A few weeks ago, Jon Cruddas appeared on Newsnight to float a number of policy ideas mostly related to the future of the Welfare State. On the whole there was little to give comfort to the millions of people suffering from brutal Tory austerity – the take home line was “foodbanks are here to stay”. [...]
Posts under ‘Employment’
Grillonomics: the ideas behind the Italy’s no.1 political party
Feb 26th, 2013 by Tom Gill.Beppe Grillo and his Five Star Movement have emerged as the single largest party in Italy’s elections held 24-25 February. But what do we know of his policies? Here’s a recent analysis by economist Vladimiro Giacché which originally appeared in Italian at MicroMega. In dealing with the economic programme of the Five Star Movement we should [...]
Britain’s output per (available) worker is back to 2003 levels
Feb 23rd, 2013 by Jeremy Smith.This week, we have learnt from the Office for National Statistics that 2.5 million were still unemployed in the last quarter of 2012. The UK economy is failing to use the skills and resources of our people to best effect in the common interest. This is to a large extent because the government’s economic policies [...]
First anniversary of GMB strike action against Carillion
Feb 14th, 2013 by Andy Newman.Today is the anniversary of the first of 22 days of strike action by GMB members at the Great Western Hospital (GWH) in Swindon, one of the earliest Private Finance Initiative (PFI) build and operate hospitals, and only the second opened by Carillion. This long running industrial dispute between the union and Carillion, over the [...]
Blacklisting: out of the darkness, cometh the light
Feb 9th, 2013 by John Millington.The classic saying from philosopher Karl Marx: “Workers have nothing to lose, except their chains” perhaps applies to blacklisted workers more than any other. Thursday night saw an act of civil-disobedience in the pouring rain where blacklisted workers stopped traffic in the Oxford Circus area of London for nearly 2 hours. The spectacle caused further [...]
The Work Programme: still worse than useless
Jan 24th, 2013 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.The Work Programme is useless. Don’t take my word for it, this was the opinion of the Daily Telegraph back in November. Their piece observed that according to the government’s own calculation, around five per cent of long-term unemployed people (i.e. those out of work for over a year) would be able to find work if [...]
The death of the High Street
Jan 18th, 2013 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.To lose one household name during a period of supposed economic recovery is unfortunate, but to lose three is careless. With the collapse of Jessops, HMV, and Blockbuster approximately 10,000 people face a very uncertain future. So what’s going on? If you read the BBC’s reporting, it’s all just a case of bad management and outmoded business [...]
My speech on ATOS Work Capability Assessments
Jan 17th, 2013 by Michael Meacher.I beg to move that this House has considered the matter of Atos work capability assessments. I warmly thank the Backbench Business Committee for enabling me and cross-party colleagues to introduce this debate on Atos work capability assessments. There is enormous concern about the issue both in the country and in this House, as witnessed [...]
Why we should be bothered about long-term funemployment
Dec 4th, 2012 by Lucy Reese.It’s not often that I thank my lucky stars that I’m middle aged, but when I read articles like this, I’m glad I’m 42 not 22. This article is one of many I’ve seen recently bemoaning the lot of young people, desperate for jobs in ‘cool’ industries like media or politics, who end up working [...]
Labour must reject austerity at the Autumn Statement
Nov 27th, 2012 by Ben Folley.Ahead of next week’s Autumn Statement by George Osborne, the OECD reports today that the Chancellors ‘deep fiscal consolidation continues to drag down growth’ and that ‘unemployment is expected to rise slightly in 2013’. At the same time the report is supportive of the ongoing austerity policy, specifically backing the increase in the pension age and [...]
