Businesses around here are taking a bit of a beating already, especially the pharmaceutical industry, with SKB in Crawley and Novertis in Horsham both closing sites. A lot of the workers are going to find it hard to find jobs in the same industry without looking well outside the immediate area. The Novartis staff have [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Trade Unions'
Back to life (back to reality)
November 3rd, 2010 · 1 Comment · Politics
Now that the moving mostly out of the way I am starting to dip a toe back into the outside world. Even acknowledging that there is an outside world is a step forward I suppose. On reflection, ‘dipping a toe in’ is not quite right and ‘diving in at the deep end’ might be more [...]
Tags: Stop the cuts·Trade Unions
Here comes the sun
July 19th, 2010 · 1 Comment · Politics
Jayne and I went down to Dorset for the day today to see the Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival. I checked the weather forecast on the BBC yesterday and it gave variations of ‘white cloud’, ‘grey cloud’ and ‘black cloud’ throughout the day, with maximum temperatures of about 18C. What we actually got was bright sunshine, mostly [...]
Tags: Dorset·Photos·Trade Unions
Intervention
April 4th, 2010 · No Comments · Politics
In Laura Moffatt’s last speech in Parliament she mentioned the many benefits of intervention, which turned out to be a very timely contribution because alst week also saw the publication of a pamphlet called The Red Tape Delusion, which explains the arguments for greater intervention in more detail.
Tags: Trade Unions
Sacked for being a good trade unionist
December 4th, 2009 · 49 Comments · Politics
This is not only a big deal locally, but has been gathering momentum as an issue of much more widespread interest for the general principles involved as well as for the situation of the individual involved. I think it deserves all the publicity it can get! One way to sum it up is that a [...]
Tags: Medicine/Health·NHS·Trade Unions
Meeting Mandelson
November 13th, 2009 · No Comments · Politics, Work
Today was the long-awaited official opening of the new site where I work. Personally I have been in the new buildings for just over a year, but the industrial building with all the labs and test and manufacturing facilities took longer to finish, and now the company has decided that enough of our operations have [...]
Tags: Crawley·Trade Unions
Money in the Labour movement
November 5th, 2009 · No Comments · Politics
Money is as important to the various organisations within the Labour movement as it is to any capitalist entity. Well, maybe not exactly: it is not chased or accumulated for what it is, but it is very much appreciated for what it can do, and necessary. No point having hundreds of willing volunteers to deliver [...]
If at first you don’t succeed, get up early
October 31st, 2009 · No Comments · Politics
Following my failed previous efforts to support the striking Royal Mail workers I took the rather drastic and extreme step of getting up before 6am on a Saturday. This ludicrous tactic worked and I met with the workers who were manning the picket line. They did mention how several other members of Horsham Labour Party [...]
Tags: Horsham·Royal Mail·Trade Unions
Supporting the postal workers
October 31st, 2009 · No Comments · Politics
It is proving to be harder than I had expected to support the striking postal workers. I should rephrase that… It is proving to be harder than I expected to show my support for the striking postal workers. Having a full-time job myself with a lot going on there, and more limited access to transport [...]
Tags: Royal Mail·Trade Unions
Unite’s reaction to the Tory conference
October 9th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Politics
More specifically, Unite’s reaction to the proposals to cut 25% of the MoD budget. As somebody who works in the aerospace & shipbuilding sector covered by Bernie Hamilton I have more than a passing interest in this.
Tags: Tories·Trade Unions
Have you heard of the categorisation of political activists into...