My impression is that most women public service workers have a long fuse. Precisely because they care so deeply about services, more than anyone, they still want to find a sensible and fair negotiated agreement. But their patience has run out.
Category Archive: Frances O’Grady
My first hero, as a teenager, was James Connolly. I remember discovering that he was a feminist, and that was an eye-opener, coming from a man of such poverty.
Britain is a textbook case of how growing inequality leads to economic crisis. The years before the crash were marked by a sharp rise in remortgaging and the growth of 0 percent balance transfer credit cards. By 2008 the UK had the highest ratio of household debt to GDP of any major economy.
There is nothing that says unions have a God-given right to be there. We have to work at it and make ourselves relevant to every section of the workforce.
In the U.S. the powerful critics of austerity such as Paul Krugman and Robert Reich rightly identify the decline of ‘labor’ as a problem, and renewing trade unionism part of the solution. Our opportunity is to make the same case in the UK.
It is not natural or inevitable that half the world goes hungry; that the freedom of markets trumps protection of the planet; or that citizens’ rights come second to those of corporations.
The difficulty for the Government is there’s this ideological straitjacket of the market will provide, let the market rip and everything will work out… It’s back to trickle-down economics, which, it’s plain to see, have not delivered.
I’d be happy to have regular face-to-face meetings at Downing Street with David Cameron to argue the case for alternative economic policies.
I want a society that provides decent jobs for those who can work and decent security for those can’t.
RFK was a compelling figure because he was willing to challenge his audiences, and in turn connect with them in a unique way. Kennedy showed that our values define us and can inspire others to believe in the possibility of change and a better society.