The First Social Conference in Europe: a move towards wider resistance?

On 10 and 11 March 2011, I attended the First Social Conference in Europe. Around 80 representatives of European trade unions and social movements met in Brussels to move towards joint activities of resistance against neo-liberal restructuring. While the two days were very fruitful in relation to an open exchange of positions and the formulation of joint draft papers, a draft declaration, and a press release, the groups present ultimately failed to adopt priorities for joint actions in the short- to medium-term.

Is there a future for trade unions in the UK?

In this University of Nottingham podcast, I look ahead to the planned TUC demonstration against cuts in the public sector on Saturday, 26 March 2011 and ask if the unions have a chance of forcing u-turns and driving resistance to neo-liberal restructuring in the UK.

Prof. Andreas Bieler
Professor of Political Economy
University of Nottingham/UK
Andreas.Bieler@nottingham.ac.uk

Personal website: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/~ldzab

21 March 2011

Dangerous illusions in the top tier - Part2!

Despite the cut-backs in Higher Education in the UK, members of staff in top tier institutions feel fairly secure in their employment. Job losses as a result of a decline in student numbers will affect colleagues in Further Education institutions as well as Universities further down in the ranking order it is often thought. This may well turn out to be a dangerous illusion.

A radical feminist vision of resistance and the struggle against budget cuts

The current attack on the welfare state in the UK by the ConDem government through its draconian budget cuts is unprecedented. No area of the public sector, be it Higher Education, the Health Service, be it local government services, will remain unaffected. And yet, resistance to these cuts has been mooted to date. Yes, there are various local alliances, forthcoming strikes and a large, trade union organised demonstration in London on 26 March. Wider support for these events is, however, not ensured. How can this be explained? Sara Motta in her latest blog entry ‘Beautiful Transgressions: A radical feminism for our times’ looks at this issue from a feminist perspective. She provides new insights as well as possible ways forward.

COALITION OF RESISTANCE in the UK!

Resistance against the attack on the public sector by the ConDem government is gathering pace. The Coalition of Resistance has been established to bring together trade unions, social movements and local user groups in their fight against the draconian budget cuts.

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.

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.