Many hospitals are treating apprentices as cheap labour by routinely paying them the minimum wage, even though they often do exactly the same jobs as colleagues earning considerably more, according…Read more…
How to confuse a Vegetarian….
Some Saturday fun. Apologies to anyone offended but..please 🙂 Hat tip Facebook. Read more…
Rebel Herstory of the Easter Rising
Cat HepburnThis weekend’s Morning Star carries a Connolly Association supplement,marking the centenary of the Easter Rising. It is worthy of purchase for that alone, of course, but to ensure the Arts…Read more…
UNISON and SERTUC – time to re-think
News reaches your humble blogger (from an Annual General Meeting) that one of the three unsuccessful candidates from amongst the 19 candidates contesting 16 seats on the Executive of the Southern and Eastern Region of the Trades Union Congress (SERTUC)…Read more…
#BOTW16 UNISON Scotland training weekend under way
Convener Lilian Macer visits a Welfare Officer session at UNISON Scotland’s annual new branch officer training weekend in Glasgow.Read more…
“Newham councillor gives gift of life with bone marrow donation”
Check out this report in this week’s Newham Recorder. Well done to Rokhsana for undergoing this operation to try and save a young child’s life. I must admit I winced at the thought of donating a pint and a half of my bone marrow. I have been a potentia…Read more…
TTIP talks face growing difficulties
The thirteenth round of negotiations of the free trade deal between the EU and the USA known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) starts in New York on 25 April 2016 amid…Read more…
Football fans champion the NHS
Supporters show appreciation for health service by applauding in the 68th minute – signifying the age of the NHS
The article Football fans champion the NHS first appeared on the UNISON site.Read more…
Rana Plaza: Three years on
This weekend marks the third anniversary of the Rana Plaza tragedy, which shocked the world and jolted consumers, unions, activists and – eventually – brands into action over conditions faced by…Read more…
Turkish workers under further attacks
Sadly and as I have repeatedly reported on in my blogs, Turkish workers, their unions and wider civil society are under constant attack from their ever autocratic government. The latest example of…Read more…
Colombia’s bloody peace process
It is a bitter irony that given Colombia is engaged in a peace process the number of politically motivated killings has increased of late In the period 21 February 2016 to 18 March 2016 a total of 30…Read more…
‘Thumbs-up’ Tory shame
Gloating Tory councillors have shamelessly posed for a ‘thumbs up photo’ right in front of a children’s centre they’ve axed to save cash. Portsmouth council leader Donna Jones, children and…Read more…
‘Stuck in the bowels of hell’
Two hero miners saved the lives of nine of their comrades earlier this month, after the group were trapped by a huge fire 1.1km underground in a Teesside potash mine. The miners, all Unite…Read more…
‘Most pressing priorities’
The Scottish TUC (STUC) conference began this week on Monday (April 18 to 20), when delegates from Unite moved motions on a range of issues from the government’s controversial trade union Bill to…Read more…
Bellowhead – a pome
And now for something completely different.. a short poem what i wrote after seeing Bellowhead’s Farewell Tour at the O2 ABC.
In Memoriam
So farewell then…Bellowhead. There was a lot…Read more…
New Immigration Bill clauses could give workers whistle to blow on abusive employers
On Monday the Immigration Bill will return to the House of Commons. In the House of Lords amendments have been added to give rights and protections to asylum seekers and overseas domestic workers which provide an important counterbalance to the nasty t…Read more…
Metal tops bill at Glastonbury?
This year’s Glastonbury festival has a new addition to the bill, and it’s metal but not as you know it. For festival goers used to standard hippy fare, the good news is not that British heavy…Read more…
A Voice for the Co-operative Movement – Vote to keep the Co-op political voice
Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE …Read more…
The future of UNISON?
What would people who care about the future of UNISON be doing in the run up to our National Delegate Conference?I suppose that part of the answer to that question depends upon identifying the people to whom it is (implicitly?) addressed.Those who care…Read more…
The FT’s Tim Harford not Labour is misrepresenting the earnings crisis
Since the financial crisis, it is beyond doubt that wages and incomes have been exceptionally weak. Yet in the weekend Financial Times, the Labour Party’s use of real earnings figures was heavily criticised by Tim Harford (here). In the company of Donald Trump’s use of crime statistics and Jeremy…Read more…