The purpose of this blog is to provide analytical commentary on formal and informal labour organisations and their attempts to resist ever more brutal forms of exploitation in today’s neo-liberal, global capitalism.

Wednesday 16 February 2011

Trade unions, free trade and the problem of transnational solidarity

Resistance against free trade agreements has increased since the demonstrations at the WTO ministerial conference in Seattle in 1999. Positions by trade unions on free trade agreements are, however, ambiguous. While trade unions in the North especially in manufacturing have supported free trade agreements to secure export markets for ‘their’ companies, trade unions in the Global South oppose these agreements, since they often imply deindustrialisation.

Friday 4 February 2011

Dangerous illusions in the top tier - Part 1!

As a result of the cut-backs to Universities’ teaching budgets by up to 80 per cent, it is likely that Higher Education in the UK will be split into a two-tier system. The idea that top tier institutions and members of staff working at these institutions are unaffected by these cuts is, however, a dangerous illusion. Only joint resistance against these cuts across all institutions in Higher and Further Education, organised through the University and College Union (UCU) which organises the whole sector, will provide an opportunity to prevent or at least obstruct these developments.