This Easter, the NASUWT 2016 International Solidarity Award went to the Turkish teachers’ trade union Egitim Sen, for its bravery in standing up for justice, democracy, labour and trade union…Read more…
Iranian teacher unions – good & bad news
Despite returning to the international community and the victory for moderates in the Parliamentary elections a month ago, life gets no better for trade unionists in Iran. As UK teacher unions hold…Read more…
Steel works saved
Unite today (March 24) welcomed the news that metals firm Liberty House has signed a deal to buy the Clydebridge and Dalzell steel works from Tata Steel and urged UK minsters to look at Scotland’s…Read more…
Shrink back shock
UK manufacturing has rapidly deteriorated to the point that it is now among the worst performers in the developed world, a shocking new report revealed today (March 24). The UK manufacturing…Read more…
Pregnancy bias: Unite call secures study
A government study that exposes the disgraceful pregnancy and maternity discrimination experienced by three out of four working mothers has finally been released, following pressure from Unite….Read more…
Unions & brands press Cambodia over union law
A global union campaign to ensure fair labour laws in Cambodia has won the support of multinational brands and NGOs. IndustriALL and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) are supporting…Read more…
Another graph for Nicky Morgan: Public service cuts make budget inequality even worse
The hapless performance of Education Minister Nicky Morgan on BBC’s Newsnight when confronted with evidence of the distributional impact of her government’s tax and benefit cuts made for cringeworthy TV. Morgan seemed genuinely shocked at the disproportionate losses inflicted on lower…Read more…
Shares tumble after Ashley’s ‘own goal’ comment
Sports Direct billionaire owner Mike Ashely has claimed that the scrutiny of his company’s practices are damaging its sales at the expense of profit. Shares had already more than halved since…Read more…
Ashley: Contempt charges
Billionaire Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley faces contempt of parliament charges if he now fails to turn up to face MPs on June 7. MPs investigating mistreatment of his workers wish to…Read more…
Defend our spend
Unite convened a special conference this week in Preston, which saw the launch of the union’s ‘Defend our Spend’ campaign that aims to press the government to keep UK defence spending in Britain….Read more…
390,000 women a year are discriminated against in pregnancy yet only 1% take tribunal claim
Today the EHRC published its long awaited report and recommendations on pregnancy discrimination. This follows on from last year’s interim report which found that 54,000 women per year are forced out of their jobs due to pregnancy discrimination. The final report leads with the astounding headline…Read more…
Wanted: Mike Ashley – Is this high noon for Sports Direct?
A showdown is brewing between billionaire Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley, and MPs investigating mistreatment of workers in his sportswear empire. The BIS Select Committee have been trying to…Read more…
Select committee holds government to account over gender pay gap
Just last week, the Chancellor proudly announced in the Budget that the government was winning on the gender pay gap. He said (pretty much cutting and pasting from previous speeches): “Inequality is down; and the gender pay gap has never been smaller.” But today we are told by the Women and…Read more…
Climbdown
The Prime Minister was forced into a humiliating climb down yesterday (March 21) on plans announced in the Budget to reduce the deficit by cutting personal independence payments (PIP) for disabled…Read more…
Secure future for Co-op workers
A two-day strike by Co-op drivers over the transfer of their jobs to transport and distribution company Eddie Stobart Ltd (ESL) has been suspended at the last minute. Industrial action was…Read more…
For males only?
A cross-party committee of MPs released a damning report today (March 22) into the government’s inadequate response to a yawning 20 per cent gender pay gap that’s showed no signs of abating over the…Read more…
Gender pay gap persists
The gender pay gap in the UK remains stubbornly high – despite so many advances in equalities over the last half century, women still only earn 80p for every £1 a man earns. Even more galling…Read more…
RSPCA: Board overhaul call
A survey of Royal Society for the Protection of Animals (RSPCA) staff has revealed that 43 per cent believed that the governance was ‘ineffective and poor’ with only four per cent satisfied with the…Read more…
Brexit economic shock
Leaving the EU will dramatically shrink the UK economy by £100bn over the next five years and could mean the loss of nearly 1m jobs, a new report from the Confederation of Business Industry (CBI) has…Read more…
For the future of our communities
Tens of thousands of skilled defence jobs are at risk from an ‘unpatriotic’ purchasing strategy that sees increasing amounts of UK defence expenditure flow to the US. That was the message from…Read more…