Today’s (Monday January 11) annual survey by the manufacturers’ organisation EEF shows that Britain is becoming less competitive as a base for manufacturers. “The EEF’s survey is yet another wake…Read more…
Opposition Peers will do all we can to stop the #TUbill attack on our unions and our democracy
The Trade Union Bill is an unacceptable attack on Britain’s unions. Unions are a part of the body politic in this country and for Labour Party peers like myself, many of whom are lifelong trade unionists, it is an attack on us and the people we believe we should be supporting. Unions have…Read more…
Heads urged to support library fight
Head teachers in Greenwich are being urged to support the campaign to save the council’s mobile library service which deliveries at least 22,000 books a year to children and those with mobility…Read more…
Recycling strike over rubbish pay
Strike action by recycling collectors at Kier Ltd in Bath and North East Somerset will continue after Unite members rejected the company’s latest paltry pay offer in an ongoing £2 an hour pay…Read more…
Offshore: End cuts call
Unite has today (Friday January 8) repeated its call for the industry to end its year-long imposition of cuts after members in the Offshore Contractors Association (OCA) agreement accepted…Read more…
War on the poor
Benefits sanctions, in which people out of work are punished by having their benefits stopped for often absurd reasons, were significantly ramped up in 2012 under work and pensions secretary Iain…Read more…
Sports Direct: Proper hours and wages call
Two Labour MPs – Gloria De Piero for Ashfield, and Bolsover’s Dennis Skinner, today (Friday January 8) called on Sports Direct to end abusive work practices at its warehouse in Shirebrook,…Read more…
EU negotiations – Is Cameron’s support on deregulation built on quicksand?
There is a lot in the press at the moment about David Cameron’s four demands on the European Commission for reform prior to the forthcoming referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU. Most of the…Read more…
Freedom, fairness and a TUC pensions conference
Savers in their mid-to-late 50s are the group making the highest level of withdrawals from their pension pots, according to the latest figures from the financial regulator. While it is very early days for so-called Pensions Freedom – the government’s great experiment with UK savings – there are…Read more…
‘Risk cocktail’: Is the Chancellor complacent about UK consumer debt?
The TUC issued analysis today showing household unsecured debt is now at its highest for five years, measured as a share of income (here). Household unsecured debts, % disposable income The ONS figures on unsecured borrowing (i.e. consumer credit and student loans, but excluding mortgages – see end…Read more…
Doors to shut on jobs?
Unite is ‘pulling out all the stops’ in efforts to save 353 jobs at East Midlands door manufacturer Leaderflush Shapland which has gone into administration. Unite regional officer Garry Guye…Read more…
London’s mayoral candidates should take a lead on online voting in #TUbill
Both of the front runners for the upcoming London Mayoral elections won their candidacies in votes that included voting via smartphones and computers. Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith’s…Read more…
The most painful cuts
Council services, including elderly care, children’s centres, parks and libraries, among other vital services, have suffered desperately under the weight of the previous government’s spending cuts,…Read more…
Disability equality: A call for action
The TUC has launched its Manifesto for Disability Equality, which is not a wish list, but a call for action. It is necessary because the government has been getting away for far too long with policies that do the opposite of what ministers claim. They …Read more…
Bursary or bust
In the autumn statement, George Osborne announced the scrapping of the NHS bursary for new student nurses, midwives and allied health professions in England from 2017. Under the current NHS bursary system, no fees are charged and students are entitled …Read more…
Here we go again: Chancellor warns of ‘cocktail of threats’ and ‘complacency’
Sound familiar? But our recovery – already facing powerful headwinds from high oil prices and the debt burden left behind by the boom years – is being killed off by the crisis on our doorstep. This was the Chancellor writing in the Daily Telegraph in June 2012, setting out to blame the Eurozone for…Read more…
Solidarity on the 1st anniversary of Charlie Hebdo killings
This afternoon, exactly a year after murderous gunmen burst into the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo to kill people doing their jobs, French trade unions have organised a…Read more…
Save our insurance jobs
Unite members at insurance giant Legal & General’s (L&G) flagship site in Kingswood, Surrey, have voted today (January 6) in favour of industrial action to save over 1,500 jobs. In an…Read more…
Fears for patient care and jobs
The double whammy of two key failed NHS policies – privatisation and PFI debt – have contributed to the potential merger of two mid-Anglia NHS trusts – possibly affecting patient care and jobs…Read more…
Paying for privilege to care
Protesters will take to London’s streets this Saturday to demonstrate against Tory plans to cut student nursing bursaries in England and replace them with loans. The plans, which were…Read more…