Union says it will ballot its members for action if unsocial hours payments are cutRead more…
Temporary migration in Australia: a cautionary tale
Australia is known as a settler nation (although the Australian unions are careful to acknowledge their debt to the people who cared for the land before Europeans arrived.) But more recently, what started as a way to plug short-term recruitment and ski…Read more…
Shall I compare thee to another’s pay? Shakespeare guides on strike
BECTU members at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre take action over payRead more…
Taking strike action in future? Some thoughts
The highest profile of the particular attacks on trade unions and our members in this year’s Conservative manifesto are the new, further restrictions upon the circumstances in which trade unions are protected from civil liability for losses caused by industrial action.Since we are likely to have to…Read more…
West Ham Municipal Elections 1893: Now and then.
On General election day May 7, London UNISON organiser, Karen Westwood, was representing Labour outside a polling station in Ilford North, when an elderly man bought photocopies of an election leaflet, featuring his Grandfather and gave her a copy. Kar…Read more…
Barnet UNISON screening The Emperor’s New Clothes – Russell Brand Film
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Art and Labour in Abu Dhabi
AT the end of April a group of trade unionists and safety campaigners went to the Qatar embassy in London, to hold a protest and deliver a letter about the lives and conditions of migrant workers in…Read more…
The first step in facing up to the Tories – preserve our trade union
I would suggest that a good test of whether or not to listen to proposal for how the trade union movement should respond to the unforeseen catastrophe of the General Election result is how similar those proposals are to the views held by the proposer b…Read more…
Co-op Votes to Keep Political Link with Labour Movement
As a Co-op shopper and Party member this is great news. I was out canvassing in Tower Hamlets yesterday afternoon for John Biggs as Labour mayor.
When I got a text from one of the “Keep It Co-op” organisers that the Co-operative Group had just voted t…Read more…
Workers arrested and sacked during collective bargaining for unpaid social welfare benefits
It’s been a month since workers from a Shenzhen based factory started requesting the factory to pay back workers’ pension and other social security benefits. Workers staged a strike shortly after the…Read more…
There is policy and reality. Why can’t we bring the two together?
Dual professionalism was meant to leap the chasm of teacher practitioner and industry expert. However, it did not spell out what ‘industry expert’ means or even attempt to develop what such a…Read more…
UNISON courses coming up
There are still places available on the following courses. To apply, get an application form here and contact your branch for approval.
Organising Stewards – Glasgow – 30 June-1 July (part 1); 4-6 August (part 2) – 2 spaces available
Discussion Leaders (residential) – Edinburgh – 3-5 July
This is the first course in the tutor training programme and covers the basics of facilitating discussionsRead more…
Newham Council AGM 2015
Picture collage from the Annual General Meeting of Newham Council (and 50th anniversary of the London Borough of Newham) at Stratford Town Hall.
The meeting started with music and song from local primary school pupils. At the meeting I was re-elected …Read more…
Call it “Community”. Sounds nicer than Slavery on the High Street
LONDONERS and South-East commuters must be very well-informed. We get regional news and features on TV, and free newspapers cluttering the tube. We even have a new regional commercial TV channel. We…Read more…
INDUSTRIAL ACTION CALLED! RATES OF PAY AND CONDITIONS OF SERVICE 2015 – NETWORK RAIL
Our Ref: BR6/000115th May 2015 Dear Colleague, INDUSTRIAL ACTION CALLED! RATES OF PAY AND CONDITIONS OF SERVICE 2015 – NETWORK RAIL Firstly I would like to congratulate you…Read more…
AMNT stall at Workplace Pensions Live 2015
On Thursday I went for a flying visit to Edgbaston, Birmingham to take part in a panel on the second day of Workplace Pensions conference.
The theme of the panel was “View from the coalfield – This session will explore the role of unions on trustee bo…Read more…
What’s coming our way with a new Tory government
As the Tories form a government at Westminster what are the issues likely to face Scotland and trade unions in particular? There are many, but the key issues are likely to be public spending,…Read more…
Just one simple step
When Cathy Cobbold goes to an airport people begin doing funny things. Although Cathy, who is profoundly deaf, shrugs her experiences off with a laugh, she has been working with Unite members…Read more…
Mental health and the working life #MHAW15
Being a young teacher has it challenges, four in 10 ‘quit’ within a year. But what happens when you are feeling so low and helpless that you contemplate ending it all?Read more…
A new normal in executive pay
A quick plug for the excellent report by the High Pay Centre on performance-related pay, No Routine Riches. This is the outcome of a year-long project looking at performance pay, and how it can be reformed.
If you read the report you’ll get a sense of…Read more…