The Government has finally responded to the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee Report on Transgender Equality that was published in January 2016. This wide ranging report recognised that, despite welcome progress in recent years, our society is still failing to support the rights and…Read more…
On industrial strategy, a return to Thatcher is not the answer!
This morning, the former Foreign Secretary and Conservative Party Leader, William Hague, has stepped into the debate about the nature of the UK’s industrial strategy. Hague’s intervention, in this morning’s Daily Telegraph, has been prompted by the new Prime Minister, Theresa May’s, welcome…Read more…
Time to turn the tide on hatred
Summer should be a time of warmth and light, but weather aside, there seems precious little of either quality around at the moment.
The article Time to turn the tide on hatred first appeared on the…Read more…
UNISON warns against outsourcing of NHS support services staff
Staff are ‘rightly anxious’ about the implications of cost-cutting pressure on trusts
The article UNISON warns against outsourcing of NHS support services staff first appeared on the UNISON National…Read more…
Protecting health and safety post-Brexit
Given the possibility that the UK may no longer be covered by EU regulations on health and safety in the near future, what protection will British workers have to a safe workplace? This is important…Read more…
UK real wages decline of over 10% is the most severe in the OECD (equal to Greece)
The decline in UK real wages since the pre-crisis peak is the most severe in the OECD, equal only to Greece. Both countries saw declines of 10.4% per cent between 2007 Q4 and 2015Q4. Apart from Portugal, all other OECD countries saw real wage increases, albeit mostly modest ones. (NB strictly the…Read more…
They think it’s all over … but there are 5 tests before we start negotiating Brexit
One of the strangest views you hear expressed about the result of the EU referendum a month ago is that the impact on the economy has not been as severe as the Remain campaign claimed. Apart from the political turmoil in both the Conservative and Labou…Read more…
Reception for Councillor Anam Islam
The picture is from the reception held this evening in the Palm Tree, Romford Road to honour the recent election of my good political comrade (and friend) Anam Islam, as a Councillor for Forest Gate North.
I was invited with other Coun…Read more…
Corbyn Election:
The Building of a Social Movement Is an Aim Worth Fighting For Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership launch in Salford, July 23, 2016 There has been much ferment in the past few days and weeks over the…Read more…
Day 4: This is what a revolution looks like
The Democratic National Convention opens in just a few minutes; I am sitting in the hall, looking down on the delegates and the stage. People are slowly coming into the hall. This place has the…Read more…
Academy chiefs helping themselves?
Leaders of academy schools are spending taxpayers’ money
The article Academy chiefs helping themselves? first appeared on the UNISON National site.Read more…
Courses coming up
Please find below a list of upcoming training courses where we still have availability. If you have any activists who are interested in attending any of these courses please arrange for the booking form to be completed and then forward to activisteducationscotland@unison.co.uk or post to Activist Education (Scotland), UNISON, 53 Shore Street, Inverness, IV1 1NF as soon as possible:-
Chinese sweatshops: they were the future, once
Once it was David Cameron’s jibe at Tony Blair. Then he used it self-deprecatingly to bid farewell to the Commons after the referendum. But it reflects an iron law that what was once seen as…Read more…
Privatisation fight
Unite and the local Bromley community stood firm in solidarity against cuts to council services and privatisation at a packed demo on Saturday (July 23), which was also attended by Unite general…Read more…
Electoral system is failing younger voters
There are three particular reasons– apart from the mandate given by Congress – why we need to have this conversation now. First, in 2015 we had the most reactionary government in possibly a hundred years elected with less than 25% of the vote. That cannot be right or good. Second, despite…Read more…
UNISON seeking legal advice for EU migrant members
UNISON is seeking advice from the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) .
The article UNISON seeking legal advice for EU migrant members first appeared on the UNISON National site.Read more…
“Sports Direct” 21st Centuray Workhouse employer & unacceptable face of capitalism
The press has been full of headlines about vile UK retailer “Sports Direct” as being a “workhouse employer” who treats its workers like dirt.
Where women give birth in its toilets and fleets of “999” ambulances have to be sent out to aid wo…Read more…
Please Support Unite & RMT Members Taking Action On The North Sea
Unite and RMT members employed by Woodgroup on Shell oil platforms in the Brent Field on the North Sea are to take strike action on July 26th – the first strike in a generation on the North Sea. They…Read more…
EU acts against exploitation of migrants. Bit late.
Last month, before the referendum, I took part in a meeting of the Executive Committee of the European Trade Union Confederation in Brussels. The European Commissioner for Social Affairs, Belgian liberal Marianne Thyssen, addressed the meeting and disc…Read more…
Olympic Triathlon in Newham 2016 for UNISON “there for you” and Greek Solidarity Campaign
I have finally got my act together and am planning to complete an Olympic distance Triathlon with fellow West Ham Labour Councillor, Terry Paul, in Newham on Sunday 18 September 2016. We will invite all other Newham Councillors (and anyone else) to tak…Read more…