TUC

TUC Congress 2018 closed with its accustomed dearth of fanfare, with little to suggest it will be a major political factor in British politics over the coming period.

The one glint of hope was the discussion on the Gender Recognition Act (GRA), where speaker after speaker stood up to make the case for self-determination on trans rights. Behind the scenes several union leaderships, including some regarded as left, have joined the chorus of opposition to changing the GRA on the grounds of women’s self-organisation.

TUC Conference has unanimously backed a motion from the TUC LGBT+ committee which supports “the introduction of a social rather than medical model of gender recognition that will help challenge repressive gender stereotypes in the workplace and in society.”

The motion was a response to the government's current consultation on changes to the 2004 Gender Recognition Act, which will run until the start of October.

Editorial from Solidarity 462

Speaking at a Labour Party event on 10 February, Jeremy Corbyn reaffirmed Labour’s 2017 manifesto pledge “to bring energy, rail, water, and mail into public ownership and to put democratic management at the heart of how those industries are run”.

Editorial from Solidarity 458

Beginning on Thursday 28 December around 80 Iranian cities and towns saw a wave of demonstrations, amounting to the biggest protest against Iran’s authoritarian Islamist political system since the 2009 "Green" reform movement.

This has been a tremendous revolt with the issue of working-class livelihood at the centre. A revolt against years of super-exploitation and a vicious regime which exists to enrich itself and boost its own power.

Workers at Picturehouse Cinema’s flagship “Picturehouse Central” location, near London’s Piccadilly Circus, will shortly begin balloting for new strikes, as part of a growing dispute which also involves workers at Picturehouse’s Brixton, Hackney, and Crouch End sites. The ballot, the timetable for which has yet to be announced, is for further strikes to demand the London Living Wage, decent sick pay, and other improvements to workers’ terms and conditions.

Southern rail workers began a further three-day strike from 18 October in their battle to defend the role of the guard. Southern bosses recently re-offered a £2,000 payment to all workers in exchange for accepting new, non-safety-critical roles as "On-Board Supervisors".

Diary of a journalist

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An Egyptian court which jailed three journalists for “spreading false news” has issued a statement explaining its decision.

Mohamed Fadel Fahmy, Baher Mohamed and Peter Geste, who work for the Al-Jazeera news network, were given jail sentences of seven to ten years after reporting on the brutal repression of Muslim Brotherhood supporters following the military coup of 2013.

The court said that the journalists had “falsified the truth” and that “the devil guided them to use journalism and direct it towards activities against this nation.”

East Midlands Trains workers to ballot

The Rail, Maritime, and Transport workers union (RMT) is balloting train manager, conductor, and stations grades members working for East Midlands Trains for strikes over a variety of issues, including the victimisation of RMT rep Ruth Strong.

The union says the company has taken a “deliberately aggressive attitude” to negotiations over ongoing engineering work at Nottingham station, and accuses East Midlands Trains of “unilaterally ripping up” a number of procedural and conditions-of-service agreements.

Members of the National Union of Journalists at Newquest papers in York struck on Friday 5 October in protest at an ongoing pay freeze.

Newsquest’s figures for Yorkshire and the North East show a pre-tax profit of £1.87m in the 2011 financial year, after total staff costs fell 8.5 per cent to £8.02m. Workers have also suffered through the closure of their final salary pension scheme, which represented a £600,000 saving for management.