I’ve written before about how developments in Brazil are bad for working people, but the situation is getting worse, and with the Rio Olympics less than 10 weeks away, the world’s gaze…Read more…
EU referendum campaign: hearing from women at last
Over the last week, a new group of voters has risen to some sort of prominence in the EU referendum campaign, despite previously being pretty much ignored in the coverage of the increasingly febrile…Read more…
The time is now: we need a European Robin Hood Tax
Next month, on 17 June, European Finance Ministers will gather for a crunch meeting for the European financial transactions tax (the Robin Hood Tax, or FTT). Campaigners across Europe are urging the…Read more…
Asbestos: Time to get rid of it
Asbestos is the biggest cause of workplace deaths. This year 5,000 people are likely to die prematurely as a result of asbestos exposure. This is around three times the number of road accident…Read more…
Migrant rights defender back in Thai court
British-born migrant rights activist Andy Hall was back in Southern Bangkok Criminal Court this Thursday (18 May) for just 45 minutes as the most serious of his trials over the last three years…Read more…
Brazil teeters on the brink of counter-revolution
Brazilian union leader Joao Felicio, now President of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), is flying into London this week to stir up opposition to the counter-revolution underway in…Read more…
Nudging in the right direction: Behavioural economics to improve workplace safety
On various occasions I have criticised the Government’s reliance on “nudge theory”. The biggest use of it in the workplace health area was the Responsibility Deal which the Government quietly closed…Read more…
Promoting workers’ rights and solidarity in the debate on EU migration
Last month the TUC was involved in a roundtable organised by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung London office which discussed how to promote workers’ rights in the debate on EU migration. The event drew on…Read more…
As death returns to May Day protests, Turkey is sliding back into dictatorship
We – and colleagues in the Turkish trade union movement – have been writing about the struggles of the Turkish trade union movement on Stronger Unions for years. At one point, things were…Read more…
TUC joins May Day protests for jailed Iranian teachers
The TUC has supported a letter this 1 May calling on the Iranian government to release two Iranian teacher union leaders and scores of other jailed trade unionists as part of a general call “to…Read more…
Campaigning for LGBT equality in the workplace
On the face of it acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people has never been greater. The passing of legislation ensuring legal parity in marriage for lesbian and gay couples is an…Read more…
Trade Union Bill: Stand up for union rights
This week saw the latest skirmish in the battle against the Trade Union Bill. Through cross-party working in Parliament and campaigning hard across the country, we have forced the Government into…Read more…
Health and safety: Another reason for staying in
Yesterday tens of thousands of trade unionists took part in activities to commemorate those who died through work. The theme of Workers Memorial Day was “strong laws, strong enforcement , strong…Read more…
Mahdi Free! Bahraini teachers’ union leader released
Mahdi Abu Dheeb, the leader of the Bahrain Teachers Association (BTA) was freed on 5th April 2016 from a Bahraini jail after serving five years. He was jailed by a military court in 2011, accused of…Read more…
Keep IT in BA: We need action against undercutting in British Airways
Tata’s decision to close its steel plants in the UK has brought it to the centre of public attention. What may be less known is that Tata, the Indian conglomerate, also owns the company Tata…Read more…
Is neo-liberal globalisation running out of road?
I was inspired recently by an article in the Washington Post, which asked “what’s behind the revolt against global integration?” Partly because the policy prescriptions for getting…Read more…
Rana Plaza: Three years on
This weekend marks the third anniversary of the Rana Plaza tragedy, which shocked the world and jolted consumers, unions, activists and – eventually – brands into action over conditions faced by…Read more…
Turkish workers under further attacks
Sadly and as I have repeatedly reported on in my blogs, Turkish workers, their unions and wider civil society are under constant attack from their ever autocratic government. The latest example of…Read more…
Colombia’s bloody peace process
It is a bitter irony that given Colombia is engaged in a peace process the number of politically motivated killings has increased of late In the period 21 February 2016 to 18 March 2016 a total of 30…Read more…
TUC Dying to Work Campaign
Yesterday, in the Houses of Parliament the energy giant E-On will be the first UK company to sign up to the TUC’s Dying to Work Charter committing them, as an employer, to supporting workers…Read more…