In a damning judgement the Tories’ cruel benefit cap has been ruled unlawful by the High Court because it discriminates against single parent families with children under two. Delivering the…Read more…
Facing the sack for being sick: Life in insecure work
A few weeks’ holiday each year and some time off when you’re sick aren’t big asks. Most of us take them for granted. Too often, insecure workers, however, are forced to work while sick and avoid taking holidays. Hundreds of people recently told us about their daily experiences of insecure work. The…Read more…
Unions aren’t to blame for the Southern Rail situation. They’re trying to help.
After much delay (it was completed in December) the DfT have finally published the Gibb Report into the causes of and solutions to the problems that beset the Southern Rail franchise. The report is complex and covers a huge amount of territory in its 1…Read more…
St Mary’s Hospital cancels operations due to pressures
The Isle of Wight NHS Trust said operations would be rescheduled as soon as possible. Thursday, June 22, 2017 – 10:36 OPERATIONS have been cancelled at St Mary’s Hospital today (Thursday)…Read more…
National delegate conference hails inspiring speech from Jeremy Corbyn
Labour leader pledges to end public sector pay cap and invest in homes, the NHS, social care and all our services – to create a country for everyone
The article National delegate conference hails…Read more…
Conference backs range of measures to build on general election result
Wide range of measures proposed will help further develop the campaigning work that helped to produce the general election result
The article Conference backs range of measures to build on general…Read more…
Conference pledges mental health support for members
We should all be mental health champions, delegates hear as they call for expansion of programme started by Cymru/Wales
The article Conference pledges mental health support for members first…Read more…
A new deal for women in engineering
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4 reasons to dismiss the Chancellor’s claim of ‘good progress’ on deficit reduction
Philip Hammond has been out and about this week looking for praise for deficit reduction. At his Mansion House speech he claimed: “the deficit is down by three-quarters – and below 3% of GDP”. He tweeted the same line in response to Office for National Statistics figures yesterday (my…Read more…
‘Our Brexit brings the country together’, UNISON members told
National delegates debate a raft of motions on the risks posed by the Brexit negotiations
The article ‘Our Brexit brings the country together’, UNISON members told first appeared on the…Read more…
The grandest finale
I cannot say that I have always enjoyed sitting on the top table at the past fourteen UNISON Conferences.
I haven’t always agreed with what my NEC colleagues have got up to. Our trade union has not always been united.
However, I cannot imagine a better way to spend my final day on this platform…Read more…
Why the rush to hike the State Pension age?
One of the first jobs for the newly appointed Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, David Gauke MP, is to publish a report on the outcome of his department’s review of State Pension age. We know that a draft report to Parliament had been prepared when the general election was called. It is…Read more…
Court tells Government they cannot make Council Pensions funds be dependent on Boris Johnson Whims
In a victory for common sense the Courts have apparently thrown out the requirement that Council Pension funds have to invest according to the political whims of the UK Foreign office.
Who on earth would want their pension being dependent on the…Read more…
Retirement? What Retirement? The unspoken last speech to UNISON…
In my fourteen years on the UNISON National Executive Council (NEC) I think I have spoken from the platform on no more occasions than the four on which I spoke, from the floor, in the two days of my last Local Government Conference as a branch delegate…Read more…
Blog: The real and necessary debate about our country’s future
Our conference is once again having the real and necessary debate about our country’s future. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for our country’s government. Theresa May has shown not only her…Read more…
Trade Union Website League Table 2017
It’s time again for the annual trade union website league table. So how have the metrics changed in the last 12 months? (Previous results can be seen at 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012). The league…Read more…
Individual responsibility and collective irresponsibility
I mentioned a little while ago this morning’s meeting of the National Executive Council (NEC) (the second to last such meeting in my fourteen years on this august body). Towards the end of the meeting we descended into pantomime as an NEC member spoke by means of asking questions which he clearly…Read more…
What plans for HSE?
Today (June 22) Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail spoke out on HSE inspection cuts in the construction industry. “Sadly there remain far too many employers who are all too…Read more…
Tragic crane deaths
Unite is seeking urgent answers after a crane collapse in Crewe killed two workers and injured several other people. The accident happened yesterday (Wednesday June 21) at Dunwoody Way in…Read more…
SOC and the decline of UNISON Conference
I have just sat through my last ever Rules debate at UNISON National Delegate Conference. UNISON Conference has passed three non-controversial Rule amendments.
I have to say that we used to have rather more interesting Rules debates within our Conference (indeed we use to have more actual “debates”…Read more…