The greatest threat to democracy may no longer come from political parties but from unelected tech oligarchs like Peter Thiel and his powerful Silicon Valley network, argues JOHN GREEN
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Who cares for the Birmingham care workers?
The dedicated, mainly female, care workers in Birmingham fear the council wants to force as many of them as possible out of their jobs and then privatise what’s left. HEATHER WAKEFIELD shines a light on their story
Today’s interconnected conflicts are enriching the arms industry while pushing the entire world towards permanent militarisation, argues ROGER McKENZIE
by Nana Backland, Merseyside Morning Star Readers & Supporters Group
The government’s Pip review looks like a carefully managed exercise in legitimising future cuts to disability support, argues Dr DYLAN MURPHY
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
SOME 300 highly skilled but low-paid care workers employed by Labour-run Birmingham City Council are engaged in one of Britain’s longest-running industrial disputes.
Yet far from hitting all the headlines, the Unison members’ 80 periods of strike action since April 2017 and three successful strike ballots have garnered little coverage in the mainstream press and media — unlike a dispute and strike among refuse collectors in the city last year, which was settled and plastered across local and national headlines.
So what is the strike about and why hasn’t it been big news? One of the answers to that might well be that the strikers’ story is well-known among the 1.5 million workers in England who currently care for our old and vulnerable citizens at home or in residential care.
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MATT ALLEN salutes the workers and reps who push back against bosses, win for members and make the Unite union what it is
The election offers a critical chance to shape the future of pay, care and community provision in Wales, says Unison’s JESS TURNER
Liverpool Trades Council has unveiled a ‘People’s Budget’ to fight £56m cuts and council tax rises. DEAN YOUNG reports
As Palestine Action prisoners go weeks without food, alleging dangerous neglect and detention without trial, campaigners warn that a near-total media blackout is hiding a crisis that could turn fatal – and fuel a growing wave of public anger. ELIZABETH SHORT reports