TUC

Anti-strike law fight must start now

Newly “elected” TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak (he was the sole candidate in an election in which the electorate consists only of members of the TUC General Council) has responded to the threat of harsh new anti-strike laws by saying that the TUC will “challenge them legally”, and make the Tories “pay a high political price”. The exact nature of the price, and how payment will be exacted, is not specified. Nowak has also said he doesn’t want to “go back to the 1980s”, implying he opposes the full repeal of all the anti-strike and anti-union laws, despite TUC congress having repeatedly voted...

Anti-strike law fight must start now

Newly “elected” TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak (he was the sole candidate in an election in which the electorate consists only of members of the TUC General Council) has responded to the threat of harsh new anti-strike laws by saying that the TUC will “challenge them legally”, and make the Tories “pay a high political price”. The exact nature of the price, and how payment will be exacted, is not specified. Nowak has also said he doesn’t want to “go back to the 1980s”, implying he opposes the full repeal of all the anti-strike and anti-union laws, despite TUC congress having repeatedly voted...

2 and 5 November less than they could have been

On Wednesday 2 November the TUC called a lobby of Parliament and a rally at Central Hall Westminster, and on Saturday 5 November both the TUC and many individual unions supported a march in London called by the People's Assembly. Both protests were to show support for the wave of pay strikes, and opposition to the new Tory cuts due to be announced on 17 November. Both were small. On all the evidence, that was because union officials had just not mobilised for them. Other events on similar political lines - a rally called by the RMT rail union with speakers from several other unions and with...

TUC: despite the strikes, a flat Congress

TUC demonstration, 18 June TUC Congress finally took place on 18-20 October. The hastily reorganised Congress was both shorter and less well attended, with many unions deep into campaigning mode. Although the mood very much reflected the upsurge in strike action and the imminence of further ballots, the gathering was flatter than ever, with most participants preferring the commodious hospitality of Brighton hotels to actually planning the serious, sustained fightback necessary. Probably the best discussions on Congress floor took place around reproductive rights, sexual harassment and trans...

TUC Congress, the strikes and the Truss regime

John Moloney, Assistant General Secretary of civil service union PCS, spoke to us (in a personal capacity) about the upcoming TUC Congress (11-14 September, Brighton). The big question is how the Congress will relate to struggles in the world. I think – I hope – it’s inconceivable it won’t be dominated on one hand by all the strikes that are burgeoning, and on the other hand by a Truss government and the plans to bring in new anti-union laws and rip up European-derived workers’ rights. There’s a formal agenda already submitted, but clearly people need to refer to these attacks in the speeches...

Coming up at TUC Congress: Fighting anti-union laws

Over the next week we’ll publish notes on some of the motions going to TUC Congress (11-14 September, Brighton), the annual conference of delegates from the vast majority of trade unions in the UK. You can read all the motions submitted here . There may be compositing of motions between now and the conference, and some of the text eliminated. As in much of the labour movement, there is a chronic problem of TUC Congress passing policies and nothing being done about them. Still, the motions are important – both because they should be carried out (particularly the good ones!) and for what they...

Coming up at TUC Congress: Climate change

Over the next week we’ll publish notes on some of the motions going to TUC Congress (11-14 September, Brighton), the annual conference of delegates from the vast majority of trade unions in the UK. You can read all the motions submitted here . There may be compositing of motions between now and the conference, and some of the text eliminated. As in much of the labour movement, there is a chronic problem of TUC Congress passing policies and nothing being done about them. Still, the motions are important – both because they should be carried out (particularly the good ones!) and for what they...

The totalitarians at Tolpuddle

This year I attended the Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival in Dorset for the very first time. It was on the bucket list for a Canadian friend and as I’d never been before, I thought — why not? For those who’ve never heard of it, the festival is an annual event held to mark the repression suffered by pioneering British trade unionists in the nineteenth century. The sleepy village of Tolpuddle has a little museum and a few small businesses that trade off its legacy, for example The Martyrs’ Inn. This was the first year since 2019 that the festival could go ahead in person. The Tolpuddle festival is no...

Inflation 10.2% for poor, 8.7% for rich

Inflation is at its highest rate for forty years. Consumer Price Index inflation (CPI) was 9% (measured April to April), the highest since 1982. The monthly jump from March to April was the biggest since 1980. Food inflation was at 6.7%; durable goods at 8.5%; the biggest drivers were energy costs. The energy price cap is due to go up again in less than five months. And inflation is not the same for everyone, but worst for the worst off. The highest-income tenth of society are experiencing inflation of 8.7%, while for the poorest tenth it’s 10.2%. Meanwhile real wages are falling, at the...

Mobilise for 18 June

The TUC has called a demonstration for Saturday 18 June in London to say: “Every worker — public and private sector — needs a real pay rise in 2022”. Together with building for industrial action sector by sector, activists will be mobilising for this march.

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