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Through hundreds of Freedom of Information requests, Debt Resistance UK have obtained a dataset of LOBO loan contracts. These are risky and expensive loans miss-sold to local authority by financi…Read more…
The Stronger UNISON pledge and what it really means
A small clique of supporters of UNISON’s current leadership are organising to try to keep UNISON in its current state of lethargy and its downward path under the somewhat implausible slogan “Stronger UNISON” – for the moment this relates simply to a Facebook page which appears largely to be a…Read more…
Members fight on for pay justice
British Airways’ ‘mixed fleet’ cabin crew working on long and short haul flights out of Heathrow Airport will be taking part in a three day strike next week in their dispute over poverty pay, Unite…Read more…
‘Get a grip’
The Prime Minister shrugged off the mounting NHS crisis yesterday (January 11) as a “small number” of incidents, even as 20 hospitals across England declared that they could no longer guarantee…Read more…
A new approach to public service reform
Since the publication of the Christie Commission report five years ago, public sector reform has been largely piecemeal and driven by austerity cuts. The debate can also drift into a contest between…Read more…
The fight for our rights that lies ahead
In the long run, employees in the UK could find themselves with less control over their working lives than their EU counterparts. And British rights could go from being enshrined in EU law, to being…Read more…
‘Sigh of relief’
Hundreds of jobs were saved after a sale was secured this week (January 11) of Coventry-based automotive parts supplier CovPress, one of the largest employers in the area. The nearly…Read more…
Globalisation’s strength is through domestic demand – that’s why it’s in crisis
The current debate on globalization is characterised by the idea that trade is becoming more and more important to prosperity. A very standard illustration shows trade growth as a share of GDP progressively increasing over the last 50 years – see Annex. (NB this post is background to…Read more…
Gov’t has ‘moral duty’
The Berkshire towns of Aldermaston and Burghfield are not normally associated with strikes – but that is exactly what is going to happen again next week in an increasingly bitter dispute over…Read more…
‘A strong sector in a strong union’
If there is any sector where workers certainly need a union it is construction – and now these workers will have even stronger protection at work. The merger of UCATT (the union for…Read more…
We are more equal (because we are all worse off)
Normally figures (here) showing the income distribution had narrowed to the lowest point for thirty years – since 1986, the height of Thatcherism – would be reason for celebration. But these are not normal times. The country may be less unequal, but everybody is poorer. Thatcherites used to boast…Read more…
Inequality is falling, but that doesn’t mean we can stop worrying
I was struck by the coincidence of two news items yesterday. On the one hand, the World Economic Forum highlighted rising income inequality as one of four “global risks in 2017” because it threatens social cohesion and democratic societies’ ability to take action on other problems. On the other,…Read more…
Trump’s Cabinet picks are no friends to workers
Trump is on a mission to tear the heart and the humanity out of America …Read more…
Clarion UNISON newsletter on Staff Survey – Trade Union Recognition
Staff Survey – Trade Union Recognition On Tuesday 10 January, the head of HR confirmed to the unions that Clarion and Latimer staff would all receive a survey, via email, on the subject of trade union recognition.
All staff were sent a link to the survey…Read more…
Alborada: Latin America Uncovered Article
New Low Pay Rates in April:
Minimum wage rates go up in April The increase in national minimum wage rates – and the so-called national living wage – which will come into force on 1 April. The new rates are: 25 and over –…Read more…
Cabin Crew Strike:
BA cabin crew strike takes off Tim Lezard Banner, News Cabin crew working for British Airways’s ‘mixed fleet’ have begun a 48-hour strike over pay. More than 800 people joined Unite yesterday to…Read more…
Cap top bosses pay call
For years there has been an increasing level of anger about ‘fat cat’ pay. The wages of top bosses keep increasing while those of workers are at best stagnating. Twenty years ago the average…Read more…
Government’s claim to have ‘protected’ the NHS is a sham, says UNISON
Commenting on remarks made today (Wednesday) to the Commons Public Accounts Committee by NHS England Chief Executive Simon Stevens, UNISON head of health Christina McAnea said: “It’s…Read more…
‘Fantastic’ BA strike support
Unite hailed support for a 48-hour strike by British Airways’ ‘mixed fleet’ cabin crew as ‘fantastic’ today (January 11). It has emerged that the stoppage, which started yesterday (January…Read more…