Over the last year, the TUC has highlighted just how many of the workplace rights most of us take for granted come from Europe and how these rights could be at risk as we prepare to leave the EU. The government has sought to allay these concerns by promising the Repeal Bill would protect workers’…
The latest employment figures show that the labour market recovery hasn’t reversed, but the story of the last six months hasn’t changed much either: little improvement and some worrying signs of weakness. The latest figures, for August to October, show the employment level down 6,000 and the employment rate down 0.1 points to 74.4, though…
it’s about time many are still missing out and structural changes mean for many others work has become a much harsher ordeal there is room to do much better, but this is not permitted by government spending cuts the weakening of the economy remains a threat My post on today’s figures is on Left…
The story in the labour market has switched: headcount figures are weaker, with the first rise on the quarterly measure for nearly four years, but earnings figures are stronger. My take on this week’s statistics was on Left Foot Forward.
There was a lot of press at the weekend on the general theme that ‘money buys happiness’, prompted by the ONS well-being analysis issued on Friday. But thinking more about the results that were covered briefly here on Friday, these headlines might draw the wrong conclusion. There is a very strong association between unhappiness (rather, lower…
George Osborne clearly intends to put a brake on community-led solar power schemes just at the point when they are cutting carbon, reducing green energy costs, creating jobs and winning public support. Unfortunately, his Treasury-led, austerity-led plan to change the rules for community-led solar power schemes is fronted by a much peddled untruth about the…
Is the government about to take a series of high carbon decisions that will replace renewables with fossil fuels? Decisions are imminent on Cuadrilla’s fracking appeal, launched today, and Heathrow’s third runway. Meanwhile, the Chancellor is unceremoniously dumping green policies, while assuring Helen Goodman MP on the Treasury Select Committee that he would honour the…
The TUC is no fan of the revised Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) process that EU Trade Commissioner Malmstrom has persuaded the European Parliament to back in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal between the EU and US currently being negotiated. Claims that this new ISDS-lite isn’t ISDS at all are clearly nonsense, and…
Three times today at the CCSA’s annual reception the Energy Secretary, Amber Rudd, was pressed to clarify the extent of government support for carbon capture & storage (CCS). Can the supply chain bank on two CCS projects and look forward to further CCS projects? “You are asking for more certainty than I can give you…
The TUC backs campaigns for green jobs and supports trade union efforts that green the workplace to good effect through energy saving schemes. Unions support investment in energy productivity because official data shows that the average rate of UK commercial energy efficiency has stagnated for seven years, and our most energy intensive industries urgently need…