This Conservative government looks set to usher in an era of rising income inequality not seen since the time of Margaret Thatcher, according to a new report published yesterday (February 1). …Read more…
Unite’s first Brexit conference – GS speech
(Check against delivery) Good morning and thanks to our North West Region’s invite to speak at this important conference on Brexit – and the effects leaving the European Union will have on our…Read more…
‘Trump Tower’ deals spell harm
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey has warned that working class communities face the `fight of their lifetimes’ to fend off a ‘hard’ exit from the European Union. He issued the warning…Read more…
Designing a responsible corporate tax policy for Brexit Britain
Last month, the Prime Minister announced the government’s new industrial strategy through a green paper, inviting responses via a consultation. In a 132-page document, tax was mentioned just 14 times. Yet it is undoubtedly the case that taxation is a core component of a government’s economy policy….Read more…
Working for the best Brexit
Workers from leading companies across the north west are gathering in Liverpool for a conference today (February 2) specially convened by Unite, the UK’s biggest manufacturing union, to press for…Read more…
David Gauke’s response to our NHS funding campaign just isn’t adding up – #FullyFundourNHS
Our petition calling on Philip Hammond to commit to a financial reset for the NHS in the Autumn Statement received 11,764 signatures. We delivered it to the HM Treasury – only to find NHS funding was completely missing in the Autumn Statement. We have a number of concerns over the response we…Read more…
Working class musn’t pay for Brexit
Workers from leading companies across the north west will gather in Liverpool for a conference tomorrow (February 2) specially convened by Unite, the UK’s biggest manufacturing union, to press for…Read more…
Out of the mouths of babes
Croydon NHS is being forced to take the milk out of babies’ mouths in an attempt to save £30m this financial year. According to Croydon Council Commission Group it spends £395,000 per year on…Read more…
How can we respond to Trumponomics?
How to respond to the populism and protectionism of Donald Trump will be one of the biggest challenges facing mainstream economists and politicians in 2017. A good starting point for that debate might be Martin Wolf’s wide ranging article in today’s Financial Times (£), ‘Donald Trump’s tough…Read more…
Priced out of justice
The government today (January 31) published a review into the introduction of Employment Tribunal (ET) fees and their impact, which showed a dramatic fall in the number of cases brought forward….Read more…
‘Bonkers’
Although trade unions are at the forefront of delivering and supporting apprenticeships across all industrial sectors, it was revealed on Friday (January 27) that not one trade union representative…Read more…
Community nurses’ jobs slash shocker
Demonstrators will gather outside the East Yorkshire headquarters of the Humber NHS Foundation Trust tomorrow (February 1), to protest against plans to slash health visitors and school nurses by 25…Read more…
MPs debate Brexit: we want to know what will happen to our rights at work
Today, the second reading debate for the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill 2016-17 begins. Or in shorthand, MPs will finally start debating Article 50, or the start of the Brexit negotiations. It has taken a long time to get something substantive debated – something more than…Read more…
Tata jobs – at a price
Tata steelworkers are set to vote in a ballot that opened today (January 30) over the company’s proposals to rescue the Port Talbot steelworks, commit to investment and save thousands of jobs across…Read more…
Choppers chopped out?
Business secretary Greg Clark is being asked why there is no mention of UK helicopter production in the government’s much-heralded industrial strategy. Unite has written to Greg Clark,…Read more…
Invest in HMRC call
Britain’s richest people seem to be getting preferential treatment from the taxman and are not being properly pursued for their outstanding tax bills, according to parliament’s spending watchdog….Read more…
Common cause
The leaders of Unite and a major global auto-maker have agreed to build common cause in defence of UK car manufacturing’s access to the European Union’s single market post-Brexit it was announced on…Read more…
Dark satanic mills: Lobbyists fight against EU’s workplace cancer protection
If you were told that more than 100,000 premature deaths in Europe each year could be prevented with a few policy changes, wouldn’t you think it was about time? Unfortunately not everyone agrees: this is the story of how industry is ducking its responsibility to protect workers from cancer-causing…Read more…
End class pay bias call
The gender pay gap is well known and well documented – it now stands at just over 18 per cent in the UK. Likewise, the pay gap between white and black and ethnic minority (BAEM) workers has also long…Read more…
Overseas aid: definitely more about the politics than the money
I was discussing our local MP, Grant Shapps, with a neighbour on the train last week. What was he up to, we wondered, or rather, where had he disappeared to? Sadly, the question was answered in this morning’s Sunday Times (£) where he wrote a moving self-criticism of his failure as a Minister…Read more…