Socialist Party, formerly Militant

SOCIALIST PARTY

Thursday, March 28, 2024

The Socialist issue 1053

28 August 2019

Capitalists chase profit and Amazon burns

PDF | Audio | 2019 Back issues


The Socialist issue 1053

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What we think

spotWorkers’ movement must launch a campaign for a general election

On 3 September parliament returns from its long summer holiday, sitting for less than two weeks before it breaks again for the party conference season.

News

spotAmazon fires: Big business is destroying the environment

The Amazon rainforest in Brazil is battling massive forest fires. They are so extensive they can be seen from space.

spotStop the latest Tory attack on our pensions

Pensioners are under attack. The Centre for Social Justice, a right-wing think tank, is proposing that pensioners should in effect work until they drop.

spotNotts child abuse scandal: Socialist Party demands action programme to prevent future cases

The decades-long Nottinghamshire child abuse scandal and cover-up shows the need to fight public service cuts and for a society that values people, not private profit.

spotKnife and gun crime a product of poverty and austerity

International socialist news and analysis

spotImperialist tensions escalate as world economy teeters

In a special report that scrutinised the increasingly tense breakdown in geopolitical and economic relations between the United States and China, the Economist sombrely concluded on 18 May that the world has entered “a new kind of cold war.”

spotItaly: Governing coalition fractures as Salvini looks to capitalise on crisis

After just 14 months in power, the populist coalition government of the far-right Lega and Five Star Movement (M5S) in Italy has collapsed.

Workplace news

spotInterview with Sean Hoyle – left candidate in RMT general secretary election

As new strikes begin on South Western Railway, in the long running industrial dispute over guards and the result of the transport union RMT general secretary election is announced, the Socialist spoke to Sean Hoyle, the left candidate in the general secretary election.

spotPostal union ballots 100,000 workers for strike action

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has held briefings over terms and conditions, firstly jointly with Parcelforce reps and then with all the senior Royal Mail reps. The mood at both meetings was extreme anger.

spotStrike action wins privatisation reprieve at Bradford hospitals

After three weeks of strike action by estates and facilities workers in Bradford hospitals organised in health union Unison – and with an all-out strike looming – management has blinked first.

spotBarry Hospital workers fight to save ward from closure

Unison health union members at Barry Hospital have launched a campaign to save the Sam Davies ward from closure.

spotRetail workers fight back against Scrooge bosses

Faced with a profits squeeze, big retail bosses are attempting to make workers pay by closing outlets, axing jobs and worsening terms and conditions of employment. However, this offensive is being resisted.

spotDVSA workers strike for four weeks over conditions and workload

Selected groups of PCS civil servants’ union members at the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency are on strike for four weeks. Other members may be called out on strike in September.

spotMerseyside Matalan workers walk out over pay deal

Workers at a Matalan warehouse and distribution centre in Knowsley, Merseyside have taken strike action against a proposed pay deal.

spotLiverpool RMT seafarers protest against super-exploitation

spotProbation hostel rest room win

Our employers tried to take away the staff rest room and make it into another bedroom for the residents. This would have generated more income and made us more attractive for privatisation.

spotHarland and Wolff occupation

spotBEIS strike

A lively picket line greeted visitors to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) as caterers and cleaners employed by contractors entered their fourth week of continuous strike action over pay.

Northern Ireland

spotBrexit and the border in Northern Ireland- will there be a return to the ‘Troubles’?

In the following article Niall Mulholland of the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI – the socialist international organisation which the Socialist Party is affiliated to) examines Brexit and the border in Northern Ireland.

Socialist Party reports and campaigns

spotLincolnshire health visitors’ solidarity rally

As reported in the last issue of the Socialist, Lincolnshire health visitors are planning further strike action after a failure to increase pay in line with other health visitors equates to a loss of about £2,000 a year.

spotWorcestershire: Stop the fire cuts!

On 21 August, over 80 people attended a protest at Bewdley fire station in Worcestershire against its closure. The protest was called by Save Bewdley Fire Station Campaign, which has collected over 2,000 signatures on its petition against closure.

spotBangladeshi campaigners fight mining giant for justice

Shouts of “GCM, shame on you, Gary Lye [Chief Officer], shame on you” rang out around the square outside the London Stock Exchange on 22 August.

Opinion

spotThe Socialist Inbox

Letters to the Socialist’s editors.

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