A victory against the insecurity of agency working has been won on behalf of 42 escorts on Hackney school buses who now have permanent jobs. Unite took up the cudgels for the escorts, all of…Read more…
Zero-hours contracts up 21% in just one year
The new official statistics on zero-hours contracts in the UK are out today and they make for grim reading. Over the past year, Britain’s zero-hours workforce has grown from 747,000 to 903,000 – a rise of 21%. Zero-hours contracts have become an easy way for bosses to employ staff on…Read more…
“They treat you like rubbish”
Around 20 Unite Community members, from Chesterfield, Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield, were unfurling banners and unpacking pamphlets yesterday, when the factory tour led by Sports Direct billionaire…Read more…
Anger at the AGM
A shareholder revolt at Sport’s Direct has left owner and found Mike Ashley questioning his position, after angry scenes at the company’s annual general meeting. In a bizarre outburst during…Read more…
No place of safety
It’s a well-known fact that victims of domestic abuse are most likely to be harmed by a man they know – often a relative or partner. But did you know that in England and Wales alone two women…Read more…
Sports Direct AGM
UNITElive is reporting from the Sports Direct AGM. For all the latest as it happens read UNITElive live tweets on Unite’s twitter feed. Tune in back to the regular UNITElive spot…Read more…
Unions and investors come together to call time on poor employment practices at Sports Direct
Sports Direct is a household name, but one that is now nearly as famous for its use of zero hours contracts and mistreating its workforce as for the sportswear sold in its high street stores. Tomorrow the company’s Annual General Meeting brings the opportunity for investors to raise their voices…Read more…
‘Very dangerous situation’
Unite Wales has today (September 6) expressed its grave concerns for the future of Ford’s Bridgend engine plant. This follows the company’s decision to halve the plant’s proposed production of its…Read more…
Pension ‘robbery’
Members of Unite working for the Post Office have voted strongly for industrial action over plans by bosses to close the final salary pension scheme despite it being £100m in surplus. Of those…Read more…
Xmas bus strike on the cards?
The Weymouth bus driver ‘poverty pay’ dispute could continue to Christmas, after company bosses demanded ‘draconian’ conditions be imposed before arbitration talks could start. More than 110…Read more…
Apologies and deep regrets
In a remarkable triumph for Unite’s campaign against employment practices at the retail giant Sports Direct, the company has agreed to make significant changes following an investigation carried out…Read more…
If you don’t have time to read our new book on teacher workload, here’s a summary
By Nansi Ellis, Assistant general secretary (policy). It’s just how it goes: a new book comes out about teacher workload, and you’d love to read it but you haven’t got the time. So let me summarise…Read more…
‘End of their tether’
London bus workers at the bus operator Tower Transit will be staging a second 24-hour stoppage today (Tuesday September 6), over the imposition of roster changes and a failure by a hard line…Read more…
‘Spectre of privatisation’
Unite officials say they are ‘extremely disappointed’ that an un-named council source is raising the spectre of privatisation for Edinburgh City Council’s refuse services. Unite was responding…Read more…
‘Slap in the face’
Unite has called it a ‘slap in the face’ after a global engineering firm said it wanted to slash redundancy payments for staff who have helped the company continue to make big profits. In…Read more…
Forced to retire early
Nearly half a million people in the UK are forced to retire before the state pension age because of illness or disability, a new TUC report has found, which accounts for on average one in eight…Read more…
Unprecedented support for reforms
This time last year Sports Direct shares were trading at over £8 each as the retailer’s board prepared for the company’s annual general meeting at its Shirebrook HQ in Derbyshire. The board no…Read more…
HSE: What social partnership means to the Tories
On Friday the Government announced a number of new appointments to the board of the Health and Safety Executive. The DWP did not indicate who they were representing when they made the announcement…Read more…
The army of older people forced out of work by illness
Forget the stereotype of the cruise or the conservatory. For many babyboomers reaching their sixties means joblessness and ill health, according to TUC research published today. Around one in eight (12%) men and women are forced to stop working before state pension age due to ill-health or…Read more…
Japanese government battles for Japanese companies worried by Brexit
One of the key arguments that the TUC made when campaigning for a Remain vote in the EU referendum in June was that, outside the EU, we would find it more difficult to attract inward investment in manufacturing, including from the Japanese (who made si…Read more…