To All Branches, Regional Offices & Regional Councils Circular No IR.304/15 10th December 2015 Our Ref: BR2/0004 Dear…Read more…
China persecutes activists to prevent its own reforms from succeeding
The government of China has engaged in a nasty and bizarre campaign of repression against labour activists, just as its own reforms threatened to do some good. A few days ago, Zeng Feiyang, Director…Read more…
East European Migrants and the Welfare State
A new report was published today that ought to have a massive impact on what the politicians say about migration. It’s called Social dimension of intra-EU mobility: Impact on public services and it looks at the impact in West European countries of migration from the ten new member states in…Read more…
Speaking up for trade union rights on Human Rights Day
Thousands of trade unionists around the world have lost their lives standing up for workers’ rights and social justice. Countless others have suffered, and continue to suffer persecution and denial…Read more…
Frozen out
Unite is seeking urgent discussions with management after workers at Bombardier in Northern Ireland overwhelmingly rejected a pay offer as part of cuts to the Belfast operation. Members had…Read more…
Let’s work together
Local government workers from Edinburgh and Glasgow city councils are calling on Holyrood MSPs to work with them in tackling an estimated £15bn billion debt crisis across Scotland’s councils. …Read more…
‘Dickensian’ work conditions
Imagine working on the statutory minimum wage, now set at £6.70 per hour – well below what’s needed to meet basic expenses in the first place – only to discover you aren’t getting paid even this…Read more…
Devolution (IOW Update)
It looks like the “done deal” is being procured even more quickly on devolution than at first thought. Is there no limit to their treachery that (some of) the Council and Sandy Hopkins…Read more…
UNISON consultation shows overwhelming backing for new pension deal at EDF Energy
UNISON members working for EDF Energy have today (Thursday) overwhelmingly backed a new pension deal negotiated by the union. The deal provides new entrants access to a defined benefit pension scheme…Read more…
Will Bernie Sanders be America’s first socialist president?
Bernie Sanders is not the first socialist to run for President of the United States. He is not even the first socialist to do so with mass support. To understand the Sanders campaign, it is…Read more…
Welsh social care provider sacks entire staff
UNISON, Britain’s largest public sector union, has reacted angrily to the decision of social care provider Anheddau Cyf, to dismiss its entire staff of 300 people and re-engage them only if they…Read more…
#COP21: Giving meaning to the four strands of climate justice
None of the four strands of climate justice – research, education, training and public awareness – have made the headlines at COP21, yet the conference “fringe” has been full of such debates. Whatever the final UN Agreement looks like, there will need to be an operational strategy that shifts…Read more…
Conspiracy and cover up
A Tory government which launched a head-on confrontation with trade unions in the early 1970s conspired with police and MI5 to help jail six striking building workers who picketed sites in Shrewsbury…Read more…
Ambulance crisis looms
The number of paramedics and other ambulance staff leaving the NHS has nearly doubled in four years with thousands more planning to quit imminently. Poor working conditions and low pay are…Read more…
Don’t let young people be scrooged by bad bosses
The story of 15-year-old Jay El-Leboudy is a touching tale of a young man juggling part-time work alongside his school studies in order to buy his family Christmas presents. Except that’s not how the story ends. Because whilst Jay thought his ten weeks of work would be appropriately rewarded, his…Read more…
UNISON takes the ‘route of shame’ in defence of workers’ rights
The union marks Human Rights Day by targeting countries that are the ‘worst’ abusers of trade union rights
The article UNISON takes the ‘route of shame’ in defence of workers’ rights first…Read more…
UNISON responds to language requirement for public service workers
The union warns that proposals are politically driven and potentially dangerous
The article UNISON responds to language requirement for public service workers first appeared on the UNISON site.Read more…
LOBOs. Cllr Gray’s Response to Newham Council’s Annual Treasury Management Report 2014/15
I spoke after Cllr Whitworth raised concerns on this item 14 at Monday evening (7.12.15) at Full
Council.
“Thank you Chair. John Gray, West Ham ward, speaking as a Councillor, expressing concerns on behalf of my constituents about Newham Council’s exposure to LOBO loans, in this report referred…Read more…
A faltering start at the UNISON NEC
Here is a brief note of what transpired at the start of yesterday’s meeting of UNISON’s National Executive Council (NEC) based in part on an update which I have already sent by email to UNISON Branches in the Greater London Region (following a request from a fellow Branch Secretary).
I will…Read more…
LOBOs. Cllr Whitworth’s Response to Newham Council’s Annual Treasury Management Report 2014/15
This is the concerns expressed by Cllr John Whitworth during the discussion on item 14 at Monday evening (7.12.15) at Full Council.
“The issue of the servicing and repayment of the Council’s debt is obviously of major importance at a time when we are obliged to make savings in most…Read more…