In the wake of the sharpest and most sustained drop in the price of oil in decades, the UK oil industry is staring into an abyss as more than a hundred thousand jobs have gone in the last two years…Read more…
‘Best decision you’ll make’
When Nikita Taylor began her four-year electrical engineering apprenticeship at the Vauxhall plant in Luton she was one of only a handful of women working at the site. “Over the six years that…Read more…
Print jobs at risk
Unite said today (March 9) that it would mount a strong campaign to retain the estimated 120 jobs under threat at Suffolk book printer, Clays. “Clays is the heart of the local community…Read more…
‘Nothing more than PR’
Plans outlined today (March 9) by the embattled retailer Sports Direct, to choose a worker representative to sit in on its board meetings, drew a sceptical response from Unite. The union which…Read more…
OECD must involve workers in developing global rules on investment
On Tuesday I spoke at a conference held at the OECD in Paris on the costs and benefits of investment protection agreements like Investor-State Dispute Settlement. In the morning conference participants had heard something important – the experts gathered by the OECD had, in all their…Read more…
Did #Budget2017 deliver for public services?
This blog takes a look at what this Budget delivered for social care, health and education. In our pre-Budget blog we looked at what the Budget needed to deliver for public services, creaking after almost a decade of austerity. Social Care Few could de…Read more…
‘The insulting Budget’
The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn summed up Philip Hammond, the Chancellor’s first and last spring budget – it was a budget that was complacent and out of touch he said. He could also have…Read more…
The ‘failure Budget’
Chancellor Philip Hammond brushed Brexit under the carpet as he laid out the last Spring Budget today, delivering paltry policies that will do nothing to alleviate austerity, low wages or job…Read more…
#Budget2017: Boost for technical skills funding
As with much of the Budget, the package of skills measures contained few surprises as the various announcements had been trailed extensively beforehand. Nevertheless, there is much to welcome in the Budget on technical education and skills, in particul…Read more…
Under pressure
Today on International Women’s Day (March 8), much is made of the overall pay gap between men and women in the UK – now standing stubbornly high at 19 per cent. But what’s not as often talked…Read more…
Barclays closure slammed
Unite has today (March 8) condemned Barclays Bank for the announcement of the closure of their mortgage centre in Llanishen, Cardiff with the loss of over 180 jobs. The centre will close by the end…Read more…
AWE dispute ramps up
Angry workers at AWE plc – the Atomic Weapons Establishment – are ramping up their long-running pensions’ dispute with eight more days of strike action this spring. Unite, which represents…Read more…
#Budget2017: Self-employment tax changes
Increases in taxation of self-employment may raise more money for the exchequer but will do little to clamp down on bad employers who force staff into bogus self-employment to lower their tax bill Today’s standout Budget measure was the increase in the tax paid by the self-employed, with the rate…Read more…
Honouring the legacy of trade unionist Mary Macarthur
On Tuesday 7 March 2017, on the eve of International Women’s Day, the Mary Macarthur Plaque was unveiled on the site of her Golders Green home. Mary Macarthur was a Scottish woman, trade…Read more…
#Budget2017: Zero out of four
Yesterday we set the Chancellor four tests for whether his Budget would deliver for working people. Today we have no good news to report. This wasn’t a budget for living standards, it didn’t give the British economy the investment it needs to see us through the uncertainty of Brexit, and public…Read more…
An ‘extraordinary Budget’
The budget lacked the ambition and action to equip the nation for the challenges of Brexit, Unite said today (Wednesday March 8). Responding to Chancellor Philip Hammond’s budget, Unite…Read more…
#Budget2017: Pensions freedom liberates cash straight into the Treasury
Paperwork released with the Budget has revealed what an astonishing short-term money spinner so-called “pensions freedom” has been for the Treasury – and hinted at what a disaster it might prove for our ability to provide for old age. Originally announced in Budget 2014, pensions…Read more…
We won’t be silenced
On October 31 2016 Amber Rudd, home secretary, made an announcement that sent shockwaves through the mining community – there was to be no enquiry into the violent policing at the Battle of Orgreave….Read more…
Culture change call
As people in the UK and the world over celebrate International Women’s Day today (March 8), Unite, the country’s largest construction union, will launch its Women in Construction Network on the first…Read more…
Wake up to what women need
As the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, gets ready to deliver his Budget today, he would do well to remember the 47 per cent. That’s the proportion of women in the UK workforce. With this year’s…Read more…