Tribune – Comment, news and reviews from Britain's democratic left

A small band of British factory workers have taken on the might of one of the world’s biggest multinational corporations in their campaign to secure union recognition.

THE Department for Work and Pensions has rolled back its cutbacks programme and is redeploying staff to man jobcentres as the Government tries to deal with the rising tide of unemployment.

A British-run private security firm is being sued for opening fire and allegedly severely wounding unarmed Iraqi civilians in a landmark case that could lead to the company being prosecuted in this country.

TRADE unions should be allowed to take a more active role in the provision of skills training during the current recession, the TUC argues in a new strategy paper.

The owners of the New Statesman, which was set up to promote socialist values, have refused to recognise a union or to negotiate with it, the National Union of Journalists said this week. The union has decided to seek statutory recognition for pay and conditions for journalists on the left-leaning publication after talks apparently broke down. But the magazine’s publisher denies the NUJ’s claims, insisting that management have co-operated fully.

SINN FEIN has increased the influence of key southern Irish representatives in what is being seen as the most significant shift in power within the republican movement since the Provisional IRA ceasefire in 1994. Dublin MEP Mary Lou McDonald is set to become Sinn Fein vice president at the party’s Ard Fhéis, or annual conference, next month.

AS PRESIDENT George W Bush prepares to step down after eight years in the White House, the writer and activist Naomi Wolf has hit out at the damage his administration has done to the American constitution. In a stunning indictment, she likened steps taken by Mr Bush to those employed by Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini and other dictators of the 20th century.