Some have been using the Greenpeace leaks of negotiating texts from the EU-US trade deal known as TTIP to claim Britain should leave the EU to escape damaging trade rules being imposed on us by shady Brussels negotiators. But disturbingly, what they actually show (adding to evidence we had from…Read more…
No justice, no peace
One chapter closed in the Royal Courts of Justice today (May 11) but another opened as the long fight for blacklisted workers continues. Although the case was settled – Unite helped secure…Read more…
Primary assessment is broken. So what do we want instead?
I think we can say that assessment in primary schools is broken. Many words have been written (including by ATL) about what’s gone wrong this year. The question remains, what do we want instead? I…Read more…
Squeezing out every last hour?
Leaving the EU would put around a million workers at risk of excessive working hours, new research from the TUC has shown. The TUC analysis found that since the EU introduced the Working Time…Read more…
Unaccountable providers, service chaos, workforce pushed to the limit: Probation after the ‘reforms’
A new report by the National Audit Office (NAO) has found that the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) does not know how well the companies responsible for running probation services are performing, due to “limitations around data quality and availability.” The findings follow the government’s controversial…Read more…
What ‘Lord Waitrose’ could do at the European trade ministers’ meeting on Friday
In the midst of the harshest crisis experienced by the UK steel industry in over a decade, last week brought some comforting news about securing the future of the sector. Potentially this week could see further good news if the UK government chooses to…Read more…
The EU’s increased importance to UK exports over the past year
While much reporting focuses as normal on a widening of the trade deficit, the export figures have for the past year shown some shift in the relative importance of the EU. Volume figures show an increase in EU exports of 2.6% on the quarter and 6.0% on…Read more…
Defying all justice
The boss of a Birmingham drug and alcohol charity, which sacked health and safety rep Alison Morris for raising concerns with her manager over fire safety, has received nearly 3,000 emails calling…Read more…
Pushed out for being pregnant
Two years ago at Sports Direct’s infamous warehouse in Derbyshire, where working conditions have been described as ‘Victorian’ a woman gave birth in a toilet at work. That this is something that…Read more…
Brexit would put a million workers at risk of having to work excessive hours.
More than a million more employees would risk having to work excessive hours if the UK were to drop the EU 48-hour week rules, says a new the TUC estimate published today. The European rules are vital for protecting our health , as regularly working more than 48 hours per week is linked to an…Read more…
Keep ferries public
One of the first actions of the new Scottish government’s transport minister should be to ensure that the Clyde and Hebrides ferry routes remain in public hands Unite today (May 9). With a…Read more…
Victory for blacklisted workers
Unite has secured a victory for hundreds of construction workers embroiled in the biggest blacklisting scandal in UK history, after the union has helped its members win more than £10m in…Read more…
Unite’s ‘tough cookies’
After the floods brought by Storm Desmond’s wrath in December devastated Carlisle, entire neighbourhoods were turned into giant building sites. And as well as wrecking more than 2,000 homes,…Read more…
Fatigue factor
Over a thousand Thomas Cook airlines cabin crew began voting in a ballot for industrial action on Friday (May 6) in a dispute over health and safety concerns and ‘dangerous’ changes to rest breaks…Read more…
Crucial to communities
The aerospace and defence industry has joined Unite in making a clear call for Britain staying inside the European Union ahead of the referendum on the 23rd of June. ADS Group – the industry…Read more…
Keep NHS bursaries
Unite is continuing to call on the Tories to ditch plans aimed at replacing NHS bursaries with loans amid warnings that it will cause workforce crisis and turmoil within the health service. …Read more…
Housing bill ping-pong
The government is struggling to push through its housing agenda as its Housing Bill enters into a furious game of parliamentary ping-pong between the Commons and the House of Lords. Peers…Read more…
Promoting workers’ rights and solidarity in the debate on EU migration
Last month the TUC was involved in a roundtable organised by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung London office which discussed how to promote workers’ rights in the debate on EU migration. The event drew on…Read more…
Paltry pay
Around 70,000 local government workers who are members of Unite have shown their defiance of a ‘paltry’ one per cent offer by not signing the two-year pay deal. The union has conceded that it…Read more…
‘Dog-whistle’ racism claim
The Conservative party is regularly beset by allegations of racism against its MPs, councillors and candidates but even the most offensive comments rarely result in serious disciplinary action, a…Read more…