The success of campaigns by London Citizens and others have raised fresh interest in the idea of a living wage. As Manchester City Council bump up the minimum wage for their lowest paid workers to £7.15, with Trafford following suit, living wage activist Barney Wakefield gives his take on its strengths and weaknesses.
In 1972 24 trade unionists were arrested in the wake of the first ever national building workers’ strike. Six were jailed, in circumstances which union activists have long alleged were the result of political pressure from the then Tory government. Forty years on Royle Family star Ricky Tomlinson, who was imprisoned for two years for his involvement, explains how fresh evidence has led to a new campaign to overturn their convictions.
Founded in 1909 by America’s Socialist Party and launched internationally in 1911 to promote equal rights for women, in particular the vote, International Women’s Day (IWD) gained a new lease of life through the rise of women’s liberation in the early 1970s. But has it now become sanitised, and lost its political edge?
Marks and Spencer are keen to flaunt their fair trade credentials. But is it fair that the company who supply their cakes is undermining new employment laws designed to protect agency workers?
