When the British economy misses the inflation targets set by the Chancellor, the Governor of the Bank of England has to write him a letter explaining the reasons. It looks like we’re on course to miss tomorrow – for the first time below rather than above target. Here’s what I’ve imagined Mark…Read more…
Hadi Saleh’s legacy, ten years on
Today is the tenth anniversary of martyrdom of Hadi Saleh, international officer of the Iraqi trade union movement and my close friend. The union centre he represented, now known as the GFITU, is…Read more…
Underpaying the minimum wage & exploiting migrants
The shocking news that the number of bad bosses who underpay the minimum wage to young workers has risen dramatically in the last few years has implications for the continuing debate about migration in the UK: here’s why. One of the main concerns that working people have about immigration…Read more…
50 per cent more young people cheated out of minimum wage since 2010 – new government figures shock
The government today published new estimates for non-compliance with the national minimum wage*. These show a shocking increase in the number of employees aged 16-20 underpaid, up from 67,000 in 2010 to 102,000 now, which amounts to a 52 per cent rise. In itself, this figure shows that the TUC was…Read more…
Cameron’s NHS “crisis, what crisis?” moment
In response to the growing and widely reported crisis in A&E across the NHS in England, David Cameron dismissed trade union “scaremongering” and referred to the issue as “short-term pressure”. Let’s recap the issues that David Cameron describes as “short-term pressure”: A financial situation…Read more…
Saving Our Safety Net Fact of the Week: men in the richest areas live nine years longer than men in the poorest areas
If, like me, your New Year’s Resolution was to switch to a healthier lifestyle you may have been thinking a lot about life expectancy. (I wonder how many people had a look at the Death Clock at the start of the year!) And that’s what prompted me to think about poverty and inequality and life…Read more…
Point the pensions horse in the right direction
The festive season may be over but UK pensions policy continues to pull in two directions like a comedy pantomime horse. It seems that Pensions Minster Steve Webb had his eggnog spiked by his market-obsessed Treasury colleagues because his first post-Christmas outing was to propose a new trade in…Read more…
Iraqi unions build protest on jobs, wages and union rights
2015 began with a fresh new wave of industrial action across Iraq (apart from Iraqi Kurdistan) organised by the national trade union centre, the GFITU. The action centred on several demands,…Read more…
Planned future spending cuts return us to the Geddes Axe of the 1920s
On the basis of the OBR projections for future spending cuts, the only more severe consolidation in over a century was the Geddes Axe of 1921-23. That these disastrous policies are the nearest precedent for any prospective economic action beggars belief.Read more…
National minimum wage – no hiding place for cheapskate bosses
The TUC today called for enforcement of the minimum wage to be greatly strengthened and published a 10-point plan for strengthening this vital legal protection during the next parliament. We have welcomed the improvements already made by successive gov…Read more…
Time for an ethical energy policy
The £8m short term government loan for employee-owned Hatfield colliery, Yorkshire, is a welcome move by the government to protect hundreds of skilled jobs. But that such a loan is needed at all reflects the government’s failure to develop a long term strategy for UK coal in our energy mix,…Read more…
Unions condemn the Charlie Hebdo killings
As crowds gathered in cities across France and beyond today, standing in solidarity with those attacked at the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris, journalists’ unions expressed their shock and…Read more…
Myth-busting or diversion? HSE looking in all the wrong places
There is a new report out on health and safety myths. It is a review of all the cases that have been referred to the Mythbusters Panel which the HSE set up a few years ago to challenge health and…Read more…
Iraqi unions are still demanding better
Despite the impact of the ISIS insurgency, workers across Iraq staged several industrial actions from the end of October, through November and into the first part of December, and returned to the…Read more…
Power to the people: Trade unions, energy and climate change
At the end of this year, the countries of the world will meet in Paris under the auspices of the United Nations in a make or break effort to curb global warming by reaching a binding agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The preparatory COP 2…Read more…
Magna Carta and Social Security
This year (15 June) we’ll mark the 800th anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta. The commemorations will include a TV documentary, a Magna Carta cycle trail, a visit by 800 American lawyers and, I kid you not, a new roundabout on the A308. A lot of the people I usually agree with will be…Read more…
Wages fell £500 last year – 2015 needs a pay rise
Despite the recovery, 2014 has been another miserable year for living standards. The average wage is now worth £50 a week less than when the government came to power. And current policies offer little relief. The Office for Budgetary Responsibility forecast, released with the Autumn Statement,…Read more…
Fast-food workers scent justice in fight with franchises
In a ruling that has given US unions a significant boost, the US National Labor Relations Board has ruled that McDonald’s (and other fast food outlets) are a “joint employer” of workers at its…Read more…
Review of the year
The major educational event of 2014 was the sacking of Michael Gove. Joy was unalloyed among the vast majority of teachers and school leaders as this most ideological of politicians was shown the…Read more…
Don’t let UKIP panto take the spotlight off low pay and exploitation
In the last few weeks we all seem to have been given tickets to an extended UKIP panto complete with a string of offensive racist/sexist/homophobic/fill in the blank one-liners and a gay donkey. While the papers are having a field day with this silly season, it shouldn’t distract us from the…Read more…