socialist Party

Subscribe | Donate | Bookshop

Them & Us

Fat cats...

CREDIT CRUNCH hitting wages and prices? Not true for City of London fat cats who have been awarded bonuses totalling £13.2 billion so far this year. These were the record bonuses paid for high finance sector profits earlier in 2007.

The figures so far this year are only 1% down on those of a year ago. But the joy in the City may be short-lived. Some experts think that as many as 50,000 jobs could be lost in the City this year with a knock-on effect on job losses amongst the many lower-paid workers who service the City.

...and beasts of burden?

WORKERS IN Britain do a huge amount of unpaid overtime. A new report by Bristol University researchers suggests that this is particularly true in public-sector employment.

Almost half, 46%, of education, health and social care workers in public-sector and non-profit making bodies do regular unpaid overtime as compared to 29% of those employed by private companies in the same sectors. The unpaid labour of the public sector and 'non-profit' workers is equivalent to the work of 60,000 staff on normal hours.

This 'public-sector ethos' is being eroded by privatisation. Cost-cutting governments also risk the trust of these workers with pay freezes and below-inflation pay deals. More and more trade unionists will consider refusing to do either paid or unpaid overtime and will insist on taking proper rest and lunch breaks.

In this issue

Build A New Workers' Party