JOE BESWICK of the London Renters Union talks to the Morning Star’s new Left on Record programme
Latest editorial
From GCHQ to minimum service levels, union power can win
PCS leader FRAN HEATHCOTE draws the parallels between a major trade union rights battle 40 years ago and the fight we have ahead of us today
GCHQ workers
TODAY thousands of trade unionists from across the movement will come together in Cheltenham to mark the 40th anniversary of one of the longest trade union disputes in British history.
Fourteen civil servants working in GCHQ were sacked simply for being a member of a union. What followed was a 13-year campaign that ended in victory, when the ban was finally lifted. Forty years on, our movement once again faces an existential threat, with minimum service levels undermining the right to strike.
Back in 1984, Margaret Thatcher enforced a ban on trade union membership. Over 100 workers refused to give up this basic right and by 1988, there were 14 workers still holding out. Their defiance cost them their jobs and they were sacked.
More from this author
Public and Commercial Services union leader FRAN HEATHCOTE warns the Chancellor not to take an axe to the Civil Service – and points to measures that would genuinely improve the public sector
As the government ploughs ahead with £3 billion in welfare cuts, arbitrary office-return mandates, and below-inflation pay rises, women will bear the brunt through deepening poverty and increased caring burdens, argues FRAN HEATHCOTE
There is no stronger economy without the stronger wages that provide extra disposable income, which is why workers – including civil servants – must have their pay boosted in real terms, along with restored union rights and insourcing, says FRAN HEATHCOTE
As Labour takes power, PCS general secretary FRAN HEATHCOTE urges solidarity to push for workers’ rights and calls for pension justice and job security after years of Tory attacks on civil servants
