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
‘Competitive’ trade unionism is holding back progress
NEU president PHIL CLARKE, writing in a personal capacity, explains why a different way of organising school support staff is needed
Members of the National Education Union (NEU) take part in a rally through Westminster to Parliament Square, London, as teachers stage walkouts across England in an ongoing dispute over pay, July 5, 2023
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
A LOT HAS changed politically since the turn of the century. Unfortunately what has been largely consistent is a continuing decline in union density.
Will the TUC Congress in Brighton be a place for our union leaderships to really debate out how we tackle the problems we face and how we try to address them as a movement? Or will the Congress will be a space where many worthy motions are passed but lacking serious discussion on what we need to do differently?
Some factors are outside of our control — AI and a changing employer landscape, to name but two — there are few more important battles than the one GMB is fighting at Amazon for recognition.
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KEVAN NELSON reveals how, through its Organising to Win strategy, which has launched targeted campaigns like Pay Fair for Patient Care, Britain’s largest union bucked the trend of national decline by growing by 70,000 members in two years
Despite caring for vulnerable children and often covering classes, support staff remain undervalued, with some earning less than supermarket workers — but GMB’s campaigning offers new hope, argues DONNA SPICER
