Features
In the wake of strike cancellations by UCU union leadership, UCU activist Goretti Horgan warns of an impending sellout and argues that workers need to keep the pressure on to ensure that the union bureaucracy does not snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The University and College Union (UCU)
Features
Most academic historians have chosen to concentrate almost exclusively on the military struggle and the political machinations of the nationalist leadership during the Civil War, ignoring the struggles of organised labour. Indeed, labour historian Emmet O’Conner has argued that ‘public history … remains inordinately engrossed with nationalism’. Kieran McNulty aims
Covid-19
We have received this statement from ‘a group of Revolutionary Communists’ in China. They are not able to give their names in the present repressive situation in China. We are sharing their statement on the protests in China in full. Solidarity with the mass protests demanding the lifting of lockdown
Features
Margaret Thatcher despised the trade union movement. She set out to dismantle the power of unionised workers, who she referred to as ‘the enemy within’. Even before she took office as Prime Minister, she said that the Conservatives should, “neglect no opportunity to erode trade union membership”. Once in power,
Features
The courage and tenacity of the Debenhams workers has been a sight to behold. Eddie Conlon assesses the impact of the strike and argues that there are five key lessons to be drawn. The Debenhams strike has been truly remarkable and will go down in the history of the Irish,
Features
Bread shelves in supermarkets are going empty as workers at the Hovis plant in Belfast continue their ongoing strike action for a 10% pay rise. Represented by Unite the Union and The Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU), the workers at the Apollo Road site began their picket on
Features
Below is an abridged and edited extract from Kieran McNulty’s article, War and the Working-class in Kerry 1919-1921 published in Saothar, Vol. 45, 2020, (Irish Labour History Society). The high prices during the First World War, followed by the economic depression in Ireland, led at the turn
Features
Yesterday marked 300 days since the Debenhams workers began their struggle for a fair redundancy package. Despite government denials, Eddie Conlon presents three ways that they could meet workers demands and settle this dispute. It’s over 300 days since the Debenhams workers began the fight for their ‘2 plus
Features
As calls come for unions to shake off passivity in the the face of recent workers’ struggle, one touted alternative is to break away to form more left-wing red unions. As part of our Power in a Union series, Eddie Conlon argues that while this desire is at times
Covid-19
Throughout the pandemic, the establishment have been quick to call frontline health workers “heroes”. Junior doctor Eóin Ó Murchú argues that lip-service is not enough, and COVID has put a spotlight on treatment of health staff in Ireland. The arrival of SARS‐CoV‐2 in Ireland brought the capacity
Covid-19
Jerry Maguire, hospitality worker and Unite Hospitality member, condemns a shambolic Stormont which has failed to support workers, instead putting their health on the line. It’s often remarked that a week is a long time in politics. But when Harold Wilson first coined that expression, he couldn’t have
Covid-19
In a dispatch from the USA, socialist Donna Murch writes of how solidarity, mutual aid and union organising have sustained her through the horrors of the pandemic. In my life, the pandemic has been a study in paradox. “Social distancing” and all of the trauma wrought by COVID-19 have