General secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions GAWAIN LITTLE calls for support and participation in the national partnership organised to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 1926 general strike
Latest editorial
Hear the voice of union builders
MARTIN SMITH says unions must be proactive if Labour's promises are to be turned into tangible gains for workers
GMB amazon
After brutal police crackdowns on pensioners and the forced approval of secret IMF deals, trade unions are finally responding to grassroots pressure and fighting back against savage neoliberal reforms, reports BERT SCHOUWENBURG
Bizarrely, Trump’s latest attacks now include the National Zoo, but his real and racist agenda is to strip everything black from the country’s cultural institutions, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
The transformation of a stable secular state into a fractured ruin largely ruled by Western-backed fundamentalists exposes the hollow nature of ‘multipolarity’ and the absence of principled anti-imperialism today, writes ZOLTAN ZIGEDY
Facing economic turmoil, Jim Callaghan’s government rejected Tony Benn’s alternative economic strategy in favour of cuts that paved the way for Thatcherism — and the cuts-loving Labour of the present era, writes KEITH FLETT
The economic value of disability benefits far outweighs their cost, argues Dr DYLAN MURPHY
As tensions rise in the Middle East, the role of Iran in the region’s political balance becomes ever more significant. STEVE BISHOP assesses the current situation
I RECENTLY received a very large box from Amazon. When I tore it open it was just a small set of paintbrushes which I had forgotten I had ordered. The rest was just packing paper.
The letdown and feeling of being slightly mocked, if not conned, reminded me of how union builders felt in 1999, when we finally got to open up the big shiny gift box containing the New Labour Employment Bill, only to find quite small changes largely unenforceable
Since the election in July we have been bombarded with repeat announcements that government still intends to end the Minimum Service Levels Act, improve access to workplaces for unions, end fire and rehire, grant a right to disconnect and so on as set out in the New Deal for Working People.
More from this author
Martin Smith speaks to general secretary of the App Drivers and Couriers Union ZAMIR DRENI about his members’ fight against the nefarious methods of exploitation by shadowy app giants like Uber and Bolt
As the prospect of a Labour government becomes increasingly likely, MARTIN SMITH looks at the lessons for unions from the 1997-2010 era and focuses on what our core goals should be today
MARTIN SMITH revisits some core organising principles that were to the fore in battles of the ’90s and which remain just as relevant today
Former head of organising at GMB MARTIN SMITH puts forward eight principles to capitalise on the current wave of militancy
