All the union news that's fit to blog...
I left home aged 18 to go to polytechnic in London and never moved back to live at home with my parents yet every general election time my mum would always call me and remind me to vote and rightly castigate me if I ever tried to say it’s not worth it. I grew […]
The post Songs of power appeared first on UNITElive.org.
The so-called “record numbers” in which women are in work obscures an inconvenient truth – that women are hurting now more than ever. A new TUC report published today (March 9) has found that women have been overwhelmingly funnelled into part-time, low-paid jobs over the past year, with less than half of women’s net […]
The post Struggling to survive appeared first on UNITElive.org.
Northern Ireland, where public sector spending represents almost three-quarters of the region’s GDP, faces the worst cuts in 80 years. The 2015-2016 budget, which follows four straight years of austerity, entails slashing £1.3bn in funding in the next four years – a budget which public sector workers have unequivocally rejected. Unite members working […]
The post No to austerity appeared first on UNITElive.org.
Crossing the border to Wales late on Friday night with an air of excitement for what we all knew was going to be a big day, the bus crew were laying out voter registration forms, with pens on clipboards, so we’d be ready bright and early the next day. Reflecting now, we’re glad […]
The post ‘Sorry, I’m not political’ appeared first on UNITElive.org.
David Cameron won the leadership of his party telling activists to “let sunshine win the day”. Into the 2010 General Election he went, promising to clean up a political system discredited by MPs’ expenses. Here was the man to bring about transparency in the lobbying industry and even end “crony capitalism”, to heal Britain’s sickly politics. […]
The post End this courting of the powerful appeared first on UNITElive.org.
Female figures from history are virtually invisible. Think of the statues in London alone — where are the women? Not in Trafalgar Square, nor in Parliament Square. In fact, of the 640 listed statues in Britain, only 15 per cent are of women. In London it’s a measly 7 per cent. One such “un-statued” […]
The post The ‘un-statued’ women appeared first on UNITElive.org.
In water cooler moments up and down the land everyone agrees that the fast approaching general election will be ‘the closest ever’. All political parties are now scrambling to maximise their vote on May 7. But on what will the result hinge? Might it be the expected meltdown of the Lib Dems, the […]
The post Women – we got the power appeared first on UNITElive.org.
Unite’s members working for Parcelforce overwhelmingly rejected a pay offer that management went ahead with, prompting the union today (March 6) to warn the courier company that it risks inciting industrial action. The bosses of Parcelforce, a subsidiary of the Royal Mail, implemented a paltry 2.8 per cent pay rise backdated to July 2014, […]
The post Taken for granted appeared first on UNITElive.org.
The story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs – six farm workers imprisoned and transported to Australia for their attempt to prevent falls in their wages by forming a “friendly society” in 1834 – is the story of trade unionism’s birth in this country. The six men who ignited a movement are remembered in books and […]
The post Where the Martyrs worshipped appeared first on UNITElive.org.
The construction of Britain’s first nuclear power plant in a generation may see delays as it faces continued legal challenges from European critics, including the Austrian government and a co-operative of energy suppliers in Germany. The construction of the Hinkley Point C plant – which will be a boon for the local and wider […]
The post Nuclear build delays? appeared first on UNITElive.org.
Unite, along with the Mirror, Hope not hate, and Operation Black Vote have embarked on a bus tour across the UK to encourage some of the 7m people who are eligible to vote but are not registered to sign up and get on the register for the election on May 7. Below is short […]
The post Southampton calling appeared first on UNITElive.org.
As taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland announces further job cuts, all while continuing to give its top brass millions in bonuses, the story reads much the same for another UK bank. On Tuesday (March 3), Antony Jenkins, chief executive of Barclays bank, graciously accepted a bonus that takes his total pay to £5.5m, up […]
The post End casino capitalism call appeared first on UNITElive.org.
As UNITElive reported last week, the taxpayer-owned bank RBS announced that a major restructuring program was on the horizon but failed to give any details. But two unnamed sources familiar with the matter revealed to the Financial Times March 3 that up to four out of five jobs in the bank’s investment division might […]
The post Major job losses on the horizon appeared first on UNITElive.org.
The searing cold sun shone on the big red vote boosting bus today as we rolled onto Sussex University campus, Brighton. We weren’t sure what to expect from the student body at Sussex, as their university has become a hotbed of protest and mass occupation during the past few years. This is how our […]
The post Vote boosters! appeared first on UNITElive.org.
Walking into a room of Unite members – bus drivers working on the South East coast, I mention the upcoming general election. This raises a grunt, followed by a laugh, and then a nervous silence. Politics has become a taboo subject, many don’t think it’s their place and certainly don’t feel comfortable discussing it […]
The post Taboo subject appeared first on UNITElive.org.
Domestic workers are one step closer to getting the justice they deserve, as the House of Lords passed an amendment to the Modern Slavery Bill last week which would free the migrant workers from being tied to one employer as a condition of their visa. Now, the bill must go through the House […]
The post Saying it with flowers appeared first on UNITElive.org.
Workers maintaining tens of thousands of miles of UK motorways secured a much improved pay deal today (March 3). The Unite members, working for Amey in four different depots in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Buckinghamshire, accepted the two-year pay deal following the first day of an unprecedented week-long strike action. Amey’s workers, who grit […]
The post Pay deal victory appeared first on UNITElive.org.
The NoVoteNoVoice whistle stop bus tour is off to Brighton and Hove tomorrow (March 4) and then onwards to Southampton the following day (March 5), in an unprecedented voter registration drive that’s hoping to reverse the millions of people missing from the electoral roll. The bus tour, organised by a coalition of groups including […]
The post The value of voting appeared first on UNITElive.org.
As the NoVoteNoVoice tour bus kicked off its whistle stop tour last weekend, it rolled into Rayleigh, Essex, with the cast of hit reality TV show TOWIE (The Only Way is Essex) lending a hand to encourage the nation to register to vote. As the Daily Mirror reported today (March 3), TOWIE’s stars, including […]
The post Voting – more vital than ever appeared first on UNITElive.org.
Hundreds gathered outside US-based health service firm Maximus’ headquarters in London today (March 2) to protest the tick-box regime that robs disabled people of their rightful benefits entitlements. Unite community joined the Disabled People against Cuts (DPAC) demonstration in criticism against Work Capability Assessments (WCA), degrading tests carried out by profit-hungry firms on behalf […]
The post Fighting a ‘broken system’ appeared first on UNITElive.org.