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Southern Rail dispute
Stand with the RMT: unite against Southern Rail and the Tories
The transport union RMT, its members, and many across the union movement are fuming at the proposed Southern Rail ‘deal’. It was made with the leadership of the Aslef transport union and presided over by the Trade Union Congress (TUC) – they and the Tories hope it will settle the Southern Rail dispute.
Southern dispute: Aslef members must reject offer
In an attempt to end the long-running, bitter dispute against driver only operation, Southern Rail has made an offer to drivers in Aslef
Southern dispute: disappointment and anger – RMT president responds
RMT president Sean Hoyle speaks to the Socialist (in a personal capacity)
Socialism not Trumpism
#NoBanNoWall #ResistTrump: Solidarity not racism – socialism not Trumpism
A significant victory was won by the international movement against Donald Trump on 4 February as a federal judge in Seattle temporarily halted his travel ban for people from seven Muslim countries and his suspension of the US’s refugee programme. The following day Trump’s appeal against this was overturned. The legal battles continue as we go to press.
Socialist Party news and analysis
SNP and Greens agree cuts budget in Scotland
TUSC and unions call for legal no-cuts budgets: A Scottish National Party (SNP) government austerity budget passed in Scotland on 2 February with the support of the Scottish Greens.
Save our NHS!
No cuts, no closures, save our NHS!
The NHS is in crisis. Hospitals cancelled a record number of urgent operations last year, mainly because of bed shortages. One in six A&E departments faces closure or downgrading because of NHS cuts.
NHS: fight for funding – not passport checks
Right-wing politicians and newspapers are trying to blame the austerity and privatisation-induced NHS crisis on so-called ‘health tourists’. The Socialist spoke to Aislinn Macklin-Doherty, a doctor involved in last year’s strikes.
Universal Basic Income
Universal basic income – what do socialists say?
The idea of welfare benefits being replaced by a ‘universal basic income’ (UBI) has resurfaced in recent years – a welcome discussion because it raises the fundamental right of everyone to have an income that meets their basic needs. Exact proposals vary but they are all based on the idea of everyone in society receiving an unconditional, tax-free, regular payment, regardless of whether they are working or the composition of their household.
Socialist Party workplace news
RMT wins important tube jobs and grading victory
A strike by 3,500 station staff brought the tube network to a standstill on 9 January. The strike showed that station staff could be as powerful as train operators. It was a game changing strike, showing clearly that RMT is able to close the network without the support of the drivers’ union Aslef.
London Midland victory: RMT forces bosses to withdraw outsourced security
Train guards have faced down bosses at London Midland in a dispute over the use of outsourced security guards on trains.
BA strike: “We’re being paid well below what we should be”
Despite increased intimidation from British Airways (BA) management, cabin crew are standing firm in their fight for a living wage. Many are coming straight off flights onto the picket line. Striking workers are being left with no choice but to take action because of their poor wages.
AWE pension strikers vow to fight on
Thousands of workers at the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) were stripped of their defined benefit pension scheme on 1 February by AWE bosses Lockheed Martin, Jacobs and Serco.
Short reports on some of the latest trade union struggles including DWP closures, Picturehouse strike and Deliveroo walkout.
International socialist news and analysis
Syria: Is an end to the war in sight?
The military victory in Aleppo by Assad’s regime and its foreign backers was a turning point in the war in Syria. It has put the Syrian government once more in formal control of the country’s main urban centres. Serge Jordan of the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI) examines if this is the prelude to a broader peace settlement that could end the horrors inflicted on the Syrian people.
Romania: mass protests against corruption go on
Mass protests – which forced the ruling Social Democrats in Romania to drop their executive order decriminalising some official corruption – have continued
Socialist Party reports and campaigns
Support Cardiff’s no-cuts three
Cardiff Against The Cuts has learned that three members of the Labour Party in Cardiff have been expelled shortly after calling on the Labour council to refuse to make more funding cuts to jobs and services.
Campaign forces Surrey council to back down on fire station closure
After weeks of protesting, a massive demo outside the fire station, petitions and lobbies, Surrey council was forced to organise a public meeting to explain why it needed to axe Staines Fire Station.
Southampton: no-cuts budget needed
Starved of cash by continued Tory funding cuts, Labour councils are facing another round of budget cuts, writes Nick Chaffey.
Regional Socialist Party conferences
Reports of Socialist Party regional conferences in the North West and Southern regions.
Orgreave campaigners were shocked and outraged on 31 October 2016 when new home secretary Amber Rudd announced there would be no form of inquiry into the events of 18 June 1984. The government had been making all the right noises to the campaign and even Theresa May had talked about tackling the “poison of decades-old misdeeds”.
Canterbury Socialist Party attends ‘I, Daniel Blake’ film night
Socialist Party members recently organised a film night instead of our usual branch meeting – the film was ‘I, Daniel Blake’. Beforehand we sold 17 copies of the Socialist outside the venue.
Socialist Party comments and reviews
Tense, lively prologue to events which changed the world
Non-fiction review: Lenin on the Train: When the February revolution broke out in Russia in 1917 and the Tsar was overthrown, Vladimir Lenin was living in exile in Switzerland.
Smearing socialism by attacking the arts
The Russian revolution a hundred years ago is still a terrifying calamity – for billionaire thieves, warmongers and their political defenders. But for the working class, it meant a boom in living standards, freedom and imagination.
Letters to the Socialist’s editors including Roger Bannister’s retirement, Sri Lankan strikes and ambulance staff shortages.