The book 'The Wage Standard' by Prof Arindrajit Dube challenges the idea that US labour operates like other so-called markets, that is, wages and employment is governed by supply and demand.

I'm currently reading 'The Wage Standard' by Prof Arindrajit Dube. As I understand it, the core claim is that wages for most US workers have stagnated because the institutions, in particular unions, and norms that once supported wage growth, have been weakened. This has been a political choice.

Of all the schemes devised by the rich and powerful to rip off workers and escape democratic accountability, private equity might be the most brazen and destructive: jacobin.com/2026/06/revi...

This is good article. If you have the time please read: www.theguardian.com/business/ng-...

Polling for More in Common in May, showed that two-thirds of the public still wanted the country to meet the net zero target. We must keep this in mind as the Tories and Reform ramp up their attacks on clean energy and net zero. They are arguing on behalf of a clear minority.

This is a good piece on the struggles in the US over working hours. In my opinion, the reduction in the working week alongside sectorial bargaining should be key demands of the UK trade union movement: jacobin.com/2026/06/scho...

This is what the new PM will inherit. It should be an explicit government goal that in the remaining years of this Parliament that the need for food banks should reduce and then be eliminated. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Time to plug my own article: www.pcs.org.uk/news-events/...

At the moment, UK law does not set a maximum workplace temperature. This is in stark contrast to countries such as Spain and Belgium which do. UK Employers are only required to maintain a “reasonable” temperature. A hopeless subjective test which means employers can ignore high temperatures.

This is a good article. "China has witnessed the greatest stretch of growth and poverty alleviation in human history, made possible by the brutal exploitation of millions of workers". jacobin.com/2026/06/lite...

Martin Wolf of the FT “...there is a good chance that AI will ...devastate the labour market, ...and create an extraordinary concentration of economic — and so political — power in the hands of a tiny number of businesses....we confront an enormous risk of an autocratic overthrow of democracy.

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The Tory leader is following a familiar pattern. Parties to the right of you start eating into your base and you go right hoping to regain those voters. Labour has reacted in the same way to Reform and now Reform is doing the same with Restore Britain: www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

This is the tragic reality when people are left to wait in overcrowded & under-resourced A&Es. Every day without action from governments is a failure. To end this, we need system-wide, long-term, sustainable solutions. Learn more about corridor care & explore guidance bit.ly/4qpa9Gt

The climate crisis is a working class and trade union issue that cannot wait

Today marks 37 years since the mass democracy movement of 1989 and the Tiananmen Square massacre. If you can, join one of the protests and vigils around the world to remember and continue the struggles of everyone who stood up in 1989:

As always, we can learn from others and seek to apply any relevant lessons to our own unions.

Bus workers in the US have just shown how to win big across a whole company: labornotes.org/2026/05/bus-... They organised multiple factories, won union recognition and first contracts, then secured a national agreement with real gains on pay, conditions and job security.

Samsung workers nearly staged one of the biggest strikes in semiconductor history, demanding a share of booming AI profits. A last-minute deal shows what organised labour can win—even from global tech giants. jacobin.com/2026/05/sams...

Also see PCS' tax justice plan: www.pcs.org.uk/news-events/...

To see PCS' plan for social security - which does not involve cuts to benefits or cruelty to those claiming benefits, please go here: www.pcs.org.uk/socialsecurity

The multi-millionaire, Tony Blair writes of the benefits and pension system "The system at points incentivises people not to work. The triple lock is unaffordable long term. All of this is horribly hard, but the British people know, deep down, the necessity of doing it".

Please listen to this. It's only a few minutes long and it adds to the debate we need in the trade union movement about AI.

Sorry for no messages over the last week or so. I got so caught up in the PCS conferences that I didn't have time to send anything out. Usual service will start tomorrow.

Next week, PCS holds first sectorial conferences (we call them Group conferences) followed by our national conference. I will report back each day as to what happened. Certainly a big topic for the national conference will be around the threat of Reform and the far right in general.

The new SNP government should set a policy goal of everyone should be in a union and then work with the Scottish TUC on practical things to help make that a reality.

It is a sad fact that SNP governments, as far as I know, have not in-sourced any services or staff into the Scottish Government. The new government should change that policy. It could mimic Labour and promise the biggest wave of insourcing in a generation - and then actually deliver on that.

A further big difference a Plaid government could make is to set a policy goal of everyone should be in a union and then work with the Welsh TUC on practical things to help make that a reality.

A big difference a Plaid government could make is to begin insourcing services into the Welsh government and the NHS. Unfortunately Welsh Labour did not, nor even try.

Congratulations to those who've been elected, and commiseration to those who have not. PCS 2026 NEC election results announced | Public and Commercial Services Union share.google/9rZP77r0ZM1J...

One law for them, one law for the rest of us ... "despite thousands of investigations in the past five years, none has ended up in a completed prosecution" Criminality is now part of the water companies' business model, with collusion from government. www.channel4.com/news/the-dir...

Please listen if you can.

At the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) executive committee meeting. Despite Brexit, PCS remains affiliated to EPSU. Firstly what happens in the EU still impacts us. In any case we have a lot to learn from the EU around sectoral bargaining and AI protections.

With one week to go until elections in England, Wales and Scotland, PCS members share why it's important to them to vote #VoteWisely #7MayElections

In the decade of Thatcher from 1980 to 1990, Watt shows, London still built nearly 52,000 council homes. In the decade of Tony Blair from 1997 to 2007, only 280 went up: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

This shows that with determination, hard work and ambition, workers can win against the odds.

Tech giant accused of ‘cynical attempt to bust the union’ in decision to shutter location in Towson, Maryland

We are in a strange situation in the UK where Labour’s fear of increasing debt has led them to adopt self-imposed fiscal rules. In this, they are no different from Tory governments who had their own rules. The Tories couldn’t stick to their rules and it is highly likely Labour won’t either.

Private Finance Initiatives were not genuine investment but an accounting wheeze designed to keep debt off official balance sheets. They made governments appear fiscally responsible while locking future generations into long‑term costs they could not renegotiate and had no democratic say in.

PFI has blighted Scotland as well Audit Scotland has estimated that Scottish taxpayers will ultimately pay around £40 billion for PFI and similar schemes, despite the underlying assets being worth only about £9 billion.

The NHS has been hit hardest by PFI. Projects costing ~£13bn upfront are expected to cost around £80bn in total repayments. Annual bills haven’t even peaked yet—costs are set to keep rising until around 2029.

PFI contracts didn’t stop at construction. Private firms typically retained control of cleaning, maintenance, catering and portering through long‑term bundled contracts, often with automatic inflation uplifts and strong penalties for exit or renegotiation.

The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) began in the early 1990s to fund hospitals, schools & roads without showing public borrowing. Private firms paid upfront; the state repaid them over 25–30+ years. The cost was hidden off the balance sheet.

🎙️ Hear the first of a three-part Labor Notes Pod series on our “Secrets of a Successful Organizer” training on foundational organizing skills In this first installment, we explore the idea that apathy isn't real, i.e. Your Co-Workers Actually Want a Better Workplace! labornotespodcast.podbean.com

More from the ONS report on health. Healthy life expectancy at birth has fallen to its lowest level since records began (2011–13) for both men and women — despite small post‑pandemic rises in overall life expectancy. Many are living slightly longer, but spending more of their lives in poor health.

Latest ONS data shows a stark health divide in England. People in the most deprived areas spend less than 50 years of their lives in good health on average. In the least deprived areas, that figure is around 70 years. This gap is a national scandal, or it should be.

National demonstration for rent controls and council housing : thelabourcampaignforcouncilhousing.org/2026/03/09/n...

British Steel 'needs nationalising by the summer'. The whole industry needs nationalising. It relies on never-ending public subsidies. Profits privatised, losses socialised. Private sector only looks at short-term profits, can't do national planning.

Resident doctors are once again out on the picket lines across England. This dispute was entirely avoidable. We were close to getting a deal before the Government changed the goalposts at the last minute. All resident doctors are asking for is a fair offer on jobs and pay.