Hat tip TUC Risks. We need to stop our Government (and employers) ignoring international law and make them take responsibility for the safety of their workers. UK Employees who work for anti-trade union employers such as Ealing based Catalyst Hou…Read more…
No More Pinochets In Latin America – No To Coup Plotters in Venezuela! A VSC Emergency Appeal
The recent decisions of the U.S Senate, Congress and elements of the Obama Administration to indicate support for fresh sanctions against Venezuela, have shown why the VSC urgently need your…Read more…
Not letting A&E be a casualty
IT’S some years now since I was taken ill at the end of a day at work, and when the symptoms persisted after I got home, knowing my GP’s surgery would be shut, I rang NHS Direct. The…Read more…
A Christmas Carol by the High Court
Scene:
Any solicitor’s office in the country (except the Strand).
Solicitor:
So, Ms Peasant you have been sacked because you are pregnant and you have come in for a free interview. Typical of your sort if I may say so.
Client:
It’s so unfair. I want to bring a claim. …Read more…
Worried about paying your winter fuel bill? UNISON is “there for you”
I am very proud of “There for you” (UNISON welfare) and the work it does for our members who are in financial hardship but we should never forget that often this hardship is caused by low pay, insecure employment and our rip off financial service…Read more…
What Manchester says today, England says tomorow (Best wishes for 2015)
Colleagues,
A strange title indeed for the last posted item of 2014, but I had to nip into the offices of the General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU) yesterday as the organisation is on the move to a new base adjacent to the hotel it bought a couple…Read more…
Decent Jobs Week: one to watch, two to do
Millions of people in the UK are trapped in low-paid, insecure work. Right now, Decent Jobs Week (15-21 December) is coming to the end of 7 days of shining a light on our growing jobs crisis. If…Read more…
What workers read in 1909
The discovery of a time capsule left in the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh by joiners in 1909 has thrown a fascinating insight into where the workers of the day got their news….Read more…
Cllr Peter Brayshaw
I was saddened to hear yesterday of the sudden death of Camden Councillor, Peter Brayshaw. Peter was Chair of Camden Pension Fund and a keen member of the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF). I had spoken to him only a few weeks ago at thi…Read more…
Christmas message from Mike Kirby, UNISON Scottish secretary
2014 was a significant year and we should be rightly proud of the role UNISON played in the independence referendum. We led the debate for a fairer and just Scotland. Thank you to UNISON members, activists, staff and supporters for the way you conducted yourselves throughout. We showed, once again, the importance of trade unions in shaping the country we live in
Public services remain a keyRead more…
RIPA – amendments are not enough, UK government needs to change the law
The NUJ rejects the new draft code of practice for the UK Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), which allows the police and other authorities to access journalists’ communications without…Read more…
A national curriculum should help children flourish
By Michael J. Reiss A school curriculum is not an end in itself, but a vehicle to realise further purposes. You would think, therefore, that those who devise a national curriculum would start by…Read more…
#DecentJobsWeek: “I’m the last mother standing”
If you listen to the government, you could be forgiven for believing that women’s labour market position is better than ever before. It’s certainly true that women’s employment rate is up, and women’s unemployment rate is down. But what this positive picture of women at work doesn’t show us…Read more…
#DecentJobsWeek: Unions are scoring successes against casualisation
The fall in the numbers of workers covered by agreements negotiated by trade unions is the key reason for the rise in low-paid and casual jobs in the UK. In 2013, 29 per cent of working people in the…Read more…
#DecentJobsWeek: This exploitation of agency workers must end
Tina is a qualified further education lecturer employed through an agency which forced her to sign a permanent contract of employment. She is only paid for the time she spends teaching but not for planning or attending meetings. Because she only teaches 24 hours a week she can’t claim working tax…Read more…
MEPs fight to save Europe’s air quality, women’s rights and recycling plans
Europe’s “fresh start” under the Juncker Presidency has already run into opposition from MEPs. A draft document leaked to the press last week shows that key EU environmental proposals on clean air, waste and recycling (the so-called ‘circular economy’), and stronger protection for…Read more…
Who’s really in favour of #ISDS?
The investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions in the proposed trade deal between the EU and the USA (TTIP) are the most controversial part of the deal. And they appear in all new trade negotiations, like the one between the EU and Canada (CET…Read more…
‘Flexible’ employment: the winners and the losers
Government and industry often argue that the flexibility of casualised ‘zero hours’ jobs benefits both employers and workers. The advantages for employers are abundantly clear. But what’s in it for…Read more…
Tell Sherwin Alumina To End The Lock Out
On October 11th, Sherwin Alumina part of the multi-national Glencore company locked out 450 hard-working USW Local 235A members at their plant in Gregory, Texas. The lockout came after 235A members…Read more…
Saving Our Safety Net Fact of the Week: cruelty to people who are weak and poor is the most important fact of all
This is my last Fact of the Week until the New Year, and I want finish 2014 by thinking about the human costs of benefit cuts. The other facts have been the sort you can put a £ sign in front of or a % sign after, or which you measure in millions. Here I…Read more…