Another unhappy budget for the green economy, confirming the sale of the Green Investment Bank, a sovereign wealth fund for communities that host shale gas development, more roads investment, and expanding the North Sea allowances to include additional…Read more…
#Budget2015 gives with one hand but takes with the other
George Osborne is giving with one hand and taking away with the other in today’s Budget. The Chancellor has finally woken up to the fact that Britain needs a pay rise. The TUC has long campaigned for the minimum wage to rise faster and it’s good to see that the Chancellor has listened…Read more…
Drug firm workers to strike
Workers at the United Drug Sangers NI are set to take their first day of strike action on Wednesday, July 15, after members rejected a management pay offer. Large majorities endorsed the 24…Read more…
Nae Paseran
In a small Scottish town in 1974, factory workers refuse to carry out repairs on warplane engines in an act of solidarity against the violent military coup in Chile. Four years pass then the engines…Read more…
Unite commits to Labour
Unite reaffirmed its commitment to the Labour Party on Monday (July 6), after members from across Unite engaged in a wide-ranging and passionate debate at the union’s rules conference. An…Read more…
Take action on Iran’s crackdowns on teachers & journalists
Perhaps upset that it somehow missed out on inclusion in the ITUC list of the ten worst countries to be a trade unionist last month, Iran has made a strong early bid to be included next year by…Read more…
Hypocrisy of Eurozone leaders, refusing to admit austerity has failed Greece
It’s difficult to write anything about the Greek crisis without it being immediately out of date although the crisis itself, and the suffering of the Greek people, continues unabated. After the stunning 22% “no” majority in Sunday’s Greek referendum (like Britain’s…Read more…
I love redistribution
You know you’re a nerd when you’ve got a favourite statistic but you only know you’re a geek when you can’t stop telling people about it. I’ve really got to write about The Effects of Taxes and Benefits on Household Income, even though it came out last week. I was away on the 29th (I…
The…Read more…
5 essential climate objectives for the Budget
The government must use its first Budget to reassure UK citizens it will do enough to ensure the UK plays its part in limiting the global rise in temperature to less than 2 degrees. However reports suggest that unprotected government departments that lead on green business and the UK’s response to…Read more…
Manufacturing’s lost decade – time to boost green infrastructure
Latest official figures show UK manufacturing output is five per cent below its pre-recession peak. As The Telegraph said today, “Britain is on course for ‘lost decade’ of manufacturing after output disappoints.” The TUC estimates that in the three months to May 2015, production and…Read more…
Cabin crew gear up for strike vote
Unite has urged easyJet bosses (July 6) to get around the table for proactive pay talks, as about 2,000 of their cabin crew gear up for a strike ballot later this month. easyJet management…Read more…
How to end poverty – trying the wrong way first
This week two announcements will be designed to set the government’s course for the next five years. It looks as though the definition of poverty and how it can be eliminated will be at the heart of this undertaking. On Saturday the TUC and the Child Poverty Action Group published a new report…Read more…
Greece after the referendum
I was pleased to be able to sponsor and speak at the Greece Solidarity Campaign/Jubilee Debt Campaign rally in solidarity with Greece at Congress House last night. Here’s what I said: Greece is…Read more…
Safety commitment questioned
Today, Monday July 6 marks the tragic anniversary of the Piper Alpha oil rig explosion which claimed the lives of 167 workers and devastated a community. It happened 27 years ago in 1988. The…Read more…
The imbalance of Osborne’s economy
London has shot ahead of other parts of the UK in growth and jobs since 2010 according to new research by the TUC. The London economy accounts for an even greater chunk of the UK economy and jobs…Read more…
Jeremy is Unite’s choice
Unite’s executive council has yesterday (Sunday July 5) voted to back Labour’s left candidate Jeremy Corbyn for leader of the party. The decision follows a multi-union hustings held on June 30 and…Read more…
Building an economy for all
Tory guru Steve Hilton has had a revelation: low pay causes poverty. From one Steve to another, welcome to the real world. But as your party is about to unveil its first full blue-blooded Tory…Read more…
One London: under the coalition, the capital’s economy moved even further from the rest of the UK
As the government’s flagship regional initiative seemingly flounders under the failings of investment in the railways and ahead of potential Budget announcements, it is worth reviewing just how far the regional reality is from the rhetoric. For over the period of the coalition, London moved even…Read more…
Why investor protection matters so much in trade deals
The European Parliament will vote at last on Wednesday (unless the vote is postponed again, until the autumn) on the most toxic element of modern trade deals: investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). Like the rest of the European trade union movement, we’re calling on MEPs to exclude ISDS,…Read more…
Cameron’s EU renegotiation strategy matters to everyone in Europe
Pastor Martin Niemöller’s famous poem about Nazi persecution begins (in its most quoted version): “first they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist”. It eventually ends up “Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak up…Read more…