http://www.touchstoneblog.org.uk Policy news and comment from the Trades Union Congress (TUC) Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:31:19 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The 'Fighting for a Financial Transactions Tax' conference in Brussels is now tackling the operational detail of an FTT. All the speakers (see list at the end) are emphasising that FTTs are technically feasible - and more than that, vital. Dr Reddy reported that both China and India already have ... http://www.touchstoneblog.org.uk/2010/03/robin-hood-it-can-work-say-experts/ The UK is currently moving out of the deepest recession since WWII. Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their jobs, and many remain at risk of long-term worklessness. However, unemployment is not the only challenge facing post-recession Britain, as work itself is not always a route out of poverty: ... http://www.touchstoneblog.org.uk/2010/03/employment-rights-are-key-to-reducing-in-work-poverty/ European Green leader Philippe Lamberts MEP has spoken today about why Greens across Europe support the Robin Hood Tax. Joining the Europeans for Financial Reform conference on 'Fighting for a Financial Transactions Tax (FTT) - how and why?' he stressed that the crisis wasn't over, and that Europe's people needed ... http://www.touchstoneblog.org.uk/2010/03/greens-back-robin-hood-and-so-do-many-more/ In a transatlantic video-press conference this afternoon, AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka and European Socialists' leader Poul Nyrup Rasmussen have emphasised the global demand for financial transactions taxes (FTTs). Trumka and Rasmussen put the call for FTTs in the context of wide-ranging financial reform. But Trumka stressed the need for money to ... http://www.touchstoneblog.org.uk/2010/03/robin-hood-goes-global-us-needs-11-million-jobs/ There's been a week of activity on the Robin Hood Tax with a European flavour, and more to come next week. First, the European Parliament passed a resolution on implementing financial transactions taxes (FTTs). Second, the German and British trade union movements called on their country's leaders to back a Europe-wide ... http://www.touchstoneblog.org.uk/2010/03/european-politicians-back-robin-hood-tax/ You can tell the paleolithic right is feeling frisky when the old nonsense about lone parents starts up again. You know, the rants we used to get from Michael Portillo and others about feckless teenage girls getting themselves pregnant (amazing how they manage it by themselves, but there you go). ... http://www.touchstoneblog.org.uk/2010/03/getting-it-wrong-on-teenage-mums/ The National Audit Office today releases a report on the costs of public sector pensions. I write this before I can see whether it has provoked the usual barrage of hostile stories about the alleged gold-plating of public pensions, but if you actually read it, it tells a rather different story. (To ... http://www.touchstoneblog.org.uk/2010/03/some-real-figures-on-public-sector-pensions/ BBC iPlayer - Jobless Not the programme about unemployed famous people - this is an extremely poignant documentary about the harsh realities of unemployment for family life. Anti-Slavery Home Alone End Domestic Slavery A new anti-slavery campaign to end domestic slavery and create an ILO convention to protect domestic workers worldwide. Jeffrey Sachs backs ... http://www.touchstoneblog.org.uk/2010/03/web-links-for-11th-march-2010/ Lord Adonis made the much-anticipated announcement of plans for a UK high speed rail link today. Detailed plans for the route between London and Birmingham have been published for consultation, along with proposals for a £30bn “Y” shaped network also taking in Manchester, the East Midlands, Sheffield and Leeds, and ... http://www.touchstoneblog.org.uk/2010/03/five-tests-for-high-speed-rail/ Download the 16th TUC Recession Report Today we've published our 16th and final Recession Report. From next month we will be moving to a shorter monthly Labour Market Report and a bi-monthly Economic Report. The latest labour market figures cover the period October to December 2009, and show that 2,457,000 people were ... http://www.touchstoneblog.org.uk/2010/03/recession-report-16-a-better-than-expected-labour-market-but-underemployment-continues-to-rise/ Looks like we had it wrong all along. It must be a middle class recession - the Job Centre have just launched an iPhone app. Meanwhile, outside the Twittersphere... Okay, okay... That was a cheap shot. In truth, pretty much everything that can be done to help people use Job Centres is ... http://www.touchstoneblog.org.uk/2010/03/gis-a-steve-jobs/ We've just published a new review of the impacts that the recent downturn has had for women at work, and examining how proposed public sector cuts might have a heavy impact on working women and families. I've written a post about the issue for Progress Online, which you can read over ... http://www.touchstoneblog.org.uk/2010/03/women-and-recession-one-year-on/ The UN Secretary General’s office has just released a draft report on progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. It makes for sober reading.  Given the scale of the global financial crisis, “over 300 million new jobs will need to be created over the next five years” and that’s just ... http://www.touchstoneblog.org.uk/2010/03/global-jobs-black-hole-threatens-millennium-development-goals/ Unions are increasingly working with the environmental movement. We represent - or stand in solidarity with - many of those most likely to be badly hit by climate change. Union campaigns for health and safety in the workplace have always had much in common with wider campaigns against pollution. Many ... http://www.touchstoneblog.org.uk/2010/03/unions-and-environmentalism-uneasy-bedfellows/ International Women's Day has seen the release of a fascinating range of women focused facts. These range from the concerning (twice as many men than women think the sexes are equal when it comes to getting the top jobs with men also twice as likely to appear on TV) to ... http://www.touchstoneblog.org.uk/2010/03/celebrating-international-womens-day/ The old joke “what’s a Greek urn?” has a new and depressing rejoinder: “a lot less than they did before the speculators arrived”. Throughout Greece, wages, pensions and services that ordinary people rely on are being slashed, and higher sales taxes are hitting their pockets, in an effort to compensate ... http://www.touchstoneblog.org.uk/2010/03/greece-and-a-new-social-deal-for-europe/ I would really have liked to be positive about the CBI's Budget Submission, given the gravity of the economic situation in which we find ourselves. Here we are, probably two months before a General Election, holding our collective breath and hoping the next growth figures will show the economy still recovering, rather ... http://www.touchstoneblog.org.uk/2010/03/cbi-budget-submission-misses-target/ Today the Resolution Foundation launches two reports exploring the financial health of low earners. The Low Earners Audit takes an overview of how the UK’s 7.2 million households living on below median income but independently of state support are faring in the recession. Behind the Balance Sheet complements this overview ... http://www.touchstoneblog.org.uk/2010/03/deficit-hawks-should-listen-to-low-earners-for-real-financial-hardship/ Paul Mason: Sterling panic = cage fight: markets vs the state (and the Robin Hood tax) Sterling plummets to $1.47. Cue orchestrated panic in sections of the press. Analysts bombard me with e-mails saying the currency is "facing the abyss". Highly paid economists weigh in to remind the government - current ... http://www.touchstoneblog.org.uk/2010/03/web-links-for-7th-march-2010/ Our seas are a massive, renewable energy resource. The newly-formed RenewableUK (formerly BWEA) found a new focus yesterday in calling on Government to invest a further £150-£200 million in two renewable technologies - wave and tidal energy. Companies like Siemens and Vattenfall are keen to invest in wave and ... http://www.touchstoneblog.org.uk/2010/03/carbon-diary-15-is-what-is-says-on-the-tin/