Is house building really recovering, as the government asserts, or is this just a good spin? Housing Minister Brandon Lewis welcomed new figures* showing a rise in the numbers of homes being built across the country, saying “Today’s figures show we’re on track and turning this around….Read more…
It’s not my hobby, it’s my profession: Fair pay for musicians
Spare a thought for freelance musicians this Fair Pay Fortnight, and what it must be like to fight for fair pay every day that you work. Working musicians are frequently being asked to work for…Read more…
Legal moves to protect migrant domestic workers
The much anticipated Modern Slavery Bill is entering its final phases, with Report Stage in the Lords scheduled for next Wednesday, 25 February. However, unless the Amendment tabled by crossbencher Lord Hylton, Labour’s Baroness Royall, Conservative Baroness Hanham and the Bishop of Carlisle…Read more…
The Great Brain Robbery
At the elementary level of price data aggregation a consumer price index can utilise the ratio of averages or the average of relatives … blah, blah, blah … everyone’s stopped listening. There’s no getting away from the fact that debates on inflation measurement can be a fiendishly…Read more…
Shorter inspections will end the stressful ‘cliff-edge’ experience for schools
Sean Harford is national director, schools at Ofsted The title of next Tuesday’s debate is “What’s the top priority: inspection or improvement?” I believe that this is the wrong…Read more…
Time for energy to reconnect with democracy?
This is some of the harm in a dysfunctional energy market. Over the past decade, energy prices have risen at a much faster rate than overall inflation, as our chart shows, with consumers’ gas prices rising faster than electricity. Reports suggest that wholesale gas prices for this year are…Read more…
Young people and the jobs recovery
I have a post at Left Foot Forward, looking at today’s employment statistics. While the employment recovery is going well, young people seem to be the last to benefit from it, with the number of unemployed under-25s actually having gone up a little. The other weak point is pay –…Read more…
The Right to Strike is a Human Right
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) have called for a day of action on the 18th February in support of the right to strike. Currently employer organisations, including the CBI, are…Read more…
What’s REALLY bugging Eurozone hardliners about Syriza?
The brinkmanship and rhetoric surrounding the renegotiation of Greece’s memorandum with the Troika was ramped up this week as a meeting of Eurozone finance ministers on Monday broke up without…Read more…
Bright Blue on migration: bright enough, but in the end, too blue
Soft left Conservative think tank Bright Blue has hit the headlines with a new report on what the centre right should be saying about migration this week. In what was mostly newsworthy as an attack from within on the ridiculous Government policy of capping net migration, there are some good ideas,…Read more…
When working people worldwide don’t get justice
What should happen when a company abuses its workers? When, for example, people are injured as a result of working in unsafe conditions, or victimised because they speak up for others? In this country, thanks to the trade union movement, if workers are…Read more…
Why the ILO must continue to police the right to strike
As deepening economic inequality shows that strong trade unions are needed more than ever, employers are engaged in a ruthless assault on one of the most fundamental labour laws of all. But, as the…Read more…
Climate actions speak louder than words
Through union lobbying efforts, we got back “The just transition of the workforce and the creation of decent work” in the UN’s 88-page draft treaty agreed last week in Geneva. Given the massive changes in the world of work that lie ahead, it’s a relief to see core trade union issues back in play…Read more…
Governing pension schemes in the interests of members
There are basically two models of workplace pension. The traditional model is run by trustees, who have a legal duty to act solely in the interests of their members. In pensions jargon, these are known as occupational pensions, though I prefer to call …Read more…
Same pay for the same job – is that too much to ask?
The TUC is putting the issues of low pay, poor job security and increasing living costs in the spotlight with Fair Pay Fortnight. Here is a contact centre worker’s personal account of being employed…Read more…
#TTIP: battle hots up over NHS and workers’ rights
EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom was in London yesterday, and there was a lot of talk about the EU-US trade deal known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). In particular, as has been the case for months, the hot topic wa…Read more…
Labour’s Plan for Business: a TUC response
Labour’s new industrial policy document, ‘A Better Plan for Britain’s Prosperity’, is an important step forward in thinking about the world of work in the coming years. I’ve just taken a quick look through the full 79 page document. There’s much that we knew before: Labour promises, for example, a…Read more…
Government cuts to legal aid made on the basis of no evidence, reveal Public Accounts Committee
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has released a report of their inquiry into the impact of the cuts to the civil legal aid budget, introduced under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPO). The report provides a damning indi…Read more…
In a fast-changing world, how should a curriculum and assessment system enable all learners to achieve?
William Stewart is a reporter at the TES. Opinions on the kind of curriculum pupils should be taught have tended to become steadily more polarised in recent years. On the one side is the…Read more…
Germans showing solidarity with Greeks
If you get your news from the papers or broadcasters, you’d think that the dispute over Greek austerity and debt is a national struggle between (primarily) Greece and Germany. In reality, of course, this is simplistic and wrong. The German government – and in particular the CDU members…Read more…