State machinery was widely employed to secure favourable outcomes in India’s recent regional elections against three progressive regional governments who dared to challenge Narendra Modi, asserts VIJAY PRASHAD
AMID momentous struggles against the odds, victories can sometimes get rather overlooked. A strike going ahead is always more newsworthy than a strike called off.
So let’s take a moment to applaud the women strikers of Glasgow, who this week had their compensation deal signed off by the city council. Their fight for equal pay met with a decade of intransigence and obstruction from SNP and Labour politicians alike, and they were blasted as irresponsible and ignorant of their own lot. On the contrary, their victory shows this council as one of lions led by donkeys.
There was also a win in a smaller – but no less significant – fight. Tenants’ union Living Rent this week announced it had been successful in claiming back £550 in illegal tenant fees from letting agent Castle Residential. Last month the Star reported that bosses refused a hearing to out-of-pocket tenants when they picketed outside and asked for a meeting. Living Rent organised another demo on Tuesday this week – but minutes before it was due to start, the letting agent coughed up.
Women are a vital part of the labour movement and have much to contribute, but there’s far more to be done to make sure that our sisters’ voices are truly heard, says PHILIPA HARVEY
PCS members face dangerous working conditions in crumbling buildings while the Common Platform IT system obstructs rather than streamlines operations — and Labour’s promised wave of insourcing has not materialised, writes SHARON McLEAN
GLYN ROBBINS celebrates how tenant-led campaigning forced the government to drop Pay to Stay, fixed-term tenancies and council home sell-offs under Cameron — but warns that Labour’s faith in private developers will require renewed resistance
We’ll be developing a people’s manifesto for the 2026 local elections. We’ll network, learn, inspire and support each other and chart a future path for socialist politics, writes JAMIE DRISCOLL



