Unite members dressed as Dickensian workers will protest outside Sports Direct’s annual general meeting tomorrow (Wednesday September 9), demanding an end to the retailer’s ‘Victorian’ work…Read more…
Britain in the red: Households with problem debt up by more than a quarter since 2012
Today saw the first release of findings by the Centre for Responsible Credit (CfRC) from the joint TUC and Unison commissioned ‘Britain in the Red’ project. The project is looking at available aggregate and household survey data to track the extent of household over-indebtedness: assessing the…Read more…
Major attack on civil liberties
The Conservative government’s proposed Trade Union Bill has come under continued attack – today (September 7) from three prominent human rights groups, which have denounced the Bill as a “major…Read more…
More bad news on UK manufacturing
Today the EEF (Engineering Employers’ Federation) affirmed the weakness of the UK manufacturing sector, halving their forecast for manufacturing growth in 2015 to 0.7 per cent. The chart below of ONS figures shows manufacturing proceeding since the 1990s in a series of fits and starts. Over the…Read more…
From the 99 % to the 1 %
The Tories are robbing the working poor and giving to the working wealthy, according to new research from the TUC. And the Tories tried to hide it. The richest working households will be over…Read more…
‘Stonewalling’ on job loss talks
Car components company, International Automotive Components (IAC), is refusing to discuss 45 potential job losses with Unite. Despite having 35 per cent of the workforce as members the…Read more…
Love among the ruins
Harry Leslie Smith has published his latest memoir at a time when the world is witnessing the most devastating refugee crisis since the Second World War. Love Among the Ruins, although centred…Read more…
The fight for 5050 and fair politics for everyone
As the arguments over women’s representation in public and political life are rehearsed again during the parliamentary scrutiny of the Scotland Bill, it may be appropriate to reflect on the wider…Read more…
Refugee solidarity
Unite is backing delegations by Stand Up To Racism the first of which will travel to Calais on Saturday (5 September). The group is calling for “concrete solidarity” with migrants and refugees…Read more…
No energy delays
A decision is ‘desperately’ needed on the financing of the building of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, if the lights are to remain on in the years ahead. The French energy giant –…Read more…
ONS show just how hard ‘well-being’ is hit by low incomes and wealth
The ONS report ‘Relationship between Wealth, Income and Personal Well-being, July 2011 to June 2012’ may not be hugely surprising , but vividly shows the how dependent personal well-being is on a decent standard of living. For the ONS, well being has four aspects, ‘life satisfaction’, ‘sense of…Read more…
Dots on the map?
We have come to the Harry Lime moment in the latest refugee crisis. In the film, The Third Man, Harry Lime – played by Orson Welles – has been brutally exploiting a post-war drug shortage resulting…Read more…
The tipping point?
Champagne corks have been popping over Pizza Express’s decision to scrap the eight per cent administration fee on tips with Unite hailing a victory in its ‘fair tips’ campaign. The union has…Read more…
Living Wage not all it seems
Welcome news for workers – a pay rise is on the way via the new National Living Wage. Sadly though all is not quite what is seems. New research from the Resolution Foundation of George…Read more…
Stringfellow slammed
Unite has slammed strip club owner Peter Stringfellow after he admitted scantily clad waitress at his venues in central London only get to keep around half their tips. Stringfellow became…Read more…
Fairness call on agricultural pay
Unite has warned the Scottish Government that thousands of agricultural workers are set to swell the ranks of the working poor. Wage rates for 2015/16 were determined at the annual meeting of…Read more…
Unions and investors unite to oust Sports Direct Chair at AGM
Ahead of next week’s Sports Direct company AGM, the company’s Chair Keith Hellawell is coming under increasing pressure from unions and minority shareholders
The post Unions and investors unite to oust Sports Direct Chair at AGM appeared first on ToUChstone blog.Read more…
Choose life
Life expectancy at birth has increased by three years for every decade according to new figures from the Office of National Statistics. For men life expectancy at birth has increased from 51…Read more…
New Nissan model welcomed
Nissan’s decision to go-ahead with the next generation Juke car is ‘another positive step in the renaissance of the British car industry’, Unite has said. The estimated £100m investment in the…Read more…
Q1. Is Canada in recession because of China? Q2. Will their newly-published ‘Federal Balanced Budget Act’ help?
Yesterday, as market volatility continued, GDP figures were issued showing Canada now in ‘technical’ recession. It was a close call, with quarterly growth in 2015 Q2 at -0.1 per cent, following a fall of -0.2 in Q1. But few seem in doubt that conditions in this G8 economy are a worry. The chart…Read more…