Mark Carney’s speech to the TUC Congress yesterday was interesting, and it was right for the unions to invite him. As major civil society institutions with mass membership, the trade unions can and should seek to influence the parameters of democratic debate unmediated by political parties, alongside of course the different strategies for engagement through […]
Posts under ‘Rights at Work’
TUC: Chuka Umunna’s pro-worker, pro-business agenda means business as usual
Sep 10th, 2014 by John Millington.Have you heard the news? Workers and bosses have the same interests. That’s right. The biggest and most significant social divide in capitalist Britain today, the key battleground between those who produce the wealth and those who own it is apparently no longer an issue. According Labour leading light Chuka Umunna, Labour’s shadow business secretary, […]
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Qatar: Concern grows for missing human rights investigators
Sep 4th, 2014 by John Millington.Two British human rights campaigners, investigating the treatment of migrant workers in Qatar have gone missing. Ghimire Gundev and Krishna Upadhyaya were last seen on Sunday when they sent panicked texts to colleagues saying they were being followed by police. Speaking to ITV News, the Norwegian charity employing the men said it had yet to receive […]
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The SNP vision of a deregulated Scotland is reason enough to vote No
Aug 26th, 2014 by Richard Leonard.Vision is essential in politics. It illuminates the possibility that things could be different, better and inspires people to not just believe in change, but to be driven to do something about it. That’s why it will play a big part in determining the outcome of next month’s referendum on the question of a separate […]
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TTIP could privatise our education system, permanently
Jul 28th, 2014 by James Elliott.Over the last year the student movement has seen something of a comeback from the low ebbs of 2012 and early 2013, with new waves of occupations, landmark campaigns such as Occupy Sussex, the inspirational militancy of the 3Cosas cleaners, and a renewed conflict between students and workers’ right to organise, and the management’s will […]
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What today’s strikes are all about
Jul 10th, 2014 by Andy Newman.While David Cameron bleets about the alleged lack of a mandate for today’s strike, it should be remembered that the turnout in strike ballots would be a lot higher if the current legal requirements were sensibly adapted to allow, for example, workplace balloting, plus internet and phone voting. In any event GMB members voted 3:1 in […]
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94 reasons why French trade unions have boycotted Hollande’s job summit
Jul 10th, 2014 by Tom Gill.François Hollande’s jobs summit is becoming a farce. Unemployment in France has risen to a new high of 3.4 million. The socialist President is desperate to be seen to be doing something about it. But Monday yet another union walked out of the two day ‘social summit’, an unprecedented desertion by organised labour for any administration in Paris, let […]
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The case for a shorter working week
Jul 9th, 2014 by Dave Watson.A shorter working week would to help combat high levels of work-related stress and be good for the economy. While the UK government’s new flexible working plan is a welcome move in the right direction, it will still be too easy for employers to block requests. John Ashton, the President of the UK Faculty of Public Health recently said:
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Industrial democracy? It’s all about trade unions
Jul 7th, 2014 by Jackson Cullinane.According to John Duffy and his co-authors of the Jimmy Reid Foundation report on industrial democracy entitled Working Together, a major plank of the future of industrial relations in Scotland should be based on the adoption of European “models” involving employee forums, works councils and employee seats on company boards. It is a proposition that […]
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Living Wage would lift millions out of poverty
Jun 24th, 2014 by Andy Newman.The Living Wage is a wage rate set to ensure a basic but acceptable standard of living. It is currently set at £8.80 in London and £7.65 across the rest of the UK. Employers can become accredited Living Wage employers via the Living Wage Foundation. At present, five million people in Britain are paid less […]
