Unite has described Sadiq Khan’s manifesto setting out his London Mayoral bid as a “programme of fairness” which will be welcomed by millions in the capital. Labour’s candidate has put…Read more…
A million new jobs for disabled people on the road to full employment?
The Chancellor of the Exchequer wants the UK to achieve full employment by creating more than two million new jobs by 2020. The Resolution Foundation, in its welcome new report, “The road to full employment: what the journey looks like and how to make progress”, sets out how to achieve this by…Read more…
A boss’s ‘flexible friend’?
The number of people whose main job is on a zero hours contract may well soar to 1m by the end of the year if current trends continue, according to the latest figures released on Wednesday (March 9)….Read more…
Will area reviews fix the skills gap?
Janet Clark is an education policy adviser at ATL The government recently published the latest guidance for the Review of Post-16 Education and Training (known as the area reviews). At 60 pages…Read more…
Women workers & the EU referendum
Frances O’Grady addressed the TUC Women’s Conference in London on Wednesday 9 March. Here is an edited version of the section of her speech that focused on the EU referendum, and the…Read more…
“Guten tag, pet!” Reforming the Posted Workers Directive
On Tuesday (8 March) the European Commission announced a long-waited revision of the twenty year-old Posted Workers Directive, which regulates the entitlements of workers sent by their employer to another EU country on a short-term project. Think of the characters in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet – they…Read more…
Train operating companies must be laughing all the way to the bank
A recent report by the Office for Road and Rail Regulation (ORR, 2014-15) shows that our privatised railways are still heavily dependent on taxpayers subsidies, while private train companies continue to pay out millions in shareholder dividends. In 2014-15, the government contributed £3.5bn to the…Read more…
Starved of funds
Unite Scotland has responded with scorn and concern to the latest finance figures which show there’s been close to £1.5 bn worth of cuts to local government since 2011. According to official…Read more…
Don’t kill affordable homes
Unite will join housing campaigners this Sunday (March 13) in opposing the government’s Housing and Planning Bill which, if passed, will annihilate affordable housing in the UK. Demonstrators…Read more…
Make NHS accountable
Unite members together with other campaigners will hand in a mass petition to the department of health tomorrow (March 11) supporting a parliamentary Bill restoring public accountability to the NHS….Read more…
Home ownership amongst the young is falling: urgent action needed
Bank Underground (the Bank of England blog, which is well worth subscribing to) today featured a fascinating piece about transactions in the housing market. Whilst the blog is rich in detail, and I would urge anyone interested to take a read, what stru…Read more…
Not for the status quo
Last night (March 9) Unite general secretary Len McCluskey addressed an audience at the German Embassy in London on why he will be voting to stay in the EU. You can read his full speech below. …Read more…
Vote for hope and solidarity
A vote to remain in the EU must be seen as a vote for a return to its original mission of solidarity and hope. It must not be taken as a thumbs up for the finance-first status quo which has brought…Read more…
‘It’s got to end’
Unite Community members were out in full force for Anti-Sanctions Day today (March 9), as dozens gathered outside the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to protest the government’s brutal – and…Read more…
“Sanctions just stink”
A man was waiting in the pouring rain outside the Jobcentre in the town of Shirebrook, Derbyshire. He was 15 minutes late for his appointment at 9.45 am, although he’d arrived on time. His…Read more…
Stop cruel sanctions plea
Today (March 9), across the country, thousands of campaigners protested against the government’s inhuman benefits sanction regime, which can stop Jobseekers Allowance for up to three years for often…Read more…
North east fights back
Unite Community members in the north east of England today mobilised in good numbers as part of the union’s biggest ever day of action against benefit sanctions. Protest rallies…Read more…
Under attack
Public sector workers are the backbone of society and keep essential services we often take for granted ticking over. Even though they’re invaluable to the smooth running of our country…Read more…
ONS pronounce on the future of inflation measurement, with RPI “not a good measure”
Today the National Statistician John Pullinger published advice on the ‘future of consumer inflation statistics in the UK’ (here). The trade union movement has taken a close interest in these issues and has contributed to the debate at various points. The purpose of this blog is to…Read more…
Reporting on modern slavery risks: the union factor
Modern slavery is an international phenomenon and comes in many forms ranging from East European migrants in the UK food industry in debt to trafficking gangs, to Nepalese workers on Middle Eastern construction sites with no access to their ID documents. The UK’s Modern Slavery Act 2015 not only…Read more…