In January 2013, a 16 year old engineering apprentice, Cameron Minshull, tragically lost his life after becoming entangled in a lathe. Prosecutors in Cameron’s case alleged that his employer used…Read more…
ISDS-lite could yet scupper the EU-Canada trade deal
The TUC is no fan of the revised Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) process that EU Trade Commissioner Malmstrom has persuaded the European Parliament to back in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal between the EU and US…Read more…
Tata Steel pensions dispute ends
The pensions’ dispute at Tata Steel that brought the company to the brink of the biggest industrial dispute in 35 years has ended. Members of all four unions at the company have voted to…Read more…
Through adversity comes solidarity
New jobless figures released today (July 15) reveal a fragile economic recovery potentially going into reverse – unemployment has risen for the first time in two years. But the latest figures…Read more…
Today’s employment statistics
I have a post at Left Foot Forward looking at today’s labour market figures. I argue that it’s important not to read too much into one month’s figures, but it is worrying if this country can achieve decent jobs growth or adequate earnings but never both.
The post Today’s…Read more…
Massive attack
Criminalising pickets, a green light for the creation of specialist strike-busting agencies, attacks on trade union campaigning and links to the Labour Party. The Tories have announced a wide…Read more…
Onslaught against workers
Union members from across shipbuilding and engineering today (July 15) slammed the government’s Trade Union Bill, as unjust and in favour of employers. Moving an emergency motion, Unite…Read more…
Union solidarity saves the day
Last night (Tuesday July 14) ex-Unite shop steward Paul and his daughter Roisin were still safe in their home after a judge at Croydon Crown Court granted a seven day stay of eviction. Paul…Read more…
Denying workers a voice
Ministers were urged to rethink the restrictive proposals in the Trade Union bill that threaten to cast unions as ‘the enemy within’, Unite said today (July 15). Unite said the best way to…Read more…
Trade Unions Bill: Unfair, unnecessary and undemocratic
Today the government will publish its Trade Unions Bill – a grossly unfair package of measures that will tip the balance of power in the workplace. The proposals will make getting a much-needed pay rise, stopping job losses or negotiating better conditions at work much more difficult. They’ll make…Read more…
Swaziland: is the pressure working?
We’ve been pressing for a change of course in Swaziland for many years. It’s Africa’s last feudal dictatorship. It has the world’s highest rate of HIV-AIDS infection. And…Read more…
Workers’ struggles headline at the Show
The historic struggles of working people were brought to life at the Great Yorkshire Show (GYS) today (July 14) by Unite’s North East Yorkshire and Humberside region. Schoolchildren and…Read more…
Half the CPI shopping basket is now showing price falls
June 2015 CPI inflation was back at zero, from 0.1% in May. Likewise core inflation (excluding energy, food, alcohol & tobacco ) was back at 0.8% from 0.9% in May. Falling prices are now seen throughout the index. ONS publish CPI figures broken down into some 85 non-overlapping categories (e.g….Read more…
For ‘fox sake’ Cameron
Today (Tuesday July 14) the Tories cynically postponed the fox hunting ban amendment which was scheduled to be voted on in the House of Commons tomorrow. The move reeks of suspicion and…Read more…
Blacklisting: High Court case hearing
The road to justice for blacklisted construction workers continues as a hearing takes place today (July 14) at the High Court in preparation for a full trial scheduled for May of next year. It…Read more…
Pay protest – strong as ever
Hundreds of highly skilled construction workers and their supporters gathered at all four entrance gates to the Wilton complex on Teesside to protest at Sita/Sembcorp in their #PayTheRate campaign on…Read more…
Mayday! The helmsman of the green economy is way off course
The Conservative manifesto 2015 said nothing about increasing road taxes. If anything, it implied the opposite: “We will make motoring greener … to protect your environment.” But the Chancellor’s Budgets changes mean that from 2017 a new greener car will cost nearly £1,000 more….Read more…
“Shoulda, woulda, coulda”: yet more evidence suggests income beats choice in retirement
Beverley Knight is a woman well aware of the consequences of poor decision-making. “Now ‘Shoulda, woulda, coulda’ means I’m out of time, “Coz ‘Shoulda, woulda, coulda’, can’t change your mind.” Inexplicably, popular music tends to gives more attention to matters of the heart than it…Read more…
Of course I’ll defend the rights Europe has delivered. But we want better, not just more of the same!
David Cameron is touring national capitals around Europe garnering support for his pre-referendum EU renegotiation strategy. And because his strategy seems to be bad news for British workers, he sometimes finds we’ve been there first. Today, for example, I’ll be travelling to Luxembourg…Read more…
Organise and win – like the Chainmakers
Unite assistant general secretary Diana Holland (pictured left) on Sunday (July 12) helped Midlands trade unionists celebrate the successful achievements of 800 striking women Chainmakers in 1910 by…Read more…