This is the text from my speech yesterday on the composite motion on Housing. “Congress, the housing crisis and the lack of affordable homes is blighting the lives of workers and their families across the nation. More and more people, particu…Read more…
Let’s lead the fight against hate
After the toxic language used during the EU referendum campaign, resulting racist attacks on Black communities, refugees and those perceived to be of migrant backgrounds rose dramatically across the…Read more…
Support manufacturing plea
“Conference, there is a clear need for the UK to have an integrated, industrial strategy – to rebalance the economy and support our manufacturing base,” said Unite delegate Charlotte Upton. …Read more…
UNISON urges greater ambition in defending workers’ rights
Congress hears call to step up the fight in defence of union and workers’ rights during Brexit
The article UNISON urges greater ambition in defending workers’ rights first appeared on the…Read more…
UNISON vows to campaign for midwives and their patients
Eleanor Smith makes pledge at TUC Congress alongside the Royal College of Midwives
The article UNISON vows to campaign for midwives and their patients first appeared on the UNISON National site.Read more…
Support Gibraltar
Congress agreed today (September 13) that workers rights should be front and centre in any future Brexit negotiations, with trade unions having a firm seat at the table to be the voice for working…Read more…
Valuing the workforce is the key to better social care
The key to delivering high quality social care in Scotland is a fairly paid, well-trained workforce that is given the time to care properly.
Today, I was giving evidence to the Scottish Parliament…Read more…
Blacklisting still going on
Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail led calls at the TUC conference today (September 13) for tougher laws and a full public inquiry into blacklisting. Addressing conference in…Read more…
Cameron quits
David Cameron has stood down as the MP for Witney with immediate effect, two months after resigning as prime minister. The former Conservative leader’s legacy will be defined by his unleashing…Read more…
New trade union rights call
Congress today (September 13) stood united against the government’s pernicious Trade Union Act, which threatens the most fundamental rights of working people. On the third day of the TUC…Read more…
‘We represent all workers’
The trade union movement asserted its commitment to developing an active energy and climate change strategy, but Congress agreed that this must not happen at the expense of jobs nor can any strategy…Read more…
Step up on steel
British voters are backing the country’s steel industry with a widespread call for action by the government to step up its support for the beleaguered sector. According to Unite, which…Read more…
Time for action
Steelworkers, members of Unite and other steel unions, received a rousing round of applause yesterday (September 12) at the TUC conference after a composite, which highlighted the trade union…Read more…
#MayMonitor: A new campaign to track progress of Theresa May’s government
Theresa May became Prime Minister promising ‘a country that works for everyone’. She committed to fight the ‘burning injustice of inequality’, to support those who are ‘just managing’ but find life hard and to prioritise ‘ordinary working class families’ over the wealthy few. As Parliament returns…Read more…
Tackling debt is about more than personal responsibility
In the latest edition of the ESRC’s Society Now journal, Victoria Boelman from the Young Foundation discusses the need for greater education in order to help households avoid becoming trapped in high-cost debt. Well-intentioned as such work may be, it ignores the role of structural forces on…Read more…
Dangers of excessive workloads
Shelagh Hirst, ATL president, places this issue under the spotlight at TUC Congress 2016. Excessive workloads, caused by the current educational system, are detrimental to the mental health and…Read more…
Pessimism of the intellect at the TUC
Yesterday I shared exclusively with regular readers of this blog (Sid and Doris Blogger) the meanderings with which I detained the loyal diehards who stayed to the end of this evening’s Labour Representation Committee fringe meeting at the TUC.I injected a little pessimism of the intellect (or…Read more…
Post Office has failed
Seconding a motion on the crisis in the Post Office, Unite EC member and delegate Ivan Monckton said that Unite was proud that, its post office managers had taken industrial action on pensions, job…Read more…
TUC Congress 2016: Day 1
On Sunday I travelled down to Brighton as part of the 60 strong UNISON delegation to the 148th Trade Union Congress. This is the annual Conference or Parliament of the British Trade Union movement. Congress started for me with a delegation meeting at 3…Read more…
The British people didn’t vote for more cuts on June 23rd
This week the labour movement comes together – as it has done so for almost a century and a half – at the Trades Union Congress. There can seldom have been a time when unions have been…Read more…