63 posts
A striking coincidence for Monday’s EU summit
Monday’s meeting of EU leaders is meant to focus on growth and jobs, which makes it all the more ironic that it will likely be heavily disrupted by a general strike called by Belgian unions on the same day. The …Continue reading: "A striking...
Is it any wonder that the people of Europe hold Eurocrats in contempt
This self serving rubbish is what gets up people's noses.Letter to the College from the Commission Staff.Subject: The new Staff RegulationsWe, the co-workers of the European Commission, are deeply worried by the risk of reducing the dynamic of the Eu...
"What wage policy can and cannot do for EMU" by Andrew Watt
I have a piece out on the OpenDemocracy website – which is running an interesting series entitled ‘Can Europe make it?‘ – on whether wage policy can ‘save monetary...
"The Euro Crisis and the European Trade Union Movement" by Vasco Pedrina
After successfully bailing out banks and adopting a first wave of economic recovery measures, the authorities of the European Union (EU) and its member states began to impose draconian, anti-social...
A crisis of capitalism | Riccardo Bellofiore
The financial problems plaguing Europe and Italy are not home-grown. They are part of a global attack on labourHistory repeats itself, Marx wrote, first as tragedy, then as farce. If you wonder how it might repeat itself the third time, look at...
The EU’s Dysfunctional Adjustment
The euro zone's sticky wages make adjustment to the crisis harder.
"Rebuilding Political Parties – Lessons from Labour" by Peter Hain
I’ve been a member of the Labour Party for over 30 years. I have seen some of the best our Party has to offer – a clear vision for a better, fairer world and a commitment to work hard to...
Some Final Comments from the ETUC in Athens
The newly-elected General Secretary, Bernadette Segol, the first ever woman to hold this position in the history of the ETUC, took the floor this morning with a strong message for delegates. The "Athens Manifesto" adopted by Congress not only pointe...
Labor-Management Relations: Starving Workers as a Childish Tactic
Before the industrialization in the nineteenth century, nothing "intrinsic or permanent separated those who hired from those who hired out" because "many laborers could hope to ear and saven enough to become their own employers." (1) That is to...
The General Strike In France (?)
. Olivier is a white-collar worker and a contact in France who spoke to us about the planned general strike there on Tuesday 12 October. We are in the last moments before the big strike on Tuesday; either we succeed in getting a move toward a general...
Honoring the working class heroes of 9/11
Home > About Us > This Is the AFL-CIO > Executive Council Statements Honoring the Heroes of 9/11 Pittsburgh, Pa. AFL-CIO Executive Council statement Today we meet on the anniversary of September 11, 2001 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,...
News from Ireland 2020: Michael O’Leary led for-profit trades union declares results.
WorkRights, the private for-profit trades union founded by former Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has posted a post-tax profit of €1.2m after its first year of operation. O’Leary, addressing the company’s first AGM, welcomed the profi...
Labour Friends of Italy
I am delighted to hear that two London Labour activists Lazzaro Pietragnoli from my own Camden who was a keen supporter of Labour’s last European campaign, and Susanna Bellino who is one of Labour biggest activists in Kingston have organised a...
The Polish System of Collective Bargaining
The Polish Labour Code (Chapter XI of Act of 26 June 1974) provides legal regulations for collective bargaining in Poland at two levels. The company agreements are negotiated between an employer or one or more regional trade union organisations at co...
NGOs want to boost the growth of fair trade flowers
Campaigners protesting against the inhumane working conditions and long working hours in the flower industry handed out fair trade flowers produced under the Flower Label Program to European Parliamentarians in Brussels, 1 June to urge them to suppor...
David Miliband – EPLP Leader should sit in the Shadow Cabinet
Speaking to the European Parliamentary Labour Party yesterday, David Miliband, frontrunner in Labour’s leadership contest, told Labour MEPs that he believes the EPLP Leader should sit in the Shadow Cabinet team. David wants to bring European...
After the Crisis: Employment Relations for Sustained Recovery and Growth
Strengthening labour relations and workplace innovations are prerequisites for sustained recovery and future growth. Enabling workers and unions to negotiate wage growth in line with enhanced productivity growth requires the dissemination of high-per...
Erkan has his first book published!
Blaming Others This is basically my master thesis. I had finished this just before i flew to Houston to start my PhD. In a more traditional sense this is much more ethnographic than my dissertation. When I have a look after so many years, I am r...
That SWP stunt
Nothing wrong with it in principle, but… …either the SWP stunt today was intended to disrupt the Unite/BA negotiations, or it wasn’t. If it wasn’t, then what exactly was the point? Crucially, did it have the support of any of...
International Workers’ Day
Solidarity and greetings to the workers of the world… …especially those fighting for their rights against brutal regimes: “The basis of this fight which we take up anew in the name of the martyred dead, is the united front of all wo...
An Idea Whose Time Has Come
In 2002 I published an article on a maximum wage in the centre-left theory journal Renewal. The idea of putting a ceiling on what people could earn was left-field, to say the least. It was more a thought experiment than a serious attempt to influence...
Labour isn’t working: it’s plotting
Patricia Hewit and Geoff Hoon should be added to those on the list accused of contributing to apathy towards politics and disillusionment with the political class. Labour needs to get back to the business of government and steady itself for a long an...
LRC: Labour Representation Committee or Lefties’ Recreational Club?
This coming Saturday will see the annual conference of the Labour Representation Committee. For those of you who don’t know, this is a body mainly composed of Labour Party members and affiliated bodies, whose basic purpose is to provide a forum...
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENTARY LABOUR PARTY AGM
The European Parliamentary Labour Party (EPLP), the Labour MEPs, held our AGM today. Unsurprsingly it was a subdued affair, with all of us feeling the loss of respected colleagues. All credit to Richard Corbett, Glyn Ford and Neena Gill who all cam...
The death of Labour – not with a bang but with a whimper
Car-crash television doesn’t even describe it. Last night’s election results placed the Labour Party on 16% of the national vote, which leaves continuing government claims of democratic legitimacy ringing even more hollow than they were b...
PES Activist is the new National Chair of Young Labour!
On Saturday 18th April, PES activist Sam Tarry was elected National Chair of Young Labour in the UK. Campaigning with his manifesto, ‘Organising to win', Sam has promised bi-monthly campaign training seminars, a national full time officer for Young...
Labour’s U-turn/ EU-turn [Etan Smallman]
Helena and Mads have both blogged about the distinct lack of coverage of the EU so far in the UK. Yesterday, the Conservatives launched their campaign “to get Gordon Brown to honour his pledge to give the British people a referendum on the EU T...
BBC’s free movement of EU labour map
The question of intra-EU free movement of persons is important for millions of EU citizens, especially those from the new member states. The BBC offers a first aid kit for those who need information on existing restrictions. The public service broadc...
Stop press!
Stop press! We voted on the horizontal anti-discrimination directive yesterday and it got through with a narrow majority.It's great that the new legislation will combat discrimination on grounds of disability, religion or belief, age, or sexual orie...
An interesting exchange!
Has Richard Corbett, the veteran British Labour MEP taken a brave step by holding a press conference suggesting that it would be a good time to reopen the debate on the country’s membership of the euro, it being the tenth anniversary and all? I thi...
European Union: Consulting management and labour
The Commission supports dialogue between management and labour at Community level and consults them before and after issuing proposals.br /br /For management and labour in the English language version of the current and future treaties, read social p...
LQD: New Agency Worker Rights
From a TUC press release: The TUC today welcomed a new European Directive which will...
Third country workers in the EU
bThe European Union is working on ablockquoteiCouncil Directive on a single application procedure for a single permit for third-country nationals to reside and work in the territory of a Member State and on a common set of rights for third-country wo...
Where next after the BNP pips Labour?
Happy anniversary Gordon...
