Last week in Paris, the four-yearly Comgress of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) adopted unanimously an emergency resolution from the TUC about the British government’s EU…Read more…
Relief for truck drivers?
It can be tough to spend a penny in an era of government cuts which have brought about the closure of so many public toilets. Toilet breaks are no laughing matter; rather they are a basic…Read more…
Join us in Manchester
On Sunday, it will be just five weeks to the TUC’s demonstration in Manchester marking the opening of the Tory party conference
The article Join us in Manchester first appeared on the UNISON site.Read more…
Academics condemn government’s attack on trade unions as ‘perverse’
Unions not too powerful – they’re too weak, say industrial relations academics
The article Academics condemn government’s attack on trade unions as ‘perverse’ first appeared on the…Read more…
Thailand needs to stop the harassment of workers’ rights advocates
The British-born worker and migrant rights defender Andy Hall is due back in court on Monday 24 August, facing criminal defamation charges for exposing the truth about exploitation of migrant Burmese…Read more…
Defeat the Trade Union Bill – STUC public meeting in Glasgow Tue 26 Aug
The Scottish TUC has called a public meeting to mobilise opposition to the vindictive Tory Trade Union Bill. Renfied St Stephen’s Centre, Bath Street, Glasgow on Tuesday 26 August from 6.30pm – 9pm.
Chair: Helen Connor, STUC Vice-President & EIS Speakers:
Jackson Cullinane, Political Officer, Unite the Union Scotland Lillian Macer, Convenor , Unison Scotland Mark Serwotka, General SecretaryRead more…
Taking the fight for workers’ European rights to top bosses
Prime Minister David Cameron has revamped his Business Advisory Group, and their first task will be to advise him on his EU renegotiation strategy ahead of the referendum on Britain’s…Read more…
Burnout Britain?
The summer holiday season is in full swing, and working people up and down the country are taking time off to visit friends and family, travel or simply relax. But a new report has revealed…Read more…
‘Bleeding’ us dry
‘Vampire’ Sajid Javid comes from the working class so why is he bleeding us of all our rights? Sajid Javid is the son of a bus driver who sits at the Cabinet table, the proud embodiment of the…Read more…
What will the Tory Trade Union Bill mean for YOU?
Headlines on the new Trade Union Bill and subsequent blog postings have concentrated on the threat to strike action, through the new thresholds on ballots, and on the new laws regarding picketing and…Read more…
Of course I’ll defend the rights Europe has delivered. But we want better, not just more of the same!
David Cameron is touring national capitals around Europe garnering support for his pre-referendum EU renegotiation strategy. And because his strategy seems to be bad news for British workers, he sometimes finds we’ve been there first. Today, for example, I’ll be travelling to Luxembourg…Read more…
Cameron playing with fire on workers’ rights
The TUC has been criticised for crying wolf over the Prime Minister’s plans to use the EU renegotiation phase of the referendum strategy to attack workers’ rights. But today’s media stories suggest we are spot on the money on both working time and temporary agency workers. The…Read more…
Cameron’s EU renegotiation strategy matters to everyone in Europe
Pastor Martin Niemöller’s famous poem about Nazi persecution begins (in its most quoted version): “first they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist”. It eventually ends up “Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak up…Read more…
UAE: one of the terrible ten worst countries for workers’ rights
The United Arab Emirates has made the ITUC’s list of the ten worst countries for workers’ rights abuses, and it’s not hard to see why when you look at the plight of the…Read more…
Swaziland: one of the terrible ten worst countries for workers’ rights
Swaziland makes the top ten worst places for workers because of its repressive regime of intimidation, police violence and imprisonment. Trade unions are also banned and authorities have used…Read more…
Saudi Arabia: one of the terrible ten worst countries for workers’ rights
Saudi Arabia employs a staggering 8.3 million migrants. Migrants make up 90 to 95 per cent of the private sector workforce but are excluded from labour law and endure forced labour akin to slavery….Read more…
Qatar: one of the terrible ten worst countries for workers’ rights
As a Gulf State with its infamous kafala system, Qatar can be a living hell for migrant labourers, excluded from labour law and under a forced labour system akin to a modern slavery. Once in Qatar,…Read more…
Pakistan: one of the terrible ten worst countries for workers’ rights
Pakistani workers face large-scale exclusions from labour law, arrests and violence. Last year protests were held condemning the murder of eight labourers in Balochistan. Earlier this year, trainee…Read more…
Egypt: one of the terrible ten worst countries for workers’ rights
Egypt can be a tough place for workers with its cases of police brutality, mass arrests, abductions and attempted assassinations. In June last year, 500 workers of a national steel company protested…Read more…
China: one of the terrible ten worst countries for workers’ rights (2)
At the ILO conference earlier this month, the International Trade Union Confederation launched its 2015 Global Rights Index, detailing the ten worst countries for workers’ rights abuses in the…Read more…