Today the House of Commons will be placed in the ironic position of being asked by the Government to reject a democratic reform proposed by the unelected House of Lords. And the TUC is backing the…Read more…
Government lands NHS students with massive new debts
England is short of 2,600 midwives and has been thousands short for at least a generation. The national midwife shortage has proved a really hard nut to crack. The NHS continues to need every midwife it can get. Successive governments have tried to dri…Read more…
UNISON Pyrenean Challenge 2016 – “there for you”
Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE …Read more…
The loneliness of the long distance Returning Officer
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/breach-of-statutory-balloting-procedures-decision-bakhsh-v-unison-the-public-service-union
Trade unions are required by one of the many laws which regulate our movement to appoint an independent returning offi…Read more…
Ebook revolution threatens jobs
The ebook revolution in reading habits has put 225 jobs at risk at the Penguin Random House (PRH) UK distribution centre at Rugby in Warwickshire. PRH has announced it wants to close the…Read more…
Close the net on tax avoidance
Unite highlighted today (December 7) that the case for chancellor George Osborne “closing the net on corporate tax avoidance” is further reinforced with reports that Cadbury’s owner, Mondelez…Read more…
#COP21: Unions call for ‘fair and ambitious Paris agreement’
Trade union delegates at the Paris COP21 joined with others today to protest about the threat to human rights. This includes the rights of indigenous peoples, gender equality, intergenerational equity, a just transition, food security and the integrity…Read more…
#COP21: UK austerity out of step with Paris climate talks
The French Presidency has finally got to grips with the UN climate negotiations, setting up a Paris Committee aiming to conclude all outstanding matters by 6pm on Thursday. All further negotiations will be closed and focused on brokering deals, includi…Read more…
UNISON members are working flat out
As wind and rain batters the north of England I want to pay tribute to our members
The article UNISON members are working flat out first appeared on the UNISON site.Read more…
Make or break time for the voluntary sector: NCIA goes out with a challenge
When do you know it’s time to call it a day? For the past decade the National Coalition of Independent Action (NCIA) has been sounding an alarm bell: voluntary groups are failing in their democratic job as an independent force for positive change, and must fight back. Now, after 10 years, we have…Read more…
Glasgow campaigners target G1 Grinch
Union flash mob campaigners target notorious entertainment group G1’s premium venue The Corinthian for some Christmas mischief.Read more…
Are you a Non Safe Festive Worker?
Christmas parties at work are a great chance to let our hair down, and to see a different side of the people we spend more time with than our own families. But they can also wreck the work…Read more…
Unison Branch Magazine December 2015
Features in this issue include:- Unions help to support the families of Bosley Mill Christmas Celebration Charity Bake Off 10 December 2015 AGM 2016 – diary date Unison Campaigning Across Stoke-On-Trent Why Join A Union? December 2015Read more…
LOBOs – Long term pain for short term gain?
I have posted on LOBOs before. I think that this article by Janine Alexander from Collyer Bristow LLP pretty much tells it as it is…
“Many local authorities and housing associations have taken out “LOBO” (Lender Option Borrower Option) loans over the past 15 years. They were particularly…Read more…
Humanity – a poem for refugees by Joy Johnson
Packing up her school books
Laughing with her friend
It only took a moment
For her school days to come to an end
“We’re only kids in school”
Her voice was pained but clear
Bodies charred…Read more…
Skilled trades workers vote for UAW recognition at VW
The US trade union movement had some good news last week when skilled-trades workers at Volkswagen’s U.S. assembly plant in Chatanooga, Tennessee voted for union representation and collective…Read more…
Parliament Votes for War:
The Fight for an Anti-War Government Becomes Ever More Necessary 5-10,000 people protesting in Downing Street on Saturday, November 28. Protest against the bombing of Syria in Parliament Square on…Read more…
Sunday Night Live “21st Century NHS – a state of perpetual upheaval and crisis. Where now for the health service?”
Pictures from last weekends “Sunday Night Live” at Stratford Picture House, E15. The debate was about the crisis in the NHS.
West Hammer Neil Wilson chaired. There was two guest speakers, Nigel Keohane, from the Social Market Foundation and Jos …Read more…
On loyalty
Loyalty is central to effective trade unionism – but different people have different understandings of loyalty.
A couple of weeks ago UNISON members in my own branch, working in libraries, gave a lesson in loyalty when they spontaneously took unofficial strike action in defence of their jobs and…Read more…
Lessons from Oldham for the Blairite Tendency
There has been little so entertaining this week as reading the bemused response to the Oldham by-election result in the mainstream media. All those ‘Corbyn must go’ stories had to binned and a whole…Read more…