In a funny turn of events union bosses have sided with Tony Blair against Labour. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham jumped on the bedlam:
“Unite is not against net zero but it will not be achieved without serious investment in new jobs. Unite has warned time after time, that all the rhetoric about a joined up industrial strategy and future jobs must be backed up with serious investment that actually delivers. What is Labour waiting for? The time to act is now. If they fail to do this, then Labour cannot expect workers to support their net-zero plan.”
S0 far Miliband’s main step has been to ban new oil and gas drilling – something Norway’s energy minister has now pooh-poohed. Terje Aasland says Norway wants “to develop [the North Sea] for the long-term, because the oil and gas industry and the service industry is really important. It saves jobs and creates a lot of value for Norwegian society. I think in the UK, the oil and gas industry has contributed in just the same way — until now.” Downing Street is briefing its annoyance at Blair but can’t disguise that Miliband increasingly lonely on this one…
It’s not happy news for co-conspirators off in search of sunnier climes. At least if you’re flying from Gatwick…
The dinosaurs over at the Unite union are getting baggage handlers to down tools at the UK’s second biggest airport. Unite’s members “overwhelmingly rejected” an offer yesterday. The strike is due to start in the early hours of Good Friday morning, over the Easter weekend, until Tuesday 22 April. Starmer’s Britain…
After 34 days of Unite’s bin strike in Birmingham, reports of “rats the size of cats” and “rotting smells” wafting through the streets, Angela Rayner has called in a grand total of three military personnel to sort it out. Meanwhile, negotiations over a lump sum payout have hit the skids thanks to Unite, who are digging in their heels. Not that it matters to them…
The bin strike in Labour-run Birmingham has now reached the 30-day mark with no resolution. The Tories have called for the city to declare a public health emergency. Hacks have been asking Downing Street whether the army will be sent in…
MHCLG and Rayner are involved in attempting to broker a resolution between Unite and the council. Central government has been involved in securing mutual aid to work on getting the backlog cleared. Guido hears the current waste backlog is calculated to stand at a whopping 23,000 tonnes. Around 1,500 tonnes a day are currently collected – against 900 generated. At that rate it will take 38 days and eight hours to fix the backlog…
The strike is centred around the scrapping of the collection officer (WRCO) role, which will apparently leave about 150 members £8,000 a year worse off. Guido hears the offer from the council is for a lump sum of £10,500 to be given to those workers set to lose £6,000 per annum, along with six months of pay protection. That would be a total bill of about £1.6 million. Unite is for its part demanding a lump sum of £24,000…
There is pressure from housing SpAds and Rayner on recalcitrant Unite to accept a deal. A £24,000 lump sum would mean a payout of £3.6 million – something bankrupt Birmingham says is unaffordable. A deal is expected imminently so long as Unite doesn’t blow up again…
Back in 2021, Guido did some digging into the eyebrow-raising nature of Len McCluskey’s hotel and conference centre project for Unite union in Birmingham—a supposed £7 million investment that spiralled to a staggering £98 million. The completed building is now valued at a mere £29 million. To top it off, a £95 million construction contract was awarded to one of McCluskey’s close pals…
It was reported last night the Serious Fraud Office is investigating the (now) £112 million project, meaning £83 million of members’ money has seemingly vanished. As if that wasn’t enough, a KC-led inquiry, commissioned by current general secretary Sharon Graham, has unearthed a mysterious £14 million black hole in the union’s accounts…
Meanwhile, McCluskey, who once touted this project as a “fantastic investment,” has gone suspiciously silent. A reminder: Unite coughed up over £500,000 for Labour MPs during the last election. Bad timing for a government who claims to be on the side of the unions…
It must have been a shock for left-wing luvvie Dale Vince to see union workers protesting outside his own firm’s HQ. Yesterday afternoon Unite workers and supporters staged a demonstration outside the Stroud offices of Vince’s energy company Ecotricity, calling for the reopening of negotiations for union recognition. It’s also part of the union’s wider campaign to renationalise the entire energy sector…
In a round robin email Unite urged people to attend the protest with a pointed attack on Vince:
“Dale Vince, the owner of Ecotricity, has an estimated wealth of £107,000,000 yet refuses to negotiate a deal for Ecotricity workers allowing for them to have a say in their pay and conditions.”
Meanwhile Vince appears on television and radio to agitate for higher taxes and wealth redistribution across the UK. Unite says he keep to his own patch first…
Andy Haldane, Burnham’s recent adviser on the economy who has not taken up a No10 job, told Andrew Marr on LBC:
“The market now suspects that this is a traditional tax-and-spend socialist government with better TikTok videos…
imposing windfall taxes on oil & gas or on banks or upping capital gains tax would […] repeat the mistake that Rachel made […] The Achilles heel, the fiscal Achilles heel of this government thus far has been its unwillingness and/or inability to cut public spending.”
