Britain’s richest people seem to be getting preferential treatment from the taxman and are not being properly pursued for their outstanding tax bills, according to parliament’s spending watchdog….Read more…
Common cause
The leaders of Unite and a major global auto-maker have agreed to build common cause in defence of UK car manufacturing’s access to the European Union’s single market post-Brexit it was announced on…Read more…
Dark satanic mills: Lobbyists fight against EU’s workplace cancer protection
If you were told that more than 100,000 premature deaths in Europe each year could be prevented with a few policy changes, wouldn’t you think it was about time? Unfortunately not everyone agrees: this is the story of how industry is ducking its responsibility to protect workers from cancer-causing…Read more…
End class pay bias call
The gender pay gap is well known and well documented – it now stands at just over 18 per cent in the UK. Likewise, the pay gap between white and black and ethnic minority (BAEM) workers has also long…Read more…
Overseas aid: definitely more about the politics than the money
I was discussing our local MP, Grant Shapps, with a neighbour on the train last week. What was he up to, we wondered, or rather, where had he disappeared to? Sadly, the question was answered in this morning’s Sunday Times (£) where he wrote a moving self-criticism of his failure as a Minister…Read more…
Get round the table call
Unite announced today (January 27) that its cabin crew members working for British Airways mixed fleet would take a further six days of strike action in their ongoing dispute over poverty pay, unless…Read more…
‘Matter resolved’
The dispute involving Morrisons’ supermarket petrol stations in London, the South East and East Anglia has been settled. Unite said today (January 27) that the 19 drivers, employed by…Read more…
Hebden’s hub!
Unite Community volunteers in West Yorkshire have come to the aid of a flood-hit Trades Club in the town of Hebden Bridge. Around 10 volunteers from across the region have been travelling to…Read more…
In solidarity
Woolwich Ferry workers took the first day of a 12-day strike action today (January 27) in support of a colleague who has been allegedly sexually harassed and over health and safety issues on the…Read more…
Pressure on MoD mounting
Workers at AWE plc – the Atomic Weapons Establishment – are full of confidence as they gear up for their second 48-hour strike this month in their pensions’ dispute on Monday (January 30),…Read more…
Fighting ‘tooth-and-claw’
The plans to slash up to 1,100 jobs at Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) Ltd – 22 per cent of its UK workforce – will be fought ‘tooth-and-claw’, Unite pledged today (January 27). The union…Read more…
Together across borders
Workers Uniting — the global union formed by the United Steelworkers (USW) in North America and Unite the Union in the U.K. and Ireland, representing more than 2m workers in Canada, Ireland, the…Read more…
Stand by me
For many who work for the free Woolwich Ferry service – which has been in operation for 127 years – it’s in their blood. Just ask Unite member Gemma Drury, whose father was a ferry captain for…Read more…
A patient’s progress
I am relatively lucky in that I enjoy fairly good health and rarely have to use the NHS. In fact since moving to my current home over two and a half years ago I have yet to make a personal…Read more…
2017 will be a defining moment in unions’ fight against discrimination
The British people’s decision to leave the EU is set to dominate the TUC’s work over the next few years. And I believe that, alongside securing a deal which protects jobs, Brexit poses two central challenges. The first challenge is to fight racism. Since the referendum result, we’ve seen an upsurge…Read more…
Mrs May goes to Washington. Here’s what unions want to hear
Later today, Prime Minister Theresa May will meet with US President Donald Trump in the White House. Ahead of their meeting, the leaders of the UK and US trade union movements, Frances O’Grady from the TUC and Richard Trumka of the AFLCIO, have issued a joint statement setting out what…Read more…
Brexit is too important to be left to Westminster
The UK Supreme Court judgement has finally clarified the key role of parliament in triggering Article 50. That judgement reinforced the centrality of elected politicians to decisions that will shape the future of the UK, as opposed to the Prime Ministe…Read more…
What are robots for?
It would seem digitisation is occurring, at a greater or lesser pace in different countries. There are ever-more sophisticated computers, robots and advances in AI. Whether we are on the tipping point of a fourth industrial revolution, is a pertinent q…Read more…
Tackling fraudulent & abusive recruitment: ILO signs new anti-slavery pledge with UK
This afternoon I was at the Home Office to witness the signing of a ‘letter of intent’ between the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) about collaboration in the fight against fraudulent and abusive recruitment practices, forced…Read more…
Building our technical skills – the Industrial Strategy Green Paper
This week the Government has made a great deal of its proposals on skills in the Industrial Strategy Green Paper. A BEIS press release came out last weekend entitled Technical education at heart of modern industrial strategy and this echoed the longstanding refrain that the UK has world…Read more…