The Trade Bill is a Power Grab, and It Must Be Stopped Fast
Our constitution is being rewritten, under the rubric of carrying out the ‘will of the people’, by a government which wants to keep as much power as possible to itself.…
The Facts: Housing
Access to affordable and good quality housing should be a right, not a luxury. But right now, the UK housing market is failing young people, low and medium earners, and…
How the Conservatives are ‘strengthening’ child poverty measures in the UK
On 1 July the Government announced that it was going to ‘strengthen’ the child poverty measure. From the statement by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan…
Premier Inn Exposé Highlights Need for Unions
This week, Channel 4 show Dispatches revealed the shocking conditions that housekeepers working at a London Premier Inn must put up with. Housekeepers, employed via contract cleaning agency ISS, are…
Labour Market Realities: Racism in the Workplace
Today’s labour market figures leave the headline story the same – the UK has historically high employment rates. However, as we’ve discovered month after month, this figure hides the worrying…
On public sector pay, we need less talk of gold-plated pensions and more talk of unions
Today the ONS published a carefully caveated report into pay in the public and private sectors. It contains a wealth of interesting data for stats nerds, and no shortage of…
Gender Equality Must Be at the Heart of the Budget
Today is International Women’s Day, and across the globe people will be celebrating women’s achievements. However, unlike International Women’s Days that have come before, today is also the day of…
Trade unions are central to improving productivity
The latest UK productivity figures may have reported a welcome rise, but they do not detract from the urgency of addressing the longer-term story of poor productivity, and ensuring that…
Stop Pension Cuts – Or Face Strikes Like UK Universities Have Never Seen Before
At a time when the higher education sector awaits a review of university funding and vice chancellors’ pay is never out of the headlines, drastic changes are also being proposed…
Fair pay in higher education – why I went on strike today
Today I sacrificed a day’s pay to stand on a picket line in the rain as part of an on-going dispute over pay between the University and Colleges Union (alongside…
The government needs to take the growth of payday lenders more seriously
This blog first appeared on Left Foot Forward on 12 July 2024 Payday lending has historically been referred to as fringe banking in the United States, but you couldn’t deny…