The government’s so-called National ‘Living Wage’ (NLW) is anything but, as new research shows families with two parents working full-time on the statutory minimum will not earn enough to support…Read more…
‘Crippling’ household debts soar
While the government celebrated a record budget surplus today (August 21), ordinary people are barely keeping their heads above water in a sea of outstanding household debt approaching £19bn, new…Read more…
Surveillance nation
The UK is one of the most surveilled nations in the world – nearly 6m CCTV cameras watch us as we go about our daily lives. And now, this surveillance culture may be seeping into the…Read more…
‘Shambles’
The UK’s manufacturing sector has slipped two places to ninth in the world as uncertainty over Brexit continues. Unite said the fall showed a worrying decline in the global position of British…Read more…
‘Well deserved’ pay rise
Unite NHS members in Scotland have voted to accept a pay offer put to them July. A consultative ballot resulted in 71 per cent of members voting to accept the three year pay deal, effective…Read more…
Privatisation fails again as government takes over "crisis" prison
Years of Tory austerity and an obsession with privatisation have led to “appalling” failings at HMP BirminghamRead more…
Death of a Piper
The following poem was written by John Fyvie, a Piper Alpha survivor. It was recited by Unite regional officer Tommy Campbell at this week’s Reflections on Piper Alpha conference in Aberdeen….Read more…
‘Never again’
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the deadliest offshore disaster in history, when the Piper Alpha platform burst into flames, killing 167 of the 228 people either working on the rig or…Read more…
Surveillance at work – is your boss watching your every move?
From trawling social media to tracking toilet breaks, our research shows more and more bosses are snooping on their staffRead more…
‘Rewards for failure’
Unite is calling for an urgent review of the fees, major accountancy firms can charge when a company falls into administration, after it was revealed today (August 16) that following Carillion’s…Read more…
‘Difficult and dangerous’
Refuse worker deaths increased by 50 per cent in 2017 new figures show, with staff facing 1,000 incidents of dangerous driving by members of the public everyday. Figures from the Health and…Read more…
Consumers steered wrong
Motorists are being duped by incorrect labelling on inferior tyres flooding the market from Asia, which could be putting thousands of lives at risk, a Unite investigation has found. The…Read more…
Fat cat pay rockets to £5.7m a year while workers suffer
It would take 195 years for the average UK worker to earn what one FTSE 100 CEO gets in a yearRead more…
Cornwall overcrowding threat
Unite is calling on the government to reform its local funding formula to ensure that Cornwall and other tourist hotspots are better able to cope with peak holiday periods. Unite is further…Read more…
‘Slap in the face’
UK workers who’ve faced a continued wages squeeze are now being doubly hit by rising costs, with regulated rail fares set to rise in January 2019 by a maximum of 3.2 per cent. Commuters will…Read more…
‘Pitiful’ social housing plans
The Tories’ new social housing plans have been branded “pitiful” because they contain no new investment to build desperately needed homes. Housing secretary James Brokenshire said the…Read more…
Fat cat bosses raking it in
There’s no end in sight for UK workers’ wage pain – wage growth slowed yet again in June according to yesterday’s latest labour market figures – but for top chief executives, who have seen their pay…Read more…
Zero-hours contracts down
The government on Tuesday (August 14) hailed the latest labour market figures as it highlighted the fall in unemployment and the first significant drop in zero-hours contracts (ZHCs) in several…Read more…
Cancellations, delays, chaos – yet rail fares keep on rising
With rail fare rises outstripping wages yet again, the time has come to return our railways to public ownershipRead more…
‘Autumn of anarchy’?
Unite members at Ainscough, the UK’s premier mobile crane company, are preparing to begin balloting for industrial action in a dispute over pay. The 400 plus Unite member are furious that…Read more…