In the wake of his recent humanitarian visit to Cuba, RICHARD BURGON points to the now urgent need to defend the island’s political sovereignty and its right to self-determination
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Hitting back at precarious work in the world of hipster capitalism
The world of tech start up ‘disruptors’ is as much a site of class struggle as any workplace, writes HARRY DOBSON in a letter from the oat-milk latte sector
Think beanbags, beer pong on a Friday, “tech start-ups” in which all staff are required to adopt liberalism as a political philosophy and an obsession with coffee as a lifestyle.
Thousands of jobs are at risk across higher education, yet government funding appears only when universities can be linked to military objectives, says JO GRADY, in the run-up to the Stop the War International Conference this Saturday
The Wye, Usk, Arrow and Lugg were once treasured for their clean waters – today, pollution and corporate excess are fuelling demands for a return to public ownership, says MARK SEDDON
The new Employment Rights Act is a step forward, but restoring collective bargaining and union power remains essential to tackling insecurity, outsourcing and low pay, says PAUL WHITEHOUSE
Rising support for Farage’s party reflects Labour’s failure to defend working-class living standards or offer a credible alternative to neoliberal decline, says JOSEPH MILLS
Trade unionists are mobilising to support Cuban workers and public services, amid escalating US pressure on the socialist island. RONAN OGILVY explains
AS THE industrial and “traditional” working class grows smaller, with young workers being pushed into service industries (call centres, customer service, administration, hospitality) rather than productive ones, the challenges this poses to the labour movement are blindingly obvious.
Precarious work, undefined job roles and the mass influx of the newly “fallen” middle classes have cultivated class unconsciousness. As well as this, huge staff turnover makes securing a solid body of organised workers very difficult. Call centres for example have an annual staff turnover of 26 per cent compared to the national average of 15 per cent and, even more shockingly, the hospitality sector has turnover exceeding 70 per cent annually.
Despite these challenges, unions set up specifically to target precarious workers such as UVW have made headway in organising these sectors. However, the area within this “precariat” sector that seems to be comparatively untouched by unions, possibly because of its difficulty, is the “hip” sector.
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