Last year I wrote about the dangers to health and safety from the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) where the European Commission and US Government want to reduce “barriers” to…Read more…
More Right to Buy – what will go wrong
Right to Buy likely to go wrong Worryingly the Queen’s Speech confirms that there will be a bill to extend the Right to Buy to tenants in Housing Associations. The TUC opposes this measure on two grounds; that the funding model of housing associations would be seriously damaged by such a…Read more…
Help With School Uniform Costs
Unison’s Welfare Charity There For You is once again offering support to Unison members on a low income with school uniform costs by way of a one off payment of up to £120. Conditions and criteria apply. The closing date … Continue reading →Read more…
Back to 1927 for our political funds – and what are the implications for DOCAS?
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#QueensSpeech 2015: nothing to say on international development?
Everyone agrees that this is a crucial year for international development. The Millennium Development Goals expire this year, and will be replaced at the UN General Assembly in September with 17 sustainable development goals, aiming to eradicate global…Read more…
Trade Union Bill
27 May 2015
By Carolyn Jones, Director Institute of Employment Right
The Trade Union Bill announced in the Queen’s speech holds few surprises. We knew it was coming. The Tories and their big…Read more…
Hanging in the balance
The future of the Scottish Agricultural Wages Board (SAWB) hangs in the balance as the new Scottish government look at the option of scrapping it yet again in a consultation set to close at the end…Read more…
People are not your priority, Mr Cameron
Commenting on today’s Queen’s Speech, Unite general secretary, Len McCluskey said, “Given the profound challenges facing this nation, it is staggering that a priority for this government is…Read more…
Hereditary monarch promises “reform” of democratic working class organisations.
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£12 billion of benefit cuts will do a lot of damage
The new government starts work with commitments to benefit cuts that will be difficult to deliver but politically impossible to avoid. All the options open to the government will cause serious hardship but still won’t deliver the scale of savings the Chancellor wants. It’s very likely that one…Read more…
Fighting the battle of ideas
Richard Angell recalls the moves a couple of years ago to have Progress, the organisation he directs, excluded from the Labour Party. Ungenerously, he omits to record that Len McCluskey spoke…Read more…
Sadiq Khan proposes a London Living Rent
Hat tip Labour List. I will look at all the London Mayoral UNISON candidates Housing policies. A living rent policy would be fantastic. What is the point of a Living wage if you did not have a Living Rent policy?
“Sadiq Khan, who’s in the running to be Labour’s candidate for London Mayoral,…Read more…
ACT NOW! The next few days are vital for EU-US trade deal
On Thursday, the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee (known as INTA) will vote on a series of amendments to a draft report on the EU-US trade deal TTIP (the Trans-Atlantic Trade…Read more…
EU says shareholders do not "own" companies
There’s a good summary of what is going on in the Shareholder Rights Directive here. Arguably the most significant part of it is below –
Shareholders do not own corporationsThe directive will explicitly acknowledge that shareholders do not own corporat…Read more…
Where will I be working by 2017?
Share: Facebook Twitter Google Plus LinkedIn As a result of the latest news about the proposed new Council offices in Colindale, staff have been asking “Where will I be working by 2017 and who…Read more…
Feeding the meter
More than half a million people struggling with debt have forcibly had prepay gas and electricity meters installed by their energy suppliers, a BBC investigation has found. Figures reveal that…Read more…
UNISON Greater London Labour Link Survey on Mayoral Candidates
This survey was sent out today to 60,000 UNISON members in Greater London Region who choose to affiliate to the Labour Party. I have deleted the link to the survey from this post for obvious reasons. If you are a APF member then please take part in th…Read more…
Pre-payment meters masking fuel poverty
Pre-payment energy meters are being used to mask the real levels of fuel poverty in the UK.
An investigation by BBC 5 Live has highlighted that more than half a million pre-payment energy meters have…Read more…
Housing sell off: ‘sheer stupidity’
David Cameron has confirmed that his right to buy extension to all housing association homes will now be part of the Queen’s Speech tomorrow (Wednesday May 27). The scheme, in effect, is…Read more…
Taking away workers’ rights will make Brexit more likely says TUC poll
As Nigel Stanley reported on Touchstone last week, we had an opinion poll in the field immediately after the election, to find out more about why people voted the way we did. We held a few of the…Read more…