To defend Puerto Rico’s right to peace is to defend Venezuela’s right to exist, argues MICHELLE ELLNER
Red in tooth and claw
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
Despite the apocalyptic destruction RAMZY BAROUD points to Gaza’s triumph of spirit against the architecture of genocide
We are demanding action from our politicians to deliver justice, fairness and decency throughout our communities – join us, says ROZ FOYER
After NGOs and the EU, UN condemns Germany’s crackdown on Palestine Solidarity, writes LEON WYSTRYCHOWSKI
It’s not just the Starmer regime: the workers of Britain have always faced legal affronts on their right to assemble and dissent, and the Labour Party especially has meddled with our freedoms from its earliest days, writes KEITH FLETT
Once again Tower Hamlets is being targeted by anti-Islam campaigners, this time a revamped and radicalised version of Ukip — the far-right event is now banned by the police, but we’ll be assembling this Saturday to make sure they stay away, says JAYDEE SEAFORTH
WHAT a summer! What a whirlwind! What a landslide! The new Labour government was elected on Thursday July 4; Keir Starmer, the prime minister — doesn’t that sound good? — appointed Louise Haigh as the new secretary of state for transport on the afternoon of Friday July 5; appointed Peter Hendy as the new rail minister on Tuesday July 9; and we met them at Great Minster House in Whitehall on the morning of Wednesday July 10. Lou and Peter could not have seen us sooner!
We set out what we believed was needed to resolve our national pay dispute which has dragged on, under the Tories, for two years — we first balloted for industrial action in June 2022 and we first went on strike at the end of the following month — and they promptly appointed people to meet us, and the first formal meeting was scheduled for Tuesday July 23.
After a couple more meetings, we got an offer on Wednesday August 14 — a good offer, a fair offer, and, what we have always asked for, a clean offer, without a land grab for all our terms and conditions — which we have put to our members at the 16 train companies involved: Avanti West Coast, Chiltern, c2c, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Greater Anglia, Great Northern Thameslink, Great Western Railway, LNER, Northern, Southeastern, Southern/Gatwick Express, South Western Railway and Island Line, TransPennine Express, and West Midlands Trains — with a recommendation to accept, in a referendum which went out on Wednesday August 28 and which will close on Wednesday September 18.
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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
But unions warn renationalisation must not be fudged
