This is one day in my life as a Newham Council Cabinet member, which was particularly busy but pretty much reflects what all Newham Cabinet members experience on a regular basis. Compared to the Mayor’s normal diary, it was probably a walk in the park….Read more…
New UNISON Convenor to Clarion Housing Group: Joseph Ogundemuren
Passing on the baton as the new UNISON Convenor of Clarion Housing Group to Joseph Ogundemuren (middle of picture) following a unanimous decision at meeting of activists last month.
Joseph is a proactive and experienced UNISON steward, member of the L…Read more…
World Mental Health Day 2018
A campaigning day for equality and dignity but also some good advice from UNISON “you don’t need to suffer in silence”
Read more…
My UNISON NEC Report to Community Service Group Executive October 2018
“Dear Members
Firstly, my apologies for not attending the last SGE meeting and for submitting this written report late but you may be aware that in May I was appointed to a new position which has proved to be an exciting opportunity but also challengin…Read more…
TUC Congress 2018: Tuesday Day 3
Still catching up on posts about last week’s TUC Congress. After a “late night” on the Monday following the UNISON TUC delegation social (and aftermath) I was in Congress for the 9.30am start on the Tuesday but a little slow on “twitter” for some reaso…Read more…
TUC Congress 2018: Day 2
A somewhat random selection based on my tweets from Monday.
Frances O’Grady TUC leader in her speech to Congress calls for a 4 day working week for 21st Century. Just as in 19th century the TUC successfully campaigned 8 hour day & in 20th-century …Read more…
TUC Congress 2018: Celebrating 150 years
I am at the TUC Congress in Manchester as part of the UNISON delegation which started at 4pm
today. This is the 150th anniversary of the 1st ever Congress which was also held in Manchester which is why we are back to celebrate. Then only 34 dele…Read more…
Home ownership now little more than a pipe dream for public sector workers
Owning a home has become virtually impossible for many public sector workers across Britain, according to research published today (Sunday)
The article Home ownership now little more than a pipe…Read more…
NEC Celebrating 25 years in UNISON: NDC 2018
Picture of the UNISON National Executive Council at this year’s National Delegate Conference. All of us (including the General Secretary) are elected via secret ballot by rank and file UNISON members from all parts of the union.
We are wearing g…Read more…
Strike over Staffordshire University cheating low paid workers out of a decent pension
Good luck to UNISON members in Staffordshire University striking again tomorrow to save their pensions.
The University is planning to get rid of its existing pension scheme for its low paid workers and replace with a rubbish scheme that will mean they…Read more…
“Why Labour must adopt the full IHRA definition of anti-Semitism”
I agree with UNISON General Secretary, Dave Prentis, in this article published yesterday in the NewStatesman where he calls for the Labour Party to adopt the “full IHRA definition of anti-Semitism including all the examples”
As an experience…Read more…
Community Wealth Building Seminar for Labour Councillors 21 July 2018
This well attended seminar sponsored by APSE was excellent. Held in the UNISON centre (HQ) in Euston Road, London.
Speakers Paul O’Brien and Mo Baines, APSE; Neil McInroy CLES, Cllr Matthew Brown, Leader of Preston City Council and Cllr Asima S…Read more…
July 19th – Pension Board, LAPFF AGM, UNISON HAB, West Ham Labour GC (Sarah Jones MP Shadow Minister Housing)
Belated report on a busy Labour movement day last Thursday 19 July.
I started the day with a quarterly meeting of the London Borough Tower Hamlets Pension Board as an UNISON appointed representative.
The £billion plus fund is doing well and we are pl…Read more…
“Labour councils working with Trade Unions”
This is good news agreement for the Labour movement family. We should never forget that one of the reasons why the Labour Party was ever able to win power in the first place was that they were able to prove that they were on the side of the worke…Read more…
“Sleep-in shifts judgment is a huge mistake”
This judgement is bad news for hundreds of thousands of low paid care workers (including my
niece).
Being paid not even the national minimum wage for work is simply a disgrace. I hope UNISON lawyers can find a way forward on this.
If not we need to …Read more…
Report of Branch Delegates to Local Government Conference Brighton June 2018
The branch recently sent a delegation to the Local Government Conference in Brighton 18-19 June 2018. A comprehensive report with outstanding drawings has been produced by one of our delegates, Duncan Bourne. Well worth a read…… Conference Delega…Read more…
Local Government Association Conference 2018
This post is a little late but some thoughts from a first time delegate to the annual Local Government Association Conference in Birmingham. I arrived late due to attending Newham Cabinet meeting. My Newham Cabinet colleague, Terry Paul, was ther…Read more…
Glorious: UNISON turns 25
An excellent video that was played for the first time at UNISON Conference. We need to get this message out to the millions of workers who don’t understand what trade unions are about.Read more…
#UNDC18 UNISON NDC Wednesday fringes
Pictures from Conference floor; 25th Anniversary of UNISON celebration with my branch delegates two important fringes on Pensions and Housing. Read more…
Tax cut for rich means billions lost to Exchequer
Cutting income tax for people earning more than £1m per year has deprived the Exchequer of more than £11.1bn over the past sixyears, according to new analysis by UNISON published today (Sunday). The…Read more…