Labour’s cynical recruitment drive normalises militarism, diverts attention from youth unemployment and public service cuts, and seeks to build consent for an increasingly aggressive defence agenda, argues GEORGINA ANDREWS
Workers’ rights in globalised industry – how can we protect them?
Over the summer the Morning Star reported on a new study showing that major fashion brands were complicit in union-busting by Third World suppliers in the garment industry. Editor Ben Chacko spoke to IndustriALL general secretary VALTER SANCHES to find out what trade unions can do to tackle abuses stretching across international supply chains
JULIA BARD looks at the persistence of anti-semitism on the political right – and its troubling emergence on parts of the left, too
As unemployment rises and living standards fall, May’s economic announcement risks locking Britain into further decline rather than charting a new course, warns JON TRICKETT MP
Despite systemic racism and far-right hostility, Britain’s migrant and black communities continue to contribute, inspire, and resist. Through education, art, and intergenerational solidarity, the next generation can help shape a future rooted in justice, understanding, and hope, says ZITA HOLBOURNE
Campaigns against nuclear weapons on the Clyde, financial backing for arms firms and rising militarism are converging with solidarity for Palestine, as Scotland’s peace movement builds momentum ahead of the 2026 Holyrood election, says ARTHUR WEST
A US air strike in north-west Nigeria, publicly framed as a Christmas act of counterterrorism, reveals a deeper shift in how power is exercised in Africa, argues RAIS NEZA BONEZA
THE Covid-19 crisis and the lockdowns imposed as a result hit the garment industry hard, causing order cancellations and job losses in producer countries.
What can trade unions do to press brands to shield suppliers from the risk of a sudden loss of income that they pass onto their workers?
“This problem emerged early in the pandemic. In April many brands endorsed a call to action, a tripartite initiative led by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) with a commitment by brands to pay for finished goods and goods in production.
“Brands that haven’t endorsed the call should be pressed to do so,” Sanches says.
Similar stories
Ben Cowles speaks with IAN ‘TREE’ ROBINSON and ANDY DAVIES, two of the string pullers behind the Manchester Punk Festival, ahead of its 10th year show later this month
JESSICA WIDNER explores how the twin themes of violence and love run through the novels of South Korean Nobel prize-winner Han Kang
CAROLINE FOWLER explains how the slave trade helped establish the ‘golden age’ of Dutch painting and where to find its hidden traces
The Morning Star sorts the good eggs from the rotten scoundrels of the year