The Tories have imposed benefit sanctions lasting at least six months on nearly 6,000 sick and disabled people, shocking new figures show. Department for work and pensions (DWP) data revealed…Read more…
Why on earth have social care workers not been getting the National Minimum Wage?
Enforcement of the NMW for sleep-ins temporarily suspended in social care Last month the government announced it was waiving historic financial penalties and temporarily suspending enforcement of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) for workers required to ‘sleep-in’ on their employer’s premises…Read more…
What is ‘rolled up’ holiday pay?
Q: I’ve just started a new job at a warehouse via an agency. I’ve been told I’ll get ‘rolled up’ holiday pay. What does this mean? A: When employers (or agencies) refer to ‘rolled up’…Read more…
RBS in IT staff slash frenzy
The 71 per cent taxpayer-owned Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) told staff this week that it will slash its IT operations in the UK by 40 per cent, even after a raft of IT glitches that cost the bank…Read more…
‘Name and shame’
Argos has topped the list of companies failing to pay their workers the minimum wage, owing nearly £1.5m in back pay to 12,000 workers, as the government last night (August 16) released its latest…Read more…
‘Turning the screw’
Hardline bosses at the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant are turning the screw on the workforce, as they have banned workplace meetings to discuss the current pay dispute, Unite has said. …Read more…
‘No stone unturned’
Unite has warned that it will leave ‘no stone unturned’ if Doncaster refuse contractor Suez presses ahead with breaking the law during forthcoming strike action. Unite has received evidence…Read more…
Why we should still be worried about zero-hours contracts
The ONS release on the number of zero-hours contracts yesterday showed that there has a been a fall of 20,000 over the year. This is the first fall we have seen in the data series. However, at 2%, this is a drop in the ocean. There are still around 900,000 of these controversial contracts. Numbers…Read more…
Brexit ‘band-aid’?
In an initial response today (August 16) to the UK government’s paper proposing steps to mitigate the impact of Brexit on the island of Ireland, Unite said there is little in the proposals to…Read more…
Bin dispute win
Unite, today (August 16) said that it has achieved victory in the Birmingham bin dispute which will result in the suspension of the current industrial action. The union said that the city…Read more…
Begging for more hours
The latest labour market data out today (August 16) paints a superficially rosy picture if you look at the headline figures — wage growth is higher than expected, unemployment is down yet again and…Read more…
Give us guarantees
Unite members at Argos distribution centres began three weeks of strike action yesterday (August 15), after the company failed to negotiate an agreement covering redundancy and relocation. Find out…Read more…
From North to South, no community deserves to be abandoned
Where you are born should have no say on how your life pans out. But the reality of today’s Britain is different. Regional inequalities persist from birth to childhood, to working life and beyond. The North / South divide is not a myth… Your life is likely to be shorter if you’re from the…Read more…
‘All is not well’
British workers are set for another hit to their living standards, as rail fares surge to their highest in five years and wages continue to stagnate, even amid steady inflation. Rail fares for…Read more…
Carnival ‘bus chaos’
Unite is warning that bus passengers are facing widespread disruption across London over the August bank holiday weekend as key safety support staff hold a 48-hour strike over pay. The 400…Read more…
Strong stand
Unite members at Argos’ distribution network strike over the company’s failure to negotiate a national agreement covering redundancy and severance packages. Argos has failed to give…Read more…
Uber out
Police have slammed the ride-sharing app Uber in London for failing to report sexual assaults by its drivers, among other serious crimes, leading Unite to call for an end to Uber’s operating…Read more…
Big Ben Bong Bonkers
August is usually called “The silly season” by journalists because there is so little news around as Parliament is not sitting and politicians are away on holiday. As a result they have to fill their…Read more…
‘Barmaids in the sky’
Airline cabin crew are being subjected to record levels of abuse from intoxicated passengers, according to shocking new research conducted by Unite. A survey of 4,000 cabin crew, Unite…Read more…
Fair play?
As the season opens we ask is racism still an issue in UK football? And with only two black managers in the football league, Unite believes football must provide greater opportunity for BAEM workers….Read more…