In and against the state
Book from 1979 discussing the experience of working class people, mostly socialists, in working within the public sector in the late 1970s, or relying upon it as service provider; and the contradictions that reveals.
The first version of In and Against the State was published as a pamphlet in 1979; then reissued with minor updates to the original text, and a substantial postscript the next year.
Chapter 1 - In the state
Many people have started talking about such institutions as schools, hospitals, local councils and local magistrates courts as 'the state'. Yet just a few years ago it would have seemed quite out of place to most people to use such a hard, 'political' term about such familiar, everyday things.
UK workplace news roundup, August 2010
Submitted by Django on Aug 29 2010 15:46
Recent industrial news from the UK, including transport strikes in Liverpool, walkouts at West Lothian Council and Southampton libraries, and strike ballots for London firefighters, ambulance drivers, and tube staff.
Bin workers strike at West Lothian council
Refuse workers at West Lothian Council have taken strike action over a pay cut being imposed as part of the downgrading of their jobs.
All refuse workers face a job downgrade which will amount to a cut of at least £2,800 a year. The first 24-hour strike took place on Friday the 27th of August, and was sanctioned by the GMB union.
Not Our Own: Demystifying Goals & Methods of "Progressive" Work
Analytical Tale of Toil by Steven Colatrella
"Transform the world by labor! But the world is being transformed by labor, which is why it is being transformed so badly."
--Raoul Vaneigem
"Anything built on sacrifice and self-renunciation only demands more sacrifice and renunciation."
--BOLO-BOLO
Strike for the living wage at the National Gallery
Submitted by Django on May 13 2010 19:28
Staff at the National Gallery in London have struck for the second time this year to demand the London living wage.
200 staff were involved in the two-hour walkout which began at 1.00pm today, and which closed a large number of rooms in the gallery.
Strikes at Culture & Sport Glasgow
Submitted by Django on May 9 2010 19:55
Workers at leisure centres, art galleries, community centres and other cultural sites in Glasgow have taken part in two days of strike action over pay and working conditions.
Culture & Sport Glasgow (CSG), which runs the sites, has imposed a pay freeze on all staff, a pay cut of 10% on several hundred workers, and has cut overtime and public holiday rates. Weekly working hours are being reduced from 37 to 35 with a 6% cut in pay. In response, two walkouts have taken place, on the 30th of April and 6th of May, with further action threatened.
863-AIDS
An account of working on an HIV-aids helpline in San Francisco.
"How many cases of AIDS have been reported in Kentucky?"
Wave of strikes sweeps Greece
Submitted by taxikipali on Dec 17 2009 10:37
A wave of strikes culminating on Thursdays pan-worker mobilisation has been the response to the scaremongering of the government amidst the worsening economic crisis that threatens Greece with bankruptcy.
After the week of riots came the week of strikes: the multifold strikes that are taking place since Tuesday 15 December and peaked on Thursday 17 with the pan-workers strike called by PAME, the Communist Party Union Front, as wells a dozens of extra-parliamentary parties of the left and first-grade unions forming demos in 58 cities and towns around Greece.
Fighting back - an Edinburgh bin worker reveals the untold story of harrassment during the dispute
Submitted by Django on Dec 16 2009 18:20
An Edinburgh refuse worker describes the background ther dispute with the council, the workers' collective action, and the council's attempts to break the strike. Taken from the second issue of the Edinburgh Muckraker.
What’s behind the dispute?
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