Tema: Krise og modstand - Storbritannien

Se også: Se også: Storbritannien; Storbritannien 1979-

Krise og modstand - Storbritannien
Se også: Storbritannien; Storbritannien 1979-

Socialist Worker (UK): Storbritannien: Millioner stemte for forandring og ydmygede de konservative
Socialistisk Arbejderavis nr. 360, jun 17 – side 16
Note: Valgresultatet var en ødelæggende katastrofe for de konservative og Theresa May og en triumf for Jeremy Corbyn og Labour-partiet.
 

Paul McGarr: Striking debates
International Socialism Journal nr. 149, jan 16 – side 101
Note: Significant discussion has taken place in recent issues of International Socialism, echoing wider debates in the movement, around the persistently low level of industrial struggle in Britain. This is part of a wider phenomenon internationally, but the debate in this journal, reflecting the arena of activity of most contributors, has naturally focused on Britain. Answering the question at the heart of these discussions is, as Alex Callinicos has noted: “the most important single task facing revolutionary Marxists today”.
 

Richard Morgan: Strikes, ballots and the class struggle: An addition to the strikes debate
International Socialism Journal nr. 149, jan 16 – side 125
Note: Simon Joyce has helped galvanise a long overdue discussion in International Socialism on the state of workplace class struggle in the UK. Though I partially disagree both with his claim that shop stewards have lost control of the strike weapon and with his point that workers lose on “perishable” issues, that is, “issues that management would win by default if workers did not act immediately”, I agree with the tone and emphasis of Simon’s article which points to a refreshingly more positive assessment of workplace organisation than is commonplace on the left. In particular he makes four very important points.
 

Dave Lyddon: Feedback: Bureaucratic mass strikes: a rejoinder
International Socialism Journal nr. 148, okt 15 – side 189
Note: Mark O’Brien’s article in 2014, “The problem of the one-day strike”, was an attempt to understand “the dominance of very short (usually one-day) national, public sector strikes that have typified industrial action in the UK for at least a decade”. My response to him concentrated on the 30 November 2011 coordinated strike (N30) and the earlier union campaign in 2005-6 against New Labour’s attempted “reforms” of public service pensions. He agreed with my criticism of the “no J30, no N30” narrative within the Socialist Workers Party, which was my main argument. For my own part, I acknowledged Mark’s “particularly useful account of local organisation around N30”. Our areas of disagreement are limited but nonetheless significant and these form the first two parts of this brief rejoinder. The third part engages with Mark’s discussion of the one-day strike.
 

Mark O’Brien: Revolutionaries in the unions: The reality of the strike
International Socialism Journal nr. 147, jul 15 – side 151
Note: The debate around orientations for revolutionaries in the unions today is the result of an uncomfortable but inescapable fact: the level of trade union struggle has remained historically low for 20 years.
 

Dave Lyddon: Bureaucratic mass strikes: A response to Mark O’Brien
International Socialism Journal nr. 146, apr 15 – side 145
Note: The mass strike of 30 November 2011 (N30) was the broadest and biggest ever British public sector strike and involved the largest number of women workers in any British strike. It has been discussed several times in this journal, with Mark O’Brien giving a particularly useful account of local organisation around N30, but my response will comment on some of his other points.
 

Martin Upchurch: The end of the “safe space” for unions? A response to Simon Joyce
International Socialism Journal nr. 146, apr 15 – side 189
Note: Simon Joyce has written a welcome article that seeks to address why Britain’s strike record is at a historically low level. Simon’s argument is that the “confidence theory” of strike action, associated with the International Socialist tradition, is insufficient to explain contemporary labour quiescence.
 

Donny Gluckstein: The question of confidence: A reply to Simon Joyce
International Socialism Journal nr. 146, apr 15 – side 203
Note: Simon Joyce’s piece “Why are there so few strikes?” in International Socialism 145 is very welcome. It asks an essential question, and Joyce clearly achieves his aim of opening a discussion.
 

Simon Joyce: Why are there so few strikes?
International Socialism Journal nr. 145, jan 15 – side 119
Note: This article addresses a key issue for socialists: the current low level of strikes.
 

Mark O’Brien: Feedback: The problem of the one-day strike: a response to Sean Vernell
International Socialism Journal nr. 142, apr 14 – side 149
Note: Sean Vernell’s article, “The Working Class, Trade Unions and the Left: the Contours of Resistance” (available on the International Socialism website), is a very welcome assessment of the legacy of the wave of strikes that took place over the issue of pensions across public sector trade unions between March 2011 and June 2012.
 

After Grangemouth oil plant bosses blackmail workers: Unions can do better than this
Socialist Worker nr. 2377, okt 13 – side 1
Note: Workers at Grangemouth petrochemical plant and oil refinery in Scotland have had their pensions wrecked, their pay frozen, and their union rights undermined by a rotten deal. After bullying billionaire boss Jim Ratcliffe threatened to close the plant many will be relieved to still have jobs.
 

Dave Sewell: Tory benefit cap will drive thousands more into destitution
Socialist Worker nr. 2362, jul 13 – side 4
Note: Thousands of people took a huge hit to their housing benefits on Monday of this week. The first part of the Tories’ benefit cap came into force in the majority of Britain’s councils.
 

Nick Grant: Teachers’ strikes can hit the Tories hard this autumn
Socialist Worker nr. 2362, jul 13 – side 5
Note: The two biggest teachers’ unions covering England and Wales, the NUT and NASUWT, have announced national and regional strikes in their campaign to defend pensions, pay and conditions.
 

Simon Basketter: Ballot to strike over fire bosses’ capability tests
Socialist Worker nr. 2362, jul 13 – side 19
Note: Firefighters are set to ballot for strikes over attacks on their pensions.
 

Andy Reid: PCS union consults on new action
Socialist Worker nr. 2362, jul 13 – side 19
Note: The civil service workers’ PCS union is to hold a two month consultation across 600 union branches on tactics to continue its ongoing national dispute. The union’s national executive agreed this move when it met last week.
 

Annette Mackin: Bridgwater Postal workers escalate to three day strike
Socialist Worker nr. 2362, jul 13 
Note: Some 110 post workers walked out yesterday, Thursday, for three days in Bridgwater, Somerset. The workers are members of the Communication and Workers Union (CWU). They are out in protest at cuts to full time jobs, allegations of bullying management and to demand the payment of £800 owed to each worker by management.
 

Annette Mackin: Setback for London fire cuts after hundreds of firefighters take to the streets
Socialist Worker nr. 2362, jul 13 
Note: Some 600 firefighters and supporters marched against station closures and job cuts in London yesterday, Thursday. Workers were protesting at plans by Tory mayor Boris Johnson to close 12 stations, remove 18 engines and slash 520 frontline firefighter posts. London FBU union called the march.
 

Simon Basketter: The gloves are off as George Osborne reveals new brutal cuts
Socialist Worker nr. 2360, jul 13 – side 4
Note: The cuts announced in the spending review are a serious escalation of the Tories’ war on workers and the welfare state, writes Simon Basketter.
 

Dave Sewell: Bosses under pressure at bedroom tax conference
Socialist Worker nr. 2360, jul 13 – side 8
Note: Tory bedroom tax minister Lord Freud was far from welcome in Manchester last week. Housing association bosses grilled him at their annual Chartered Institute of Housing conference, while 100 protesters lobbied outside.
 

Dave Sewell: Campaign halts first bedroom tax eviction
Socialist Worker nr. 2358, jun 13 – side 4
Note: The movement against the bedroom tax claimed its first victory last week in Manchester, when quick campaigning beat back the threat to tenant Ella Lorelle.
 

Sadie Robinson: Thousands of teachers prepare for new battle
Socialist Worker nr. 2358, jun 13 – side 7
Note: Teachers across the north west of England are set to strike on Thursday of next week—and close a third of schools in England and Wales.
 

Judith Orr: People’s Assembly: Thousands sign up to rage against austerity
Socialist Worker nr. 2357, jun 13 – side 3
Note: Over 2,500 people have signed up for the People’s Assembly in London on 22 June—part of a groundswell of bitterness and anger against austerity.
 

Annette Mackin: Civil service strikes – from job centres to Stonehenge
Socialist Worker nr. 2356, jun 13 – side 6
Note: Around 135,000 members of the PCS civil service workers’ union were set to strike this week. They work in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Valuations Office Agency (VOA).
 

Charlie Kimber: Peoples Assembly: what can it deliver?
Socialist Review nr. 381, jun 13 – side 8
Note: The People’s Assembly will be a focus for many wanting to see a fightback. Charlie Kimber argues this is welcome, but we need to address the role of trade union leaders and the Labour Party if we are to build a movement that can break the government and its savage austerity programme.
 

Mark Krantz: Can we beat the bedroom tax?
Socialist Review nr. 381, jun 13 – side 20
Note: In 1990 when Thatcher brought in the “Community Charge” we were told it was only “fair” that the “duke and his gardener pay the same”. The Community Charge was a flat rate council tax imposed on every individual in Britain, regardless of income.
 

Kevin Doogan: The Inside Story: Zero security?
Socialist Review nr. 380, maj 13 – side 7
Note: There are two conflicting accounts of what has happened in the labour market since the onset of the Great Recession. It will amaze Socialist Review readers but there is a story doing the rounds that we are in the middle of a “jobs boom”.
 

Jane Aitchison: ‘Join our fight to stop the Tories’: 250,000 workers to strike on budget day
Socialist Worker nr. 2344, mar 13 – side 1
Note: PCS members are very determined to fight back on budget day. (by Jane Aitchison, past president PCS union DWP group and joint secretary Unite the Resistance)
 

Jerry Hicks: ‘We need to take a lead in the fight’
Socialist Worker nr. 2343, mar 13 – side 17
Note: Voting for the next general secretary of the Unite union opens later this month – rank and file candidate Jerry Hicks argues for a new approach to fight the cuts.
 

Karen Reissmann: We need to step up the fight against attacks in health
Socialist Worker nr. 2343, mar 13 – side 19
Note: How should health workers respond to the unprecedented wave of attacks on their jobs, pay and conditions? And what can be done about health unions that are retreating in the face of a vicious bosses’ offensive?
 

Nick Grant: Teachers push to join May pensions strikes
Socialist Worker nr. 2298, apr 12 
Note: The NUT teachers’ union will meet in two weeks’ time to discuss further strikes over pensions.
 

Judith Orr: Fight the Tories on two fronts at once
Socialist Worker nr. 2298, apr 12 – side 4
Note: The Tories are under pressure in more ways than one. They may have hoped the withdrawal of some larger trade unions from the pensions fight might have finished it off.
 

Julie Sherry: NUT backs June date for national walkout
Socialist Worker nr. 2298, apr 12 – side 4
Note: Teachers at the NUT union’s conference voted to organise another national strike over pensions in June.
 

Simon Basketter: Oil industry: the hands on the tap
Socialist Worker nr. 2298, apr 12 – side 10
Note: In the wake of the petrol panic, Simon Basketter looks at how restructuring of key industries has hit workers, but also given them more power.
 

Editorial: As crisis and scandal leave Cameron reeling – Kick out rotten Tories
Socialist Worker nr. 2297, apr 12 – side 3
Note: It’s been a bad few weeks for the Tories. First their budget was attacked for lining the pockets of their rich friends while fleecing pensioners.
Then a VAT change in the budget’s small print grabbed the front pages for days—and went right to the heart of bitterness against the government.
 

Sadie Robinson: London pensions strike: schools and colleges shut down
Socialist Worker nr. 2297, apr 12 – side 5
Note: Teachers and lecturers in London struck on Wednesday of last week in the ongoing battle to defend pensions. Some 8,000 strikers and supporters marched through central London on the day. Strikers were angry about the Tories’ assault on pensions—but their anger went far deeper too.
 

Mark Thomas: Vital steps: the 28 March strike
Socialist Review nr. 367, mar 12 – side 4
Note: Suddenly, the government seems to be reeling from a number blows. Already embroiled in a bitter row over Andrew Lansley's plans to accelerate the opening up of the health service to competition and private health providers, it must have felt on firmer ground over its plans to force the unemployed to work for their benefits.
 

Estelle Cooch: Every little helps
Socialist Review nr. 367, mar 12 – side 5
Note: “A spirit of anti-capitalism stalks the land, a fire-breathing beast that has shrivelled Stephen Hester’s bonus in its nostril-blast, and scorched Fred Goodwin's knighthood, and now seeks whomever else it may devour.”
 

Alan Kenny: Electricians dispute: Sparks victorious!
Socialist Review nr. 367, mar 12 – side 6
Note: Electricians have won a stunning victory which should give hope to us all. After a six-month-long battle they have defeated the wage-cutting plans of multinational corporations.
 

Gill George: The NHS Bill: A blueprint for destruction
Socialist Review nr. 367, mar 12 – side 13
Note: The government is in serious trouble over its plans for the National Health Service. Gill George explains exactly how the bill is intended to destroy the NHS as we know it.
 

Jack Farmer: The spirit of Occupy
Socialist Review nr. 366, feb 12 – side 6
Note: John Sinha and Amy Leather are socialists who have been part of the occupation of St Paul's since it began. They spoke to Jack Farmer about the Occupy movement.
 

Julie Sherry: Pressure at the top
Socialist Review nr. 366, feb 12 – side 16
Note: The mass strike on 30 November struck a heavy blow against the government and its cuts agenda. But since then some union leaders have put the breaks on. Julie Sherry assesses the role of the trade union bureaucracy and looks at how workers can increase the pressure for more strikes.
 

Charlie Kimber: The rebirth of our power? After the 30 November mass strike
International Socialism Journal nr. 133, jan 12 – side 15
Note: The mass strike of 30 November 2011 has opened a new chapter in British working class history. Around 2.5 million people joined what was the biggest strike in Britain since 1926.
 

30 Nov strike: How we are building for N30 strikes
Socialist Worker nr. 2274, okt 11 – side 4
Note: Workers from around the country talked to Socialist Worker about what they are doing to make the strikes on 30 November as big as possible.
 

Tom Walker: 30 Nov strike: The race is on to stop the Tories
Socialist Worker nr. 2274, okt 11 – side 4
Note: 30 November could see the biggest strike in Britain since the 1926 General Strike and transform politics—if we fight for the biggest yes votes possible
 

30 Nov strike: ‘We need to go out for as long as it takes’
Socialist Worker nr. 2274, okt 11 – side 4
Note: Unions came together for a joint meeting at Greenford High School in west London last week.
 

Dave Sewell + Siân Ruddick: Occupy London can 'make a big difference'
Socialist Worker nr. 2274, okt 11 – side 7
Note: More than 3,000 people protested in the City of London against the greed of the banking system last Saturday.
 

Simon Basketter: Sparks' revolt
Socialist Worker nr. 2274, okt 11 – side 8
Note: Electricians have protested around Britain to stop bosses imposing 35 percent pay cuts and tearing up their contracts.
 

Activists plan to Occupy London
Socialist Worker nr. 2273, okt 11 – side 16
Note: Activists plan to bring the spirit of the US and Spanish demos to Britain this Saturday.
 

Jonny Jones: August 2011: a riot of our own
International Socialism Journal nr. 132, okt 11 – side 35
Note: On 7 August 2011 the Observer ran a column by Nick Cohen with the headline “No riots here, just quiet, ever-deeper misery”.
 

Tom Walker: Riots: ‘One law for the rich-one for the poor’
Socialist Worker nr. 2268, sep 11 – side 13
Note: Defence campaigns are starting to take shape for the thousands of young people who face jail over the recent riots.
 

Sadie Robinson: Huge votes for strikes: the fight is on!
Socialist Worker nr. 2256, jun 11 – side 1
Note: Hundreds of thousands of public sector workers plan to walk out together on 30 June after winning big strike votes. The workers are fighting a vicious attack on their pensions that would see them pay more in, work longer and get less money.
 

Editorial: No, Mr Miliband, the poor are not to blame
Socialist Worker nr. 2256, jun 11 – side 3
Note: As the Tories push through the biggest attacks on the welfare state in history, the silence from Labour leader Ed Miliband has been deafening. His much-hyped speech this week was meant to signal the start of his party’s fightback. Instead it simply continued Labour’s rightward drift.
 

Editorial: IMF praise means more pain for us
Socialist Worker nr. 2255, jun 11 – side 3
Note: George Osborne’s sneering smile said it all as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) heaped praise upon his economic vision for Britain this week. The IMF insisted that austerity is “essential” to achieve “a more sustainable budgetary position”.
 

Viv Smith: 30 June: 30 June strikes can turn the tide against the Tory government
Socialist Worker nr. 2254, jun 11 – side 4
Note: Thousands of council workers across two cities are set to join the planned mass strike against the cuts on Thursday 30 June.
 

Jackie Turner: Book review: Colin Leys and Stuart Player: The Plot Against the NHS
Socialist Review nr. 359, jun 11 – side 27
Note: This is an excellent book and a must read for health activists. Colin Leys is a professor at Goldsmiths College and Stewart Player is a public policy analyst with extensive experience in studying the NHS.
The authors have described what has been done to the NHS as a plot because it has been covert: "Neither parliament nor the public have ever been told honestly what is intended." They detail how privatisation has been introduced in bite-sized chunks to keep it below the public's radar screen.
 

Yuri Prasad: Resisting the plot against the NHS
Socialist Worker nr. 2253, maj 11 – side 8
Note: The NHS is under serious attack from the Tories and faces rampant privatisation. Colin Leys, co-author of a new book on the NHS, spoke to Yuri Prasad about what the cuts mean—and how this is the logical conclusion of policies pursued by New Labour.
 

Patrick Ward: 30 June: A day to take on the Tories
Socialist Worker nr. 2253, maj 11 – side 16
Note: Pressure is mounting on the government after the PCS civil service workers’ union voted last week to ballot for strikes on 30 June. The 270,000 PCS members are now set to join education unions and others on a “day of rage” against the Tories.
 

Sally Kincaid + Marianne Owens: Unions unite against the Tories: 800,000 ready to strike
Socialist Worker nr. 2252, maj 11 – side 1
Note: ...and you can join the fight!
Hundreds of thousands of public sector workers are preparing to go into battle against the Tory government. Teachers, civil service workers and lecturers plan to strike in defence of pensions and the welfare state on 30 June.
 

Matthew Cookson: 30 June: A springboard for resistance to cuts
Socialist Worker nr. 2252, maj 11 – side 5
Note: Thursday 30 June is set to be the next major day of resistance to the Tories’ plans to punish ordinary working people for the failures of their banker buddies.
 

Sadie Robinson: BA workers should reject shoddy deal
Socialist Worker nr. 2252, maj 11 – side 6
Note: A terrible deal is on the table at British Airways (BA)—and the Unite union is backing it. Cabin crew have shown fantastic resilience in their long-running dispute with BA. They have voted time and time again for strikes and struck for 22 days, having a big impact and winning widespread support. The current offer leaves BA’s main objectives in place while making it harder for workers to strike. Crew deserve much better.
 

Tom Walker: May Day marches show the anger against Tories
Socialist Worker nr. 2250, maj 11 – side 13
Note: Thousands of trade unionists and other activists celebrated International Workers’ Day last weekend by joining protests in towns and cities across Britain.
 

Sadie Robinson: NUT conference: boost for 30 June fight as teachers back ballot
Socialist Worker nr. 2249, apr 11 – side 5
Note: Teachers in the NUT union will hold a national strike ballot over the Tory assault on their pensions—and aim to ­coordinate action with other public sector unions. They could be set to strike alongside another teachers’ union, the ATL, as well as the UCU lecturers’ union and the PCS civil service union.
 

Iain Ferguson: Analysis: The return of fear
International Socialism Journal nr. 130, apr 11 – side 35
Note: In 1952 Aneurin Bevan, leader of the parliamentary Labour left and health minister in the 1945-51 Clement Attlee government, wrote a book about the newly-created welfare state in Britain. He called it In Place of Fear.1 It was an appropriate title.
 

Dan Swain: The student movement today
International Socialism Journal nr. 130, apr 11 – side 95
Note: The month-long period between 10 November and 9 December saw the birth of the largest and most militant student movement Britain had experienced for decades. A wave of walkouts, demonstrations and occupations shook university managements and the government, bringing it to the brink of defeat.
 

We marched in our hundreds of thousands… now it’s time to strike together
Socialist Worker nr. 2244, mar 11 
Note: Over half a million people took to the streets of London on Saturday. They were marching against the Con-Dem government’s cuts. It was one of the biggest protests this country has ever seen.
 

26 March: TUC march against the cuts as it happened
Socialist Worker nr. 2244, mar 11 
Note: Socialist Worker will be bringing you live coverage of today's TUC’s demonstration.
Alt. url: Pictures of 26 March demonstration
Alt. url: Pictures of the 26 March demonstration (2)
 

Sadie Robinson: Lecturers' strikes hit back against the coalition
Socialist Worker nr. 2244, mar 11 – side 4
Note: The biggest strike yet under the Tory government was to take place this week. Around 120,000 lecturers were to walk out on Thursday to defend their jobs, pay and pensions.
 

Tom Walker: After 26 March – how do we smash the Tories?
Socialist Worker nr. 2244, mar 11 – side 5
Note: The TUC’s national march against cuts this Saturday will be historic. In our hundreds of thousands, we will feel the massive power we have. Many people will wonder: how do we take this even further and beat the Tories?
 

Why 26 March protest matters
Socialist Worker nr. 2244, mar 11 – side 5
Note: Turn anger into action “We need to turn the enthusiasm of the march into real resistance.
 

Reports on lecturers' strike across the country on Thursday 24 March
Socialist Worker nr. 2244, mar 11 
Note: More than 100,000 lecturers across Britain and Northern Ireland are striking today (Thursday). Students have also joined pickets at colleges including the London School of Economics and King's College London. The lecturers in the UCU union have walked out to defend their jobs, pay and pensions. Reports will be updated through the day.
Alt. url: Pictures of the lecturers' strike on Thursday 24 March 2011
 

Simon Basketter: George Osborne delivers another Tory budget for the rich
Socialist Worker nr. 2244, mar 11 
Note: George Osborne said this was a budget for “growth”. That’s true—but it’s growth in profits for the rich, growth in bankers’ bonuses and growth in unemployment.
 

Protest on 26 March: A day to change Britain
Socialist Worker nr. 2243, mar 11 – side 8
Note: Thousands will descend on London next Saturday–be there!
 

Viv Smith: 26 March: A day to boost our fight
Socialist Worker nr. 2241, mar 11 – side 6
Note: The national TUC demonstration against cuts on Saturday 26 March will be a key moment in the fight against the Tories. An estimated 250,000 people are already set to come. Here, Viv Smith chairs a roundtable discussion with activists from Cambridge to see how one city is organising for the protest.
 

Town halls occupied as councillors vote for cuts
Socialist Worker nr. 2241, mar 11 – side 13
Note: Anti-cuts protesters have been occupying town halls up and down Britain as councillors vote through slasher budgets.
Alt. url: Pictures from town hall protests and occupations against the cuts
 

Martin Smith: Debates in the movement: 26 March: What does a militant march look like?
Socialist Worker nr. 2241, mar 11 – side 13
Note: Nobody can predict how big the TUC’s demonstration on 26 March is going to be. But it is certainly going to be one of the biggest protests Britain has ever seen.
 

Yuri Prasad: Health workers battle for NHS
Socialist Worker nr. 2241, mar 11 – side 16
Note: Health workers in London have called a “Day X for the NHS” in response to growing NHS job losses and cuts. They have been inspired by the student “Day X” protests that rocked the government over fees last year.
 

Editorial: 26 March: the key step in the fightback
Socialist Worker nr. 2240, feb 11 – side 3
Note: There is only one place to be on Saturday 26 March—the TUC demonstration in London against the government’s attacks.
 

Simon Basketter: What kind of unity do we need to stop the Tories?
Socialist Worker nr. 2240, feb 11 – side 6
Note: The Tories’ U-turn on forests raises questions about how we fight back, writes Simon Basketter.
 

Public services: Tories reveal plans to privatise everything
Socialist Worker nr. 2240, feb 11 – side 6
Note: Tory prime minister David Cameron wants to give private companies and charities the right to run public services—to end what he calls the “state monopoly” over them.
 

26 reasons to march on Saturday 26 March
Socialist Worker nr. 2240, feb 11 – side 8
Note: The TUC protest on 26 March against the Tory cuts needs to be huge – here are just 26 reasons to join it.
 

Siân Ruddick: Day X4: Students return to the streets
Socialist Worker nr. 2240, feb 11 – side 16
Note: Thousands of students were set to march and rally across Britain this Thursday as they hit the streets for “Day X4”.
 

Viv Smith: People’s Convention: ‘We’re about bringing this government down’
Socialist Worker nr. 2239, feb 11 – side 7
Note: Campaigners and trade unionists met at the People’s Convention in London last Saturday to build united resistance to cuts and austerity.
 

Sadie Robinson: 26 March: March to stop rich ruining lives
Socialist Worker nr. 2239, feb 11 – side 16
Note: Millions of working people in Britain are seeing their living standards nosedive as inflation soars and their pay crumbles.
 

Tom Walker: Ballots spring up against the cuts
Socialist Worker nr. 2239, feb 11 – side 16
Note: Workers at Nottinghamshire council were expected to announce a vote for strikes as Socialist Worker went to press.
 

All out to demonstrate against the cuts
Socialist Worker nr. 2238, feb 11 – side 1
Note: Protests against cuts are now taking place somewhere every day. Thousands have marched, and thousands more will in the weeks to come.
 

Viv Smith: Organising resistance at the People's Convention
Socialist Worker nr. 2238, feb 11 – side 2
Note: The Blacklist Support Group is one of the many that will be hosting a workshop at the People’s Convention this Saturday 12 February in London.
 

Mette Hermansen: Interview med Mark Bergfeld, NUS: Næste skridt for de engelske studenterprotester
Socialistisk Arbejderavis nr. 306, feb 11 – side 16
Note: De sidste to måneder af 2010 vågnede studenterbevægelsen i Storbritannien igen for alvor op til dåd. Udsigten til øget brugerbetaling på universiteterne samt 80 pct.s nedskæring i det offentlige undervisningsbudget fik i november sidste år de universitetsstuderende til at besætte 35 universiteter landet over.
 

Enraged students rally in two cities against cuts
Socialist Worker nr. 2237, feb 11 – side 6
Note: Thousands of students and workers marched through London and Manchester on Saturday to protest against student fees, education cuts and the scrapping of Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA).
 

Hannah Dee: Re-ignite the student movement – and deepen unity
Socialist Worker nr. 2237, feb 11 – side 6
Note: Last weekend’s protests have put the student movement back on the streets. They were an important step in building unity between students and workers.
 

People's Convention will help organise the resistance
Socialist Worker nr. 2237, feb 11 – side 16
Note: The People’s Convention in central London next Saturday 12 February will bring together campaigners to discuss stepping up the fight against Tory cuts. Everyone should aim to take part in this vital conference.
 

Birmingham council workers' mass meetings demand strikes
Socialist Worker nr. 2237, feb 11 
Note: More than 3,000 council workers voted unanimously for a strike ballot at four mass meetings in Birmingham yesterday (Tuesday)
 

Birmingham protest ruins cabinet minister's job centre visit
Socialist Worker nr. 2237, feb 11 
Note: Work and Pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith’s visit to a job centre in Birmingham today didn’t go as he’d planned it
 

SWP: Statement on the crisis in the NSSN
Socialist Worker nr. 2237, feb 11 
Note: The Socialist Workers Party has issued the following statement on the crisis in the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN)
 

Steve Underhill: Union-made: They won't divide us
Socialist Review nr. 355, feb 11 – side 17
Note: The female workers among Birmingham's refuse collection staff have been underpaid for years. They rightly put in equal pay claims and claiming for back pay, and this can range from £30,000 to £60,000 each. It should have been dealt with years ago, but it never was.
 

Thousands join student marches in London and Manchester
Socialist Worker nr. 2236, jan 11 
Note: Thousands of university, college and school students – joined by workers – are marching in London and Manchester against Tory cuts to education, fee rises and attacks on jobs and services.
 

Viv Smith: 26 March: we can beat the Tories
Socialist Worker nr. 2236, jan 11 – side 16
Note: The TUC is calling for a quarter of a million trade unionists to take to the streets of London and march against the government’s brutal cuts on Saturday 26 March.
 

Jørn Andersen: Studenterprotester i Storbritannien: ”Ud af klasseværelserne og ud på gaden”
Socialistisk Arbejderavis nr. 304, dec 10 – side 9
Note: Den 10. november demonstrerede over 50.000 i London mod regeringens nedskæringer og 3-dobling af brugerbetalingen på videregående uddannelser. Den 24. november, ”X-dag”, blev det fulgt op af lokale aktioner over hele landet, hvor over 100.000 deltog og over 30 universiteter blev besat.
 

The Tories declare class war – fight back now
Socialist Worker nr. 2224, okt 10 – side 1
Note: George Osborne’s spending cuts are a declaration of brutal class war. The Tories deliberately set out to hammer down the living standards of workers and the poor in order to fatten profits and enrich the bankers and the bosses.
 

Matthew Cookson: Thousands take to the streets against austerity
Socialist Worker nr. 2224, okt 10 – side 2
Note: Thousands of trade unionists protested in central London on Tuesday to oppose Tory plans to make massive public spending cuts in Wednesday’s comprehensive spending review.
 

Siân Ruddick: Students warm up for big cuts battle
Socialist Worker nr. 2224, okt 10 – side 11
Note: Students are facing a pincer movement of attacks as the government and its business allies prepare to slash higher education (HE) spending and push up fees.
 

Tom Walker: Solidarity and unity can beat back bully bosses: Firefighters are striking for us all
Socialist Worker nr. 2224, okt 10 – side 16
Note: London’s firefighters were set to strike this Saturday, in the first big walkout since the Tories launched their cuts onslaught.
 

Details of the Comprehensive Spending Review: Fight these vicious Tory cuts
Socialist Worker nr. 2224, okt 10 
Note: The Tories’ spending review will butcher the welfare state and slash services and jobs. Behind the cold figures from arrogant muliti-millionaire George Osborne is an ideological choice to smash public services and make workers pay for a crisis created by the bosses and bankers.
 

Reports from demonstrations against the spending cuts, 20 October 2010
Socialist Worker nr. 2224, okt 10 
Note: People around the country are protesting against the savage Tory cuts in George Osborne's Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR).
 

Matthew Cookson: Civil service workers plan budget day walk out
Socialist Worker nr. 2192, mar 10 – side 2
Note: Over 200,000 civil service workers struck on Monday and Tuesday in the first major national battle against the government’s cuts programme.
 

Reports from PCS picket lines across Britain
Socialist Worker nr. 2192, mar 10 – side 2
Note: Birmingham – North London – Nottingham – South London – Newcastle – Dundee – St Austell, Cornwall – Barnsley – Chorlton, Manchester
 

Tom Walker: Bailed-out bankers are getting bumper bonuses
Socialist Worker nr. 2186, jan 10 – side 2
Note: The banks are set to announce “profits” of up to £25 billion—and pay out huge bonuses to top bankers.
 

Sadie Robinson: Exposed: secrets of the British Airways scab 'union'
Socialist Worker nr. 2186, jan 10 – side 3
Note: A scab “union” has been set up at British Airways to undermine the cabin crew’s strike ballot.
 

Ken Olende + Viv Smith: Youth unemployment: Stuck on the dole – and it’s worse if you’re black
Socialist Worker nr. 2186, jan 10 – side 5
Note: Shock figures released last week showed how young people have been hit hard by the recession. Ken Olende and Viv Smith spoke to some of those who have struggled to find work.
 

Matthew Cookson: Fujitsu: IT strikes to escalate
Socialist Worker nr. 2186, jan 10 – side 14
Note: Fujitsu workers are escalating their fight for jobs, pay and pensions with five more days of strike action set to take place. More than 1,450 Unite union members at the IT company struck solidly for the seventh day on Friday of last week.
 

Charlie Kimber: Right to Work conference: Be part of the new wave of resistance
Socialist Worker nr. 2186, jan 10 – side 16
Note: Get to Manchester this Saturday if you want to fight for jobs, stop the cuts, and don’t think workers should pay for the bosses’ crisis.
 

Matthew Cookson: Fujitsu workers declare that ‘enough is enough’
Socialist Worker nr. 2185, jan 10 – side 6
Note: The wave of strikes at Fujitsu Services in defence of jobs, pay and pensions has shaken the IT company – and changed many people’s view of workers in the industry.
 

Jonathon Shafi: Right to work: Conference call for all workers
Socialist Worker nr. 2184, jan 10 – side 16
Note: Young workers who are unionising new workplaces will be joining other delegates at the upcoming Right to Work conference.
 

Esme Choonara: Fujitsu: ‘This is definitely a strike worth having’
Socialist Worker nr. 2184, jan 10 – side 16
Note: Striking Fujitsu Services workers braved sub-zero temperatures, snow and ice to hold lively and effective picket lines on the first three days of five days of action over pay, pensions and jobs.
 

Chris Bambery: Right to work: ‘We must prepare now for attacks we all face’
Socialist Worker nr. 2183, jan 10 – side 5
Note: The credit crunch, the economic crisis, and now the deep recession have ravaged working class people’s lives. But importantly, resistance during the recession has shown the power of workers to fight back.
 

Union-made: British Airways: The mundane reality
Socialist Review nr. 343, jan 10 – side 17
Note: Last month's ballot result for industrial action by British Airways cabin crews showed how widespread the fear and anger about management attacks was.
 

Tom Walker: Sack the bankers
Socialist Worker nr. 2181, dec 09 – side 1
Note: Tax the rich – fund jobs and services.
Gordon Brown and chancellor Alistair Darling are talking tough on bankers. Darling is even promising a “super tax” on their bonuses to try to calm public anger.
But the banks have taken £850 billion in bailouts this year. Soon the total will be measured in trillions.
 

Esme Choonara: Bus drivers: ‘Bullying, stress and overwork make us ill’
Socialist Worker nr. 2181, dec 09 – side 3
Note: After a year of widespread unrest and struggle on the buses, three drivers spoke to Esme Choonara about some of the issues behind the growing discontent.
 

Chris Bambery: Right to Work: Building resistance to cuts and job losses
Socialist Worker nr. 2181, dec 09 – side 4
Note: Workers are told that the recession is easing and things are getting better, but still hardly a week goes by without job cuts. It is against this backdrop that the Right to Work conference will take place.
 

Matthew Cookson: Labour sets its sights on civil service workers
Socialist Worker nr. 2181, dec 09 – side 5
Note: The government has launched a massive attack on workers that every boss in Britain will be watching. It is targeting hundreds of thousands of civil service workers as it aims to slash the huge public spending deficit by hitting jobs and services, and selling off public assets.
 

Graham Turner: Why Britain’s recession is a long way from over
Socialist Worker nr. 2180, dec 09 – side 12
Note: Economist and author Graham Turner looks at the statistics – and finds that the City’s belief there will be a fast recovery is not based on economic fact.
 

Union-made: Superdrug: The poor can't pay anymore
Socialist Review nr. 342, dec 09 – side 17
Note: We have just been on all-out strike for three weeks. We struck to resist plans by Superdrug to attack our pay and conditions.
 

Yuri Prasad: Put post strikes back on, say reps across country
Socialist Worker nr. 2179, nov 09 – side 2
Note: Union leaders were meeting to discuss whether to resume national post strikes as Socialist Worker went to press. The deal which led to the suspension of industrial action was supposed to end management’s practice of imposing cuts without union agreement.
 

Sadie Robinson: Superdrug strikes force concessions
Socialist Worker nr. 2179, nov 09 – side 6
Note: Striking workers at the Superdrug distribution centre in South Elmsall, Yorkshire, have forced management to retreat after more than two weeks of all-out, indefinite strike action.
 

Simon Basketter: British Airways (BA): Cabin crew waiting for Christmas strike take off
Socialist Worker nr. 2179, nov 09 – side 6
Note: British Airways (BA) chief executive Willie Walsh went on the offensive this week. Walsh is in the process of ripping up cabin crew workers’ existing terms and conditions and imposing new ones without agreement with the workers’ Unite union. The changes include pay cuts and freezes, the abolition of allowances, and a jobs cull.
 

Sadie Robinson: Victory in Leeds for bin workers
Socialist Worker nr. 2179, nov 09 – side 16
Note: Refuse workers in Leeds have humiliated their council bosses—and shown that militant action can get results.
Around 600 refuse workers had been out on all-out, indefinite strike since 7 September against plans to ram through huge cuts that would have slashed their pay by up to a third.
 

Esme Choonara: Striking east London bus workers: 'They pushed and we finally stood up'
Socialist Worker nr. 2179, nov 09 – side 16
Note: Hundreds of bus workers joined picket lines across east London last week as a two-day strike shut down almost 60 bus routes in the area.
 

Interview: Will the sparks flare up?
International Socialism Journal nr. 124, okt 09 – side 13
Note: Charlie Kimber and Michael Bradley organise the Socialist Workers Party’s (SWP) industrial work. They spoke to International Socialism about recent developments in the class struggle in Britain.
 

Martin Smith: En test for venstrefløjen
Socialistisk Arbejderavis nr. 291, sep 09 – side 12
Note: Magthaverne udnytter den fortsatte økonomiske turbulens til at optrappe deres angreb på arbejderklassen. Men der er sket et skift i den måde, britiske arbejdere svarer igen på, argumenterer Martin Smith.
Alt. url: The current crisis is a test for the left
 

Vestas-besætter: „Vi har brug for et system, der bygger på folks behov“
Socialistisk Arbejderavis nr. 290, aug 09 – side 6
Note: Ian Terry, en af de yngste af de besættende Vestas-arbejdere, talte med Socialist Worker om sine erfaringer og hvilken retning, kampen nu skal bevæge sig i.
 

Vestas workers occupy: 'A fight for jobs and the planet'
Socialist Worker nr. 2161, jul 09 – side 1
Note: Workers at Vestas, the UK’s only wind turbine manufacturer, occupied their factory in Newport, Isle of Wight on Monday evening against plans to close it. Dave is one of the ­occupying workers. He spoke to Socialist Worker on Tuesday.
 

Tom Walker: Vestas occupation is part of struggle for the future
Socialist Worker nr. 2161, jul 09 – side 2
Note: Workers at the Vestas wind turbine factory on the Isle of Wight have joined the fight against ordinary people being made to suffer for the recession.
 

Vestas: Profits come first for bosses
Socialist Worker nr. 2161, jul 09 – side 2
Note: Vestas proudly states that, “With a 20 percent market share, and 38,000 wind turbines installed, Vestas is the world’s leading supplier of wind power solutions.”
 

Ford-Visteon workers back the fight for justice
Socialist Worker nr. 2161, jul 09 – side 2
Note: The occupation at Vestas is just the latest in the wave of unofficial and militant actions that workers have taken in response to attacks on their jobs, terms and conditions.
 

Vestas: Workers’ action can save the planet
Socialist Worker nr. 2161, jul 09 – side 2
Note: Jonathan Neale of the Campaign Against Climate Change spoke to Socialist Worker about the importance of the fight at Vestas.
 

John Gilmore + Charlie Kimber: Workers forge united fight to save steel jobs
Socialist Worker nr. 2161, jul 09 – side 5
Note: A whole town united last Saturday in a fight for jobs. Around 5,000 people marched through Redcar in the north east of England in protest at Corus’s threat to close their steel plant.
 

Danny McGregor + Graeme Cumming: Fight is on to stop Diaego Johnnie Walker closures
Socialist Worker nr. 2161, jul 09 – side 5
Note: “If you shut Johnnie Walker’s you might as well close the shutters in every shop in Kilmarnock.” So says one worker at the whiskey bottling plant in Kilmarnock, which the multinational drinks company Diaego plans to close.
 

Tom Walker: Conference protest: Take the battle for jobs to Labour
Socialist Worker nr. 2161, jul 09 – side 5
Note: Thousands of students, pensioners, campaigners, unemployed people and others will join the march on the Labour Party conference in Brighton on Sunday 27 September.
 

Simon Basketter: Don’t let legal threats stop national construction strike
Socialist Worker nr. 2161, jul 09 – side 6
Note: More than 2,000 engineering construction workers in the Unite and GMB unions at seven petrochemical plants and power stations are to be balloted for an official strike over jobs.
 

Unions back protest at Labour conference
Socialist Worker nr. 2161, jul 09 – side 16
Note: The growing anger against the Labour government’s handling of the recession is building momentum for protests at the Labour Party conference on 27 September.
 

Don't let them starve Vestas occupiers out (online only)
Socialist Worker nr. 2161, jul 09 
Note: Police and Vestas management are trying to starve out the Vestas workers who are occupying their plant in Newport, on the Isle of Wight.
 

Tom Walker: Vestas: fighting for jobs and the environment
Socialist Worker nr. 2160, jul 09 – side 5
Note: The campaign against the closure of the Vestas wind turbine factory on the Isle of Wight swung into action with mass leafleting and petitioning last Saturday.
Vestas, based in Newport, is the Britain’s only wind turbine manufacturer – and the largest employer on the island.
 

Matthew Cookson: New threat to Ford-Visteon workers' pensions
Socialist Worker nr. 2160, jul 09 – side 5
Note: Former workers at Visteon face a new battle to protect their pensions.
Magnificent protests at car components plants in Belfast, Enfield and Basildon forced the Ford multinational to offer the workers tens of thousands of pounds in redundancy packages after Visteon failed earlier this year.
But the question of pensions was not resolved and all the people in the company’s pension scheme could lose up to half of their entitlements.
 

Tom Walker: Vestas: 600 face sack at turbine plant
Socialist Worker nr. 2159, jul 09 – side 2
Note: The government says it plans to create a million “green jobs”. Meanwhile, in the real world, Britain’s only wind turbine factory is being closed down. All 600 workers at the Vestas factory on the Isle of Wight are facing redundancy.
 

Sadie Robinson: Tower Hamlets College shows how to fight over cuts
Socialist Worker nr. 2159, jul 09 – side 5
Note: Over 100 pickets shut down Tower Hamlets College in east London last week, setting an example of how to fight the drastic cuts that are hitting education.
 

Where now for education campaigns?
Socialist Worker nr. 2159, jul 09 – side 5
Note: This year there are massive cuts hitting further and adult education – the usual ways of fighting them are not enough.
 

Yuri Prasad: Fighting Labour and post bosses
Socialist Worker nr. 2159, jul 09 – side 16
Note: Business secretary Lord Mandelson’s plans to privatise Royal Mail are in tatters
 

Judith Orr: The economy: Don't believe the hype over recovery
Socialist Review nr. 338, jul 09 – side 4
Note: Beware talk of "green shoots" in the economy. Even if they prove to be real, job losses will continue to rise for some time to come.
 

Martin Empson: Green cuts
Socialist Review nr. 338, jul 09 – side 4
Note: The irrationality of capitalism was starkly exposed in April when, despite massively increasing its profits for the first three months of the year, the manufacturing company Vestas announced that it was to shed 1,900 jobs.
 

Victory at Lindsey shows how to fight (online only)
Socialist Worker nr. 2157, jun 09 
Note: Construction workers have won their dispute at the Lindsey Oil Refinery in Lincolnshire. An immediate walkout when job cuts were announced, backed up by thousands of workers striking at other sites, has won a huge victory.
 

Solidarity can win – Spread the strikes
Socialist Worker nr. 2157, jun 09 – side 1
Note: Lindsey dispute is a fight for us all – Oil bosses sack over 600 workers for organising action – Thousands walk out of construction sites in support
Thousands of construction workers have walked out of work and taken illegal unofficial strike action. The wildcat strikes follow the Total oil multinational’s sacking of over 600 workers at the Lindsey refinery site in Lincolnshire.
 

John Basketter: Lindsey is a battleground for the future of the unions
Socialist Worker nr. 2157, jun 09 – side 2
Note: There is a war going on in the construction industry, and its outcome will affect us all.
Last week Total, the huge multinational oil company, launched a major attack against the working class when it sacked 647 workers at the Lindsey oil refinery for taking unofficial strike action.
 

'We won't go back crawling on our bellies'
Socialist Worker nr. 2157, jun 09 – side 2
Note: Hundreds of pickets marched down the road around the Lindsey refinery to the entrance of the nearby ConocoPhillips site on Monday morning.
 

'British jobs' slogan pushed back but the argument remains a danger
Socialist Worker nr. 2157, jun 09 – side 3
Note: The construction industry has been at the heart of debates over “British jobs for British workers”. This slogan was raised during a series of unofficial strikes earlier this year over contractors who were using “foreign” or “non-local” labour.
 

Krisen: Modstand i dag
Socialistisk Arbejderavis nr. 289, jun 09 – side 10
Note: Selv om vi i Danmark ikke har set ret megen modstand mod massefyringer og lønnedgang, så er der andre steder, hvor folk går til modstand.
 

Recession: No ‘green shoots’ of recovery for the young
Socialist Worker nr. 2156, jun 09 – side 2
Note: With journalists sighting “green shoots of economic recovery” everywhere, Socialist Worker lists a few sobering facts about youth unemployment and poverty that present a different story.
 

Sadie Robinson: Fight for the Right to Work conference calls for united battle for jobs
Socialist Worker nr. 2156, jun 09 – side 3
Note: Over 300 trade unionists, students and unemployed workers came together in London last Saturday to build a united response to the crisis that threatens millions of people with unemployment, job insecurity, low pay and poverty.
 

Simon Basketter: Construction workers walk out over union-busting
Socialist Worker nr. 2156, jun 09 – side 4
Note: Wildcat strikes in construction could spread, reports Simon Basketter.
Workers at Total’s Lindsey oil refinery in Lincolnshire went out on unofficial strike on Thursday of last week after some were threatened with redundancy.
 

Matthew Cookson: London Underground: Tube workers defiant as their action hits home
Socialist Worker nr. 2156, jun 09 – side 5
Note: Thousands of RMT transport union members on London Underground and Transport for London responded magnificently to a series of attacks on them by taking part in a solid 48-hour strike last week.
 

Kevin Devine: Car industry: The devil's carousel
Socialist Review nr. 337, jun 09 – side 16
Note: The global car industry has been rocked by the recession, thousands of jobs have gone and many thousands more are threatened. Kevin Devine reports on how bosses' attempts to save their profits will affect the workers on the "devil's carousel".
 

Sadie Robinson: Celebrating victory at Ford-Visteon
Socialist Worker nr. 2152, maj 09 – side 4
Note: The victorious Visteon workers left their picket lines and occupation this week as they received details of their payouts.
 

Matthew Cookson: Workers march in Birmingham against jobs massacre
Socialist Worker nr. 2152, maj 09 – side 5
Note: Anger over mounting job losses brought more than 7,000 people onto the streets of Birmingham last Saturday for the Unite union’s national march for jobs.
 

Ford-Visteon car workers say 'We Won!'
Socialist Worker nr. 2150, maj 09 – side 1
Note: Ron Clark, a former Unite union shop steward at the plant in Enfield, spoke to Socialist Worker about the workers’ victory
 

Sadie Robinson: Victory at Visteon: ‘It’s been an unbelievable experience I’ll never forget’
Socialist Worker nr. 2150, maj 09 – side 2
Note: Many of the workers fighting against Ford and Visteon were taking part in action for the first time. The experience has transformed them.
 

Sadie Robinson: Visteon workers beat corporate car giant
Socialist Worker nr. 2150, maj 09 – side 3
Note: Visteon workers last week won a massive victory against Ford, one of the most powerful multinational companies in the world.
Around 600 workers across three sites in Basildon in Essex, Enfield in north London and Belfast were sacked at the end of March with no notice or redundancy pay.
 

Visteon: ‘The solidarity was electrifying’
Socialist Worker nr. 2150, maj 09 – side 3
Note: Trade unionist John Tipple has been helping to build support for the Visteon workers in Basildon. He told Socialist Worker about the campaign
 

Editorial: A blow for wind farms
Socialist Worker nr. 2150, maj 09 – side 12
Note: The largest manufacturer of wind turbines in the world is going to close its only factory in Britain. Is it because the company, Vestas, isn’t profitable? No – the firm’s quarterly profits have risen by 70 percent.
 

Sally Hunt: Education: Now the battle for jobs reaches the chalk face
Socialist Worker nr. 2150, maj 09 – side 14
Note: Members of the University and College Union (UCU) in higher education have received ballot papers asking them to vote for strike action and action short of a strike.
We feel we have been left with little option but to ballot members over industrial action as the employers refuse to acknowledge the scale of the crisis hitting higher education jobs.
 

London Met lecturers take the fight to the bosses
Socialist Worker nr. 2150, maj 09 – side 14
Note: Lecturers at London Metropolitan university were to strike on Thursday of this week in protest at planned job cuts.
The workers, in the UCU union, voted by 64 percent for strike action and 71 percent for action short of a strike.
 

Belfast Visteon workers discuss the deal (online only)
Socialist Worker nr. 2150, maj 09 
Note: Ford-Visteon workers in Belfast have been occupying their plant for over five weeks after they were sacked with no notice and no redundancy pay at the end of March.
 

Solid strike against job cuts rocks London Met bosses (online only)
Socialist Worker nr. 2150, maj 09 
Note: Lecturers at the London Metropolitan University struck today across campuses in north and east London against job cuts that will destroy the university if carried through
 

Eddie Cimorelli: Occupations that send a powerful message
Socialist Review nr. 336, maj 09 – side 6
Note: Three decades of the neoliberal project have wrought significant changes to British society, all with New Labour's unabashed aim of making Britain "the most business friendly environment in Europe".
 

Linda Bartle: Visteon: A life-changing struggle
Socialist Review nr. 336, maj 09 – side 13
Note: The occupation at former Ford plant Visteon wasn't planned. We came down here to get our personal belongings after we heard that we had all been sacked with immediate effect.
 

If they come to close your factory, don’t give in...: Occupy to save jobs
Socialist Worker nr. 2146, apr 09 – side 1
Note: If they come to close your factory, follow our example and fight back, says Visteon worker
 

Matthew Cookson: Struggle: Resistance intensifies on many fronts
Socialist Worker nr. 2146, apr 09 – side 2
Note: The magnificent action by Visteon workers occupying their factories is the sharp end of struggle in Britain – and has radically changed the mood among many of those fighting the impacts of the recession
 

Support grows for Prisme sit-in
Socialist Worker nr. 2146, apr 09 – side 2
Note: Defiant workers at the Prisme packaging plant in Dundee are into their sixth week of occupation after being sacked at a few hours notice with none of the money owed to them
 

Sadie Robinson: Visteon struggle: the story: An inspirational fight for jobs and justice
Socialist Worker nr. 2146, apr 09 – side 3
Note: Workers at the Visteon car components firm have put themselves at the heart of the fightback against job cuts by occupying their factories after they were summarily sacked on Tuesday of last week
 

Chris Bambery: Resistance is coming together
Socialist Worker nr. 2146, apr 09 – side 4
Note: Wednesday 1 April was one of those days where everything suddenly came together
 

John Basketter: Visteon struggle: The Companies: All roads lead one way---back to Ford
Socialist Worker nr. 2146, apr 09 – side 4
Note: Simon Basketter investigates the company scams that lie behind the closure of the Visteon plants and shines a light on the murky world of multinational companies and outsourcing
 

Esme Choonara: Visteon workers speak out: ‘They won’t get rid of us without a fight’
Socialist Worker nr. 2146, apr 09 – side 5
Note: “This recession is like a cancer,” says Sharon, whose partner Richard was sacked last week after working for Ford and then Visteon for 17 years
 

Visteon: What we think: Politics crucial in every dispute
Socialist Worker nr. 2146, apr 09 – side 5
Note: Workers’ action at Visteon has shown how every struggle is bound up with political questions.
 

G20: day of rage rocks system
Socialist Worker nr. 2146, apr 09 – side 8
Note: A range of protests against the G20 summit captured the public’s anger over the economic crisis
 

Carola Becker: Limits to mortgage help: A ticking timebomb
Socialist Worker nr. 2146, apr 09 – side 12
Note: Labour’s proposals to impose a time limit on mortgage help will hit the poorest hardest and set a dangerous precedent, writes Carola Becker
 

Sadie Robinson: Ford Visteon workers fight on as Enfield occupation ends (online only)
Socialist Worker nr. 2146, apr 09 
Note: Workers at the Visteon car components plant in Enfield, north London, have ended their occupation, but are vowing to continue their protest against their unceremonious sacking that took place on Tuesday of last week
 

Charlie Kimber: In the balance: the class struggle in Britain
International Socialism Journal nr. 122, apr 09 – side 33
Note: “We found out on TV in late November that we were going to close. We just carried on as normal, and it wasn’t until we actually came out and we were all upset when we signed our last bits of paper that we thought, ‘Well, why did we go quietly?’ Why did 30,000 of us go quietly?”
—Jayne Maltman, Woolworths worker, February 2009.
 

Danny Dorling: Who will pay the price for the crisis?
Socialist Review nr. 335, apr 09 – side 10
Note: While politicians clearly have no idea of how to solve the economic crisis unemployment continues to rise across Britain. But where is it having the most impact? Danny Dorling argues that it is the young – "Thatcher's grandchildren" – who will bear the brunt of the recession.
 

Martin Smith: Economic crisis and job losses: Who's to blame?
Socialist Review nr. 334, mar 09 – side 10
Note: Nationalism is always a dead end for the working class movement, argues Martin Smith, after the wildcat strikes that demanded "British jobs for British workers"
 

Robert Jackson: Agreements under threat
Socialist Review nr. 334, mar 09 – side 13
Note: There are 267 different firms employed at Lindsey oil refinery alone. Is European law keeping bosses in line with national agreements on pay and conditions?
 

Hsiao-Hung Pai: Lindsey Oil: Views from the migrant workers
Socialist Review nr. 334, mar 09 – side 14
Note: Francesco and Gianluca, like their 98 Italian colleagues housed on a barge at Grimsby Fish Docks, had arrived in late January on a four-month contract to work at the French oil giant, Total, at Lindsey oil refinery in Immingham.
 

Sadie Robinson: Fury as Cowley workers sacked with hour’s notice
Socialist Worker nr. 2139, feb 09 – side 2
Note: BMW’s sacking of 850 workers at its Cowley plant in Oxford on Monday offers a snapshot into the contempt with which bosses treat workers in Britain.
 

Derek Simpson and the ‘British Jobs’ slogan danger
Socialist Worker nr. 2139, feb 09 – side 2
Note: Some in the leadership of the union movement seem determined to run the fight against the recession into a dead end.
Unite general secretary Derek Simpson teamed up with the right-wing rag the Daily Star last week to push the British Jobs for British Workers slogan.
 

‘Ford bosses are rewarding us with a kick in the teeth’
Socialist Worker nr. 2138, feb 09 – side 2
Note: Tony, a car worker at Ford’s Southampton plant, spoke to Socialist Worker about how the recession is affecting workers there
 

Support statement saying 'Fight job cuts with unity'
Socialist Worker nr. 2138, feb 09 – side 3
Note: Hundreds of trade unionists have signed a broad-based statement calling for a united fight over jobs and pointing to the dangers of targeting “foreign workers”.
 

John Basketter: Focus construction industry anger over jobs on bosses and Brown
Socialist Worker nr. 2138, feb 09 – side 5
Note: Workers protesting at the Lindsey Oil Refinery in Lincolnshire returned to work on Monday of this week after management promised an additional 102 jobs would be made available to “British” workers.
 

Analysing the fallout from the Lindsey dispute
Socialist Worker nr. 2138, feb 09 – side 5
Note: The walkouts at Lindsey Oil Refinery have set a number of precedents – both good and bad.
 

Video of management sacking agency workers at BMW Cowley (online only)
Socialist Worker nr. 2138, feb 09 
Note: Management tell the workers of shift C "yellow" Mini production at BMW's Cowley plant that they are sacked at the end of a night shift on the morning of 16 February 2009
 

„Britiske jobs til britiske arbejdere“
Socialistisk Arbejderavis nr. 286, feb 09 – side 9
Note: En strejke i Lincolnshire, England, i slutningen af januar er en advarsel om nogle af de problemer, vi står over for i kampen mod krisen.
 

Blame the bosses not ‘foreign workers’
Socialist Worker nr. 2137, feb 09 – side 1
Note: Millions of working people across Britain are fearful and angry at the mounting economic crisis. Manu­fac­turing industry is now shedding jobs at a rate of 30,000 a month.
 

Simon Basketter: The bitterness that lies behind the wildcat strikes
Socialist Worker nr. 2137, feb 09 – side 2
Note: The anger against the growing impact of the economic crisis broke out last week in Britain. Some 6,000 workers across over 20 construction sites at power stations and oil refineries have taken unofficial action by walking off the job.
Clearly workers are furious at the mounting job losses in construction and are fearful about what the deepening recession holds for them.
But what is less clear is why the unions, in the face of thousands of job cuts, have chosen to focus their attention on foreign workers on the sites.
 

Labour’s attack on workers’ union rights
Socialist Worker nr. 2137, feb 09 – side 2
Note: Derek Simpson, joint Unite general secretary, has said that moves should be taken to overturn European legal cases that allow employers to undercut wages and conditions as part of resolving the dispute.
 

John Basketter: Corus sacks 3,500 to boost its profits
Socialist Worker nr. 2136, jan 09 – side 4
Note: Steel giant Corus has announced mass job losses this week – and the unions’ response contains some worrying signals.
 

Chris Bambery: Brown wants us to cheer up as the recession deepens
Socialist Worker nr. 2136, jan 09 – side 4
Note: Gordon Brown warned this week against “pessimism” over the economy.
Meanwhile Richard Lambert, the head of the bosses’ CBI organisation said Britain is not in any danger of going bust and we should be careful not to “get swept away by the gloomsters”.
But for many working class people there is precious little to be cheerful about as unemployment rockets and Britain is officially classified as being in recession for the first time since 1991.
 

Julia Armstrong: Crisis: Journalists fight for jobs and media standards
Socialist Worker nr. 2136, jan 09 – side 5
Note: Journalists are one group at the sharp end of bosses’ attempts to cut back on jobs and pay as the recession bites.
But more than 150 NUJ journalists’ union members drew up a plan for a coordinated fightback at a jobs summit in London last Saturday.
 

Yuri Prasad: Crisis: Urgent fight to stop post office privatisation
Socialist Worker nr. 2136, jan 09 – side 5
Note: If the government is serious about minimising unemployment, why is it pushing ahead with plans that will lead to the slashing of tens of thousands of jobs in Royal Mail?
 

Chris Bambery: How can we fan the flames of resistance against the effects of recession?
Socialist Worker nr. 2136, jan 09 – side 6
Note: This is a time of contrasts. On the one hand there is anger on the streets and campuses over Israel’s attack on Gaza. On the other a lack of struggle against the huge level of job cuts hitting workers in Britain.
 

Simon Basketter: Jobs meltdown as crisis grows
Socialist Worker nr. 2136, jan 09 – side 16
Note: An astounding 80,000 jobs were axed in Britain, Europe and the US in just one day on Monday.
 

Take the banks from the bosses
Socialist Worker nr. 2135, jan 09 – side 1
Note: No more public money without public control
As economic recession tears into Britain, millions of us spend our nights fearing for the future. More than half of all workers are worried that they might be on the dole by the end of the year.
 

Simon Basketter: Gordon Brown throws more money into growing banking black hole
Socialist Worker nr. 2135, jan 09 – side 5
Note: The latest bailout of the banks will cost at least £200 billion according to the government’s own figures – and we will get nothing in return.
The bailout comes on top of the £250 billion in credit and the £37 billion in hard cash that was handed to the banks last October.
 

A bank worker speaks out
Socialist Worker nr. 2135, jan 09 – side 5
Note: “The anger and bitterness of workers at the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is intense.
We all know that what has happened to bring this bank to its knees has nothing to do with us.
It is 100 percent the responsibility of the bosses.”
 

Bailout will mean cuts
Socialist Worker nr. 2135, jan 09 – side 5
Note: The government is committed to £5 billion in “efficiency savings”.
In plain language that means more public sector cuts and privatisation.
 

Sadie Robinson: Money shops: Pushing us into the red
Socialist Worker nr. 2135, jan 09 – side 8
Note: As unemployment bites and banks refuse credit to the most vulnerable, our high streets are increasingly playing host to a new breed of vulture – the moneyshops. Sadie Robinson looks at what is driving their success,
 

Editorial: Beware nationalism in jobs fight
Socialist Worker nr. 2135, jan 09 – side 12
Note: How our unions respond to job losses matters. Too often there is “disappointment” but little thought of action.
But at construction sites in Nottinghamshire and Kent there is a campaign for jobs. Some 400 workers protested outside a Nottinghamshire power station site on Monday.
That is for the good. What is less clear is why the unions have chosen to focus on the question of whether foreign workers are on the site.
 

John Basketter: Economic crisis: Nissan cuts jobs as the recession hits
Socialist Worker nr. 2134, jan 09 – side 4
Note: As a quarter of the workforce are made redundant at Nissan’s car plant in Sunderland, retired engineer John Basketter looks at its history.
 

Matthew Cookson: Economic crisis: Gordon Brown's plans aren't enough to secure jobs for all
Socialist Worker nr. 2134, jan 09 – side 4
Note: Gordon Brown has promised to help 500,000 people into work or training as part of the government’s plans to deal with the recession.
 

SWP conference 2009: Understanding a system caught in deep crisis
Socialist Worker nr. 2134, jan 09 – side 6
Note: Chris Harman, editor of the International Socialism journal, introduced the opening session on the state of the capitalist system held on Friday evening.
 

SWP conference 2009: Seizing chances to resist the recession
Socialist Worker nr. 2134, jan 09 – side 7
Note: The session on responding to the economic crisis saw a productive discussion of strategies for encouraging working class resistance.
It was introduced by SWP industrial organiser Charlie Kimber. “The economic crisis is central to the work that the party will be doing over the next 12 months,” he said. “The questions of who pays for the crisis and the level of resistance is vital.”
 

Simon Basketter: Gordon Brown’s ‘public works’ job plan doesn’t add up
Socialist Worker nr. 2133, jan 09 – side 5
Note: Gordon Brown pledged this week that up to 100,000 jobs could be created by planned public works in the coming years.
The government insists that a £10 billion capital programme – including the acceleration of existing plans – will help alleviate rising unemployment.
 

Retail: Sign of the times as high street chains go bust
Socialist Worker nr. 2133, jan 09 – side 5
Note: The last 200 Woolworths stores were closing down as Socialist Worker went to press.
The 27,000 Woolworths workers facing the dole were offered “help” from the “business community” through a website dedicated to finding them jobs.
 

In figures: Household debt and repossessions on the rise
Socialist Worker nr. 2133, jan 09 – side 5
Note: The average household debt increases by over £6.30 every day
 

Judith Orr: Economic crisis: making us pay
Socialist Review nr. 332, jan 09 – side 4
Note: To read the papers in recent weeks you might be forgiven for assuming that car workers' wage levels and public sector pensions caused the financial crisis currently wreaking havoc across the globe.
 

Simon Basketter: Economic crisis: Fights, not concessions, can save workers’ jobs
Socialist Worker nr. 2132, dec 08 – side 5
Note: Unemployment in Britain was set to pass two million over the Christmas period. As the economic crisis bites, it brings more announcements of job losses and reasons for people to be fearful for their jobs.
 

James Eaden: Chesterfield: Tony Benn rallies support for resistance
Socialist Worker nr. 2132, dec 08 – side 5
Note: Tony Benn addressed a rally in Chesterfield last Saturday – for the first time since he stopped being the local MP in 2001.
Around 90 people came to the meeting on how workers can fight back in a recession, which was organised by Chesterfield Trades Council.
 

Three steps to save jobs
Socialist Worker nr. 2130, dec 08 – side 1
Note: Nationalise to stop closures | 35 hour week with no pay cut | Build council houses
The threat of redundancy is hanging over the head of millions of workers as the economic slump deepens. Every day seems to bring new announcements of huge job losses at factories, shops and offices around the country.
 

Chris Bambery: Jobs slaughter continues as bosses slash production
Socialist Worker nr. 2130, dec 08 – side 2
Note: Signs that Britain faces the worst recession in more than 20 years were confirmed by a collapse in the value of the pound, a sharp drop in the value of shares, and reports of a dramatic drop in demand by British manufacturers.
 

Siân Ruddick: Hoover campaigners say job losses suck
Socialist Worker nr. 2130, dec 08 – side 2
Note: Campaigners against the closure of the Hoover factory in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, are gearing up for a protest meeting planned for Wednesday of next week.
 

Simon Basketter: Market chaos brings down Woolworths
Socialist Worker nr. 2130, dec 08 – side 3
Note: The Woolworths in the Elephant and Castle shopping centre in south London is a depressing place at the best of times. But last week things got a whole lot worse for those working there.
 

Julia Armstrong: Journalists plan cuts fightback
Socialist Worker nr. 2130, dec 08 – side 5
Note: Journalists working on three of Britain’s biggest regional newspaper groups were called to an emergency NUJ union meeting last weekend.
 

Alex Callinicos: Contradictions in Brown’s policy
Socialist Worker nr. 2129, nov 08 – side 4
Note: THE PARALLELS between the present crisis and the 1930s are growing. Summing up the steep falls in financial markets, last Saturday’s Financial Times said, “All this is consistent with the fear that the world is heading for a true depression, that will at least bear comparison with that of the 1930s.”
 

Esme Choonara: Glimpse of mood for a workplace fightback
Socialist Worker nr. 2129, nov 08 – side 16
Note: As attacks on jobs, pensions and working conditions grow, the question of whether workers can fight back against them is a crucial debate. Yet a series of current disputes, from Aberdeen to Dover, give some sense of both the mood and the determination that exists to fight.
 

Chris Bambery: Britain lies exposed to the global economic hurricane
Socialist Worker nr. 2128, nov 08 – side 2
Note: Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, admitted last week that Britain is probably now in recession. It joins a long list of economies which are now experiencing a downturn, including the US, Japan and the European Union.
In Britain there are forecasts that unemployment will hit the three million mark by 2010.
 

Yuri Prasad: We can resist jobs massacre
Socialist Worker nr. 2127, nov 08 – side 1
Note: Nationalise firms to stop redundancies | Unions must fight for the right to work
Workers in Britain are threatened by a mass cull of jobs on a scale not seen since the grim days of Margaret Thatcher’s 1980s Tory government.
 

Matthew Cookson: People Before Profit Charter supporters build resistance to the crisis
Socialist Worker nr. 2127, nov 08 – side 2
Note: Supporters of the People Before Profit Charter, which puts forward ten demands to improve the lives of working people in the face of economic turmoil, are mobilising for a number of important events.
 

Siân Ruddick: Growing fears of job losses haunt Welsh Valleys
Socialist Worker nr. 2127, nov 08 – side 3
Note: Rising job losses are again stalking one of the areas hardest hit in the recessions of the 1930s and 1980s.
 

Stock market fall wipes £157 billion off pensions
Socialist Worker nr. 2125, nov 08 – side 2
Note: The plummeting stock markets are having a devastating effect on the pensions of working people. Some £157 billion has been wiped off the value of “defined contribution” pension schemes, a drop of nearly a third in the year to October.
 

Yuri Prasad: Fights, not deals can save workers' jobs
Socialist Worker nr. 2125, nov 08 – side 5
Note: There’s a right way and a wrong way for unions to confront job losses—and this was highlighted last week by the crisis in the manufacturing industry.
 

Charlie Kimber: Frontlines: Jennifer Moses, Gordon Brown and social policy: trust me, I've lost millions
Socialist Review nr. 324, apr 08 – side 4
Note: February's collapse of the London-based Peloton hedge fund was a clear indication of the scale of the banking crisis.
Next we saw the further collapse of the Bear Stearns bank, and even the Financial Times declared that "there is a whiff of 1929 about this".
 

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