From the Times Colonist yesterday: The union representing B.C. Ferries workers has filed an unfair labour practice complaint against the company, after months of wage talks have proven fruitless. In its complaint to the B.C. Labour Relations Board, the B.C. Ferry and Marine Workers’ Union seeks costs totalling $2.1 million from B.C. Ferries. The union, representing 4,700 members, said in its Dec. 14 complaint that B.C. Ferries has “undertaken a concerted campaign to undermine the union’s exclusive bargaining agency and lower its reputation among its members.” “The employer’s efforts have stoked fear and animosity among members which has directly led … Continue reading International Ferry Monitor – Government-subsidised Canadian ferry provider sued by unions for decent wages despite soaring profits

and getting much less in return. BBC Reporting Scotland is happily reporting the above outrageous lie by the opposition parties as if it was a credible claim. 114 000 will pay the new advanced rate for those ‘Scots’ earning between £75 000 and £125 000, 2% of the population. The median salary in the UK is around £33 000pa. Most of the population earn less than that: £33 000 is around £20ph, earned by a small part of the UK population and with far larger numbers earning less, sometimes far less, than that. How do they survive? What they do … Continue reading 2% of the Scots population to pay a bit more for the best public services and universal benefits in UK

In 2019, CalMac carried 5.7 million passengers, 1.5m cars, 11 000 coaches and 80 000 commercial vehicles. In 2020, that had fallen to only 2.4m, 827 000 cars, 1 600 coaches and 68 000. By 2022, that had recovered to 4.9m, 1.4m, 7 300 and 80 300. https://www.calmac.co.uk/corporate/carrying-statistics-annual So, passenger numbers are back at 86% of the 2019 figure, cars at 93%, coaches at 66% and commercial vehicles at beyond full recovery. In Washington State USA, the troubled WS Ferries’ aging unreliable fleet and poor industrial relations mean that passenger numbers remain at only 55% of 2019 level and ‘might … Continue reading CalMac surges back to near pre-pandemic passenger levels but other ferry services linger

Labour is, of course, not the place where women get on: Scottish Labour has a shrinking female representation over time, as do the Lib Dumbs and contrary to the SNP, the Greens and even the Cons. Continue reading Labour Spokesperson for Misogyny has previous

I was a big fan of James Kelly’s work but he has not posted anything remotely contributing to the Yes campaign since October 26th’s ‘There are various ways in which independence may be won – but it’s not going to be won with a big petition‘. Since then, 18 out of 21 posts have been about Alba and 1 of the 3 non-Alba posts was about Pandas. Having said that, he can be entertaining. See Alba are starting to cook with gas on 30 October 2023. And before it became an Alba chatroom, it was a Trans chatroom. Continue reading Another pro-Indy campaign blog bites the dust to become a mere Alba chatroom

From Public Health Scotland today: 94.9% of patients started treatment within the 31-day standard, compared with 95.2% in the previous quarter, and 96.5% in the quarter ending 31 December 2019. 72.0% of patients started treatment within the 62-day standard, compared with 73.7% in the previous quarter, and 83.7% in the quarter ending 31 December 2019. https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/cancer-waiting-times/cancer-waiting-times-1-july-to-30-september-2023/ The equivalent figures for NHS England are 90.3% and 64.8% but note that a 7% difference on the 62-day standard, means around 10 000 in England who might have been treated on time but were not and around 1 000 who were treated on … Continue reading Cancer waiting times – NHS Scotland continues to outperform, 95% treated within 31 days and around 1 000 in one quarter are treated earlier than they would have been in England

Source: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/media/24445/report-q2-2023-24-drug-alcohol-waiting-times.pdf What effect is this success having? Drug deaths fall by 21% in only one year as SNP policies begin to reverse long-term effects of decades of Tory/New Labour neglect Evidence emerges that significant drug deaths fall is largely due to Scottish Government programme first in world Drug deaths in England & Wales significantly under-reported according to UK Civil Service Significant falls in drug deaths among the young after 16 years of SNP rule Continue reading 94% of problematic drug users treated by NHS Scotland within 3 weeks and waiting time target of 90% beaten for 10th quarter in a row

None of this is new. Regulars here have a seen numerous examples of the contrasting reporting of BBC Wales and BBC Scotland with the former using frowning images of SNP politicians, responsibility for everything laid at ministers’ doors and platforms for opposition politicians to rant about conditions often superior to those their party is actually responsible for in England or Wales. Today, the contrast is clear. Compare the two images, the headlines with only one indicating responsibility in the devolved area and the links to reports casting doubts on the Scottish Government’s attempts to resolve problems. Wales is presented as … Continue reading Budgets in Wales and Scotland – the protection of Labour and the demonising of the SNP

From BBC UK today: The traditional model of NHS dentistry is gone for good, experts are warning. The Nuffield Trust think tank said the service had been cut back so much it was now at the most perilous position in its 75-year history in England. It said restoring services would probably need an unrealistic amount of money and called for radical reform, suggesting NHS support may need to be completely scaled back for some adults. The government said it would be publishing a recovery plan soon. The Nuffield Trust said funding for NHS dentistry had suffered huge cuts in recent … Continue reading Leading researchers find NHS dentistry only surviving in Scotland

By Leah Gunn Barrett English Labour’s shadow health spokesperson, Wes Streeting, said spending more on health comes at the expense of “other worthy causes” and that “under Labour you can have a well-funded NHS or you can lift kids out of poverty, but you can’t have both.”[1] That’s a false choice. It implies that governments are limited in what they can spend to help their people. Taxpayers don’t fund the NHS, the government does. It CAN turn on the taps because it owns a central bank. As John Maynard Keynes said, “anything we can actually do, we can afford.”[2] Second, … Continue reading Labour – ‘You can have a well-funded NHS or you can lift kids out of poverty, but you can’t have both’