Hundreds rally with Clarks Shoe strikers fighting wage cuts in UK

Vol. 85/No. 44 - November 29, 2021
“They never thought we’d strike. They never thought we’d stay out. And they never thought we’d win this sort of solidarity,” striker Pete Darbo says as support comes from across U.K.

STREET, England — Hundreds of trade unionists and working people from the local area, and as far away as Wales, London and Manchester, joined a march here Nov. 13 in solidarity with striking Clarks Shoes workers fighting against wage cuts.…


Rolls-Royce maintenance workers back on strike, win solidarity

Vol. 85/No. 30 - August 16, 2021

BARNOLDSWICK, England — Seventeen maintenance engineers who are members of the Unite union at Rolls-Royce’s jet-engine plant here have restarted strike action. The bosses have been dragging their heels in implementing a deal with the union to secure jobs through…


Bus drivers strike wins solidarity in UK

Vol. 85/No. 12 - March 29, 2021

MANCHESTER, England — Workers in Manchester and beyond have joined the picket line of Go North West bus drivers here, to bring solidarity to the striking Unite union members. The drivers walked out Feb. 28 to fight a company move…


Manchester bus drivers strike against attack on hours, pay

Vol. 85/No. 10 - March 15, 2021
Striking Go North West bus drivers picket in Manchester, England, March 1. Company is trying to bypass workers’ Unite union to implement longer work hours, layoffs and benefit cuts.

MANCHESTER, England — Bus drivers at Go North West here went on strike Feb. 28 after bosses tried to impose a new contract with longer working hours for the same pay. The company insisted workers individually sign the contract, bypassing…


Rolls-Royce jet engine workers strike to stop job cuts

Vol. 84/No. 47 - November 30, 2020

BARNOLDSWICK, England — After being furloughed, prescribed a 10% wage cut and now facing 350 job losses, workers at jet engine maker Rolls-Royce here have had enough. Ninety-four percent voted for a strike called by their union, Unite, to oppose…


UK workers stage walkouts to fight unsafe work conditions

Vol. 84/No. 14 - April 13, 2020
Workers at Tulip meat factory in U.K. held job action and workers at Linden Foods in Northern Ireland, above, walked out March 27 over bosses’ refusal to provide safe working conditions.

MANCHESTER, England — Workers at three meat and poultry plants in Northern Ireland have staged walkouts to protest bosses’ refusal to implement measures aimed at reducing the spread of coronavirus. Across the U.K., workers in food production, transport and other…


UK: ‘Solidarity with protests by working people in Iran!’

Vol. 84/No. 7 - February 24, 2020
UK: ‘Solidarity with protests by working people in Iran!’

MANCHESTER, England — “Three times in two years, Iranian workers and students have taken to the streets to protest the government’s military intervention abroad and its attacks on living standards,” Pete Clifford, with megaphone, told passersby as he and Hugo…


Workers organize support for flood-hit parts of UK

Vol. 83/No. 45 - December 9, 2019
Caroline Bellamy, U.K. Communist League parliamentary candidate in Manchester, speaks with Steve Miller in Bentley Nov. 16. Miller is organizing workers into flood relief efforts.

BENTLEY, England — Inadequate provision of flood defenses and other infrastructure, coupled with the government’s refusal to organize much needed aid, have wreaked havoc on the livelihoods of workers and farmers across parts of Yorkshire and the Midlands after flooding…


Protests in Sudan, London demand fall of Omar al-Bashir government

Vol. 83/No. 16 - April 22, 2019
Several thousand protesters in London April 6 demonstrate in solidarity with massive wave of protests across Sudan calling for ouster of regime of President Omar al-Bashir.

LONDON —“The reason we’re all here in the U.K. is because of the regime of President Omar al-Bashir in Sudan. Everyone here has a similar story,” Ahmed Mustapha, a physician working for the National Health Service, told the Militant as…


‘Yellow vest’ protests respond as French gov’t cracks down

Vol. 83/No. 3 - January 21, 2019
Yellow vest protesters gather at a traffic circle south of Caen in northwest France, Dec. 31.

LONDON — Yellow vest protesters in France have responded to government arrests, attacks and slanders by taking to the streets. Some 50,000 marched throughout France Jan. 5, according to the interior ministry — almost twice as many as the Saturday…