2015 was a significant year regarding the space for change developing around the necessity for democratic renewal, a year that has in certain respects changed the situation. Beginning with the…Read more…
‘Respect Jeremy’s mandate’
When Ed Miliband won the leadership by just over 1 per cent the media had a field day – the wrong brother who had been backed by the unions won by just a fraction in a run off. MPs who…Read more…
New financial powers could save Scottish councils £50m, says UNISON
Wed 27 Jan 2016
Public services union UNISON has today (Wed 27 January 2016) urged the Scottish Government to push ahead with proposed new financial powers for Scottish councils to relax the rules for borrowing, lending and the repayment of loans. These proposed changes to Scottish councils’ financial powers should now be used for greater flexibility to deal with the funding crisis in ScottishRead more…
How Osborne’s Fake ‘Living Wage’ Could Trap Many in Poverty
The government are introducing a ‘national living wage’, but beware – it won’t pay people what they need to earn to live on.
The article How Osborne’s Fake ‘Living Wage’ Could Trap…Read more…
Cruel and disastrous
The Tories plans to limit benefits to just £20,000 (£23,000 in London) a year could see vulnerable people lose their homes. Charities and housing associations yesterday (January 26) issued a…Read more…
The government is dodging proper scrutiny of the Trade Union Bill. Don’t be like #TUbill
This week saw the long overdue publication of the government’s impact assessment of the Trade Union Bill, which proposed £37m of new red tape for unions. The assessment, which is the government’s best guess at how much the the unfair, undemocratic and unnecessary Bill would cost, is the latest…Read more…
The TTIP threat – part of a bigger picture
27 January 2016
By Linda Kaucher, www.StopTTIP.net
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is one of the vehicles for the corporate Davos agenda, intended to lock-in this agenda…Read more…
Site firms ordered to release blacklisting information
A High Court judge has ordered 30 construction firms, including Sir Robert McAlpine and Balfour Beatty, to disclose all emails and correspondence linked to blacklisting of union reps and safety…Read more…
Remembering the Holocaust
On Holocaust Memorial Day, light a candle as a sign of remembrance and hope
The article Remembering the Holocaust first appeared on the UNISON site.Read more…
UNISON Housing Associations Branch AGM 2016 – Sadiq Khan MP Guest speaker
The UNISON Housing Associations branch Annual General Meeting will take place on Monday 22nd February 2015 at the House of Commons. Sadiq Khan MP will be our keynote speaker.
Please join us for reports on the work of the branch over the last year, …Read more…
Euro-FTT gets a boost as Irish Robin Hood Tax campaign launches
The forces ranged against a European Financial Transactions Tax, popularly known as the Robin Hood Tax, often appear to be growing daily. Although progress is being made in the negotiations between ten EU countries, Estonia dropped out in December because of concerns that it wouldn’t receive…Read more…
Above and beyond the call of duty
A reminder of the generosity and support UNISON members give to those around them each and every day.
The article Above and beyond the call of duty first appeared on the UNISON site.Read more…
Pulling down the walls – or how to arrange an ensemble concert – Celtic Connections 4
Songs of Separation – ***** – Mitchell Theatre In a festival that has made a feature of ensemble concerts, where a number of artists come together around a theme or event, ten women from Scotland and…Read more…
Rally for a future
It’s the same story across the UK — job losses blight the country as austerity bites and big businesses make blinkered decisions for short-term gain. But one community in Northern…Read more…
Buy UK steel
Central to supporting the UK steel industry – which has seen more than 5,000 job losses since this summer – is a public procurement strategy. Simply put, if it’s made in Britain, it should be…Read more…
‘Cautious welcome’
Unite has called for urgent talks with the new owners of a boat firm to discuss implications for its members who work there. Fairline Boats, a luxury boat builder in Northampton has been taken…Read more…
Northern poorhouse
Last summer, chancellor George Osborne pledged that his government would create a “higher wage, lower tax, lower welfare” country; that the vaunted ‘Northern Powerhouse’ would, over the next few…Read more…
Emergency control room mergers are only about cost-cutting, says UNISON
Government plans, which could see the merger of the control rooms that take 999 calls for the three emergency services in England, are purely and simply about cutting costs and will do nothing to…Read more…
Courses coming up with places available!
Please find below a list of upcoming training courses where we still have availability. For more details of the courses below see http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/education/index.html . Contact your branch to apply for any of these courses.
Organising for Health & Safety (Residential) – Glasgow – Part 1 on 5-7 February & Part 2 on 11-13 March
Covers the role and rights of the safety repRead more…
Tory mission impossible
Owning your own home is for many people their biggest aspiration. So why is the Tory party, who claim to be the party of aspiration, making it impossible for most people to ever realise this dream?…Read more…