Unite, the UK’s leading union, is urging caution over moves by both the UK and the EU to relax rules governing the commercial use of gene editing in agriculture. Last week, the European Commission…Read more…
JDE dispute latest
Crunch talks are being held on Friday (May 7) in a bid to resolve the ‘fire and rehire’ dispute involving nearly 300 workers at JDE (Jacobs Douwe Egberts) in Banbury, Oxfordshire. Talks between Unite…Read more…
‘Biggest shake-up of pathology services in decades’
There needs to be a proper public consultation for a new mega centre to analyse blood samples from Lancashire and South Cumbria, as the proposal will mean longer waiting times for patients to get…Read more…
‘We must move cautiously’
Unite has joined other education unions, scientists, public health experts, parents and pupils in calling for Covid safety measures in secondary schools to remain in place and only be lifted once…Read more…
IHG bosses: ‘do the right thing’
Global hotel chain IHG’s annual meeting on Friday (May 7) should act as a catalyst for a new chapter in employment rights for its staff, especially as the world’s spotlight will be on Glasgow, where…Read more…
Tugboat strikes ‘shot across management’s bows’
Devonport naval base faces 96 hours of disruption next week when tugboat crews strike in the continuing rostering dispute, Unite said today (May 5). About 40 tractor tug crew members employed by…Read more…
What Workers in Wales Want: 5 Priorities for the Next Senedd Term
Between December 2020 and April 2021 we worked with YouGov to talk to thousands of workers across Wales to better understand how they view their working lives, their experiences of the Covid crisis,…Read more…
Wales’s Social Partnership Bill: A chance for change
Progress on the Welsh Government’s Fair Work agenda has been stop-start in the two years since the independent Fair Work Commission published its ambitious set of recommendations. The new Social…Read more…
Rebuilding for Good Jobs: Why the next Welsh Government must focus on job quality
If we’re going to come out of the Covid crisis with a fairer economy and a more equal Wales then the next Welsh Government must confront the grim realities of our labour market and target job quality…Read more…
Hopes for Euro hols – but govt support vital
Commenting on reports that popular European travel destinations will be added to a UK government ‘green list’ for holidaymakers by the end of June, Unite national officer for aviation Oliver…Read more…
‘Unsung heroes’
On May the Fourth – Star Wars Day – Unite sends ‘the force’ to all council workers in their continued fight for fair pay. Alongside NHS and other key workers, council workers have been at…Read more…
Dudley Hospital Covid risk shame
Unite is warning because of systematic failures by outsourcing giant Mitie, which holds the facility management contract for the NHS Dudley Hospital Trust, staff and patients could be exposed to…Read more…
Overlooked and undervalued
With you from cradle to grave, council workers are the unsung heroes of the Covid-19 crisis. They are key workers who have kept our communities running during the pandemic, emptying our bins,…Read more…
Walk the wall
On International Workers’ Memorial Day on Wednesday (April 28), Unite general secretary Len McCluskey joined bereaved families who lost their loved ones to Covid-19 at the National Covid…Read more…
‘Being a Unite member will anchor everything I do’
“I see London as a tale of two cities – in some areas there is such immense wealth and in other areas there are queues around the corner for the food bank. How can that be? I don’t believe poverty or…Read more…
“We’ve got the whole picture, we’ve got a plan”
“I got involved in politics in 2010 when the coalition government set about selling off the land registry – which affected us and had an impact on our clients,” says New Zealand born Joy Bassett who…Read more…
‘What Labour can do for the community’
“Where I live we’ve had three Tory councillors for the past three years. Before that it was Lib Dem. We’ve never had a Labour city councillor in this area so I’m hoping to be among the first.
The…Read more…
‘I want to be part of the solution’
As a young person desperately trying to enter the job market at the height of the last major economic crisis, Newport Labour councillor and Unite member Majid Rahman is eager to help young people get…Read more…
‘Amazon workers need an independent voice’
Amazon has tripled its profits off the backs of workers who are routinely prevented from having a collective voice in their workplace says Unite. Against a backdrop of reports about poor working…Read more…
Mental health issues surging at work
This time last year I wrote for Left Foot Forward about what a unique survey of over 1000 Unite representatives revealed about the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on workplaces…Read more…