The Department for Work and Pensions has just published their evaluation of the impact of the Benefit Cap in its first year. The Cap is a limit to the maximum amount of working age benefits a family can receive – for families with children, £500 a month. How has the policy fared? The…Read more…
Lima blog #6: Unions must influence country commitments
In solidarity and shared purpose, the international trade union delegation and its Peruvian hosts worked their socks off inside the Lima climate conference. Outside it, the Peoples Summit enriched the city centre, and 20,000 marched on the UN for climate justice. But the conference itself largely…Read more…
#DecentJobsWeek: Too poor to be off sick
Until recently all of us assumed that when we are off sick we would still be paid, whether through a sick pay scheme negotiated by a trade union, through a company sick pay policy or, in the absence of these, through statutory sick pay (SSP). This seem…Read more…
Women who flee sexual violence abroad need rights in the UK
This week sees the start of a campaign by the Women’s Asylum Charter whose 350 supporters include the TUC, ASLEF Women’s Committee, GMB, NAPO, NASUWT, NUT, PCS Women’s Forum and Unison. In supporting this Charter, the TUC and its member unions are standing up for the rights of women who come to…Read more…
Italian unions strike: #stopjobsact
Italian unions, led by the TUC’s sister organisation the CGIL, have been taking to the streets – including a general strike on Friday – to oppose reforms of the labour market being proposed by the centre-left government of Matteo Renzi. They say they are defending workers’…Read more…
Overseas aid bill clears Commons – now heads for Lords
Michael Moore MP’s private members’ bill – aiming to bind future UK governments to spend 0.7% of Gross National Income on official development assistance (overseas aid) cleared the…Read more…
Misleading claims of four per cent earnings growth
It is of limited relevance to the population as a whole that some people are lucky enough to be enjoying stable employment with rises in earnings of four per cent. The figure on earnings growth for employees in full-time work for over a year issued by …Read more…
We need an open dialogue about what ‘evidence’ is
Tucked away in the ‘evidence check’ documents in the Select Committee webforum is something I have always suspected might be the case. The evidence government uses to develop policies is sometimes no…Read more…
Today is #flexiworkday. Here’s why we should support flexible working
It isn’t always possible to stick to traditional 9-to-5 working hours – childcare, caring for friends and family, and looking after your own personal health can clash with rigid, fixed hours. In these circumstances, having a bit of flexibility in how, when and where you work can make a big…Read more…
UK Shale Gas: A trade union view
The Spectator magazine recently held an energy event called The UK Domestic Energy Landscape: Fixing Britain’s Energy Market, hosted at the offices of the law firm Eversheds. Carbon Brief reported that it “was best summed up” by one of their partners Marcus Trinick who said: “There is no such…Read more…
Saving Our Safety Net Fact of the Week: the poorest pay 47 per cent of their income in tax (the richest pay 34 per cent)
(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…