“Where there is discord may we bring harmony. Where there is error may we bring truth. Where there is doubt may we bring faith. And where there is despair may we bring hope.” Remember that…Read more…
ILO issues global inequality warning
The warnings and predictions just keep on coming. Following the World Bank statement earlier this year that the rise in Global Inequality is partly due to the decline of trade unions, the…Read more…
John Park’s article on Rebalancing the Economy
Today Unions21 was at Scottish TUC Congress with a standing-room-only fringe event in Ayr entitled: ‘The rebalancing act: How should we tackle inequality?’ . The event was the Scottish launch of…Read more…
How Greek austerity has stoked inequality
A new study, Greece: solidarity and adjustment in times of crisis, shows that the impact of the austerity and structural adjustment policies applied in Greece between 2008 and 2013, since 2010 through loan conditions imposed by the Troika (IMF-European Commission-ECB) have been overwhelmingly borne…Read more…
IMF says unions are key to tackling inequality: Are you listening Osborne?
18 March 2015
By Sabina Dewan and Gregory Randolph
As George Osborne delivers his last budget under this Coalition Government, we wonder if he has paid any attention to a recent report published by…Read more…
Saving Our Safety Net Fact of the Week: life expectancy in the poorest parts of the country is up to 9 years less than in the richest
In this series I’ve mainly concentrated on inequality between individuals and the poverty that affects classes of people, like disabled people or women. But our society is divided geographically too and statistics released last week revealed that the more disadvantaged an area is, the lower the…Read more…
A rising tide may lift all boats, but DWP disability release fails to show decreasing disadvantage
Late last month, the DWP put out a glowing headline: 400 more disabled people in work every day. It is not entirely unwelcome news. It does mean that there has been net growth of more than 141,000 disabled people in some form of employment over the past year. It also means that the DWP is…Read more…
Rising inequality caused by weaker unions
A new study by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has tracked three decades of income (1980 to 2010) and found that as unionisation declined, the wealth of the richest 10% in advanced countries…Read more…
80 Richest Own Same Wealth As Half The World
How on earth did we allow this to happen? Read more…
MP’s confirm poorest areas are worst hit by cuts
Councils in the most deprived areas of England have been hardest hit by cuts to their funding, Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee has said. Austerity cuts have not been applied equally since…Read more…
UK Statistics Authority validates TUC concerns over sloppy figures at HM Treasury
This week, Sir Andrew Dilnot, chair of the UK Statistics Authority, issued a written response to TUC’s concerns about poor data practices at HM Treasury. This was a reply to the formal complaint lodged by TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady last October. We are pleased with the seriousness with…Read more…
Saving Our Safety Net Fact of the Week: the poorest pay 47 per cent of their income in tax (the richest pay 34 per cent)
(Warning: long post.) In his Autumn Statement speech the Chancellor claimed to be a modern day Robin Hood: In fact, the net contribution [to austerity] of the richest 20% will be larger than the remaining 80% put together – proving we are all in this together. This is similar to an argument you…Read more…
A welfare state for corporations not the people
An extensive article and research by Kevin Farnsworth on the Renewal website examines the extent to which UK public policy is skewed in favour of private companies – placing business tax cuts,…Read more…
Tory equality policy is a sick tribute to the memory of Stephen Lawrence | Mark Serwotka
Twenty years on from Lawrence’s murder, government plans to remove a key equality law would roll back years of progress
Our Tory-led government will today mark the 20th anniversary of the racist…Read more…