Unison director of organising KEVIN LUCAS explains the Organising to Win strategy, its successes to date and key tests on the union’s horizon
Latest editorial
Abra-cadaver: How to conjure fatal poverty
Iain Duncan Smith has an almost magical ability to spread misery to Britain’s most vulnerable, writes CLIVE ARNOLD
Young workers do want to get involved in Unison, and where that is enabled we see growth in workplace power, argue Unison North West Young Members co-chairs ZAIHERA CHAUDHRY and IAN CAULFIELD
British military spending is among the highest in the world, diverts scarce resources from far better causes and fuels international conflict. It’s time we made different choices, argues LIZ PAYNE
Trade unions, trades councils and community organisations must work together to build lasting solidarity and resistance to the far right, argues DREW GILCHRIST
Animal metaphors are testament to delight in the non-human world and what we hope and wish for human freedom, argue ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT"
Economists estimate extreme poverty could be drastically reduced for a fraction of global defence spending, yet military budgets continue to expand year on year, says JON TRICKETT MP, ahead of the Stop the War International Conference on Saturday
WHEN you have a dog that attacks people for no reason other than it’s an evil beast, you put it down. When you have a politician that attacks disabled people and the poor for no reason, you make them Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.
Iain Duncan Smith (IDS) decides to close the Independent Living Fund (ILF). This fund helped disabled people pay for visits from professionals to carry out some of the more personal elements of their care. It also gave them the ability to employ staff who lived with them to support them. It helps disabled people to stay out of institutions and live relatively independent lives.
In its final weeks the £320 million ILF paid out an average of £300 a week to approximately 18,000 disabled people, but that’s too much to pay out. Much better to waste billions on some vanity project like a train line or new runway in London.
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Labour will find increases in the state pension age are unacceptable, just as cuts to the Winter Fuel Allowance, personal independence payments and universal credit are — it needs to change direction immediately, writes PCS general secretary FRAN HEATHCOTE
In the current climate, it is vital to bust the myths and put forward the case for a humane and decent social security system that supports people, argues FRAN HEATHCOTE
The government’s retreat on PIP still leaves 150,000 new universal credit claimants facing halved benefits from April 2026, creating a discriminatory two-tier welfare system that campaigners must continue fighting, writes DR DYLAN MURPHY
