A delegation of workers from the threatened Shepton Mallet Cider Mill is due to meet Somerset’s MPs on Tuesday (February 23) to explore ways of creating new employment opportunities in the county….Read more…
No bonus for NHS lifesavers
As UNITElive reported last year, NHS workers risked their lives – many of them travelling thousands of miles over Christmas – to help fight Ebola, a disease that ravaged West Africa, killing more…Read more…
Don’t let British democracy die
Do you vote? Perhaps you feel that marking your X won’t make any difference. It may be you are one of nearly a million people who have gone missing since the way we register to vote was…Read more…
Manufacturing takes a further blow
Unite Scotland has said today (February 18) that the imminent closure of Irvine-based mining and petro-chemical equipment manufacturer AMP Control UK, resulting in the loss of 60 jobs, is another…Read more…
Worst among equals
The government’s refusal to adopt an active industrial strategy and decisively support manufacturing industries such as steel is leaving the UK lagging behind in the productivity stakes warned Unite….Read more…
Brexit: who benefits?
David Cameron has been touring European cities negotiating for a so called reformed European Union and doesn’t it make you feel ashamed? The number one on his negotiating agenda is an…Read more…
Reps pay the price
Hull city council was under fire today (February 18) from Unite for axing two trade union convenor posts as part of a cost cutting exercise while at the same time committing to spending over £1.5m a…Read more…
‘Decline and stagnation’
The government hailed employment figures published yesterday (February 17) that showed the jobless rate hit an all-time low of 5.1 per cent. “At a time when we are seeing the number of…Read more…
One in three commuter trains delayed
According to a survey published by Which? today, one in three commuter trains are delayed, and 7% of the 7,000 respondents were delayed by 30 minutes or more. Arriva Trains Wales came out worst with 31% of passengers being delayed. This was despite receiving around £331m in net subsidies from the…Read more…
‘This cannot be the future of Northern Ireland’
Northern Ireland’s manufacturing workforce was dealt another blow as aerospace firm Bombardier announced today (February 17) that more than 1,000 jobs would be axed in its Northern Ireland operation,…Read more…
Construction future at risk
Serious questions have been raised about the future of training in the construction industry, already plagued with skills’ shortages, as the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) is set to axe…Read more…
Now a lost eleven years on pay, never before known in history
Real earnings grew in 2015 by 2.5%, a positive figure for the first time since 2007. I.e. 2015 was the first year when pay growth outstripped inflation in 8 years.* But there is a long way to go: real earnings still stand 5¾% below the 2007 peak. Projecting forwards using the official forecasts for…Read more…
Web links for 16th February 2016
Sponsored: Meet TulaCo Trusted Development Partner. From Start-Ups to Enterprise Sponsored: Meet TulaCo Trusted Development Partner. From Start-Ups to Enterprise Sponsored: Meet TulaCo Trusted…Read more…
The ‘Chancer-lor’ and the tax avoiders
The Google tax scandal reached new levels of absurdity last week when the tech giant’s president of European operations Matt Brittin told a parliamentary committee that he did not know how much he…Read more…
Unite protests over ‘big mistake’ children’s cuts
The Oxfordshire community was out in full force today (February 16) at picket lines to demonstrate against cuts in a bid to save children’s centres and other council services as Oxfordshire county…Read more…
‘Fulfil broken promises’ plea
One in four people suffer with mental health issues but 75 per cent get no help at all. And if that’s not bad enough, mental health patients are dying 15 to 20 years earlier than others and…Read more…
Children’s charity set to strike
Senior executives at Action for Children were being urged to resolve a long-running pay dispute through the conciliation service Acas today (February 15), as members of Unite overwhelmingly backed…Read more…
Public sector jobs cuts hit the hardest in areas that can at least afford it
The TUC has commented before on how London has disproportionately benefitted from employment growth; this post discusses how the position has been exacerbated by public sector job cuts. Public and private sector contributions to employment growth, 2010…Read more…
Shoulder to shoulder for steel
Thousands of steel workers were joined by their bosses as they marched in Brussels today (15 February) demanding action to stop the dumping of cheap Chinese steel. About 5,000 protestors,…Read more…
Earning your own poverty
More working people in the UK are living in poverty than when the global financial meltdown reached its apex nearly eight years ago. Despite an unemployment rate that continues to drop – it is…Read more…