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
Mark Serwotka’s contribution must be recognised
At the helm of Britain’s eighth-largest union for a quarter of a century, he is rightly seen as one of the most principled and effective class fighters of our times, writes JOHN McINALLY
General secretary of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, Mark Serwotka (centre), joins union members of the on the picket line outside the office of HM Treasury, in Westminster. Around 100,000 civil servants from 124 government departments, the Border Force, museums, February 1, 2023
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
MARK SERWOTKA’s retirement after nearly 25 years as general secretary of Civil Service and outsourced workers’ union PCS, is a significant moment for the union itself and the wider movement.
When I visited him in Papworth Hospital as he awaited a heart transplant in 2016, a procedure fraught with danger, we were both aware it may be the last time we met, yet he focused little on his own precarious situation but expressed great concern toward me following a dreadful bereavement.
His concentration and strategic foresight in the detailed conversation that followed was, given the burden of his condition, remarkable for its analysis of PCS’s perspectives and identification of the tasks ahead.
More from this author
April 9 1928 – July 26 2025
JOHN McINALLY argues trade unions and socialists must demand properly funded healthcare instead of a change that, combined with neoliberal capitalism, will see working-class people pushed towards suicide
JOHN McINALLY warns that Labour’s hasty push for legislation ignores the international evidence of expanding eligibility criteria, potentially normalising the ‘social murder’ of working-class people under the guise of compassion
Labour must fight to ensure any new laws do not become tools for social cleansing of the poor and disabled, argues JOHN McINALLY, as some begin considering NHS savings that could come at the cost of working-class lives
