The Tories introduced the 50% strike ballot threshold to make industrial action harder. MATT WRACK argues that a Labour government has no justification for leaving it on the statute book
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We must work with the unions to transform Scotland
Scottish Labour refuses to accept we cannot tackle the cost-of-living crisis — the Scottish Parliament has the powers needed now, but we must build a mass movement to force its hand, writes RICHARD LEONARD MSP
BACKING WORKERS: Richard Leonard addresses an RMT demo
against the dismissal of 800 P&O workers in Cairnryan, March 2022
In the wake of Ann Widdecombe’s murder, JOHN GREEN wonders whether the government will really get to grips with the root cause of these attacks on our MPs
The new PM’s opening addresses offered hope, council homes and reform — but little detail on how any of it will be delivered, warns CLAUDIA WEBBE
Despite the screeching from the right-wing media, Burnham’s speech chimed with the public mood - and socialists should take advantage, says Morning Star editor BEN CHACKO
Scotland's Labour leader cannot continue to evade responsibility for the party's decline, argues LAUREN HARPER
Nature as well as society works dialectically, asserts the Marx Memorial Library and Workers’ School
THE Scottish Parliament returns today after its extended summer recess. A long hot summer which has emphatically proved once again that any rumour of the demise of the trade union movement is wide of the mark. Rail workers, journalists, posties, BT staff, engineers and refuse workers have all withdrawn their labour, taken to the streets — and in so doing, won widespread public support.
Taking industrial action in pursuit of fair pay, job security and in defence of conditions is an entirely rational response to the cost-of-living crisis.
Which makes it all the more irrational and frankly unforgivable for some in the political wing of the trade union movement to opt for a pale neutrality in the face of this. As Robert Tressell presciently wrote, “There is no such thing as being neutral: we must either help or hinder.”
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We cannot refuse to abolish the unjustifiable two-child benefit cap that pushes children into poverty while finding billions of pounds for defence spending — the membership and the public expect better from Labour, writes JON TRICKETT MP