The headlines yesterday and today focus on “muddled thinking” as the key phrase to stand out from the leaked resignation e-mail of the civil service’s top man in Brussels, Sir Ivan Rogers. But in fact, that’s only the third most important part of the story around the shock…Read more…
Why unions are key to fighting inequality between generations
Young people are on the sharp end of many worrying labour market trends. Workers in their 20s have taken the biggest hit to wages since the financial crisis. They are most likely to be working on zero-hours contract or in agency or casual work. And they are much less likely to own a home compared…Read more…
HAVE YOU VOTED? – Indicative ballot / Workplace meeting Clarion Housing Group
Have you voted in the ballot?
Time is running out to have your say…Dear UNISON Member
Clarion and Latimer management has decided to de-recognise trade unions for all staff, pending the result of a survey the…Read more…
Pakistan’s shipbreaking hell
It may be the most dangerous work in the world, and this is the worst place for it…Read more…
Together in UNISON we can make a difference in 2017
Aside from rarely kept resolutions, the new year is an opportunity to reconsider our priorities, plans and aims for the year ahead – both personally and professionally – and think about the state of…Read more…
Fares rise twice as fast as wages – passengers deserve a railway that puts people before profit
Passengers, commuters and campaigners gathered at over 100 stations across the UK today (3rd January) to protest the further rise in rail fares, and to call on a publicly owned railway that puts…Read more…
Public pay the price of job cuts
Without a backbone of administrative and clerical workers to help take the strain, our vital local services will collapse
The article Public pay the price of job cuts first appeared on the UNISON…Read more…
UNISON and the New Education Union?
Looking ahead, as one presumably should at the beginning of January, it is clear that one of the most significant developments in public service trade unionism over the coming year or two will be the emergence of the New Education Union (NEU) should me…Read more…
Forming New Unions (Tuesday 17 January 2017)
Colleagues,
Just a brief post to start the new year (another to follow asap) and which follows nicely on the heels of my last post for 2016 – which announced an increase in TU membership – with a plug for the History Acts series of workshops, and the …Read more…
Super fare price hike for rail users
As commuters return to work today facing fresh price hikes, shocking new research shows that regular UK travellers are paying up to six times more of their salary on fares than passengers who enjoy…Read more…
When a big lie fails, hard Brexiteers tell a bigger one
It’s hard to work out what’s most ludicrous about this morning’s ‘news’ that Michael Gove and others claim that leaving the EU Customs Union would benefit Britain by £450 million a week and create 400,000 new jobs. My favourite is the claim that once we leave the EU we…Read more…
UK commuters pay up to 6 times more on rail fares than their European counterparts
For commuters returning to work today, 2017 seems less celebratory and promising given they will face fresh fare increases on their first day back, all thanks to our privatised rail system. This…Read more…
People and pensions: TUC conference puts focus on members
The coming year has the potential to see yet another overhaul of pensions saving. Virtually every aspect of the pensions system will come under scrutiny in the coming 12 months But through it all, it is vital that the focus is kept on the overriding po…Read more…
Voting NO at Sports Direct AGM 5.1.17
Thanks to my 2nd favourite trade union (sorry GMB but I used to be a T&G rep in Scotland and my Dad was an ETU assistant branch secretary) I have a very small shareholder in Sports Direct PLC (one share).
This morning I voted on line against Dr Ke…Read more…
Let the workers discuss the independent role of the working class in 2017
Let the Independent workers discuss, a New Society!Read more…
Striking workers:
Resistance is growing in low-wage and precarious sectors. After an overtime ban and days of industrial action, which crippled Southern Rail, drivers strike again in the early new year. Post Office…Read more…
@grayee is in top 100 Independent Tweeting Bloggers 2016 (well 98th to be exact)
It would not be the New Year without some chart or table ranking. Many thanks to Phil for doing the leg work and it appears that I am in his top 100 for independent tweeting bloggers. Which is always nice, even if I am 98th!
Owen Jones is number one w…Read more…
Happy New Year – looking forward to a better 2017
Happy New Year! If 2016 was another ‘anno horriblis’, lets hope 2017 is an ‘anno magnus’. As I demonstrate how I scraped through law school without properly learning Latin!
I don’t do predictions,…Read more…