The discovery of a time capsule left in the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh by joiners in 1909 has thrown a fascinating insight into where the workers of the day got their news….Read more…
Phoney Deficit Mania
Since the publication of the Con Dem Autumn Statement a new reverse paradigm has been introduced into the economic debate in Britain – cutting the deficit versus borrowing. Self serving Tory…Read more…
Brendan McCarthy – a union man with a big heart
Brendan McCarthy former Joint Regional Convenor for UNISON Northern Ireland and Branch Secretary of the NUPE North & West Belfast Health Branch and the UNISON Royal Hospitals Branch died last…Read more…
Police Chief disregards compelling evidence
Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, writes in today’s Guardian and calls for ‘radical structural reform’ to deal with the impact of Government funding cuts. His solution…Read more…
Italian unions stage General Strike in defence of workplace rights
Yesterday Italian unions staged a General Strike in protest at the Jobs Act which seeks to deregulate employment rights by weakening national bargaining and removing protections against unfair…Read more…
An Account of Despair by Volker Braun
When she entered
And set down her empty bags on my tabletops
I felt caught out in my
Missed deeds.
The evening news dripped bloodily from the screen
And the bed stood encircled
Aside in the…Read more…
A welfare state for corporations not the people
An extensive article and research by Kevin Farnsworth on the Renewal website examines the extent to which UK public policy is skewed in favour of private companies – placing business tax cuts,…Read more…
Institute for Fiscal Shock Therapy
The past week’s debate sparked by the 2014 Autumn Statement has confirmed the marginalisation of trade unions from British current affairs. Even in the recent past the trade union response to…Read more…
Austerity – Just Say No!
‘Even if the government/OBR forecasts for the scale of the cuts prove to be unworkable they amount to a plan for permanent austerity, of ever deeper cuts. They are also a Tory trap for Labour, which…Read more…
16 years is too long. Justice for the Miami 5 Now!
Tonight many UNISON members and other trade unionists will attend the annual Candlelight Vigil for the Miami Five outside the US Embassy starting at 6pm. Speakers include a special guest from Cuba…Read more…
Giving Scotland a reason to back Labour for social justice
As the dust still swirls after the referendum, the challenge is to bring the focus back to the Scotland we want to see now. Of course the ‘neverendum’ campaign will continue but at some point we will…Read more…
Recovery bypassing workers in low-paid Britain
The LRD’s annual earnings survey finds that average earnings growth is on the floor with little improvement in pay settlements over the past 12 months: ‘Since the 2008-09 recession, the UK has…Read more…
Plight of a migrant worker by Khalid Hameed
wake up in the morning
head out to look
for work
stand in the corner of
the street
waiting for cars passing by
to pick you up
and take you to veg
gardens
as a day labor,
I am that forgiven…Read more…
NHS Pay Dispute – Where Next?
On Monday thousands of NHS workers took to the picket lines for the second time in six weeks. Following the huge success of the action on 13th October, 9 health unions called their members out…Read more…
LGBT conference builds fight against austerity
#ulgbt14 UNISON’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender members met this weekend in Blackpool for hopefully the last time under this Tory led Government.
As always LGBT Conference…Read more…
Not too late to abandon austerity
‘If Labour now repudiated austerity in favour of the far more effective way of cutting the deficit through public investment to expand the economy out of stagnation, generate real jobs, increase…Read more…
Aiberdeen Street by Alastair Mackie
Ye were hyne awa fae Nuremberg o the flags,
the death-crap o the purges; Il Duce’s
black-sarked legions heistin eagles…
Woolie’s guns and gairden canes airmed oor wars
focht on your cassies, oor…Read more…
Half measures will not stop TTIP from destroying the NHS
Today the Commons will debate Labour MP Clive Efford’s worthy bill to save the NHS from irreversible privatisation, which will aim to reverse the Health & Social Care Act 2012 and seek to exempt…Read more…
Gaping gaps in Labour’s proposals for enhanced workers’ rights
#workplacepledge As next May’s General Election draws closer, the outlines are emerging of Labour’s proposals on workers’ rights. Announcements on raising the minimum wage and the banning…Read more…