The Socialist 9 August 2017

Striking back against poverty pay

Venezuela shows battle Corbyn would face

Striking back against poverty pay

Rashan Charles death: End police racism and austerity

Coventry: march following racist police killing

Government's tribunal fees defeat

40% of England's psychiatric wards are 'unsafe'

Marx's Capital at 150: an unequalled analysis

Angry Birmingham bin workers enter fifth week of strike action

Barts strike: Keep up the pressure on Serco and the trust!

Steel workers at Rom Ltd strike for a pay rise

Coordinated action needed to break pay restraint

End poverty pay for sleep-in care workers

RMT condemns Welsh government rail privatisation

Young, angry and fighting back

Young Socialists off to a flying start in Cardiff

Campaign fights closure of Chatsworth rehab ward

Support for Socialist Party campaigns at biggest ever Leeds Pride

Northern Pride's a success

Housing safety campaign kicks off in Coventry

Far-right thrown out of Newcastle

Postie paper sale

Venezuela: Capitalist offensive sharpens after assembly elections

Workers' struggles in Peru: eyewitness report

How much reserves have councils got?

Global finance: Are those storm clouds ahead?

Crunchy guitar and poignant dialogue in alt-rock homage to south Wales miners

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Housing safety campaign kicks off in Coventry

Grenfell demonstrators, 17.6.17 , photo Mary Finch (Click to enlarge)

Coventry Socialist Party held a public meeting in Hillfields about a new campaign for housing safety in Coventry on 1 August.

Attendees included a number of local residents from tower blocks across Coventry. They were all keen not just to highlight their own concerns and experiences but also to get involved and take action in organising a campaign on housing safety. This is an issue which has really come to the forefront in the wake of the Grenfell disaster.

Local residents raised issues such as fire alarms being removed from tower blocks and housing provider Whitefriars charging tenants for repairs - up to £600 in some cases!

One of the main proposals of the meeting - to get local residents organised in tenants' groups - was well received, with plans now underway to have tenants of different tower blocks organise door-knocking and petitioning of other residents in their own flats.

The demands discussed include the fitting of sprinklers in all tower blocks. The vital importance of a fully-functioning sprinkler system was shown in the difference between the fire at Grenfell Tower and in a hotel in Dubai - a very similar structure but for a sprinkler system - in 2016. In the latter, nobody was killed.

It's clear that pressure must also be put on local landlords to fully enforce the highest safety standards across all housing in Coventry - private or social - and pressure should be put on local councillors to help tenants organise and fight for our rights.

We have to link these issues to the overall demand to bring all housing back under public ownership.

This is also linked to our demands to change society along socialist lines, to bring all infrastructure and the economy into the democratic control of working class people.

For a society run for people, not profit!