The number of zero-hours, non-unionised workers has reached a 126-year low.
Just coincidence.
+ Visit Cardiff FC for Latest News, Transfer Gossip, Fixtures and Match Results |
Lowest number of strikes (79) during 2017 since records begun in 1891 with just 33,000 employees involved.
Has Blighty become a workers' paradise with contentment reaching an all-time high?
- The number of strikes in the UK last year was the lowest recorded to date, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
There were 79 stoppages in 2017, the lowest figures since records began in 1891.
The number of workers involved in labour disputes also fell to an all-time low of 33,000. - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44300117
The number of zero-hours, non-unionised workers has reached a 126-year low.
Just coincidence.
It's called the gig economy for those who prefer not to use the word exploitative. I look in the window of an employment agency shop window whenever I pass and have yet to see a full-time job advertised on any of its cards.
Another record low: UK household saving ratio hit record low in 2017, says Office for National Statistics https://www.independent.co.uk/news/b...-a8279016.html
Savings sliding, household debt rising and unprecedented job insecurity make for lots of foodbanks, homeless people and beggars galore.
I started work in 1978, did a year in Technical college 1st, so was effectively into a 2nd year of my apprenticeship, the engineering Union (AUEW) as it was known, were on a 2 day strike the day I started work, I think I saw the best and worst of Unions during this time, some dedicated members and some real bad'ns, the bullies always seemed to get their way, whilst the genuine member representatives got swerved. Effectively forced to join on finishing my apprenticeship, (young and in awe of the bullies), I do wholly agree in principle with unions, but they were out of control back then as was the Thatcher Government, a recipe for disaster on two fronts!!!, times change of course, and this zero hour contract nonsense is a disgrace, although it suits some.
I can recall the same good and bad union leaders ,those who cared and the ones who were simply radicals ,mainly single idealistic man willing to live on nothing and happy to strike for weeks, always senior men who owned the best duties and overtime perks .
I can recall workers not affording posh holidays or cars , now most have two to three holidays a year and own more than one car .
Employment law is now strong thanks to European driven laws , and in the main employers are more caring of thier workforce , guess thats why there are less strikes , a more content and better off workforce , with to much too lose .
Fully agree about the better more efficient provision delivered by foodbanks in France, they're better supported by a number of policies implemented by the French government. As an example of the difference with the UK, Cameron's government refused funding offered by the EU in relation to supporting foodbanks in this country.
I'm all for stopping waste and food being provided for those in need, although weirdly I'd much prefer those in need not being in that position to have to rely on charity and goodwill.
That's a silly way to measure wealth.
People have more foreign holidays because foreign holidays are cheaper. Businesses possess far more computers than the 70's, it doesn't mean that all businesses have loads of money and should be giving more pay to their staff or discounts to their customers does it?
I have the impression you're of similar age to me. If your grandparents, great aunties and uncles were like mine then none of the females worked, nor did they need to as their husbands' income provided enough to feed and clothe the whole family and pay the mortgage without the aid of any benefits supplement save for a pittance in Family Allowance for a second and subsequent sprog. Those mothers nurtured their kids, not strangers that cost an arm and a leg, and as far as I'm aware none of them were ever up to their tits in debt. What a contrast to today.
Feedy,
I've never actually looked at it that way. Very pragmatic, very practical but also illustrates why politics is awash with policies that look after self interests and specific groups or industries to the detriment of the general public.
Regarding the EU tariffs on food see my above point, I always assume (perhaps wrongly) it's a decision made to maintain support from a strong industry where the status quo rely on their support.
Be fair, French farmers riot, torch Welsh lambs and can put a barricade up almost with Special Forces speed and precision. I generally think most politicians on the continent don't want to piiss them off
Yes your point is well made. Different times , I got folk in my family pleading poverty with 2 cars , a 200k mortgage etc etc , poverty as I touched it was having no food for school and begging a share of my mates sandwiches.
Benefits and income support for my poor mam ,wern't that readily available, went to work on a farm at 14, on the weekends , for pocket money .
Apologies butt. Not a prolific user of the message board. I'll stand corrected. My reply to your post stands.
Regards ninianclark
Just a couple of points there butt...
1. The EU offered the monies to assist foodbanks not the UK government.
2. You edited my response. I'd mentioned that there are groups and industries with self interest overriding the needs of the general populace.
Apart from that...
No need for apologies butt, although you do have a habit of being rather blinkered and assuming what I may or not want
Regarding the sugar tax, it's molly coddling/nanny state gone way too far and my biggest reason for saying that is its fuucking killed the taste of San Pelligrino. I'm genuinely devastated.
The number's fake. Unemployment rate is 3.8%, working age labour non participation rate (jobless!) is 95.9 million. US official population is 327 million. I said in another thread that if they calculated the unemployment rate as they did until Clinton's admin changed it (in '94, if memory serves) it would stand today at 22%. At the height of the Great Depression in the USA the maximum unemployment reached was 25%.