Archive for February 2016
2 February 2016
Birmingham Small Heath school - lift NUT rep's suspension!
The academy threat to Small Heath school has been withdrawn, but NUT members are now having to take action for the reinstatement of NUT rep Simon O'Hara
3 February 2016
London Transport workers braced for huge cuts in spending
London faces cuts in public transport along with attacks on bus and tube workers after the government announced an end to the subsidy to Transport for London (TfL), writes Andy Beadle, London bus driver.
3 February 2016
Tories are taking London taxi drivers for a ride
Transport for London (TfL) has in the last four years registered another 40,000 mini cabs to drive around London allowing them to ply for hire using smart phone technology, writes Dave Wallis Vice chair, RMT London taxi branch.
3 February 2016
Crane drivers' strike for pay rise
Ainscough crane drivers took strike action on 1 February after a 90% vote against a two-year pay deal being imposed on the workforce by the company that is also trying to casualise working conditions and hit safety, writes Dave Reid, Socialist Party Wales.
3 February 2016
Tesco slashes pay for thousands of workers
Thousands of workers at Tesco, the UK's largest private sector employer, could lose hundreds of pounds in pay, writes Scott Jones, Chair, Usdaw east London retail branch (personal capacity).
3 February 2016
FT dispute: Journalists at the Financial Times will be taking 24-hour strike action on 4 February over the £4 million pensions robbery proposed by new owner, Nikkei
3 February 2016
Arrested 'Heathrow 13' climate activist speaks
On 25 January, myself and 12 others were convicted of aggravated trespass and being in a restricted area of an airport without permission, writes The courts are making an example of climate protesters. 'Plane Stupid' activists face jail for demonstrating against third runway plans at London Heathrow airport last July. Melanie Strickland, one of the 'Heathrow 13', speaks in the Socialist..
3 February 2016
We all know the score. Put your hand in the till at work, you're gonna get sacked. Snatch someone's purse or wallet and you'll likely have the police after you. Hold up a bank and you'll get 15 years
3 February 2016
Newham Labour disunited against austerity
Around 80 people gathered in Stratford, east London, to hear shadow chancellor John McDonnell speak alongside Kevin Courtney, NUT deputy general secretary, local MP Lyn Brown, Newham councillors and local union activists, writes Ben Robinson, East London Socialist Party.
3 February 2016
Wakefield tells big business to frack-off!
Four fracking licences have been granted in the Wakefield District area to Hutton Energy and Igas which would completely surround the city of Wakefield and turn the whole area into a massive industrial complex, writes John Sibbald, Wakefield and Pontefract Socialist Party.
3 February 2016
Tories axe 310 jobs in Northern powerhouse
The Tories have announced the closure of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) office in Sheffield next year. This makes a mockery of their 'Northern powerhouse' economic policy, writes Marion Lloyd, PCS union rep, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
3 February 2016
Conservatives have no interest in collecting corporation taxes
As millions of ordinary people in Britain suffer from austerity imposed by the Tory government, big businesses are taking the easy way out, writes Emma Clark.
3 February 2016
130 delegates and visitors from 34 countries came together in Belgium from 25-30 January for the 11th World Congress of the Committee for a Workers International (CWI)
3 February 2016
Japan: The failure of 'Abenomics'
Building of working class left opposition urgent: Shinzo Abe recently became the longest serving Japanese prime minister in nearly four decades. His Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) government has regained its lead position in the opinion polls.
3 February 2016
Celebrating the revolutionary life of Robert Burns
Spare a thought for the poor members of Carlisle Socialist party. With the post-floods mood and ongoing rain dampening down outside activities, we were forced into the Milbourne Arms.
3 February 2016
Councillor suspended after cuts query: activists seek joint work
A north London Labour group has suspended one of its councillors for questioning cuts to adult care.
3 February 2016
Air pollution destroys more lives and homes
Have you noticed the buds on the trees? The sweet smell of cherry blossom in the air? The rush of colour in the fields? If so, you're not the only one to notice a worrying trend of ever-earlier spring
3 February 2016
Lording it up...: Spare a thought for stricken peers who can't survive on their pitiful £300 a day allowance. Baron Farmer of Bishopsgate has spoken up for insolvent lordly colleagues.
3 February 2016
Fight to save 1,550 finance jobs in Surrey
Members of Unite the Union's finance sector have taken to picket lines for the first time since the 1970s to fight back against the closure of Legal & General's flagship site in Kingswood, Surrey.
3 February 2016
Witty take on credit crunch misses problems at heart of capitalism
Film review: 'The Big Short' is a story about the 2008 world economic crash. You won't find the unemployed or the homeless in it. But what you will see is the fraud, corruption and greed of finance capital.
3 February 2016
Bedroom Tax ruling: The fight to scrap it must continue
Words alone won't get rid of the bedroom tax. "I'm registered disabled - will I still have to pay bedroom tax?... Is the bedroom tax illegal, now?"... "Has the bedroom tax been stopped?", writes Cathy Meadows, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Scrap the Bedroom Tax, Defend Council Tax Benefits campaign.
3 February 2016
Solidarity with health workers
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, in a last ditch attempt to avert a new doctors' walkout, told the BMA union that the "door is open". It might be open but given the track record of this government, it's unlikely anyone's indoors - and if they are they certainly won't be listening
3 February 2016
Renter's rant: Beth Sutcliffe is spot on when she comments on the conditions private sector tenants have to live in.
3 February 2016
World economy heading into a storm
Every year the global capitalist elite meet at the World Economic Forum held at Davos. This year, the prevailing mood was anxiety, the keynote pessimism. They fear the world economy is heading for a storm.
3 February 2016
March against the housing bill
"David Cameron, hear us shout! We know what you're all about: evictions, home losses, mansions for the bosses!"
3 February 2016
Zika: Another healthcare system failure
In October 2015 the Ministry of Health in Brazil confirmed a causal relationship between Zika and microcephaly
3 February 2016
Private renting: Unfit homes and couch surfing
It fills me with disgust, but not much surprise, that the Tories voted against a rule requiring landlords to keep their properties 'fit to live in', writes Lily Levin, Private tenant, London.
3 February 2016
Fight to save Huddersfield A&E
The campaign to stop the closure of Huddersfield A&E has continued to attract huge support and mobilise mass opposition, writes Mike Forster, Huddersfield Socialist Party.
5 February 2016
8 February 2016
Socialist Party members inspired by conference
Party members from 20 different villages, towns and cities met in Bristol
8 February 2016
Junior doctors demonstrated against unsafe changes to working hours and what are effectively pay cuts.
8 February 2016
Oxford Unite's strike to defend children's centres
Unite members are taking strike action with a 83% mandate from the membership of the South East 6272 Community Youth Workers and Not for Profit branch
9 February 2016
Disabled woman harassed for bedroom tax
A press release from Waltham Forest Trade Union Council
9 February 2016
Labour right wing blocks call to debate budget cuts
Southampton Labour council will this week propose the largest cuts to jobs and services since it took office in 2011
10 February 2016
10 February 2016
Sanders' socialist message rattling the establishment
US elections: The opening US presidential primaries showed support for 'non-establishment' candidates in both the Republican and Democratic Party caucuses
10 February 2016
Doctors' strike 10th February - photos and reports
Reports and photos of the junior doctors' strike on 10 February
10 February 2016
Cameron's EU renegotiation charade
The Socialist Party opposes the EU, Cameron's deal included, in order to defend working class interests and take forward the fight for socialism, in Britain and Europe.
10 February 2016
Torbay may be the English Riviera for the well-heeled, but for many working people it is a place of poverty, insecurity and low wages.
10 February 2016
There is nothing left to cut. Even Tory council leaders don't know where they'll find the government's latest 'savings'!
10 February 2016
Anger against plans to close Bradford libraries
The planned decimation of library services in the Bradford area of West Yorkshire has led to angry scenes at recent 'consultation' meetings, where details about the possible closure of eleven libraries have been put on the table.
10 February 2016
The Socialist Party held our first public activity in Redditch town centre on 30 January where the maternity unit at Alexandra hospital unit is under threat of permanent closure.
10 February 2016
Trade unionists must organise fightback: The National Health Service (NHS) in England is in financial meltdown due to the Tories' relentless drive toward privatisation.
10 February 2016
Short stories on workers' struggles around the world. Irish general election, South Africa outsourcing victory and campaigning for workers' rights in Taiwan
10 February 2016
No-cuts strategy needed to save 25,000 council jobs
The GMB union has revealed that there are over 25,000 redundancies in the offing at 52 English, Scottish and Welsh councils.
10 February 2016
Portsmouth: support for anti-austerity stand
On 28 January Portsmouth TUSC organised a public meeting on how to oppose the city council's cuts by putting forward an alternative no-cuts budget.
10 February 2016
Birmingham: socialists kicked out of Momentum
If Momentum is to be a success it needs to throw its doors open to all those who want to fight austerity, not just Labour Party members. It should be putting its energy into kicking out the careerists and the Blairites, not the socialists.
10 February 2016
Leeds meeting expresses Corbyn and McDonnell's contradictions
Hundreds crammed into a Leeds meeting hall recently to hear Labour Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell speak. But his vision for change isn't yet matched by a strategy to achieve it.
10 February 2016
Big victory at Small Heath School against academy attack
The third week of strike action in the Small Heath School dispute in Birmingham due to run from 2 to 4 February was called off after the sponsors of the proposed academy withdrew their interest on 29 January.
10 February 2016
Leicester taxi dispute: Labour's rank hypocrisy
Taxi drivers in Leicester, organised in transport workers' union RMT, are furious at the dictatorial attitude of the city's Labour mayor in cutting taxi ranks and imposing red tape.
10 February 2016
Cuts to premiums mean no 'rise' in store for Tesco workers
I almost laughed when I was told by my manager that I was getting a pay rise. From July I will be paid 23p more an hour. Great, what's not to like? But with a cut in premiums I won't be getting a rise at all.
10 February 2016
Continued action in crane drivers' pay dispute
Crane drivers for Ainscough, the country's largest crane supplier, took a second day of strike action on 8 February over pay.
10 February 2016
Short reports on some of the latest trade union struggles. Action against blacklisting at Fawley refinery near Southampton and potential opera chorus strike.
10 February 2016
Mental health: system in crisis
Mental health services are being cut to the bone and patients are dying as a result. There has been a 20% spike in deaths in mental health care in the last year.
10 February 2016
Mental health: My battle for the help I needed
I was told by my GP that I have severe depression and anxiety on 1 October 2015. Now I had a name for it. And suddenly whoosh, I joined the one in five that will at some stage of their life suffer from some form of depression.
10 February 2016
Lawyers defeat Tories' unjust legal aid cuts
Justice Secretary Michael Gove has made a complete u-turn on cuts to legal aid at the end of January.
10 February 2016
Cushy government job for Amazon boss
Tory work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith has appointed Doug Gurr, president of Amazon China, to his department's board of directors.
10 February 2016
It's one world for the super-rich, and another one for the rest of us. Tory MP 'doesn't notice' £400,000 income, 16 million workers worse off with new pensions. Cameron's mum fights the cuts.
10 February 2016
Liverpool fans walk out against ticket price hikes
15,000 Liverpool fans walked out of the team's game with Sunderland in protest against owners' extortionate price hikes.
10 February 2016
US elections: Clinton coins it
Right-wing US presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton earned $675,000 giving speeches for parasite speculators Goldman Sachs in 2013.
10 February 2016
10 February 2016
'Pro-rape' anti-feminist Roosh V humiliated
Anti-sexism campaigners have humiliated "pro-rape" activist Roosh V. Over 40 turned out to protest against rape culture in Cardiff.
10 February 2016
Don't give money to Ukip and Tory EU campaigners!
The establishment media has already decided that reactionary pro-austerity politicians are the only exit voices they will feature. They completely ignore the millions of trade unionists and young people who, like the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, oppose the EU from a completely different standpoint.
10 February 2016
Lack of strategy - and exclusions - threaten Momentum
The first national committee meeting of Momentum has taken place. The response of John McTernan, former Blairite advisor, was: "It's war". Well, if it's war, and it is, then Momentum is unfortunately setting itself up for defeat
11 February 2016
Public meetings show readiness to fight back
Dozens of activists attended three meetings
11 February 2016
16 February 2016
Hands off the Butterfields estate!
At least 15 households have eviction notices since their landlord sold the properties [Update added 18.2.16]
16 February 2016
17 February 2016
The Tories plan to prevent councils - and possibly student unions - democratically boycotting human rights abusers
17 February 2016
If I had been in 1980s Labour, I'd have supported Militant
Featured letter: I joined the Labour Party in 1995 as a 20-year-old student. Most if not all of Militant (then in Labour, now called the Socialist Party) had already been expelled or had resigned from Labour, writes Richard Price, Gloucestershire Socialist Party.
17 February 2016
Hannah Sell answered the false claim of sexism on the part of Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters really well in issue 885 of the Socialist, writes Clive Walder, Birmingham Socialist Party.
17 February 2016
Councils have a choice: no cuts to jobs or services
Councillors in local government do have the power to resist the government cuts. The notion that 'there is nothing else we can do' is wrong.
17 February 2016
£300 million to cushion cuts in Tory councils
Threatened with backbench revolt, the Tory government has produced a £300 million 'transition grant' to partially cover gaping shortfalls in local government over the next two years.
17 February 2016
US fears EU exit will hinder vulture privatisers
It was recently revealed that the US government is discussing how to make a direct intervention in the EU referendum debate.
17 February 2016
Record-high 170 evictions a day
Evictions in England and Wales reached a record high last year as over 170 people lost their homes every day.
17 February 2016
Liverpool fans score victory v £77 ticket hike
Liverpool Football Club has backed down over ticket price hikes after thousands of fans walked out during a match.
17 February 2016
Library workers prepare to escalate strike action
Unite members in Greenwich and Bromley are escalating the libraries' campaigns in both boroughs following recent strike action which launched a joint campaign.
17 February 2016
Historic joint further education strike
On the 24 February, lecturer's union UCU and Unison will take joint strike action across England in the further education sector for the first time.
17 February 2016
Scotland: battle heats up against council cuts
£1 billion in council cuts over the next two years is the consequence of the funding deal from the Scottish National Party (SNP) government, which will mean the loss of 15,000 jobs and the decimation of services if implemented.
17 February 2016
London lobbies against cuts to jobs and services
In Tower Hamlets on 17 February a second People's Budget meeting is being held jointly between the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition and the Tower Hamlets Independent group of councillors.
17 February 2016
"Staines has never seen anything like it!"
Given the absence of a local Momentum group, Staines Socialist Party decided to host a meeting on 11 February to discuss the Corbyn phenomena and to invite all those interested in a real anti-cuts, socialist movement to come along.
17 February 2016
"You can cut the cake but not our libraries!"
Coventry Central Library marked its 30th birthday on 10 February and the guest of honour at the celebration was leader of Coventry City Council Ann Lucas.
17 February 2016
Students, unions and parents unite to save Pent Valley School
A coach packed with campaigners determined to save Pent Valley school in Kent left Cheriton to lobby Kent County Council in Maidstone.
17 February 2016
Rally to defend jobs in Northern Ireland: "We won't sit on the sidelines"
On 8 February, 800 people gathered in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, in opposition to the threatened destruction of manufacturing jobs in the area.
17 February 2016
Socialist Students conference 2016: Delegates enthusiastic and confident
100 students from over 30 institutions were represented
17 February 2016
Junior doctors must stand firm
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt unilaterally imposed his unsafe and unfair new contract on junior doctors in England on 11 February, writes Dr Clare Blackwell, unior doctor, Poole Hospital.
17 February 2016
An open letter to John McDonnell from Tony Mulhearn
"You do call for a mass campaign of opposition to cuts with the objective of placing the blame on the Tories. But if this is to be effective it must be on the basis of Labour councillors refusing to vote for cuts".
17 February 2016
Southampton: absence of Corbynism as Labour swings Tory axe again!
Southampton Labour Council squandered a major opportunity to change course and build on the anti-austerity mood that swept Jeremy Corbyn to the leadership of Labour and produced the first junior doctors strike in 40 years.
17 February 2016
Irish general election: fighting on an anti-austerity agenda
The Socialist Party in Ireland is participating as part of the Anti Austerity Alliance in the general election to be held on 26 February
17 February 2016
Socialist's anti-war art on show in Bradford
Currently on display at the Bradford Playhouse is a series of paintings by artist and Socialist Party member Peter Robson.
19 February 2016
Leicester: Workers unite to fight Samworth
Over 300 workers for 'food giant' Samworth Brothers packed a meeting in Leicester last Friday night to hear the response of BFAWU food workers' union to recent threats to their pay
19 February 2016
Children take over County Hall in protest at cuts
Over 40 people - mostly children and teenagers - stormed into County Hall
19 February 2016
North West Water pensions strike
GMB members gathered to picket and protest outside United Utilities' Warrington HQ at Lingley Mere, Great Sankey, in a protest over pensions
23 February 2016
EU referendum: Vote OUT the Tories
The referendum on 23 June is not just about the EU but is also an opportunity to pass verdict on Cameron and his rotten government. An 'out' vote would strike a mortal blow at the government.
24 February 2016
Determined junior doctors fight on
The BMA is preparing for three 48-hour strikes to fight the imposition of a contract
24 February 2016
Junior doctors: back new strikes
Three 48-hour walkouts: Junior doctors have announced fresh stoppages. Tory health secretary Jeremy Hunt's scandalous decision to impose a dangerous new contract on them has already backfired.
24 February 2016
Butterfields tenants demand action against evictions at Labour estate agent awards
Tenants facing sell-off and eviction in east London demanded action from their Labour council at a nauseating Labour-organised estate agent awards ceremony on 20 February.
24 February 2016
Cameron, Cameron, meal snatcher
The government is closing a fund which helps remote primary schools feed children.
24 February 2016
The Tories have admitted they have no evidence to suggest workers from other countries come to Britain to claim benefits.
24 February 2016
It's one world for the super-rich, and another one for the rest of us. Bookies make millions from gambling addicts; bankster gamblers still unpunished.
24 February 2016
One-woman tragedy's fiery call for revolution
Theatre review: Iphigenia in Splott: Tremendous. That is the only way to describe Gary Owens' one-woman play "Iphigenia in Splott", directed by Rachel O'Riordan and starring Sophie Melville.
24 February 2016
Do you have something to say? Letters to the Socialist's editors. Heseltine's Liverpool lies; nurse on class war; Tories versus law and order.
24 February 2016
Tower Hamlets to take anti-cuts fight into the council chamber
Tower Hamlets Independent Group councillors will move an amendment to the east London borough's cuts budget on 24 February.
24 February 2016
Leeds sets up people's budget campaign
Anti-cuts activists have established the Leeds People's Budget Campaign to present a no-cuts amendment to next year's council budget.
24 February 2016
Industrially and politically, Britain's largest public sector union is under siege from the Tories' relentless austerity agenda. Meanwhile, Unison's right-wing leadership and bureaucracy resort to dirty tricks to hold the struggle back.
24 February 2016
Police violence must be condemned: Brutal policing caused a riot in the downtown district of Mong Kok on the first night of the Chinese New Year, 8 February. Socialists on the ground give an eyewitness report.
24 February 2016
Short stories on workers' struggles around the world. A Marxist view of Modi's Hindutva in India; Irish election final push; Taiwan socialist conference.
24 February 2016
Gateshead: reprieve for respite centre
Cabinet papers show that, following protests, Gateshead's council is to back down over the closure of Grove House - a respite centre for children and a respite and day centre for adults, all with serious disabilities.
24 February 2016
Momentum must "take the fight to the right"!
Lambeth Momentum's leadership is on a rightward trajectory, but some younger members are still looking for a serious fightback.
24 February 2016
Save Derbyshire children's centres
The Labour-controlled county council has announced that 32 of Derbyshire's 51 children's centres are to close this year, with up to 200 redundancies - their most vicious assault on workers yet in the £157 million cuts they're making.
24 February 2016
Wakefield: no fracking, no cuts
Wakefield's council voted overwhelmingly to oppose fracking and call on central government to withdraw licences - after pressure from local activists.
24 February 2016
Cumbria cuts - the grim reaper
The recent decision by Labour Cumbria county councillors to carry out £25 million cuts to vital public services, particularly social care, will result in more unnecessary deaths in Cumbria.
24 February 2016
Campaign to save Pent Valley continues
Kent County Council has let slip any veil of democratic accountability to the people of Cheriton, Kent. Its education committee supported the proposal by the director of education, Patrick Leeson, to close Pent Valley School, despite huge public opposition.
24 February 2016
Victory for striking EDF energy workers
Unite members at EDF Energy working in metering services have won major concessions in a long running dispute over pay and conditions.
24 February 2016
Pensions strike by water workers in Warrington
United Utilities, a company with revenues of £1.7 billion and profits of £664 million in the last year, is attacking its workers' pensions.
24 February 2016
Fresh round of strikes against fresh round of cuts
Oxford County Council workers organised in Unite the Union took strike action against cuts on 16 February.
24 February 2016
Workers unite to fight pay attack in Leicester
Over 300 workers for 'food giant' Samworth Brothers packed a meeting in Leicester on 12 February. Samworth Brothers is to take the minimum wage increase back from them by axing pay enhancements.
24 February 2016
Short reports on some of the latest trade union struggles. National FE college strike; construction workers protest against employers breaking pay agreements; Independent newspaper to close.
24 February 2016
Leeds Labour 'anti-austerity' meeting: jam tomorrow
Leeds Labour Party's "Fighting Austerity, Investment Not Cuts" meeting on 18 February seemed quite positive. Until the question of 'people's budgets' came out.
24 February 2016
Khrushchev: the Stalinist who denounced Stalin
60 years ago, at the 20th conference of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on 25 February 1956, first secretary Nikita Khrushchev denounced the dictatorial crimes of Joseph Stalin who had died in 1953.
24 February 2016
The community-led campaign against the closure of the A&E at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary has mushroomed
24 February 2016
Trident: thousands to march - scrap all nukes!
Thousands will take to the streets on 27 February, demanding the scrapping of Trident nuclear weapons
24 February 2016
Stress, abuse and long hours for London bus drivers
Bus drivers in London are being made to suffer for a timing system that is not fit for purpose.
24 February 2016
Socialist Party Wales and North West conferences
Socialist Party regional conferences in the North West and Wales discuss last year's tumultuous events and look ahead to the year to come.
26 February 2016
Labour council attacks trade unions
Hull Labour has just agreed measures to remove Unite and GMB convenor facility time
29 February 2016
Swansea: youth orchestra joins protest against cuts
Trade unionists, including representatives of Swansea Trades Council and council workers, took part in the lobby but by far the biggest contingent was of teachers, pupils and supporters of West Glamorgan Youth Music Service, who are facing devastating cuts in funding.
29 February 2016
"If this doesn't make them listen, I'm not sure what will!" - One protester summed up the mood


19 Apr Oxfordshire & Aylesbury Socialist Party: Poland under Stalinism
20 Apr Bristol North Socialist Party: Vaccinations, innovation and capitalism
20 Apr Caerphilly & RCT Socialist Party: Election Question Time with candidates from TUSC
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