Robinson successfully defended his school from closure, fought for the unification of the teaching unions, mentored future trade union leaders and transformed teaching at the Marx Memorial Library, writes JOHN FOSTER
THE trade unions are all that stand between the working class and catastrophe. Inflation is going through the roof. Businesses facing unmanageable increases in costs are already closing and shedding jobs.
For workers the value of wages, having been stagnant for 12 years, is now falling. Offers of wage increases which are less than the rate of inflation are, in effect, wage cuts.
Unions are fighting back. But unions are only able to negotiate in companies where they have collective bargaining rights. Collective bargaining used to cover 85 per cent of workers.