All the union news that's fit to blog...
This year’s budget showed the two faces of George Osborne. Within three months he’s come up with two different sets of figures for public spending plans over the next five years. The autumn statement in December showed a true Tory Chancellor wanting to force through colossal cuts. It was a bleak future of near-permanent […]
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There was much pre-Budget speculation that the Chancellor was going to use today’s Budget to ease off on austerity and reduce the scale of planned public service cuts in the year ahead. But although he’s made some minor changes to his future forecasts, the scale of spending reductions…Read more…
Today’s Budget contained a range of measures to support industry, infrastructure and science. Among the highlights were: £400m up to 2020-21 for the funding of cutting-edge scientific infrastructure. The government will also provide further strategic science and innovation investments to make the…Read more…
My post on today’s labour market statistics is up at Left Foot Forward – Once again we are remined this will not feel like a recovery for everyone
The post Today’s Labour Market Statistics appeared first on ToUChstone blog.Read more…
Chancellor George Osborne today (March 18) unveiled the government’s pre-election budget, calling it a triumph for working people. In an obvious attempt to pander to the electorate, with the general election being less than seven weeks away, Osborne has raised the tax-free personal allowance threshold to £10,800 to go into effect next year after […]
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According to the Chancellor today: To the question of whether people are better off at the end of this Parliament than they were five years ago we can give the resounding answer “yes” This is certainly questionable use of the word ‘resounding’. Real household disposable income per head…Read more…
We now know that despite the polls, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s right wing Likud party has won the largest number of seats in the Knesset. As is the way in Israeli politics fragmented by proportional representation, he now has to put together a workable coalition. Given the political complexion of…Read more…
By imposing swingeing cuts to the budgets of police forces across the UK, the government has put policing in crisis and placed neighbourhoods and communities at risk. The growing, and increasingly public furor over the impact of spending cuts to police…Read more…
New research shows deep unease among employers over controversial tribunal fees brought in by the government just over a year ago. In the face of trade union protests ministers pressed ahead with prohibitive employment tribunal fees, effectively denying workplace justice to millions. The fees are set at £250 to issue a claim and £950 […]
The post Good bosses want justice access appeared first on UNITElive.org.
Standardisation: Are our regulations being privatised by the back door? Hugh Robertson writes for Stronger Unions on the increasing move towards industry led standardisation rather than regulation, and the problems this is causing. Building homes will …Read more…
Fears have been expressed that sign language interpreting services for the UK’s 100,000 deaf population could plummet, if further privatisation takes place, Unite has warned. The union is concerned that downward pressure on costs and standards could mean that staff with fewer – or even no – qualifications could make mistakes when a […]
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In his 2011 Budget speech, George Osborne said he wanted “a Britain carried aloft by the march of the makers.” However, the fact is that manufacturing’s proportion of GDP has flatlined at 10.1% of GDP for the past six years. Our evidence shows that manufacturing’s heartland is in…Read more…
“Mr Speaker, I have failed”, Chancellor George Osborne will tell the Commons on budget day. “Because I have failed we need five more years of austerity and massive cuts across public services.” That’s what Osborne would say if he was telling the unvarnished truth. Instead of having seen off the austerity measures brought on […]
The post Half a job George appeared first on UNITElive.org.
Asseem Allam, millionaire owner of Hull City AFC, wants to completely sever the link between Labour and the organisations that founded the party—trade unions. As the Sunday Times reported on March 15, Allam said he would offer a future one-off donation to Labour if it weakened its trade union ties, and pledged an […]
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How do you think people would react if the Government passed a law that said that our traffic laws would be decided by motoring organisations like the AA or RAC, or if the European Commission…Read more…
We recently set out our detailed, 35-page pre-budget statement. It sets out what we think working people in Britain need from this budget. At the core of it, there are three things we’re looking for. I’ve explained them briefly in the video below.
The post Jobs, Fair Pay, Investment….Read more…
For years he said he never had a second job while an MP. For how long did Shapps carry on his double life as Tory MP and online marketer Michael Green? Tory Party chairman Grant Shapps, alias Michael Green, faced calls to resign after failing to record his second job as an online marketer […]
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A leaked document exposed today by openDemocracy shows the potential impact that privatisation could have on cancer care services in Staffordshire. Four CCGs have combined to put a massive contract, worth £700m over ten years, out to tender. What makes this particularly concerning is the use of a…Read more…
In the face of mounting evidence to the contrary, the coalition government still insists that the NHS is not set for higher and higher doses of privatisation. But revelations over the last week have once and for all lain to rest any remaining doubts. In what’s being called the biggest NHS leak in history, […]
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News that no high street chains are prepared to pay living wage seen has been condemned by Unite as “a bleak day for hard working Britain”. Millions will now “earn their own poverty” on our High Streets, as not a single major high street chain is prepared to commit to paying staff even the living […]
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