Find a job, marry, start a family, buy a home – even after rapid social and technological changes of the past century, traditional rites of passage have largely persisted to this day. But if…Read more…
Gabriel Resources takes Romania to World Bank ISDS Court over Rosia Montana
Gabriel Resources is suing Romania through an ISDS mechanism for gold it was not allowed to mine. What does this say about national sovereignty?Read more…
Just not taking it
Residents on the Cressingham Gardens estate in Lambeth are celebrating a small victory in their three year-long campaign to save their homes from demolition after being granted a judicial review….Read more…
Migrants and benefits report: more hot air
A new report by MigrationWatch, a lobby group that seeks tighter immigration controls, has received much coverage in the press this week as it purports to show that some migrants claim more benefits than residents, or as the Express delicately put it yesterday: ‘foreigners more likely to claim…Read more…
Submission on “Call in” over Pension Provision for Members 22 July 2015
This is a report I submitted today as a Councillor to Newham Overview and Scrunity Committee.
“Recommendation
1. Firstly, I would like to thank members of Overview and Scrutiny for supporting my request that this decision is “called in” and reviewed.
2. The decision by the Executive Mayor to…Read more…
RESTRUCTURING, STATION STAFF – SOUTH WEST TRAINS
Our Ref: BR2/150021st July 2015 Dear Colleague RESTRUCTURING, STATION STAFF – SOUTH WEST TRAINS For some considerable time your Senior Union Representatives have been…Read more…
The Trade Union Bill: The Government should be careful what it wishes for
Let’s give credit where it is due. And the hype is true. The government’s new Trade Union Bill is the most significant piece of trade union legislation in a generation; perhaps even longer than…Read more…
Buy British-made cars call
Two MPs launched a debate in the House of Commons last week (July 16), calling on police forces to support the UK automotive industry by buying British-made cars – a policy that Unite has long…Read more…
‘Curtain of secrecy and fear’
Tory-led Bromley council has suspended a Unite rep in a bid to silence critics of its privatisation programme. The council suspended Unite rep Alan Brown on Friday (July 17). Details of the…Read more…
Not to be ignored
The workplace at present is full of uncertainties and insecurity. But one thing is certain. The workforce is getting older and workers, by choice or necessity, are working longer. So what are…Read more…
Massive change at Barnet Council
Massive change at Barnet Council
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Swimming through vomit
The debacle created by interim leader Harriet Harman on welfare has created Tory accusations of a split when we should have been putting clear red water between Labour and the Tories. Their vile…Read more…
Solving the IMF’s concerns about stronger unions
I have blogged at Touchstone about this week’s bombshell news from the International Monetary Fund that declining unionisation leads to ballooning inequality (which the IMF accepts is damaging…Read more…
Why it’s right to strike (2) – support London Met this Friday
http://www.londonmetunison.org.uk/2015/07/solidarity-24-07/UNISON members at London Metropolitan University are striking this Friday in opposition to three threatened compulsory redundancies (including that of UNISON Branch Secretary, my comrade Max Watson).
The deliberate making of compulsory…Read more…
Why it’s right to strike (1)
http://www.glasgowcityunison.co.uk/index.php/news/118-homeless-caseworkers-dispute-unison-glasgow-branch-statement
In many ways the highlight of this year’s UNISON National Delegate Conference, which took place last week in Glasgow, was that it took pl…Read more…
Want to reduce inequality? New IMF research says unionisation is key
Through gritted teeth, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has this week issued a ‘staff discussion note’ which contains a bit of a bombshell. The ballooning inequality that results from rampaging top people’s pay is not, as previously thought, an unfortunate by-product of…Read more…
Select Committee Hear Damning Evidence on LOBO Loan Scandal And Conflicts
I was at the Parliamentary select committee hearing yesterday with Newham Councillors, Cllr Fiaz and Cllr Whitworth. Bearing in mind the savage cuts in our budget, I was incensed to hear futher details how Councils were duped into buying LOBOs when p…Read more…
Glasgow strike settled as grade parity won
UNISON Glasgow Branch Statement – Homeless Caseworkers Dispute: After 17 weeks of all-out strike action the Glasgow Homeless Caseworkers have voted by a clear majority to accept an offer from the employer. The offer was recommended to a mass meeting today (21 July) by the union branch and the striking shop stewards and secures the central demand of the dispute – parity on Grade 6 with otherRead more…
UNISON Nominates Murad for City & East London
I was pleased that Greater London UNISON Labour Link has given a supportive nomination to Murad Qureshi for the directly elected GLA seat City & East.
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Courage of their convictions
After the Tories’ proposed welfare bill, which aims to slash child tax credits and lower benefit caps among other cuts, received its second reading yesterday (July 20), nearly 50 Labour MPs voted…Read more…