Today the TUC issues its Budget statement, accompanied by a report: ‘The price of austerity’. We know the government’s story: austerity was necessary to repair the profligacy of the Labour years and the unprecedented deficit in the wake of the financial crisis. But in spite of savage cuts to jobs,…Read more…
Does politics speak to the young?
As UNITElive has reported before, young people are among the groups least likely to vote. Many young people say they feel that politics simply doesn’t speak to them. But a new Ipsos Mori poll suggests that social media may be the key to engaging young voters, who are becoming increasingly reliant on platforms such […]
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Pushed to the wire
Unite’s public sector workers in Northern Ireland have had enough, writes Unite Ireland region secretary, Jimmy Kelly Unite is joining forces with other unions to take mass strike action today (March 13) in defence of Northern Irish public services. Workers across the health, education, public transport, housing and wider public sector will be taking part in […]
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Five ways the government is failing NHS patients
In its damning report last month, the King’s Fund health think tank criticised the government’s reforms as “damaging and distracting” for introducing even more markets to the NHS, for making it too complex to govern properly and lacking effective leadership. The man behind these NHS reforms, former…Read more…
Final stop reached in search for missing voters
Alarming numbers across the north east have dropped off the electoral roll which has prompted the #NoVoteNoVoice campaign to head to Newcastle on the final day of its whistlestop trip around England and Wales. Just 53 days from the 2015 general election the roadshow will hold a ‘mini carnival’ between 10am and 5pm with […]
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Typhoo staff climb on board vote sign-up bus
As the #NoVoteNoVoice bus pulled up outside the Wirral factory this week, workers left the tea-making production line to climb on board and ensure they’ll have their say in May’s General Election. They need to. We all do. There is a wave of apathy verging on resentment towards the political classes right now. Scandals […]
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Sharp fall in construction output as house-building slumps
Construction output fell -2.6% between December 2014 and January 2015, the fourth monthly decline in the past six months. The main factor behind the decline in January was a sharp fall in house-building of -5.1% on the month. There has been only one la…Read more…
More than a Budget needed for our Foundation Industries
If the Coalition’s last Budget has anything to offer the real economy, immediate relief for energy intensive industries from the cost of renewables on their energy bills has to be a top priority. This charge alone, not paid by EU competitors who support their industries, adds £8 to a tonne of…Read more…
Hire and fire free for all?
UKIP leader Nigel Farage has stoked up a firestorm after saying he would scrap laws that protect workers from discrimination. Laws which protect workers from a range of discrimination by employers should be scrapped, UKIP leader Nigel Farage has said. His comments have been condemned by Unite as “dangerous and crude”. […]
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After the crisis: is gender equality back on track?
Women’s employment is at a record high and the full-time gender pay gap is narrowing. But is the steady progress towards greater gender equality in the UK’s workplaces really back on track? The headlines mask some significant labour market changes for women in the years since the financial crash…Read more…
Saving Our Safety Net Fact of the Week: life expectancy in the poorest parts of the country is up to 9 years less than in the richest
In this series I’ve mainly concentrated on inequality between individuals and the poverty that affects classes of people, like disabled people or women. But our society is divided geographically too and statistics released last week revealed that the more disadvantaged an area is, the lower the…Read more…
No muck and bullets
‘Quality and equality’ were the recurring themes during the launch of Thinking about an apprenticeship, Unite’s guide for young women considering a career in engineering and science. The booklet sparked a debate around gender, jobs and education when it was unveiled this week (March 10) at Solihull College. Currently just seven per cent of […]
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Universal Credit: its impact on women experiencing financial abuse
This afternoon at TUC Women’s Conference, Women’s Aid CEO, Polly Neate, will launch a new TUC and Women’s Aid report on women’s experiences of financial abuse and how the introduction of Universal Credit will affect women in abusive relationships. We can’t say for sure how prevalent financial abuse…Read more…
Standing on the shoulders of giants
In a sincere plea for a reformed, inclusive democracy, author and commentator Owen Jones implored a Festival of Debate audience (March 9) to commit to actively taking part in uniting against the Establishment. Speaking at a packed University of Sheffield meeting, he said, “I want to address this culture of redirecting our anger to our […]
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A true union daughter
Julia Varley is the subject of the second in a series of short books on great men and women who feature prominently in the history of Unite and its predecessor unions. Born in Bradford 1871, Julia was influenced by her great grandfather. Joseph B Alderson had supported the 1830s Chartist working-class movement that agitated […]
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100,000 work cancer deaths: time for action
The former head of the EU’s Safety and Health at Work Agency Jukka Takala has sounded a wake-up call: cancers induced by working conditions kill over 100,000 people in the European Union each year….Read more…
Poor still paying price
The wealth of top earners has risen sharply while the wealth of the poorest has slumped dramatically, according to a new report. The wealth of top earners rose by two-thirds at the same time the wealth of the lowest paid dropped by nearly the same amount. Debts owed by the highest earners have […]
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2 not 4 per cent continuous pay growth – the ONS response
We are grateful to the ONS for their response to yesterday’s piece on pay growth for those in continuous employment. Our concern is that the 4.1 per cent figure has been widely used as guide to central, average or underlying experience in the economy. For example, in the Autumn Statement the…Read more…
Seize your destiny
Anti-austerity campaigner and war veteran Harry Smith urges students at Manchester University (March 11) to register and use their votes as part of the No Vote, No Voice campaign For me politics is personal because in my lifetime the defining moments in our country’s history have been decided by elections. I have always seen free […]
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Apprentices locked out
It’s the government’s own National Apprenticeship Week – a week celebrating the positive impact training schemes can have for those seeking a way into skilled, well-paying work. While many apprenticeships are little more than exploitative work arrangements, there are some on offer that truly change lives. Building Lives, a construction apprenticeship sponsored by the Construction […]
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