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
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Take the fight to the government
As the NEU meets for its annual conference, teacher and union rep ROBERT POOLE reflects on the most intense period of industrial action in his teaching career
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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
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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
THIS academic year so far has felt strange. A bit anticlimactic even, after such an intense year of industrial action in education. In fact in 2023 I was on strike for more days than in the last 12 years of my teaching career.
After the most intensive industrial action in the history of the National Education Union (NEU) the executive committee recommended that members accept the offer set out by the government. A 6.5 per cent pay rise and £900 million additional funding came with assurances that this funding would not come from front-line school or college budgets.
With the executive, outgoing general secretaries and the incoming general secretary all in favour of the deal it was inevitable that the membership would accept the offer. And so they did in large numbers.
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From colonialism to the Troubles, the story of England’s first colony is one of exploitation, resistance, and solidarity — and one we should fight to ensure is told, writes teacher ROBERT POOLE
As the government moves to rein in academy freedoms, former darling of conservative education reform Katharine Birbalsingh cries ‘Marxism.’ Education columnist ROBERT POOLE examines how academisation has failed our children while enriching executives and empowering ideologues at the expense of democratic accountability
ROBERT POOLE reports back from his mission to Cuba delivering aid and learning from Cuban educators
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