Anne Heavey is an Education Policy Adviser at ATL. Purposeful; Calm; Bright; Interesting; Clean. These words sum up the physical environment of both Stanley Park High and Springwell Learning…Read more…
Election- what it means to young workers
Last Thursday’s general election saw a Conservative majority government voted into Westminster. After having had the weekend for it all to sink in, it’s time to look at what the election result means…Read more…
Pay growth to slow and public sector restraint a big factor, says CIPD
A new survey of 1,013 employers published by the CIPD published today* reports that pay growth is expected to slow during the coming year, and that many employers now believe that public sector restraint is slowing pay growth across the whole economy: •”Basic pay is expected to grow by just…Read more…
Looking into an abyss
As the Tories swung into power last week – despite securing little more than a third of the share of the national vote – they are now unfettered by a coalition government, and have already begun…Read more…
Health and safety – Time to return to basics
After five years of unrelenting attacks on health and safety from all sides, many activists were hoping to see a change in direction after the election. Labour had promised to prioritise the…Read more…
ACT NOW! Iranian regime persecutes trade unionists … again!
Last week, labour activists in Iran once again found themselves the target of persecution for exercising their legal and rightful trade union activities. The incidents include the reported arrest and…Read more…
Stop race to bottom call
The recovering price of oil should bring an immediate end to the oil and gas industry’s opportunistic campaign of job cuts and impositions to working conditions, Unite has said yesterday (May 7)….Read more…
Savage cull
German engineering giant Siemens announced yesterday (May 7) its plans to slash 4,500 jobs across the board – a further savage cull following their announcement in February that 7,800 posts would go….Read more…
Fighting Ebola with microscopes
Ebola – a disease that devastated West Africa last summer – is now a household name, as its viral tentacles spread rapidly from Guinea and then onwards to Sierra Leone and Liberia, leaving thousands…Read more…
‘Draconian’ threat to union actions
As the Tories are set to barely eke out an overall Commons majority this morning (May 8), TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady condemned Cameron’s divisive political tactics that will now spell…Read more…
Election 2015: This was not a one nation campaign
We have to hope that David Cameron’s pledge to govern as a one nation Prime Minister will be his first major U-turn – for his campaign and manifesto was anything but.
The post Election 2015: This was not a one nation campaign appeared first on ToUChstone blog.Read more…
Schools and teachers have to fill the holes in the welfare safety net
Last month, an overwhelming majority of the 2,000 members of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) replying to a survey said that their schools were providing support for children from deprived backgrounds. The same proportion – 84 per cent – said that they were providing more of…Read more…
‘UDITA’ film shows need for labour law reform in Bangladesh
You can now watch on the TUC’s website the new documentary UDITA (ARISE) made by Rainbow Collective about the struggles that women trade unionists in the National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF)…Read more…
The next chancellor should reject the logic behind today’s warning from the FT’s Chris Giles that weak productivity would mean ‘harsher austerity’
In a column in today’s Financial Times (‘What the next chancellor does not yet know’), Chris Giles sets the economic tone for the next Parliament in part on the basis of yet unknown productivity outcomes. For Giles, as for many others, productivity is an inherent quality or defect of the economy…Read more…
Exit polls? Move over
Swingometers. Margins of error. Opinion Polls. Exit polls. Aren’t you sick them? If not yet, then you will be. What I learned from opinion polls is don’t rely on them. Work until you…Read more…
Radical welfare cuts
The UK could very well join the US in being the only developed countries in the world that don’t offer statutory maternity pay, if the Tories emerge victorious on May 8. Work and pensions…Read more…
Maternal death risk rise
The UK has failed to make the top 10 for safest country to give birth in for the third year in a row, the annual State Of The World’s Mothers report has found. According to the study by…Read more…
Who will be top of the chops?
Which prominent members of the coalition could be getting the chop on Thursday? Top of those at risk are Tory Esther McVey, minister for welfare sanctions. But possibly in line for a Portillo…Read more…
Ten Reasons to Vote
The election campaign is coming to an end, and it’s time to mark your ballot. We’ve put together ten big issues which can be changed by the next government, and should give you reason to get out and vote. But first the practicalities… If you’ve registered to vote (yes, if…Read more…
How many hours should parents be expected to work?
How many hours should parents be expected to work in order not to be poor? New research published last week by Child Poverty Action Group explores this tricky question. Round the clock: In work poverty and the ‘hours question’ recognises from the outset that there are multiple factors which shape…Read more…