More questions than answers arose yesterday (November 24), after the government announced the publication of its Strategic Defence Review, which outlined defence spending priorities for the next five…Read more…
Tesco Xmas disruption threat
Unite urged Tesco to revise a ‘pitiful’ pay offer of 0 per cent for 2015 and 1.5 per cent for 2016 today (November 24) to avoid potential industrial action in the run up to Christmas in its…Read more…
This is a full-scale attack on the NHS, the junior doctor contract is just the start
Let’s be crystal clear (something the Secretary of State for Health has been consistent in failing to do), the junior doctors’ contract dispute is about much more than the terms and conditions…Read more…
Let’s not forget the Chancellor’s low-key but significant boost to spending in 2014
Ahead of tomorrow’s spending review and in the wake of last week’s so-called ‘terrible’ government borrowing figures, a quick reminder that the government’s ‘long-term plan’ is not quite what it seems. The chart below shows the annual growth rates of government spending (wages and salaries,…Read more…
High price of failing to help
This government must now decide which it prefers – its party’s ideology or serious action to save UK manufacturing, says Unite general secretary Len McCluskey, as he addressed the Save our Steel…Read more…
Hunt’s quack remedy
“The NHS is struggling to cope with five day working,” says Dr Ron Singer, chair of Doctors in Unite. “How does Jeremy Hunt think it can cope with seven day a week working?” And, of course,…Read more…
Pay result for Wales’ farm staff
Farmworkers in Wales are set to be awarded a hefty six per cent cumulative pay rise through an Interim Agricultural Wages Order, leaving England’s agricultural workers further behind after the…Read more…
Public health at risk
Bowing to pressure from NHS chief executive Simon Stevens, health experts, unions and the public, chancellor George Osborne finally caved – the Treasury announced today (November 24) that £3.8bn in…Read more…
Big lottery robbery
Young people’s mental health interventions, women’s refuge projects and food banks could come under threat as the government may well look to cut £320m from the Big Lottery Fund. The services that…Read more…
Making work better – the key to the productivity puzzle
Politicians and policy makers talk a lot about the UK’s poor productivity record, with output per hour still below pre-crisis levels and well behind France, Germany and the USA. Narrowing the productivity gap with our competitors is worth a staggering £21,000 per year for every household in the UK….Read more…
Rights under attack
The Conservatives’ authoritarian trade union Bill will make England’s workers the least protected not only in Europe but also within the British Isles, Unite general secretary Len McCluskey warned…Read more…
Hidebound by ideology
George Orwell once noted, “Political language… is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” It perfectly sums up…Read more…
No Racism: Refugees Welcome Here
The St Andrew’s Day Anti-Racism March and Rally this year has the theme ‘No Racism: Refugees Welcome Here.’ The rally will take place on Sat 28th Nov, Assemble 10:30am Glasgow Green. Below is a…Read more…
Korea’s broken promises sound alarm over OECD membership & trade agreements
South Korea is often held up as the poster boy for international development. A poverty-stricken country after the war with the North, and ruled by a military dictatorship from 1961 to 1987, it is…Read more…
Behind the blue lights: Life in the frontline of Cameron’s NHS
Dave, a paramedic from the Midlands, shares a frank view of life in NHS emergency services starved of funding and struggling to meet the demand Friday. Just started a 12 hour late shift. On again…Read more…
Act now to save UK
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey addresses the Save our Steel rally in Sheffield, November 21. The event brought together hundreds of members and their families, travelling from Wales,…Read more…
‘As sure as night follows day’
Working people from all corners of the UK made their way to the steel city of Sheffield last Saturday (November 21) to defend Britain’s steel industry and convince the government to take action…Read more…
No Racism: Refugees Welcome Here
The St Andrew’s Day Anti-Racism March and Rally this year has the theme ‘No Racism: Refugees Welcome Here.’ The rally will take place on Sat 28th Nov, Assemble 10:30am Glasgow Green. Below is a…Read more…
It’s time for real action to #SaveOurSteel
I was proud to speak in November 2015 in the Steel City, Sheffield, at a big rally in solidarity with the thousands of steelworkers fighting for their jobs, their livelihoods and their communities. Hundreds of workers and supporters came together to send a clear message to the government that we…Read more…
The Six Week Wait – Already Causing Hardship
People getting the government’s new Universal Credit often have to wait six weeks for their first money and this is causing them problems with their bills, according to a new report. Some have had to turn to food banks. Waiting for Credit is a new report written by a group of 16…Read more…