Hundreds of North Sea oil workers have received a boost ahead of industrial action next week with Norwegian energy unions pledging their “100 per cent support”. The Norwegian…Read more…
Government to press on with decision to land student nurses with debts of more than £50,000
Responding to the announcement today (Thursday) that the government is to plough ahead with scrapping nursing bursaries and replacing them with loans and fees, UNISON head of health Christina McAnea…Read more…
The new poor
Falling levels of home ownership and a reliance on state benefits mean that middle income families now have more in common with poor households than wealthy ones, with working families becoming the…Read more…
UNISON calls for end to NHS privatisation after consultancy failures
UNISON has today (Thursday) welcomed the decision by NHS England to shut the Strategic Projects Team (SPT) consultancy. The union has called on the government to learn from mistakes made by the…Read more…
Municipal energy – time for radical action
Despite the best efforts of successive governments to create an energy market, it remains notoriously uncompetitive. In Europe, municipal energy is commonplace and growing – we should do the same in…Read more…
‘Reap what you sow’
An HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) investigation into infamous employer Sports Direct for not paying its 3000 warehouse staff the national minimum wage is understood to have been widened to include the…Read more…
Government borrow more in first quarter of financial year (£26bn) than it originally expected to borrow in the year as a whole (£24bn)
Public sector net borrowing for the first quarter of the current financial year (2016-17) was £26.6bn, down from £27.9bn over the same period of 2016/17. On twitter the ONS are celebrating the lowest figure for the month of June since 2007. But this is hardly the point: the point of substance is…Read more…
Now is the time to take a lead on electoral reform
PCS has supported proportional representation (PR) since 2008 on the basis that these electoral systems open up a space for anti-austerity policies and parties and enable trade unions to better stand up for the interests of our members. The call for PR…Read more…
Dealing with the press – new NUJ public-order video for police training
The NUJ Freelance Office has produced a new public-order video designed to help police officers understand their roles and responsibilities with regard to the press during public-order situations….Read more…
£238 million reasons to stop Barclays Bank LOBO cheats ripping off Newham Residents
This was the written question I put to the Newham Deputy Mayor and Cabinet member for Finance, Lester Hudson, at the Full Council meeting last week
To the Executive Advisor on Finance, Cllr Lester Hudson
“Last week 3 more employees of Barclays Bank w…Read more…
The slow-moving car crash
Executive pay is like a slow-moving version of MPs’ expenses car crash, but without the degree of self-awareness shown by politicians (who do face a meaningful threat of removal from office). Each year the same headlines, each year the same justifications, each year a bit more legitimacy lost. This…Read more…
Another view on the referendum results: Unity – not division – against the metropolitan economy
The Resolution Foundation (RF) has led the way in interpreting referendum results according to economic and other factors. However their latest contribution “The importance of place“, seems to me to underplay the importance of place. Outside London and other metropolitan centres, the…Read more…
The trade union case for electoral reform
Trade unions and workers’ movements have a proud history championing democratic reform. From the Chartists pushing for universal suffrage to the Scottish TUC’s role in the campaign for the Scottish Parliament, unions have been at the forefront of demands for a better democracy that puts people at…Read more…
Orgreave: Inquiry news by year’s end
The new home secretary Amber Rudd today (July 20) announced she will meet with the Orgreave Truth and Justice Camping (OTJC) after the summer recess following calls for a public inquiry into the…Read more…
UNISON and the Labour leadership election
Now we know.The Eagle has (crash) landed and Labour Party members, affiliated supporters and registered supporters now face a clear choice between our current Leader (elected overwhelmingly last year with UNISON support) and some bloke I’ve barely hea…Read more…
Getting it in proportion? Unions and electoral reform
At the last TUC Congress a motion on electoral reform was passed. It began by noting that the Conservative ‘majority’ government elected in 2015 in fact secured the support of just 24% of the British electorate. Since that election, we have had to campaign hard in defence of jobs, services, and…Read more…
What should we make of today’s employment figures?
Today’s employment figures tell us a story we’ve grown used to – employment is still growing, unemployment is coming down at a slower rate, wage growth is still slow and there are other signs that the labour market isn’t as strong as we’d ideally like. As Damian Green was quick to point out, the…Read more…
Turkish democracy’s nightmare
The deficiencies in Turkey’s democracy cannot be remedied by armed force. The fact that the attempted coup by a section of Turkey’s armed forces failed is to be welcomed; what is not is the death of…Read more…
March for public services
This Saturday (July 23) people will be taking to the streets of Bromley to call on the Tory-led council to stop the cuts and privatisation of services. Unite has organised the march to show council…Read more…
Employment Tribunal Fees Review
Checkout this report by employment law expert Daniel Barnett. Workers should not fool themselves that the law protects them at work.
Despite our faults, trade unions are the only real defenders of your rights at work. To get any chance of …Read more…