FRAN HEATHCOTE believes that while the the Chancellor outlined some positive steps, the government does not appreciate the scale of the cost-of-living crisis affecting working-class people, whose lives are blighted by endemic low pay
IN THE run-up to the conference season, every year I think to myself that the labour movement is coming together at a crucial moment. Perhaps this is a sign of the times.
We’re a decade on from the financial crash and living with the legacy of 40 years of neoliberalism. Insecure employment and in-work poverty are foundations of the economy, union membership and coverage are close to a record low and increasingly your life chances are determined not by how hard you work, but what you start off with.
But these things are not just a sign of the times — they’re a sign of how much we have to do and what our priorities need to be at TUC Congress and then Labour Conference in the coming weeks.
CWU leader DAVE WARD tells Ben Chacko a strategy to unite workers on class lines is needed – and sectoral collective bargaining must be at its heart



