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The Socialist issue 892

9 March 2016

Housing crisis: can't pay, will stay!

PDF | Audio | 2016 Back issues


The Socialist issue 892

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Socialist Party news and analysis

spotHousing crisis: can’t pay, will stay!

The bully Tory government’s hated Housing and Planning Bill 2015-16 serves notice on secure tenancies and affordable rents. In response, we should declare loudly: “Can’t pay – will stay!”

spotTUSC names first 2016 election challengers

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) national steering committee has approved the first batch of candidates for English council elections on 5 May.

spotYoung people could have to work to 75

Workers entering employment in Britain today could have to wait until their mid-seventies to retire.

spotUnion confirms TTIP will boost EU NHS sell-offs

It’s official: TTIP is bad for your health. Recent legal advice commissioned by general union Unite confirms corporate interests could use the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership to attack any government taking privatised parts of the NHS back into public ownership.

spot‘Heathrow 13’ climate activists avoid jail time

‘Heathrow 13’ climate activists have received suspended sentences for protesting against airport expansion.

spotOsborne’s £10.4 billion tax lie

Chancellor George Osborne’s tax cuts have cost the Treasury £2.4 billion. No surprise there, you might think. But he claimed the reduction had actually increased takings by £8 billion!

spotBenefit fraud: 85% of allegations untrue

Over 85% of allegations of benefit fraud between 2010 and 2015 were false.

spotThem & Us

It’s one world for the super-rich, and another one for the rest of us. CEOs’ millionaire salaries versus women’s £300,000 pay gap. Trade Union Bill versus council consultations.

Workplace news and analysis

spot“Our wages have been frozen for nine years” – a day in the life of a court worker

Around 75% of the staff in my office are women, something which is reflected throughout the civil service. This is because unions played a critical role in the creation of the public sector as we know it.

spot“Pay the rate” demand construction workers

“Pay the rate, pay the rate!” chanted 200 engineering construction workers protesting outside the new biomass power station being built in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. The blockade by trade unionists stopped work on the site for the day.

spotThousands to strike in defence of sixth form colleges

Thousands of teachers will take strike action and hold a national protest in central London on 15 March against cuts to funding for sixth form colleges.

spotYorkshire union reps and members share experiences

Reps from ten unions attended the fourth annual conference of the Yorkshire Shop Stewards Network.

spotWorkplace news in brief

Short reports on some of the latest trade union struggles. Small Heath teachers strike, Pasta Foods victimises reps, Glasgow janitors’ dispute.

Junior doctors

spotJunior doctors: striking to win

The junior doctors and their union the BMA are in the front line of attacks on the NHS. After two one-day strikes in January and February, the latest stage of their campaign of industrial action was a 48-hour strike on 9-10 March. It will continue with two further 48-hour stoppages in April.

spotJunior doctors’ strike: organise to kill off Hunt’s contract

Junior doctors struck for 48 hours on 9 and 10 March. A meeting on 3 March organised by junior doctors at Kings College Hospital, south London, discussed tactics for the dispute.

spotSolidarity with junior doctors!

As junior doctors in England made preparations for a historic 48-hour strike, the Socialist Party in Swansea held a campaign stall in solidarity and support of their defence of the NHS.

What we think

spotRefugee crisis: cruel capitalist regimes responsible

Editorial of the Socialist: Some of those rightly repelled by the ‘little Englander’ nationalism of the capitalist ‘leave’ campaign will be tempted to vote to remain in the EU in the hope this would mean a more humane attitude to refugees. The truth is very different.

spotA chance for the trade unions to lead the EU referendum debate

Although the majority of trade unions support the idea of a so-called ‘social Europe’, they have often opposed, at least on paper, the reality of EU policies. There is still a chance for the unions to put themselves at the head of a working class leave campaign. This could transform the situation in Britain.

Housing crisis

spotWe need socialist policies to end the housing crisis

Workers in the UK are suffering a severe housing crisis that is only set to get worse. A landlord-friendly Tory government is turning this crisis into a disaster for millions of households.

spotLife on Cameron’s ‘sink estates’: “This is my home!”

In January, Tory prime minister David Cameron announced the government would bulldoze so-called sink estates to eradicate ‘anti-social behaviour’ and ‘bad parenting’. A council house tenant challenges his caricature and explains what life on her estate is really like.

Socialist Party reports and campaigns

spotTake out a May Day greeting!

Support the paper that supports struggle: International Workers’ Day is a time when we express solidarity with all parts of the movement. Central to this is approaching fellow trade unionists in your workplace to build support for a May Day greeting.

spotThousands march in solidarity with Kurds in Turkey

The first national demo against Turkey’s war on the Kurds took place on 6 March.


spotFar right frustrated and embarrassed in Newcastle

The far-right English Defence League demonstrated against refugees in Newcastle. Crowds quickly gathered as Socialist Party members took to the megaphone, putting forward our programme. Petty divisions and hatred were no match for our demands to undertake a mass council house building project, a £10 an hour minimum wage, and nationalisation.

spotGlasgow council use scare tactics under pressure to fight cuts

Mass pressure is building on Glasgow Labour, who face a choice on 10 March on whether to implement £133 million of cuts. Trade unions are preparing for widespread industrial action and a mass mobilisation of communities against the cuts.

spotEnthusiastic reception for anti-austerity ideas in south Wales

Over 500 people heard Jeremy Corbyn at the Trade Union Pride rally in Cardiff.


spotCampaigns round-up

Defending the Calmore Sure Start centre in Southampton, and lobbying Waltham Forest’s pro-cuts Labour council in east London.

Socialist readers’ comments and reviews

spotFilm review: ‘Trumbo’ – from the red carpet to the blacklist and back again

The movie Trumbo tells the story of the 151 US film industry stars who were blacklisted for alleged communist sympathies. Specifically the ‘Hollywood Ten’ whose fame and wealth didn’t stop them being jailed by the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Dalton Trumbo, photo Huntington Theatre Company/Creative Commons

Dalton Trumbo, photo Huntington Theatre Company/Creative Commons


spotTheatre: ‘Tinned Goods’ – women during miners’ strike

‘Tinned Goods’ is a new drama set in the summer of 1984 during the lead-up to the largest women’s march ever to take place on British soil. It is visiting theatres around Britain from 11 March.

spotTV: ‘Deutschland 83’ – spy thriller’s capitalist bias

German spy thriller Deutschland 83, currently available on 4OD, is very good entertainment. But it shows a very one-sided view of the standard of living of East German workers.

spotLetters

Letters to the Socialist’s editors. Responses to International Women’s Day and comments on the left case for EU exit.

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