Two very strange thoughts have been running through my mind since the start of March. One is: ‘Thank goodness for the common sense of American people’. The second, somewhat to my own surprise is: ‘I really hope Boris Johnson stays in his job, at least until August’. Let me explain. Point One. We can all […]
The hope of humanity? There is a relatively well-known saying on the left that ‘the cause of labour is the hope of the world’. It is one which the left-wing magazine, Tribune, for example, continues to promote. Labour here is not the Labour Party but workers whose labour creates the wealth of the world but […]
Roz Foyer critiques the ‘business as usual’ thinking and rallies us for a fight. Last year in Scottish Left Review’s STUC congress, I argued for a People’s Recovery, setting out our demands for a different track for Scotland’s economy. Now as our class faces the worst cost-of-living crisis for decades and the Scottish Government has […]
Pat Rafferty outlines how UNITE turned challenges into opportunities. It’s rightly assumed – though often goes without saying like many things – but a union is nothing without its members. The last two difficult years have really brought this fact to the fore. The union reps, shop stewards, convenors and the individual members who give […]
Lilian Macer says only unions have offered – and continue to offer – the hope of standing up for workers. The rhetoric from the UK Government is that Covid pandemic is over. However, as unions, we’ve all now seen the changeability of this situation and know that the virus remains a threat. As we look […]
Andrea Bradley recounts how the EIS responded rapidly and radically to the ‘new’ normal in education. As the world’s oldest teacher union, the EIS has faced massive tests of its strength and resilience throughout its 175-year history. Covid’s capacity to shake education’s foundations to their very core – not only in Scotland but worldwide – […]
Tracy Gilbert recounts how Usdaw has risen to the challenges workers face in the retail sector. After almost two years since the first lockdown, and as we are ushered into the ‘living with Covid’ era, it’s perhaps a good time to reflect on one of the most tumultuous periods in Usdaw’s history. Like every other […]
Mary Senior argues an alliance of staff and students is the surest foundation for protecting higher education. It’s two years since the pandemic hit, and university staff and students shifted online overnight. In the higher education sector, we’ve experienced more than our fair share of challenges, from Covid, health and safety, and from recalcitrant employers […]
Cat Boyd says the PCS union is developing its bargaining agenda and wants to work with others to achieve this. When pundits and politicians say that the pandemic has changed everything, I can only hope that they are right. The global Covid-19 crisis made clear the systematic inequalities in our economies, societies and polities. The […]
Caroline Sewell shows what the Musicians’ Union has done during the pandemic but demands state support to go further. The music industry, and indeed the wider creative industries, have been amongst the most deeply impacted as a result of the global pandemic. The music industry relies on the ability to tour both domestically and internationally, […]