One of the main complaints unions make about the investment protection elements of trade deals known as Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) is that it would be used against governments trying to bring privatised services back into public ownership. “Oh no it won’t!” cry…Read more…
Is the decline of manufacturing really ‘natural evolution’?
According to conventional wisdom, industrial trends follow a natural evolution from agriculture to manufacturing and finally to services. Fascinating long-run data from the ONS (based on employment information from census records since the mid-C19) sug…Read more…
easyJet: Staff breast feeding victory
Expectant mothers and mothers of young children have never had it worse in the workplace – a wide-ranging Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) study published earlier this year found that the…Read more…
No way to treat workers
Irish drinks giant C&C has been accused of behaving with ‘cavalier contempt’ towards its Shepton Mallet Cider Mill workforce, as confusion swirls about the employment prospects of the remaining…Read more…
Decent pay rise call
Chancellor Philip Hammond should use the autumn statement to signal a massive cash injection into the crisis-hit NHS, allowing the independent Pay Review Body to help restore the pay of a…Read more…
Labour and Tory policies– oceans apart
Liverpool looked glorious as we departed Labour’s conference yesterday afternoon (Wednesday September 28). The summer’s hullabaloo was setting as a new, rosy red optimistic spirit descended upon the…Read more…
100 days after the #Brexit vote & we’re still in the dark on workers’ rights
It’s been 100 days since Britain voted to leave the EU, and still we’re no clearer about what Brexit means. In particular, despite Remain and Leave voters agreeing that workers’ rights should be maintained, the Prime Minister has failed to commit to that. The TUC is calling today…Read more…
‘No-go area’ for women
The higher up the income ladder you are in the UK, the less likely it is that you’re a woman. This was the conclusion of a new report by the London School of Economics out this week (September 26)…Read more…
Ripoff bosses
Just three companies have been prosecuted for paying below the minimum wage in the past two and a half years, despite the government naming and shaming 700. Since February 2014 HM Revenue and…Read more…
Transparency call
Serious questions need to be asked about the reasons for the closure of General Electric Power Conversion plant in Kidsgrove, Staffordshire with the loss of about 240 jobs, Unite said yesterday…Read more…
Who provides your occupational health?
A recent TUC survey showed that 92% of workplaces with union health and safety representatives have some form of occupational health provision. This is well above the national average, where it is…Read more…
‘United we can shape the future’
As the Labour Party Conference ended today (September 28), Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn outlined the party’s plan to offer shared prosperity to all in a forward-looking programme which he dubbed…Read more…
IMF warn of global deflation
The precarious condition of the global economy is back in the spotlight. Last week the OECD issued their interim economic outlook, headed: “global growth warning: weak trade, financial distortions’. This week it is the turn of the IMF, who are leading on the threat of global deflation and the…Read more…
AMiE: Now is the time to speak up
By Mark Wright, AMiE director The long-overdue review of national professional qualifications (NPQs) for school leaders, which is being undertaken by the Department for Education, is to be welcomed….Read more…
Wanted: flexible hours
More than two thirds of mums with young children would return to work if flexible hours were an option, a new survey has found. The survey of 1,600 mothers also revealed that more than a third…Read more…
Our communities need ambitious action on climate change as part of any post-Brexit plan
Theresa May says ‘Brexit means Brexit’, yet no one knows what Brexit will look like. The lack of a plan has caused unprecedented levels of political and economic uncertainty. It has also cast doubt of the future of the UK’s – indeed the EU’s – environmental and climate change policy. In…Read more…
Sad news from Mogadishu, but Somalian unions will survive
Yesterday we received the awful news that another Somalian trade unionist had been murdered. Our colleagues in Mogadishu, from the ITUC-affiliated FESTU, reported that Brother Abdiasis Mohamed Ali, a…Read more…
A just transition
This Tory Government and the coalition before it have a catalogue of failure – on the economy, on our National Health Service and on energy. The motion that I supported on behalf of…Read more…
My life in austerity Britain
Speaking from her own personal experience disability rights activist and actor Liz Carr (pictured left) told Sunday’s (September 25) Real Britain fringe about what it’s real like to have disabilities…Read more…
Protect North Sea jobs
Scotland’s biggest union has called for urgent government action to protect jobs in the North Sea. Unite the union was commenting after a new report from the industry body Oil & Gas UK…Read more…