Just back from Singapore and Hong Kong. Much that’s strange to report (I’d never been to Asia before), but on a union-geek tip, I found this quite amusing: two official attempts to promote good workplace health & safety. Singapore’s government might politely be described as ‘paternalistic’, so they don’t have the hang-ups about mounting an …
Off to debate union blogging (amongst plenty of other stuff) with UNI‘s Communicators’ Forum in their Asia Pacific region next week, so I’m sort of practicing what I preach and have made them a nice group live-blog for everyone who will be attending the conference (www.unicommunicators.org). If you’re interested in what UNI-affiliated unions from other …
Congratulations to the drivers (though not the management by the sounds of it) of Eddie Stobart’s haulage firm. The Edinburgh Evening news reports that they refused extra payments of £500 each for a special assignment, when they found out that it was to strike-break against the UNITE-T&G distribution members at Tesco in Livingstone, Scotland. UNITE-T&G’s …
Thanks to Roger for pointing out this piece in the Graun today about Alan Johnson’s political twitterering. I can see the attraction of microblogging for putting your worthiness about, without the efforts of writing a full-on short-term leadership blog. As Alan’s e-Campaigner Stuart Bruce says: “Being secretary of state for education and employment is a …
I noticed last week that the Sun were promoting an online 81st birthday card for the Queen, which they are extolling their readership to sign up to, and adorn with symbols of Britishness. The idea is to give the old dear a record breaking birthday greeting. I had a go, but unfortunately found I could …
Andy Stern Free Press, 224 pages America seems like a worrying place to be a leftie, and SEIU President Andy Stern lays out a formidable list of obstacles to progressive politics in this book. Global forces have changed the American economy to the point where the American dream that hard work can be valued and …
A gift-horse “unions in political correctness gone mad” story for the tabloids today. Call centre staff will now no longer be obliged to issue a greeting in Welsh when they answer the phone for Vale of Glamorgan Council. Call me a linguo-fascist, but I think the CWU have a point here – though not just …
First outing for the Unite banners at the London May Day march – something tells me we’re going to be seeing a lot of these 😉
Sneak preview – Ooh! Isn’t that pretty? Very modern, but with the fluttering red flag / flames of protest merged in there too. Simple enough to resize small on the web or blow up large on a banner – only weakness might be small on black like it is in this snap. The branding consultants …
A crucial factor in many Asylum seekers’Â cases in this country is whether they declared that they were seeking asylum ‘on entry’ or ‘in country’. Not declaring at passport control when you arrive in the UK can have a serious effect on your chances of gaining refugee status. Unsurprisingly though, people often have problems getting …