With the rise of Reform and the flag-raising phenomenon, it’s hard not to recall my family’s struggles with racism, from Teddy Boys attacking my pregnant mother to me being told to ‘go back to the jungle’ at only five years old, writes ROGER MCKENZIE
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Amazon, Trader Joe’s and SpaceX line up for anti-union attack
These three companies are seeking removal of workers’ rights by arguing that the US National Labour Relations Board is unconstitutional, warns TONY BURKE
An Amazon company logo is seen on the facade of a company's building in Schoenefeld near Berlin, Germany, on March 18, 2022
The move to restrict exports of the important rare earth metals that China has a 90% monopoly on has provoked Trump to declare a 100% tariff on Chinese exports and other retaliatory measures, reports DYLAN MURPHY
Royal Mail’s job quality has plummeted, with gruelling hours, two-tier pay, intense surveillance, and poor work-life balance for postal workers — but our union is fighting back with significant success, writes CWU branch secretary JOHN CARSON
Ben Chacko pays tribute to the author of our much-missed Frosty’s Ramblings column, a champion of the countryside and working-class culture
Introducing a new course open to all, JAY COOK and CHIK COLLINS argue the best way to fight hard-right rhetoric is to explain how everything we have achieved in Britain, from the welfare state to free healthcare, was the product of solidarity, not separation
To deepen the wound of closing Grangemouth, the wind power boom off our shores is going to corporations from France, Japan, China, Ireland — jobs and money going everywhere, it seems, except Scotland, writes KENNY MACASKILL
AMAZON, US grocery chain Trader Joe’s and Elon Musk’s SpaceX, a defence, space craft and satellite manufacturing company — three companies with records of anti-union activity and which face accusations of labour law violations — are attempting to have the entire US system by which workers can seek to secure union rights ruled unconstitutional.
The National Labour Relations Board (NLRB), while cumbersome and subject to abuse by anti-union employers, was set up by the 1935 Wagner Act. This was amended in 1947 through the Taft-Hartley Act (which weakened the law) and in 1959 through the Landrum-Griffin Act.
The main functions of the NLRB are to decide, when petitioned by employees, if an appropriate bargaining unit of employees exists for collective bargaining; to determine by secret-ballot elections (conducted by the NLRB) whether the employees in a business or industry wish to be represented by labour unions; and to prevent or correct unfair labour practices by employers and unions. The US president appoints the five board members and the board’s general counsel.
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