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#QueensSpeech 2015: Immigration Bill will fuel undercutting and hostility
Today measures for a new Immigration Bill were announced in the Queen’s Speech. The Bill sets out a fundamentally contradictory position, first aired by David Cameron in a speech last week, that you can tackle exploitation of workers by taking their rights away. Helping bad bosses The Bill will…Read more…
A lesson from the past about the future of DOCAS
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/employers-end-union-dues-collection-deal-1456076.html
The link above is to a twenty two year old story about how (then) public sector employers, British Coal and British Rail, used the withdrawal of what was then ca…Read more…
Osborne’s economic failure leaves borrowing for 2014/15 £50bn higher than planned
Commenting on the publication (Friday) by the Office for National Statistics of the latest public sector borrowing figures, which show that the updated deficit for 2014/15 of £87.7bn was £50bn larger…Read more…
#QueensSpeech 2015: Referendum Bill raises yet more questions
The Queen’s Speech today was silent on the hugely important issue of the negotiating strategy the government intends to pursue ahead of the EU referendum, and few other questions were answered by the references to the Bill we expect to see published tomorrow. Speak softly and run like hell…Read more…
Tory ‘toothless’ hours law
A key coalition government measure came into force on Tuesday (May 26) – the banning of exclusivity clauses in zero hours contracts. Now, employers cannot block workers who are on the…Read more…
Why take on trade unions ahead of the Paris climate treaty talks?
The TUC backs campaigns for green jobs and supports trade union efforts that green the workplace to good effect through energy saving schemes. Unions support investment in energy productivity because official data shows that the average rate of UK comm…Read more…
The trade agreement that threatens our safety.
Last year I wrote about the dangers to health and safety from the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) where the European Commission and US Government want to reduce “barriers” to…Read more…
More Right to Buy – what will go wrong
Right to Buy likely to go wrong Worryingly the Queen’s Speech confirms that there will be a bill to extend the Right to Buy to tenants in Housing Associations. The TUC opposes this measure on two grounds; that the funding model of housing associations would be seriously damaged by such a…Read more…
Help With School Uniform Costs
Unison’s Welfare Charity There For You is once again offering support to Unison members on a low income with school uniform costs by way of a one off payment of up to £120. Conditions and criteria apply. The closing date … Continue reading →Read more…
Back to 1927 for our political funds – and what are the implications for DOCAS?
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#QueensSpeech 2015: nothing to say on international development?
Everyone agrees that this is a crucial year for international development. The Millennium Development Goals expire this year, and will be replaced at the UN General Assembly in September with 17 sustainable development goals, aiming to eradicate global…Read more…
Trade Union Bill
27 May 2015
By Carolyn Jones, Director Institute of Employment Right
The Trade Union Bill announced in the Queen’s speech holds few surprises. We knew it was coming. The Tories and their big…Read more…
Hanging in the balance
The future of the Scottish Agricultural Wages Board (SAWB) hangs in the balance as the new Scottish government look at the option of scrapping it yet again in a consultation set to close at the end…Read more…
People are not your priority, Mr Cameron
Commenting on today’s Queen’s Speech, Unite general secretary, Len McCluskey said, “Given the profound challenges facing this nation, it is staggering that a priority for this government is…Read more…
Hereditary monarch promises “reform” of democratic working class organisations.
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£12 billion of benefit cuts will do a lot of damage
The new government starts work with commitments to benefit cuts that will be difficult to deliver but politically impossible to avoid. All the options open to the government will cause serious hardship but still won’t deliver the scale of savings the Chancellor wants. It’s very likely that one…Read more…
Fighting the battle of ideas
Richard Angell recalls the moves a couple of years ago to have Progress, the organisation he directs, excluded from the Labour Party. Ungenerously, he omits to record that Len McCluskey spoke…Read more…
Sadiq Khan proposes a London Living Rent
Hat tip Labour List. I will look at all the London Mayoral UNISON candidates Housing policies. A living rent policy would be fantastic. What is the point of a Living wage if you did not have a Living Rent policy?
“Sadiq Khan, who’s in the running to be Labour’s candidate for London Mayoral,…Read more…
ACT NOW! The next few days are vital for EU-US trade deal
On Thursday, the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee (known as INTA) will vote on a series of amendments to a draft report on the EU-US trade deal TTIP (the Trans-Atlantic Trade…Read more…