Osborne’s latest budget announcement is driven more by his ideological desire to cut the state than any concern for deficit reduction.
The UK government has decided to cut a further…Read more…
Honour your agreements
Unite confirmed today (June 8) that they will be entering into talks at the conciliation service Acas with bus company Abellio Surrey in a bid to avert strike action in a dispute over terms and…Read more…
Breaking: steel strike on
Steel unions have agreed Monday, June 22, as the date for strike action at Tata Steel in their ongoing dispute over pensions. The strike action will be preceded by action short of strike action…Read more…
Four things that the UNISON NEC election results tell us
What do the results of UNISON’s National Executive Council (NEC) election tell us?
First, that we had 1.24 million full members at the point that the extract for the ballot was taken from the membership system. This corresponds pretty closely to the 1.25 million members in our last submission to…Read more…
‘On the level with asbestos’
Unite has blown the lid off the dangers cabin crew members face being exposed to toxic air – a scandal that’s being compared to asbestos exposure. This morning (June 8) on the Victoria…Read more…
Allowing students to find their passion changes everything
Students at Springwell Learning Community experience a personalised and engaging curriculum that succeeds in both promoting a love of literature and development of empathy and social understanding….Read more…
Pension funds to build houses
Falkirk Local Government Pension Scheme Fund has awarded fund manager Hearthstone Investments £30 million to invest in social and affordable housing in Scotland.
Over 300 affordable homes are expected to be delivered with the Scottish Government providing an initial investment of over £6 million towards 126 social homes in Falkirk and Clackmannanshire. Hearthstone predicts its ‘Housing Fund forRead more…
The Chancellor bemoans Labour’s household debt record, but official figures show the pace of borrowing rising rapidly and debt on his watch likely to hit an all-time high
In the Independent today, James Moore reported Frances O’Grady’s remarks on household debt. These followed the Queen’s Speech economy debate last week, when Tory backbencher Mark Garnier attacked Labour’s record: “Does the Chancellor agree that the £1 trillion rise in household debt…Read more…
Deadline set
Offshore trade unions have set a deadline of Friday, June 19 for employers in the Caterers Offshore Trade Association (COTA) agreement to return to negotiations over a pay deal for 2015/16. …Read more…
I’m back…
I’ve been narrowly re-elected to UNISON’s National Executive Council, with 51.8% of the vote (but on a turnout of just 6.2%).
I’ll comment further on the election results later. For now I offer my congratulations to all other successful candidates.
The derisory turnout in a ballot which the law…Read more…
#EUReferendum: Business for Britain’s longest blackmail letter in history
The eurosceptic Business for Britain campaign – not to be confused with the pro-European Business for New Europe campaign – this week issued what you might call ‘the longest blackmail letter’ in history to Prime Minister David Cameron. But they have done us a great service…Read more…
West Hammers with John Biggs and Sadiq Khan MP campaigning for a Tower Hamlets Labour Mayor in Isle of Dogs
This afternoon we meet up outside Crossharbour station in the Isle of Dogs. It was a large turnout from all over London. Sadiq and John said a few words to rally the troops then we were sent off to various parts of the Island, mostly to deliver leaflet…Read more…
1200 dead so far & 7 years to go? Qatar: The human toll of FIFA’s corruption
Shocking chart and story from Washington Post. Hat tip TUC Risks. People quite rightly go on about the corruption and money but what about this waste of human life? Support the TUC “Play fair” campaign.
“The Washington Post has flipped the focus from the financial corruption gripping football’s…Read more…
Get off the fence Harriet – Labour should reject the theft of ‘social housing’
At the recent Prime Minister’s Question Time David Cameron goaded interim Labour Leader Harriet Harman on Labour’s attitude to the extension of ‘right to buy’ to Housing Associations. Did Labour agree with it? She failed to answer, repeatedly. Why? Her failure to respond…Read more…
Global union network formed to fight back at Huhtamäki
Unions from paper products plants owned by the Finnish multi-national Huhtamäki met in Helsinki recently to establish a global trade union network. They also slammed the behaviour of the company…Read more…
West Hammers out campaigning for John Biggs as Mayor in Devons Road with Diane Abbot MP
Picture collage from this afternoon’s canvass and leaflet in Devons Road, Tower Hamlets. I was given a board to run and went with a team of West Hammers, which was joined by Diane Abbot MP and the shy and retiring Bill Turner, formerly from Tower Hamle…Read more…
Stop a £43m fat cat pay deal – Tell your pension fund to say NO to Martin Sorrell rip off at WPP
“Dear John, the FTSE fat cats are at it again. Advertising and marketing company WPP wants to pay its boss, Sir Martin Sorrell, £43m this year. That’s 2378 times what you’d earn on the London Living Wage.
Last November, you emailed your pension fund about a high pay deal at BG Group – and it…Read more…
Bonn blog #2: UK performance at UN climate talks and the future of just transition
I’ve been at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) conference in Bonn this week, where 195 countries are negotiating the international climate treaty that will be debated at COP21 climate talks in Paris in December. This blog describes my initial thoughts on the process, as someone…Read more…
Giving social care the priority it deserves
The social care crisis in Scotland is not given the priority it deserves, but there is a growing consensus about what needs to be done.
I was speaking at the Care Scotland, care at home conference…Read more…
Tata steel workers vote for strike action over ‘work till you drop’ pension plans
Members of Britain’s largest union, Unite, working for Tata Steel UK Ltd have overwhelmingly voted for industrial action over the company’s plans to close the British Steel pension scheme (BSPS) and…Read more…