1. Update on Pay dispute and ballotFollowing the rejection of the UNISON pay claim for 2023/24 and the imposition of pay cuts by Clarion (resulting in pay being cut in real terms by somewhere between 5 to 8.2% below inflation during the worse cos…Read more…
NHS Pay offer – UNISON 2023 ballot : Gordon McKay
An intelligent and convincing guest post by UNISON Health NEC member (and real life NHS nurse) Gordon McKay on the latest NHS pay offer to settle the strikes. I am so proud of my UNISON NHS comrades such as Gordon and LAS Eddie Brand,, who have not onl…Read more…
Margaret Gray 1941-2023
My sisters’ Helen, Lucy and I lost our Mum on Tuesday evening. She died at her home in Ruthin peacefully in her sleep. She had been in poor health for quite some time but we did not expect to lose her so soon.The picture of Mum pushing one of us in a p…Read more…
125th Anniversary of the 1st Ever “Labour” Council – West Ham 1 November 1898 – 2023
I have posted in the past on former Cllr George Coe on my blog, https://www.johnslabourblog.org/2015/05/west-ham-municipal-elections-1893-now.htmland https://www.johnslabourblog.org/2020/10/socialist-labour-west-ham-cllr-george.html.I now have fu…Read more…
Why are 45% of leaders white high social class men while only 1% are working class black women?
A very powerful statistic provided by “Progress Together” which aims to “work to create a financial services sector in the UK in which EVERYONE working in it is both enabled and has the opportunity to achieve their full potential.The measure of s…Read more…
West Ham Park Street Survey
In West Ham, the ward I represent as a Newham Councillor (E15 postcode), a consultation and survey is taking place on “seeking local views on issues relating road safety, air quality, walking, cycling, and traffic in the area”. This survey (and p…Read more…
Dan Tomlinson for Chipping Barnet
It was great to attend fundraising dinner last week for the Labour candidate in Chipping Barnet, Dan Tomlinson. I went with my UNISON colleague (and political secretary to London Labour Link) Joel Bodmer. Dan was supported by @unisonglr #Lab…Read more…
“Over-55s braced to work into their 70s as cost-of-living bites”
A dreadful story. While some of us may want to think about working after retirement, nearly all of us would want to have the choice and not be forced to work until we drop. The answer is greater financial support by employers and government for p…Read more…
UNISON Greater London Labour Link Regional Forum 2023
This week we had our UNISON Regional Labour Link Forum meeting for Greater London delegates in our headquarters in Camden. Labour Link is the UNISON Political fund affiliated to the Labour Party which members decide whether or not they wish to join.&nb…Read more…
International Women’s Day: Protecting Women’s Right to Strike
“It’s fitting that today, 8th March, is International Women’s Day and it was also going to be one of the most important strikes in UNISON history, if the government hadn’t finally given into pressure thanks to the four days of action taken by our…Read more…
UNISON Community Conference 2023 – Day 2
I posted on Day 1 here on the UNISON annual Seminar/conference for Community (Housing Association & Voluntary sector workers). Which went pretty well. Denise and I started the 2nd day leafleting delegates as they arrived for conference an…Read more…
A Women’s Place is in her Trade Union! – Join Newham Labour Unions celebrating International Women’s Day by Recruiting
Do join us if you can, for part or all of the time as we celebrate International Women’s Day by encouraging women to join a Trade Union!Outside Stratford Station. All Labour supporting women union members and allies welcome.All TUC affiliates wel…Read more…
UNISON Community Seminar/Conference 2023 – Day 1
UNISON holds an annual Seminar and Conference for members who work in our Community Service Group (Housing Associations and voluntary sector). This year it was held in Bournemouth. Unexpectedly I stepped in to chair a workshop on pensions d…Read more…
TUC Pensions Conference 2023: “Pensions in a Cost of Living Crisis”
Yesterday I returned to Congress House, the TUC headquarters for its annual pension conference. This event involves union officers, pension trustees and activists with expert presentations/Q&A and workshops. It was great to be back in person at lon…Read more…
Welsh National Anthem – “Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau” – Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus!
Love it. Read more…
35 Best Labor Blogs and Websites – John’s Labour Blog
It was nice to get this notification this evening via twitter “Congrats @grayee Your blog has been selected as one of the Best Labor Blogs on the web by @_feedspot”.”The best Labor blogs from thousands of blogs on the web and ranked by traffic, s…Read more…
Newham Voices: March 2023
Check out the latest version of our free Newham community newspaper. Read more…
Social housing bosses need formal qualifications? Yes but….
Today the Government has announced that it will change the law to make it compulsory for Social Housing Managers to hold formal qualifications in a similar way to social workers and teachers. The reasons given were “both Grenfell and the death of Awaab…Read more…
6 reasons to join UNISON
Heart UNISON is part of Heart Unions Week, the TUC’s annual event to celebrate unions, to make sure everyone knows why we’re vital at work, and to encourage everyone to join one. Here are 6 reasons why it’s a better time than ever to join UNISON.Google…Read more…
COVID-19 (again)
I been feeling under the weather lately and felt that I had a “lergie” (winter cold) coming on. This afternoon I was supposed to be carrying some joint visits with Police to see some tenants. So I thought that I better do a COVID test but felt pr…Read more…