Research by the Financial Times shows the extent to which local authorities are struggling to cope with the cuts in funding associated with the coalition government’s ‘austerity’ measures. The FT reported that vital services to 150,000 pensioners have been withdrawn whilst child…Read more…
The truth must out
Two years into the coalition government’s austerity programme in 2012, routine figures released by the department of work and pensions revealed a shocking phenomenon – in just one year (2011) more…Read more…
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…
War on the poor
The Tories smash and grab raid on tax credits, benefits and the unemployed who are sick and disabled has been cheered on by its supporters. Families in desperate need of financial support to keep…Read more…
Scotland after socialism?
Beneath the EU’s affront to democracy in Greece there is still the debate about whether Syriza reflects a shift to the left or whether it is just a singular reaction to a single issue…Read more…
Common priorities for Europe in Britain & Ireland
Yesterday I had the honour of addressing the Congress of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), and a large part of my speech focused on the challenges facing the European Union. Including, of…Read more…
We won’t let them destroy us
Young members in Unite have condemned yesterday’s Tory Budget following what we believe to be an assault on young people by the Chancellor. George Osbourne has committed to ending university…Read more…
Budget shuts public sector workers out of the recovery, says UNISON
Wednesday 8 July 2015
UNISON | Budget shuts public sector workers out of the recovery, says UNISON
Budget shuts public sector workers out of the recovery, says UNISON
Responding to the Chancellor’s Budget Statement today (Wednesday) UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis said:
“Capping
wages at a miserly one per cent for four more years for public sector
workers will hasten theRead more…
Budget ‘will punish millions’
George Osborne’s budget risks taking Britain backwards with further austerity and fails to realise the government’s ambition of boosting productivity, Unite warned today (Wednesday July 8). …Read more…
Hypocrisy of Eurozone leaders, refusing to admit austerity has failed Greece
It’s difficult to write anything about the Greek crisis without it being immediately out of date although the crisis itself, and the suffering of the Greek people, continues unabated. After the stunning 22% “no” majority in Sunday’s Greek referendum (like Britain’s…Read more…
Greece after the referendum
I was pleased to be able to sponsor and speak at the Greece Solidarity Campaign/Jubilee Debt Campaign rally in solidarity with Greece at Congress House last night. Here’s what I said: Greece is…Read more…
Greece votes for democracy
Yesterday’s referendum in Greece on the terms of the bailout offered by the European Union offered a decisive answer to those seeking to continue with the route to austerity. By a margin of 62% to…Read more…
The imbalance of Osborne’s economy
London has shot ahead of other parts of the UK in growth and jobs since 2010 according to new research by the TUC. The London economy accounts for an even greater chunk of the UK economy and jobs…Read more…
Building an economy for all
Tory guru Steve Hilton has had a revelation: low pay causes poverty. From one Steve to another, welcome to the real world. But as your party is about to unveil its first full blue-blooded Tory…Read more…
Tolpuddle in Tuscany: talking Brexit & Grexit
Last night I was sat in a tent for a couple of hours on top of a hill in Tuscany, alongside the current and future Presidents of the European Trade Union Confederation (Ignacio Toxo from…Read more…
The ever widening gap
The gap between low income family budgets and what they need for a decent standard of living is now much wider than before the start of the global recession which followed the 2008 banking collapse….Read more…
Poorest hit hardest by tax
The poorest pay a greater percentage of their income in tax than the richest people in the UK according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics. And by far the biggest drain on the…Read more…
What if I’m not a participant?
On the day the independent living fund ends, Unite Community member Robert Punton tells us how it changed his life – and how it’s demise will affect him. He writes: It is often…Read more…
All roads lead to Manchester on 4 October
Building on last Saturday’s larger than expected anti austerity protests in Glasgow, London and other cities, the TUC is calling a national demonstration in Manchester on Sunday 4 October to coincide…Read more…
Into the Tory abyss
It took the Tory-led coalition which took office in 2010 only three years to push another 500,000 children into absolute poverty, according to new figures released today. And it took them only four…Read more…