The Prime Minister has argued that, when it comes to Britain’s relationship with the EU after Brexit, no deal would be better than a bad deal (I’m worried that some Conservative MPs actually think no deal would be better than a good deal, too!) It is frequently argued that holding out…Read more…
Stopping the Government tinkering with workers’ rights
We’ve welcomed the Prime Minister’s promise to protect and enhance the rights of working people that the EU has underpinned over the last forty years, but we’ve stressed the need for a cast-iron mechanism to guarantee those rights aren’t watered down, and ensure the rights…Read more…
#Right2Remain gains wider support: so what’s the problem?
On Sunday morning, the House of Commons Select Committee on Exiting the European Union (the ‘Brexit Committee’ chaired by Hilary Benn MP) released a report urging the government to unilaterally grant the right to remain to EU citizens living and working in the UK. The cross-party group…Read more…
Free trade: what would it take to get union backing?
Today I was asked to give a speech at the Foreign Office by Liam Fox, Secretary of State for International Trade, about free trade. This is an edited version of my remarks. The debate over free trade is a timely one, given that those who advocate prote…Read more…
Brexit priorities: rights, living standards and jobs
Brexit is the defining issue of British politics. Our over-riding concern is to ensure that working people don’t pay the price for Brexit, and we are making progress. But there is a lot more to do to protect people’s rights at work, and we also need to tackle the impact on living…Read more…
Blog: Heart Unions, Heart Palestinian workers rights
I am proud that UNISON supported WAC-MAAN to organise Palestinian workers in the illegal Israeli industrial zones, and we stood with them in their fight for justice for Hatem and the workers at the…Read more…
European Parliament vote for CETA brings the battle for fair trade deals home
Today the European Parliament voted 458 in favour of the EU-Canada deal known as CETA with 254 votes against. This means that about 90% of the deal comes into force and paves the way for the deal to be sent to the UK parliament for approval. If the UK parliament agrees to CETA we will…
The…Read more…
UNISON prepares for a campaigning year
First NEC of 2017 covers campaigning to defend the NHS, anti-Trump protests, industrial action and preparations for national delegate conference
The article UNISON prepares for a campaigning year…Read more…
What does Brexit mean now? (According to the White Paper)
Last Thursday, the Government published its hastily promised and delivered white paper on exiting the European Union. The United Kingdom’s exit from and new partnership with the European Union was longer than many expected, but did not really add much to what the Prime Minister said in her…Read more…
Dark satanic mills: Lobbyists fight against EU’s workplace cancer protection
If you were told that more than 100,000 premature deaths in Europe each year could be prevented with a few policy changes, wouldn’t you think it was about time? Unfortunately not everyone agrees: this is the story of how industry is ducking its responsibility to protect workers from cancer-causing…Read more…
Overseas aid: definitely more about the politics than the money
I was discussing our local MP, Grant Shapps, with a neighbour on the train last week. What was he up to, we wondered, or rather, where had he disappeared to? Sadly, the question was answered in this morning’s Sunday Times (£) where he wrote a moving self-criticism of his failure as a Minister…Read more…
Together across borders
Workers Uniting — the global union formed by the United Steelworkers (USW) in North America and Unite the Union in the U.K. and Ireland, representing more than 2m workers in Canada, Ireland, the…Read more…
Mrs May goes to Washington. Here’s what unions want to hear
Later today, Prime Minister Theresa May will meet with US President Donald Trump in the White House. Ahead of their meeting, the leaders of the UK and US trade union movements, Frances O’Grady from the TUC and Richard Trumka of the AFLCIO, have issued a joint statement setting out what…Read more…
Brexit is too important to be left to Westminster
The UK Supreme Court judgement has finally clarified the key role of parliament in triggering Article 50. That judgement reinforced the centrality of elected politicians to decisions that will shape the future of the UK, as opposed to the Prime Ministe…Read more…
Tackling fraudulent & abusive recruitment: ILO signs new anti-slavery pledge with UK
This afternoon I was at the Home Office to witness the signing of a ‘letter of intent’ between the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) about collaboration in the fight against fraudulent and abusive recruitment practices, forced…Read more…
Putting working people first in the Brexit plans: we’re ready to talk
It’s a bit of a risk, writing a blog about where we are in the Brexit negotiations saga. Events often move with astonishing speed: so on top of last week’s Lancaster House speech by the Prime Minister, this week has already seen the Supreme Court’s decision on whether Parliament…Read more…
May’s Brexit: working people need more detail about what PM has planned for their rights
The Prime Minister’s speech on Brexit today has raised more questions than it has answered, and in particular, the TUC wants to know what exactly the Government has planned for working people before Parliament votes on the EU-UK deal she intends to negotiate. Her commitment to protect…Read more…
Tackling precarious work & addressing migration concerns
Last week I spoke at a conference organised by the TUC and Exeter University on ‘Confronting change: Globalization, Migration and Precarious Labour in the Age of Brexit.’ This is a summary of my speech. As conditions have become more insecure for workers since 2006 – a recent TUC report showed 1 in…Read more…
Hammond reveals a stark choice: single market or deregulated tax-haven
While Prime Minister May was engaged in a second weekend of mixed messages about whether she will advocate a hard or soft Brexit, her Chancellor was telling German newspaper Welt am Sonntag that if we don’t get to keep full access to the single market, Britain will indeed be likely to become…Read more…
Working people will judge the PM’s Brexit strategy on whether it protects jobs and rights
After hearing for months that Brexit means Brexit, we may be about to hear what it actually means. As Theresa May gives her big speech to diplomats at Lancaster House on Tuesday, on how she intends to negotiate our exit from the EU, working people will be watching to see if her strategy will do…Read more…