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Rank-and-file organising and the strike wave
SHABBIR LAKHA introduces an upcoming conference looking at turning the past year's explosion of industrial unrest and massive public support into political victories for the working class
Members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) on the picket line outside HMRC in East Kilbride during a strike in the long-running civil service dispute over pay, jobs and conditions, May 10, 2023

OVER the course of the last year, hundreds of thousands of workers have taken strike action in the biggest wave of industrial struggle in a generation. A year ago, the RMT began a national strike on the railways, followed by postal workers, teachers, civil servants, nurses, lecturers, junior doctors and more.

An estimated 2.42 million working days were lost to strike action between June and December 2022 — 556,000 working days were lost in March 2023 alone.

This Saturday, hundreds of workers from across unions will be coming together at the How We Fight, How We Win Rank-and-File Organising Conference to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the strike wave, the kind of strategy we need to win, and the politics of the movement. It will be a key opportunity for workers at the base of the trade unions to get organised and make sure we fight to win.

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