We will win, Benn tells 15,000 in Glasgow

Tony Benn told 15,000 'People First' marchers in Glasgow today that 'we will win' in the fight against cuts. UNISON Scottish Secretary Mike Kirby, this year's STUC President, praised the trade unions, community groups, faith groups and wider public who had braved the torrential rain to get their message across. "You are the real big Society", he told them. UNISON members turned out in their thousands, supported by Eleanor Smith, UNISON President. http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/publicworks/1oct.html

12 week qualifying period undermines new Agency Workers Rights

Today new regulations come into force giving agency workers no less favourable treatment in pay, holidays and working time. In other EU member states equal rights for agency workers apply from day one. However in Britain the TUC conceded a 12 week qualifying period to overcome the resistance of big business and the (then) Labour Government to the Directive. The Mirror examines the loopholes which this concession will create: http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2011/09/new-law-on-equal-pay-for-temps.html

Pleasures by Bertolt Brecht

The first view from the window in the morning
The old book found again
Enthusiastic faces
Snow, the turning of the seasons
The newspaper
The dog
The dialectics
To shower, to swim
Old music
Comfortable shoes
To grasp
New music
To write, to plant
To travel
To sing
To be friendly.

www.kirjasto.sci.fi/brecht.htm

Work till you drop – a cause for celebration?

Tomorrow marks the end of the UK's default retirement age (DRA) and the TUC welcomes the scrapping of what it regards as an ‘unfair anachronism in modern workplaces’ – but in a country with over 2.5m unemployed, the longest working hours in Europe as well as (post-Hutton) pension benefits linked to a rising state pension age –is this really social progress? http://www.tuc.org.uk/workplace/tuc-20099-f0.cfm

Robin Hood tax - Unintended Consequences?

The European Commission yesterday agreed to consider a proposal to introduce a tax on financial transactions to raise money to pay back government debt and improve the functioning of markets. A so called ‘Robin Hood’ tax on financial transactions will hit pensions funds and Undertakings for Collective Investments in Transferable Securities (UCITS) funds hard, the Investment Management Association (IMA) has warned.  http://www.ifaonline.co.uk/ifaonline/news/2112815/eu-robin-hood-tax-hit-pension-funds-ima

The Pump House Manifesto for a Visionary Alternative

The despair at the lack of Labour’s vision for a progressive agenda led (unapologetically) to the pub – the Pump House in fact at Liverpool Albert Docks. Sitting with a couple of good comrades we decided that if Ed the Moribund couldn’t commit to change then we would start the ball rolling. Accepting that this is not about a revolution tomorrow (the nearest we got to that was scribbling this on a copy of the Morning Star) it is an attempt to talk in language voters will get.

Health & Social Care Bill remains a one way street to privatisation

UNISON NEC member James Anthony told Labour Party Conference that, despite cosmetic changes, “the predators that Ed spoke of in his speech are circling the NHS ready to use Any Willing Provider and competition law to force even well intentioned local commissioners to privatise services. And they are removing the private patient income cap. As Tory austerity bites, waiting lists are growing, and now those that can pay will be allowed to jump the queue.” http://www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/pressrelease_view.asp?id=2458

Nurses Protest at NHS Mental Health Cuts

Nurses, Therapists and Doctors employed at South West London & St George's Mental Health NHS Trust will be involved in a UNISON organised lunchtime protest at Springfield Hospital, South London today to draw attention to massive cuts in NHS mental health services. The protest is timed to coincide with the Trust Board's AGM.

Unions have vision for jobs, growth and prosperity

A couple of days at the Labour Party Conference proved to be frustrating. The spectacle of a Labour leadership so cowed by the Tory attacks in the right wing media that they failed to provide any articulation of what they were really about.

Labour delegates hear about advances in Cuba & Venezuela

At a packed conference fringe tonight in Liverpool a glittering array of speakers talked of the importance of fighting for social justice, solidarity and internationalism. The effect of dragging people out of poverty can never be diminished as long as it is understood and supported by the will of the people, as has been so clearly demonstrated by Cuba and Venezuela.