According to the Queen in her speech at the state opening of parliament today, the government "will continue to focus on building a stronger economy". Can you run that past us again please, Your Majesty? That will presumably be the same government that has inflicted on us the slowest economic recovery in almost 150 years?

Being the head of the civil service is a difficult job and you probably have to take your friends where you can find them. It is disappointing then that Bob Kerslake seems determined to make enemies of the 450,000 civil servants who work for him.

I am sure you of all people do not need to be reminded that people claiming JSA or any other benefit to which they are entitled are not criminals, that jobcentre staff and benefits advisors are not their parole officers, and that the nation's benefits system was brought into being after a hard fought struggle by previous generations of trade unionists and working class men and women in this country to ensure a minimum of protection and justice for working people in periods of economic turbulence, ill health or any other crisis which might occur in their lives.

It is clear that austerity isn't working, and it is clear that making it easier to sack people and harder for disabled people to live independently, is no kind of cure for our sick economy. Instead of these policies of despair and division we need investment in our economy and our public services to create jobs and opportunities to help our communities, and to support people who need it.

While these low turnouts will be debated and analysed, one thing is clear: they should sound the death knell for the ludicrously shrill cries from some quarters of the Tory party and their supporters for greater restrictions on trade union ballots.

When the shadow chancellor Ed Balls spoke at the TUC annual congress earlier this month the loudest cheer came when he was challenged over Labour's disastrous backing of the government's public sector pay freeze.

Ministers are "whipping up hysteria" over the planned strike by border agency staff, union leader Mark Serwotka has said. Writing on The Huffington...

Yesterday when we announced that border officials, passport workers and other Home Office staff had decided to strike on the day before the Olympics opening ceremony, ministers went into overdrive.

Ed Miliband has urged border staff not to strike on the eve of the Olympics. The Labour leader said he was "totally against" next Thursday's planne...

Nick Clegg has accused critics of the government's work experience scheme of having "messed-up" priorities, ahead of a meeting between firms and emplo...

The government's controversial reforms to public sector pensions may not save money in the long-term, according to a report from respected think tank ...

Who are the real dinosaurs in workplace relations? The union barons or out-of-touch Tory toffs? Whatever your view, get ready for a row about it. ...

The government has announced its final offer on public sector pensions changes, after talks led to a broad agreement with most trade unions representi...

A last ditch attempt by the government to secure an agreement on public sector pensions is likely to fail and risk more strikes, a union leader said o...

Ahead of Wednesday's strike, Huff Post UK spoke to Mark Serwotka for a quick Q&A and asked why he thinks George Osborne is like a second-hand car sale...

The decision made by virtually every public sector union at the TUC yesterday was nothing short of historic. In my 10 years as leader of the PCS union, I have never known so many unions to be united and resolute.

Unions have reacted angrily to to plans by the government that could see public sector workers pay up to £3,000 a year more to keep up their pension ...

This is not a fight we picked. But the government has been rumbled and its central argument destroyed, so it is a fight we are prepared to have if ministers continue to ignore the facts and threaten everything for which public servants have ever worked.