This is a big year for your vote – but time is running out to make sure you are able to use it. On the May 5 the UK goes back to the polls with elections in Scotland, Wales and Northern…Read more…
Concerns over workers’ treatment
Unite is raising concerns about the way global logistics giant DHL treats its workers in Latin America after a report found the company guilty of breaking its own – and international – rules. …Read more…
Unite ‘pursuing’ Redcar package
Unite is “actively pursuing” compensation claims on behalf of former steelworkers at the mothballed SSI plant at Redcar. A package is being sought from the government’s Redundancy…Read more…
BMW stresses EU benefits
Car giant BMW Group took the unprecedented step yesterday (March 3) of contacting its 8,000 UK workforce by email, highlighting the risk to the UK of an EU Brexit. The emailed letter states,…Read more…
Periods can be a real pain but menstrual leave policies aren’t the solution
This week a Bristol company hit the headlines for its plan to implement a “period policy”. Most commentators’ reactions to this news could be summarised roughly as “Brilliant. How can I get a job there?” It’s true that you’d be hard pressed to find a woman who hasn’t at some point…Read more…
Corbyn in ‘cash cow’ banks slam
Unscrupulous banking bigwigs are treating ordinary workers like a “cash cow”, Jeremy Corbyn told business bosses yesterday (Thursday March 3). The Labour leader’s accusation was backed up by…Read more…
Jeremy Corbyn – a threat?
Jeremy Corbyn’s election, winning with a mandate which dwarfed anything previously given to any other leader of a British political party in a generation or more, will, I believe, be seen as a major…Read more…
Not a ‘political football’
Unite has warned UK government ministers against using defence workers as a ‘political football’ and jeopardising jobs. The move came as it emerged that a House of Commons vote on the…Read more…
SAVE THE ‘PINK BOOK’
Youth workers have lobbied the Local Government Association over threats to tear up their ‘pink book’ protecting pay, terms and conditions. Unite – which represents thousands of youth,…Read more…
Steel: tougher tarrifs call
The UK’s steel industry unions, Unite, Community and GMB along with steel companies, trade associations, politicians and ministers attended the first meeting of the government’s newly…Read more…
Brexit won’t raise wages: why Sir Stuart Rose is wrong
We got an object lesson yesterday in why workers and their representatives need to play a more prominent role in the EU referendum campaign. Sir Stuart Rose – former boss at non-union Marks & Spencer, and now chair of Britain Stronger in Europe – appeared to suggest that leaving the…Read more…
Fight to save youth workers’ future
Hundreds of youth workers are today (March 3) lobbying the Local Government Association in an effort to save the ‘pink book’ which protects their pay terms and conditions. Unite – which…Read more…
Cuts smash Northern towns
Tory claims of creating a “Northern Powerhouse” have been laid bare as rubbish by a new report which shows that 10 of the UK’s top 12 struggling cities are in the north. Instead the Conservatives…Read more…
‘Rotten apple’ employers
More bad news for Shepton Mallet Cider Mill came today (March 2) as C&C Group announced its first 40 redundancies, with workers’ last day set for May 25. Unite regional coordinating…Read more…
Bookies demand living wage
Sean Graham bookmakers have voted unanimously to take strike action over poverty pay, with initial strike dates to coincide with the Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup. The mandate for strike action…Read more…
TU Bill : ‘Biased’ plans slammed by Lords
Buried within the trade union Bill are plans to choke Labour party funding by changing the way members sign up to contribute to unions’ political funds. It was an unabashedly partisan move…Read more…
Sports Direct falls from FTSE 100
After concerted campaigning from Unite and several media investigations revealing draconian working conditions at the retail giant’s Shirebrook warehouse, Sports Direct has fallen out of the FTSE 100…Read more…
Call off the cull plea
The Tories plan to cull another 50,000 badgers in an effort they claim will reduce the number of cases of bovine TB in cattle. But animal rights campaigners say evidence that culling badgers…Read more…
EU trade deal with Canada amended: not good enough
On Monday, European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström trumpeted what she called a major step forward on trade – a revised version of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the EU and Canada. The main difference was that in place of the infamous Investor-State Dispute…Read more…
End ‘profits before patients’
Unite is calling on its 100,000 members in the health service to urge their MPs to support a parliamentary bill to restore public accountability to the running of the NHS. Unite is angry that…Read more…