By refusing to recognise a Palestinian state and continuing to supply Israel with weapons, Meloni has provoked an uprising that is without precedent in the history of solidarity with Palestine — and it could change Italy profoundly too, writes RAMZY BAROUD
For rail, minimum service levels could be deadly
Aslef general secretary MICK WHELAN warns that any attempt to run trains with a skeleton crew due to the outrageous stipulations of the Tories’ anti-strike Bill could easily lead to a disastrous loss of life
CLARITY AND RESOLVE: Railworkers on a picket line at Euston station in London in September 2023, second from right, Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan
The new angle from private firms shmoozing their way into public contracts was the much-trumpeted arrival of ‘artificial intelligence’ — and no-one seemed to have heard the numerous criticisms of this unproven miracle cure, reports SOLOMON HUGHES
With the ceasefire and peace process now firmly in place for almost a decade, Colombia’s peace court has begun issuing its first sentences against both sides over human rights violations during the armed conflict, reports NICK MACWILLIAM
As war between Iran and the West looms once more, NAVID SHOMALI sounds the alarm bell and calls on the peace movement in Britain and internationally to mobilise for action before it is too late
A day of strike action is set to be unleashed today, against tax injustice, attacks on pensions and the anti-democratic manoeuvrings of Macron, writes BILL GREENSHIELDS
Once again, working people have been betrayed with false promises about jobs in an industry that is actually making climate change worse, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
I HAVE spent most of my adult life working in Britain’s railway industry. And I have spent all my adult life as a member of a trade union. I joined the railway as a guard in 1984 — joining the NUR which, a few years later, when it merged with the National Union of Seamen, became RMT — and then, when I became a train driver, driving freight and passenger services, I joined Aslef, the train drivers’ trade union.
As a railwayman — as a guard, as a driver, and as a union rep — I have always been acutely aware that the railway is a safety-critical industry.
Because when things go wrong — with the technology, the infrastructure, the signalling or the rolling stock — people get hurt and sometimes people die.
More from this author
Two-hundred years ago, on September 27 1825, the world’s first passenger railway line was opened between Stockton and Darlington. MICK WHELAN, general secretary of Aslef, the train drivers’ union, reflects on the history – and the future – of Britain’s railway industry
On the eve of the 157th Trades Union Congress, MICK WHELAN, general secretary of Aslef, the train drivers’ union, celebrates victory in his campaign to get dignity for drivers at work
As the labour movement meets to remember the Tolpuddle Martyrs, MICK WHELAN, general secretary of train drivers’ union Aslef, says it’s an appropriate moment to remind the Labour government to listen to the trade unions a little more
Aslef general secretary MICK WHELAN writes for the Morning Star on the eve of the TUC in Brighton, about the pay offer from the DfT, relations with the Labour government, and the union’s motion at Congress calling for the renationalisation of rail freight
