SOLOMON HUGHES recommends Sunjeev Sahota’s recent novel set in a trade union election campaign for its fresh approach to what unites and divides workers, but wishes the union backdrop was truer to life
TRADE UNIONISTS are heading to the South West TUC (SWTUC) annual conference and AGM this weekend to participate in an agenda packed full of guest speakers, workshops and motions. We will be debating a range of important topics, including artificial intelligence, the migrant worker visa campaign, the Employment Rights Bill and the Unison motion against the current proposal to privatise community health services in Bath and NE Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire.
Unison will be speaking to delegates as we ramp up our campaign for Wes Streeting to call in the decision made in October 2024 to hand over community health services to a private healthcare firm affecting 2,000 workers.
HCRG (formerly Virgin Care) are owned by the private equity firm Twenty20 Capital and the contract was awarded without proper consultation and without meeting several legal obligations. This weekend we will be calling on affiliates to sign petitions, lobby councils and make their own submissions to the Secretary of State.
Roger McKenzie talks to general secretary of Unison CHRISTINA McANEA about the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on members, the local government funding emergency and the threat of Reform UK
Working-class women lead the fight for fair work and equitable pay and against sexual harassment, the rise of the far right and years of failed austerity policies, writes ROZ FOYER
The visa system traps workers with abusive employers, creating a vulnerable workforce scared to complain for fear of deportation — that is why we’re campaigning for a ‘common sponsorship’ model instead, writes FAVOUR DAVIDKING
ANDY CHAFFER previews this week’s conference, where delegates will celebrate the strategies that have secured £40 million for NHS workers and debate the catastrophe of Labour and Tory austerity that has working-class voters turning to Reform UK



