Five years ago foodbanks were not something that everyone would necessarily have heard of and a decade ago they barely existed in the UK. Now there are over 1,000 foodbanks in the UK and in…Read more…
The Lone Chancellor
The tax credit cuts saga continued in Parliament yesterday (October 29) as Labour MP Frank Field urged the government through a cross-party motion to rethink its tax credit reforms that, if pushed…Read more…
Food on credit
As UNITElive reported last week, unsecured debt – such as credit cards and payday loans – has grown exponentially in austerity Britain. A new survey released this week (October 22) has shown just…Read more…
United Nations takes issue with UK government on human rights, says UNISON
Friday 23 October 2015
UNISON media release, with Human Rights Consortium Scotland (HRCS)
The Westminster Government faces a series of awkward human rights questions following action by the United Nations. The UN has directed the Government to address a ‘list of issues’ ranging from welfare cuts and reliance on food banks to blacklisting and the erosion of trade union rights.
Members of theRead more…
UNISON Scotland 2015-10-22 16:13:00
Thursday 22 October 2015
John Young, UNISON North Lanarkshire Council steward said,
“This is devastating for everyone living in North Lanarkshire and once again it is the low paid and vulnerable, including children, elderly and disabled people who will be the worst affected. North Lanarkshire Council are proposing to cut 10% of the workforce which will cause chaos in our vital public services;Read more…
Not so much a ‘vision’, more a nightmare
This is a guest post by a Swindon Council employee who has been given a ‘vision’… A couple of weeks ago I went to an event for all SBC employees. It was called On Track To A Vision For Swindon. It was designed to present the ‘vision’ of the leader of the council, as represented…Read more…
Last plea to Tories
The government is sticking to its guns over cuts to tax credits. To persuade the public (and their own MPs) of a plan that the electorate didn’t vote for, they’ve released figures that claim these…Read more…
Broken promises and tax credit cuts
They’ve been described as plans based on “political and class dogma, and not economic necessity” by Unite general secretary, Len McCluskey; part of an economic package that will worsen inequality, by…Read more…
What lies beneath?
Prime minister David Cameron has again announced in his Tory Conference speech yesterday (October 7) that his is the party of working people. It’s his latest in a number of attempts to stretch the…Read more…
Dave down the rabbit hole
‘Call me Dave’ has had a dream which he shared with me. It was when we were walking through the sunlit uplands of his unexpected election victory waving the Union Jack. At this…Read more…
‘Hard times are everywhere’
The darkness of austerity gathers all across Britain like the clouds of night while the Tory Party conference in Manchester celebrates its victory in May’s general election behind barbed wire,…Read more…
‘Too clever’ Osborne vs ‘rooted in reality’ McDonnell
The approach could not be starker. Tory Chancellor George Osborne is going to hammer those on lower pay to close the budget deficit by 2020. He’ll then throw a few slogans at the economy, and…Read more…
Achievable as a trip to the moon
David Cameron’s legacy will be felt all too acutely by those workers earning a low wage or in insecure work who will be shut out from his housing promise Unite, said today (Wednesday October 7)….Read more…
Thank you to everyone who made Sunday a success
Thousands upon thousands of UNISON members – and their families – took time on Sunday to come to Manchester and march
The article Thank you to everyone who made Sunday a success first appeared on…Read more…
Hammer of working people
George Osborne continues to be ‘the snake oil salesman’ of British politics, presiding over a phoney recovery, giving the rich an inheritance tax gift, yet bringing harsh cuts to millions of workers…Read more…
‘We will win – together’ Prentis tells Manchester rally
‘It’s time for an alternative to the cuts, the privatising agenda, and to the pay freeze destroying lives,” says Dave Prentis as 85,000 march against austerity, and for workers’ rights
The article…Read more…
Photos from Manchester demo online
Some photos of Scotland branches at the huge Manchester demo against austerity and the TU Bill on 4 October are now online. at https://picasaweb.google.com/117247006402711752943/ManchesterOctober42015?noredirect=1 More to follow.Read more…
Council Tax payers should decide
This is a letter to the Swindon Advertiser. Here’s your starter for ten points. What is the relationship between the government’s spending review due later this year and the news that the Conservative administration wants to expand the parish council ‘model’? Could it be…Read more…
Return to the age of secrecy?
The MP’s expenses scandal — one of the biggest stories to break in the past decade — may have been kept a secret to this day, had it not been for the Freedom of Information Act, made into law in…Read more…
Scottish public bodies must mitigate austerity, says UNISON
Date: Wednesday 23 September 2015
UNISON Scotland is launching a campaign today (23 September 2015) calling on the Scottish Government, local authorities and public bodies to do all they can to mitigate UK government austerity.The public services trade union is calling for a range of financial and industrial policies to create investment in Scottish infrastructure, green energy production andRead more…