Cooking for large numbers of people often seems a daunting task, but, it doesn’t need to be that way. Following the tremendous success of last Saturday’s (July 25) Left Fest – whereby…Read more…
Honour national agreements call
Local authorities are being asked to say how much they are paying to use the energy-from-waste plant being built at the Wilton complex on Teesside in a bid to prove that the cash-rich employer can…Read more…
Burnout Britain?
The summer holiday season is in full swing, and working people up and down the country are taking time off to visit friends and family, travel or simply relax. But a new report has revealed…Read more…
US says trade trumps safety
I have blogged here several times about the possible effects on health and safety of the proposed free trade agreement between the European Union and the United States – the Transatlantic Trade…Read more…
The Future of Housing Associations & Social Housing
Yesterday we had the news that Genesis, a large Housing Association is to stop building homes for rent following the recent Government budget.
Today, Inside Housing magazine reports that other housing associations are seeking advice on how to deregist…Read more…
Don’t believe the (business) hype
31 July 2015
By David Whyte, Professor of socio-legal studies, University of Liverpool.
If there is one thing that business organisations are particular good at, it is deceiving us into thinking…Read more…
Bank of England lending data echoes reliance on consumer demand, with corporate borrowing falling again
Bank of England lending data issued earlier this week (here) showed a reduction in the pace of growth of lending to the private sector for the third month in a row. But as lending to financial and non-financial firms fell, lending to households expanded. Lending growth, month on a year ago As the…Read more…
TUC Economic Quarterly Report 7
This quarterly TUC report provides an analysis of UK economic developments over recent months; focuses on the current labour market compared to pre-recession levels; and includes a spotlight feature on productivity since 2008. Summary Economic activity appears to have weakened a little from the…Read more…
A dangerous move
Ministerial plans to relax the laws around driver hours in an effort to ease congestion caused by Operation Stack, as transport movement between the Channel ports seizes up, is not the answer, Unite…Read more…
Cross-party pressure group formed to secure future of rail franchise:
An onthewight report. A new pressure group has been set up to help secure the future of the Island Line train service with a sustainable, reliable and viable service for the duration of the next…Read more…
The Work of the Organised Workers’ Opposition at Present:
The basic guidelines on how to intervene in the new struggles of the people. Really, the issue poses itself as to what are the Marxist-Leninists and the Workers’ opposition dealing with at the…Read more…
“Bloody dangerous” Newham’s proposed pension Special Purpose Vehicle
I posted last week here my concerns about a proposal to Newham Executive about setting up a so called “SPV” for the Councils pension fund.
This would cost at least £500,000 to set up and is in my view very risky and could result in a complete waste of public money.
I am very concerned that there…Read more…
British Gas jobs announcement ‘Harsh blow to loyal workforce’ says UNISON
Thursday 30 July 2015
Energy union UNISON has described British Gas plans to shed thousands of jobs as a ‘harsh blow to a loyal workforce’.
The union are responding are responding after being
informed by managing director of British Gas Mark Hodges, that
Centrica/British Gas intends to axe around 6000 posts between now and
2020.
The majority of these areRead more…
No compulsory redundancies call
The plans by Centrica to axe 6,000 jobs were branded as ‘unnecessary and driven by the pursuit of excessive profits’ by Unite today (July 30), as profits doubled at its British Gas business. …Read more…
Consultation on Modern Slavery Act
In the last days of the coalition Government the Modern Slavery Bill became law. As I reported in my blog, at the time, the Government was consulting on the reporting requirements for businesses in relation to the Transparency in Supply Chain clause. T…Read more…
#killthebill on social media
Social media reactions to our extremely well attended #killthebill event in London on 29 July 2015
30 July 2015
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A Kafkaesque nightmare
Unite community member Paul Rooney, a former social care worker who gave up his job to care for his severely disabled teenaged daughter, looked through his post one day to find a council tax bill for…Read more…
South African union bankrupted by employers’ legal case
The Commercial, Stevedoring, Agricultural & Allied Workers Union (CSAAWU) has approached the Constitutional Court to overturn decisions by the Labour Court ordering the union to pay legal fees…Read more…
Trade union leaders: Sisi is not welcome in the UK
Mark Serwotka of PCS and Dave Ward of CWU join Unite and other trade unionists to campaign against David Cameron’s invitation to the Egyptian dictator.Read more…
Enter the new kid on the block – a “sustainable free market”
I dont know if we have a climate sceptic Chancellor. But global surface temperature are now passing more than 1 °C of global warming, relative to the second half of the 19th century. Is this the right time for the Treasury to cast out the UK’s ten key green energy policies for an untried,…Read more…