After years hidden away, Oldham’s memorial to six local volunteers who died fighting fascism in the Spanish civil war has been restored to public view, marking both a victory for campaigners and a renewed tribute to the town’s proud International Brigade heritage, says ROB HARGREAVES
IN the middle of a public health catastrophe and the economic crisis that it has generated, this government has prioritised neither.
We have one of the worst death tolls in the world and official international forecasters estimate we will also have one of the deepest recessions.
Instead of dealing with these real and present threats to lives and livelihoods, the government has directed its energies towards repressive and draconian new legislation.
The Bill addresses some exploitation but leaves trade unions heavily regulated, most workers without collective bargaining coverage, and fails to tackle the balance of power that enables constant mutation of bad practice, write KEITH EWING and LORD JOHN HENDY KC
It is only trade union power at work that will materially improve the lot of working people as a class but without sector-wide collective bargaining and a right to take sympathetic strike action, we are hamstrung in the fight to tilt back the balance of power, argues ADRIAN WEIR



