IAN LAVERY MP says an immediate focus on raising wages and reducing costs must be part of a strategy to show Labour can deliver for workers again
‘People feel enough is enough and they want to do something’
Matt Trinder talks to FRAN HEATHCOTE, president of Britain’s biggest civil servants’ union, ahead of its annual conference in Brighton
Friedrich Merz’s call for a new Plaza Accord ignores how Washington’s 1985 currency ambush destroyed Japan without fixing US deficits — China, a sovereign socialist state with 1.4 billion consumers, cannot be bullied the same way, writes CARLOS MARTINEZ
World Peace Council president PALLAB SENGUPTA assesses the challenges facing the international peace movement and sends greetings to the Liberation AGM
KIERA MARSHALL says there is a gulf between the privileged circles in which most politicians move and the lives of working-class youth in left-behind estates – and as a newly elected Senedd member she’s determined to do something about it
ANGUS REID and ANDREW JOHNSTONE report on an initiative that we must take this summer
At last weekend’s International Conference Against War, LINDA PENTZ GUNTER talks to the Palestinian physician and politician about the struggles ahead to achieve a truly free Palestine
“THE media sometimes portrays civil servants as overpaid bowler-hatted bureaucrats, but we are working people doing a very difficult job — often not a very popular one — implementing government policy, but we try to do a good job and treat people with respect.”
Fran Heathcote, president of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, is busy preparing for the union’s three-day 2023 conference in Brighton, which kicks off today.
It’s been quite a year since the union’s last annual meet-up. A national dispute with the Tory government over several issues, including pensions, job security and redundancy terms, has grown increasingly bitter.
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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
Labour will find increases in the state pension age are unacceptable, just as cuts to the Winter Fuel Allowance, personal independence payments and universal credit are — it needs to change direction immediately, writes PCS general secretary FRAN HEATHCOTE
In the current climate, it is vital to bust the myths and put forward the case for a humane and decent social security system that supports people, argues FRAN HEATHCOTE