All the union news that's fit to blog...
The UK has triggered Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and is negotiating its departure from the European Union. We will have to wait and see what the UK’s future relationship with the EU will look like. But the UK government has repeatedly stated that it wants to leave the EU’s Single Market and…
Tackling the symptoms of the consumer credit boom without addressing the causes risks exacerbating the living standards crisis. Consumer credit was prominent in the yesterday’s assessment of financial stability by the Bank of England. Up front a chart shows the accelerating growth in various…
Low pay; zero-hours contracts; the gig economy; the introduction of employment tribunal fees. We are living in an age in which the agency, rights and dignity of a significant part of Britain’s workforce are being stripped away. Just last week, we had headlines telling us that the plight of today’s…
A few weeks’ holiday each year and some time off when you’re sick aren’t big asks. Most of us take them for granted. Too often, insecure workers, however, are forced to work while sick and avoid taking holidays. Hundreds of people recently told us about their daily experiences of insecure work. The…
After much delay (it was completed in December) the DfT have finally published the Gibb Report into the causes of and solutions to the problems that beset the Southern Rail franchise. The report is complex and covers a huge amount of territory in its 1…
Philip Hammond has been out and about this week looking for praise for deficit reduction. At his Mansion House speech he claimed: “the deficit is down by three-quarters – and below 3% of GDP”. He tweeted the same line in response to Office for National Statistics figures yesterday (my…
One of the first jobs for the newly appointed Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, David Gauke MP, is to publish a report on the outcome of his department’s review of State Pension age. We know that a draft report to Parliament had been prepared when the general election was called. It is…
Britain’s getting a pay cut There is a real and present danger that inflation will continue to increase faster than earnings this year. The latest figures show average weekly earnings growing at a modest 2.1%, whilst CPI inflation has increased to 2.9% and RPI to 3.7%. In short, Britain is getting…
To their advocates, zero hours contracts offer flexibility for both the employer and employee. But such a simple summary strips away the human aspects and power dynamics that make insecure work so stressful for the employee. Hundreds of people employed…
We often assume that a job will provide us with financial stability. Work is supposed to give us a stable income, a dependable budget, and the relief of not having to stress about the next month’s rent. However, for those in insecure work, jobs don’t necessarily guarantee this peace of mind. In a…
Imagine turning up to work only to be sent home without pay. It would be frustrating, wouldn’t it? It would be more frustrating still if you had already paid for childcare that day; or if you’d cancelled other plans so you could work; or if not receiving that day’s pay would make it difficult…
Forget socks, slippers or the latest gadget. This Sunday, the government should give fathers the perfect Fathers’ Day gift and help them spend time more with their families – by making sure all fathers can access well-paid paternity leave. One in four working fathers aren’t entitled to take…
Within hours of the General Election, the government was held to account on the international stage for the failings of the UK welfare system – with worker reps from Sweden, France, Australia, the International Transport Federation all calling on the UK government to bring UK provision into line…
Inflation is the highest it’s been since June 2013. CPI inflation rose to 2.9% in May, from 2.7% in April. Only a year ago, CPI inflation was as low as 0.3%. According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), the main contributor to the latest high inflation figure was rising prices for…
Last week’s General Election has engulfed Westminster in a wave of chaos and uncertainty. The local and mayoral elections held last month might therefore feel like a distant memory. But some parts of England that now have mayors with devolved powers have been getting to work, with unions at the…
Privatisation has cost the taxpayer over £50bn in unnecessary costs. A joint study by Essex University and Queen Mary’s University has confirmed what unions and passenger groups have been saying for years. Privatisation has been a colossal waste of money. The conclusions are damning. The “hugely…
Over two days last week, politicians, company CEOs, trade unionists, economists, NGOs and thinkers gathered at the OECD in Paris to consider major issues affecting the global economy. Under the heading ‘Bridging Divides’, this year’s OECD Forum had three major themes: Inclusive growth…
Former Treasury minister David Gauke has been appointed Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. This has prompted speculation that he might bring with him an apparent enthusiasm within parts of the Treasury, and certainly some right-wing think tanks,…
This election was about bread and butter issues – what needs to change for ordinary working people. And no wonder: if current trends continue, in five years’ time 3.5 million people will be in insecure work, as gig working, self-employment, agency work and zero hours contracts rise and rise….
In today’s Economic Outlook the OECD show UK real wages falling by 1.1% in 2018, with nominal earnings growth of 1.5% outstripped by inflation of 2.7%. This is a big change of view on nominal earnings, which were previously expected to rise by 2.5% (in their March interim forecast). This revision…