About 4,000 employees at AWE Plc – the Atomic Weapons Establishment – are the latest group of UK workers to see their defined benefit pension scheme threatened with closure and an inferior…Read more…
State Pension Age: Cridland identifies the challenges but the way forward remains unclear
John Cridland, one suspects, has probably spent much of the summer in a darkened room with a cold flannel over his eyes. The former boss of the employer’s group the CBI has produced, under the auspices of his Independent Review of State Pension Age, a useful and sophisticated account of the many…Read more…
Rethink cuts
Plans to axe all the librarians working for Westminster city council and Kensington and Chelsea council will damage a first class library service and should be put to public consultation, Britain’s…Read more…
Mean spirited
The decision by the Post Office to push ahead with the closure of its defined salary pension scheme from the end of March next year has been condemned as ‘unnecessary’ and ‘mean spirited’ by Unite….Read more…
Safeguard budgets
A House of Commons debate on sudden infant death deaths should reinforce the need for health visitor budgets to be safeguarded according to Unite. Today’s (Thursday 13 October) backbench…Read more…
Fujitsu hammer blow
Fujitsu’s plans to axe 1,800 jobs – about 18 per cent of its UK workforce – has been branded ‘a hammer blow’ to the British economy by Unite. Unite national officer for IT, Ian Tonks,…Read more…
The Brexit economy: the ship seems steady, but the waters are choppy
If you’re confused about the state of the UK economy in the wake of the Brexit vote, we don’t blame you. In the past few days alone you might have heard that consumer confidence is at its highest level for two years. Maybe you’ve read that business confidence is “bouncing back” with optimism…Read more…
Combating racism
Unite is reaching out to NHS workplaces to combat the scourge of racism that holds back the promotion prospects of black Asian and ethnic minority (BAEM) workers in the health service. Unite…Read more…
Brexit: Britain voted for change
Four months after the vote, the only thing we know for sure is what we knew on the morning of June 24: we are coming out of the EU. The question is, into whose or what arms do we leap? …Read more…
Pensions: It’s a man’s, man’s, man’s world
The late James Brown had a complicated enough life without worrying about UK pensions saving. But the Godfather of Soul’s famous, if patronising, take on gender politics provides an appropriate soundtrack for the state of British retirement savings. Women make up just 36 per cent of those eligible…Read more…
Big win for Robin Hood Tax in Europe
Earlier this week, Finance Ministers from 10 Eurozone countries finally reached agreement on the principle of a Robin Hood Tax. Legislative drafting will now begin, and campaigners will be pressing the Ministers to conclude the details by December. Mea…Read more…
Official: Universal Credit is “less generous” than tax credits
For the first time, an authoritative statutory body has recognised that the cuts to Universal Credit announced in last summer’s Budget will mean that it is much less generous than was originally planned, making it effectively a cut when compared with Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit which it…Read more…
Govt must engage with Unite now
Unite has warned that investment decisions by major carmakers on the production of up to 15 new models in the UK are ‘hanging by a thread’ unless the government secures tariff free access to the…Read more…
Southern Rail – it’s about time you listened to your passengers
Meet Chris Hogg, a 36 year old lyricist from Sutton in Surrey. Every week Chris travels by Southern Rail, taking the train from Sutton to Ashtead to attend his music class. Chris is a wheel chair…Read more…
Jailed Kurdish leader released
Unite the union and Labour front bench MP Kate Osamor were delighted to witnessed the release of jailed Kurdish political leader Kamuran Yüksek in Tukey on Saturday October 8. Kamuran…Read more…
Life and death: a tale of inequality
The latest figures for life expectancy and healthy life expectancy show that where you live can be a matter of life and death: the more deprived your town or district, the lower your life expectancy. The data, from the Office for National Statistics, show life expectancy for men and women for…Read more…
In the balance
Tomorrow (Wednesday October 12) Unite’s manufacturing combine will be launching Brexit on our terms – Unite’s strategy to defend manufacturing jobs, investment and employment rights. Called…Read more…
Is Southern Rail putting savings before safety?
Last week Southern Rail’s attempts to blame its shambolic running of the franchise on its staff and the RMT monumentally backfired – with passengers taking to Twitter to tell Southern what they…Read more…
‘For respect and equality’
Many Unite members proudly attended Sunday’s (October 9) 80th anniversary celebrations of the Battle of Cable Street in Tower Hamlets, London. On Sunday, October 4, 1936 around a quarter…Read more…
Mental health services ‘reeling’
Mental health services are reeling from a funding crisis, low morale and increased workloads, says a survey of NHS applied psychologists released today (October 10) by Unite. Unite’s survey…Read more…