Congratulations to Unite organiser Ewa Jasiewicz and the Unite activists who staged the first ‘Meal of Justice’ at Pizza Express recently. As part of the campaign to get Pizza Express to…Read more…
Gas bills a lot of hot air?
With wholesale gas price close to hitting record lows, will the energy giants pass on savings in lower bills or bank higher profits? For some, it might still be a question of ‘heat or…Read more…
‘Teetering on edge of abyss’
Workers from nine sub-contracting companies will be staging a wave of industrial action in the escalating dispute at Sellafield in Cumbria to improve health and safety and productivity at the nuclear…Read more…
Cambodia’s minimum wage: employers plead poverty despite global brand pledges to pay
Cambodia is one of the main sources of textiles for Europe and North America, and it’s on the front line of the campaign for a living wage in global supply chains. So the forthcoming review of…Read more…
Small gains, big pains
A newly issued briefing from the influential Centre for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) has said that the potential gains from the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) would…Read more…
“There are growing fears about the health of the global economy”, headlines BBC News at Ten
Yesterday (20 August) Robert Peston’s report on the growing crisis in emerging market economies was given top billing on the BBC News at Ten (you might still be able to catch it here). Motivated mainly by the slowdown in China, and covering an array of stock market, exchange rate and other economic…Read more…
Get up and galvanise!
Unite Community activist Maureen Lenehan-Ferguson springs up from the settee to illustrate her point. “I won’t let them grind me down. I am 80 years old and I can touch my toes. So…Read more…
Carnival with a message
Bridport’s Unite Community Group got into the spirit of Carnival recently – and took the message “Save the NHS” to the thousands of people lining the streets in the Dorset market town….Read more…
TU Bill: No concern for workplace democracy
Strike action, fox hunting, the BBC, Europe, migrant benefits – never underestimate the Tory capacity to identify things that aren’t problems and then attack them. The number of days lost to…Read more…
Poorest hurt most – again
After the announcement that maintenance grants will be scrapped by the government next year, students will be dealt a double blow as the cost of student accommodation soars. Between 2010 and…Read more…
The sad kids’ nation
Ask any parent what they want their child to be and I am sure happy is top of their list. As a parent sending your children off to school can be a painful experience. It is about so much more…Read more…
One in four offered insecure work
As the government attempts to downplay just how pervasive zero-hours contracts (ZHCs) have become, a new report released today (August 20) has revealed that one in four unemployed adults have been…Read more…
Thailand needs to stop the harassment of workers’ rights advocates
The British-born worker and migrant rights defender Andy Hall is due back in court on Monday 24 August, facing criminal defamation charges for exposing the truth about exploitation of migrant Burmese…Read more…
Iraq’s new labour law: positive but ‘clipped’
Iraq has finally issued a labour law that complies with ILO conventions, up to a point. It is a good day for global justice. The law provides legal protection for organised workers in the private and…Read more…
Shameful act
Benefits sanctions, in which welfare claimants are stripped of their benefits for often spurious reasons and so deprived of their only lifeline, became the hallmark of the previous government’s…Read more…
Yesterday’s ‘core’ inflation figures are misleadingly strong, driven by erratic items
Yesterday the ONS reported headline CPI inflation in July 2015 at 0.1%, marginally higher than last month’s zero and market expectation of no change. But subsequent attention has focussed heavily on the rise in core inflation to 1.2%from 0.8%. As we have often argued, core figures are likely…Read more…
TU Bill: no justification
IndustriALL, the world-wide trade union, has hit out at the government’s trade union Bill, calling for it to stop the attacks on trade unions and start a dialogue. IndustriALL warns the…Read more…
Fares still unfair
Regulated rail fares are set to rise by 1 per cent in January, after inflation figures released today (August 18) show an unchanged Retail Price Index (RPI) in July. Over the last two years,…Read more…
‘Guilty’ young exiled to bootcamp
What does the word bootcamp conjure up for you? Military recruit training? A type of correctional facility or penal system? Imagine being a young person, fresh out of school, trying your…Read more…
Tip top tunes?
American actress, jazz singer and author Molly Ringwald, who is performing at Pizza Express in London this week, has been asked to back Unite’s campaign against the company’s controversial ‘tipping’…Read more…