We all know about Amazon’s lackadaisical approach to paying its taxes, and its “hire and fire” attitude to the workers who run its giant warehouses, where impossible work standards mean staff are…Read more…
Justice Committee Inquiry finds government reforms have reduced safety and performance of prisons
The Justice Committee recently concluded their first major inquiry on prisons planning and policies in this last parliament, focusing on measures the Ministry of Justice has used to reduce the ‘operational costs’ of the system. The inquiry report reveals the huge strain that the system is under, as…Read more…
‘Beyond barmy’
Nigel Farage had long sought to throw off the spectre of what he himself described as the “drivel and nonsense” of UKIP’s 2010 manifesto. Sadly for the him the 2015 version…Read more…
Inspiration movement
Protest action has taken place in 20 cities across the UK in support of low paid workers in Fast Food restaurants demanding an end to poverty pay and union rights. The Fast Food Forward…Read more…
“Standing for the common good”
At the Arcola theatre, Hackney, Natalie Bennett launched a Green party manifesto based on the wholesale rejection of austerity – “that no one in the world’s sixth richest economy should not be able to put food on their own table or have a roof over their head.” Bennett challenged the notion of an…Read more…
REC/KPMG ‘report on jobs’ shows anticipated pay growth in 2015 of just 1%
As befits the seeming ‘good-economic-news-only’ environment in the run up to the election, last Friday’s REC (The Recruitment & Employment Confederation) report on jobs was issued under the banner: “Stronger growth of staff placements in February” But in the last section of the…Read more…
Fight for 5
On the day (April 15) that McDonalds workers in America are protesting against poverty pay and appalling working terms, Unite members stood in solidarity at over 20 demonstrations throughout the UK….Read more…
Will extension of Right to Buy really lead to building of new homes?
The Conservatives have announced in their election manifesto that that they will extend Right to Buy (RTB) to all housing association tenants in England. We will extend the Right to Buy to tenants in Housing Associations to enable people to buy a house of their own… We will fund the…Read more…
CRISIS IN THE OFFSHORE INDUSTRY
On the 20-22 April the STUC Congress will be meeting in Ayr. The theme of this year’s Congress is Decent Work and Dignified Lives. In the run up to Congress this blog will host a series of…Read more…
Young workers speaking up for housing
The UK is caught in a deepening housing crisis, which is particularly hitting younger people. House building is stuck at a historically low level meanwhile the waiting list for social housing has…Read more…
They’ve got to be McJoking
US-based McDonalds workers have been offered a 10 per cent pay rise and big increase in paid holidays. But the pay rise only applies to one in 20 workers, at 89 cents its around 50p an hour and the…Read more…
Gary’s opportunity to work again
On his visit to Wales today (April 14) Unite general secretary, Len McCluskey met workers at the E-Cycle Centre in Tonypandy. E-Cycle centres were set up by the Labour Wales government after the…Read more…
For yourself, for humanity, for democracy
With just 22 days to go before the general election – and under one week left to get onto the voter registration roll – leading British actors Sue Johnston, Ricky Tomlinson, together with other…Read more…
Tory zealots’ plans for strike ballots
‘We are all Thatcherites now’ David Cameron once told the BBC. Well millions of us will never have any truck with the divisive policies of the 1980s, but this Prime Minister is clearly…Read more…
Conservatives’ “anti-green growth, anti-clean energy manifesto”
The trade body for the renewables industry says some 19,000 onshore wind jobs are at risk as a result of the Conservatives’ manifesto pledge to halt the spread of onshore wind farms. The onshore wind sector delivered £1.6 billion in investment in the UK last year. But Renewable UK says that…Read more…
Homeless Sweets Way homeless
Walk through Sweets Way housing estate in Barnet, North London, and it’s a ghost town – broken glass on the streets, windows boarded up as if in preparation for a storm, kitchen and bath items laying…Read more…
A Britain that works for all
The very front page title of Labour’s election manifesto sums up both the future and the immediate past of this country: ‘Britain can be better’. Too right it can! After five years of failed…Read more…
The self-imploding system
Mark Wright is the assistant director (leadership & management) at AMiE. Following the speech Tristram Hunt gave at the ATL conference outlining Labour’s education policies, this, along with…Read more…
Cameron’s ‘right’ to cause homelessness
The right to buy is back – but this time the Tories have set their sights on housing associations. Stung by allegations that the Conservative’s message to the electorate is too negative, David…Read more…
Channel anger by voting
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey kicked off his two-day election tour of Wales today (April 14) in Cardiff, where he joined Unite secretary for Wales Andy Richards, shadow Welsh secretary Owen…Read more…