All the union news that's fit to blog...
The biggest debate of the day was around local government cuts. An Executive Statement strengthened Unite’s policy, but didn’t go as far as the motions which fell as a result of it passing.
Composite 1 (Motions 1 & 2): Campaigning Against Privatis…Read more…
Some while ago I suggested to Swindon’s Cabinet that they should be pressing the government to abandon their target for a £10 billion surplus by 2020. As I pointed out to them if the target was break-even then the £6 billion of cuts to local government would not be necessary. They…Read more…
Child poverty skyrocketed again last year, as the latest figures published today reveal an increase of 200,000 more children living in households that are struggling to make ends meet. The…Read more…
New Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show that bungling Chancellor George Osborne has overshot borrowing targets for 2015/2016 by £2.7bn and is on course to miss them again this year….Read more…
The public willingness to accept cuts to public services is ‘exhausted’
The article Tide is turning against government’s austerity programme, says UNISON first appeared on the UNISON National…Read more…
EPSU general secretary tells local government conference that Brexit would not ‘cure what is wrong in the EU, in the UK or elsewhere’
The article ‘We can fight together for a more social…Read more…
Though more than three decades apart, the problems facing working people in 1981 were not dissimilar to those we face today in 2016. A Conservative government then had its grip on power as it…Read more…
Volunteers from the County Durham Socialist Clothing Bank, which was set up with the assistance of Durham Unite Community in October 2014, have been presented with the Durham County Council…Read more…
Neath Port Talbot branch fought a successful campaign against library closures – so just how did they do it?
The article How can you run a campaign to defend a service? first appeared on the UNISON…Read more…
Student nurses take their fight to save the NHS bursary back onto the capital’s streets
The article UNISON members join People’s Assembly march in London first appeared on the UNISON site.Read more…
#STUC16 The STUC has backed a UNISON and GMB 10 point plan for decent public services which are key to ‘reducing poverty and economic inequality.’
UNISON’s Stephen Smellie told delegates there was a broad political consensus in Scotland against austerity but words were not enough.
“We must insist that Scottish politicians can’t hide behind the ‘it’s all the fault of the Tories and we can’t doRead more…
Food bank use has, for another year running, dramatically increased as more and more people – even those in work – bear the weight of government austerity that’s brought a crisis usually only…Read more…
Service helps those with addiction problems handed rescue package that also saves 11 jobs
The article Foyle Haven in Derry handed life line as UNISON backs campaign first appeared on the UNISON site.Read more…
Receiving letters in the post can elicit a range of emotions – frustration at another overdue bill, delight that an old friend is getting married. But for Sharon, a simple letter precipitated…Read more…
The global trade union movement is pressing the ‘international financial institutions’ (IFIs) to switch track, abandoning support for austerity, and replacing it with a global recovery strategy consisting of public investment stimulus and coordinated wage increase; investments in…Read more…
Spending cuts for Labour councils are more than five times higher than for Tory councils, new Labour Party research has revealed. By the end of Parliament Labour held local authorities will…Read more…
We are gradually winning the argument that workers’ rights (known in the academic literature as Employment Protection Legislation, or EPL) are not only good for the workers concerned, but also beneficial – or at the very least not harmful – to the economy as a whole. See this OECD…Read more…
Since the establishment of Police Scotland police staff have borne the brunt of a process of centralisation, budget cuts and politically driven targets. This process has been bad for policing, bad for communities and bad for staff. UNISON Scotland calls for policing in Scotland to be properly resourced with a balanced workforce responsive to locally determined priorities.
The new ChiefRead more…
IPPR report confirms UNISON’s view that falling real terms pay has had a considerable negative effect on the economy.
The IPPR report which is published today (23 March 2016) confirms that, pay in Scotland has fallen in real-terms by 12%, with private sector pay falling further than public sector pay. It also confirms that had pay risen in line with expectations, the Scottish economy would be £Read more…
Article after article by David Renard drives home the message that Swindon Borough Council ‘has no choice’. It has to outsource leisure facilities, close Children’s Centres, transfer services to parishes and abandon funding libraries save for the central one. How does this…Read more…