A campaign to give a big pay boost to workers employed by social enterprise leisure services’ giant Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL) in London and Belfast has been launched by Unite. Unite is…Read more…
London Mayor Sadiq Khan & Newham Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz visit Londoners living in new Council Homes
Picture collage from yesterday’s visit in East Ham with London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Newham Mayor, Rokhsana Fiaz, to new Council owned homes. The large number of TV and other media present showed how housing is now becoming a number one political issue….Read more…
Major strides forward
Last week (February 11), thanks to Unite campaigning, Rolls-Royce took the unprecedented step of adopting the union’s period dignity charter – now, toilets at Rolls-Royce facilities in 50 countries…Read more…
‘No-go zone’
London cabbies have sounded the alarm over gang-related attacks in Lisson Grove, an area in the capital that many taxi drivers have described as a ‘no-go zone’. While Lisson Grove, a main…Read more…
Old ladies tell off kids playing in London council estate 1970s
An age old problem. It hadn’t changed that much when I first started working in Council Housing in the early 1990s in Bethnal Green and still goes on in Newham and elsewhere today.
hat tip “From the Kinolibrary Archive Film collections. To order the c…Read more…
‘Seriously out of line’
Private tenancies are “unaffordable” for the majority of low income families because housing benefit is “so seriously out of line” with renting costs, new research has found. Struggling…Read more…
Win for young people
Unite celebrated a major victory today (June 28) after Tower Hamlets council announced it had reached an agreement with an outsourcing firm that will now pay young people the London Living Wage…Read more…
VIOLENT CRIME: Labour MP Lyn Brown gives a moving speech in parliament
Intelligent and passionate speech by Lyn on the recent violent deaths of 9 young men (and children) in West Ham.
Is it really no coincidence that 65% of Newham children are brought up in poverty while living in one of the richest cities in the world? …Read more…
#TUCNewDeal March & Rally 12 May 2018
A little bit wet at times but a great day yesterday while on the TUC march and rally for public services in Central London. I was delighted that UNISON members, West Ham MP Lyn Brown and Newham Mayor, Rokhsana Fiaz, joined the march as did a number of …Read more…
Wage boost
London bus drivers will shortly see their minimum pay rates increase as a result of policies agreed between Unite and Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London. Unite brokered a deal with Mr Khan last year…Read more…
‘Lost wages’
London living wage (LLW) accredited councils have outsourced work to a leisure services provider that is “short changing” up to a 1,000 young people by not paying them the living wage. A Unite…Read more…
‘Chorus of discontent’
Unite has called ‘curtains’ over poor pay and allegations of bullying of security personnel at London’s prestigious Royal Opera House. Performances at the world-renowned Covent Garden venue,…Read more…
‘Lifeblood of London’
Unite members, bus drivers at Merton bus garage, today (January 17) met Unite general secretary Len McCluskey and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan to celebrate the new ‘Licence for London’…Read more…
Landmark deal
Unite member Neil Muhammad would never have imagined that he would be earning £150 a week less than he did two decades ago for doing the same exact job. And this figure doesn’t take into…Read more…
London Brexit impact
Unite has praised the Mayor of London for carrying out the first taxpayer-funded Brexit impact studies, after it was revealed the government had neglected to do so. The research, commissioned…Read more…
“Harry Constable – in his own words”
(I missed the launch of this book about the life of Harry at the Vic Turner remembrance event last month. While I never met Harry, I have more than a soft spot for the genuine working class trade union activists I have met with over the years and I sus…Read more…
‘Dirty loos’ strike
Six schools in Hackney will be left dirty and with rubbish piling up as cleaners gear up for five days of strike action in a dispute over the ‘outrageous’ failure to pay proper holiday rates. …Read more…
A Christmas Story, East London, 2017 (In one of the richest countries in the World)
I have just donated £50 to the Magpie Project in Forest Gate in lieu of xmas cards to friends and colleagues.
“Welcome to the Magpie Project
We can’t solve the housing crisis, but we believe in making children’s lives better during their time in temporary accommodation.
We provide practical…Read more…
What happens if public service workers can’t afford to live near their work?
The cost of housing in London and the impact on public services
The article What happens if public service workers can’t afford to live near their work? first appeared on the UNISON National site.Read more…
Blog: For public service workers, London’s housing situation is bleak
The housing crisis is one of the greatest problems – and challenges – that our country faces. For too long, not enough homes have been built. As a result, house prices in many parts of the country…Read more…