Yes, unemployment went up in the latest figures. Yes, I fear unemployment is going to rise significantly over the next 18 months. But today’s jobs figures don’t give us grounds for claiming it’s already started. The headline unemployment figure in June – August was 1,656,000 up from 1,646,000 in…Read more…
Placards at the premiere
Last night saw the West End premiere of Ken Loach’s new film about sanctions, I Daniel Blake. Unite Community members joined Ken on the red carpet – and Unite Community’s…Read more…
Send red card message to racists
Football is among the most powerful cultural forces in the UK, and so has the potential to change society in ways we might not even begin to imagine. Show Racism the Red Card, an educational…Read more…
Time for rhetoric is over
The government’s new ‘industrial strategy’ needs to kick-in immediately, as 221 jobs at the Yeovil GKN plant, which makes airframes for helicopters, are set to be made redundant. Unite today…Read more…
Why would headteachers wish to take on the responsibility (and workload) of teacher accreditation?
Bolstered by the heavyweight tones of the National Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee, the voices of the sector have finally been heard by government, who have finally acknowledged that…Read more…
Pointless and cruel
Former paramedic Fred Williamson spent 31 years coming to the aid of others in their time of crisis. When the 62-year-old was diagnosed with terminal leukaemia he expected some help in return from a…Read more…
Wasted potential
Closing the gender pay gap would add £150bn to the British economy by 2025, according to the head of women’s rights charity the Fawcett Society. During a speech at a London conference on the…Read more…
Huge government reforms are stopping the effective delivery of justice
Our system of justice has become unaffordable to most. This sentence isn’t an exaggeration, placed at the beginning of this post just to get your attention. It is in fact a direct quote from Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, aka the head of our judiciary and president of our courts. A new…Read more…
Brexit must keep our aerospace sector soaring
The aerospace industry is the flag carrier of UK manufacturing. From Yeovil to Broughton, Unite members are vital to the success of an international network which results in world class aircraft….Read more…
Christmas chaos coming to airports?
Christmas travel disruption could be on the cards at four UK airports, unless baggage carrier Aviator manages to transfer about 1,700 staff to other handlers. Unite understands that Scandinavian…Read more…
Bound for nowhere: Fascist band calls off gig
An American neo-nazi band who were planning to hold one of the “largest white power concerts ever held in Scotland” have cancelled their trip, after a public outcry. On Sunday (October 16),…Read more…
For Generation Y, trade unions will need to be a springboard not a safety net
Unions exist to represent everyone at work. But the people who are currently engaging with the union movement are aging and not being replaced by a younger cohort. Just 9.3% of low and middle earning…Read more…
Belgium must vote no tomorrow to stop CETA
Tomorrow trade ministers from EU countries will meet in Luxembourg at the Foreign Affairs Council where they are due to decide whether to approve the EU-Canada trade deal known as CETA. The TUC and unions across the EU and Canada are calling for governments to oppose the deal. A ‘joint…Read more…
Give Heathrow the greenlight
Today (Monday October 17) representatives from Unite delivered a letter to 10 Downing Street calling on the prime minister, Theresa May, to give the greenlight to Heathrow’s expansion. The…Read more…
Workers’ rights with your order?
Become a Deliveroo rider and “pick up a ton of perks to sweeten the deal, like discounts with Apple and Vue Cinema on top of your self-employed sixteen pound an hour depending on…Read more…
Undercover cop inquiry call
A review into undercover policing in Scotland is too narrow and needs to be broadened into an inquiry that will include the use of police spies during the historic 1980s print workers strike, Unite’s…Read more…
Strike take off
Business flyers using London’s City airport face severe disruption when award winning cabin crew working for CityJet strike for five days in a dispute over proposed pay cuts of up to 50 per cent….Read more…
Wall of silence
The wall of managerial silence since last week’s announcement of large scale redundancies at the GKN plant in Yeovil has been branded ‘a disgrace’ by Unite, the country’s largest union. The…Read more…
Brexit: Safeguard research call
The only way the impact of Brexit on our manufacturing sectors can be mitigated is through a proactive industrial strategy with scientific research at its centre. This is the conclusion of a new…Read more…
Enter talks
Unite is warning that a 48 hour strike involving London bus workers at the bus operator Tower Transit will go ahead on Wednesday 19 October unless the firm re-enters meaningful talks. Plans…Read more…