Unison chief tells staff at Reform-controlled councils to join union

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https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/may/03/unison-chief-tells-staff-at-reform-controlled-councils-to-sign-up-to-union

Reform Party leader Nigel Farage celebrates his party candidate Sarah Pochin winning the Runcorn and Helsby byelection by six votes Photograph: Anthony Devlin/Getty Images

The head of the UK’s biggest union has urged staff at Reform UK-controlled councils to sign up after Nigel Farage warned workers to seek “alternative careers”.

Farage said during a speech on Friday that he would advise council staff working on diversity or climate change initiatives to seek “alternative careers very, very quickly” after Reform UK took control of Durham county council.

The Clacton MP’s party made major gains in Thursday’s local elections, picking up 10 councils and more than 600 seats. The party also won two mayoral races and secured a fifth MP in Runcorn and Helsby with Sarah Pochin.

Responding to Farage’s comments, Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said: “Unions are there to ensure no one can play fast and loose with the law.

“Any staff working for councils now controlled by Reform, and who aren’t yet members, should sign up so they can be protected too.”

Farage has said he wants a British equivalent of Doge – referring to the Elon Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency”, which is slashing government spending in the US, in every council.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/may/03/unison-chief-tells-staff-at-reform-controlled-councils-to-sign-up-to-union

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Continue ReadingUnison chief tells staff at Reform-controlled councils to join union

Tory minister forced to apologise and pay damages after false allegations about academic

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https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/tory-minister-forced-to-apologise-and-pay-damages-after-false-allegations-about-academic/

Michelle Donelan had launched an ‘outrageous attack on academic freedom’

Science secretary Michelle Donelan has had to eat her words and retract false allegations she made about an academic for the sake of “another Tory anti-woke headline”, following a lengthy legal process.

The cabinet minister smeared Professor Kate Sang as an ‘extremist’ after falsely suggesting she supported Hamas, and had attempted to claim the academic had breached principles on how public officials should behave.

Donelan has now retracted her claim and the government has agreed to pay an undisclosed sum, at the expense of the taxpayer, following a months-long investigation by an advisory group on equality, diversity and inclusion at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), which cleared the academic of any wrongdoing. 

https://leftfootforward.org/2024/03/tory-minister-forced-to-apologise-and-pay-damages-after-false-allegations-about-academic/

Continue ReadingTory minister forced to apologise and pay damages after false allegations about academic