Spent the last couple of days working with the TGWU, helping to facilitate their assessment centre for new organisers. The new organisers are being taken on as part of the union's ambitious plans to put organising and recruitment centre-stage. You can read more about these plans here.

The day before the assessment centre started TGWU members working for merchant bank Morgan Stanley, were joined by supporters for a picket and demonstration outside the Old Vic theatre, run by Hollywood star/luvvie, Kevin Spacey. While Morgan Stanley are happy to spend thousands sponsoring plays at the Old Vic, they seem less keen to pay their cleaning staff a living wage - as TGWU organiser Paul Davies ironically notes, "Morgan Stanley is, quite rightly, proud of the voluntary work its workers do and the donations it makes to help the poor of London....We just think they should do more for the poor who work in their own buildings."

Paul used to be the president of Wirral Trades Council a few years ago (I was vice-president for a short while around the same time as well), and had a bit of a reputation for being arrested on virtually every picket or demonstration he too part in. Happy to report no arrests were made on Thursday night!