(Warning: long post.) In his Autumn Statement speech the Chancellor claimed to be a modern day Robin Hood: In fact, the net contribution [to austerity] of the richest 20% will be larger than the remaining 80% put together – proving we are all in this together. This is similar to an argument you…Read more…
Lima blog #5: People at work on the frontline of change
Here at #COP20 in Lima, the UN’s current negotiating text ignores the realities of the world of work. Inexplicably, the UN has omitted previously agreed text on securing a Just Transition to a low carbon world. Today, the ITUC backed by trade unions from around the globe are calling a press…Read more…
The missing full time employee jobs
Hardly a week goes by when we do not hear Ministers boasting about record employment levels. Yes, employment levels may be rising to record levels; however, this is a result of the rising numbers in the working population. The employment rate at 73% ha…Read more…
New evidence private firms are taking over more and more of our NHS
The British Medical Journal today published new evidence to show how privatisation of NHS services is continuing to intensify under this government. Using Freedom of Information requests to Clinical Commissioning Groups, they found that of 3,494 contra…Read more…
THE ROAD TO SERFDOM
15 December 2014
Below is a short blog by John Foster on a presentation given by Keith Ewing. The paper was initially presented in Dublin followed by an updated version in Paris. A copy of that…Read more…
Glencore: unions protest at mining multinational’s misdemeanours
This week Unite will be joined by representatives of the United Steelworkers from the USA who have been locked out by their company Sherwin Alumina, in Gregory, Texas. Their company is owned by…Read more…
The world needs a pay rise: Oxfam recognises the union role
Oxfam has today issued a guide for businesses on implementing living wages throughout their global supply chains, and it puts collective bargaining and trade unions centre stage. The paper is full of…Read more…
Lima Diary 4: Peru shows #COP20 the front lines of climate change
Here at COP20 in Lima, the union observer camp was mightily relieved to hear an EU delegate acknowledging their agreement with a key part of our own lobbying by saying: “We propose a reference to the social and employment dimension of the transition towards a low carbon society: the need for just…Read more…
Rejuvenating effects: How CWU made the most of Young Workers’ Month
TUC Young Workers’ Month (November 2014) helped raise the already-high profile of youth activity within the CWU. People all around the union responded actively to the encouragement they were…Read more…
Are in-work benefits in the UK a magnet for EU migrants?
Should the UK be aiming to restrict access to benefits for citizens of other EU countries who are working here? The Prime Minister made this objective the centrepiece of his recent speech on migration: ‘Someone coming to the UK from elsewhere in the EU, who is employed on the minimum wage and who…Read more…
Lima Diary 3: The right to union recognition at #COP20
What trade unions are basically looking for here at #COP20 in Lima is union recognition, and with that, the right to represent our members. In a sense this is no more complicated than any struggle be it among contract cleaners, cinema workers, or in th…Read more…
Modern Slavery Bill: take action on Monday
The TUC is working with a range of corporate accountability and anti-slavery campaign groups and NGOs, including the Ethical Trading Initiative, to strengthen the Modern Slavery Bill, which is now…Read more…
Lima Diary 2: Groundhog day for ‘just transition’ at #COP20
The #1 objective of the ITUC delegation here in Lima is to ensure the UN honours its commitment to a Just Transition in the negotiating text now in draft form. The UN first made this decision five years ago this month in Cancun. Back then, the 16th ann…Read more…
EU investment plan – accelerating with the brakes on
One thing the ETUC has been repeating ad nauseam since the crisis is the need for a European investment plan to drive growth and jobs. Almost everyone seems to have come round to agreeing with us recently including the new President of the European Com…Read more…
Saving Our Safety Net Fact of the Week: Jobseekeer’s Allowance costs 0.3% of GDP
Why does George Osborne emphasise the government’s benefit cuts? As The Economist noted after the Conservative Party conference, even when his cuts are a comparatively small element of his plans, he still talks them up. Mr Osborne is a notoriously ‘political’ Chancellor, and he knows that polls…Read more…
Acas Early Conciliation – The First Six Months
5 December 2014
By Prof Nicole Busby from the Law School, University of Strathclyde
As Acas publishes statistics on the first six months of compulsory Early Conciliation, Nicole Busby analyses…Read more…
Funding for minimum wage enforcement to increase by £3m
There was a promise to increase minimum wage enforcement funding by £3 million next year hidden away in the detail of the autumn statement. “The National Minimum Wage (NMW) provides important protection for low earners. To improve its enforcement, Autumn Statement announces that the…Read more…
Unions hail good news on marriage equality in the Channel Islands
Last week, the chief minister in the island of Jersey reported that legislation for same sex marriage would be introduced shortly in the States of Jersey with a view to it being brought into effect…Read more…
OBR set out scale of tax losses from low pay growth
Yesterday’s OBR report sets out the impacts that low wage work is having for tax revenues, suggesting that the £17bn shortfall we assessed that low earnings have created to date (as set out in IPPR analysis for the TUC last week) is likely to be even larger. Firstly, the OBR point to various…Read more…
Questions on public service pensions accounting in the Autumn Statement
The Chancellor claimed that the Autumn Statement was a slight fiscal tightening – in other words, that predicted income resulting from the policies announced would slightly exceed predicted expenditure. I blogged yesterday about the considerable uncertainty surrounding the budget contribution the…Read more…