Author Archives: Neil

At our April meeting, the branch voted in favour of making a donation to Unite members at Mayr-Melnhof Packaging, who have been locked out by the company for almost 2 months. Unite is to take legal action against the Austrian owned company over the unlawful dismissal of its workforce and closure of the site in Bootle, Liverpool. The latest update on the dispute from the union is available for branch members … Continue reading →

The union branch will be holding an interns social from 5:30pm this Tuesday 3 April in the back room of the Sports and Social on the Parliamentary Estate. It will be branch members and interns only as we’ll be putting money towards drinks for people, so please RSVP to our Social Secretary at sarah.mcguire@unitepsbranch.org Hope to see you there!

ParliOut AGM March 22nd at 18:30 │ Conference Room E – 7 Millbank Dear ParliOut Member, You are invited to the AGM of ParliOut on 22nd March 2012. The committee would like to hear your thoughts on the past 10 months (since the last AGM) and any ideas for future events. It would be great if you could answer these quick questions prior to the AGM or think about them … Continue reading →

TAKING ON THE MEDIA BARONS How can we make the media fair for all?  TUC, NUJ and CPBF Conference Saturday 17 March Congress House, Great Russell Street London WC1B 3LS – contact Stuart Watkin on watkinsb@parliament.uk if you’d like to attend.   PROGRAMME OPENING REMARKS AND WELCOME 10am – 10.10am Frances O’Grady -TUC Deputy General Secretary   Session 1 10.10am – 11am Keynote address and Q&A Rt Hon Harriet Harman QC MP – Labour Deputy Leader … Continue reading →

Yesterday IPSA published their review of the expenses scheme, with some very positive changes for staff that the union branch has been lobbying hard for over recent years. The full scheme is available here and IPSA’s summary of the changes is available here, but in terms of staff wins we are looking at: The Staffing Expenditure budget limit has been increased to £137,200 for non-London Area MPs and £144,000 for London Area MPs, incorporating … Continue reading →

Diversity and Inclusion Scheme launch event In case some of you haven’t seen it on the intranet: All Members and Members’ staff are invited to attend the launch of the new Diversity and Inclusion Scheme on Thursday 1 March at 1.30pm in the Attlee Suite, Portcullis House. Equality, diversity and inclusion are very important. The House Service has made significant progress in these areas in the last three years, but … Continue reading →

Branch secretary Louise Haigh accused many MPs of flouting the law by not paying the minimum wage in a recent article on Parliamentary internships in the Daily Mirror. The article is available here and reproduced below: MPs are discriminating against poorer students because it’s only rich kids who can afford to work for them for nothing. Almost 800 youngsters were signed up as “interns” last year, says the Independent Parliamentary Standards … Continue reading →

Just a reminder about 2 surveys MPs’ staff have been asked to fill out recently. House of Commons Survey of Services 2012 By now you should have received an email to your parliamentary email address asking you to express your views on the services provided to you by the House of Commons Service. The 3 February deadline is coming up, so we encourage you to take part if you haven’t … Continue reading →

On Wednesday 11 January Branch Chair Max Freedman gave evidence to the House of Commons Procedure Committee’s inquiry into sittings of the House. The uncorrected evidence is available here and the audio is available here. There’s no visual this time as the Committee room wasn’t equipped with it.

Message from Unions 21: TOP OF THE POLICIES – SKILLS Policy in the pub – CHAIR: Michael White, Assistant Editor, The Guardian UP TO 20 SPEAKERS WITH 2 MINS EACH TO PRESENT A POLICY IDEA 2 MINUTES Q&A PER POLICY ONE VOTE – ONE TOP POLICY FOR SKILLS WHEN? 6.30pm-8.30pm, TUESDAY 17 JANUARY WHERE? THE BARLEY MOW (pub), 104 Horseferry Road, Westminster, London, SW1P 2EE 5-10 Mins walking distance from … Continue reading →