As part of Disability History Month this month, UNITElive will publish one story each day featuring the many Unite members with disabilities who are fighting for a better world for all. Today,…Read more…
Workplace safety enforcement in freefall
I have just read a paper that was produced a couple of months ago on health and safety inspections conducted by Local Authorities. They inspect the majority of workplaces, including most offices,…Read more…
Historic UN deal – union resolve is “stronger than ever” – ITUC
The UN has reached an important, maybe even historic, Agreement after an unprecedented diplomatic effort in Paris. Yet it’s ambition is clearly not enough to avoid dangerous climate change. This can only be seen as the end of the beginning of climate change action, nationally and globally….Read more…
World-class standards threat
The Knowledge – a test that all black cab drivers must take in order to obtain a licence – is an integral part in maintaining London’s world-class black cab trade standards. But now, the…Read more…
Caught cold
Many parents well know the stresses and strains of having a child too ill to go to school when mum and dad need to be at work. This need not (and should not) be the case – as the TUC is…Read more…
Revving up
Confirmation that Jaguar Land Rover is to open a car factory in Slovakia has been hailed as “great news” by Unite. The deal with the Slovakian government will see the British based company…Read more…
Steel jobs saved
Unite welcomed the news today (December 11) of the further sale of businesses from the Caparo Industries Group to the Gupta family which secures over 600 jobs, based mainly in the West Midlands….Read more…
#COP21: Call to Action to Defend Humanity and the Planet
Global human rights, trade union and civil society organisations final appeal to French Presidency and all governments at COP21 to show true leadership, by ensuring that the protection of rights, equality and ecosystems are restored at the core of the …Read more…
Work and Well-being – How to get involved
In the past year or so far more employers in the UK have been introducing “well-being” schemes in the workplace. This follows a trend that we have seen in the USA where 70% of Fortune 200 companies…Read more…
“Robin’s alive!” European Financial Transactions Tax almost complete
On Tuesday, Finance Ministers from 10 countries around Europe negotiating the introduction of a Robin Hood Tax reached a landmark decision. It’s not the end of the process, but it is at least the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end: agreement to implement a broad-based tax, using…Read more…
China persecutes activists to prevent its own reforms from succeeding
The government of China has engaged in a nasty and bizarre campaign of repression against labour activists, just as its own reforms threatened to do some good. A few days ago, Zeng Feiyang, Director…Read more…
East European Migrants and the Welfare State
A new report was published today that ought to have a massive impact on what the politicians say about migration. It’s called Social dimension of intra-EU mobility: Impact on public services and it looks at the impact in West European countries of migration from the ten new member states in…Read more…
Speaking up for trade union rights on Human Rights Day
Thousands of trade unionists around the world have lost their lives standing up for workers’ rights and social justice. Countless others have suffered, and continue to suffer persecution and denial…Read more…
Frozen out
Unite is seeking urgent discussions with management after workers at Bombardier in Northern Ireland overwhelmingly rejected a pay offer as part of cuts to the Belfast operation. Members had…Read more…
Let’s work together
Local government workers from Edinburgh and Glasgow city councils are calling on Holyrood MSPs to work with them in tackling an estimated £15bn billion debt crisis across Scotland’s councils. …Read more…
‘Dickensian’ work conditions
Imagine working on the statutory minimum wage, now set at £6.70 per hour – well below what’s needed to meet basic expenses in the first place – only to discover you aren’t getting paid even this…Read more…
#COP21: Giving meaning to the four strands of climate justice
None of the four strands of climate justice – research, education, training and public awareness – have made the headlines at COP21, yet the conference “fringe” has been full of such debates. Whatever the final UN Agreement looks like, there will need to be an operational strategy that shifts…Read more…
Conspiracy and cover up
A Tory government which launched a head-on confrontation with trade unions in the early 1970s conspired with police and MI5 to help jail six striking building workers who picketed sites in Shrewsbury…Read more…
Ambulance crisis looms
The number of paramedics and other ambulance staff leaving the NHS has nearly doubled in four years with thousands more planning to quit imminently. Poor working conditions and low pay are…Read more…
Don’t let young people be scrooged by bad bosses
The story of 15-year-old Jay El-Leboudy is a touching tale of a young man juggling part-time work alongside his school studies in order to buy his family Christmas presents. Except that’s not how the story ends. Because whilst Jay thought his ten weeks of work would be appropriately rewarded, his…Read more…