Issue 110
Mar – Apr 2019
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The March/April issue of Scottish Left Review is our traditional STUC congress edition. In it, we ask a variety of unions to write about the issues facing them and what they are doing about them. This year, we have tried something a bit different. In the spirit of being a magazine seeking to act as […]
Scottish Left Review encourages our readers to respond to published articles. Here we print correspondence on an article in the last issue. Joseph McAleer (Scottish Left Review, January/February 2019) positions himself alongside right-wing figures such as US Senators, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, in his apparent support for punitive US sanctions against the people of […]
Whether by design or default, Lynn Henderson calls for redistribution of the digital dividends Automation, digitalisation and data are the labour movement’s latest buzzwords, and mostly they express a mood of techno-anxiety more than techno-optimism. Perhaps, it’s no surprise to hear workers worrying about their jobs, particularly with forecasts of mass, tech-driven redundancies reported in […]
Jennifer McCarey and Brian Smith explain the organising approach that produced strength from weakness October 2018 saw Scotland’s and Britain’s largest women’s strike for equal pay. It represented a significant change in Scottish union strategies around equal pay because it included a combination of public campaigning and industrial muscle. It provided inspiring images of working […]
Mary Senior outlines the UCU successfully mobilised around pensions We were told that the Trade Union Act 2016 would mean the end of any national UK-wide industrial action. Our crucial lesson from 2018 is that when unions work systematically to get a vote out, when we are organised and put in the ground work, and […]
David Belsey outlines how the EIS is approaching the issue The EIS has had an active couple of years with several successful high-profile campaigns seeking to use the ‘organising’ model of campaigning. Organising is about empowering members, increasing their engagement so that passive members become active members and encouraging them to believe that their actions […]
Denise Christie explains the strategic approach to building from the workplace up 2018 saw the FBU celebrate 100 years of existence (see Scottish Left Review, September/October 2018) and we are proud we have sought to build a campaigning and democratic union specifically for our service – the Fire and Rescue Service (F&RS). We continue that […]
Caroline Sewell explains the band didn’t just play on but reached out to new members with new messages The past year has seen the Musicians’ Union (MU) and our members endure potentially existential threats to their professional survival. Whether this has come from Brexit or cuts to instrumental music tuition in schools, this has been […]
Mick Cash explains how a campaign was won and then had to be re-instated on human waste on the tracks How would you feel if you went to work knowing human excrement could be sprayed on you as you did your job? That’s exactly what railway track workers in Scotland have had to put up […]
Peter Hunter outlines how UNISON has been pushing ahead on the organising front UNISON has a growing confidence in the power of itself as a union. Membership in Scotland is growing and our numbers across Britain have increased to a 20 year high. But our confidence isn’t based on numbers alone. Confidence in our industrial […]
Matt Kerr recounts the moves the CWU has made to gear up to the challenges the union faces The last year has been a busy one for the CWU, but more importantly, a successful one as we further hone our campaigning, industrial and political strategies. The previous year had seen the CWU successfully deliver a […]
Exposing the extent of undercover policing in Scotland, ‘Andrea’ renews the call for a public inquiry The undercover policing scandal has been unfolding since 2010. As victims of political policing in Scotland, we seek the truth as to why we were spied upon and why our lives were so cruelly disrupted. We have asked for […]
Tony Adams recalls a forgotten chapter of the events around ‘Red Clydeside’ in 1919 The year, 1919, in Britain represents a high point in working class struggle and one un-matched since in its breath and scale. Over 34m working days were not worked due to strikes compared to an average of 4.5m for each of […]
Linda Clarke and Melahat Sahin-Dikmen show how two aspects of the Just Transition combine European Union (EU) 2020 plans to reduce CO2 emissions and increase the use of renewable energy target the construction sector, responsible for 40% of end use emissions in Europe. The European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) requires that by December […]
Ian Paterson argues there are ways of producing proficient politics Us Scots are kidding ourselves, if we think we’re a good example of democracy. In years to come, future generations will look back at us, as an example of how not to run a society. So what is our crooked version of democracy? We take […]
Frieda Park looks at how right-wing forces are trying to turn back progress in Venezuela It is no coincidence that Elliot Abrams has been appointed as Trump’s envoy to Venezuela. Abrams was involved in the Iran-Contra scandal in the 1980s when officials in the Reagan administration sold arms to Iran, in contravention of sanctions. They […]
Neil Gray, Joey Simons and Bechaela Walker summarise the origins, achievements and ambitions of the Living Rent tenants’ union As Friedrich Engels made clear, housing crises are neither a temporary inconvenience nor a partial failure of the market but a systemic and perennial feature of capitalist relations. Since housing has become such a central pillar […]
Following from our Just Transition edition, Sean Whittaker assesses the right to access information campaigners need Scotland is facing an unprecedented environmental crisis, with threats such as climate change and pollution acting as focal points for concern. Public authorities in Scotland have a key role in protecting the environment, but questions have been raised about […]
Kenny MacAskill, Glasgow 1919: The Rise of Red Clydeside, Biteback, pp320, 9781785904547, £20 Reviewed by Sean Sheehan Much has been written and remembered about events in Glasgow’s George Square in 1919 when civilians battled police. Troops and tanks appeared on the streets of the city and remained there for a week. It has become the […]
I’m writing this from South Australia, where I’m performing for a month. Despite the country’s close cultural links to Britain, television news down under gives very little coverage to British politics. As a result, I am being drip-fed snippets of news via the internet and phone calls to home, and it seems like I am […]