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…
Refugees Welcome Here
The St Andrew’s Day Anti-Racism March and Rally this year has the theme ‘No Racism: Refugees Welcome Here.’ The rally will take place on Sat 28th Nov, Assemble 10:30am Glasgow Green. Below is a Guest…Read more…
With tolerance and decency
Those Gods who famously wish to destroy by first making mad have certainly been working overtime within the Parliamentary Labour Party lately. We have open defiance of the elected leader,…Read more…
UK steel: ‘significantly worsened’
The competitiveness of the UK steel industry is being destroyed by weak industrial demand, the strength of the pound, Chinese steel dumping and high business costs, Tata Steel Europe’s chief…Read more…
What future for steel workers?
In a few weeks’ time, hundreds of men and women could be added to the unemployment figures just in time for Christmas. The workers at Tata’s steel plants and Caparo Industries will join the…Read more…
‘Don’t hide behind EU’
UK steel workers are today (November 9) travelling to Brussels to urge business secretary Sajid Javid and his European counterparts to take urgent action to stop the dumping of cheap Chinese steel….Read more…
Shrink the gender pay gap: Join a union #PayGapPledge
Today is Equal Pay Day, the day that the average woman stops earning compared to the average man because of the gender pay gap. To mark the day, the TUC has publicised figures highlighting what a…Read more…
‘Out of the blue’
Unite will meet with construction workers at the Air Product renewable energy plant, TV2, in the Tees Valley today (November 6) after yesterday’s shock job loss announcement. Unite, which…Read more…
Why the Scottish Parliament should demand a Legislative Consent Motion and refuse to comply with aspects of the Trade Union Bill
Calling for the devolution of employment law alone, is not a sufficient response to the Trade Union Bill
The STUC advocates the devolution of workplace protection law to Scotland. This…Read more…
UK exports to China collapse by 40 per cent
UK exports to China appear to have peaked in 2014Q3 at £4.2bn; in 2015Q3 the figure was £2.5bn, a fall of 40 per cent. The chart shows quarterly figures. UK exports to China, £ million The implications for the condition of the Chinese economy are plain. While monthly figures are more volatile,…Read more…