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
Red in tooth and claw
Aslef general secretary MICK WHELAN writes for the Morning Star on the eve of the TUC in Brighton, about the pay offer from the DfT, relations with the Labour government, and the union’s motion at Congress calling for the renationalisation of rail freight
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
WHAT a summer! What a whirlwind! What a landslide! The new Labour government was elected on Thursday July 4; Keir Starmer, the prime minister — doesn’t that sound good? — appointed Louise Haigh as the new secretary of state for transport on the afternoon of Friday July 5; appointed Peter Hendy as the new rail minister on Tuesday July 9; and we met them at Great Minster House in Whitehall on the morning of Wednesday July 10. Lou and Peter could not have seen us sooner!
We set out what we believed was needed to resolve our national pay dispute which has dragged on, under the Tories, for two years — we first balloted for industrial action in June 2022 and we first went on strike at the end of the following month — and they promptly appointed people to meet us, and the first formal meeting was scheduled for Tuesday July 23.
After a couple more meetings, we got an offer on Wednesday August 14 — a good offer, a fair offer, and, what we have always asked for, a clean offer, without a land grab for all our terms and conditions — which we have put to our members at the 16 train companies involved: Avanti West Coast, Chiltern, c2c, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Greater Anglia, Great Northern Thameslink, Great Western Railway, LNER, Northern, Southeastern, Southern/Gatwick Express, South Western Railway and Island Line, TransPennine Express, and West Midlands Trains — with a recommendation to accept, in a referendum which went out on Wednesday August 28 and which will close on Wednesday September 18.
More from this author
As the labour movement meets to remember the Tolpuddle Martyrs, MICK WHELAN, general secretary of train drivers’ union Aslef, says it’s an appropriate moment to remind the Labour government to listen to the trade unions a little more
MICK WHELAN, general secretary of Aslef, the train drivers’ trade union, writes for the Morning Star as union activists prepare to march through Durham today in a display of working-class solidarity at the 138th Durham Miners’ Gala
MICK WHELAN, general secretary of train drivers’ trade union Aslef, writes for the Morning Star as voters prepare to go to the polls in the general election today
MICK WHELAN, general secretary of Aslef, the train drivers’ union, writes for the Morning Star on the eve of his union’s annual conference in Manchester from Monday 20 to Friday May 24
