A two-day strike by Co-op drivers over the transfer of their jobs to transport and distribution company Eddie Stobart Ltd (ESL) has been suspended at the last minute. Industrial action was…Read more…
For males only?
A cross-party committee of MPs released a damning report today (March 22) into the government’s inadequate response to a yawning 20 per cent gender pay gap that’s showed no signs of abating over the…Read more…
Gender pay gap persists
The gender pay gap in the UK remains stubbornly high – despite so many advances in equalities over the last half century, women still only earn 80p for every £1 a man earns. Even more galling…Read more…
RSPCA: Board overhaul call
A survey of Royal Society for the Protection of Animals (RSPCA) staff has revealed that 43 per cent believed that the governance was ‘ineffective and poor’ with only four per cent satisfied with the…Read more…
Brexit economic shock
Leaving the EU will dramatically shrink the UK economy by £100bn over the next five years and could mean the loss of nearly 1m jobs, a new report from the Confederation of Business Industry (CBI) has…Read more…
For the future of our communities
Tens of thousands of skilled defence jobs are at risk from an ‘unpatriotic’ purchasing strategy that sees increasing amounts of UK defence expenditure flow to the US. That was the message from…Read more…
Decent work for all
Unite Scotland community and youth activists will tell delegates to the Scottish Labour Party spring conference tomorrow (March 19) that growing trade union membership is the remedy to the rise of…Read more…
‘The best hope’
Unite has today (March 18) announced that it will campaign for the country to remain a member of the European Union. The union’s 63-strong executive council, drawn from workplaces across…Read more…
‘Before it’s too late’
European leaders are meeting today (March 18) to firm up action that must be taken to save Europe’s beleaguered steel industry. The Brussels summit comes on the heels of measures that the…Read more…
Stand up to Racism demo: refugees welcome
On Saturday 19 March thousands of people will join the Stand up to Racism demonstration and rally in Central London to voice their opposition to inhumane way that the government has dealt with the…Read more…
Sticking with the union: Why the EU referendum matters to working Britons
I grew up in Oxford and I was living there the last time we had a referendum, back in 1975. Only then, of course it was called the EEC, the European Economic Community. My dad worked at the Cowley car works and was a shop steward there. He was anti the EEC because he didn’t…
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EU: Vote for democracy and hope
When I vote for Britain to remain in the EU in June, and when I argue for the members of my union and others to do likewise in the months ahead, I will not be voting for the status quo. I will…Read more…
‘Between a rock and a hard place’
Deliveries of fresh produce – a top business priority for the Co-op – will be severely hit when more than 700 of its drivers stage a two-day strike next week in the dispute over transferring drivers…Read more…
Triple whammy for TU Bill
The government’s attack on trade unions faced a triple defeat last night (March 16), as the House of Lords moved to block key measures in the controversial trade union Bill. Peers voted in…Read more…
#Budget2016: TUC reaction roundup
The Chancellor, George Osborne delivered the 2016 budget yesterday, here is a quick round up of reactions from our TUC bloggers: Public Service cuts £3.5bn worth of cuts to public services by 2020. The spending cuts will be identified through an ‘efficiency review’. Cuts and increased pressures on…Read more…
UNCTAD calls for investment agreements to uphold labour rights and democracy
Yesterday I spoke at the United Nations Conference on Development (UNCTAD) meeting ‘Taking stock of international investment agreement reform’ which looked at the options for reform to investment protections such as ISDS that are currently used in international investment agreements…Read more…
Triple whammy defeat for government over #TUbill
Members of the House of Lords voted to defeat the government three times inside three hours tonight during the report stage debate for the trade union bill. The votes concerned substantial amendments to the bill over electronic balloting for strike vot…Read more…
Spare us the cutter
Unite has slammed Chancellor George Osborne’s budget as a failed opportunity from a “one trick Chancellor” – that trick being to cut – because he refuses to take action that would grow our economy….Read more…
#Budget2016: Pensions freedom tax boost for Treasury but what now for the workplace pension?
For the Chancellor, it was one bit of fiscal news to cheer in a Budget of downward revisions, cuts and slices. The Treasury has netted £200 million more than expected in tax from pension fund withdrawals after dramatically loosening restrictions in April.
The post #Budget2016: Pensions freedom tax…Read more…
#Budget2016 arithmetic made simple: the madness of George’s surplus rule
The Chancellor has broken his welfare cap. He bust his debt rule (again). The great part of the policy action seems to have been about making sure it wasn’t a full house of broken rules. Because of the significantly weaker economy, government revenues were down by an average of around £10bn a year…Read more…