On Friday (August 28) a group of young activists gathered outside trendy bars and restaurants on Glasgow’s Ashton Lane to protest at a multi-million pound chain paying staff below the living wage. …Read more…
Tory wage plans need leap of faith
Plans by the government to penalise businesses which fail to pay the national minimum way and the living wage have drawn a sceptical response from Unite. Britain’s largest union has warned it…Read more…
No to tipping cap
Unite has firmly rejected government proposals to cap the amount in tips restaurants can deduct from waiting staff. The union — which has led a campaign for tipping fairness…Read more…
US fast food workers get a legal boost
A ruling this week in the USA by the US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has given a boost to unions, and the ‘alt.unions’ who are trying to build union organisation in the US fast food…Read more…
What an expert government body says about the Trade Union Bill
The government’s Trade Union Bill has taken a bit of a pounding lately. First there were the trade unions themselves, who are uniformly opposed to the bill. Then there was a joint letter from…Read more…
At risk: your BBC
It’s the time in the decade when the BBC’s Charter, granted by Parliament, comes up for review. The BBC’s enemies in government and the commercial media combine to throw at it everything…Read more…
You can’t burn down our rainbow!
As soon as I stepped on the train I saw big bright dresses, suitcases full of make-up and a whole carriage full of singing drag queens, from this point on I knew Brighton Pride was going to be the…Read more…
Trans issues: on our agenda
The new Women and Equalities Select Committee – a cross-party group of Members of Parliament – decided that its first action would be to hold an inquiry into the position of transgender people in the UK. The initial consultation period has just closed and the TUC made a submission (which you can…Read more…
Not even one per cent?
Just a month after Cameron’s post-election U-turn on a 10 per cent pay rise for MPs, Tories say public sector workers may not get their 1 per cent pay rise after all. Public sector workers…Read more…
Keep Goodyear in UK fight
The Goodyear Dunlop plant in Wolverhampton is productive, profitable and held up by the company as an example of how to do things right. So why do they want to close it and move production to…Read more…
Meter staff in pay loss protest
EDF Energy staff in London, southern and western England will be taking part in a 24-hour stoppage next Wednesday (September 2) following a breakdown in talks over proposals which could see some…Read more…
Fit to die?
The department for work and pensions’ (DWP) Work Capability Assessments aren’t fit for purpose and should be scrapped in their current form, Unite urged today as shock figures revealed over 4,000…Read more…
Intervene before it’s too late
Unite called for government action to help Britain’s steel industry as Tata Steel announced it would be mothballing its Llanwern steel mill with the loss of 250 jobs. Today’s (August 26) job…Read more…
Will the new Immigration Bill throw foreign students that work too many hours in jail?
The Immigration minister James Brokenshire yesterday announced more details about the forthcoming Immigration Bill. He stated that: “Through our new immigration bill, illegal workers will face the prospect of a prison term and rogue employers could have their businesses closed, have their licences…Read more…
Festival fights intolerance
A vibrant festival shows that celebrating diversity and fostering equality can be fun and inclusive to everyone in the community. And that was certainly the case on Saturday August 22 when…Read more…
‘No Minister’
The independent watchdog given the job of monitoring government legislation by business secretary Sajid Javid has told him his own Trade Union Bill is “not fit for purpose”. The watchdog gave…Read more…
Displaced and dispossessed
Imagine you have lived on a large estate as part of a community for almost 10 years. You raise your two daughters there alone but you have the support of friends you have made close by. One by…Read more…
TV tips debate
Watch Dave Turnbull, Unite National Officer for food and drink talking about fair tips on ITV’s This Morning. If you haven’t already please sign the petition here
The post TV tips…Read more…
Culture of fear
Contractors building the energy-from-waste plant at Wilton on Teesside are undercutting pay rates and using ‘exploitative’ employment practices say unions. Construction unions Unite, the GMB…Read more…
The largest one-day fall on FTSE since 2009 in its historical context
Yesterday global stock exchanges had their worse day for many years, for some unmatched since the financial crisis of 2008. The FTSE fell by 4.55%, the largest daily fall since 2 March 2009 (when down 5.3%); when markets shut the index was at 5899, its lowest ‘close’ for almost three…Read more…