After Banning Letting Fees, Where Next for Housing?
Banning letting fees is going to lift a heavy burden from private tenants. But we’re going to have to be more imaginative and radical to tackle the root causes of…
What’s It Like to Work for Argos at Christmas?
I spoke to Steve Stockwell, a retail distribution worker at Argos and Unite the Union rep, about the challenges of working in retail distribution at Christmas, the problems of agency…
The myth of the end of workplace racism
On the same day that research from the House of Commons Library reveals that there has been a 49% increase in the long term unemployed since 2010 among young people…
Brexit: Three Things To Look Out For Before Christmas
It’s been 18 months since the EU referendum, and we’re still waking up to breaking news on every aspect of Brexit legislation and negotiations. It’s easy to get lost in…
The key to reducing inequality? Stronger trade unions
Inequality is rapidly rising up the political agenda right across the West. Thanks to Thomas Piketty, but no doubt also to a long recession which has seen a sharp fall…
Why Manufacturing Matters
Manufacturing is crucial to our success yet it is facing a cliff-edge collapse. Steve Turner, Unite the Union’s assistant general secretary, explains why his union is launching an industrial strategy…
What Should We Make of 2025?
As the year draws to a close, we asked Ann Pettifor, Maya Goodfellow and Manual Cortes for their political highs and lows of 2025. Ann Pettifor, Director at Policy Research…
Women in the Workplace: Thoughts for International Women’s Day
The TUC Women’s Conference, the democratic voice of women at work, is convening this International Women’s Day at Congress House to discuss the issues of low pay, pay restraint and…
Turning employees into ‘owners’? The falsest promise yet
This article was first published by the Institute of Employment Rights on 12 October 2024. Three employment law experts look into the “deeply worrying” shares-for-rights trade off proposed by George…
Low-paid workers – worse off next year and even worse off in 2020
One image from the TV coverage of George Osborne’s July Budget sticks in my mind. It hasn’t got anything to do with the Chancellor’s smirk as he announced the “National…
Labour Market Realities: Young Workers
For young workers, poor quality employment is the new normal. They increasingly move from zero-hour contract to zero-hour contract, agency job to agency job. In this world, pay tends to…