Unison director of organising KEVIN LUCAS explains the Organising to Win strategy, its successes to date and key tests on the union’s horizon
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NHS privatisation: resisting Centene
NOAH TUCKER sounds the alarm on US-based private healthcare firm that is taking over GP surgeries in England, despite its shocking track record
Young workers do want to get involved in Unison, and where that is enabled we see growth in workplace power, argue Unison North West Young Members co-chairs ZAIHERA CHAUDHRY and IAN CAULFIELD
British military spending is among the highest in the world, diverts scarce resources from far better causes and fuels international conflict. It’s time we made different choices, argues LIZ PAYNE
Trade unions, trades councils and community organisations must work together to build lasting solidarity and resistance to the far right, argues DREW GILCHRIST
Animal metaphors are testament to delight in the non-human world and what we hope and wish for human freedom, argue ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT"
Economists estimate extreme poverty could be drastically reduced for a fraction of global defence spending, yet military budgets continue to expand year on year, says JON TRICKETT MP, ahead of the Stop the War International Conference on Saturday
IN an alarming twist in the spiral of NHS privatisation, 49 GP surgeries serving 375,000 patients in 18 London boroughs are being taken over by Centene, a giant health insurance corporation which stands accused in the US courts of failing to provide adequate health provision, underpaying medical staff and conspiring to fleece taxpayers out of millions of dollars.
The GP practices affected include the St Ann’s Road Surgery, which is in the ward I represent on Haringey Council.
The ownership and control of GP practices by large private-sector companies is not new. Although it has been continued and entrenched by subsequent Tory administrations, it was the Blair and Brown Labour government, eager to expand the role of the market in healthcare, which opened up the NHS general practice sector to the profit motive and commercial operations in 2004.
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