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
One Trump positive: US unions reunite
The looming Trump presidency has forced unions to rebuild their unity and strength, writes TONY BURKE, as the SEIU returns to the AFL-CIO, healing the 2005 rift over organising priorities and getting ready to fight the right together
(Right to left) Service Employees International Union international president April Verrett; AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler; National Domestic Workers Alliance president Ai-Jen Poo and SEIU secretary-treasurer Rocio Saenz (Photo: AFL-CIO)
A judge in a German court ruled that the ban activity imposed on renowned Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah was unlawful, reports LEON WYSTRYCHOWSKI
At the very moment Britain faces poverty, housing and climate crises requiring radical solutions, the liberal press promotes ideologically narrow books while marginalising authors who offer the most accurate understanding of change, writes IAN SINCLAIR
From Gaza protest bans to proscribing Palestine Action, political elites are showing a crisis of confidence as they abandon Roy Jenkins’s apologetic approach for Suella Braverman’s aggressive ‘hate march’ rhetoric, writes PAUL DONOVAN
ANSELM ELDERGILL examines the legal case behind this weekend’s Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Festival and the lessons for today
Ben Chacko talks to RMT leader EDDIE DEMPSEY about how the key to fixing broken Britain lies in collective sectoral bargaining, restoring unions’ ability to take solidarity strike action and bringing about the much-vaunted ‘wave of insourcing’
The summer of 1950 saw Labour abandon further nationalisation while escalating Korean War spending from £2.3m to £4.7m, as the government meekly accepted capitalism’s licence and became Washington’s yes-man, writes JOHN ELLISON
TWENTY years ago the US union the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) ended its affiliation with the US trade union umbrella organisation the AFL-CIO following ongoing disagreements that the AFL-CIO was concentrating too much on political matters rather than organising new members and building workers’ power in new industries.
The SEIU, under the leadership of the charismatic Andy Stern, argued US trade unions had to become more than just “servicing unions” watching membership and union power continue to decline.
The SEIU had run a number of high-profile organising campaigns in the US, notably Justice For Janitors, building union membership among property maintenance workers.
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TONY BURKE says an International Labour Conference next month will try for a new convention to protect often super-exploited workers providing services such as ride-hailing (taxis) such as Uber as well as fast food and package delivery
