It is increasingly clear that any government coming into power after the next election will be faced with unprecedented challenges across the NHS. The legacy of five years of government-imposed austerity and top down restructuring is a growing financia…Read more…
End non-dom status call
Ed Miliband and Ed Balls launched their policy on scrapping ‘non dom’ tax status (April 8) to ensure that super-wealthy individuals can no longer avoid paying tax in the UK. There has been…Read more…
Don’t let future be mean streets of my past
Lonely Planet/Mirrorpix It was in Bradford that I wounded my spirit in the Great Depression of almost 80 years ago. For me it is a city that contains both wonder and unimaginable…Read more…
Oil deal: jobs alert
As the announcement of a ‘mega merger’ between Royal Dutch Shell and exploration firm BG came yesterday (April 8), Unite has warned against crude cost cutting and job cuts. The merger might be…Read more…
Exports revolution
A beefed up role for a trade minister with a seat in the cabinet to coordinate and boost UK exports – a central plank of a new report on delivering an export-led recovery – has been welcomed by Unite. Unite echoes the call for a revolution in export culture to boost manufacturing outlined in […]
The post Exports revolution appeared first on UNITElive.org.
‘Totemic’ tax move
As the general election nears, campaign promises are a dime a dozen. Elections are usually a flurry of predictably vague pledges, with politicians revealing just enough of one policy or another but conveniently omitting the fine print. This time round, however, is decidedly different. Labour has hit out with bold, clear policies, and their […]
The post ‘Totemic’ tax move appeared first on UNITElive.org.
NHS squeezing laid bare by top docs
A group of the nation’s senior doctors have come together to deliver a damning indictment of the coalition’s record on the NHS. In a letter published in today’s Guardian, the health professionals conclude that this administration’s record is “characterised by broken promises, reductions in necessary funding and destructive legislation, which leaves health services […]
The post NHS squeezing laid bare by top docs appeared first on UNITElive.org.
How Greek austerity has stoked inequality
A new study, Greece: solidarity and adjustment in times of crisis, shows that the impact of the austerity and structural adjustment policies applied in Greece between 2008 and 2013, since 2010 through loan conditions imposed by the Troika (IMF-European Commission-ECB) have been overwhelmingly borne…Read more…
Surprise, surprise – we don’t spend so much when there’s a living standards crisis
Really, this is one of those “one chart says it all” stories: Here at the TUC we started worrying about the living standards crisis years ago – and there’s a long way to go before we can say it’s over. But the crisis isn’t just about wages, pensions and other…Read more…
Massive body blow
As AKD Engineering in Suffolk announced that it will shutter its doors yesterday (April 7) after 60 years in operation, more than 100 skilled jobs will be lost, delivering a “massive body blow” to the workforce and local economy. After several years of substantial losses, the oil and gas engineering firm has been particularly hard […]
The post Massive body blow appeared first on UNITElive.org.
Mansions debunked
The question of houses worth more than £2 million is currently in the news. To read some of the more florid press coverage you might think that we are all in danger of finding that our homes have accidently become mansions – this is simply nonsense of course. To get a quick shot of…Read more…
A bit more than a ban on ‘zero hours abuse’
There was a lot in the Labour Party’s Manifesto for Work that echoes things unions have been calling for for a long time now.Read more…
Labour market deregulation: When the facts change…
The famous remark, commonly attributed to Keynes, that “when the facts change, I change my mind…” could be about to face a stern test. The IMF is about to publish the findings of research by staff members that finds no evidence that labour market deregulation promotes growth. This…Read more…
Less sotto voce – more loud-hailer
That’s it. The first five-year, fixed-term parliament is over, limping to an exhausted, shabby end. This cursed coalition has disbanded. Yet, with the official campaign finally underway, the voting public is not exactly thrilled at being pursued by the escapees from London SW1. The noisiest sound from the streets is that of millions of […]
The post Less sotto voce – more loud-hailer appeared first on UNITElive.org.
Spy in the cab
Angered over a tracker device measuring workloads inaccurately, more than 300 engineering service workers employed by lift firm Kone took strike action today (April 7). The vehicle tracker device, known as VAMS, has shown itself to be unreliable, Unite contends. For example, one driver was alleged to have driven 1,000 miles in one day […]
The post Spy in the cab appeared first on UNITElive.org.
Strong message
Unite kicked off its fight back against mass privatisation of Bromley council services today (April 7), in day one of a widely supported two-day strike. Unite members working in libraries, adult services and parks, among other areas, are participating in the walk-out as the Conservative-led Bromley council embarks on a privatisation programme which will […]
The post Strong message appeared first on UNITElive.org.
Signing up to save NHS
“The NHS is one of the country’s most treasured institutions. But its future is under serious threat.” That is the warning of more than 40 signatories – including Unite’s Len McCluskey and Hollywood actor Michael Sheen – to a letter published in today’s Guardian to mark the launch of the People’s Convention for the NHS. […]
The post Signing up to save NHS appeared first on UNITElive.org.
Does pensions “freedom” offer the right choices?
Today (almost*) anyone over 55 can get their hands on their pension and take it as cash. It is all about “freedom” and “choice”, we are told. Those of us who are sceptical of the policy are therefore immediately labelled as opponents of freedom. We are the snooty…Read more…
Saving Our Safety Net Fact of the Week: Taxing disability benefits would hit hundreds of thousands of low-paid disabled workers
There’s something (horrible) for everyone in the list of possible benefit cuts leaked to the BBC last week. In this column I want to concentrate on the proposal that people would have to pay income tax on their disability benefits if their incomes including these benefits were over the minimum…Read more…
Who does this country work for?
Nothing was more indicative of the Tories’ base of support than a letter published in the Telegraph yesterday, signed by 103 big business leaders, calling on the public to vote Conservative in May. Among the letter’s signatories were Bob Dudley, the American boss of BP, Tidjane Thiam, the chief executive of Prudential who received […]
The post Who does this country work for? appeared first on UNITElive.org.