Patricia Graham is a learning progress manager and ATL rep at Aston Academy in Sheffield. In my school the senior leadership team (SLT) has done a lot to address workload. At the end of last year,…Read more…
Who let the cats out? Priti Patel suggests we could lose half our EU work rights after #Brexit
Prominent Brexiteer Priti Patel MP joined the growing number of her colleagues who’ve let the Leave campaign’s cats out of their bags yesterday, in her speech to the Institute of Directors. “If we could just halve the burdens of the EU social and employment legislation we could…Read more…
Worrying increase in sanctions against the sick and disabled
Today’s figures revealed that sanctions against Employment and Support (ESA) claimants increased in December to 1,708. This was up by 451 on the previous month. ESA is the out-of-work benefit for people whose illness, health condition or disability makes it difficult or impossible to work. To…Read more…
Employment slowing down, pay still disappointing
Today’s labour market figures from the Office for National Statistics again show encouraging employment and unemployment figures, but again there are signs that the jobs recovery is slowing down and the numbers for earnings continue to disappoint. But first the good news. The employment rate in…Read more…
More jobs and investment
Financial media reported that JBS, the largest global food manufacturer, has informed its shareholders that it will seek to relocate headquarters to Ireland, a move that Unite has welcomed. …Read more…
The case for hope
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell yesterday (May 17) addressed young people at the TUC, as he outlined Labour’s case to back Remain in next month’s momentous EU referendum. It’s a case…Read more…
Will the disability employment gap ever be halved?
The TUC has published new analysis of the Labour Force Survey (LFS) ahead of its annual Disabled Workers’ conference which shows the differences in employment, unemployment and earnings between disabled and non-disabled workers. We have set out some key findings below. The government…Read more…
More employees want to work from home – how can we make it happen?
Today marks the 11th National Work from Home Day, organised by Work Wise UK, who promote smarter working (flexible working, good homeworking and mobile working). The good news is that there has been some real progress over the past decade, with employe…Read more…
Pay rise? What pay rise?
Workers can expect their pay packets to stagnate until at least 2020 unless the government intervenes to help raise productivity across the country, the Chartered Institute for Personnel and…Read more…
Fair pay plea
Unite members working for Teesside oil refinery, Hertel UK, are to be balloted for industrial action in a dispute over pay. The company has been notified that workers who provide repair and…Read more…
Austerity max
An angry demonstration has been staged against plans to cut health spending in Fife by tens of millions of pounds. Unite members joined local people in staging a noisy protest at Kirkcaldy’s…Read more…
A Daily Mail hat trick: an attack on women, an attack on unions, and an attack on the EU
So who do you trust to come up with an informed and considered position on how the legislative framework that covers abortion could be improved: a Daily Mail journalist or the Royal College of Midwives, a union representing some X midwives who have ded…Read more…
‘Reckless and short sighted’
HSBC will axe 840 jobs in IT departments in a ‘reckless’ drive to offshore jobs to India, China and Poland said Unite, today (May 16). The announcement of 840 job cuts is the first wave of IT…Read more…
‘Dehumanising’ trial extended
Hardworking families are now being targeted by the government’s vicious benefit sanctions regime, a major new study has found. As well as finding that vulnerable unemployed people are being…Read more…
Brazil teeters on the brink of counter-revolution
Brazilian union leader Joao Felicio, now President of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), is flying into London this week to stir up opposition to the counter-revolution underway in…Read more…
Our banking system just isn’t working for the real economy
Today the BBC are reporting that over 600 local bank branches have been closed in the last 12 months. It’s a tragedy both for staff who have lost jobs and for the communities that need the service they provided. It also poses a crucial question for unions about how we get the kind of banking…Read more…
Vital bus to be cut
Government cuts to the NHS have led to the axing of an essential hospital shuttle bus service for sick and elderly patients and their families and friends. The 15-seat, 22-mile service that…Read more…
Culture of fear
Unite is warning of a “culture of fear” stalking North Sea offshore workers as the industry braces itself for more cuts. The union is deeply concerned about the health and safety of workers,…Read more…
‘Backwards vision’ Wales can’t afford
UKIP’s move into Welsh politics was facilitated by fear-mongering and empty promises “in areas that feel abandoned”, according to the campaign group, Hope Not Hate. The right wing party made…Read more…
Brexit won’t save us from #TTIP: Our own government are part of the problem
A common argument from the Vote Leave camp in the upcoming EU referendum is that Brexit could save us from the many negative impacts of the EU-US TTIP trade deal. But unfortunately there isn’t a quick way out. The truth is that outside the EU we would be facing the prospect of even worse…Read more…