More than 50,000 women are losing their jobs every year as a direct result of maternity discrimination in the workplace, a new report reveals. The shocking figures are part of an…Read more…
Owen Jones: holder of the Blairite flame?
Reading Owen Jones piece in yesterday’s Guardian I had to check again whether it had really been written by him. The article castigates the Blairites in the Labour Party over their abstention on the welfare bill parliamentary vote. He complains that they failed to defend New labour’s…Read more…
Rättvisa lön: IKEA unveil plan to build a Living Wage
Great news this week for Usdaw members in IKEA, as the Swedish flat pack furniture giant have committed to sign up as a Living Wage employer.Read more…
Bees or bust
We hear their buzzing drone and we’re enchanted. As we enjoy the site of an amber and black striped bumble on a lavender spike we shouldn’t forget two things: that numbers have fallen and…Read more…
This is my home
Anti-racism campaigners Show Racism the Red Card have just launched a new campaign in Scotland called #ThisisMyHome. The campaign group uses football heroes as well as us everyday folk to help…Read more…
‘Austerity is over’ shocker
Austerity is over, the new Tory minister in charge of the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ has declared. That’s great news, coming in the wake of the end of poverty and economic sunshine breaking out over the…Read more…
IMPORTANT NEWS: Barnet UNISON Office is moving today
The Barnet UNISON office is due to move today Friday 24 July from NLBP to Barnet House
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What’s wrong with ISDS? Romania’s environment & history under attack
The latest example of what’s wrong with Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) – the privileged route to riches for foreign investors who can persuade a separate international court that they have been disadvantaged by a democratically-elected government – is a case being lodged…Read more…
Tens of thousands of women a year suffer pregnancy discrimination but only a handful enforce their rights
Today, the Equality and Human Rights Commission has published findings from the largest ever survey of the scale of pregnancy discrimination in Britain’s workplaces. Its headline finding: one in nine new mothers is forced out of work each year because of their pregnancy or maternity leave. That’s…Read more…
ISDS: we won’t be fooled by a rebranding
Yesterday, Brussels was full of rumours that the European Commission had finally found a way to respond to the massive backlash generated by its proposal for a special court for US investors: a simple rebranding should do the trick. Currently known as …Read more…
“Cash strapped Councils struggle to cope as Osborne’s austerity cuts bite”
Research by the Financial Times shows the extent to which local authorities are struggling to cope with the cuts in funding associated with the coalition government’s ‘austerity’ measures. The FT reported that vital services to 150,000 pensioners have been withdrawn whilst child…Read more…
UNISON Selection of Labour’s Leader and Deputy Leader Candidates
This survey below has gone out to all UNISON members in Greater London region who pay a voluntary affiliation levy to the Labour Party. We did a similar survey for the London Mayoral candidate and got an excellent response.
I hope to be able to…Read more…
Chancellor takes the high carbon road
Is the government about to take a series of high carbon decisions that will replace renewables with fossil fuels? Decisions are imminent on Cuadrilla’s fracking appeal, launched today, and Heathrow’s third runway. Meanwhile, the Chancellor is unceremoniously dumping green policies, while assuring…Read more…
The truth must out
Two years into the coalition government’s austerity programme in 2012, routine figures released by the department of work and pensions revealed a shocking phenomenon – in just one year (2011) more…Read more…
Productivity should be an integral part of the progressive agenda
Throughout post war history but markedly since the election UK workers have been told they are not productive enough. In a return to the union bashing anti-worker approach of the 1970s and 1980s the…Read more…
Our car workers are star workers
The news that automotive workers are the UKs most productive employees, each generating £100,000 a year in added value, will come as no surprise to Unite members working in the sector. …Read more…
Isle of Wight media take up issues surrounding “Save the Trains”…
The neo-liberal offensive, involving Austerity, Productivity and Social Programmes has met with much resistance since the island press first exposed how the Conservative MP has plotted to attack the…Read more…
Basic Organisation
Mat Thomas Some might say that organising is about taking professional minutes or putting out rules, others might say it’s about ‘democratic centralism’. The reality is that people need…Read more…
Older workers – Can we afford to ignore them?
The workplace at present is full of uncertainties and insecurity. But one thing is certain. The workforce is getting older and workers, by choice or necessity, are working longer. So what are…Read more…
Solidarity and freedom
The fight to reinstate the Agricultural Wages Board (AWB) goes on despite the election of the most extreme right wing government since Mrs Thatcher, pledged Unite agricultural workers’ leader,…Read more…