If you had £15m quid what would you do with it?

Thats how much the Confederation of Ship Building and Engineering Unions (snappy title I know) has in its campaign 'war-chest', and Amicus is lobbying for that money to be released to support a campaign aimed at extending collective bargaining across engineering.

For modern HR types the return of collective bargaining would be about as welcome as the return of flares and mullet hair cuts - mainly because, as Amicus general secretary Derek Simpson comments, it, '...will help to restore better employee pay, skills and pensions'.

The decline of collective bargaining coverage is one reason why the pay-gap between boardroom and shopfloor has risen so dramatically, and why wages in growing sectors such as retail and hospitality remain so low - so I think this would definitely be £15m well spent.