This week’s news that United Lincolnshire Hospital’s NHS Trust will be closing its A&E department in Grantham in the evenings due to staff shortages is, in the words of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, “disappointing, yet unsurprising”. The TUC and health unions, campaigners and think…Read more…
Keep guards on trains
For many years’ train travel was a no-no for certain groups of disabled people, even when accompanied. Today as the system becomes more accessible, albeit slowly, disabled people are facing the prospect of new barriers replacing those that we had broken down. Gone are the days when the only way for…Read more…
How the Bank of England has teed-up £40-70 billion of government spending (plus financing?)
While most commentators celebrated last week’s ‘Brexit monetary-bazooka’, they perhaps downplayed how well the Bank has teed-up actions from the Treasury. Between the lines, they are supporting increased government spending over the next two years of £40 to £70bn. Duncan Weldon hit the nail on the…Read more…
Rio Olympics – workers pay a high price for poor planning
Rio 2016 is no Qatar, but a succession of mistakes and willingness to risk workers’ lives to compensate for bad planning has tarnished Brazil’s Olympic moment. If London 2012 is anything to go by, the excitement of the Olympics will really catch alight once the opening ceremony is properly underway…Read more…
Aid & trade: toxic mix or magic bullet?
New aid-sceptic International Development Secretary Priti Patel MP has annoyed many in the aid NGOs with an article in the Daily Express which could be taken to mean that Britain’s large overseas aid budget should be used to encourage developing countries to sign trade agreements with…Read more…
Even with Brexit deal unknown, the government can act now to manage migration better
While there is still considerable uncertainty about whether or how free movement will feature in any Brexit negotiation, today the TUC has released the report Managing migration better for Britain. It makes clear there are actions the government could take now which would tackle the negative…Read more…
What Byron Burgers (and Casablanca) tell us about policing migration
A lot has been written about the immigration raids at Byron Burger restaurants across London a month ago which saw 35 people arrested and led to protests recently. Many have criticised the company for getting more involved than legally necessary, where…Read more…
FIFA must stop foul play in Qatar.
FIFA bought a manual on how to end human rights in its world cups, and so far it’s refusing to follow the instructions. But now fans have a chance to make FIFA play by the rules. When FIFA commissioned a UN human rights expert to advise them how to clean up world football’s act, there…
The…Read more…
How is the Brexit vote affecting workers?
The simple answer, of course, is that it is too early to tell. The electorate’s decision on 23 June was just a decision, not the actual act of leaving the EU. Since then, we’ve had a substantial fall in the value of sterling which will make imported goods and components more expensive…Read more…
Another attempt to pick the state pension lock
Former Pensions Ministers don’t retire quietly from public life it appears. Baroness Altmann, the latest to depart Caxton House, has since criticised the difficulty of long-term policy making in government . And, over the weekend, called for the ending of the triple lock that governs state pension…Read more…
Why EU citizens in Britain shouldn’t be used as negotiating pawns
The TUC is only one of many groups in Britain calling for citizens of other EU countries currently living and working in the UK to be given the right to remain when we leave the European Union. Others who support the position include the CBI, IOD, orga…Read more…
Government must do more to tackle discrimination against trans people
The Government has finally responded to the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee Report on Transgender Equality that was published in January 2016. This wide ranging report recognised that, despite welcome progress in recent years, our society is still failing to support the rights and…Read more…
On industrial strategy, a return to Thatcher is not the answer!
This morning, the former Foreign Secretary and Conservative Party Leader, William Hague, has stepped into the debate about the nature of the UK’s industrial strategy. Hague’s intervention, in this morning’s Daily Telegraph, has been prompted by the new Prime Minister, Theresa May’s, welcome…Read more…
UK real wages decline of over 10% is the most severe in the OECD (equal to Greece)
The decline in UK real wages since the pre-crisis peak is the most severe in the OECD, equal only to Greece. Both countries saw declines of 10.4% per cent between 2007 Q4 and 2015Q4. Apart from Portugal, all other OECD countries saw real wage increases, albeit mostly modest ones. (NB strictly the…Read more…
They think it’s all over … but there are 5 tests before we start negotiating Brexit
One of the strangest views you hear expressed about the result of the EU referendum a month ago is that the impact on the economy has not been as severe as the Remain campaign claimed. Apart from the political turmoil in both the Conservative and Labou…Read more…
Electoral system is failing younger voters
There are three particular reasons– apart from the mandate given by Congress – why we need to have this conversation now. First, in 2015 we had the most reactionary government in possibly a hundred years elected with less than 25% of the vote. That cannot be right or good. Second, despite…Read more…
EU acts against exploitation of migrants. Bit late.
Last month, before the referendum, I took part in a meeting of the Executive Committee of the European Trade Union Confederation in Brussels. The European Commissioner for Social Affairs, Belgian liberal Marianne Thyssen, addressed the meeting and disc…Read more…
Powering ahead for Yorkshire and the Humber’s energy intensive industries
This week the TUC published a major paper on how UK industry can match Europe’s environmental leaders. Comparing UK industry with the Germans and the Danes is very timely given the Brexit vote on June 23rd and what this means for heavy industry across Yorkshire and the Humber. We are the most…Read more…
Proportional Representation – It’s Time!
I’ve not always been a fan of PR. I grew up in a tribal area where PR was portrayed as inevitably preventing Labour from winning back power. The strongest advocates of PR also seemed to peddle especially self-interested models that benefitted them more than anyone else and didn’t usually even seem…Read more…
Powering Ahead – a Strategy for Sustainable Industry
Today, the TUC publishes ‘Powering Ahead: How UK industry can match Europe’s environmental leaders’. This report, based on new research from Germany and Denmark, considers both how to rebuild the UK’s industrial sector and how to align the needs of industry with the quest for a cleaner, greener…Read more…