Nansi Ellis, ATL assistant general secretary (policy), gives us her take on the first 100 days of a Conservative government. When I start a project, I usually spend some time scribbling ideas. I let…Read more…
Boon for business
Workers in the hair and beauty industry are more likely than others to be stiffed of their entitled National Minimum Wage. That’s why in July, the HMRC launched a campaign specifically targeting the…Read more…
Hitting the gangbusters
Jim Sheridan, the former Labour MP whose law targeted illegal gangmasters exploiting migrant workers and ripping off the tax and benefit system says the law must be updated and extended. Jim…Read more…
Taking the fight for workers’ European rights to top bosses
Prime Minister David Cameron has revamped his Business Advisory Group, and their first task will be to advise him on his EU renegotiation strategy ahead of the referendum on Britain’s…Read more…
Migration Advisory Committee report: no evidence for government net migration target
Today the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), the independent research body that advises the government on migration policy, published its report on whether raising salary levels might reduce the number of migrants entering the country. The government asked the MAC to undertake this research to…Read more…
This politicisation of public examinations must not be allowed to happen
On Sunday, schools minister Nick Gibb is reported to have expressed ‘greatest concern’ in response to Ofqual’s report on OCR’s problems in marking exam papers in time last summer. Apparently,…Read more…
Dangers for lone wardens
To some the term city wardens might conjure up images of eager ‘jobsworths’ doling out as many parking tickets as they can. But for wardens in Aberdeen it’s about so much more than just parking….Read more…
What’s happening to earnings?
This is one of those ‘one chart says it all’ posts. Yesterday I was too busy looking at the regular labour market figures from the Office for National Statistics to notice they’d also published a Supplementary Analysis of Average Weekly Earnings. It’s well worth a read, and…Read more…
What should China do now?
Global markets are understandably jittery at what has become the biggest fall in the remnibi, China’s currency, since the 1990s. Duncan Weldon explained what is going on with his customary clarity on last night’s Newsnight programme. In a nutshell, between the reforms of the late 1970s and the…Read more…
‘Gotta move those microwave ovens’? Not likely
The delivery of thousands of essential white goods, from fridge freezers, washing machines to cookers, will be severely disrupted, as more than 200 drivers and warehouse staff at Indesit UK Ltd gear…Read more…
RBS: justice for tax-payer call
Unite, Move Your Money and campaign group Sum of Us held a short demonstration outside the Treasury and delivered a petition calling on George Osborne to halt the sale of publicly owned shares in the…Read more…
Stop the lower standards ‘conveyer belt’
A pharmacy crisis about maintaining professional standards is looming, as cash-hungry universities accept a ‘conveyer belt’ of students, many of whom fail at the final hurdle. The Guild of…Read more…
Stop the fire sale
Campaigners from Unite and other groups gathered outside the Treasury this morning (August 12) to protest chancellor George Osborne’s knock-down sale of taxpayers’ stake in RBS. Last week…Read more…
Fragile recovery
The fragile nature of the so-called economic recovery, particularly outside London and the south east, has been highlighted by the latest rise in unemployment, Unite said today (August 12). …Read more…
‘Permission to view’
Supermarket pharmacies are to get access to the records of millions of NHS patients for the first time this autumn amid concerns about confidentiality and the exploitation of the information for…Read more…
The foundation stone
August 12, 2015 marks the 126th anniversary of the start of The Great Dock Strike of 1889. Now, Unite has published a free booklet on this historic event. Before 1889 trade union membership…Read more…
Stop the tips outrage
As the media caught up with Pizza Express’ outrageous policy of charging it’s waiting staff an 8 per cent service charge on tips (August 10), Unite members demonstrated outside a Pizza Express…Read more…
EDF strike suspended
Two days of strike action by EDF Energy staff that would have affected the rollout of a Smart meter installation programme across London and southern and western England have been suspended for…Read more…
Claim your vote!
“Trade unions built the Labour Party,” columnist and author Owen Jones, who is also a committed trade union member, told UNITElive. That’s why, Jones believes, all Unite members should…Read more…
JLR: Safeguard our future plea
Unite welcomed Jaguar Land Rover’s (JLR) continued investment in the business, but today (August 11)warned against it being to the detriment of the UK workforce who had worked tirelessly to make the…Read more…