BECTU members vote by 82% to take action over disputed leave arrangementsRead more…
Conservative strike plans are an aggressive assault on our rights and our democracy
That one of the first priorities of the new government has been to push ahead with punitive new plans for strike ballots is not just a blow for union members, but a blow for UK democracy.
The post Conservative strike plans are an aggressive assault on…Read more…
Labour can’t survive without the unions
Back to the future seems to be the pre-cooked consensus response to Labour’s dramatic defeat last week. To hear many party grandees tell it, all we have to do is party like it’s 1997 again. I…Read more…
Italian teachers: “Boycott tests and everyone to the beach”
Italy in foreground of anti-testing tight todayRead more…
What happened and why?
These are some brief initial observations on the outcome of the General Election. Understanding exactly what happened in the General Election will take some time. It makes no sense to draw hasty conclusions on what is a complicated outcome in which a number of different trends appear to have…Read more…
US unions block trade deal
Obama suffers Congress defeat after unions lobby Democrats to block Fast Track.Read more…
Trade Unions and the General Election 2015
13 May 2015
By Professor Keith Ewing
Shortly after the general election in 2010, I wrote in these columns that Cameron would win the 2015 general election (Morning Star, 18 June 2010). The…Read more…
“Do you consider yourself to have a disability?” – a bipolar worker speaks out
“Do you consider yourself to have a disability?”; even if you’re completely open about your mental health disorder, you can’t help but think about it for a moment when you see this question in your…Read more…
UNISON turns up the heat on Murphy
Union says it will not oppose a change of leaderRead more…
Bin there, doing it again – Barking and Dagenham workers begin 13-day strike
More than 100 GMB members employed as bin lorry drivers for Barking & Dagenham Council Environmental Services today begin a 13-day strike over a £1,000 pay cut. They have already taken 15 days…Read more…
Agitate, educate, organise!
In the aftermath of the general election, trade unions have a unique role in leading the fight back against the Tory offensive, writes John Stevenson of UNISON Scotland:
‘The…Read more…
How many Cabinet members would have failed the trade union ballot test?
Unions condemn Tory plans to toughen up strike ballotsRead more…
US Senate blow to Pacific trade deal means TTIP is in trouble
The US Senate decision last night to withhold fast-track ‘Trade Promotion Authority’ for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a blow also to the EU-US Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership (TTIP), and it demonstrates that opposition to TTIP is not a solely European…Read more…
Why can’t Turkish government be honest about the past?
FORCED MARCH. Armenians being deported under armed guard, 1915. People were punished if they tried to help the victims.
RELATIONS between the Turkish government and Germany could be…Read more…
Without a candidate – what does the left have?
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/may/12/forget-leadership-contest-new-labour-roots-social-movement-supporters-save-party
I spent this evening at two meetings.
The later (or latter?) was a meeting of the left caucus of members of the UNISON…Read more…
Greater London UNISON international Committee and Greece Solidarity Campaign
Picture is from yesterday’s AGM of Greater London UNISON International and Europe Committee. Kim Silver was re-elected Chair and I was re-elected Vice Chair.
Below is the draft report on this part of the meeting. I hope to also post later t…Read more…
What are we going to do now?
https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-eced-WHERE-DO-WE-GO-NOW#.VVJgj2pMVxs
I ended the last post on this blog with an implicit echo of Spike Milligan’s question – at the end of each episode of the various “Q” series – “what are we going to do now?”
I t…Read more…
Trade union leaders and the Tories – “business as usual or unite like never before”?
http://www.theguardian.com/public-leaders-network/2015/may/12/trade-unions-next-five-years-unite-like-never-before
I don’t know how grateful trade unionists should be to the dear old Grauniad for asking our leaders for their prognosis for the next five…Read more…
Cameron’s Equality appointments: the latest Whitehall Farce
Equalities has always been central to my trade unionism: if we are not about equality, then we are nothing.
The new Tory Government has said that it thinks equality (other than economic equality, of…Read more…
BREAKING: Docklands Light Railway workers vote ‘Yes’ for strike action
RMT members vote for action in two separate disputesRead more…