Fownhope’s Heart of Oak Society traces its roots to the age of friendly societies, when communities provided their own safety net. Its anniversary celebrations reveal a tradition still very much alive, says MARK SEDDON
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Engie: low-wage contractors and the NHS
SOLOMON HUGHES looks at the French firm drafted in by the privateers to run security in our hospitals and its empty commitment to the Living Wage
French connection: Engie is expanding its grip on the public sector in Britain
ANGUS REID explains the significance of Cuba’s egalitarian in letter and spirit Family Code and the pertinent lessons it holds for democracies anywhere in the world
Special report by PEOPLE’S WORLD
NICK WRIGHT considers how the isolation of Israel and a new film on the controversial Italian communist leader are creating new reference points for Italy’s left
CARLOS MARTINEZ says Cuba’s achievements in the face of a criminal blockade are startling, but the island’s future if the United States succeeds in crushing it looks bleak
AMNON BROWNFIELD STEIN reports that far-right MPs who mobbed the event organised by Hadash may have helped raise awareness of the brutality of the Israeli right
CONTRACTED-OUT security guards at Tameside Hospital in Greater Manchester have voted to strike for equal pay with their NHS colleagues in a dispute that shows what is wrong with Britain’s “crony capitalism.”
The guards work at Tameside — but they work for a multinational corporation called Engie. Thanks to both New Labour and Tory privatisation, many workers who run our public services are actually employed by the private sector: the big corporations squeeze their profits out of our NHS, our taxes and their work.
According to their union, Unison, the Tameside guards are paid less than NHS rates. Some are paid only the minimum wage rate of £8.72 an hour, or lower for under-25s.
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