Young people are on the sharp end of many worrying labour market trends. Workers in their 20s have taken the biggest hit to wages since the financial crisis. They are most likely to be working on zero-hours contract or in agency or casual work. And they are much less likely to own a home compared…Read more…
Super fare price hike for rail users
As commuters return to work today facing fresh price hikes, shocking new research shows that regular UK travellers are paying up to six times more of their salary on fares than passengers who enjoy…Read more…
When a big lie fails, hard Brexiteers tell a bigger one
It’s hard to work out what’s most ludicrous about this morning’s ‘news’ that Michael Gove and others claim that leaving the EU Customs Union would benefit Britain by £450 million a week and create 400,000 new jobs. My favourite is the claim that once we leave the EU we…Read more…
People and pensions: TUC conference puts focus on members
The coming year has the potential to see yet another overhaul of pensions saving. Virtually every aspect of the pensions system will come under scrutiny in the coming 12 months But through it all, it is vital that the focus is kept on the overriding po…Read more…
Kazakhstan unions need our support
The TUC has joined a campaign launched by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) to call on the government of Kazakhstan to respect the rights of workers in the country to form and join…Read more…
What Migration Watch aren’t telling you about what leaving the single market would mean
Migration Watch, the anti-immigration organisation, published a report yesterday calling for the UK to leave the single market to reduce net EU immigration. Like so much of what is said about migration, the incomplete nature of the argument is deliberately misleading. In particular, Migration Watch…Read more…
We need a new bargain to give working people a fair share of Britain’s success in 2017
When we look back, 2016 will be remembered as the year the establishment was shaken to its core. And yet the political turmoil has not benefited working people – and few feel they have taken back…Read more…
Why are slaves being arrested while traffickers are just fined?
The Government has this morning released details of a month-old crackdown on alleged illegal working in nail bars, part of the year old Operation Magnify. The actual operation took place at the end of last month, and resulted in 97 people being held, a…Read more…
Bangladesh textile workers face layoffs & prosecutions: global corporates must act
Thousands of textile workers in the Dhaka suburb of Ashulia in Bangladesh have been sacked following protracted strikes this month over wages and other issues. The legitimate claims of workers in the…Read more…
The #Brexit mask begins to slip: they’re still after our rights
We welcomed the Prime Minister’s pledge at Conservative Party Conference (repeated by Ministers) that workers would keep their current rights – and gain new rights – after Brexit. It’s not enough, but it’s a start (we want it guaranteed, not just pledged, and we want…Read more…
A million Christmas workers
The arrival of the festive season is a well-deserved break for most of us from a busy year. It’s a good excuse to put our feet up, relax, indulge in our favourite food and drinks and spend it with…Read more…
Good pensions or a pay rise? A response to the ILC-UK
If it wasn’t for companies meeting their obligations to fund defined benefit (DB) pension schemes, average wages would be £1,473 higher, claimed a think tank this morning. It is a compelling argument for many coming after a prolonged period of stagnant wage growth. It is also reminiscent of the…Read more…
What unites all of us
There is no doubt that concerns about the impact of the free movement of Labour in Europe played a large part in the referendum result, particularly in working-class communities. It is those…Read more…
Seasonal cheer
Unite reps working at Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust branch threw a special Christmas party for poorly children at the Royal Oldham Hospital’s children’s department. And Father Christmas…Read more…
Cold and hungry this Christmas
Nearly half of hard up families who use food banks are at risk of going cold this Christmas, a charity warned yesterday (December 21). The Trussell Trust, the UK’s largest foodbank network,…Read more…
‘Working together’
Following talks with trade unions Unite and NUJ, Penguin Random House (PRH), the world’s biggest publisher has resumed negotiations about the firm’s new collective agreement. A meeting early…Read more…
Bus strike
The travelling public in Merseyside will face severe disruption when 120 bus drivers, based at Stagecoach Rock Ferry garage, go on strike for a fortnight on Wednesday December 28 in a long-running…Read more…
Car production races to 17-year high
The 17-year high in UK car production reinforces the case for safeguards for the automotive sector in any Brexit deal, Unite said today (Thursday December 22). The Society of Motor…Read more…
Bus pay justice plea
Oxford Bus Company is set to become the UK’s meanest bus company this Christmas, after ‘Scrooge’ bosses refused to pay drivers extra for working on two bank holidays over the festive season. …Read more…
Loos are human rights
The government is falling short when half a million lorry drivers are ‘caught short’ looking for toilet facilities, Unite said. The union said that it is calling for a statutory,…Read more…