Communication Workers' Union branch backs independence
The CWU Scotland No 2 Branch has voted to back a yes vote in the independence referendum next year. The union, which covers postal workers in the Stirling, Edinburgh, Fife…
Fighting for the Public University
Luke Martell Jérémie Bédard-Wien from the Quebec students’ union CLASSE has been on tour in England, telling his story about the movement at home against fees and for public education.…
Are the strikes in South Africa good for platinum producers?
As the dispute continues in Marikana, and appears, if anything, to be spreading to both other platinum mines and to more and more workers at Lonmin, perhaps it's worth taking…
Driving people to self-immolation: pour encourager les autres
Yes, it has come to this – an unemployed man in Birmingham has set fire to himself outside a job centre. The exact context of his self-immolation is not yet…
Scott Walker vs Ed Miliband – lessons from Wisconsin
The analogy is obvious. I suppose it isn't surprising: when an official opposition is visionless, it is the grassroots who lead. But when it comes to elections, it is still…
Dave Prentis: A Credible Union Leader?
A few days ago, I was disappointed to hear that Dave Prentis, the general secretary of Unison – my trade union – has been appointed as a non-executive director of…
UCU votes to suspend action over pensions.
Yesterday the Universities and Colleges Union (UCU) held a special conference to determine where we go next in our pensions dispute. For those who haven't been following the intricacies of…
Dick of the Year – Scott Walker
It took me a while to think of who to nominate for 2011's Dick of the Year award; there have been a lot of good candidates: Jeremy Clarkson, David Starkey,…
Don’t give up the pensions fight
Today Unison signed a heads of agreement with the government over changes to NHS pensions. The agreement still needs approval from Unison's health committee (and potentially the membership directly) and…
Which Side Are You On
In two weeks time the UK will see the biggest coordinated day of strike action in decades; as many as 26 different unions representing everyone from chiropodists to teachers to…