Unite has called on the NHS to outlaw umbrella companies operating throughout the organisation. In April this year, the government introduced new rules which effectively outlawed agency…Read more…
Crane strike
Widespread disruption of construction sites across the UK is anticipated after Unite announced the first strike date at tower crane company HTC Wolffkran, in a dispute over pay. The initial…Read more…
Workers first
Unite has welcomed Labour’s announcement that it supports staying in the EU single market after the Brexit negotiations have finished. The policy would avoid a damaging economic cliff edge once…Read more…
Watered down
In the UK today, it takes a typical chief executive three days to earn what their employees earn in an entire year. Rising pay inequality has become front and centre in an ongoing national…Read more…
Brave new world?
Receiving a parcel on your doorstep from Amazon or any of the number of online retailers often disguises what’s going on behind the scenes where your order is processed. But a quiet revolution…Read more…
Beholden to fat cats
Tory donors gave the Conservative’s £25m – more than double the £9.5m Labour received – before this year’s general election and the party still lost 13 MPs. Donor lists released by the…Read more…
Over-regulation is not the problem a post-Brexit Britain would face
Yesterday’s report The Economy After Brexit by Economists For Brexit includes a section by Tim Congdon on EU regulation, essentially blaming all the evils of the British economy on excessive red tape and inferring that our economy could do so much better if it were unshackled from it all. The…Read more…
‘Economists for free trade’ contradicted by today’s GDP data
In a provocative piece this week (‘From Project Fear to Project Prosperity’), Professor Patrick Minford made a number of claims about the post-referendum economy. Apparently “the devaluation brought on by Brexit is acting as a powerful stimulus to the economy …”. Here’s how: … switching demand away…Read more…
First ever strike
Catering staff working for Baxterstorey at the Fawley oil refinery canteen in Hampshire are set to strike for the first time tomorrow (August 25) in a dispute over a below inflation 1.5 per cent pay…Read more…
Grant leads health visitors
Unite has warmly welcomed the appointment of broadcaster and presenter Carrie Grant as the new President of the Community Practitioners’ and Health Visitors’ Association (CPHVA). The CPHVA is…Read more…
Fair Fringe win
Edinburgh City Council has today (August 24) backed the Fair Fringe campaign, which will see the living wage and minimum hour contracts introduced at all Council-run venues including the Assembly…Read more…
‘Bogus apprenticeships’
School leavers receiving their GCSE results today (August 24) are looking forward to what the future holds in store. Unfortunately many young people are served a raw deal after they finish…Read more…
‘Dickensian disgrace’
Hairdressers were among the worst culprits in illegally failing to pay their workers the minimum wage in Scotland. In total, 19 companies in Scotland were ‘named and shamed’ by the government…Read more…
Low pay nation
The shocking extent to which low pay has gripped the entire country was laid bare today (August 24) in new figures published by the Labour Party. The analysis of workers in the UK earning less…Read more…
‘No signs of ending’
Every week more than ten high street bank branches close across the UK. According to research from consumer group Which? more than 550 branches are to be shut this year alone. More than…Read more…
Cartrouble? sub-prime auto lending hits the real world
Have you ever had a ride in a light blue car? Have you ever stopped to think who’s the slave and who’s the master? Have you ever had trouble with your automobile? Have you ever had to push push push push? Car trouble oh yeah. Adam Ant For those of a certain age, it turns…
The…Read more…
Bank holiday bus chaos
London bus passengers face potentially severe disruption this weekend as peace talks, designed to resolve a pay dispute concerning support staff, broke up without agreement. Over 400 Unite…Read more…
‘Strike busters’?
Unite announced it had launched legal action against the catalogue retailer, Argos and two employment agencies today (August 23) after it emerged the retailer was attempting to break a strike by…Read more…
Never forget
On the morning of August 23 1791, in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, there was blood on the ground and liberation in the air. It is 226 years since a group of African slaves – known as…Read more…
Toxic trip?
As the last bank holiday of the summer approaches this weekend (August 28), hundreds of thousands of UK holidaymakers may fly to get to their destination – safe in the knowledge that flying is the…Read more…