Mark Billingham, who is probably Britain’s finest living crime writer, has been knocking off a book a year, sometimes starring his main protagonist Tom Thorne, but sometimes with Thorne only having a walk-on part. In…Read more…
Review: The Murder Book, by Mark Billingham
Mark Billingham, who is probably Britain’s finest living crime writer, has been knocking off a book a year, sometimes starring his main protagonist Tom Thorne, but sometimes with Thorne only…Read more…
Having the time of my life (in accordance with UNISON Rule C.2.7)
Having been invited in to UNISON National Delegate Conference to give the vote of thanks to President Paul Holmes, I was then presented with honorary life membership (in accordance with Rule C.2.7) by the then Vice President, now our President, Andrea …Read more…
Vote of thanks to Paul Holmes
(I will, over the next few days, try to catch up with some posts about the goings on in the Brighton Centre this week. However, I won’t be posting in chronological order because this is my blog and I write what I want on it. If you think that’s wrong g…Read more…
‘It’s now down to trade unions to step up to the plate’
When both the Governor of the Bank of England and the Prime Minister called for ‘pay restraint’ it was clear that workers were being set up for a fall. Once again we were being asked to pay the price…Read more…
UNISON National Delegate Conference 2022: Day 4 (Majority NEC refusing to resign despite Conference No Confidence Vote in them!!!!)
Last day of UNISON National Delegate Conference was as dramatic as the previous 3 days. I did not have time for a run this morning as had to pack and check out of hotel and place my suitcase in conference centre before 9.30am.
Yesterday w…Read more…
Royal Mail managers ‘holding the business together on unpaid overtime’
Managers at the Royal Mail, currently being balloted for industrial action over threatened job losses, work ‘nearly 1,800 jobs’ worth of unpaid overtime a year’, Unite has said. A Unite survey of…Read more…
Leicester Citybus drivers in pay win
Leicester Citybus drivers are at least £45 a week better off – £2,450 a year – thanks to a pay rise won by their union, Unite said today (June 17). A two-year deal will see wages rise by…Read more…
Couldn’t buy blueberries
I couldn’t go into John Lewis. Not from that door. The door fromthe Square, Cavendish Square. It was the menswear that did it.Scarves. Hankies. That sweater you liked and the blue shirt. No matterthe…Read more…
Unite investigates profiteering
If you believed what the likes of prime minister Boris Johnson and Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey had to say, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the cost of living crisis is all…Read more…
‘Time to demand profit restraint’
When both the Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey and prime minister Boris Johnson said recently that workers shouldn’t ask for pay rises because it may set off an inflationary spiral, he got one…Read more…
Care staff announce strikes over fire and rehire plans
St Monica Trust workers line up five strike days
The article Care staff announce strikes over fire and rehire plans first appeared on the UNISON National site.Read more…
Review: The Second and Third Internationals and the Vienna Union (1922)
This short book is a transcript of a long-forgotten meeting that took place in Berlin’s Reichstag in early April 1922. At the initiative the Austrian Social Democrats and their colleagues in what came to be…Read more…
Review: The Second and Third Internationals and the Vienna Union (1922)
This short book is a transcript of a long-forgotten meeting that took place in Berlin’s Reichstag in early April 1922. At the initiative the Austrian Social Democrats and their colleagues in…Read more…
Care staff announce strikes over fire and rehire plans
Bristol care company St Monica Trust wants to cut pay by £400 a month
The article Care staff announce strikes over fire and rehire plans first appeared on the UNISON National site.Read more…
Frontline health workers vote ‘yes’ to strike action at sites across Lancashire
OCS workers want to be treated like colleagues directly employed by NHS
The article Frontline health workers vote ‘yes’ to strike action at sites across Lancashire first appeared on the UNISON…Read more…
Leeds university members prepare to strike again
Action is over the 2021-22 pay round and the detrimental changes to the USS pension scheme
The article Leeds university members prepare to strike again first appeared on the UNISON National site.Read more…
UNISON National Delegate Conference 2022: Day 3 (Why hasn’t our NEC resigned yet?)
This morning I started the day with another slow jog along the Brighton beach front. During breakfast at the hotel my branch delegation agreed which 6 motions that we want to be “prioritised” for debate on Friday afternoon (the infamous UNISON …Read more…
Rail strike – Loder ignorance
In Parliament the MP for West Dorset, Chris Loder, used the Johnson method, not bothering to check facts and concocting … MoreRead more…
Delegates back calls for improved pay and sick pay
Speakers highlight how national minimum wage and national living wage rates are not keeping up with inflation, and say that poor sick pay means sick workers going to work
The article Delegates back…Read more…