15 December 2014
Below is a short blog by John Foster on a presentation given by Keith Ewing. The paper was initially presented in Dublin followed by an updated version in Paris. A copy of that…Read more…
Institute for Fiscal Shock Therapy
The past week’s debate sparked by the 2014 Autumn Statement has confirmed the marginalisation of trade unions from British current affairs. Even in the recent past the trade union response to…Read more…
Glencore: unions protest at mining multinational’s misdemeanours
This week Unite will be joined by representatives of the United Steelworkers from the USA who have been locked out by their company Sherwin Alumina, in Gregory, Texas. Their company is owned by…Read more…
The world needs a pay rise: Oxfam recognises the union role
Oxfam has today issued a guide for businesses on implementing living wages throughout their global supply chains, and it puts collective bargaining and trade unions centre stage. The paper is full of…Read more…
Upshire Walk & Site of Boadicea End Game?
Off message but went for a great country walk on Sunday around Upshire in Essex.
Check out the free Essex Walks website.
I thought that I knew the area quite well but this 5.5 mile walk was different and apart from the distant buzz of the M25 …Read more…
Lima Diary 4: Peru shows #COP20 the front lines of climate change
Here at COP20 in Lima, the union observer camp was mightily relieved to hear an EU delegate acknowledging their agreement with a key part of our own lobbying by saying: “We propose a reference to the social and employment dimension of the transition towards a low carbon society: the need for just…Read more…
Rejuvenating effects: How CWU made the most of Young Workers’ Month
TUC Young Workers’ Month (November 2014) helped raise the already-high profile of youth activity within the CWU. People all around the union responded actively to the encouragement they were…Read more…
Qatar 2022: Construction firms accused amid building boom
BBC Newsnight carried a superb piece on conditions in Qatar and international complicity in them. The iPlayer piece is (currently) here Below is an article with an embedded, shorter, video. By Sue…Read more…
Are in-work benefits in the UK a magnet for EU migrants?
Should the UK be aiming to restrict access to benefits for citizens of other EU countries who are working here? The Prime Minister made this objective the centrepiece of his recent speech on migration: ‘Someone coming to the UK from elsewhere in the EU, who is employed on the minimum wage and who…Read more…
Yet more government-induced hunger pains
Earlier this year I questioned why people in the sixth richest country in the world were becoming increasingly dependant on food banks. It’s heartbreaking to be asking the same question in the lead…Read more…
Lima Diary 3: The right to union recognition at #COP20
What trade unions are basically looking for here at #COP20 in Lima is union recognition, and with that, the right to represent our members. In a sense this is no more complicated than any struggle be it among contract cleaners, cinema workers, or in th…Read more…
A Left Platform for the Election?
http://l-r-c.org.uk/news/story/a-left-platform-for-the-election/
John McDonnell is right, in the link above, that there is a sizeable constituency with an appetite for the policies to the left of the main parties.
As a local government trade unionist i…Read more…
D—Day – Hendon Town Hall – Tuesday 16 December 2014
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Ruling the Void
Ruling the Void, a posthumous sort of finished book by Peter Mair, is one of the most interesting things I have read recently. It covers similar issues to Colin Crouch’s Post-Democracy but with a) some analysis of electoral behaviour to underpin the ar…Read more…
Christmas YCB care workers get together
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Barnet UNISON extends an invitation to all who are supporting our YCB care workers campaign.
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Early Day Motion in support of our Interserve Members at Waterloo
Nice to see Early Day Motion has been tabled at Parliament, in support of our Interserve members at Waterloo.
http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2014-15/593
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Teachers don’t want Ofsted to be popular, they just want it to be valid, fair and reliable. It’s not.
By Mary Bousted Sir Michael Wilshaw should not be worried that Ofsted is unlikely to win any popularity contests. Teachers and school leaders set a low bar for the agency. They merely want the school…Read more…
Cross-party MPs say benefit delays cause hunger
A cross-party group of MPs have been conducting a wide ranging inquiry into hunger in the UK, and their report is out today.Read more…
Austerity – Just Say No!
‘Even if the government/OBR forecasts for the scale of the cuts prove to be unworkable they amount to a plan for permanent austerity, of ever deeper cuts. They are also a Tory trap for Labour, which…Read more…
“You Cannot Pick & Mix Which Human Rights to Respect” National Express LAPFF14
The President of the USA Teamsters Union, James Hoffa, sent a video message to the LAPFF conference to thank them for our support in their campaign to stop the North American arm of British company National Express’s union busting.
Teamster Louis Mali…Read more…