Tag: TUC

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber will today (Wednesday) say that the government has scrapped the bankers' bonus tax and replaced it with a teachers', nurses' and lollipop ladies' tax.

Thousands of workers across the North East and Cumbria will be showing their support for Pensions Justice and joining in with one of the four regional March and rallies across the region on Pensions Day of Action, November 30th. As well as independent pickets all over the region, workers and trade unionists will be coming together in co-ordinated action in Newcastle-Gateshead, Middlesbrough, Carlisle and Whitehaven.

Responding to the announcement today (Monday) that the final stages of auto-enrolment into pensions will be postponed for a year, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:

This Wednesday (30 November) will see up to two million public sector workers including teachers, nurses, probation officers, civil servants, cleaners, paramedics and dinner ladies taking part in the TUC day of action in what could be the biggest strike in a generation. Some 30 unions have balloted their members for action over government plans to change their pensions – some haven't taken strike action in more than a decade, others have never balloted their members before.

The TUC has today (Monday) welcomed the Lofstedt report's conclusion that the UK's health and safety laws “are broadly right”, but it has major concerns that the proposals to exempt some self-employed workers could have a devastating impact on their safety.

To coincide with the Chancellor's Autumn Statement tomorrow (Tuesday), the TUC has published a 10-point plan to kick-start the UK's flailing economy. The TUC believes that the government's unprecedented programme of spending cuts is reducing demand, slowing growth and exacerbating the squeeze on living standards. An urgent stimulus is needed before the UK's stagnant economy slips into a double-dip recession, says the TUC.

The UK's faltering economic performance over the last 18 months has left a £65 billion ‘growth gap', the TUC says today (Saturday) as it launches the first of its series of economic reports days before the Chancellor's Autumn Statement.

Hundreds of North East women will be coming together on the evening of Saturday 26th November as part of the region's Reclaim the Night event in Newcastle, hosted by the Northern TUC.

Responding to comments made by the government today (Thursday) on the supposed cost of the TUC day of action on 30 November, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:

Making public sector pensions like those in the private sector would mean taking all pensions away from two in three public sector workers and giving a huge increase to the pension pots of a small number of senior public sector staff, says a TUC report published today (Thursday).