Today, the second reading debate for the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill 2016-17 begins. Or in shorthand, MPs will finally start debating Article 50, or the start of the Brexit negotiations. It has taken a long time to get something substantive debated – something more than just opinions – so we want something concrete about working people’s rights.…
This week the Government has made a great deal of its proposals on skills in the Industrial Strategy Green Paper. A BEIS press release came out last weekend entitled Technical education at heart of modern industrial strategy and this echoed the longstanding refrain that the UK has world class universities, but by comparison “technical education for school…
MPs from the cross-party Exiting the EU Select Committee today heard evidence on how Brexit could affect the world of work, from the TUC’s Frances O’Grady, CBI’s Carolyn Fairbairn and former BCC Director turned Brexit campaigner, John Longworth. We’ve heard a lot of promises in recent months from the PM and minsters that our employment rights…
We’re looking forward to the Prime Ministers speech this morning to the CBI, and any detail on the pledge she made in her conference speech to build ‘a country that works for everyone’. Theresa May’s signature policy to date has been her plan to include workers on company boards. In her pitch to become Tory…
As someone working in digital services in trade unions, the legal ban on using online voting for union statutory ballots has always wound me up. So I’m very pleased at the news that the government are finally starting their promised independent review into online voting for unions. Sir Ken Knight, the government’s former Chief Fire…
Last Friday, I reiterated our key demand of the Government over Brexit: workers must not pay the price for the decision to leave. TUC opinion polling after the referendum showed that whatever people voted for on 23 June, it wasn’t to lose precious rights at work. The TUC and unions – as well as progressive politicians and commentators – have been…
Theresa May became Prime Minister promising ‘a country that works for everyone’. She committed to fight the ‘burning injustice of inequality’, to support those who are ‘just managing’ but find life hard and to prioritise ‘ordinary working class families’ over the wealthy few. As Parliament returns from the summer recess the Women’s Budget Group launches…
This week, Theresa May ruled out giving Parliament a vote before Article 50 is triggered. She’s explained her position in terms of respecting the will of the people as expressed in June’s referendum – and the TUC accepts that decision too. But we are still disappointed at her decision – in the name of a…
I’ve joined a panel set up today by centre-left think tank British Future to look at one of the knottiest problems caused by the Brexit vote in June – what to do when we leave about the EU citizens who are already living and working in the UK? The TUC and CBI have jointly called…
The TUC is only one of many groups in Britain calling for citizens of other EU countries currently living and working in the UK to be given the right to remain when we leave the European Union. Others who support the position include the CBI, IOD, organisations like British Future, and politicians from Leave to…