By a Unite member Leeds Pathology staff took strike action for 24 hrs from 8.30am 16th July 2013 at three acute hospitals: Leeds General Inirmary, St James’ Hospital and Bradford Royal Infirmary which contracts its pathology services with Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust. The strike was very successful, calling out all Unite members in Biochemistry, Blood […]

JERRY HICKS HAS delivered a sensational blow to Len McCluskey, scoring a massive 36 per cent of the vote in the election for the General Secretary of Unite, Britain’s biggest union, writes Jeremy Dewar Although Jerry didn’t win, the 50 per cent increase in the avowedly rank and file candidate’s poll will have sent shivers […]

  Here we set out what we think grassroots militants and socialists in Unite should be uniting around to fight for a union which is democratic from below, willing to oppose all austerity measures, and capable of taking on the Con-Dem coalition. An action programme for Unite Democracy Decisions made at branch meetings and sectoral/national […]

In an election that could rock the labour movement, rank and file candidate Jerry Hicks writes for Workers Power   There’s an election in Unite, Britain’s largest union with 1.5 million members. Nothing unusual in that. But it’s been called three years early and on the shortest possible timetable. The official reason for the change […]

Jerry Hicks has got 136 nominations for his candidature in the Unite General Secretary election – an unprecedented number for a rank and file candidate. So there will be an election and 1.5 Unite members will have a choice. The success of the nominations campaign shows there is strong backing in Unite for a challenge […]

RANK AND FILE candidate Jerry Hicks has now secured 84 validated branch nominations – with several days still to go to the deadline for nominations. Barring a veritable bureaucratic coup d’état Jerry will run against Len McCluskey for general secretary of Unite. Jeremy Dewar looks at the reasoning behind the Socialist Party’s backing for the […]

This is the transcript of an interview conducted by Workers Power with Jerry Hicks. Credit where credit’s due, McCluskey’s speech, his Ralph Miliband lecture, was good – though he lifted most of it out of a speech I made back in 2009 – and he said I was exaggerating then – so he’s three years […]

Len McCluskey has called a snap election for the top job in Unite, even though he has over two years left to run in the post. This is outrageous and undemocratic, says Jeremy Dewar

Protesters picketed the BFK (Bam-Ferrovial-Kiers) Leeds Arena construction site this morning, demanding the reinstatement of workers sacked for trade union activities. The company, subcontracted by Crossrail, has been fiercely resisting the efforts of union Unite to win collective bargaining rights for those working on the project. A health and safety rep was suspended last month […]

Unite Construction Rank and File – the “sparks” – held their conference in London last Saturday, almost one year to the day since their launch. Jeremy Dewar was there for the Grass Roots Left “Every time – we beat ‘em then walk away. Let’s get some blacklisted guys and shop stewards in and hit ‘em!” said Kevin, […]

By Andy Yorke GMB and UNITE officials called off the third Remploy strike scheduled for Monday 6 August, breaking the momentum of the struggle. The action was pulled at the last minute after a national meeting of the Remploy national consortium, involving GMB and Unite officials, in favour of a “new strategy which will have […]

In a dramatic turn of events on the eve of the second London bus strike, the employers appear to have conceded.  Clearly the private bus operators and Tory Mayor Boris Johnson’s Transport for London feared yet another gridlock from yet another strike. According to a report in the Evening Standard, Unite, the drivers’ union, has […]

Today’s strike saw hundreds of bus drivers from 17 companies putting on some of the biggest and most militant pickets seen in recent years. Up to 25,000 drivers are on strike, demanding an equal share of the £500 Olympic bonus given to transport workers to compensate for the extra workload expected during the games. Despite […]

By Sally Turner   REMPLOY, a government-owned company that provides disabled people with employment, is closing 36 of its 54 factories and sacking at least 1,700 workers. Everyone should oppose this act, which will destroy workers’ dignity and independence, as well as halting socially useful production. Workers Power and Revolution members went to meet the […]

By Sally Turner   As soldiers prepare to scab on tanker drivers, it is clear that the threat of a national strike remains very real. Despite ongoing negotiations and a final proposal from the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) to prevent a strike, it seems unlikely that drivers will accept it. Last month, workers […]

The fight to save the NHS starts with the pensions strike on 10 May, argues NHS worker Dara O’Connell   A HUNDRED thousand health workers in Unite will take strike action on Thursday 10 May over attacks to their pensions. Members of the PCS, UCU, Nipsa and the RMT will join them, as strikes hit […]

THE 28 MARCH strike by London schools and colleges showed just how impressive a nation-wide strike could have been. Around 1,500 schools were shut down or severely disrupted, while almost all colleges and most ‘new’ universities faced chaos or closure. Ten thousand marched in central London, bringing traffic to a halt and cheers from passers-by. […]

On the fortieth anniversary of the Battle of Saltley Gate Norman Goodwin, then a shop steward at GKN Salisbury Transmissions plant in Witton, recounts his memories of the day when Birmingham engineering workers struck in solidarity with the miners against the Tory government. ON 10 FEBRUARY 1972 I started out for work. But I would do […]

The rolling strike by 2,400 Southampton council workers is now entering its 11th week. But despite Unite and Unison workers’ continued determination and sacrifice, there appears no sign of the Tory council relenting. Jeremy Dewar argues this is down to missed opportunities and poor leadership.

Marcus Halaby, Unite member, reports on the Grass Roots Left conference and the next steps for this important development

Unite’s executive last week hardened its policy against government cuts, distancing itself from the Labour front bench “too far, too fast” line, and offering support to councillors who support UNITE’s policy. The executive also agreed a motion from the North West region backing “co-ordinated and generalised strike action within the law” as part of the […]