Articles from the Socialist, issue 539
25 June 2008
Prices up, Wages down…Summer of action needed!
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Shell oil tanker drivers’ strike was successful, photo Bob Severn |
The cost of bread and meat up 9% in twelve months! Milk, cheese and eggs up by almost 20% and heating oil leaping by a staggering 84%! Jump in your car and head for the pumps and it’s the same story, as petrol hits 112p a litre, writes Robin Clapp.
Workers’ battles win results: Tankers drivers’ success upsets bosses
Socialist Party editorial
Editorial: Summer of discontent?
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Birmingham Council workers on strike, April 24, photo S. O Neill |
Following the pay rise victory of Shell tanker drivers, Unison council workers have voted for strike action over pay; starting with two days in July. This vote will be widely welcomed by workers throughout the public sector…
PCS union sends letter of solidarity to Unison
Campaign for a new workers’ party: Conference – Sunday 29 June, 11am – 5pm
Unison Conference 2008
Unison conference 2008: Fighting to reclaim the union for its members
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Unison conference 2008 anti-witchhunt protest, photo Paul Mattsson |
BY THE end of this year’s Unison conference of public sector workers, the Socialist Party was seen as the most prominent party, as a result of its campaign against the union leaders’ witch hunt of four Socialist Party members and for promoting discussion on why Unison should break its political link with Labour, writes Jane James.
Unison Service Group Executives – socialists elected
National Shop Stewards Network Conference
Fighting, democratic unions not witch hunts
Socialist Party campaigns
Thousands show their hatred for racism
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Love Music Hate Racism demonstration 2008, ISR contingent, photo Paul Mattsson |
On Saturday 21 June several thousand people marched against the far-right, racist British National Party (BNP) on the Love Music Hate Racism demonstration, writes Kat Jayawant and Sarah Sachs-Eldridge.
Student unions can be pushed into action
Socialist Party Marxist analysis
Review: False ‘gods’ of a failing system
Feature: According to the ancient Greeks: “Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad.” Peter Taaffe reviews ‘The Gods That Failed: How Blind Faith in Markets Has Cost Us Our Future’, drawing out the value and limitations of a devastating critique of ‘modern’ capitalism.
International socialist news and analysis
Zimbabwe: Mugabe’s militias crush his political opponents
WITH ONLY days remaining before Zimbabwe’s re-run presidential election, Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition candidate of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has announced he is pulling out of the contest, citing the use of widespread violence against his supporters by Zanu-PF militias allied to the incumbent president, Robert Mugabe. Dave Carr writes.
Afghanistan – paying the price of western occupation
Summit fails to halt runaway oil prices
Socialist Party NHS campaign
Cut throat competition threatens NHS
I WAS sorry to read in The Socialist 537 that Peter Taaffe has a pain in his big toe. His difficulty in getting to see his GP is all too common. Government imposed targets mean frustrating phone calls to book appointments, writes Jon Dale.
“With polyclinics you’re just a number”
Origins of the Labour Party
‘Old’ Labour – born out of workers’ struggles
To most people today, the phrase ‘Labour politician’ brings to mind a sleek well-paid career politician. But that was not the way the Labour Party started out. For at least the first half of its life the Labour Party was built and maintained by dedicated…
Socialist Party workplace news
Brighton bus drivers match inflation
