Archive for June 2015
2 June 2015
The escalation of action by around 300 engineering service workers has thwarted the Kone bosses' attempts to use a tracking system as a disciplinary tool
2 June 2015
Release Janahan from detention!
Tamil Solidarity is demanding the immediate release of Janahan Sivanathan from Morton Hall Immigration Removal Centre
3 June 2015
European Union referendum: No to a capitalist EU, Yes to a socialist Europe!
The promised EU referendum has the potential to split the government and the Tory party itself from top to bottom
3 June 2015
Network Rail forced to make new offer
Planned strike action on Network Rail by the RMT union has forced the employer to double its pay offer for 2015
3 June 2015
Bromley anti-privatisation action continues
Bromley local authority workers in south London will continue their campaign against the privatisation of council services with strikes on 10-20 June
3 June 2015
Mental health services gutted by Labour cuts
Rizwan Dodya, a mental health service user, contacted Leicester Socialist Party about cuts to local mental health services, writes Andrew Walton, Leicester Socialist Party.
3 June 2015
Setting the anti-war record straight
Charles Kennedy, the former Lib Dem leader who died on 2 June, is being remembered in the pro-establishment media for his speech at the mass anti-war demo on 15 February 2003
3 June 2015
No Tory freebie: The Tories' Childcare Bill announced in the Queen's Speech promises to extend free childcare from 15 to 30 hours a week by 2017. What's the catch?
3 June 2015
The lessons of Labour's 1945 victory
This summer will see the 70th anniversary of the election of the 1945 Labour government, which carried out massive improvements for the working class
3 June 2015
Britain: end deportations - solidarity needed
Sign the petition! Release Janahan from detention now!
3 June 2015
Chile: 200,000 protest in Santiago
The revolt of students and young people demanding free education in Chile is continuing, with an estimated 200,000 marching on the latest demonstration in Santiago
3 June 2015
Hong Kong: refugee campaign victory
Hong Kong refugees won an important victory after more than a year of protests. The hated food packages (with expired and overpriced food) have been replaced by a coupon system enabling greater choice
3 June 2015
As private landlords and super-rich cash in: One hundred million pounds of central London property was sold in the 24 hours after the Tory victory in the general election, as rich buyers breathed a sigh of relief that Labour's timid mansion tax was dead and the tax loopholes for super-rich 'non-doms' would continue
3 June 2015
Finance capital - taking Liborties
The ongoing trial of former UBS and Citigroup trader, Tom Hayes, has revealed the huge scale of the 2012 Libor rate fixing scandal perpetrated by the major banks
3 June 2015
Filipino nurses fight Daily Mail smears
The Daily Mail has a habit of blanket scapegoating of the blameless. It was recently the turn of Filipino health workers. On 19 May, the Mail screeched: "NHS STILL hiring Filipino nurses" after the trial of Victorino Chua.
3 June 2015
End violence against women: On 20 May, Jaffna in Sri Lanka came to a standstill, with shops being shut and black flags raised in memory of Vidya Sivaloganathan, the 17-year-old A-level student brutally gang raped and murdered
3 June 2015
Tube ballot: The RMT, Aslef, Tssa and Unite unions are to ballot London Underground workers who face a two year pay cut and imposed night working
3 June 2015
Heysel: How socialist councillors built bridges
Tony Mulhearn, former Liverpool city councillor from 1983-87 and past President of Liverpool Labour Party writes in reply to a Guardian article on the 1985 Heysel stadium disaster
3 June 2015
When attending a rally in Westminster on 30 May to defend the Human Rights Act (HRA), Socialist Party members found ourselves in an unexpected and unprecedented situation. We were on a Liberal Democrat protest!
3 June 2015
Bruised and Blattered - Fifa's boss eventually resigns
Reclaim football from corrupting big business: Fifa president Sepp Blatter has finally succumbed to widespread pressure and resigned
3 June 2015
Queen's Speech protests: determination to fight back
London: "Tory scum, here we come". This chant, which echoed through Westminster's streets on 27 May, was a declaration of war
3 June 2015
Lewisham academy schools plans dropped
Striking teachers and students lobby a Prendergast governors' meeting in Lewisham
Teachers, school students and parents in Lewisham, south London, have won a great victory! They beat off plans to turn three schools into 'academies' which would have been a step towards privatisation
3 June 2015
Budget Day: Smash Tory austerity!
Queen's Speech protesters in London, photo Paul Mattsson
Solidarity, struggle, hope, renewal and determination: None of these words would be readily brought to mind when contemplating our new Tory government's back-to-the-1930's Queen's Speech
3 June 2015
Glasgow council concedes over pay grading
The all-out indefinite strike by Glasgow's homelessness caseworkers for fair pay - now in its tenth week - has pushed an anti-union Labour council management to concede the principle that the caseworkers should be on pay grade six
3 June 2015
Spain: left 'popular unity' lists win key victories
On 24 May, Spain held local elections throughout the state, as well as elections to 13 of its 17 regional parliaments. The results represent a further step in Spanish capitalism's political crisis
3 June 2015
How the unemployed are targeted with sanctions
A Jobseeker's Allowance claimant describes how she was subjected to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) draconian sanctions regime
3 June 2015
Kone strikers in Gateshead celebrate their victory, photo Elaine Brunskill
Strike action gets results - as shown by victories in Lewisham and at Kone engineering - no wonder the Tories want to virtually ban it!
3 June 2015
Labour leadership 'choice' confirms need for new party
The Labour Party was founded over a century ago by trade unionists determined to create an independent political voice for working class people. Decades have passed since the party's pro-big business wing transformed it into one more capitalist party
8 June 2015
RMT strikes for unfairly sacked train guard
Conductors on the Sheffield-Cleethorpes TPE route took 24-hour strike action
8 June 2015
Probation workers' strike on 11 June
Unison members working in probation in England and Wales will take strike action for 24 hours on Thursday 11 June
8 June 2015
Unions announce Tata Steel strike
Steel unions have agreed Monday 22 June as the date for strike action at Tata Steel in their ongoing pensions dispute
10 June 2015
£7K rise for MPs... Peanuts for us!
For workers' MPs on an average worker's wage: "The pay 'rise' I had this year amounts to £10 a month after deductions", says a low-paid worker
10 June 2015
Strikes and bold campaigning can beat academy plans
Martin Powell-Davies, secretary of Lewisham National Union of Teachers (NUT) branch and national executive member, explains how Lewisham's teachers, students and parents beat plans to make local schools into academies
10 June 2015
1945 - when Britain said no to Churchill
TV review: Geoff Jones (Socialist Party Wales) reviews 'Churchill - When Britain Said No'
10 June 2015
1945 - when Britain said no to Churchill
TV review: Geoff Jones (Socialist Party Wales) reviews 'Churchill - When Britain Said No'
10 June 2015
Council cancels facility time to pave way for cuts
A south London Tory council has withdrawn vital trade union work time while preparing to demolish council services
10 June 2015
Fifa scandals - a rottenness based on corporate greed
Fifa, football's most powerful body, has hit the rocks and is sinking fast. Its high-ranking members, looking to save their skins, have begun to spill the beans on decades' long institutional corruption
10 June 2015
Fight devastating spending cuts
At this point, it just seems like a sick joke. The Tories swing the axe down again in their grim carnival of cuts. In this financial year alone the government wants £3 billion of cuts from 'non-protected'
10 June 2015
Royal Mail sell-off: Public service, not private profit
Tory Chancellor George Osborne's sale of the remaining 30% government stake in privatised Royal Mail, is a desperate act to meet his commitment of clearing the budget deficit by 2018-19, writes Rob McArdle, postal worker.
10 June 2015
Cash for iPads: In the run-up to the general election, 60 MPs went on a spending spree claiming £70,000 expenses on iPads and computer laptops shortly before the deadline blocking such purchases
10 June 2015
'Promising futures' wasted by cuts
Build a mass movement to fight back: Thousands of "promising futures" are being put at risk by cuts. That's according to a survey of English councils by the Local Government Association (LGA). 90% have cut services for teenagers not in
10 June 2015
Join TUSC on the march against austerity
End Austerity Now demonstration: On 20 June many thousands of people will be taking to the streets of London on the People's Assembly national demonstration to 'end austerity now'
10 June 2015
Newcastle demo sets a striking tone
Around 1,000 joined the anti-austerity march and rally in Newcastle on Saturday 6 June, writes Elaine Brunskill.
10 June 2015
'Socialism is the only way to stop austerity and poverty'
Why I joined: I am Henry Riley, a 20-year-old physical education student at Leeds Beckett University. I joined the Socialist Party to be part of a real alternative that gives the working class a voice
10 June 2015
Protesters tell Labour councils to fight Tory cuts
Chesterfield: Disability, school crossing and other anti-cuts campaigners marched alongside people from Rethink Mental Illness and Our Vision Our Future self-advocacy groups to fight Tory cuts that are passed on by the local Labour council, writes Elaine Evans.
10 June 2015
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) councillor Kevin Bennett has slammed proposals by Labour-led Warrington borough council that over £8,000 more should be spent on new chairperson 'allowances'
10 June 2015
Probation workers: Probation workers in England and Wales organised by public sector union Unison had expected to take strike action for 24 hours on 11 June after employers have failed to improve a 0% pay-rise offer
10 June 2015
Coulson case collapses amid stench of hypocrisy
"Not every lie amounts to perjury": In a farcical outcome riddled with class bias, Andy Coulson - former editor of the defunct News of the World (NoW) tabloid - saw the perjury case against him collapse at the High Court in Edinburgh last week
10 June 2015
Can Corbyn's left challenge succeed?
Labour leadership race: Left-wing backbencher and seasoned campaigner Jeremy Corbyn entered the Labour leadership contest on 4 June, writes Sarah Sachs-Eldridge.
10 June 2015
Greece: Crunch time for Syriza?
Recently Greece has appeared to move a step closer to defaulting on its debt and exiting from the eurozone, writes Niall Mulholland, CWI.
10 June 2015
900 attend rally to re-elect Kshama Sawant!
"Seattle is being turned into a playground for the rich, a profit machine for the big developers... I have a different vision for Seattle, one that is based on social justice, equality, and environmental sustainability"
10 June 2015
'Clear fighting strategy' needed for council workers
There is a mood of impending dread among millions of local government workers. The Tories are preparing to swing the axe once more on council budgets, unfortunately with the passive - or active - support
10 June 2015
Bakers' union debates political representation
Political representation for workers was the keynote for the first day and a half of bakers' union BFAWU's annual conference, writes Iain Dalton.
10 June 2015
A neighbour of mine is married with two children and lives in a nice council house. His wife holds down three jobs, writes Stan Herschel
10 June 2015
Striking porters 'a hundred times stronger'
In the city's longest-running strike for over twenty years, Dundee hospital porters are into their tenth week of action
12 June 2015
Gains for left in Unison elections
Seven additional left-wingers have been elected to Unison's national executive committee
12 June 2015
1945 - when Britain said no to Churchill
TV review: Seventy years ago, at the general election of 5 July 1945, a historic Labour landslide swept Winston Churchill out of power, and gave Clement Attlee's government a big majority
15 June 2015
Bakery workers fight pay freeze
"Gunstones Bakery - 150 years in the making, three years to destroy!" commented a union steward
16 June 2015
School kitchen workers win £9.15 an hour
After an 18-month long campaign, school kitchen workers in Camden have won the London Living Wage
16 June 2015
College staff and students to lobby MPs
Hundreds of people working and studying in further education colleges will take part in a mass lobby of parliament on Tuesday 16 June in protest over funding cuts for further education and adult learning
16 June 2015
Wales: Local Government reorganisation threat
It is estimated that 15,000 jobs could be lost as a result of local government reorganisation in Wales.
17 June 2015
Youth Fight Austerity: protest on 8 July!
Osborne plans a bonfire of welfare, jobs and services in his budget
17 June 2015
The real health and safety 'madness'
The Tories want more of us maimed or killed at work - this is the real health and safety madness.
17 June 2015
Fighting mood from Unison delegates
Unison local government conference: the public sector union's local authority conference on 14 and 15 June showed growing anger at leadership sell-outs and Tory attacks.
17 June 2015
A gardener trade union rep has been victimised by his employers - the same Glasgow venue where his union's annual conference is being held.
17 June 2015
Fire service cuts a double-edged sword
Firefighters and 999 controllers in Essex struck overnight on 13 and 14 June. The action was the latest in a long-running dispute over staffing cuts and shift changes.
17 June 2015
Just six weeks after the general election - on 20 June - people are flocking to London to show opposition to austerity. But after marching - what next? The question in everyone's mind will be how can we stop it?
17 June 2015
Turkey: historic breakthrough for left
Turkey's political landscape was shaken on 7 June. On election night, the feeling of left and Kurdish activists mirrored that of the Gezi Park movement in the summer of 2013. The ruling right-wing, conservative AKP suffered a huge blow.
17 June 2015
When organised mass action defeated the Tories
Liverpool city council's historic victory over the Thatcher government has valuable lessons for today.
17 June 2015
Having cut the taxes of the super-rich and giant corporations, Tory millionaire Chancellor George Osborne is planning to slash £5 billion from Child Tax Credit as part of the governments extra £12 billion cut in welfare spending.
17 June 2015
"We kill people based on metadata." General Michael Hayden, former director of the US National Security Agency and the CIA. Now our government wants to make gathering personal data easier still.
17 June 2015
Orgreave: Police violence and cover-up whitewashed by IPCC
On 18 June 1984 thousands of riot police, many on horseback, brutally attacked a mass picket of striking miners at the Orgreave coking plant in South Yorkshire. The victims are still struggling for justice.
17 June 2015
Asylum solidarity - Justice for Janahan
Tamil activist and torture victim Janahan faces horror if he is deported. Defend his right to stay!
17 June 2015
Give us the resources to fight Tory attacks
Can you make a donation to support the Socialist Party and our struggle for a socialist alternative?
17 June 2015
Tower Hamlets election - Labour's Mr Biggs wins
John Biggs, long standing Labour right-winger and veteran of the witch-hunt against supporters of the Militant newspaper (forerunner of the Socialist), has been elected mayor of Tower Hamlets with executive powers. This comes after the undemocratic removal of the previously elected mayor by central government.
17 June 2015
Short dispatches on the incredible hypocrisy of the super-rich and their politicians.
17 June 2015
Fight back with the real socialists!
Why I joined the Socialist Party: The main reason I joined the Socialist Party was the support we got on the Kone engineering workers' picket line, writes a shop steward.
17 June 2015
Dundee porters force NHS bosses to the table
A potential breakthrough in the long-running porters' strike at Ninewells and Royal Victoria hospitals has been achieved
17 June 2015
1985: How school students beat the Tories
30 years ago, the Tories tried to introduce a 'Youth Training Scheme' which conscripted us into working for our dole money. Young people rebelled in their millions and defeated Thatcher's plan.
17 June 2015
Kone strikers celebrate victory
Come to the NSSN conference - Appeal from a trade union activist: If you are a shop steward, trade unionist, or anti-cuts campaigner - and if you want to fight attacks on our working conditions - then the NSSN conference is the place to go
18 June 2015
Strikers and service users demonstrate together
Headed by a fire engine covered in union flags, 300 people marched against privatisation of council services
18 June 2015
Overwhelming Aslef vote for strike on London Tube
Aslef members on London Underground have voted overwhelmingly for strike action in a dispute over the company's decision to try to force through, without negotiation, new rosters which would mean Tube drivers will have to work an unlimited number of weekend and night shifts for no extra pay
18 June 2015
Strike in Swansea to defend home tuition jobs
Swansea council's planned cuts of £670,000 from the budget of EOTAS (Education other than at Schools) has led to a further three-day strike by education workers who could see their numbers reduced by 50% if the proposals go through
19 June 2015
Can Jeremy Corbyn's Labour leadership challenge help to develop the socialist left?
The entry of Jeremy Corbyn, a long-standing Labour left, into the Labour leadership contest has generated interest in an otherwise moribund 'pro-business', mostly Blairite-dominated contest, writes Peter Taaffe
19 June 2015
Campaigning for the victims of police brutality
A former police firearms officer is to be prosecuted for the murder of young black man Azelle Rodney in 2005
21 June 2015
Sunday strikes continue for reinstatement of sacked train guard
A ballot starts this week to involve more guards in the strikes
22 June 2015
City of London fills with defiance against austerity
A vast mass of people compressed into the streets next to the Bank of England on Saturday 20 June, eager to show anger and opposition to the Tory government's vicious austerity agenda
22 June 2015
Brazil: Reinstate Marzeni - Solidarity needed
A court hearing on the sackings at Sabesp, the company responsible for water supply and sanitation in most of the state of São Paulo, will take place on 6 July
23 June 2015
Join the budget day protests on Wednesday 8th July! George Osborne isn't content with tripling tuition fees or closing down youth services. On 8 July he'll announce more cuts
24 June 2015
Protests against fracking: Stop drill permits!
Hundreds of Lancashire residents and anti-fracking activists lobbied Lancashire county council
24 June 2015
RMT members to strike at CalMac ferries
RMT members who work for CalMac ferries in Scotland have voted by a 90% majority to take industrial action over threats to pensions, jobs and working conditions
24 June 2015
Around 500 people took the streets of Swansea on 13 June to march against austerity. The pouring rain did nothing to dampen the spirit or anger of the marchers
24 June 2015
After huge anti-austerity demos: Organise the fightback!
Photo by Paul Mattsson
The Tories are determined to bulldoze through welfare cuts of £12 billion, alongside billions of cuts in services
24 June 2015
photo Paul Mattsson
A new Tory government spells disaster for our already-beleaguered NHS. Socialist Party health workers and service users pick apart the problems the NHS faces - and what needs to happen to save it.
24 June 2015
Laying the foundation stones of the workers' movement
Rolling Stonemason: An Autobiography by Fred Bower - worker, socialist and artist - is a little pearl of a book.
24 June 2015
The outlines of a possible deal between the Greek government and the Troika (the EU, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund) were being put together as the Socialist went to press.
24 June 2015
Prentis pushed to talk up action
Delegates to public sector union Unison's national conference on 16 to 19 June underlined the need for a fighting strategy.
24 June 2015
Transport workers plan fightback
As we go to press, members of transport union RMT are discussing how to fight back at their national conference, writes Transport workers plan fightback.
24 June 2015
Regulator eyes Royal Mail for profit
Communications regulator Ofcom has announced a "fundamental review" of Royal Mail. This could be the next step in turning the former state postal service, privatised in 2013, into a for-profit business.
24 June 2015
Outsourced workers' pay strike
Workers employed by outsourcing giant Capita in Salford, Greater Manchester, took a second day of strike action on 19 June against measly pay offers.
24 June 2015
Labour wields Tory axe at Library of Birmingham
150 people, a dalek, a crocodile and Mickey and Minnie Mouse protested on 13 June against cuts to the Library of Birmingham.
24 June 2015
Growing the party in Sheffield
At the annual Heeley Festival in Sheffield, Socialist Party members held a stall and had a great day - raising £176 for our fighting fund from plant sales.
24 June 2015
Socialist bake-off at London picnic
After a long Saturday on the People's Assembly demo, London Socialist Party members met up on Sunday 21 June for a picnic and BBQ in the park - raising £160 for the fighting fund.
24 June 2015
Writer Patrick Marber returns to the National Theatre after a long absence with a beautiful three-man show set in the desperate, passionate and quasi-religious world of a non-league football club.
24 June 2015
By 2020, almost a quarter of UK children will lack the basic necessities needed to keep body and soul together.
24 June 2015
Scotland anti-austerity rally, Glasgow
5,000 trade unionists, young people and anti-austerity campaigners attended the Scotland United Against Austerity rally con 20 June. The mood reflected a real desire for action against austerity, and a searching for the best way to fight back.
24 June 2015
Hull: A new generation of activists
The emergence of a new younger generation of activists is a shot in the arm to older workers who are perhaps feeling a little down after the Tory election victory.
24 June 2015
A new member of the Socialist Party explains that he felt he needed to join the fightback - after years of being faced by a political choice between different shades of blue.
26 June 2015
"No fat to cut" in N. Yorkshire fire service
Over 50 firefighters and supporters demonstrated in Easingwold, North Yorkshire on Wednesday 24th June against cuts of £1.3 million to the North Yorks Fire and Rescue Service
29 June 2015
Fracking defeated today in Lancashire!
This morning Lancashire County Council decided to reject Caudrilla's planning application for fracking at Little Plumpton, between Preston and Blackpool
30 June 2015
Overwhelming RMT London Tube votes for action
Ballots of RMT members concluded today in a series of disputes on London Underground, including the dispute over pay and night running
30 June 2015
Solidarity with Greek workers! Reject EU austerity
Events in Greece have thrown the entire eurozone into crisis and threaten its very existence. Workers in the beleaguered country must reject the austerity dictates of European money lenders.
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