What with the budget shambles, the ongoing concerns over the future of the UK motor industry and the never ending Brexit saga, it was very easy to miss a very significant announcement this week by…Read more…
‘Stitched up’
Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson announced yesterday (March 9) proposals that would threaten 400 jobs, as the firm put forward plans to shut a surgical suture manufacturing plant in…Read more…
Masking sickness at work?
Fear for their jobs has prompted British workers to take the fewest number of sick days since records began – only 137m working days last year were lost to sickness, equivalent to just over four days…Read more…
Fairness call
Unite members at the Faslane and Coulport naval bases on the Clyde have voted in favour of industrial action, in a dispute over worker rights. Unite says that Babcock Marine is carrying out a…Read more…
‘Pensions’ betrayal’
BMW Group bosses were accused of ‘penny pinching’ and seeking to rob car workers making the iconic Mini and Roll-Royce motorcars of their future pensions today (March 9), as the carmaker reported…Read more…
Stop the decline spiral
In the wake of the sharpest and most sustained drop in the price of oil in decades, the UK oil industry is staring into an abyss as more than a hundred thousand jobs have gone in the last two years…Read more…
‘Best decision you’ll make’
When Nikita Taylor began her four-year electrical engineering apprenticeship at the Vauxhall plant in Luton she was one of only a handful of women working at the site. “Over the six years that…Read more…
Print jobs at risk
Unite said today (March 9) that it would mount a strong campaign to retain the estimated 120 jobs under threat at Suffolk book printer, Clays. “Clays is the heart of the local community…Read more…
‘Nothing more than PR’
Plans outlined today (March 9) by the embattled retailer Sports Direct, to choose a worker representative to sit in on its board meetings, drew a sceptical response from Unite. The union which…Read more…
‘The insulting Budget’
The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn summed up Philip Hammond, the Chancellor’s first and last spring budget – it was a budget that was complacent and out of touch he said. He could also have…Read more…
The ‘failure Budget’
Chancellor Philip Hammond brushed Brexit under the carpet as he laid out the last Spring Budget today, delivering paltry policies that will do nothing to alleviate austerity, low wages or job…Read more…
Under pressure
Today on International Women’s Day (March 8), much is made of the overall pay gap between men and women in the UK – now standing stubbornly high at 19 per cent. But what’s not as often talked…Read more…
Barclays closure slammed
Unite has today (March 8) condemned Barclays Bank for the announcement of the closure of their mortgage centre in Llanishen, Cardiff with the loss of over 180 jobs. The centre will close by the end…Read more…
AWE dispute ramps up
Angry workers at AWE plc – the Atomic Weapons Establishment – are ramping up their long-running pensions’ dispute with eight more days of strike action this spring. Unite, which represents…Read more…
An ‘extraordinary Budget’
The budget lacked the ambition and action to equip the nation for the challenges of Brexit, Unite said today (Wednesday March 8). Responding to Chancellor Philip Hammond’s budget, Unite…Read more…
We won’t be silenced
On October 31 2016 Amber Rudd, home secretary, made an announcement that sent shockwaves through the mining community – there was to be no enquiry into the violent policing at the Battle of Orgreave….Read more…
Culture change call
As people in the UK and the world over celebrate International Women’s Day today (March 8), Unite, the country’s largest construction union, will launch its Women in Construction Network on the first…Read more…
Wake up to what women need
As the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, gets ready to deliver his Budget today, he would do well to remember the 47 per cent. That’s the proportion of women in the UK workforce. With this year’s…Read more…
Positive about the future
When 20-year-old Liam McBerney catches up with his old school friends the talk inevitably turns to the future. What becomes apparent, says Liam, is that today’s uncertain and changeable economy is a…Read more…
Unite boosting pay
Unite, the foremost experts on negotiating pay in London and the East of England, have launched a blueprint for boosting workers’ pay amid rising inflation and slow pay growth in 2017. Unite…Read more…