This week the Welsh trade union movement comes together in Llandudno for TUC Cymru congress to debate motions and consider priorities for the next two years. JESS TURNER sets the stage
Latest editorial
Rent hikes threaten the institution of council housing
Above-inflation rent increases will push council tenants deeper into poverty while failing to address the housing crisis — and it won’t really raise any money, as council rent arrears are doubling across the country, argues MARTIN WICKS
A view from Blackpool Tower of terraced houses in Blackpool, Lancashire
Blocked fertiliser exports and an extreme climate fluctuation may spell disaster for global food production, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
HOLLY TURNER, DR EMMA RUNSWICK, JORDAN RIVERA and PAULA DUNNE reflect on their joint union fringe meeting at this week’s Royal College of Nursing Congress in Liverpool
The Employment Rights Act marks a major victory for workers, but without stronger enforcement and collective organisation, its promises may fall short, says ALICE BOWMAN
The ghosts of Custer’s doomed campaign haunt a modern America still devoted to waging imperialist war, says STEPHEN ARNELL
Trump’s drive for ‘regime change’ in Cuba has deepened the crisis across the island – while Venezuela has reaffirmed its commitment to Bolivarian solidarity, says FRANCISCO DOMINGUEZ
RATHER than proposing to increase the financial pressure on tenants with above-inflation rent increases, councils should be seeking the support of tenants in a campaign for the government to fund Housing Revenue Accounts (HRAs) sufficiently to maintain and improve existing homes.
Support for the government’s proposal for five years of above-inflation rent increases for council and housing association tenants is almost universal with housing associations and is even supported by some councils that have signed the document Securing the Future of Council Housing.
London councils are calling for 10 years of CPI plus 1 per cent. Clearly, councils are short of the funding they need to maintain and improve their homes. Yet above-inflation increases are, in our view, short-sighted and counter-productive. It will further impoverish already poor tenants who do not have their rent covered by housing benefit.
Similar stories
Our housing crisis isn’t an accident – it’s class war, trapping millions in poverty while landlords and billionaires profit. To solve it, we need comprehensive transformation, not mere tokenistic reform, writes BECK ROBERTSON