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£££ Britain needs a pay rise
Anger on the march against low pay: Workers need a pay rise. Even Alan Milburn apparently agrees. Britain is becoming ‘permanently divided’ into haves and have-nots, he warns
100,000 marched for a pay rise and against austerity on 18 October 2014, photo Pete Mason
100,000 march against cuts and for a wage rise
Around 100,000 trade unionists and supporters attended the TUC’s ‘Britain Needs A Pay Rise’ demonstration in London on Saturday 18 October
The unions’ pay battle must continue
The local government pay dispute is hanging by a thread, also putting at risk the prospect of large-scale coordinated industrial action this side of the general election
Socialist Party news and analysis
50 years of socialist ideas and workers’ struggle
Anniversary of the first issue of Militant: When we started publishing Militant, the Socialist’s predecessor, in October 1964, few of our political opponents expected that we would not only continue publication for 50 years, but become an important factor in subsequent battles of the labour movement
Campaigning for a general strike on the 20 October 2012 TUC demo, photo Senan
Tory triumphalism over rising employment masks the misery of millions of working class people in low pay Britain
Socialist change to halt climate change
Chris Baugh, deputy general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS), spoke to the Socialist about the recent mass public protests over global warming which preceded the United Nations summit in New York on climate change
‘We demand a better future for disabled people’: How much is a disabled person worth? According to Tory welfare minister Lord Freud it’s around £2 an hour
Undercover cops report – a whitewash
A massive new report on undercover policing from HM Inspectorate of Constabulary was published last week
International socialist news and analysis
Ebola outbreak: one face of austerity
The World Health Organisation axed 300 of its 2,400 jobs in 2011. Cuts in governments’ contributions slashed its budget by 20%. Its director-general, Margaret Chan, described “a new and enduring era of economic austerity”
Health workers in Liberia have been on strike demanding better protection from Ebola virus and improved pay
International day of action for abortion rights in Ireland
Socialist Party workplace news
PCS members again show anti-austerity determination
Civil servants in the PCS union were out on strike in force, part of the rolling programme of strikes planned for this week
A PCS picket in Manchester, 15.10.14, photo Alex Davidson
“No Raise – No Rays!” – say radiographers
POA hospital workers join public sector strike wave
St Mungo’s Broadway strikers stage 19 pickets
Care UK strikers lobby Miliband for public support
Sheffield green workers’ unofficial walkout
Socialist Party reports and campaigns
Leicester council hits homeless hostel
Wordsworth House, a Leicester homeless hostel which I was a resident of for just over a year, has lost its council funding and the right to house council homeless clients, writes Mark Gawthorpe, Leicester Socialist Party.
Protest against the council cuts budget, Leicester, February 2014, photo S Score
The circus is in town! The decision of Rochester and Strood’s Tory MP Mark Reckless to defect to Ukip and fight a by-election on 20 November has brought all the clowns of Westminster to our door
At less than a day’s notice, around 20 activists turned out in Leytonstone, east London, to stop an eviction on 17 October
The NHS has announced a six month ‘temporary’ closure of the Bitterne walk-in centre in Southampton
Socialist Party “part of political landscape”
On 11 October seven members of Salford Socialist Party took part in a campaign stall in Eccles
Readers’ comments
Local services suffer under Welsh Labour
In an article that would be attacked by our opponents as scaremongering if written by a Socialist Party Wales member, chief reporter for Wales Online, Martin Shipton, writes: “The local government settlement announced by the Welsh Government will mark the beginning of the end of council services”
A Cardiff Against the Cuts protest, photo Becky Davis
Hedge fund owners will never blush
All over Britain the clamour for a living wage rise is growing. Queues form at our Socialist Party stalls when we demand £10 an hour now
Private companies hold NHS to ransom
Capitalist firms eager for massive profits are targeting vital services such as health, regardless of the consequences