Minor illnesses and people turning up in A&E should not be seen as the problem of crisis now hitting the NHS and St Mary’s. There is enough evidence around to see what the problems are and how to…Read more…
‘No time to waste’
As prime minister Theresa May continues to ignore the mounting funding problems faced by the NHS — whose ongoing crisis was most shockingly exemplified by the story of a sick baby being treated on…Read more…
Decent basic rights call
Angry dock workers at Liverpool’s Seaforth container terminal working for Peel Ports have had enough and pictured today (January 13) are Unite members protesting over the atrocious poor conditions…Read more…
Justice fight goes on
Up to 300 workers, members of Unite are continuing to take strike action today (January 13). But in a goodwill gesture, Unite is suspending the strike action scheduled for Thursday (January…Read more…
Anti-austerity’s frontline fighters
Volunteer benefits adviser John Kelly has got used to seeing people on the breadline in distress because their welfare has been stopped or sanctioned, but that doesn’t make it any easier in the heart…Read more…
Globalisation isn’t a ‘given’
Thanks to Geoff Tily, who co-authored this blog. The impact of globalisation on working people’s wages, jobs and prospects emerged as one of the key themes of 2016, following the seismic political developments in both Europe and the US. 2017 sees no sign of the debate going away. The policymaking…Read more…
LOBO Local Finance Hackathon – 14 January
please register here: http://bit.ly/LOBOHack2
Through hundreds of Freedom of Information requests, Debt Resistance UK have obtained a dataset of LOBO loan contracts. These are risky and expensive loans miss-sold to local authority by financi…Read more…
The Stronger UNISON pledge and what it really means
A small clique of supporters of UNISON’s current leadership are organising to try to keep UNISON in its current state of lethargy and its downward path under the somewhat implausible slogan “Stronger UNISON” – for the moment this relates simply to a Facebook page which appears largely to be a…Read more…
Members fight on for pay justice
British Airways’ ‘mixed fleet’ cabin crew working on long and short haul flights out of Heathrow Airport will be taking part in a three day strike next week in their dispute over poverty pay, Unite…Read more…
‘Get a grip’
The Prime Minister shrugged off the mounting NHS crisis yesterday (January 11) as a “small number” of incidents, even as 20 hospitals across England declared that they could no longer guarantee…Read more…
A new approach to public service reform
Since the publication of the Christie Commission report five years ago, public sector reform has been largely piecemeal and driven by austerity cuts. The debate can also drift into a contest between…Read more…
The fight for our rights that lies ahead
In the long run, employees in the UK could find themselves with less control over their working lives than their EU counterparts. And British rights could go from being enshrined in EU law, to being…Read more…
‘Sigh of relief’
Hundreds of jobs were saved after a sale was secured this week (January 11) of Coventry-based automotive parts supplier CovPress, one of the largest employers in the area. The nearly…Read more…
Globalisation’s strength is through domestic demand – that’s why it’s in crisis
The current debate on globalization is characterised by the idea that trade is becoming more and more important to prosperity. A very standard illustration shows trade growth as a share of GDP progressively increasing over the last 50 years – see Annex. (NB this post is background to…Read more…
Gov’t has ‘moral duty’
The Berkshire towns of Aldermaston and Burghfield are not normally associated with strikes – but that is exactly what is going to happen again next week in an increasingly bitter dispute over…Read more…
‘A strong sector in a strong union’
If there is any sector where workers certainly need a union it is construction – and now these workers will have even stronger protection at work. The merger of UCATT (the union for…Read more…
We are more equal (because we are all worse off)
Normally figures (here) showing the income distribution had narrowed to the lowest point for thirty years – since 1986, the height of Thatcherism – would be reason for celebration. But these are not normal times. The country may be less unequal, but everybody is poorer. Thatcherites used to boast…Read more…
Inequality is falling, but that doesn’t mean we can stop worrying
I was struck by the coincidence of two news items yesterday. On the one hand, the World Economic Forum highlighted rising income inequality as one of four “global risks in 2017” because it threatens social cohesion and democratic societies’ ability to take action on other problems. On the other,…Read more…
Trump’s Cabinet picks are no friends to workers
Trump is on a mission to tear the heart and the humanity out of America …Read more…
Clarion UNISON newsletter on Staff Survey – Trade Union Recognition
Staff Survey – Trade Union Recognition On Tuesday 10 January, the head of HR confirmed to the unions that Clarion and Latimer staff would all receive a survey, via email, on the subject of trade union recognition.
All staff were sent a link to the survey…Read more…