As a black child in a predominately white village in the 1950s, former Unite national secretary for equalities, Bob Purkiss, occasionally encountered instances of racism. Those situations could…Read more…
Cameron’s EU renegotiation strategy: a virus infecting the European social model
On Friday I spoke at an event in Dublin organised by the Charter Group – Irish trade unionists supporting the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights – about the United Kingdom’s EU referendum. This is an edited version of the speech I gave. Ever since Jacques Delors came to our Congress…Read more…
Teachers form new Arab trade union bloc
Seventeen education unions and associations representing sixteen Arab countries from the Middle East and North Africa met on 7-8 October in Beirut in Lebanon to establish a new Arab teachers’ trade…Read more…
Food on credit
As UNITElive reported last week, unsecured debt – such as credit cards and payday loans – has grown exponentially in austerity Britain. A new survey released this week (October 22) has shown just…Read more…
‘We don’t come here to steal’
If the newspapers are to be believed, nearly all of the country’s ills can be attributed to migrants – they steal our jobs, yet at the same time they rely on benefits. And they’re making it…Read more…
Woefully inadequate
The government’s announcement of just £6m in new funding to support the steel town of Scunthorpe is ‘woefully inadequate’ and only deals with the symptoms not the causes of the crisis engulfing the…Read more…
Tax credit cuts: Lords’ battle
Former chancellor Nigel Lawson is the latest among a growing group of senior Tory statesmen who have come out against the government’s plans to slash tax credits next April, which would decimate…Read more…
Episode 10: ‘Everyone is welcome’
Sounds familiar? If you work in the hospitality industry you can join www.unitetheunion.org – if you earn less than the Living Wage (£9.15ph in London, £7.85 outside) for just £2.10 per week….Read more…
‘Do not shut the door on steel’
Not long after the minister Sajid Javid sat down in the Commons, having announced what he was planning to do for our steel industry, one Tata’s UK bosses spoke. The real question the Tata…Read more…
The great backdoor package ‘steal’
The Tories have carried out a ‘smash and grab’ raid on the £80m package promised for retraining and supporting sacked Redcar steelworkers and boosting the local economy. It has just emerged that the…Read more…
Tip tip hooray!
Like pulling at a loose thread, once the tipping abuse scandal broke it wasn’t long before it all started to unravel for some of the UK’s biggest restaurant chains. Unite’s campaign,…Read more…
‘Tribute to solidarity’
The pay dispute at Case New Holland Tractor Ltd in Basildon, Essex has been settled, after the workforce accepted an improved pay offer. The 460-strong hourly paid production workforce,…Read more…
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and respect for workers’ rights
Yet another multilateral international financial institution saw the light of day in June this year in Beijing without much fanfare and, more importantly, after a relatively short gestation period. 50 of the 57 prospective founding members of the newly…Read more…
Episode 9: ‘I don’t think I can stand anymore!’
Sounds familiar? If you work in the hospitality industry you can join www.unitetheunion.org – if you earn less than the Living Wage (£9.15ph in London, £7.85 outside) for just £2.10 per week….Read more…
Immigration, what’s the story?
Tomorrow (Thursday October 22) Show Racism the Red Card (SRtRC) is holding a special preview screening of their film – Immigration, what’s the story? The film features people discussing their…Read more…
Tax credit rethink call quashed
The tax credit cuts are continuing to move their way through Parliament; last night (October 20) Labour’s motion calling for the government to rethink their damaging plans was defeated. Today…Read more…
Nuclear deal secures long-term employment
China’s investment in Hinckley Point nuclear power station has today (Wednesday October 21) raised concern about the financing of future infrastructure projects in the UK. Unite welcomed the…Read more…
Victims of things beyond our control
Unite member Martin Foster also writes to the Prime Minister on the dire plight of steel workers. He says, I am a senior trade union official at Tata Steel in Scunthorpe, but I write to you…Read more…
A true friend of trade unions
Commenting on the very sad news today (October 21) of the death of Michael Meacher, Labour MP for Oldham West and Royton, Len McCluskey, Unite general secretary said, “It is with great…Read more…
Your excuses are wearing thin
Charlotte Upton, Unite member and electrician at Tata steel in Scunthorpe, has written an open letter to Prime Minister David Cameron urging him to stop sitting on his hands and to step in and save…Read more…