The Commune
Report back from the Right to Work conference
Last Saturday saw the second Right to Work conference take place in Manchester City Centre. Held across two venues; the Methodist Central Hall on Oldham street and the historic Mechanics Institute, it was billed by its organisers as “a conference of resistance and solidarity” in the face of the economic crisis.
The Right to Work campaign has its origins in the SWP, and is a revamp of a similar front it ran in the early 80s. It appears that in the wettest dreams of the SWP central committee, the campaign will be the recession-themed answer to the Stop the War coalition, and provide a similar profile boost.
Latin american workers in Unite: from heroes to pariahs
In September 2009, Unite evicted the Latin American Workers Association from the office space which they had been providing. LAWAS had not only been backing migrant workers agains the bosses: they had also been backing them against the union.
In September 2009 Unite the union ordered the Latin American Workers Association (LAWAS) without notice to vacate the office which it had provided the Association with in its southeast region HQ in Manor House, thus ending a five year partnership.
Post strikes suspended: this deal is no deal! Resume action!
Joe Thorne from the Commune examines the CWU's decision to call off postal workers industrial action in order for "negotiations" to occur, and calls for postal workers to take the struggle into their own hands.
At the top of the CWU-Royal Mail agreement is a header. “Final Draft – 5 November 2009 —- 1.10AM” (available as PDF attachment below). This innocuous line is emblematic of the CWU negotiating team’s strategy: it indicates that the text was agreed more than 7 hours after the strikes were called off.
Get this racist Jack Straw off the BBC
Leaflet distributed at the Unite Against Fascism demonstration against British National party leader Nick Griffin's appearance on Question Time arguing against censorship and "ruling class anti-fascism".
The recent row over the British National Party’s appearance on BBC Question Time displays the level of anger at the rise of the far-right party. All of us have turned out today because we oppose Nick Griffin’s racist effort to blame immigrants for all of society’s ills, including the economic crisis, and do not want his rubbish to gain more of an audience.
In detail: national Royal Mail strike
As postal workers vote overwhelmingly for nationwide industrial action, two workers explain the causes of the dispute.
Regional disputes over working practices and conditions have escalated over the past 15 weeks, and now 76% of Communication Workers Union (CWU) members have voted in favour of national walkouts.
The Commune spoke to two union representatives about the root causes of the dispute, which have been misrepresented by the mainstream media:
[b] THERE’S A WAR GOING ON…
Tower Hamlets College strikers interview
The Commune interviews two participants in the September 2009 ESOL teachers strike in East London against job cuts.
Tell us about what unions workers are in, their organising capacity, and of their previous relationship with management
The struggle at Visteon, the union and the development of class consciousness, 2009
Joe Thorne from The Commune analyses the Ford Visteon workers occupation and dispute, the role of the union, and draws lessons for workers in the future. The article was published on 5th May 2009.
Notes from the Enfield Visteon occupation rally
Comments and thoughts from the rally in support of the occupied Enfield Visteon plant on Saturday 4 April 2009.
At 2pm last Tuesday, 565 workers at three sites of Visteon, a car component manufacturer tied to Ford, were given six minutes notice of redundancy. They did not get their last week’s pay, though it turned out that the Friday before around four or five hundred quid had been deposited in each of their accounts in place of redundancy pay.
