The defence giant BAE Systems has been accused of cutting ‘too far, too fast’ after announcing that 371 jobs are to go at Wharton and Samlesbury in Lancashire. Unite is urging the firm to…Read more…
Solidarity with Greek unions on strike today
The Greek trade union confederations, GSEE in the private sector and ADEDY in the public sector, have called a 24-hour General Strike today (12 November) against the latest round of austerity…Read more…
TU Bill fight ‘far from over’
Despite fierce opposition from all sides, including trade unions, human rights groups, the business community and even some Tory MPs, the trade union Bill passed through its third and final reading…Read more…
Jobs or pay – we still haven’t got the hang of delivering on both
I have a post up at Left Foot Forward, looking at today’s labour market statistics. There’s some good news – though perhaps the first signs that self-employment is growing disproportionately again – but there’s also reasons to worry that pay rises are slowing down…Read more…
Bogus jobs recovery
Unite cautioned that the jobs ‘recovery’ was being fuelled by self-employment and low paid, insecure, part-time jobs as it responded to today’s (November 11) labour market figures. Warning the…Read more…
Action, not meetings
Steelworkers were bitterly disappointed following an EU steel summit, which was attended by leaders from across Europe, including business secretary Sajid Javid. A delegation of Unite…Read more…
Austerity is not a necessity
To govern is, we are told, to choose. This government chooses austerity. It does so not because it makes economic sense — it patently does not — but because it seeks to further tilt the balance of…Read more…
‘The heavens reflect our labours’
People lined Scunthorpe’s streets in solidarity yesterday, as hundreds of protesters marched through the town demonstrating against mass redundancies at a Tata Steel plant. 900 Tata jobs are…Read more…
Young Workers Month: Housing
As we enter the second week of the TUC’s Young Workers Month we turn to an issue that is a high priority for many unions’ youth sections: housing. The transition to living independently as an adult is becoming increasingly difficult: the supply of housing is clearly failing to keep up with…Read more…
Slave-state Qatar faces ILO investigation
Today, the UN’s workplace agency, the tripartite International Labour Organisation (ILO) voted to send a high level mission to Qatar to make an assessment of the real conditions faced by…Read more…
5 surprising things about the Trade Union Bill debate…and 3 unsurprising things
The government’s controversial Trade Union Bill was just debated in the House of Commons, before making its merry way on to the House of Lords. The Surprising Bits: 1. Some Conservative MPs…Read more…
Public safety threat
Plans to axe police community support officers (PCSOs) in the West Midlands could be a serious threat to public safety and will spell the end of community policing as we know it, Unite has warned….Read more…
Fiscal fallacies (2): accounting identities and the case for government loan-expenditures
Related to the fallacy of deficit spending are arguments around accounting identities and the ‘principle of sectoral balancing’. The economics is extended from the government’s balance (its deficit or surplus), to the balances for all ‘sectors’, i.e. households, companies and the rest of the world….Read more…
Stop tipping rip-off
Restaurant workers need ‘decisive government action’ to stop employers creaming off their tips, Unite has said in response to the government’s investigation into abuse of tipping which closes today…Read more…
Rally for steel
Hundreds of steelworkers gathered alongside their community in Scunthorpe today (November 10) to stand united in the fight to save their industry and jobs at Tata Steel. The rally steps up the…Read more…
OECD wants “cool policies” to tackle climate change and stimulate growth
With evidence that for the first time, global temperature increases are now halfway towards the threshold of dangerous climate change, the OECD has called for government-led investment strategies and stronger regulatory frameworks to tackle climate change. Its effects “may otherwise not be…Read more…
‘No support’
On the eve of the final Commons debate on the trade union Bill at report stage and third reading today (November 10), opposition to the legislation has reached critical mass. With human rights…Read more…
‘We will support our members’
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey appeared on HARDtalk last night (November 9). He explained why the government’s trade union Bill will wreck industrial relations in this country and why…Read more…
Episode 20: ‘I think we’re in trouble’
Sounds familiar? If you work in the hospitality industry you can join www.unitetheunion.org – if you earn less than the Living Wage (£9.15ph in London, £7.85 outside) for just £2.10 per week….Read more…
Fiscal fallacies (1): Keynes wanted ‘Government loan-expenditures’, NOT deficit spending
For decades Keynes’s approach to public spending has been understood as ‘deficit spending’. But this reflects a serious misunderstanding of his practical initiatives and the associated theoretical reasoning and justification. Undoubtedly choosing his language with great care, Keynes consistently…Read more…