Public Services

Support the RMT strikes: List of picket lines and resources

Tens of thousands of rail workers will be striking this week against job losses, attacks on pensions and inadequate pay awards. Show your support and get down to a picket line near you
Pay the rate! Coventry bin workers refuse attacks on their pay

HGV bin drivers of the Unite union in Coventry vow to bring their employers to their knees in strike rally to demand fair pay, reports Kieran Crowe
Can the BBC be reformed? - Interview with Tom Mills

Ahead of the Media Democracy Festival, Counterfire's Shabbir Lakha spoke to Tom Mills, author of The BBC: Myth of a Public Service about the state of the public broadcasting service, the Tories and what the left should be campaigning about
‘We deserve equality’: Barts strikers will keep fighting Serco

As Barts hospital workers finish two weeks of strike action, they have vowed to keep fighting if they aren’t brought in house
Johnson’s Northern Powerhouse comes off the rails - CounterBlast

This government’s addiction to over-promising and under-delivering has now shown itself in transport policy, writes Sean Ledwith
Going down the tube: the threat to London’s transport

As the Tories prepare to inflict new cuts to London’s transport network and Sadiq Khan looks set to transfer the costs onto workers, the unions must get ready to fight
Notes from the countryside: the fantasy and reality of rural England

The English countryside conceals poverty, poor infrastructure and broken promises. Sean Coote reports from Glastonbury in Somerset.
It's not Brexit, it's a broken system: The inside story of the supply chain meltdown

Supply-chain worker Chris Neville gives us his view on shortages, supply chains and a changing balance of power
Strikes, rubbish and saving the planet: Glasgow workers and COP26

Come COP26 many of Glasgows essential workers will refuse to cross picket lines across the city, Mark Porciani reports
Off the rails: The Tories have no plan for trains

The Tories' plans for railways is all talk and no action, writes Kieran Crowe
Fighting for the NHS: Voices from the frontline in Wandsworth

Health activists in Wandsworth celebrate the NHS and call for patient safety, pay justice and an end to privatisation, reports Peter Bird
Why nurses are considering strike action

Health workers are preparing to fight against the insulting 1% pay offer and they need our support more than ever, argues NHS nurse Stacey Richardson
Why are health workers still not getting the protection they need?

It’s an outrage that health workers are still not getting the PPE they need to keep themselves safe, writes Richard Allday
Sunak’s spending priorities: money for the rich, pay freeze for key workers

The Tory spending review shows the government’s priority is to protect profits and making working class people pay, argues Shabbir Lakha
NHS worker: public sector pay freeze is an absolute injustice

The public sector pay freeze is a slap in the face for NHS workers and we need to push back against the government, says Alia Butt from NHS Staff Voices
Croydon Council has gone bust because of austerity, and the most vulnerable will be made to pay

We must fight for the government to increase local spending instead of letting councils like Croydon go bust, fire their workers and cut essential services
The Tory TfL stitch-up

The government’s eleventh-hour bailout has only deferred the TfL crisis, explains Unjum Mirza
Wales is renationalising its railways, we can do the same everywhere

As devolved administrations move further from Westminster, now is the time to advance popular demands like rail renationalisation, says Jan Culley
Not a penny more to Serco

Protesters gathered in Wandsworth to demand no more public contracts be given to Serco, reports Peter Bird
Johnson colludes with Trump to strangle Venezuela

The decision to deny the return of Venezuela’s $1bn gold deposit is deliberately risking lives in a pandemic for the sake of regime change, argues Sean Ledwith
TfL price hike: risk your life going to work and pay for the privilege

The fares and congestion charge changes will hit the very people being forced to go back to work in the capital the hardest, argues Shadia Edwards-Dashti
Tube drivers: In dubious battle

Tube driver and ASLEF branch chair Unjum Mirza describes the growing conflicts over worker and passenger safety on London Underground
Why does Sadiq Khan say that Transport for London has no money?

Transport for London’s problems go back far further than the virus to Thatcherite spending cuts and austerity, argues Kevin Crane
Tories fail to meet already inadequate standards - CounterBlast 21 April

The Tories have brought back their election spin team to cover up their hideous failings in this crisis, reports Shabbir Lakha
PPE: Tories are still failing our frontline workers - CounterBlast 18 April

The government is failing to deliver PPE while trade unions consider strike action to save lives, writes Lucy Nichols
UK's national scandal: time for accountability and change

In this thorough and damning account of the government's catastrophic failures dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, Dr Raisa Ahmed argues we cannot return to 'normal'
Put people before profit to fight Coronavirus

The government's response to the Coronavirus puts big business first, but we need real solutions that benefit the public instead, argues Richard Allday
Protest shut the schools, now demand mass testing - CounterBriefing 18 March

In the first CounterBriefing, Katherine Connelly responds to the government's u-turn on school closures after pressure from below
Coronavirus: 8 demands we should make on the government

Any effective response to the virus outbreak will require radical solutions that put human lives before profits and markets, argues Alistair Cartwright
Class and the Coronavirus

We have to challenge the government’s response to Coronavirus which threatens to hit the poorest hardest and fails to address the structural problems around public health, argues Katherine Connelly
Patel's new immigration system: racist and anti-working class

The government's attacks on immigration and the public sector are an attack on us all, writes Alia Butt
The BBC's anti-Corbyn bias shows it's not fit for purpose

The BBC's overt political bias against Jeremy Corbyn should cause us to question what public service it's really providing, writes Morgan Daniels
All power to the Broadband Communists!

Free ultra-fast broadband isn't just possible, it's necessary, argues Elly Badcock
Bolton fire: the Tories have learnt nothing from Grenfell

Ignored warnings show working-class lives mean nothing to the Tories, writes Lucy Nichols
Suicide rates at 20 year high: an indictment of Tory austerity

Rising suicide rates show the monumental human cost of Tory austerity and why we urgently need to get them out of power, argues Mona Kamal
Saving Essex libraries: protest works, so we'll keep campaigning

NEU member Jean Quinn speaks with Katherine Connelly about the successes of the Save Our Libraries Essex campaign
As the UK economy stalls, it's not Brexit we should blame

Slowing productivity and neoliberal attacks on the public sector are prime causes for industrial slump and a debt crunch - not Brexit uncertainty, writes Vladimir Unkovski-Korica
Bristol bus protest: sick of waiting, commuters demand public control

Demands for council control, fare reductions and more radical solutions are gathering support in the face of First Bus' chaotic service, reports Nathan Street
Lies, damned lies, and Tory press releases

Richard Allday sheds some light on the Tories' new 'pay rise' for public sector workers
Carillion: two kinds of bailout, two class interests

This can go one of two ways. Let's make sure it goes the way of the workers
Nurses find 'magic money tree' and deliver it to Department of Health

As the government flip-flops and flounders over the pay cap, nurses get their own back
Statement from Durham teaching assistants in response to new deal offered

The activist committee has serious concerns about the proposal
Southern Rail crisis: re-nationalisation is the only answer

Elaine Graham-Leigh takes a look at the crisis of Southern, caused by years of privatisation, and resulting in misery for staff and passengers
How should the left respond to attacks on the BBC?

We need to defend the BBC as one of the core institutions of our democracy and our culture and not fall into the Freemarketeers' trap by defending it solely on their terms argues Chris Jury
Emotional scenes as fire stations fall to Boris Johnson's axe

‘We rescue people not banks’ say firefighters at Europe’s oldest fire station as 10 stations across London close today leaving 4 million Londoners in danger
Marxism and the crisis - a strategy for the left

John Rees looks at the left's analysis of the crisis and outlines a strategy for resisting our rulers attempts to make us pay for it

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Public Services

Public Services

Tens of thousands of rail workers will be striking this week against job losses, attacks on pensions and inadequate pay awards. Show your support and get down to a picket line near you

HGV bin drivers of the Unite union in Coventry vow to bring their employers to their knees in strike rally to demand fair pay, reports Kieran Crowe

Ahead of the Media Democracy Festival, Counterfire's Shabbir Lakha spoke to Tom Mills, author of The BBC: Myth of a Public Service about the state of the public broadcasting service, the Tories and what the left should be campaigning about

As Barts hospital workers finish two weeks of strike action, they have vowed to keep fighting if they aren’t brought in house

This government’s addiction to over-promising and under-delivering has now shown itself in transport policy, writes Sean Ledwith

As the Tories prepare to inflict new cuts to London’s transport network and Sadiq Khan looks set to transfer the costs onto workers, the unions must get ready to fight

The English countryside conceals poverty, poor infrastructure and broken promises. Sean Coote reports from Glastonbury in Somerset.

Supply-chain worker Chris Neville gives us his view on shortages, supply chains and a changing balance of power

Come COP26 many of Glasgows essential workers will refuse to cross picket lines across the city, Mark Porciani reports

The Tories' plans for railways is all talk and no action, writes Kieran Crowe

Health activists in Wandsworth celebrate the NHS and call for patient safety, pay justice and an end to privatisation, reports Peter Bird

Health workers are preparing to fight against the insulting 1% pay offer and they need our support more than ever, argues NHS nurse Stacey Richardson

It’s an outrage that health workers are still not getting the PPE they need to keep themselves safe, writes Richard Allday

The Tory spending review shows the government’s priority is to protect profits and making working class people pay, argues Shabbir Lakha

The public sector pay freeze is a slap in the face for NHS workers and we need to push back against the government, says Alia Butt from NHS Staff Voices

We must fight for the government to increase local spending instead of letting councils like Croydon go bust, fire their workers and cut essential services

The government’s eleventh-hour bailout has only deferred the TfL crisis, explains Unjum Mirza

As devolved administrations move further from Westminster, now is the time to advance popular demands like rail renationalisation, says Jan Culley

Protesters gathered in Wandsworth to demand no more public contracts be given to Serco, reports Peter Bird

The decision to deny the return of Venezuela’s $1bn gold deposit is deliberately risking lives in a pandemic for the sake of regime change, argues Sean Ledwith

The fares and congestion charge changes will hit the very people being forced to go back to work in the capital the hardest, argues Shadia Edwards-Dashti

Tube driver and ASLEF branch chair Unjum Mirza describes the growing conflicts over worker and passenger safety on London Underground

Transport for London’s problems go back far further than the virus to Thatcherite spending cuts and austerity, argues Kevin Crane

The Tories have brought back their election spin team to cover up their hideous failings in this crisis, reports Shabbir Lakha

The government is failing to deliver PPE while trade unions consider strike action to save lives, writes Lucy Nichols

In this thorough and damning account of the government's catastrophic failures dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, Dr Raisa Ahmed argues we cannot return to 'normal'

The government's response to the Coronavirus puts big business first, but we need real solutions that benefit the public instead, argues Richard Allday

In the first CounterBriefing, Katherine Connelly responds to the government's u-turn on school closures after pressure from below

Any effective response to the virus outbreak will require radical solutions that put human lives before profits and markets, argues Alistair Cartwright

We have to challenge the government’s response to Coronavirus which threatens to hit the poorest hardest and fails to address the structural problems around public health, argues Katherine Connelly

The government's attacks on immigration and the public sector are an attack on us all, writes Alia Butt

The BBC's overt political bias against Jeremy Corbyn should cause us to question what public service it's really providing, writes Morgan Daniels

Free ultra-fast broadband isn't just possible, it's necessary, argues Elly Badcock

Ignored warnings show working-class lives mean nothing to the Tories, writes Lucy Nichols

Rising suicide rates show the monumental human cost of Tory austerity and why we urgently need to get them out of power, argues Mona Kamal

NEU member Jean Quinn speaks with Katherine Connelly about the successes of the Save Our Libraries Essex campaign

Slowing productivity and neoliberal attacks on the public sector are prime causes for industrial slump and a debt crunch - not Brexit uncertainty, writes Vladimir Unkovski-Korica

Demands for council control, fare reductions and more radical solutions are gathering support in the face of First Bus' chaotic service, reports Nathan Street

Richard Allday sheds some light on the Tories' new 'pay rise' for public sector workers

This can go one of two ways. Let's make sure it goes the way of the workers

As the government flip-flops and flounders over the pay cap, nurses get their own back

The activist committee has serious concerns about the proposal

Elaine Graham-Leigh takes a look at the crisis of Southern, caused by years of privatisation, and resulting in misery for staff and passengers

We need to defend the BBC as one of the core institutions of our democracy and our culture and not fall into the Freemarketeers' trap by defending it solely on their terms argues Chris Jury

‘We rescue people not banks’ say firefighters at Europe’s oldest fire station as 10 stations across London close today leaving 4 million Londoners in danger

John Rees looks at the left's analysis of the crisis and outlines a strategy for resisting our rulers attempts to make us pay for it