Dear friends The full horror of the fire at the Grenfell Tower is yet to unfold but we do know that there has been fatalities, serious injuries and hundreds of people are left destitute and in…Read more…
Beast of Bolsover
A documentary on legendary socialist, trade unionist and Labour MP Dennis Skinner will premier at London’s East End Film Festival this Saturday (June 17). Raised with nine siblings in a…Read more…
Unions call for long overdue pay rise for council employees
Unite and two other unions representing more than 1.6m local government employees in schools and councils across England, Wales and Northern Ireland have today (Wednesday 14 June) submitted a…Read more…
Deepening Tory ‘wage pain’
Theresa May and the Tories’ ‘wage pain’ is leaving millions of people struggling to make ends meet. Official figures out today (Wednesday 14 June) show a deepening wage squeeze. …Read more…
End precarious employment
Unite will ask MSPs to pledge their support for a worker’s charter that seeks to improve the pay and conditions for workers in the hospitality sector. Unite will launch the Fair Hospitality…Read more…
Further strikes possible at BMW
A further wave of strikes involving car workers at the car giant BMW are ‘almost certain’ should further talks fail, Unite warned today (Tuesday 13 June). Unite shop stewards from BMW car…Read more…
Perfect storm
Proposals to improve nurse education will be useless if the government fails to tackle the estimated shortage of 30,000 nurses in England, Unite said today (Tuesday 13 June). The warning came…Read more…
Rising inflation is contributing to falling wages, and the pay squeeze isn’t set to get better
Inflation is the highest it’s been since June 2013. CPI inflation rose to 2.9% in May, from 2.7% in April. Only a year ago, CPI inflation was as low as 0.3%. According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), the main contributor to the latest high inflation figure was rising prices for…Read more…
Refuse workers overtime pay victory
Unite has accused Veolia Environmental Services of hiding behind Brexit when it failed to incorporate overtime pay into annual holiday pay citing ‘Brexit legal uncertainty’. Unite hailed an…Read more…
Can devolution generate inclusive growth in the West Midlands?
Last week’s General Election has engulfed Westminster in a wave of chaos and uncertainty. The local and mayoral elections held last month might therefore feel like a distant memory. But some parts of England that now have mayors with devolved powers have been getting to work, with unions at the…Read more…
The stats are in on rail privatisation… it’s not looking good.
Privatisation has cost the taxpayer over £50bn in unnecessary costs. A joint study by Essex University and Queen Mary’s University has confirmed what unions and passenger groups have been saying for years. Privatisation has been a colossal waste of money. The conclusions are damning. The “hugely…Read more…
OECD Forum 2017: ‘Bridging Divides’ and the role of unions
Over two days last week, politicians, company CEOs, trade unionists, economists, NGOs and thinkers gathered at the OECD in Paris to consider major issues affecting the global economy. Under the heading ‘Bridging Divides’, this year’s OECD Forum had three major themes: Inclusive growth…Read more…
This is no time for TEE: four reasons to resist turning pensions into ISAs
Former Treasury minister David Gauke has been appointed Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. This has prompted speculation that he might bring with him an apparent enthusiasm within parts of the Treasury, and certainly some right-wing think tanks,…Read more…
Construction workers protest in Copenhagen
Unite and GMB members are again protesting in Copenhagen, Denmark tomorrow (Tuesday June 13) after the financier of major energy from waste plants in the UK, tried to ‘wash its hands’ of the…Read more…
Offer rejected
Unite members at BMW making the iconic Mini and Rolls-Royce motor cars have voted to reject an offer aimed at resolving a long running pensions’ dispute. The consultative ballot, in which…Read more…
Biggest political reawakening of the century
After two years of being derided as a waning political force because of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, a resurgent Labour Party has delivered a stunning general election blow to Theresa May’s Tories….Read more…
Strong stand
Unite regional officer Terry Keefe said, “Our members have taken a strong stand on the picket line at DB Glass in Newton Abbot and shown excellent solidarity as they start a 48 hour strike…Read more…
The election result shows that we need a new deal for working people
This election was about bread and butter issues – what needs to change for ordinary working people. And no wonder: if current trends continue, in five years’ time 3.5 million people will be in insecure work, as gig working, self-employment, agency work and zero hours contracts rise and rise….Read more…
Unions pledge support for Brexit that protects workers
European and British trade unions have pledged their support for a Brexit that protects both UK and EU workers. At an international meeting hosted by Unite, the IndustriALL European trade…Read more…
Britain Still Needs A Pay Rise
Over the past week, the TUC has been out across the country with one simple message – Britain Still Needs A Pay Rise. We’ve been driving around constituencies and stopping in town centres to…Read more…