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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Union building under Labour
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
Starmer TUC
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
ON CURRENT trends and despite recent turmoil, pollsters are telling us that 2024 seems on course to produce a Labour-led government (at least).
The Tory Party seems likely to be punished for its eugenics and corruption during Covid, the collapse of public services and the economic incompetence of the Liz Truss period.
Issues over how best to continue union-building work in a climate that unions have not had to navigate for 14 years will now come to the fore for many organisations.
We are in an urgent debate over how best unions can avoid the expectation of blank cheque loyalty on every issue that will arise from the party, especially when the shine wears off — and how in the meantime unions resist being policed by Labour. Simply put, will unions choose the role of critical ally or uncritical cheerleader? And what might that look like in 2024 compared to 1997?
A bit of 1997-era history is worthwhile. In 1997 we could have done anything. New Labour was elected with a majority of 179 on a wave of anti-Tory sentiment after 18 years in opposition.
For much of that time, trade unions had adopted the “dented shield” approach, retreating from conflict with employers, and stepping back from industrial campaigning as we waited for a Labour government to arrive and get us off life support.
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