Every day on UniteLIVE during the festive period, we highlight our videos of the year. Today, we hear from Unite general secretary Len McCluskey, who earlier on this month sent a message of…Read more…
Happy Birthday Trev
Yesterday was the birthday of my Tower Hamlets Housing UNISON colleague, Trevor Dean. Normally we would have gone out for drinks and a curry at Aromas to celebrate. Instead we will have a virtual curry next month on Montrose Matty’s birthday whic…Read more…
Schools committee raises issues over English testing plans
UNISON meets Department for Education and NHS test and trace officials to discuss the end-of-term announcement about mass testing in English schools in January
The article Schools committee raises…Read more…
Schooling the politicians?
It is some years now since your blogger was the parent of school aged children, but I remember all too well the challenge of arranging leave commitments and finding childcare to cover school holidays and closures.
Nevertheless, given the accelera…Read more…
Review: Hitler: His Life and Legend, by Walter C. Langer
At the height of the Second World War, Allied intelligence services grew increasingly interested in the personal life of the German Führer, Adolf Hitler. The British Special Operations Executive…Read more…
Stepping up to the plate
The Covid-19 pandemic has ravaged sectors across the British economy, with not a single industry spared. Manufacturing took a massive hit, with hundreds of thousands of jobs lost since March and many…Read more…
Video of the year – ‘Don’t get bullied into working longer’
Every day on UniteLIVE during the festive period, we’re highlighting our videos of the year. Today, we hear from Unite national officer Adrian Jones, who explains changes to driver regulations,…Read more…
Robert Barrie Walker – General Secretary – National Union of Agricultural Workers
Robert Barrie Walker
(13 October 1878 – 25 August 1961)
Born Carstairs, Lanarkshire
Son of Scottish Ploughman
joined the army and served in the Boer War
Became General Secretary in 1912 until 1928
It was Walker who in 1914 secured a famous victory w…Read more…
James Lunnon – National Union of Agricultural Workers organiser
James Lunnon
“His was a fighting temperament, and these were fighting days”
James Lunnon born into grinding poverty in London in 1869, his parents from Bourne End, Buckinghamshire (it is stated his father died when was just six)
Thus, aged 6 he became…Read more…
London Councils’ All Councillor Covid Webinar – 22 December
Tonight I joined a webinar organised by London Councils (which represents all 32 boroughs in London and the City) for a briefing on Covid.
The meeting was chaired by Labour Leader of Camden, Cllr Georgia Gould, however it was very much a c…Read more…
Despised: Why the Modern Left Loathes the Working Class
Dear Colleagues,
Still struggling to access this blog and this accounts for far too occasional posts. Still working on the idea of moving over to WordPress, but for now will still post whenever I can.
This is just a brief post to say that I have been s…Read more…
Three years of silence – the government’s response to electronic balloting must be lost in the post
You can order your shopping, pay your bills and even vote in many political party ballots online. But when it comes to voting in union elections, the government insists only paper postal ballots will…Read more…
Review: The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova
There are not many novels — or at least not many novels I’ve read — that are set largely in libraries and archives, and whose heroes are historians. In this book, practically…Read more…
Campaign to ban nuclear weapons in 2021
86 nations have signed up to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. 51 states have ratified the Treaty – but the UK has done neither, which is why the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament is campaigning to get the UK Government to support the Tr…Read more…
Battle for Barnoldswick
The announcement in August that Rolls-Royce was shipping 350 jobs at its Barnoldswick Trent engine blade factory to Singapore was a gut punch to both its workers and the town. With a population of…Read more…
Merry Christmas from Greater London UNISON!
This is the front of the card sent out on behalf of Greater London UNISON Regional Council Officers and its Senior Management team by Yvonne Green (Regional Convenor) and Maggie Fermcombe (Regional Secretary).
“It’s been an unprecedented a…Read more…
Newham Council Budget Consultation for 2021
Check out the wider budget consultation here and the Eat For Free here
Share your views on our 2021/22 budget proposals We have written up our proposed budget for 2021/22, and we want to hear what you think about our proposals and …Read more…
Producing union digital conferences
As Covid-19 stopped mass gatherings in person this year, many unions had to make a choice whether to cancel their big conference events or to quickly rework long-running formats for a digital medium….Read more…
Don’t forget Western Sahara
As one of a number of parting shots to the world community, the Trump administration broke ranks with international consensus (and UN resolutions) by unilaterally recognising Morocco’s lengthy occupation of the territory of the Western Sahara.
…Read more…
Blog: Our members are the key workers who will get us through this latest crisis
This year’s Christmas holiday comes at the end of a long year when UNISON members have worked under the most extraordinary circumstances
The article Blog: Our members are the key workers who will…Read more…