This week the World Economic Forum (WEF) meets in Davos, and in recognition of the leading role of trade unions, Sharan Burrow, the world’s top trade unionist, is one of the co-chairs this year. So it’s particularly apt that yesterday, Oxfam issued a pre-Davos report showing that trade…Read more…
Franco’s ghost: trade union rights under attack
As Spanish trade unions protest against the use of a Franco-era law criminalising picketing, the UK House of Lords is debating picketing restrictions criticised by Conservative MP David Davis as like…Read more…
Elderly face housing axe
A Gloucestershire district council has been urged to come clean about the future of its sheltered housing accommodation as the current uncertainty is causing ‘a climate of fear’ for elderly…Read more…
‘Fight for survival’
The UK steel workforce faced one of its worst blows today (January 18) as steel giant Tata announced the loss of just over 1,000 jobs, the majority of which will be axed at the steelworks in Port…Read more…
‘Night tube’ strikes suspended
Unite has suspended three days of strike action in the ‘work/life’ balance dispute over the introduction of the ‘night tube’ on London Underground, so that further talks could take place. The…Read more…
Why are multinational enterprises wasting money on supply chain audits?
A new report from the University of Sheffield, published last Thursday and brilliantly summarised by Tansy Hoskins for the Guardian, provides yet more evidence for something trade unionists have known for years. Expensive audits of the impact of supply chains on workers’ rights and…Read more…
Thai worker rights activist Andy Hall faces prosecution again
Today, British-born workers’ and migrants’ rights activist Andy Hall is back in court facing further charges arising from his work for a Finnish NGO on the abuse of migrant workers in a…Read more…
If “we are the builders”, why is construction now in recession?
It has not been a good start to 2016. While markets thrash around, the hard economic news so far for the UK has not been encouraging. Earlier in the week figures showed manufacturing in resumed decline, and likely having spent most of 2015 in recession…Read more…
Lords call for Immigration Bill to give asylum seekers right to work and protect domestic workers
On Monday the Immigration Bill will start to be debated by the House of Lords select committee. As I have blogged previously, the Bill contains a number of threats for workers. It will introduce measures to criminalise undocumented workers that will make it easier for bad bosses to exploit migrants…Read more…
Big Boss becomes Big Brother
Bosses can now spy on their workers’ electronic communications, following a landmark decision by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Wednesday (January 13). Any form of communication…Read more…
A levy too far?
Unite is hoping that government plans to create three million apprenticeships in the coming years will lead to a new generation of youngsters being told: You’re hired. But the Chancellor’s…Read more…
Greatest bar to building is…?
Housebuilding in the UK will be severely hampered by skills shortages in the construction industry, according to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). Construction professionals…Read more…
Bulldozing homes, bulldozing lives
The Tory war on council and social housing has taken a sinister twist this week with Prime Minister David Cameron backing proposals to bulldoze entire council estates. Those evicted will not be…Read more…
A great leap forward: the Women and Equalities Committee report on transgender equality
The report of the parliamentary Women and Equalities Committee inquiry into trans equality has now been published and its conclusions that trans people face serious prejudice and discrimination have attracted wide publicity. Trade unions views were amo…Read more…
Behind the Government’s tough talk on tackling worker exploitation
This week the Government published its response to the consultation on tackling labour market exploitation. It plans to give new powers to authorities to enforce basic work rights and it promises a new cross-government approach to enforcement. The BIS …Read more…
‘Driving force’ going off the road?
UK manufacturing is heading in the wrong direction, our balance of payments still on the critical list, exports are down, deflation is on the horizon and City pessimists warn of a another financial…Read more…
Time to care: Homecare workers speak out
Can you imagine having to have someone else help you brush your teeth? How about to get you out of bed, or even to wash you? What if it was a stranger each time? Over half a million adults in the UK…Read more…
Banner headline
Following the unfurling of the #SportsDirectShame banner at the Newcastle United versus Manchester United football match last night (January 12) Unite Community members continued to campaign…Read more…
Night tube nightmare
Work-life balance and an inadequate pay offer are the key issues in the long-running London Underground dispute over the introduction of the ‘night tube’. The 600 engineers and maintenance staff…Read more…
North Sea crisis not over
Oil giant BP yesterday (January 12) announced its intention to axe one in five North Sea jobs as part of a global workforce reduction. BP, one of the worlds’ ‘super-major’ oil and gas…Read more…