Fownhope’s Heart of Oak Society traces its roots to the age of friendly societies, when communities provided their own safety net. Its anniversary celebrations reveal a tradition still very much alive, says MARK SEDDON
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Churchill: RMT cleaners vs the Beverly Hills outsourcers
The subcontractor claims it cannot afford to pay the people who keep our trains safe and tidy more than minimum wage. Of course they can, reveals SOLOMON HIGHES — they're rolling in it
ANGUS REID explains the significance of Cuba’s egalitarian in letter and spirit Family Code and the pertinent lessons it holds for democracies anywhere in the world
Special report by PEOPLE’S WORLD
NICK WRIGHT considers how the isolation of Israel and a new film on the controversial Italian communist leader are creating new reference points for Italy’s left
CARLOS MARTINEZ says Cuba’s achievements in the face of a criminal blockade are startling, but the island’s future if the United States succeeds in crushing it looks bleak
AMNON BROWNFIELD STEIN reports that far-right MPs who mobbed the event organised by Hadash may have helped raise awareness of the brutality of the Israeli right
HUNDREDS of low-paid train cleaners are striking and campaigning for better pay. The cleaners, RMT union members who work for subcontractor Churchill Cleaning, want £15 an hour instead of their current measly minimum wage rates of £8.91.
On one side you have low-paid strikers under the banner “justice for Churchill Cleaners: fight for £15.” On the other, employers who say they can’t afford to pay it. But follow the money and you can see it flows from minimum wage workers in Britain to people living it up in a Beverly Hills Mansion.
The strikers clean stations and trains across London and the south-east. They make Thameslink, Southern, Great Northern, Southeastern and Eurostar trains tidy and rubbish-free.
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