Commenting on official statistics which show that gross domestic product fell for the second consecutive quarter – the widely accepted definition of a recession – in the last quarter of 2008, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:
“This recession is not bad luck or an inevitable swing of the pendulum.
The Midlands TUC has welcomed a government initiative to raise awareness of the National Minimum Wage in Nottingham. The visit will take place on Thursday 22nd and Friday 23rd January when a team of National Minimum Wage Ambassadors will set out their stall in the Old Market Square.
Welcoming the announcement today (Wednesday) that further funding from the London 2012 Olympic budget has been allocated to support the building of the Olympic village and media centres, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:
“The London 2012 media centre is exactly the kind of ambitious project that the Government should be funding.
Welcoming today's (Wednesday) Government announcement that it is to consult over giving local authorities greater freedom to build new homes, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:
“With 1.6 million people currently on the waiting list for a council house, there's a need now more than ever for councils to be given a greater role in providing social housing. The economic downturn means fewer private housing developments are going up around the country, which will in turn mean less social housing gets built.
Commenting on the official figures published today (Wednesday) which show that unemployment increased to 1.92 million between September and November last year, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:
“There is no disguising how bad today's employment figures are. Compared with last month's figures unemployment is up, employment is down, the number of redundancies is up and the number of job vacancies is down.
This recession will hit women harder than any previous downturn, according to a TUC briefing published in advance of today's (Wednesday) unemployment figures.
The Northern TUC welcome the practical support for people and businesses in the region from four of the key agencies: One North East, Business Link, Jobcentre Plus and the Learning and Skills Council, who have joined forces to get a clear message of support out across the north east.
Commenting on the Government's plans to bail out the banks, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:
“The Government is absolutely right to take further action to bail out the banks. The alternative would be not just a prolonged recession, but slump.
The TUC, MPs and leading figures from the pensions and investment industry are today (Monday) urging the Government, institutional investors and fund managers to back a series of proposals on responsible investment to help address the practices that contributed to the current financial crisis.
Speaking at the Fabian Society's New Year conference Fairness doesn't happen by chance, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: