Unite welcomed the news today (December 11) of the further sale of businesses from the Caparo Industries Group to the Gupta family which secures over 600 jobs, based mainly in the West Midlands….Read more…
#COP21: Call to Action to Defend Humanity and the Planet
Global human rights, trade union and civil society organisations final appeal to French Presidency and all governments at COP21 to show true leadership, by ensuring that the protection of rights, equality and ecosystems are restored at the core of the …Read more…
Work and Well-being – How to get involved
In the past year or so far more employers in the UK have been introducing “well-being” schemes in the workplace. This follows a trend that we have seen in the USA where 70% of Fortune 200 companies…Read more…
West Ham Labour Party Rejects Trade Union Bill
West Ham Labour Party Executive Committee unanimously supported this motion last night. The Trade Union Bill returns to the House of Lords probably early next year (11 January 2016) and I hope will be sent back to the House of Commons for being an auth…Read more…
Power in a Union?
There are two dimensions of power in a trade union.
There is the collective power of organised workers, of which our trade unions are simply an institutional expression and a tool. This is our positive power.
We express this power when we stand together and take industrial action, but it is also…Read more…
“Robin’s alive!” European Financial Transactions Tax almost complete
On Tuesday, Finance Ministers from 10 countries around Europe negotiating the introduction of a Robin Hood Tax reached a landmark decision. It’s not the end of the process, but it is at least the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end: agreement to implement a broad-based tax, using…Read more…
Why the Presiding Officer is wrong on the anti-Union Bill and what Parliament should do about it
At last night’s STUC event in Glasgow, a packed Concert hall heard just why Scotland overwhelmingly opposes the Anti-Union Bill. It showcased all that is great about our movement. From the community…Read more…
Reduction in the Working Week Guards/Commercial Guard – South West Trains
To All Branches, Regional Offices & Regional Councils Circular No IR.304/15 10th December 2015 Our Ref: BR2/0004 Dear…Read more…
China persecutes activists to prevent its own reforms from succeeding
The government of China has engaged in a nasty and bizarre campaign of repression against labour activists, just as its own reforms threatened to do some good. A few days ago, Zeng Feiyang, Director…Read more…
East European Migrants and the Welfare State
A new report was published today that ought to have a massive impact on what the politicians say about migration. It’s called Social dimension of intra-EU mobility: Impact on public services and it looks at the impact in West European countries of migration from the ten new member states in…Read more…
Speaking up for trade union rights on Human Rights Day
Thousands of trade unionists around the world have lost their lives standing up for workers’ rights and social justice. Countless others have suffered, and continue to suffer persecution and denial…Read more…
Frozen out
Unite is seeking urgent discussions with management after workers at Bombardier in Northern Ireland overwhelmingly rejected a pay offer as part of cuts to the Belfast operation. Members had…Read more…
Let’s work together
Local government workers from Edinburgh and Glasgow city councils are calling on Holyrood MSPs to work with them in tackling an estimated £15bn billion debt crisis across Scotland’s councils. …Read more…
‘Dickensian’ work conditions
Imagine working on the statutory minimum wage, now set at £6.70 per hour – well below what’s needed to meet basic expenses in the first place – only to discover you aren’t getting paid even this…Read more…
Devolution (IOW Update)
It looks like the “done deal” is being procured even more quickly on devolution than at first thought. Is there no limit to their treachery that (some of) the Council and Sandy Hopkins…Read more…
UNISON consultation shows overwhelming backing for new pension deal at EDF Energy
UNISON members working for EDF Energy have today (Thursday) overwhelmingly backed a new pension deal negotiated by the union. The deal provides new entrants access to a defined benefit pension scheme…Read more…
Will Bernie Sanders be America’s first socialist president?
Bernie Sanders is not the first socialist to run for President of the United States. He is not even the first socialist to do so with mass support. To understand the Sanders campaign, it is…Read more…
Welsh social care provider sacks entire staff
UNISON, Britain’s largest public sector union, has reacted angrily to the decision of social care provider Anheddau Cyf, to dismiss its entire staff of 300 people and re-engage them only if they…Read more…
#COP21: Giving meaning to the four strands of climate justice
None of the four strands of climate justice – research, education, training and public awareness – have made the headlines at COP21, yet the conference “fringe” has been full of such debates. Whatever the final UN Agreement looks like, there will need to be an operational strategy that shifts…Read more…
Conspiracy and cover up
A Tory government which launched a head-on confrontation with trade unions in the early 1970s conspired with police and MI5 to help jail six striking building workers who picketed sites in Shrewsbury…Read more…