Issue 128
Mar – Apr 2022
Download PDF
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, […]
Phil Fairlie says staying in touch has meant doing things differently in order to provide representation. Working out how best to stay in touch with your members during a global pandemic has been testing. Finding ways of keeping them informed at a time when they are desperate for information, on matters that are a bit […]
Paul Flynn records the success of a young union for pharmacists. This year the Scottish Trade Union Congress (STUC) celebrates its 125th anniversary: 125 years of Scotland’s workers standing united to support one another to achieve improvements in their lives and livelihoods. This has seen more sectors being organised and new unions created, bringing more […]
James Mitchell decries the lack of local power in local government and advocates radical reform. Somewhere along the way, debate on how Scotland should be governed splintered and narrowed. Perhaps, the roots of the splintering lay in separate Royal Commissions on local government and the constitution in the 1960s. There was certainly overlap in the […]
Ellie Harrison outlines how progress is possible. This year’s local elections are set to become the battle for our buses. New powers – which we fought for and won in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 – will become available later this year. These include the power to re-regulate private bus companies for the first time […]
With the local government election on 5 May 2022, we asked a number of left candidates from different parties to tell us why they are standing and what they hope to gain from doing so. Each party was given 600 words to do so. Alba was given its opportunity in the Jan/Feb 2022 issue. Scottish […]
Stella Rooney critically assesses what the parliamentary pact is about and what is has delivered and not delivered. Following last year’s Scottish Parliament elections, a green and yellow alliance between the SNP and Scottish Greens was forged. Working towards the aim of a ‘Greener, Fairer Independent Scotland’, the shared programme for government contained significant gains […]