8th – 14th February 2017 is #heartunions week, celebrating the great work unions do, and paying tribute to the reps who are an important part of that. The Unsung Heroes series is running all week,…Read more…
End blacklisting for good
Unite, the country’s biggest union for construction workers, renewed its demand for a public inquiry into blacklisting today (February 8) and backed calls by the Labour MP Chuka Umunna to strengthen…Read more…
‘Flexible’ for who?
Amid the Brexit worry surrounding Parliament’s on-going debate over the triggering of Article 50, there appeared to be a crack of light from PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC). Despite the…Read more…
Zero tolerance
Driving a bus isn’t easy – you’ve got to be constantly on alert, surveying both what’s happening on the road and monitoring passengers in your vehicle to ensure their safety. But what many…Read more…
Our NHS
After chronic underfunding, accelerated privatisation and failed reorganisations introduced by the previous coalition government, the NHS as we know it is now in grave danger. That’s why…Read more…
Nicola’s experience at the Edinburgh Fringe – #heartunions
8th – 14th February 2017 is #heartunions week, celebrating the great work unions do, and paying tribute to the reps who are an important part of that. The Unsung Heroes series is running all week,…Read more…
Post Office ‘slash and burn’
The latest tranche of Post Office job losses is another example of ‘the rickety management’ that is driving a much-valued national institution into the ground, Unite said last tonight (February 7)….Read more…
Brushing the dust off Collective pensions: TUC Pensions Conference
The subject of Collective Defined Contribution (CDC) pensions got an unexpected airing at the TUC Pensions Conference last week. The topic was not even on the conference agenda. For, after losing its most high profile backer in former Pensions Minister Steve Webb with the end of the Coalition…Read more…
Rob learns as he represents NHS workers – #heartunions
8th – 14th February 2017 is #heartunions week, celebrating the great work unions do, and paying tribute to the reps who are an important part of that. The Unsung Heroes series is running all week,…Read more…
Low pay? No way!
Unite BA cabin crew took their fight against poverty pay to Parliament today (February 7) as they enlisted the support of MPs. Cabin crew, who earn on average only £16,000 a year including…Read more…
Get on board — save our NHS
Unite Community West London members will get aboard the ‘Save Our NHS’ open top bus on Saturday (February 11) as part of their campaign to expose the threat posed by the government’s secretive NHS…Read more…
‘The new normal’
Insecure work is becoming more and more common in the UK, according to a new TUC analysis published today (February 7), which found that the number of people on contracts that offer no guaranteed…Read more…
What does Brexit mean now? (According to the White Paper)
Last Thursday, the Government published its hastily promised and delivered white paper on exiting the European Union. The United Kingdom’s exit from and new partnership with the European Union was longer than many expected, but did not really add much to what the Prime Minister said in her…Read more…
BA cabin crew lobby MPs
Around 100 striking cabin crew working for British Airways’ mixed fleet are set to lobby parliament today (February 7) and seek MPs’ support in their ongoing battle against poverty pay at the…Read more…
‘World class’ workers
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey will be meeting shop stewards at Ford’s Bridgend engine plant in Wales today (February 7), to update them on meetings aimed at securing the plant’s future with…Read more…
Pensions designed by men for men: TUC Pensions Conference
If you mingled among the delegates at the TUC Pensions Conference last week, then you would be sure to hear people chatting about one of the presentations: the barnstorming contribution of Baroness Hollis on women and pensions. The Labour peer gave a r…Read more…
Insecure work is up by a quarter since 2011. Which sectors are driving this?
The number of people in insecure work, those working without guaranteed hours or baseline employment rights, has rapidly increased by more than 660,000 (27%) over the past five years. The TUC estimates that over 3 million people now work in insecure jo…Read more…
1000 More Euro millionaires is a symptom of a disordered banking sector
In 2015 there were 4,133 €-millionaire bankers in UK. This figure is up 20% on 2,926 the previous year. In the rest of Europe, the increase was more modest from 934 to 1002 (+7%). The sharp eyed will gather that we are home to 4,133 of 5,035 €-millionaire bankers in Europe as a whole,…Read more…
HSE hits the right note
For many years the TUC has been arguing that successive governments have abandoned the health aspect of health and safety. Over 70% of work-related absence is a result of stress or musculoskeletal…Read more…
Banks are lending to buy houses, not build businesses
The days of the credit crunch can seem to be well and truly behind us. 2016 was the second successive year when bank lending to the economy was in positive territory – that is the total loans issued were greater than repayments. In total bank (net) lending in 2016 was £79bn, up from £39bn…Read more…