UK against austerity

Workers divided as teachers and lecturers strike alone in London

Submitted by Battlescarred on Mar 27 2012 21:12

As groups of education workers have been left to strike alone in London on March 28, the Anarchist Federation (London) argue that we cannot rely on the union leaderships, and we need to find a way of organising collectively ourselves.

The strike actions called by the trade unions on March 28th in a supposed response to the attacks on pensions have moved from a “day of action” to a complete farce.

Do we only love unions when they strike? Response to a defence of trade unionism

Submitted by Steven. on Mar 21 2012 18:12

Steven Johns responds to an article in Freedom newspaper by Ewa Jasiewicz defending trade unionism and arguing that its critics "can undermine workers in struggle".

I wrote this article in response to You only love us when we strike: in the defence of trade unionism when I first saw it on June 30, 2011, as it was in the issue of Freedom which was being distributed to people striking against [URL=/

Catalyst #29 - Newspaper of the Solidarity Federation

In this issue

The great workfare scandal - thousands forced to do unpaid work for their benefits

Resisting, questioning, creating - 101 years of International Women's Day

Victory for the Sparks - Electricians beat back BESNA cuts to pay and conditions

Interview - John Foley, the man behind the 'RyanAir don't care' campaign

And Then?

Dan Hancox reflects on the protests since Millbank in November 2010 and argues that in the demographic behind UK Uncut, the 'graduate with no future', there is cause for optimism.

The one theme that has bound together 12 months of sporadic yet extraordinary public unrest, in Britain and across the world, is the sense that we cannot go on like this. Neo-liberal capitalism is done for, a proven failure that even its beneficiaries rarely bother to defend anymore.

Liverpool workers ‘locked out’ by bosses occupy factory

Submitted by working class s... on Feb 18 2012 20:18

Striking workers in Liverpool have been locked out of their factory in a dispute over redundancies. In response, they have occupied the factory. The occupation has been temporarily suspended as their initial demands have been met. It is apparently the first 'lock out' of workers by bosses in Britain since 1958

Around 140 workers at Mayr-Melnhof packaging in Liverpool have been on strike over the past week in response to management attacking their terms and conditions, and planned job cuts.

Attack on electricians' contracts wobbles as Balfour Beatty folds

Submitted by Rob Ray on Feb 17 2012 13:21

Sparks are celebrating a major breakthrough in their battle to stop a co-ordinated attempt by some of Britain's biggest construction firms to deskill their jobs and impose pay cuts of up to 35% after main player Balfour Beatty threw in the towel.

Balfour has given up on trying to kill off JIB, an industry-wide agreement on pay and conditions, so it could be replaced with the vastly inferior Besna plan, which would have let contractors raise and lower hourly pay depending on what tasks were being done, rather than maintaining a standard wage for skilled work.

Tesco's secret workfare

Submitted by Steven. on Feb 16 2012 23:20

Furious shoppers are threatening to boycott Tesco after their use of forced labour schemes came to light yesterday.

An advert on the Jobcentre Plus website is calling for night-shift workers who will be expected to work for just Jobseekers Allowance (paid by the Government, not Tesco, at a rate of £53.45 per week for under 25s) plus expenses. The position is advertised as permanent.

Adventures in the sausage factory: a cursory overview of UK university struggles, November 2010 – July 2011

Nearly a year after the attenuation of a wave of further and higher education struggles against state-led ‘decomposition’, Danny Hayward looks back at the faultlines within this resistance and the future which follows its defeat

Decomposing Higher Education: Stage One

Party leaders push reform - "[insert adjective here] capitalism" on the way?

Submitted by Django on Feb 9 2012 22:07

The leaders of all three major parties in the UK have been making the case for "reforming" British capitalism, while at the same time digging the grave of the welfare state. What's going on?

There's been some interesting debates on libcom recently about reform and whether it's possible.1

Barnet council workers to strike against privatisation

Submitted by Django on Feb 6 2012 18:15

On Thursday 9 February, hundreds of Barnet council UNISON members will go on strike. Barnet council workers are fighting plans to mass-outsource council services and jobs to the private sector.

The council is going ahead with a £750m “support and customer services project” where a private company will be engaged to deliver services like council estates, finance, human resources, information systems, procurement, revenues and benefits and project management services.