Home > Economics, unions and work > Work and Trade Unions

Work and Trade Unions

  • Archive b&w image of strikers in a street, and covers of contemporary news bulletins

    Their hour of glory: Trades councils and the 1926 general strike

    Joe Redmayne reflects on the role of trades councils during the 1926 general strike

  • A creative mosaic of fragmented images, with colours of Palestine and a woman wearing a keffiyeh visible

    Unions for Gaza

    Palestine is a live issue in the trade union movement, writes Bernard Regan, with eighteen unions are affiliated to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Here’s how they’re taking action – and you can support them

  • Women’s day off: feminist strike action since 1975

    Valgerður Pálmadóttir recalls the Icelandic women’s strike in 1975 and assesses its continuing relevance today

  • A b&w photo of a protester with a bike helmet, fist raised in the air

    General strike now?!

    Matthew Lee asks what it would take to build a general strike today – and what impact the tactic might have

  • A montage of images on a pink backdrop, including a statue of Ernest Bevin, Harold Wilson making a speech

    Labour and the unions: a contentious alliance

    David Howell traces union-Labour Party relations from the aftermath of the general strike, through shaping the 1945 government, tensions under Harold Wilson to Thatcher-era marginalisation

  • A montage image of newspaper clippings, archive b&w photos and a photo of a woman looking back

    Striking back: 1926-2026

    One hundred years ago, workers downed tools in Britain’s first and only general strike. Red Pepper explores origins, memories and legacies of 1926

  • A row of tractors, some sporting Union Jack flags, photographed from the pavement in Whitehall

    Reclaiming inheritance tax as a social good

    The left needs to understand popular opposition to inheritance tax in order to effectively reframe the debate, argues Dominic Davies