The Scottish TUC (STUC) conference began this week on Monday (April 18 to 20), when delegates from Unite moved motions on a range of issues from the government’s controversial trade union Bill to…Read more…
New Immigration Bill clauses could give workers whistle to blow on abusive employers
On Monday the Immigration Bill will return to the House of Commons. In the House of Lords amendments have been added to give rights and protections to asylum seekers and overseas domestic workers which provide an important counterbalance to the nasty t…Read more…
Metal tops bill at Glastonbury?
This year’s Glastonbury festival has a new addition to the bill, and it’s metal but not as you know it. For festival goers used to standard hippy fare, the good news is not that British heavy…Read more…
The FT’s Tim Harford not Labour is misrepresenting the earnings crisis
Since the financial crisis, it is beyond doubt that wages and incomes have been exceptionally weak. Yet in the weekend Financial Times, the Labour Party’s use of real earnings figures was heavily criticised by Tim Harford (here). In the company of Donald Trump’s use of crime statistics and Jeremy…Read more…
Steel: support at last
Unite welcomed today’s (April 21) announcement by the UK and Welsh governments to provide a support package worth hundreds of millions of pounds to potential buyers of Tata Steel UK and to take a…Read more…
British Gas jobs axe
British Gas’ decision to axe 684 office jobs, including the company’s Oldbury operation in the West Midlands, has been met with dismay by Unite which called for the site to remain open. …Read more…
‘Disastrous’ race to the bottom
Lloyds bank has today announced cuts to 625 jobs across several divisions. This includes the offshoring of IT workers to India in a dangerous ‘race to the bottom’ warned Unite. Cuts include…Read more…
Why Sajid Javid is right – and the Adam Smith Institute is wrong – on support for steel
Earlier today, the UK and Welsh Governments announced a financial support package worth hundreds of millions of pounds, on commercial terms, to ensure a new buyer comes forward for Tata Steel. A main part, perhaps all, of the support will be in the for…Read more…
As reviled as Thatcher?
Desperate David Cameron is terrified that he will be as reviled as Margaret Thatcher in the history books because of the Conservative’s bungling of the steel crisis and has ordered his…Read more…
Don’t overdo the rise in unemployment, but labour market gains have clearly moderated
The focus of the coverage of the labour market statistics today is on a small rise in the unemployment figures (+21K, with unemployment rate unchanged at 5.1%). Perhaps commentators are on the lookout for the negative given wider conditions in financia…Read more…
‘Severe blow’
Last night’s (April 19) announcement that Monarch Airlines is due to close its maintenance hangar at Manchester airport with the loss of more than 120 engineering jobs was branded ‘a severe blow’ by…Read more…
Lords say no to govt again
In yet another defeat against the government’s trade union Bill, peers passed an amendment yesterday (April 19) reversing a ban on a method for paying union subscriptions in the public sector. …Read more…
Rescue plan agreed
Steelworkers have agreed to accept a temporary three per cent pay cut and changes to terms and conditions as part of a rescue plan by Greybull Capital, the company buying Tata’s Long Products…Read more…
The wrong type of ‘gig’?
As the digital revolution gathers at a rapidly increasing pace so is the growth of new forms of employment. One of these is ‘gig workers’ – a ‘one size fits all’ buzzword for anything from…Read more…
The National Living Wage: a defence
This morning’s labour market release told a similar story to what we’ve seen previously: insipid wage growth and slowly rising employment. Yet some commentators have assigned a special weight to today’s figures, take this piece in the Evening Standard on Monday for example. This is because that…Read more…
Trade Union Bill takes a battering in the Lords: What’s next in #TUbill campaign?
We’re nearing the end of the parliamentary process of the controversial Trade Union Bill. It has been a bruising experience for the government, lasting longer than they had hoped, and with a successions of embarrassments, defeats and concessions along the way. Much is still up for grabs, but…Read more…
Govt’s house of cards
First it was cuts to tax credits, then the raid on disability benefits – and now measures in the Housing Bill are facing defeat. The government’s proposed policies, all taking aim at those who are…Read more…
Tories: On the workers’ side?
The so-called National Living Wage, first announced last year, was offered up as proof that the Tory government was, in fact, on the side of working people. “We back work,” said prime minister…Read more…
A quick note on Leave.EU’s creative accounting
The Chancellor’s statement yesterday, on the costs of Brexit has provoked some creative accounting from the Brexit campaign. Their response is built on two highly questionable statistics combined with a statement of such devil-may-care chutzpah that it seems almost heroic. Let’s take their most…Read more…
TUC Dying to Work Campaign
Yesterday, in the Houses of Parliament the energy giant E-On will be the first UK company to sign up to the TUC’s Dying to Work Charter committing them, as an employer, to supporting workers…Read more…