Earlier this week I participated in an ACAS seminar on ‘Building Productivity in the UK’. I have written previously on the so-called ‘productivity puzzle’ and the critical importance of investment, skills and an active industrial strategy. But I have also highlighted the importance of better work…Read more…
Winter blackouts, industry knockouts
The National Grid is advising manufacturers to make plans for electricity blackouts. Hardly helpful to our energy intensive industries like steel and paper making already under pressure, and with manufacturing output falling for its third consecutive quarter. The grid’s 2015/16 Winter Outlook…Read more…
European Commission 2016 plan: lots for us to do, but a sting in the tail for Cameron
The European Commission publishes an annual plan (less pageant than a UK government’s Queen’s speech, and less focused on legislation) and the 2016 plan came out this week. Apart from the over-dramatic title (‘No time for business as usual’) there is some good, some bad, and…Read more…
Weak Paris treaty will mean “job losses and development crisis”
Trade union demands for the principles of a just transition and decent work have made it into the last draft of the Paris climate change treaty before the final round of talks begin in earnest on 30 November. But there’s still a huge gap between national pledges to cut their carbon emissions and…Read more…
Economy growing at around half the pace of last year
At 0.5%, today’s preliminary estimate of GDP quarterly growth in 2015 Q3 was a little weaker than expected (0.6%), down from 0.7% in Q2, and continued the run of below-par growth throughout 2015. Comparing with the same quarter of last year, growth was 2.3%. Looking at the measure of GDP excluding…Read more…
Ending union check-off arrangements would be disruptive, centralist, and make absolutely no sense
Just as it seemed the Trade Union Bill couldn’t get any worse, the government confirmed last week that it is pushing ahead with its last minute amendment to the bill – bringing in new plans to scrap check-off arrangements across the public sector. Check-off is the system through which…Read more…
Ex-Federal Reserve boss rejects the Chancellor’s approach to spending cuts and surplus legislation
Yesterday was a bad day for George Osborne. After the Newsnight coverage of the defeat in the House of Lords, Evan Davies introduced (here at 20:25 mins) the previous Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke (in the UK to promote his memoirs). Ex-bosses of central banks can speak more freely…Read more…
Today’s tax credit debate – what is the independent assessment going to reveal?
Today the House of Lords debated regulations to cut tax credits, scheduled to be introduced next April. They voted to delay this introduction until an independent assessment of their likely impact has been carried out. In this post I want to look at wh…Read more…
Re-inventing the wheel of well-being: NEF’s new measures of ‘national success’
GDP was not originally devised (in the 1930s) as a barometer of economic health, more as a means to that end. Yet as we anticipate tomorrow’s first estimate for the third quarter of 2015, it is undeniable that GDP growth is now used as shorthand for the success or otherwise of the economy (and…Read more…
Solar industry fears “systematic dismantling of UK renewable energy policy”
The solar power industry has challenged the government to support a three year survival plan which will add just £1 a year to consumers’ energy bills and save most of the 27,000 jobs now at risk from government cuts. It rejects the government’s claim to be helping “hard working…Read more…
Cameron’s EU renegotiation strategy: a virus infecting the European social model
On Friday I spoke at an event in Dublin organised by the Charter Group – Irish trade unionists supporting the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights – about the United Kingdom’s EU referendum. This is an edited version of the speech I gave. Ever since Jacques Delors came to our Congress…Read more…
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and respect for workers’ rights
Yet another multilateral international financial institution saw the light of day in June this year in Beijing without much fanfare and, more importantly, after a relatively short gestation period. 50 of the 57 prospective founding members of the newly…Read more…
Borrowing’s in line with latest forecast, but over four times higher than originally planned
At the half-way point of the financial year (April to September 2015), the government has borrowed £36.4bn. At the same point last year, borrowing was £44.9bn, so the improvement on the year is 18.9%. For the year as a whole the OBR forecast borrowing of £69.5bn in 2015/16, a reduction of 22%…Read more…
Low-paid workers: Worse off next year and even worse off in 2020
One image from the TV coverage of George Osborne’s July Budget sticks in my mind. It hasn’t got anything to do with the Chancellor’s smirk as he announced the “National Living Wage” – it’s the cut-away shot to Iain Duncan Smith fist-pumping in apparent triumph. I was surprised – in the same speech…Read more…
Corporate Responses to Modern Slavery
Today saw the publication of a report which seeks to give a snapshot of company perceptions and current responses to modern slavery. This report is the product of collaborative work between the Ethical Trading Initiative and the Ashridge Centre for Business and Sustainability at Hult International…Read more…
Green Collar Nation – or industrial omnishambles?
The government must stop cutting renewable energy funding, and instead get behind the UK’s transition to a low-carbon economy, say a new TUC/Greenpeace report. Green Collar Nation calls for “active support from government so the UK can become a world centre for low-carbon manufacturing, from solar…Read more…
OBR wrong to continue absolving Osborne’s polices for a deficit now 3x larger than planned
TUC has argued that the economy and public finances were derailed over the coalition years because government spending cuts had a larger-than-expected impact on the wider economy (see e.g. blog, paper). Earlier this week the Office for Budget Responsib…Read more…
Involving workers in key business decisions? The European way
At its 13th Congress held in Paris earlier this month, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) launched an initiative for greater workplace democracy. In addition to promoting a better framework for worker information and consultation, the ETUC r…Read more…
Are Strikes Really All That Common?
The latest figures suggest they’ve never been so uncommon. Being able to withdraw your labour is an essential human right, which is why Conservative ministers are usually careful to deny that the Trade Union Bill is an attack on the right to strike. But some of the Bill’s supporters are not very…Read more…
Gender pay gap reporting: is it anything more than a policy gimmick?
David Cameron’s attempt to claim Labour territory has included strong messages on the gender pay gap. In his conference speech last week he declared, “I’m a dad of two daughters – opportunity won’t mean anything to them if they grow up in a country where they get paid less because of their gender”….Read more…