On Monday 20 September, British-born migrant and labour rights activist Andy Hall was found guilty on charges of criminal defamation by a court in Bangkok, Thailand, and sentenced to a three year…Read more…
Think globally. Act locally.
I congratulate all those who made it to Birmingham today to protest against the Tories. News reports suggest 20,000 people were present.
Last year the BBC reported that 60,000 marched in Manchester – at a time when the (then) Trade Union Bill posed an …Read more…
#Lab16 Labour Housing Group fringe
After the “Unions together” fringe on Sunday I cycled (using the Liverpool Council rented City Bikes) from the conference centre to my 2nd housing fringe that evening at the historic Cunard Buildng in Pier Head.
The Labour Housing Group is a soci…Read more…
Writing for a Blog: Some ideas
Dear Colleagues,
Later this year I will be running an evening course at Ruskin – one of the ‘digital evenings’ that form part of the exciting range of Courses for Interest: http://tinyurl.com/jlnwgln (sign up for a
session – you’ll love it!)
Ha…Read more…
Cambodian unions still not satisfied with minimum wage increase
Cambodian unions have reacted with anger to the Government’s decision to fix next year’s minimum wage for garment workers at $153 a month, way below the $171 pcm that unions had demanded,…Read more…
Working with the far left in the trade unions
A senior official of UNISON once told me that I “could have gone places” in our union if only I had not been “a standard bearer for the Trots.” I took this as a (not very intelligent) criticism of my willingness to stand alongside and defend comrades in organisations such as the Socialist Party and…Read more…
Succession planning in the labour movement
Having told the Lambeth UNISON Branch Committee five months ago that I will not seek to continue to be Branch Secretary beyond next January I am very mindful of the difficulty of succession planning.Bearing in mind of course that I make no criticism of UNISON’s General Secretary, I cannot help but…Read more…
Idiocy in Liverpool
In three decades of labour movement activism I have witnessed some truly monumental stupidity.
Last week’s Labour Party rule amendment to prohibit Labour Councillors from supporting unlawful budgets is up there in the top ten. For an opposition Party to commit its representatives irrevocably to…Read more…
As Portugal tries to take back control of Metro Lisbon, Mexican privateers turn to #ISDS
One of the main complaints unions make about the investment protection elements of trade deals known as Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) is that it would be used against governments trying to bring privatised services back into public ownership. “Oh no it won’t!” cry…Read more…
Haringey UNISON shows the way in the fight against super-exploitation
If there has been one topic which has cropped up at every regional and national meeting of UNISON which I have attended in the past couple of weeks it has been the fight being waged by our Haringey Branch for fair pay for home care workers who have bee…Read more…
Fair Funding Review (Isle of Wight): Info:
John Metcalfe’s letter: (Chief Executive: Isle of Wight Council) Click on: https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3116764/FairFundingReview-26-09-16.pdfRead more…
#Lab16 Unions together fringe
Picture collage from the packed “unions together” (TULO) fringe last Sunday at the Labour Party Conference. Speakers included Jo Stevens MP who spoke about “Workplace 2020” and Angie Rayner MP, who thanked Unison for her politics.
Labour le…Read more…
Unite ballots Fujitsu Manchester over Pay, Pensions and Job Security
Unite’s industrial action ballot of members in my own workplace has now opened.
There’s an appeal for support leaflet, and you can also follow us on Facebook or Twitter.Read more…