Coffee workers in UK fight big-time wage cuts

Vol. 85/No. 19 - May 17, 2021

BANBURY, England — Dozens of workers at Jacobs Douwe Egberts staged a May Day plant gate action here in rural Oxfordshire 80 miles northwest of London. The Unite union members have started escalating strike actions in a fight against the…


UK refuse workers vote to extend industrial action

Vol. 85/No. 18 - May 10, 2021
Natalie Garwood with Billy Spencer, a retired union delegate, at refuse workers’ picket in West Thurrock April 21. Garwood, the first woman refuse collector in U.K., has worked there 27 years. “Each time we’re forced to take action, we’ve come out on top,” she said.

WEST THURROCK, England — Refuse workers here held a mass meeting on their picket line April 21 and voted to extend their strike actions. The Unite union members work for the city, east of London. They’ve been striking daily for…


Small fishermen in UK face gov’t, EU attack on livelihoods

Vol. 85/No. 15 - April 19, 2021
Andrés Mendoza, left, Communist League candidate for London mayor, talks to Lee Colgan March 12 in Hastings, south of London. Colgan, a small fishing boat crewman, said because of U.K., EU restrictions, he “can’t make a living as a fisherman” and has to work a second job.

HASTINGS, England — “The first thing you need to know is that the commercial fishing industry is divided between those fishing from boats shorter or longer than 10 meters,” Paul Joy told Andrés Mendoza, Communist League candidate for London mayor…


UK cops attack vigil against killing of Sarah Everard

Vol. 85/No. 13 - April 5, 2021
Demonstration for women’s rights in Parliament Square, London, March 15 protests cop attack on mass vigil in Clapham Common two days earlier after abduction, killing of Sarah Everard.

LONDON — Some 1,500 people joined a protest vigil in Clapham Common, south London, March 13, following the killing of Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive. Demonstrators were attacked by the police who pinned some women to the ground, handcuffed…


Striking UK bus drivers, gas workers exchange solidarity

Vol. 85/No. 10 - March 15, 2021

LONDON — Striking bus drivers mounted a lively picket at London’s Park Royal depot here Feb. 22-24. They are fighting wage cuts of up to 2,500 pounds ($3,500) a year and longer shifts. Some 2,000 drivers took strike action. They’re…


UK bosses go after workers while London-EU talks stall

Vol. 84/No. 43 - November 2, 2020
Nurses in London demonstrate Aug. 8 demanding pay raise. End of government pandemic benefits Oct. 31 means millions more workers face pay cuts, alongside rising joblessness.

LONDON — With the U.K.’s “transition” out of the European Union’s trading arrangements ending Dec. 31, talks between London and EU leaders in Brussels over a post-Brexit trade deal have hit the rocks.  Prime Minister Boris Johnson blames Brussels. The…


Pete Kennedy built the communist movement in UK over four decades

Vol. 84/No. 36 - September 14, 2020

LONDON — Pete Kennedy, a longtime member and supporter of the Communist League in the United Kingdom, died Aug. 19 a few months after being diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. He was 61. Kennedy joined the…


London art gallery workers strike against job cuts

Vol. 84/No. 36 - September 14, 2020

LONDON — Bookstore and cafeteria workers at the Tate and Tate Modern galleries are on strike against company plans to cut 313 jobs out of 600. The bosses cite declining revenue as visitor numbers fell during the coronavirus restrictions. “Union…


Nurses protest across UK demanding higher wages

Vol. 84/No. 34 - August 31, 2020
Nurses protest across UK demanding higher wages

LONDON — “We’ve been quiet for too long,” Lana Bonas, a nurse at St. Thomas’ Hospital here, told the Militant  as she joined hundreds of other health workers marching to Downing Street to demand a pay raise. The action was…


London bans China’s Huawei, looks for trade bloc with US

Vol. 84/No. 33 - August 24, 2020

LONDON — In a reversal of its previous policy, the government in the U.K. banned mobile phone firms from buying parts from Chinese telecom giant Huawei beginning in 2021, and ordered those companies to eliminate all Huawei components from 5G networks…